Page 92 of All the Devils are Here

His brows furrowed in thought, and I brushed a finger between them. “It’s hard to explain. As soon as the magic was in you… have you ever justknownsomething? Without a shadow of a doubt? I knew with mywhole being that you were mine. If I had to describe it, it’s like there’s a line connecting me to you. Straight from my soul to yours. It’s bright and vibrant, and all I want ismoreof it.”

“How would it be for you? As a spirit. Do you still bite me?”

“I can.” He reached and drew my head to the side. “But my instincts tell me no, that’s not the only way. I can… mark you. Break your skin with my power. Not quite the same as a bite.”

“I’m nervous about it, but I’m also nervous about not getting the chance to experience it.”

“Only when you’re ready,” He said.

I rolled my eyes. “Did all of you get together while I was sleeping and agree that was the party line?”

“No.” He rolled off me and pulled me up to sitting. “Of course not. But it’s irreversible. We all know what it’s like to have something irreversible forced on us, and we didn’t have to talk about it to know we don’t want that for our mate. So, when you’re ready.”

Looking out at the ocean, it stretched into infinity, a living flame with the sunset streaking across both the sky and the water. Ariel was right. It was more than just a normal fight and normal relief when we came together. It was so much more than that. But how would this have gone if I’d been able to feel him? Would it have made it better or worse?

I was still learning about this. But if Laurent and Ariel and the others were right—and they had no reason to lie—then I had instincts too. So deep I couldn’t even sense them. But now? I felt like this fight would have been a lot simpler.

We resolved it easily, but we might not have had to resolve it at all. I wanted this with them, and I knew they didn’t want it to be a place from fear, and it wasn’t. It was from a place of eagerness. Ofwantingthe life we were trying to achieve.

“What if I’m ready?” I asked.

Ariel’s head whipped around so quickly it probably would have broken if he wasn’t a spirit. “What did you say?”

“What if I’m ready?”

Disintegrating, he formed himself around me, and we whirled to the sand at the base of the rocks. My back hit the stone, and Ariel’s body was aligned with mine once more, but this time there wasintent.

“You can’t say things like that, Meghan. Not if you’re not serious.”

“Who said I wasn’t serious?”

He blinked, his eyes clearing of the dark and feral ferocity for a moment. “Really?”

“Really.”

Ariel’s mouth slammed down on mine, every bit of unbridled passion he’d been holding back. The cloud of who he was surrounded me, cradling me in a way nothing else could—completely.

“Are you sure?” His mouth dragged down my jaw and neck to my shoulder, pulling the shirt aside.

I moaned at the feeling of his tongue on my skin. “Ask me again and see what happens.”

He laughed darkly, and my gasp turned into a scream as we rocketed into the air. Over the island toward some unknown destination. This time it wasn’t nearly as bad, since I understood the sensations and that he wasn’t going to drop me.

“I’ve got you,” he told me. Just like the first time. But now it was different. Now hehadme.

“Where are we going?”

“To show you something beautiful.” Our momentum slowed, but we didn’t touch the ground. “Open your eyes.”

The pool of water in front of me was so close to the beach the waves nearly touched it. At high tide, they probably would. But now the surface of the water was perfectly still, reflecting the dying sunset. It was as round as a pearl, and Ariel was right. It was beautiful.

“Wow.”

Ariel set me down, my toes touching the edge of the water and setting off a single ripple that swayed the image. The sun was behind us, the sky darkening in front of us, and the moon rising.

“This is my favorite place on the island. Even after all this time. It’s no pink mountains.”

“It’s beautiful.”

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