Page 55 of Hellhounds Never Lie

“I didn’t think I’d ever find you, but I did. You are my home. Before you, I was lost.”

My eyes burned at his words, and I let a few tears fall. “You’ll never be lost again, Dillon. You’re mine forever.”

“And you’re mine too. My mate.”

My breath hitched at his words.

Fuck the pain. I needed to see his face. I pulled away from him just long enough to flip around, then joined our bodies again. Whatever pain I’d expected to feel wasn’t there, as if the Eternal Magic was protecting me in this moment, encouraging me to be with my mate so completely.

My mate. I grinned. I loved that word.

As if triggered by just that thought alone, the crimson glow of my magic erupted from me for the first time since I’d been shot. Dillon’s golden orange magic rushed to meet it. Our individual magics pulsed with a joyful and excited rhythm until they blended so completely it was impossible to see where one started and the other ended.

As Dillon rolled his hips back before rocking gently into me again, our joined magics embraced us. Yes. This was how it was supposed to be. Me and him. Together so completely that we became one, as if the power of our united magic fused every part of our lives together.

Our joined magic took on a rhythm of its own, becoming wild and frenetic. The faster it thrummed around us, the more it pulled on the well where my magic lived deep inside me. This was the Eternal Magic. The part of it that lived within Dillon and me. I pushed into the sensation, feeling warmth and acceptance and beauty as I stared into my mate’s fiery eyes.

Euphoria burst through me, and the way Dillon gripped me, I knew he felt it too.

“My mate,” I whispered against his lips. Then he echoed the words before sealing our lips together in a heated kiss.

As soon as our mouths parted, a new sensation welled between us.

Then ancient and magical words surged up within me, overwhelming me until they broke free and slipped over my tongue. Words I swore I’d never heard before. Words I didn’t understand. But I wasn’t scared because my instincts told me this was the Eternal Magic, which was as familiar to me as life itself.

Dillon stared into my eyes as similar words fell from his lips.

Our joined magic became even more luminous and vivid with each murmured word. Then in a radiant blast of light, it rippled over us. Awe filled me as my brain finally understood the gift we’d been given. We were more than just one another’s chosen mates. Our souls had been bound together by the Eternal Magic herself. She’d offered a primal and potent blessing to us, and we’d accepted it. Nothing but death could divide us now.

As the ancient words faded, our bodies took on a frantic rhythm of their own, driving me to my climax. I cried out Dillon’s name as I came. Dillon grunted, as if surprised when my body tightened around him. Then his mouth clamped onto my neck; teeth sinking into my flesh. Our joined magic flared around us in a throbbing incandescent orb, before exploding in a blast of fiery embers, which fell harmlessly to the bed around us. I trembled in my mate’s arms as I tried valiantly to come all over again.

When my heart finally settled, my brain filled with questions.

“Dillon?” I was cuddled against his hot body, and it felt like I was basking in the sun.

“Yes, firecracker?”

I grinned. With the explosion of magic and light we’d just shared, my nickname fit perfectly.

“Was that what I think it was?”

“A mate bond?”

“Yes. My coven calls them soul bonds, but yeah. I mean, it seems like it might have been, but I didn’t think those happened in real life. I thought it was all just a myth, to be honest.”

Dillon brushed his hand over my back. “There was a couple at the inn the night of the attack who I thought might be bonded. They had matching streaks of turquoise in their hair.”

“You mean Mercer and Oak? Wait…” I pushed myself up so I could look at my sexy hellhound. I blinked at him. “Holy Magic…”

“What?”

“You… You have a…” I brushed my fingers over the side of his neck. “You didn’t have a tattoo here, did you? I mean, I don’t remember one, but…”

“No, I didn’t.” Then his gaze dropped down to my own neck. His breath hitched. “Does it look like a flame?”

I swallowed and reached up to touch the spot he was staring at. The texture of my skin didn’t feel any different, but heat emanated from that spot. “I have one too?”

He nodded. The red and orange flames on his neck undulated like actual fire as he swallowed. “Is that okay?”