Wildfire Witch (The Cursed Coven of Spells Hollow)

15. Seth

SETH

We need you now. Despite the panic thrumming through me at the sound of her roughened voice, I kept my presence steady and calm on this side of the phone call. But I was definitely freaking out on the inside. What’d happened? How the hell did she get hurt with Ceridor protecting her?

“I’m on my way, Nix. Rusty is here with me.” I glanced over at the huge man taking up the passenger seat and most of the legroom, despite adjusting the chair back. He had his head tilted, listening in on the conversation with a shifter’s advanced hearing.

Dirt and dried blood flecked his arms in scale-shaped patterns where it hadn’t been scraped off of him when he’d crawled through the ground in the process of making a tunnel for my car. Most harrowing drive of my life, but the car was intact, and I had towels for him to sit on afterward so he didn’t mess up the leather seat. We’d stopped briefly to buy him a couple changes of clothes, as he was too broad to borrow Ceridor’s stuff and too tall for mine.

“I…I don’t know where we are,” Nix rasped.

“That’s fine,” I said. We would come to her. We’d been tracking Ceridor’s phone location as soon as we’d emerged from the getaway tunnel, watching it blip in and out of service in an erratic flight pattern which was pointed mostly east. “What matters right now is keeping you and Cer stable until we get there. I’m going to ask a few questions and give you instructions. Okay?”

“Okay,” she echoed.

“Are you two safe right now?” I asked.

Her labored breathing filled the line for a few moments too long. She didn’t answer with much confidence. “I think so.”

My insides iced at her uncertainty. A dangerous rumble sounded from the shifter next to me. I gestured sharply for him to quiet down. “Is Cer awake?” I asked.

“No, he’s out. But he’s alive. Benedict attacked us while we…while we were flying.” She grunted with effort. “Ceridor’s on top of me. I didn’t realize he was this heavy.”

The dragon side was overtaking Rusty, starting with shifting his eyes into a dragon’s glare. “Benedict attacked them. What the fuck?”

I didn’t know who the fuck Benedict was, and I usually wasn’t one for violence, but I would shank him with an ice knife if he came for Nix once I found her.

“Benedict’s dead. I think.” Nix made another grunt before sighing in relief. “There. Before he died, he bit Cer. There are puncture wounds. We crash landed out in the middle of nowhere.”

“Is she hurt?” Rusty asked.

My hand tightened on the steering wheel. We were basically out in the middle of nowhere too, which helped me focus on Nix. “He must be bleeding. Here’s what you do…” I instructed her how to staunch the bleeding. She put Ceridor’s phone down to rip what remained of his shirt for makeshift bandages, and I used the opportunity to slow and check my tracking app.

Shit. We were heading north on the only main road around, but it would be a good twenty minutes before we were parallel with where they’d landed. Except they were in the middle of a national park, it looked like. We’d have to hike to reach them.

“ Is she hurt ?” Rusty repeated, this time with a dragon’s bass fury underlying his voice.

There was a scuffle on the other side of the call, and I put the phone back to my ear. “I can hear Rusty growling from here,” she muttered. “Tell him I’m fine.”

“Then you’re up next,” I said with a crack in my calm EMT voice. Holy hell, I hoped she wasn’t too badly injured, with how far out we were. I leaned away from the clawed hand trying to steal the phone from me, glaring icy shards over at Rusty for his daring. “Are you bleeding?”

“A little,” she answered. Fuck . She seemed like the type to downplay her wounds. “I’m a terrible patient, Seth. All I can feel is the pain and heat from my curse. I might have a broken leg and not even know it right now.”

My brows rose. “Ah…I think you’d notice that, dear.”

“I’m ‘dear’ to you now, hmm, cutie?” Before I could even blush, she coughed a few shallow times, and my brows furrowed with concern. “I’m so thirsty.”

“She’s going into shock,” Rusty rumbled.

I adjusted my glasses and considered. She could be, considering the trauma she’d been through. “Are you feeling dizzy, sweetheart?” I asked.

