Page 67 of Magic in the Moonlight

Fuck.

I’d just wanted to distract her from her line of questioning, but she’s making it extremely difficult for me to stop.

The bond pulses inside me. Like a physical force, it reels us in closer. Hannah’s soul is my vortex, and I’ll always get sucked in.

Rymus is no longer making a ruckus. The paralysis has set in. I’m betting the bees are satisfied with the damage they did, and I hope they’ve stopped stinging. Even if Rymus is my enemy, I don’t wish him more suffering than required.

Hannah’s hands start wandering. They always do. Greedy little fiend.

While slipping under my shirt to toy with one of my nipples, she fumbles with the buttons on my pants.

I could fuck her against the door frame right now. Just hike up her skirt and drive my cock into her wet heat.

But I won’t.

Mustering all the self-control I can, I rip my lips away from Hannah’s. Still framing her face with my hands, I look upon her beauty.

Her big maple-syrup eyes stare up at me, pleading me not to stop. But the dark circles underneath are motivation to put distance between us.

A few days of suffering from mate withdrawal is a small price to pay for a long life together.

Planting one last kiss on her forehead, I head inside to encourage her to drink more water and try to ignore the pang of disappointment that travels through the bond from her heart to mine.

HANNAH

“You should stay away from this area. The bees could return.” Ellister’s tone is bossy as he paces restlessly in front of me where I’m kneeling next to Rymus’ unrecognizable face.

Tossing him an annoyed look, I yank another stinger from Rymus’ head with my gloved fingers.

“They won’t. They’ve abandoned the hive.” I motion to the destroyed sack on the ground. “There’s no reason for them to stay, and I bet they’re busy making their new home somewhere else.”

Ellister peers into the hive with a happy expression. “At least we’ve got all this honey to ourselves.”

Well, not completely to ourselves. I have a bowl of it next to me, reserved to treat Rymus’ welts.

I’m going to have to slather it all over his entire top half because without a shirt, he had no armor against the bees. His skin doesn’t even look like skin anymore. It’s red and raised, looking like he got doused with boiling water. Some of the blisters are oozing. I haven’t looked at his legs yet, but there are a few stingers sticking out of the fabric covering his right thigh.

Ellister growls. “I don’t like you touching another man.”

“You should’ve thought about that before you did this.” Huffing, I go back to meticulously removing each barb embedded on this poor guy.

In response, Ellister doubles down. “It was the best choice, and I’d do it again, given the chance.”

I try to sense his emotions through the bond. Honestly, I’m searching for a hint of remorse over what he did to Rymus, but I’m reading mostly stubborn determination.

I sigh, accepting his ruthless side as part of him. A part of him that I love, regardless of how brutal it may be.

“Where are we going to keep him?” I ask.

“Keep him?” Ellister sounds confused, like he hadn’t even considered giving Rymus any shelter.

“Yeah. We can’t just leave him out in the woods. He could get eaten by a bear or something.”

“Well, he’s not staying in our house.”

“Where else is there? The barn is occupied by—”

Ellister cuts me off with a slashing motion of his hand. “Rymus might be paralyzed, but he’s awake and aware. He can hear everything, so be careful how much you say.”

---