Wicked Paradise (35 page)

“So if he’d possessed one of us, then the other had to remain alive on this island.”

“I believe so.”

“Do you suppose that’s why you can’t leave the island? Because you’re meant to be my lodestone, my anchor here if I leave?”

“Partly.” She pinned him with a glare. “Don’t even think about it until we investigate.”

Relief whipped through him. There was a way home. He just knew it. Morgan would support it, after they learned what else floated inside her head, and figured out how to work the portal, if the damn thing actually worked. For now, he wanted nothing more than to spend a night or a hundred nights relaxing in the arms of his beautiful temptress without a care in the world. He beamed a smile at her, inhaling the dusty scent of her hair.

Morgan gave him the most brilliant smile, like sunshine breaking through clouds, her eyes sparkling with her inner fire and beauty. “I love you, Ryan O’Rourke, Druid king.”

Ryan nuzzled her neck. “I like the sound of that. Druid king.” He kissed her neck and she shivered. “Druid king of what? The island?” He chuckled.

“King to your queen and loyal subject, RavenStar,” Morgan teased. “And the island.” She shrugged and tilted her head to the side. “Shall we name our new home?”

Ryan dipped his head and kissed her, his tongue tangoing with hers, exploring and plundering. Her lips were warm and honeyed on his. She opened herself to him completely, giving back as much as he took. He yielded to the searing need that had been building within him for weeks. Vitality zinged from his scalp to his toes as he breathed her in, a sweet potent drug. Pulling away, he said, “Later. Right now—” He snatched up his knapsack, picked her up in his arms, and headed toward the waterfall.

Morgan’s body quivered with anticipation, feeding his exhilaration.

“I have more to tell you.”

“Later.”

She giggled. “Where are you taking me?”

“We have unfinished business,” Ryan said hoarsely.

“You will perform the soul-bond ritual?” she asked tentatively.

“Today, now, and again every day for the rest of our lives.” Ryan growled low in his throat. He slowed to a stop, searched her eyes. “Know that I love you with everything inside me.” A savage need stormed through him, and he almost laid her down and took her on the spot.

Morgan reached forward, her lips brushing his. “Show me,” she whispered. She licked his lips, and he choked down a moan, clamping his jaw.

Amidst Morgan’s peals of laughter, he ran the last distance to the waterfall, the starlit sky lighting his path. He dropped his sack and carried her into the healing waters to cleanse the vileness off their skin. He wanted nothing to taint the final ritual to bind him to his soul’s heart forever.

Chapter 33

A spangle of diamonds in the night sky bordered the twin moons, bathed the lush glade in heavenly light. Unfettered and cheerful, Ryan had tossed a small fireball into a ring of wood they’d gathered earlier. The sultry night didn’t need additional heat, but the flames dancing around the logs, and the reflection of the undulating fire glazing the surface of the pond set a flawless ambiance for the binding ritual. Since Morgan and Ryan contained the element of fire, they wanted all their elements present to celebrate their first joining.

They lay on a bed of silky, long grasses, their bodies shimmering from the moisture their foreplay caused. Morgan’s cry of ecstasy drifted away on a joyful breeze.

“Are you ready for me?” Ryan lifted his head from her moist flesh, his low voice husky. The reflection of flames flickered in his eyes. “No doubts?” He caressed her scars and she trembled from his blistering touch.

She captured his spicy scent, mixed with the perfume of wild flowers dancing in the air, and locked it inside her senses. “After all we’ve endured, you need to ask?” Grinning, she sifted his damp hair between her fingers. His body glowed with fire and excitement, lit from within as if stars lived beneath his skin. “Share your ether with me. I want all of you inside me,” she whispered.

A possessive snarl rose up Ryan’s throat. “I’ve waited forever for you.” He worked his lips and tongue over her feverish flesh, up her quaking body until his body covered hers, and they locked gazes.

Morgan leveled her breathing from the intensity of the spasms Ryan’s expert fingers and mouth had already generated. “As I have you.” The fierce love in his eyes almost made her weep with happiness. “I never thought I’d love someone as much as you.”

He nibbled on her bottom lip. “Heart of my heart.” Ryan edged his hard length into her slick heat. “I love you.”

