“Where have you been this past month?” So many times she’d tried to reach him, to touch her mind to his only each time she’d came up against a black hole of nothingness. “You said you arrived through one of Cherub’s portals.”
“Aye, our fae princess, following my rescue from Carron’s dungeons, took me to a place far beyond these lands, to Ivanson Castle in the twenty-first century.”
“I’ve yet to meet Cherub, but she and my foster father have battled many a time. I did though see her that night you escaped. I watched from my chamber window as she stood within the inner bailey and whipped up a storm that kept our warriors away from the dungeon’s entrance. She truly took you to the future?”
“She did, and once there, I was attended to by a healer, a great physician who also aided me in my physical transformation. Things are so different in that time. Medical advances have been made, progress which boggles the mind.” He lowered his gaze and swept it over her lips then lower still, down her neck before he gulped, his throat working hard. “You need to don your shift. I cannae quite see below the water’s surface, but I know what’s there all the same. I watched you from the trees afore I made my presence known.”
She should be embarrassed, particularly with the way he now held her, but that emotion didn’t arise. Being with her chosen one filled her with such need, far beyond anything else. “Hold onto me while I put it on.”
“Of course.” His grip on her waist tightened.
“Thank you.” She shimmied the clingy cotton over her head and pulled it down before clutching his broad shoulders. “When you were last here you asked about your father and I couldnae answer you as I wished to. Niall’s well and his bond with Muirin deepens. Duncan rode out this morn to Ardan House to check on his training.”
“I didnae care for the underhanded way Muirin ensured my father’s capture and mine, yet I understand why she did so.” He curled his fingers into her hips. “They’re soul bound, and none should ever separate those who are. That goes for us as well. I want my chosen one, have waited far too long to join us together in all ways.” He swam with her back toward the bank, lifted her up onto the mossy edge then heaved himself up beside her. Water sluiced down his body, plastering his tunic to his chest and thighs.
“Sometimes things go beyond our control.”
“As they have for us.” He picked up her hand, gently uncurled her fingers and spread her palm against his chest, right over the pounding beat of his heart.
“I love Duncan and Coll. They were my lifeline after my abduction, have looked after me each and every day since.” She caressed his chest, her fingers playing with the loosened ties at the V of his tunic.
“I’m glad you had them, but now you also have me.” He tipped her back onto the lush moss and laid down half over top of her.
“Ronan.” She should push him away, only this might be the only opportunity she ever had to experience a few moments of his touch, a sliver of time she desperately desired afore she spoke vows with Duncan. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
“Allow our bond to strengthen.” He pulled her onto her side so she faced him, smoothed one hand along her outer thigh and tucked her top leg snugly between his bare legs, their bodies aligned from head to toe. “Give me some time to show you how deep it can run. Touch me, just as I wish to touch you.”
Mated pairs needed the touch of their chosen one on a deeper level to anything else. Before she’d been taken from the village, she’d touched the minds of her fae-blooded kind who were mated, had sensed the deep love that drove them within their bonds. If possible, she would touch him just as freely as she desired, but—
“I’ve longed to hold you in my arms, Kyla. Doing so calms and soothes me in a way I can never explain.” He skimmed one finger along her shift’s wet and clingy neckline, right where the top edge sagged and exposed the upper swells of her breasts. “Although if I go too far in touching you, tell me, but I’m thirsty for more, want only to surround myself with you and all that you are.”
“I shouldnae be encouraging your pursuit.” Except she couldn’t help but hold onto him too. She was so starved for his touch.
“I will pursue you to the ends of this Earth, shall never give you up.” His gaze raked over her, burning hot and soul tingling as he followed the curves of her breasts and her hips under her wet shift.
“Colin MacKenzie has controlled my actions since my abduction and always will.”