“Did he say shock?” she asked. “I’m fine. I’ve just pushed my limits again. Just bring me some water…it’s Ceridor who’s in trouble. He’s…” she drifted off with a dry sob.

This time, Rusty succeeded in plucking the phone from my grip. I took the opportunity to rev the car’s engine and zoom faster through the lazy traffic around us. The cops could chase us if they wanted. Fuck it, I’d break supernatural law and use Moortide magic to make them forget why they tried to pull us over in the first place.

“Listen to me now, mate. You’ve got that fae all trussed up? He’s going to be fine. What you’re going to do now is you’re going to lie down for me.” He paused for a second as she responded, likely with sass, and he growled back. “Don’t tease me so. Just lie down and see if you can elevate your legs and feet on something, like a rock. We’ll get you a cold shower as soon as we can. Stay on the line. We just want to hear your voice.”

He put her on speakerphone and pulled up the tracking app again, holding it up at eye level so I could glance at it.

“Not much to hear right now,” Nix rasped. Her labored breathing wasn’t improving. “I’m lying down. What now?”

“And you elevated your feet?” I prompted in concern.

“Thighs spread too, while I was at it,” she said sarcastically.

Completely missing that nuance, Rusty rumbled, “Good girl.”

“Ooh. Put that sexy dragon voice away for now. This is serious,” she muttered.

“What’s more serious than making sure my mate is comfortable?” He’d hit a fine balance between dragon and man, and while Nix seemed to appreciate it, I rolled my eyes. He coaxed her into a bit of small talk while I focused more on the road.

Once we were about as close as the road would get us, I found a flat patch of grass to pull off. Leaving Rusty to talk to her with his special voice, I shut off the car and went around the back to retrieve my bag of medical supplies. He got out a moment later and jerked his chin, covering the receiver on the phone. “This is going to be embarrassing and shit, but I know how we’ll get there fastest,” he said.

Minutes later, I was riding on an earthen dragon’s back and holding onto his pants. Good thing I was a Moortide—just in case any unfortunate hikers crossed our path. Rusty was built with a serpentine shape, but layered with muscle and thick scales that transformed him from the sinewy, graceful beasts of legend into a draconic battering ram that ate up the ground between us and Nix. When trees grew too close together for him, he parted the earth between them without breaking stride.

Despite the situation, I clung to one of the ridges on his spine and cracked a stressed smile. Riding a dragon was not something I expected to cross off on my bucket list. Something told me I wouldn’t get another chance to climb on Rusty’s back.

We’d said goodbye to Nix for the moment, and I steered Rusty toward the blinking dot on my phone app. This really was the fastest way to travel, as he was soon saying, “I smell them,” and jerking abruptly to the left. He nearly unseated me in his haste to get to Nix’s side.

He remained shifted and lowered to the ground, letting me use his leg as a staircase to the forest floor. He loomed over Nix in concern, sniffing and nudging her with his blunted snout.

Since it was Ceridor who needed the most medical attention, I reluctantly left her to Rusty and I kneeled by his prone form. The fae was shirtless, his usual icy complexion ashen with blood loss. Haphazard strips of cloth crossed his torso, already soaked through in a crescent pattern of punctures. Patches on his side were blistering and swelling with second-degree burns.

“Fighting a dragon was ballsy, even for you,” I muttered.

Ceridor could be arrogant. Domineering, even. There’d been times I’d regretted being bound to the same woman as him, but that was before meeting the woman he was so obsessed with. As I looked from his unconscious body to Nix, panting and reddened, presumably because of her fire magic, I felt a wave of gratitude.

He’d protected her to the edge of death’s door. Very few men would do such a thing, but he had for her. Because of his actions, we could save both of them.

I laid out the magic-enhanced medical supplies I’d packed for the trip. He would need at least two shots of the advanced healing tonic, and an extra booster for red blood cell production, plus salve for the burns.

