Page 65 of Magic Hunted
I wanted him to live and be with us. Anything less wouldn’t be acceptable, because I…because I was in love with him. And I knew—Iknew—he loved me in return in the same maddening, irrevocable way.
I was in love with all three of my mates.
A boulder shifted inside me. A gate opened where before it had been rusted closed. I’d been locked in a small, darkened room and I hadn’t realized. I inhaled, my chest loosening, drawing in the first breath of air I’d had in my life as light with the brilliance of a thousand burning suns poured into me.
Magic rose, bright green light mingling with Ashir’s fading orange. I imagined his solid color, brilliant orange intertwined with yellow and red, merging with my green.
His orange light grew solid. More substantial. Orange brightened, imbued with beautiful speckles of something lighter. Yellow and red mixed and all three colors wrapped around my green. I felt all my mates. Knew them intimately. Instinctively. Intuitively.
This was what he’d said to me when I’d doubted the bond. This was how they recognized me at first sight. The knowing was more intimate than decades spent living together could ever provide. I felt their souls. Their essences. Everything else came afterwards. I’d had it backwards all this time.
I spread my palms on Ashir’s shoulders, feeding him my magic. It rushed into his body travelling from my soul-light to his. He threw his head back, his mouth opening to draw in a deep breath. My magic sparked around his wounds, knitting the flesh together.
“My mate.” Ashir’s eyes were open and locked on me. He reached for me, drawing me to him to capture my lips with his. I sank into the kiss, his love for me pulsing through our soul-lights.
Why had I ever run from this? I’d used the grimoire as an excuse to push them away. The grimoire hadn’t used my parents. They hadn’t died because of it. They couldn’t. A bond was beyond any magic. It was stronger and more powerful thanlife. It was a fusing of life-forces that would last an eternity. We weren’t human. We were magic and panther shifters. We only needed a second.
I only had to feel the small part of our merged soul-lights to understand how true that was. And if that was only a small part, I couldn’t begin to imagine our full bond.
“You saved me,” Ashir rasped. He wrapped his fingers around my wrist and pressed my palm against his chest. “I feel you in me. Your soul-light. Your magic. You, my mate. I feelyou.”
The look he gave me was a mix of joy and wonder. And happiness. So much happiness that it stole my breath. I didn’t have to question what he felt. The joy pulsing through our bond was boundless.
“You saved him, magic,” Dias said, his voice filled with the same awe that echoed through our bond.
“You saved all of us, my heart,” Savvas said. He kissed my cheek, his fingers sliding along my nape so carefully. So tenderly.
“I’ll always save you,” I said. “I’ll give my last drop of magic to keep you safe.”
Excitement swirled in my stomach, anticipation making itself known. I wanted to be between them, naked, writhing in pleasure. I wanted to be the focus of their attention, as I knew I would be. I wanted their full bond with no cracked barrier stifling any part of them.
I wanted all of their cocks in me at the same time.
Ashir tucked his cheeks against mine and I shivered when his warm breath floated over my skin. “Whatever’s going through your mind right now, I fully intend to take you up on it, my mate. I have my life to thank you for. Pleasuring you every day for the rest of your life and making you scream my name is small payment.”
“You’ll scream all our names.” Savvas tucked his knuckle beneath my chin and turned my head to kiss me.
“It will also be private where we can take our time uninterrupted. When we start, we don’t intend to stop for days,” Dias growled. His gaze lingered on mine, filled with promises before he rose.
I’d forgotten about the elves surrounding us. Savvas helped me to stand, his hand remaining about my waist while Dias helped Ashir to his feet. They remained around me. My private safety net of blood, flesh and love.
Shanyirra pushed through Savvas’ and Ashir’s biceps to gather me in her arms. “Well done, child.”
“Thank you, Shanyirra. But…how are you here? You rode into the village to destroy it. I thought you…wouldn’t make it back.” My throat thickened, thinking she had died. We’d ridden off so quickly, her white magic had been the last I’d seen of the village.
The lines around her eyes and mouth were deeper. It had taken a tragedy for her to age. “I protected myself in a magical bubble when I incinerated the village after making sure everyone was safe, much the same as I’ve done for this one here.”
I sucked in a quick breath as Peder glided past the elves surrounding us, encased in a magical bubble. White magic sparked over the opaque sphere he was suspended in. His eyes were closed, his body lax, but he wasn’t sleeping. My stomach writhed with a pit of vipers. “Peder? You saved him?”
“Yes, I saved him. We need answers and I have the feeling he can provide them,” Shanyirra said.
“How long do you need him alive after that?” Ashir’s eyes hardened. His arm snaked about my waist, his muscles unbreachable.
Shanyirra cackled. “As long as you want to keep him alive. I have no further use of him if he can provide the answers to my questions.”
The ghost of a smile curved his lips. “Wake him but keep him bound.”
Shanyirra whispered under her breath and the bubble around Peder morphed into ropes that bound his body. Out of the three of the cadre, Peder had been the worst to me, his sadistic streak brought to life with Titan’s magic. He liked the rush. The power. He liked he could make people do his bidding and the punishments he dished out. He was the cruel king of a world enabled by a psychopath.
