Page 78 of An Oath at Midnight

I couldn’t believe this was happening.

This was Bram. My Bram. And we were kissing. I fisted his shirt, holding him close, kissing him back, and it felt so incredibly fucking right.

But it had always felt right when I was in his arms. My body, my heart, had known this was where I belonged, but after what happened with Clayton, my mind had shut it down, it had denied and resisted what was right there all along.

Bram dropped from the sky, landing with a thud on the wooden deck outside his tree house, the one he’d built with his brothers when he was a kid, the one he used when he came to the village.

I clung to him as he strode through the door and kicked it shut behind us. I couldn’t take my eyes off his as he lowered me to my feet. His hands were low on my sides as he walked me backward through the living room and into the bedroom.

His glossy obsidian eyes smoldered down at me. “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he said in that deep yet quiet voice of his.

The rough velvet of it had goose bumps pebbling across my skin. “So are you,” I said, eating up the sight of him. I knew his face better than my own, but I’d never seen the expression he currently wore, or the look in his eyes. It was desire, only now he wasn’t trying to conceal it. He wasn’t hiding anything, any part of him. I knew it all, had seen it all. First in that run-down building with blood on his hands, and now standing in his arms, the full force of his need etched into his handsome face.

His hands slid up to my waist, his grip tightening as he tugged me closer…squeezing a whimper of pain from me.

Bram hissed, pulling back instantly. “Your injuries.” He scanned my body. “They need tending.”

“I’m okay,” I said and lifted to my tiptoes, going after his mouth.

Bram gave me what I wanted, pressing another kiss to my lips before he ended it too damn quickly.

I whimpered again, not in pain this time. “Don’t stop.”

He pressed his forehead to mine, the tremor still moving through his big body. “I don’t ever want to stop, but I need to check your injuries. The scent of your blood is making me want to storm the forest and kill everything in it. So let’s do that first, yeah?”

I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay where I was, I wanted him to keep kissing me, but I knew he was right. So I let him lead me into the bathroom. He crouched down, helping me out of my boots, then tugged my blood-soaked pants carefully down my legs. His hair was loose and falling to one side, and I slid my fingers through the thick, black strands, needing to touch him, to never stop touching him.

He tilted his head back, looking up at me. “Okay?”

I nodded. “Are you in any doubt now about how much I love you?”

His eyes flared and hands slid up the outside of my thighs to my waist. His fingers gripped me there, lightly this time. His throat worked, then he wrapped his arms around my waist, shaking harder as he pressed his face against my belly and breathed deep. I kept my hands in the soft warmth of his hair, my own emotions rushing through me.

When he looked up at me again, his eyes glistened. “I thought I’d lost you. I never thought you’d… Fuck, seeing you running across that clearing…” His throat worked.

I shook my head. “You will never lose me.” I brushed my fingers over the shaved sides of his head. “I lost my way for a little while, but I’ve found my way back…back to you.”

He rose to his feet and took my chin in his hand, tilting my head back before he kissed me again, wild and deep, stealing my breath once more. “You know what we are, don’t you, Mags?” he said against my lips, then lifted his head and took my chin again, holding it, demanding without words that I look into his eyes, that I don’t shy away or retreat. “What we are to each other?”

I did, and the dominance in his gaze, his voice, the way he held me, sent a delicious shiver through me. “Yes.” I thought he’d shown me all of him, but this was another part of Bram I’d never seen, not really, not like this.

“You are my mate, Magnolia. I felt it from the moment I met you. I’ve waited so fucking long for you to feel it, too, to see it. So make no mistake, you are mine.” He pressed another kiss to my lips. “And I want to devour every fucking part of you, own every inch of you, I need you to know that, but we’re not going to rush this. I can wait. I’ll make you mine in truth, but not until you’re ready for it, okay?”

My heart thundered wildly in my chest, and I nodded.

I wanted him, I did, in every way, but I was also scarred, inside and out, in more ways than a person should be, and Bram knew that better than anyone.

He stared down at me, a look of…of wonder on his face as he tucked my hair behind my ear, then leaned in and kissed me gently, as though he couldn’t bear not to touch his lips to mine just one more time. “Now, we’re going to clean all that demon blood off you before I lose my shit. Your wounds badly need tending, and you need to eat and rest.”

I fisted the front of his shirt and tugged him closer. “You think we can fit some more kissing in there somewhere as well?”

He grinned, his abs tightening against my fist. “We fucking better.”

Goddess, he was handsome.

He stepped back and tugged off his shirt, then shoved down his jeans. Stripping so he was just in boxer briefs, he reached in and turned on the shower.

“We need to get these clothes off,” he said as he gently peeled my shirt up and off, flinging it aside. When he turned back and took in the state of my upper body, he hissed again, his hand trembling as it skimmed carefully over the cuts and bites, the bruises marring my skin, adding to the scars already covering my body.