Nix got up with Rusty’s help. He’d shifted back and put on his pants, letting her lean on him as she made her way over ever so slowly. They watched me administer the shots first, then clean and re-bandage his wounds with gauze after giving him a thick layer of salve over his burns. I got into the zone of this familiar work too much; it was a surprise to look up and realize she was looking distraught. Teary, with no actual tears.

“He’ll heal, but he may not wake for up to twenty-four hours from now. The tonic I dosed him with will keep him in a type of healing sleep,” I reassured her.

She breathed a sigh of relief and limped forward, going down less than gracefully to fling her arms around my shoulders. “Thank you, Seth,” she said, holding me tight.

I hugged her back, despite feeling I was drawing dangerously close to a furnace. “Of course. Now, it’s time I looked at you.” I wanted to tend to her and make her comfortable.

She shook her head. “I’m just hot and in pain. Once my curse dies down more, you can check for other stuff.”

I ignored her denial and nudged her to sit in the leaf litter across from me. My fingers and eyes roved over her in quick, practiced movements. I was too much of a professional to have my touch linger, especially when she flinched a few times in pain. It seemed she was right…she was mostly okay otherwise. I picked out a syringe for her. “For pain management,” I said, holding it up so the gemstone green color of the potion within gleamed in the sunlight. “What did I hear earlier about a cold shower?”

She sighed and extended her arm. “It’s one of the few things that can cool me off if I overexert like this,” she explained.

I gave her the injection in the crook of her elbow and stroked the unshaved stubble on my jaw thoughtfully. “I can give you a groundwater bath. But you’ll want to take a real one soon after.”

She glanced down at herself and the brownish blotches over her clothes. “Oh no, not a shower. It’s not like I’m absolutely filthy,” she said dryly. She muffled a yawn, eyelids falling to half-mast. After the day she’d had, I wasn’t surprised the drowsiness was setting in so fast as a side effect of the potion.

I chuckled, standing, and offering her my hands. “Come over here away from Cer, dear.”

I helped her up and put an arm around her waist, helping her take slow, pained steps away from him. Once I figured he was out of the range of any splashes, we stopped and she leaned against me, head tucked against my collarbone.

Her amber-brown eyes fixed on me with sleepy trust and I just about melted. I was so damn lucky she was my anam cara. Even exhausted and roughed up, she was stunning, fine-boned and petite. Without her usual no-nonsense resting expression, she could stop me in my tracks.

Time to get this beauty wet.

I called on my magic, reaching deep into the placid pool of my control to feel the pockets of ground water underneath our feet, and a stream near enough for the range of my power. Closing my fist, I pulled , and the water responded, flowing into a whirlpool a few feet away. I lifted my hand and it lifted too, forming an arc that dumped over our heads.

Blistering hot steam erupted around Nix, but the cold water also running over my skin protected me from the worst of it. She sizzled like a quenched fire, yet tilted her head up with a clear moan that had the front of my wet pants tightening. “Yes, just like that,” she said breathlessly.

Most of the water that ran off us was too hot to reuse, bubbling as it returned to the ground under our feet. “Oh yes, that feels amazing. More, Seth!” she said in a tone verging on erotic. I clenched my jaw, reminding myself to be a gentleman. I managed to give her a few minutes of this impromptu bath before my control ebbed away. Pulling on this much water at once was a little much for me.

I brushed off most of the wetness on my skin and gathered up what was soaked through my hair and clothes. Lifting this last bit of water, I rained it down on her with a playful twinkle of my fingers. Sparkles of Moortide magic joined the drops, adding glimmers to her hair, and she released a rough little laugh that did twisty things to my insides. “Just wish I’d lasted longer,” I said earnestly. Rusty, who was subtly adjusting himself, snorted in agreement.

She gave me a look of gratitude before her gaze drifted lower. By the knowing curve of her mouth, I figured she knew exactly what she’d done. “Later,” she said in an undertone. “If you’re still interested.”

I bent and brushed a kiss over her temple. “When you feel better,” I murmured.

