Electricity seemed to shiver through me with that kiss. My whole body was alight from the closeness of the forms, and my spark leapt to flood every nerve with hot desire. Jin kissed me harder, his hands roaming lower down my body. I arched into his touch. I wanted more—I wanted everything. I wanted him to know how much I always wanted him.
My lips trailed across his jaw and down his neck. “Do you trust me?” I murmured, struck by a strange impulse.
“Absolutely,” Jin said.
I nipped the bare skin at the crook of his shoulder, a slight graze of my teeth. At his encouraging sound, I bit a little harder. Not enough to break the skin, but enough to add a little spark of pain to his pleasure.
Jin’s breath hitched. “Fuck me.”
Before I could point out I intended to do exactly that, he’d drawn my mouth back to his. We devoured each other, sinking to the floor without breaking the kiss. Jin wrenched up my dress. I groped for the fly of his slacks. No time for teasing. No time for lingering in the moment. I wanted him in me now.
He slid inside me just as sure as the movements of our dance. A whimper escaped me at the welcome friction of his cock stretching my core. I raised my knees by his hips, urging him onward as our mouths collided again.
Pleasure spiraled through me in a swift wave. Jin plunged deeper and deeper with a groan. He cupped my breast through my dress, stroking his lithe fingers over the nipple until I was arching both chest and hips toward him in turn. My spark flared through me, so bright I thought it might consume us both.
He slipped his hand under my ass, angling me higher to meet him. I moaned as he filled me even more completely. All I could do then was cling to him, skin to sweat-damp skin, rocking with the force of his thrusts. His cock hit that glorious spot inside me again, and again, and—
I tipped over the edge with a burst of light behind my eyes. Bliss raced through my body, curling my toes. Jin came a moment later, with a ragged breath against my cheek. His release was another sear of heat through my core.
He eased to a stop over me, beaming down at me. I smiled up at him as the last ripples of pleasure radiated through me.
“You’re a fucking wonder, Rose,” Jin murmured. He nuzzled the side of my face and rolled us over, his legs tangling with mine. “How’s that for solidifying a bond?”
I giggled. “I think we passed with flying colors. Do you still feel different?”
“You mean other than the amazing high of just being with you?” He ran his hand over my hair. “There’s something about it—the sensation when I think about you, it’s… fuller, somehow? But, you know, it was pretty intense before, so I’m not sure it can getthatmuch more so.”
“Even a little could make a difference if it comes down to a real fight.” Not just against a handful of lackey enforcers, but against all the witches who stood with the Frankfords—and maybe against those demonic creatures too?
The worries crept back in. I buried my face in Jin’s shoulder, but I couldn’t escape them completely. Jin kissed my forehead.
“You’ve got us,” he said. “You’ll always have us. And that means you’ll always be stronger. Do you know— You remember when Gabriel first showed up with that page from your book, the one you gave each of us before you left the estate the first time?”
“Yeah,” I said. The memory of Gabriel’s return was etched clearly in my mind. That and the moment when I’d given the guys those pages. I’d torn them from my favorite childhood novel,The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, as a sort of token when my father had decided to move the family to Portland—mainly to force an end to my friendship with the unsparked guys he’d deemed unsuitable companions for a thirteen-year-old witch.
“I still have my page too,” Jin said. “Tucked in with my favorite art supplies back home. Any time I left for more than a day, I’d slip it into my wallet. Like it was for luck or something. Or in case it’d somehow let our paths cross. You’ve always been with me, Rose, and I’ll always be here if you need me. You can trust in that.”
My throat choked up. I tipped my head to kiss him. His hand rose to my cheek, and we might have fallen back into each other all over again, except a frantic knocking reverberated through the door right then.
“Rose!” a muffled voice said from right outside. “I think you’d better come. There’s someone at the gate—he says Charles Frankford sent him.”
Chapter Seven
Rose
Jin followed me down to the front door. “Stay behind me,” I told him. “And hang back a bit. I know you want to help, but… we don’t know what to expect from this guy.”
Jin made a face, but he nodded at the same time. “I’ve got your back.” His voice turned sly. “He definitely doesn’t want to mess with you after the boost your spark just got.”
In spite of the stressful situation ahead, I might have been a bit flushed when I started down the front drive.
There was indeed a guy outside the gate, waiting there with his arms folded loosely over his chest. He wasn’t much taller than me, but he was burly, with hard lines to his nose and his jaw that made him look imposing. From the lines at the corners of his eyes and the silver cast to his light brown hair, I guessed he was about my father’s age.
He tapped his foot in a slow but forceful rhythm as I approached. I couldn’t see his car, though I doubted he’d walked here. He must have parked it farther down the road. Because he was worried we’d do something to it? That our seeing it would be a bad thing?
Hard to tell whether it was reasonable sneakiness or just paranoia.
“Hello,” I said, coming to a stop a few feet from the gate. The guy didn’t look as if he were carrying any of the magical weapons the male enforcers sometimes used, but after what I’d seen in the last few weeks from his people, I didn’t trust myself to be able to spot every potential threat. “You wanted something?”