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Bound.
I wasn’t sure how I knew—I just did.
“Kinley,” Braxton gasped.
“Where is all the magic coming from?” I asked.
“It’s coming from you,” he said. “And me. The bond.”
It was as if we were one, our souls merging. The magic radiated from our skins, powerful and demanding. Braxton lifted his head and looked into my eyes, and I knew something extraordinary had happened between us. The intensity of the moment was overwhelming. I felt like I would spontaneously combust or drift away, but my connection to Braxton and the awe and affection in his eyes grounded me.
The intensity of our bond was palpable. Braxton stopped moving inside me, holding me close, our bodies still pretzeled together.
Slowly, our breathing returned to normal, our heart rates slowing down.
When Braxton slid out of me, I felt his absence acutely.
He lay down next to me, pulling me closer to him. He wrapped an arm around me, his large hand on my opposite shoulder. I stroked his arm with my fingers and listened to the sound of his breathing, relishing in the warmth of his body against mine.
“I don’t want you to be here as a prisoner or something I own,” Braxton said into the dimming light in the room. “You’re free to go.”
I stilled against him.Go?
“But Kinley,” he added. “I want you to say.”
I turned against him and kissed him. “Okay,” I said.
“Tomorrow, I’ll talk to Uma to get rid of that stupid barrier spell that keeps you in, and you can come and go as you please. I’d like you to move into my room, too.”
“Those are a lot of changes,” I said with a smile.
“Yeah,” he said. “But everything has been the same for too long around here.”
I closed my eyes and sighed contentedly. Who would have thought that I’d end up here in the home of the alpha, as happy as this? I would never have guessed that I could find a place where I truly belonged.
Braxton nuzzled my hair before dropping a kiss on it. I reveled in the warmth that radiated from him, drinking in not only his affection but the power that clung to my skin, too.
15
BRAXTON
Kinley and I were tangled together, and I was aware of her warmth even as we slept.
When I blinked my eyes open, it was somewhere in the middle of the night. I frowned and lifted my head, listening.
Something had woken me up.
The room should have been brighter with the moonlight falling through the light curtains, but the room was drenched in darkness.
I carefully untangled myself from Kinley. She sighed when I moved her, but stayed sleeping. I slid out of bed and padded across the room and to the window.
When I looked out, the half-moon was bright in the sky. The trees stood tall, like dark sentries against the mountainside, and nothing on the property—from what I could see—looked out of place.
I walked to the door and carefully opened it. The lock barely clicked, and the door swung silently open on its hinges. I moved down the hallway. A sound came from the kitchen, and I followed it.
The fridge door was open, and a figure stood hunched behind it. Uma always got up for a midnight snack.
“Oh, it’s you,” I said. “I’m a wreck since the attack.”
