The eyes I met were melted gold. I could feel stirrings inside of me, the wolf and dragon rising from their cages, their energies intermingling.
I threaded my hands through his hair, moans still falling from my lips. I felt him swell even more inside. He leaned his head forward and our lips met in another scorching kiss. Tasting him was like tasting home. His pace increased and then I watched as he lost all control. When Braxton came, everything stilled, as if time actually halted. We were cocooned in a bubble. I remembered his groaning cry. I remembered him leaning into me, his large frame strong but with the slightest tremble. Then everything went dark.
Chapter 11
The first thing I registered were swirls of light dancing behind my eyelids. I swallowed. My throat felt rough and scratchy, but my insides were warm and content. I rubbed at my face before finally I felt ready to open my eyes. The first few rapid blinks told me that it was much too bright and I went slow, allowing my eyes to adjust. I stared up into a sky of blue, there was not a single cloud marring the perfection.
Questions barraged through my head, and with a gasp I sat up. The last thing I remembered was Braxton, in my bedroom, the best sex of my life. So what the hell happened between then and now? I pulled myself to my feet. I was still naked, as if I’d been transported straight to this place.
I was getting a tad sick of magical assfucks scooting me around the universe like their own personal puppet.
I tried to determine where I was, but I was surrounded by mists or clouds or something. And yet … there were no clouds in the sky, it was warm and sunny.
“You’ve arrived at an in-between place, and you have a choice to make.”
The orchestra of voices echoed all around me. I didn’t bother to turn and look because I could sense that whatever was speaking was everywhere.
“What choice?”
I didn’t yell, I didn’t think there was a need. I’d be heard even if I whispered.
Swirls of wind preluded speech this time. “You have been chosen, Jessa, to take a burden and to save a race. Chosen often equals sacrifice. What are you willing to sacrifice to save the supernatural people? Would you sacrifice a mate bond with your one true?”
I dropped my gaze to try to gather my thoughts. “Yes, I am pretty sure I would sacrifice my mate bond for the entire supernatural race.”
Even I wasn’t selfish enough to place myself above hundreds of thousands of lives.
“Would you form a mate bond with someone not of your choosing, if it meant saving the supernatural race?”
I sighed. This was some bullshit magic mumbo jumbo. But just in case I was in the presence of a god or something, I’d try not curse them out. “If you put that kind of magical gun to my head and tell me I have to get freaky with some stranger for eternity or we all die, then the answer is ‘yes, I would.’”
“The choice will be soon.”
I growled. “Wait, tell me more of what you speak.”
The voice faded out, and the mists swirled around me. The howling winds forced my eyes to shut. I raised both hands and held them over my face to stop my hair from whipping me. Thankfully, the wind finally died out, and I was able to remove my hands to see what was about to ambush me next.
I was standing at the base of two beds. Back in my room. I scented Braxton and I all over the space, not to mention the visible signs – torn covers and askew beds. Had Braxton and I destroyed the room during sex? Seems I might have missed some of our last few moments.
Movement caught my eye and I realized I wasn’t alone. Braxton was there. He stood near the door to the bathroom. He had his shorts back on, but was still bare-chested.
“Jess.” He took three huge steps across the room and hauled me into his arms.
I wrenched my head back to see his face. “What the hell just happened?” I was clutching at muscles, trying to sort myself out. I didn’t know what to think. Had I dreamed the entire misty place?
“You lost consciousness, and then this energy burst from your body. I couldn’t get to you.” His blue eyes were hard, narrowed, as he ran his gaze across my features. “Do you remember anything?”
He never even flinched as I dug my nails into his arms. I couldn’t seem to stop from clinging to him. “I blacked out and then when I came to I was in this weird misty place. There was a presence there…” I tried to catalogue my thoughts. “Almost as if there was a narrator talking to me. It asked if I would sacrifice my mate bond to save all the supernaturals, or if I would mate someone I did not want to.”
Braxton dropped his head down, letting it rest against mine, and we stayed like that for a moment. “Shit, that’s not good,” he eventually said. “A mate bond partially formed between us, Jessa, but … it’s not complete.”
I startled against him. “What do you mean?”
Low growls were rocking from his chest. It seemed to take him a few moments to be able to speak again. “I don’t know, babe. I can only think of one possible explanation.” He ran a hand over his face. “Do you remember that story Mom used to tell us, when we’d ask about broken mate bonds?”
No fucking way.
I didn’t have to think hard about it. Of the many stories from the Compass parents, that one had stayed with me. Jo had been the supe I’d always gone to for love tales, since I had no mother of my own. Deep down a part of me was always trying to gather facts about mate bonds. I think even back then I’d been trying to figure out how to be with Braxton.