“Bonding with you will help me,” she admitted quietly.

Holy hell, in that case, I’d do it with the dragon man watching. He was certainly staring holes through my skull while we were having this moment. She glanced over and smiled at him. Just like that, his big growly man act softened. “Bonding with you both means I won’t have another episode like this…hopefully.”

“Anything you need,” he said with all the perky energy of a golden retriever.

She covered another yawn. “I need…a nap,” she said heavily.

“Let’s grab wind guy and get to the car, then,” he said, unbuttoning his jeans. Nix squeaked in surprise, and he unzipped extra slowly with a wink.

I rolled my eyes. “He’s going to carry us in his dragon form. It’s how we got here so quickly,” I explained.

“Oh,” she murmured.

He huffed and discarded the jeans, changing to his second form and lowering himself flat to the ground. “I’ll hand wind guy up,” he rumbled.

Before I climbed up on his back, I searched for Ceridor’s staff. He might wake up and murder one of us if we left it behind. I was under the impression it was quite valuable. It was lightweight despite its length, so I had Nix hold it and the dragon’s jeans, while I sat behind her with my back to one of Rusty’s scaled ridges. I looped a protective arm around her middle. The part of me that’d been panicking ever since she’d called was soothed by the contact.

Rusty lifted Ceridor and placed him in front of Nix. We both supported his weight and kept him upright for the journey.

Rusty lumbered back more carefully now that the emergency was over. “We need to get to Spells Hollow,” Nix said. “Can you guys drive us towards New York while I catch some rest?”

“Not a problem, my dear,” I said.

“What will be a problem is fitting all of us. These two brought more shit than the car can fit,” Rusty said over his shoulder.

“To be fair, some of that shit is mine,” she said. “Guess I’m sleeping in someone’s lap.”

“Mine,” he responded immediately.

“Hold on?—”

“Seth’s driving. I call dibs,” he said.

“This isn’t high school. You’re not calling shotgun,” she muttered.

“Oh, don’t worry, mate. I already called that too.”

I shook my head with a sigh. “It would make sense to do it that way. We can move all the extra stuff to one corner and have Ceridor in the other backseat.”

Once we made it back to the car and Rusty had both shifted and dressed out of sight, that was exactly what we did. I buckled the unconscious fae into a backseat space I barely cleared enough room for and Rusty eased back the passenger seat about as far back as it could go without crushing Ceridor’s kneecaps. He gleefully held Nix while I programmed the car’s navigation and set the wheels in motion onto the next leg of our trip to New York.

We drove until the sun set. It was peaceful enough, since Ceridor was dead to the world and neither of us wanted to wake Nix. She’d passed out with her head on Rusty’s shoulder, hands tucked under her chin. She called me cute, yet I thought she was adorable in that pose.

Rusty and I made basic conversation at whisper level. He reassured me he wasn’t in the Fire Brotherhood, but the complete story of his real government job was too long, and he only wanted to share it once with everyone. Then he asked why I didn’t use my control over water to fight more seriously alongside him and Ceridor earlier.

“I dunno, man. I dreamed of being a doctor once. I want to be a healer, not a fighter,” I told him. “Watching you and Ceridor, though…wow. I wish I could do something just as impressive when I needed to.”

“It’s not too late to learn. I haven’t met many water witches, but I felt your power earlier. You’ve got potential,” he said, inclining his head. “Train with me. If we’re going to mate with the same female, we’re going to share the duty of protecting her, too.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said.

It was only when my overburdened car coasted in to stop before a motel did we argue and wake Nix. “I don’t want my mate sleeping in this shithole,” he hissed.

“We have to put Ceridor somewhere, and without a glamor, someone’s going to notice he’s got pointy ears and blue-ish hair if we try to sneak him through like, a hotel lobby,” I said, gesturing over my shoulder.

Nix stirred with a groan. “Long as it’s got a shower, I’ll sleep here,” she mumbled.

