Page 76 of Tethered Magick

“Oh God.” I took another sip. “That’s incredible, Chayton.” Reaching for his hand, I intertwined my fingers with his. “You’re the sweetest. Thank you.” I squeezed his hand, holding eye contact with him despite the grunts and blows happening behind me. “Are we… okay?” I searched for the right word, but it fell short.

Chayton had apologized profusely when he’d come back inside yesterday. I was hurt that he’d run from me, especially since he left me naked in the kitchen with his come slicking my thighs, but I was trying to work past those feelings. I knew why he’d done it. The failed bond hurt me as much as it hurt him, and I understood his primal urge to shift, even if it wasn’t a part of myself I could tap into right now.

“Of course,nizhóní.”

I sighed, longing for the normalcy we used to share, already tired of the lingering awkwardness from yesterday. Standing, I carefully placed the drink on the stump before wrapping my arms around Chayton. His entire body softened, the muscles he’d been keeping tense finally relaxing into my hold.

His beautiful brown eyes were growing darker in the fading twilight, and I begged him to tell me the truth as I stared into their depths.

“Really?” I pressed, and Chayton’s pupils expanded as he slowly exhaled.

“Honestly, I feel awful about yesterday. I wish I could go back and react differently. That I could undo the damage I’ve done. I never want to make you feel like that again.” Chayton’s words rushed out, and then he shook his head like he was surprised he’d opened up so completely.

“You haven’t damaged anything,” I vowed. “You’re allowed to have feelings. You’re allowed to hurt, to need alone time, and to process everything that’s been going on.”

Chayton was looking at the ground and shaking his head, so I shook him slightly.

“You’re always looking out for everyone else, Chayton. You see everything. Know everything. Fix everything. It’s okay not to be okay. It’s okay to be the one who needs fixing or care.”

“I’m not used to it,” he admitted, squeezing me tighter.

“It’s just me,” I told him gently. “You can take care of the pack. Hell, you can take care of me, and I won’t say a word. But we’re mates, baby. Mates. Bite or no fucking bite.” His gaze fell to my shoulder where his attempt at mate bite had already healed, leaving behind perfect skin. I saw the flash of hurt in his gaze before he blinked and cleared it away. “Do you know what that means?”

“Hmm?” he hummed, knowing it was more of a rhetorical question.

“That I get to take care of you too. You’re not the only one with the pack’s wellbeing on your hands. And your wellbeing matters to me. So if you’re not okay, you can tell me, and you can let me take care of it or try and fix it or… fuck… just hold you through it.”

“Nizhóní.” It sounded as though Chayton had swallowed glass, his voice rough with emotion. As he struggled for words, I smiled and finally asked a question I’d been meaning to for a while.

“That word sounds so pretty when you say it. What does it mean?”

“It is the Navajo word for beautiful. Something that encompasses you both on the outside—” Chayton leaned down and kissed one cheek. “And, more importantly, on the inside.” He kissed the other, the graze of his lips a tingling brush of soft flesh. “I don’t know what I did for the great spirits to bless me by bringing you into my life, beautiful, but I don’t deserve you.”

I cradled his face in my hands and popped up onto my tiptoes. “None of us are perfect, but we're perfect together, and there’s beauty in our imperfections. We’re going to have blips. Ups and downs. That’s just part of relationships. The trick is working through them and still loving each other at the end. And I do, Chayton. I love you.”

“Lorn.” My name was a prayer, a plea, a promise. Chayton’s hugs were incredible, a pure encompassment of warmth and protection, and I thawed into his grasp, melding into the planes of his body. My toes barely touched the ground as he held me close. “I love you,nizhóní. And I always will.”

One by one, my mates were choosing me, and it had nothing to do with obligation or because we were fated to be together. We’d been stripped bare, reduced to nothing, and yet they were all still here.

Deep within me, my primal spirit stirred at the claim, and I held that promise close to my heart for the rest of the night.

Twenty-Two

Lorn

“You sure you’d rather not bite me?” Axel smiled sinfully, arching his neck for me temptingly.

I held his wrist in my hand and stared at him as I lowered my head and ran my tongue along the cut he’d painfully put in his wrist to add blood to my berry smoothie. It healed with the swipe of my tongue, the tiniest dose of my venom making him gasp from the tingles it sent into his bloodstream.

“I’d love to feed from you if you’re amenable, but you know Jolon won’t be happy if you shirk your shift on the perimeter to sex me up.”

“Somehow I think he’ll understand. Maybe Kota could work my shift.” Axel slid closer, and his tongue flicked out a moment before he bit his bottom lip seductively. What was it about that small movement that turned me into a puddle?

Axel’s pheromones rose around us, and I would have swayed closer except Kota scoffed as he came into the room.

“No, Kota cannot take your shift.” Kota raised an eyebrow. “He just worked the day shift, and he’s tired as fuck.”

“Fucking. Exactly the point I was trying to make,” Axel whined good-naturedly, and then groaned when he realized he wasn’t going to be getting any.

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