“How can you say that? If it wasn’t for me, they never would have given you a second glance. This is my fault Angel, you and I both know. Now that you are tied to me, this kind of shit will happen all the time.” The self-condemnation in his tone was gut-retching. It was like a knife in the belly. “I should have stopped them. I should have protected you better.”
I wanted to argue, to make him see reason, but I knew a losing battle when I saw one. Nothing I could do or say would change or lessen his guilt. So the only way I knew how was to show him. Standing on my tiptoes, I wrapped my arms around his neck holding on like a monkey.
“I love you Angel,” he whispered against my wet cheek.
Wide-eyed, his declaration of love caused the air to puncture from my lungs. I’d expected to feel something when he finally got around to saying those three huge words, but it wasn’t this. The moment the words tumbled from his lips, the ground slipped out from under me. Thank God I was already in his embrace. He pulled me tighter against him, and the world spun around me in dizzy circles that left me weak. A rush of …
There were no words.
“Angel?”
I heard him say my name but it was drowned out by this painful pleasure that began to burn at my hip. Gasping, I looked to Chase who wasn’t the least bit surprised about my sudden reaction. Instinctually my hand covered the spot where I’d been marked, and my head dropped to his chest.
“Angel?” he called again filled with concern. His hands stroked up and down my arms as I leaned on him for support. “It will pass it a minute. Just breathe,” he whispered softly in my ear.
And it had, slowly and surely. “What the hell was that?” I asked when I was able to speak.
He looked into my shining eyes, dawned with understanding. “That…was my heart.”
Confusion clouded my expression. “I – I don’t understand.”
He took my hand and pulled me farther into his room, sitting me on the end of his bed. “Do you remember what Ives said about our connection, about other connections?”
I nodded my head. “He said that our souls were bound because of the deal you made for my life. He said that there are others who were linked like us but in different ways.”
Chase nodded. “It’s a binding triforce. You and I…we’ve just sealed two points of the triforce. Soul. Heart.”
I searched his face, looking doubtful. “How?”
“By admitting what we felt, what was in our hearts. There is power in words.”
I couldn’t help but think he wasn’t entirely happy about this. “Did you feel it when I told you…when I told you I loved you?” The words came out like a heady whisper.
The truth swam in his eyes, and it was all the confirmation I needed, but he spoke what I already knew. “Yeah, I tried to warn you.”
Wasn’t that just gnarly? I guess there really was power in words, at least in this case. I fiddled with the bracelet at my wrist. “What does it mean?”
He gave me a panty-dropping smile. “It means that our connection is a whole lot stronger, deeper. We’ve just kicked it up a notch. And I’ve potentially put you in whole shit-ton more danger. The usual.”
“Soulbond and heartbond,” I said out loud, testing how they sounded. “What is the third?” I asked.
“Bodybond.” His eyes clashed with mine, and I flushed as I realized what that meant.
If we did the deed, if we made love, we would fulfill the binding triforce.
The ideal of completing the triangle should have worried me, not excited me. I shouldn’t want to be tied to Chase anymore than we already were, but truthfully the last one thrilled me to my core. I was more eager than I wanted to admit. Being with him in the most intimate way possible was something that teased my dreams almost nightly. Now knowing what it could mean, only heighten its hotness.
Just as my head filled with steamy images of us wrapped together, he pulled up his shirt. It was like he read my thoughts.
I gulped. Sweet baby Jesus. My mouth watered at the sight of his tan rippled chest. “Are you trying to tell me something?” I stood up and took a step toward him. My fingers were itching to touch.
He backed up, holding out a hand. “Just stay there a moment. I wanted to show you this.” He looked down, bringing my gaze to his demon mark.
On sharp intake of air, I ignored his warning, reaching him in two quick strides, startled by the discovery that his demon art had an addition. I ran my fingers over the new markings. “Is this because I told you that I loved you?”
“You got it toots.”
I was captured under his gaze. “Should I assume mine has also expanded?”
He gave me a devilish grin. “What happens to me happens to you.”
“Lovely,” I said dryly.
“You like it.”
That was just it. I did.
A wicked glint filled his silver flint eyes. His finger traced my lower lip, and I suddenly realized I was still touching his bare skin. My hands roamed on their own over the solid planes of his chest, and I felt him shiver under my fingertips. “I could make you mine,” he said. “I know it now. I didn’t want to admit before, didn’t want to believe it, but it is useless to deny. It would only take once, and there would be no going back. I’m afraid to touch you. I won’t take away your freedom, the choice from you.”