“You haven’t even opened your eyes yet, mate,” Rusty said in his draconic rumble.

She hummed and burrowed into his shirt. “Who’s paying for this?” she asked.

“Ceridor, of course. Mister ancient moneybags let me put one of his credit cards on my phone. With that being said…two rooms?” I asked, reaching for the door handle.

“Yes. One for Nix and me, the other for you two,” Rusty said.

Nix lifted her head, her sleep-rumpled hair and grumpy expression drawing a chuckle out of me. “Seth and me,” she declared. My heart skipped a beat before doubling its pace in excitement.

She looked up at Rusty, patting his chest. “I know you have to be more than a fire bro, since you’re in this car with us. But I just want to be with my cute EMT right now.”

“I’ll prove myself to you, too,” the dragon shifter promised, determination wiping away the hurt on his face.

I slipped from the car to get those rooms purchased, holding in a giddy grin until my back was to Rusty. Nix wanted to be with me. I was going to have to give her the shower of a lifetime to prove she’d chosen right.

Once I had keys in hand, we drove around to our assigned building. Rusty hefted Ceridor with a sigh and went off to one room, while I showed Nix into the one right next door. It wasn’t exactly high society living, but Nix still sighed in relief as she placed down the bag she’d wanted to bring in and flopped face-first on the bed.

“Do we have any food?” she asked, muffled by the comforter.

“I’ll call in a pizza,” I offered. “Maybe get one for the dragon.” Nice consolation prize, cheese and grease. I’d get him one with all the meat toppings.

She mumbled something about pepperoni and extra cheese while I sat next to her, placing a quick call with the order. Afterward, I chucked my phone aside and eyed her with concern. She had to still be exhausted after the whirlwind of the last few days. Maybe she’d asked to spend the night with me because she knew I wouldn’t pressure her for sex like Rusty obviously wanted to. I would be a gentleman if that’s what she needed right now, even if it killed me.

After a minute or two, she lifted her head to look over at me. “Seth, I’m going to go take a shower with my favorite flowery soap and the coldest possible water. You can join me if you want to.” She unfolded her arms and lifted, stretching her back in a feline arch. My breath quickened as she made for the shower and looked at me over her shoulder with a promise in the coy slant of her eyes.

I was up and after her immediately. She fiddled with a bag of toiletries as she glanced into the chipped bathroom mirror at my reflection and lifted her brows. “You can make me smell pretty too,” I said with a self-conscious laugh.

“You’re a sweetheart, aren’t you?” she murmured. I felt myself blush in surprise.

She stripped off her clothes. I fumbled with the button of my jeans like a virgin while she turned on the shower, sending off a short cloud of scalding mist when it hit her skin.

I joined her when it sounded like her body had cooled off again. The tub underfoot had a good bath mat, which I was glad for. I didn’t want to slip and fall while sharing a shower with her. She lathered up, not even showing signs of goosebumps as she hogged most of the water. Fine curls of steam rose from her body.

“Do you always take cold showers?” I asked, already shivering.

She nodded and rinsed the suds off her face. “It helps. Nothing has stopped the heat completely, but I didn’t know why I was overheating at all until recently.”

Blindly, she offered a bar of soap over her shoulder. I rubbed it between my palms and stepped closer, running my hands down her sides. “Is this okay?” I murmured, keeping my touch light.

“You can feel me, Seth,” she whispered back. “You can look. I’m you anam cara, as the stars have said. We complete one another’s souls. Even if there hasn’t been time to make a deep bond…I know we will.”

“I know we will too,” I said in agreement. Already, I felt drawn to her. In a few months, we’d be as inseparable as her and Ceridor. The anam cara bond rewarded patience with deepening intimacy.

She must’ve realized I was trying to keep my gaze respectful, even with both of us naked. I tipped it downward, past her crown of hair, taking in the pert swells of her breasts and the dusky pink nipples that capped them, just waiting to be played with. She had a perfect, heart-shaped ass, too.

