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Dull anxiety leadens my limbs while my fingers and toes tingle.There it is. I can feel the racing of my heart under Roan’s muscular weight; it feels like that is the only thing tethering me to this world. Grounding me.
Deep breath in, deep breath out.
Ok. So my ex had been haunting my dreams.
He stalked my nightmares and found me and managed to magic me away to try and force-mate me. Turns out that he was far more powerful thananyof us gave him credit for. And then the nabras ate him. The nabras that one hundred-percent talked to me. Again. Or whatever it is that’s been happening with me and the creatures of the Woods.
Cool. Easy.
Oh.
And I exploded magic at him.
I forgot that.
I’m grateful that I haven’t eaten in Gods knows how long because the memory of the sight and thesmellof his burnt flesh turns my stomach dangerously.
Apparently my magic is back? But different? I don’t understand what’s been happening to me over the past few months. I’ve felt it growing, but I have all the control of a fae toddler. It’s dangerous.
Just ask Darius.
Nope. Nope. We’re not doing that. Dr Brordieu is going to have a field day with this. At this rate, I should just buy him the boat and be done with it. Gods knows I’ll pay for it anyway with the amount of therapy I’m going to need after this.
At least this time feels different; I don’t feel the need to hide. Well, not yet anyway.
I mean, I felt okay when we made our way home from Marieth’s, or at least I managed to keep myself together until we got back to the tavern. But then, I’d been raw on the inside. Vulnerable, fragile.
With every deep breath, I mentally catalogue my body and my feelings, a technique I’ve been working on with the good doctor. Apparently, the first step to good communication, which according to him is a skill I suck at, is knowing yourself.
Do I feel great? No.
Physically, my body is bruised and aching. I must’ve hit my knees on those creek bed rocks because they are hurting like a bitch. And my chest is aching from those bands that’d pinned me. Not to mention the burns under my arms. How bad a control do you have to have to burn yourself with your own magic?
But mentally? I poke and prod around the edges of my feelings. I feel a little rocky, but it doesn’t have that same brittle feeling. This is different. I fought back. I stood up for myself in a way that I never have before. I was different this time.
And to be fair, Darius was scary, but he had nothing on the ancient and terrible awesomeness of Marieth. The leadened feeling in my arms and legs begins to relax slightly, giving me some of the feeling back.
The relief allows me to really revel in the warmth of Roan’s bare skin against mine. I don’t know how I ended up naked, too, but I’m grateful. I shimmy around so we’re pressed chest tochest, my half -hard dick against his belly. At this point, it’s just a permanent state of semi-erection whenever I’m near him.
It takes a little wiggling, but I manage to thread my thigh between his, so his cock is pressed against me, too, his thigh trapping my hip in a way that makes me feel secure and claimed. In all my fidgeting, his hand has settled on the small of my back, his fingers stroking there possessively.
He looks younger in his sleep—not that he’s old, even if I like to tease him about it. But the laugh lines around his eyes are smooth, and I kind of miss them. I lightly trace where they should be, and then trail my hand over his beard. I love that beard, too. It feels incredible against my skin when he does wicked things to me with his mouth.
My hand keeps moving, trailing over the sensitive tendons of his neck, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake, before I stroke the hard and smooth length of the horn not tucked into the pillow. In his sleep, his breathing increases at my touch, a grunt accentuating the punch of his hips when I grip the base of his horn, jerking it like his cock.
Continuing to tease, I run my fingers through his hair, long and loose, free from its usual bun, before tracing back around his neck and down his wide pecs. His already marvellous skin is even more tanned from all our work out in the sun. Reverently, my hand ghosts over the skin of his pecs, down to the hardness of his stomach, watching the muscles under his skin dance at my touch.
This is the true magic, right here, in this moment between us.
His cock is hidden from my touch, barricaded by our entwined legs, but I can feel it there, stiff and aching against me. My hand skirts back up to his nipples, brushing over the hardening nubs, until they get the better of me, and I give one a hard pinch. I quickly soothe it, rubbing it firmly, but the damage is done. Roanlets out a harsh huff, rearing back slightly, which only rubs his cock harder against me. Almost like it was by design.
A firm swat to my ass has me yelping, but it only makes my skin flush with heat. When his hand squeezes my cheek, grinding me impossibly closer, the flush turns to a fever, electricity sizzling through my veins.
“Brat.” The smile on his face is only topped by the affection in his voice. Thelove. My breath catches in my throat when I look into his dark grey eyes and the emotion there. If I am lucky, I will get to wake to that sight every morning for the rest of my life.
“So, this is your place, huh? It’s… not very you.”
He barks a laugh, dropping a kiss to my forehead, his hips grinding into me lazily, like he doesn’t even notice that he’s doing it.
