I want to regain my footing. Crawl away from him, if I have to. But I remain rooted where I am, drawn to him in ways I don’t know if I’ll ever understand.
His fingertips trail over my jaw and down my neck, slippery on my skin. The combination of heat from his skin and cold from the water makes me melt into his palm.
My voice comes out breathless when I say, “This shouldn’t be possible.”
“What shouldn’t be?” he rumbles, so low, so close that it feels like we’re the only two people left in the world. He squeezes my jaw and gently tilts my head up, his glittering gaze dropping to my lips.
“This,” I whisper, my breath hitching in my throat. “These feelings. This… thing between us. It shouldn’t exist. You broke the bond.”
Malix shrugs, using the movement to shift even closer to me. Our thighs brush beneath the water, and his chest grazes my nipple, sending a shock of sensation shooting down to my core.
His other arm snakes around me, encircling me, pulling me up against his chest. I can feel his heartbeat vibrating through his ribs, his pulse pounding harder and faster than I would’ve expected. My own heart falls into rhythm with his, racing just like it did when we ran down the mountain.
“Maybe the bond is too strong to break,” he murmurs. “Maybe the potion wasn’t good enough. Maybe the witch’s magic didn’t work.”
His voice is low and a little rough, the sound pouring into my ears like liquid sex. I can feel the evidence of his arousal against my belly, and suddenly, I’m no longer cold. It’s as if the icy water doesn’t exist anymore. All I’m aware of is the hard planes of his body, the heat emanating from his skin. I dig my fingers into his shoulders and hang on for dear fucking life, at a loss for words.
Malix gazes down at me, a small smile curving up one corner of his lips. He looks at me like I’m precious, his fingers tangling in my wet hair.
Caressing me. Claiming me.
“Or maybe,” he adds quietly, dropping his head to brush his lips against mine. “Maybe I was lying when I said I rejected the bond.”
Something cracks open inside me as he closes the last fraction of space between us and captures my mouth in a kiss.
Because there’s no doubt in my mind that this time, he isn’t lying.