I spread soap over her belly, gliding my hands up to her boobs to tweak and pull her nipples gently. She bit her lower lip. “We’re not going too fast, are we?” she asked.

“I don’t think so. Not if you don’t.” I looped my arms around her, hugging her from behind. “And like you said, bonding will help you.”

“I will probably be able to access your magic, like I can now reach Ceridor’s. Your water will further balance out my fire,” she explained, leaning against me and resting her arms over mine. She flashed the tattoo on the back of her hand and I did a double-take. I’d been in a professional mindset through tending to her and the detail had completely slipped my notice. “And once Rusty joins in, the balance of elements within me should be equalized. I doubt I will have anything resembling perfect symmetry, but I’ll take not burning to death. Especially once it leads to me breaking my curse.”

“Sounds great,” I murmured.

“You’re okay with this?” she confirmed.

I barely had to consider before I nodded. “I’ve been trying to serve the greater good my whole life. What could be better than stabilizing the woman I was meant to be with?” I reasoned.

She sighed softly and pressed a kiss to my collarbone. “See? You’re such a sweet man. Let’s get clean first, though. I’m tired of smelling like sweat and smoke.”

I smiled and took the opportunity to soap the supple skin down her legs, taking my time to feel her, before handing the bar back to her. She turned to face me finally, her pupils dilating a bit when they traveled down from my face. The biggest grin split hers. “I knew you’d be a cutie even in your birthday suit!”

“What?” I laughed. At least it was too cold to blush again.

She spread soap over the planes of my chest. I was trim, but not bulky. I stayed in shape for my job and avoided sweets as part of my lifestyle. With her reverent hands as they caressed my muscles and started down my arms, plus the way she looked at me with a near-literal smolder…

Yeah, I was taking a cold shower, but I was harder than a steel pipe.

“You look cute in everything you wear. It’s almost not fair,” she teased.

I put my fists on my hips. “I’m happy to model this suit for you more.”

She cooed and stroked my cock, cleaning it with slick, hot fingers. I shivered at the sensation of cold that followed when she rinsed it and cleaned my legs like an afterthought. Then she tossed the bar to land with a muffled thump somewhere in the back of the tub and pressed her hands to my shoulders, trying to nudge me back. She lifted to her toes, and I met her halfway, our lips brushing, testing, seeing what felt right.

And a lot about the moment felt right as the kiss deepened, our breaths mingling hot and chill together. My cock jumped from the soft noises she made when I cupped and massaged her ass. Then I lifted her and pivoted, so her back was pressed to a tile wall. Ropes of water answered my command, weaving from the showerhead into my waiting hand.

“I have a confession too,” I said playfully. “I had an adventurous late teens practicing for you.”

“Why do I feel like that’s the prelude to some kinky fuckery?” she said in her usual dry tone.

“Just a taste of it tonight. Is there anything you don’t like?” I asked.

“Not that I know of,” she answered. She let me take her wrists, fixing them above her head with a knotted length of watery rope. It’d break if she exerted real pressure on it.

When I had plenty of water to work with, I had a tentacle of pure water shut off the shower and drop the plug in the tub. “If I do anything you don’t want, just tell me to stop. I’m here to pleasure you tonight,” I said.

Her amber eyes were fixed on a water tentacle undulating next to her while I was still getting my bearings on the amount of liquid I was controlling. The first hints of a flush made her skin pink. “As long as I get to touch you later,” she said.

“Later,” I agreed. I kissed her again, trailing kisses from the corner of her mouth to the slender column of her throat. She released a breathy moan when I sucked on her soft skin.

The prospect of impressing my anam cara had once been my driving motivation to practice magic. I’d wanted to use it to pamper her like a queen, and I would. Past tonight, I’d develop it even more to protect her. Rusty was right…we were the only thing standing between her and the outside world. The Fire Brotherhood weren’t the only supernaturals out there that would harm her to take her phoenix.

