Chapter Six
She slipped her fingers into lengths of his hair. “Flashes of memories, I think. Of the times we’ve spent together just relaxing. Your childhood, the loss of your father. The fight that saved your brother. I mainly felt the cold of winter nights and saw the full moon shining down on fresh powder. I heard howls and a tangled web of thoughts I couldn’t decipher. I guess the only thing I took away from it is that you love the snow, the winter and,” she paused, “how much you really miss your father.”
He pulled back to look down at her. “You’re talking about something that hasn’t happened for over a hundred years in my pack. That mind-reading thing might be something, after all. I didn’t realize it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I sat back in the corner of your bar trying to figure out what the hell had me so drawn to you. I mean, you’re beautiful, a wonderful friend, but a wolf and a witch aren't exactly traditional couple material. You know that. Something held me here, and I couldn’t walk away even with other shifters of my pack willing to mate with me.”
Cold stabs of jealousy cut at her. She shoved the strange emotion into the back of her mind and tilted her head in understanding, motioning with her eyes for him to continue.
“With the need to mate, and the pull you had on my wolf, I didn’t recognize it until now. I guess it needs time to strengthen. We’ve mated on a level beyond just our powers. Our souls have melded together to form an unbreakable bond. You’ll be able to read my thoughts, know my feelings, but deeper than that, you’ll be able to communicate with me in human and wolf form. And me with you.”
“Are you saying I’ll never have another private thought?” Fear spiked in her chest, and she could feel her muscles tensing one at a time. This was something she never expected. Never even heard of. Then again, she only had a vague understanding of pack law and how shifter culture worked. Understanding otherworldlies and their powers just became a top priority for her. The Silver Circle didn’t exactly smile down on interracial mating, so this was all new and untouched territory for her.
“No. Sadie, Listen to me.” Aidan worked her gaze back to his. “I’ll never intrude on your thoughts. It’s a connection, when mastered, can be controlled. If that’s what you want. Maybe with time you’ll learn to trust me with your most private thoughts, but until then, I’ll teach you how to shield your mind.”
He stroked his fingers across her cheek to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
She tilted her head to one side, and they stared at each other in the half-light. Bucket after bucket of emotions flooded her mind. She stilled her thoughts, letting his heartbeat under her palm anchor her to the here and now.
“Give it time, sweetie, I know it’s a lot to take in.” His last was a gravely plea that melted her heart.
She held her hand up to stop him, wondering if she could shield herself from him. She didn’t want to break their bond, but she did want to understand the limits. “You took a part of me tonight. A piece of my heart and soul I never knew I wanted to entrust to someone.”
He softly kissed her lips. “As you did me. I’ll guard it and cherish your gift with my life till the day I die.”
He rested his forehead on her bare shoulder. With his lips pressing butterfly kisses along her skin he whispered, “I was desperate to give you all of me, Sadie. When I thought you were going to tell me to leave tonight…honestly, I don’t think I could have. I would have spent all night doing everything in my power to show you how perfect we are for each other.” He pulled her deeper into his embrace.
Her magic brushed along the tendrils of power they shared, feeding off the new source of energy thrumming through her from head to toe.
She leaned back with a smile. “If you walk out that door, wolfie, I’ll find you. Remember?” She raised a brow in a mock challenge and tapped the side of her temple. “We’re connected now.”
“Yes, ma’am. Indeed.” Her heart swelled and her chest tightened. So many new unexplored emotions bombarded her she couldn’t tell heads from tails, but none of that mattered right now.
She might have hexed the alpha, but he’d enchanted her with his wolfish charms long before tonight.
“I want to help.” Before she could ask what he wanted to help with, Aidan gathered her in his arms and swung her legs to wrap around him. A position she notched in her new favorite list after tonight. “I can’t promise to know everything, this is new to me, too, but I can help you figure out our connection. And I can help with The Cauldron Bubble. Just promise me one thing. No more illegal love hooch. I don’t want you accidentally hexing half the town.”
Sadie rested her forehead on his, inhaled once, then let her muscles relax for the first time in forever. “You would do that for me?”
“We’re mated, remember. Your problems are mine.”
She squeezed her thighs and pulled back. With a wink, she said, “So we’re back here, are we? Me wrapped around you.”
“I plan to thoroughly fuck my mate tonight, and again tomorrow.” He laid her out beneath him on the thick throw rug she loved to curl up on by the fireplace. “I’ll always be there for you, Sadie. Never doubt that.” His features turned serious, and she could see the truth of his words deep in his gaze.
With a firm grip on her ankles, he slowly peeled her legs apart to reveal just how much he affected her. “Already wet and ready for the taking.”
With a flick of her wrist, fire burst to life in the hearth to cast a warm glow over their love nest.
He positioned himself at her entrance and sank into her depth in a slow glide. The room dimmed and all the energy in the room gathered around them. Her back arched, and she clutched the soft material of the rug into her fists. Holy goddess, it felt so good. Her channel pulsated around his thick shaft. He pulled out, leaving nothing but the tip to tease her. “Aidan, don’t stop.”
“I want to hear you, Sadie. Say you want this.”
“It’s a little late, don’t you think?”
“Let me hear the words, baby.”