I’d never give her up.
“I don’t plan on fighting the connection, Odhran.”
My eyes threatened to close in pleasure at the sound of my name on her tongue.
“But… we’ll take this slow? Get to know each other?”
I was right in front of her so swiftly a startled gasp left her lips. I took her hand in between both of my massive ones, gently holding her as I stared into her eyes. Gods, her palm fit so easily in the center of mine, my palm huge in comparison.
I inhaled, making sure there was no fear, no hesitation from her. And I growled low in contentment and pride that my girl was strong in her own right.
“If it takes centuries for ye tae come tae terms with being mine, if it takes even longer than that for ye tae want my mark on yer neck…” I lowered my gaze to said spot, seeing her pulse throb rapidly at the side of her throat under her flawless, alabaster skin. “I just want ye in my life, lass. We donna have tae do anything more than be in each other’s lives.”
Of course, with every passing day of not claiming her, it would grow harder and harder to resist the urge, and the pull would become unbearable and painful to not mark her and fully bond us together.
But I meant every word I said to her. If I never knew her touch, the taste of her lips, or the way she felt clutching at me as I slid in deep… then so be it. I’d gratefully accept anything she gave me and thank her.
If she never wanted the Linked Connection to be complete, I’d still die a happy male that I’d experienced knowing her.
“Okay, Lycan,” she whispered and gave me a smile. “Let’s see how our lives intertwine and how they are meant to be with each other.” She lifted her other hand and placed it over both of mine that still encompassed one of hers.
And so for the next twenty minutes, I raptly listened to her tell me about her sister, who’d passed away from an incurable illness her species was sometimes afflicted with. She spoke of her parents and how they still looked at each other as if they were the light of each other’s world.
I didn’t dare speak a word, just hung on to every one she said. She loved drinking lavender tea and watching the sunset over the horizon. My female went to the water’s edge of the lake by their home every morning and let the gentle waves lap at her bare feet on the shore.
I learned about how the water gave her kind energy, and not being by a body of it made her uncomfortable, and over time, it weakened them.
I’d never been so engrossed in what someone would say next until this moment, not wanting to miss anything. I learned more about her kind and how water nymphs were always female.
She told me a legend on why that was the case for the latter, about how it was said water sustained all things in life, and without it the world would dry and all would die. So water nymphs were always female, because females were also the bearers of life.
Her father was an earth nymph, their power and energy coming from the ground and flowers, the very dirt under their feet, linking them to all things around them.
Compared to my kind and our powers, hers were so intricate, so beautifully unique, that I knew I’d love this girl with a consuming intensity that would make me smile on my deathbed because I’d experienced it.
I smiled now as she talked so fondly of her family and of nature, how she saw all things beautiful no matter what. My wee mate, who couldn’t be more than five-foot in height and weighed no more than one hundred pounds soaking wet, spoke with such passion I felt my heart ache with pride.
“Yer voice,” I murmured when she paused. She looked startled at first but then laughed, and the tinkling sound had me feeling like I was burning alive in the best way.
“I wouldn’t think too deeply about that, Odhran. It is said the voice of a nymph is the most beautiful sound. I can only assume it’s to somehow protect and shield us, since we are known as so physically weak compared to all other Otherworlders.”
I shook my head before she even finished. “No, lass. Ye could sound like a donkey and still have the most beautiful voice I’d ever heard. Ye’d still be mine.” The way she gasped, how her cheeks turned pink, had my throat tightening, my heart racing, and my cock throbbing.
“Forgive me,” she said and glanced away. “I’ve never gotten such compliments before. I don’t know how to take them.” She glanced back at me out of the corner of her eye. “Even if I was compared to a donkey.”
I was frozen for a second but then tipped my head back and bellowed out a laugh, the first one I’d done in… my entire life. It was pure and genuine, and I felt a burst of pleasure pulse through me.
She gave me happiness without even trying.
I found myself reaching out and cupping her cheek, knowing I should have felt shame in taking such liberties with her. But when she lifted her hand and placed it over mine, keeping my palm to the side of her face and staring into my eyes, my heart lurched in my chest.
My breath caught at the electricity I felt from that small touch, by feeling her skin against mine, warm and soft… the softest thing I’d ever felt. I got lost in her sea-glass eyes, drifting away as if I were in the middle of the ocean.
But I didn’t want to be found.
I want to forever be adrift for as long as she is by my side. Just the two of us, nothing to break this spell that claims me.
“What I feel…” Her voice was nothing but a breathy whisper. She leaned in close, tilting her head a little so her cheek was resting more firmly in my hand, my palm holding up the weight. “What I feel in this moment doesn’t make any sense, but regardless, it takes the breath from my lungs and makes my heart beat faster. It makes me feel this funny kind of way, Odhran.”