For now, though, my magic made harmless tentacles of cold water, helping me tease and caress her. I wrapped a chilled coil around one of her boobs while suckling the other into my mouth. She moaned my name with a little giggle, her arms shifting as she fought the urge to hold me there. My hands caressed her backside while the tip of a tentacle traced the outline of her slit.

“Do much back here?” I murmured against her skin. My pinky slipped to the rim of her back entrance, circling slowly. By the way she nearly jumped out of her skin, I had my answer.

“No, but…that felt pretty amazing,” she breathed.

“A little play, then,” I said. With three dudes lusting after her, she’d need to prep for more of this. I let the tentacle take the place of my fingertip, teasing the sensitive pucker.

I nipped her belly as I eased to my knees, taking her legs and handing them to a pair of water tentacles to keep elevated and spread for me. Her pussy made my mouth water, its dark pink petals glistening. I licked her in long strokes, savoring her sweetness. When my lips found her clit and closed over it firmly, her hips jolted.

I started in on my ABCs with the tip of my tongue over the sensitive nub, coaxing up her pleasure. Seeking that first peak of bliss for her. All the while, that water tentacle teased her behind.

“Goddess, Seth, that mouth,” she moaned.

She came with a cry of pleasure and I licked away her come with a moan of my own. Her body went slack, held up by my water magic for the moment it took for me to stand and lift her weight by holding her hips.

There was a familiar rasp to her breathing again, which I tried to ignore while she came down from that high. She needed me, needed our bond so she could take the water element that she needed to keep herself balanced. Maybe we were moving a little fast, but all I wanted was to help heal her.

I also couldn’t kid myself. She was still a beautiful, willing woman who ground against me when I pressed to her front, sliding my cock through her slick folds. “Seth,” she sighed happily.

“This is what you need?” I asked. If there was more I had to do than just finishing our anam cara bond with a good fuck, I’d missed it. And I didn’t want to mess this up.

“I just need you . Seth, please.” This close, I felt how hot she was, pulsing with every beat of her heart.

“That, I can give you. No problem at all, sweetheart.” I used the water around her ankles and wrists to help anchor her in just the right position and lined myself up. I sank into her heated core with a trembling breath. As my hips bumped into hers, I knew. There was strong magic between us, and it felt the most right of all.

I reached up to twine my fingers with hers, palms pressed together. Our anam cara marks would manifest there as a perfectly matched set. She held on to my hand tightly as I pulled back, thrusting slow and hard to fill her again.

Her mouth fell open as I found my rhythm, making soft noises. Her toes curled within the liquid that wrapped around her feet. “Kiss me, Seth,” she demanded.

I met her lips in a tangle of openmouthed passion. We breathed at an identical pace, our heartbeats syncing to the same beat. As the pressure mounted, we opened our eyes together, and I watched her face twist with pleasure as we came as one.

The anam cara mark burned into my palm with a pinch of pain. I barely noticed it.

What I definitely did notice was her eyes rolling back and her body going slack in my hold. My water flopped back into the tub, inert, as a new connection opened between us. I had a sense that my magic diminished by half, rushing from me to her with the force of a mighty waterfall.

Fatigue blurred the edges of my sight, but I still smiled, cradling her to my chest until she came back to awareness. She blinked, refocusing on my face and shivering. Goosebumps ran up her arms. “Why is it suddenly so cold in here?” she asked.

“It’s no different outside. But in here?” I set her on her feet and tapped the skin over her heart. “It must’ve cooled off significantly if you’re feeling cold at all.”

She laughed, grinning and throwing her arms around me. “I haven’t felt cold in years! Do you know what this means?”

“It worked?” I ventured hopefully.

Nix flipped up her hand, and I did the same, putting my palm close to hers. We had matching marks close to our thumbs, the traditional long line with several smaller ones passing through it.

“Yeah. Look at that…we are anam cara officially, bound to one another,” she said, slipping her hand in mine. The mark on my skin tingled with awareness and I felt a rush of affection for her. “I was also going to say, now you get to warm me back up.”

I grinned. “Oh, gladly!”