Page 49 of Tortured Soul
My damned cheeks flushed again and he grinned.
“What I meant is,Ican help you recharge. Give you a daily dose of energy without forcing you to have sex or anything. So your pheromones won’t drive me to the point of madness again, and I won’t have to kill anyone else for laying a forceful hand on you.”
Was he serious?
Memories flashed back in my mind. My hands on his broad chest. My lips on his neck. My tongue and teeth at his throat. His moansmusic to my ears. His hands fisted at his sides so he wouldn’t touch me.
“It’s a stupid plan,” I rasped even though the idea of never running low on energy and taking advantage of his strong one sent warmth through my whole body.
“Why?” he questioned, a curious look on his face.
“How would it work, exactly? Am I supposed to meet you in your office for an hour a day for some kind of nap? And what if one day we have a disagreement and you decide to stop helping me after I’ve placed my trust in you?”
The laugh leaving his throat was deep and loud. I frowned, not sure what amused him.
“I don’t nap. You’d move here and recharge during the night. And Kai was right, you’re very distrusting. Should we make a binding promise?”
I scoffed but the amusement died quickly at the seriousness of his face.
“You’re joking, right?”
“I’m not.” He straightened up, sitting on his haunches in front of me on the bed and grabbed a sharp knife from his back pocket, slicing his own palm without a second thought, revealing an unusual colored blood. “No matter what happens, we’ll share a bed at night if we’re physically able to. I swear to provide you with a daily dose of energy and you swear not to let your energy get this low again if I’m here to help prevent it.”
I sat up, leaning on my elbow, watching him with parted lips, a dumb look on my face.
“Are you insane?”
One of his brows arched upward as he kept his arm straight in front of him, the blood filling his hand.
“I’m not. Do you want to add your own conditions?”
I bit my lip, watching his hand and the strange bronze blood pouring. A binding promise could not be broken unless revoked by both parties. It would help me out a lot here.
And bring me closer to Arc, which would get Kai off my back.
I took the knife he handed me and sliced my own palm, black blood pouring from the line.
“Swear not to force yourself on me.”
His eyes narrowed slightly before his smile widened. “I swear not to touch you inappropriately,unless you ask me to.”
He grabbed my hand in his before I could argue, interlacing our fingers.
A burst of air shuffled both of our hair and a golden light circled our linked hands. His eyes held my slightly frightened ones with determination.
A few papers flew around, drops of our mixed blood falling from our hands but remaining floating in the air. Before they could reach the bed, our mixed blood lifted back up to slide between our palms and spread to our fingers, bringing a tickling sensation up to my bones.
And then the wind stopped. The golden band vanished and all that was left was Arc and I, our breath short, and hands still holding each other.
I was the first to pull away, turning my hand to look at my palm. At the disappearing scar but dark bronze pattern spreading from the white line toward the tips of my fingers, the same one mirrored on Arc’s.
“It’s old magic,” I mused, remembering the only time I made a binding promise before. “Where did you learn about it?”
He retreated, standing up from the bed to go shuffling on his desk, picking up the flyaway pieces of paper.
“I grew up with a warlock. He knew a lot about old forgotten blood magic. Taught me some things that I could do without being one myself.”
So that was it?
