Page 47 of Awakened Light

I still have to go.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Thorne

IT WASN’T JUST THE crazy light show that had made sex with Catrain so incredible, although that had been beyond amazing to see her body glowing blue with her passion. It was that I’d never connected with another human the way I’d connected with her. I’d thought our kiss had been transcendent, but that was nothing compared to what it felt like to be inside her body.

Inside her soul.

I finally understood what Aiden and Lothaire felt for Emilia and Grizella. Finally grasped the depths that a man could love a woman... and love her I did. Though I had only known her a short time, there was no doubt in my mind that the feelings pumping through my heart and my body were love.

True, primal, irrevocable love.

As she lay there on the side of the cliff in my arms for an hour, I tried to quiet the voice in my head wondering if what had happened would change her mind. Wondering if it still meant I’d be saying my goodbyes and sending her into the arms of another man before the sun rose. But instead of asking, I just held her tighter and tried to enjoy the moments she belonged to me.

The waves crashing along the rocks below were a soft melody blended with the breeze wafting over our naked skin. I felt her shudder, and I closed my arms around her tighter before realizing it may be me making her cold. My skin didn’t radiate warmth like the heat coming from hers.

“Are you cold?” I asked as I pushed a piece of hair from her face.

“A little,” she answered back, and I felt another shudder.

“I’m sorry. I forget my skin is cool to you. Hold on.” I flashed to my discarded clothing, dressed and flashed back, handing Catrain her clothes. “Here. Yours won’t do much to keep you warm, but my clothes should shield you from the coolness of my skin.”

I watched her naked body disappear beneath the leather pieces and groaned when the last of the ties had been fastened. After she dressed, she rubbed her arms across her bare skin.

“I guess the fact I make you cold with my touch can go into the cons list for reasons you should go, huh?” I joked.

“I don’t mind. It’s just cold up here with the breeze coming off the water.”

“Hold on. I have an idea.” After flashing away, I reappeared holding an armful of kindling. I stacked it into a pyramid at her side, then gave it a nod. “Do your thing.”

With the flick of her wrist, she produced fire in her hand and lit up the sticks. The flames grew quickly, and she rubbed her hands over them.

“Better?” I asked.

“Much. Thank you.”

I sat down and pulled her down between my legs. She settled back against my chest, and I wrapped her in my arms and rested my chin on the top of her head.

“Do you get cold?” She peeked up over her shoulder.

I shook my head. “No. Granted, I haven’t headed to Antarctica and stood naked in their seventy below temps, but generally not. I don’t get too hot or too cold.”

“Another perk of immortality,” she said as she settled back against me.

“Yeah, I suppose it is. Now, if we could just get rid of the pesky curse of the sun, then I could really get down to enjoying my eternal life.”

“Do you miss it?”

“The sun?”

“Yeah. Have you really not seen it in over six hundred years?”

With a lengthy sigh, I nodded my head. “Yep. The day we got the curse was the last time I saw it. Honestly, I don’t remember anymore what it feels like to have the sun shining on me.”

“Would you want to?”

I furrowed my brow. “Have the sun on me? Yeah. Definitely.”