“My Druid king,” she whispered on a gasp. “All of you. Inside me. Where you belong.”

Ryan pushed in farther. “Like this?” he groaned out in a teasing voice, shuddering against her.

Erotic sensations blinded her and prepared to fling her over the edge once again. She reined in a scream, fighting the agony of her restraint. By sheer magic willpower, she forced herself to hold back her release. She wanted to soar free with Ryan together. They
needed
it to fulfill the soul mate binding. Regardless of the bond, she wanted their surrender to each other complete, to feed her crazed need for this man of her fate. Her hands balled and unclenched on his hard buttocks. Her nails dug furrows into his skin as she fought the sensual pleasure threatening to overtake her will.

Ryan inched into her deliberately, seductively, sliding in deep. He stretched and filled her until she didn’t think she could take any more. She arched up to meet his firm push, rapture flooding her with liquid warmth. Morgan grabbed his hips, raking her fingernails up his slick back. Magic infused her and lightning seemed to flash along her nerve endings.

He kissed her deep. “I’ll never get enough of you.” Another sensuous kiss. “Fly with me, little raven.”

Morgan instinctively wrapped her legs around him and met every thrust with one of her own. His gaze riveted on her face, soaked up every nuance of sensation she experienced. Their magic joined, whispered to each other. Ryan’s pleasure exploded in her blood, and a yelp of blissful surprise erupted from her.

On their fur-covered grassy bed, Morgan writhed beneath his slow, tortuous movements. Bluish-violet light radiated off them, showering them in tingly stars. Morgan flew out of control from the explosive currents ripping her apart. Ryan’s thick, hard length stretched her, and she welcomed every inch, wanting more, so much more. She clutched his muscular buttocks, feeling them tighten, dip down, then bow with every drive. He slipped his tongue into her mouth and it pulsed against hers in tune to his hip thrusts.

He began to move faster, as if a fury had taken hold of him. “I can’t hold on much longer.” Sweat dripped off his face onto her lips.

She licked the drops, savoring his salty taste. His mouth claimed hers in another possessive, melting kiss as he plunged in, withdrew, his body quivering with his need. The fiercest need crested, shoving all other senses out of her mind, body, and soul, burning with a nameless pleasure.

“Fly for me.” Ryan’s mouth enslaving hers stifled her rapturous cry.

Hot, magical, and powerful, all of him filled her. Absolute and exquisite. She hung on the precipice, tipping over, slipping fast. Tremors of pain-pleasure jolted through her. Starlight burst inside her magic core, showering her with breathtaking joy. Sweet exhilaration washed over her like sunlight on ice. Her release began to rock her to the base of her soul, and she lost control, slicing the last shackles on her magic. Ryan’s fire and ether shot molten heat into her every cell, instantly fusing with her magic. Clinging to his shoulders, she dipped her head back and screamed as the elements swamped her, soaking up Ryan’s prickly ether as if her insides were starving for lifeblood.

Morgan’s air, fire, and earth magic seized the ether and detonated inside his body. Magnetic, electrifying flames lit her up from within. His eyes widened and a convulsion bucked him against her. He tore his mouth from hers and yelled out as his own release hooked him. Energy swirled above them in a dangerous cyclone of light and electricity, joining their souls together. Her heart quit beating for seconds then beat as one with Ryan’s heart. They shuddered together, heaving with the force of their mutual release.

Vast power cascaded inside them, electrifying the air, pulsing along their skin in an indigo glow. Their crystals exploded lilac light around them, illuminating the uncontainable power leaking from their bodies.

The invocation came unbidden in the midst of her unraveling. “I dream of you, lover of my body, enchanter of my heart, warrior king of my soul, sorcerer of my magic. You are mine everlasting. Our hearts, bodies, souls, and magic are entwined. Here, now and forever.” Morgan pressed her open lips to his, blowing in the last bit of magic.

Slowly moving inside her, Ryan kissed her forehead, her eyelids, her mouth. “I dream of you, lover of my body, enchantress of my heart, queen of my soul, sorceress of my magic. You are mine everlasting. Our hearts, bodies, souls, and magic are entwined. Here, now and forever.”

Her heart thudded against her chest, in her ears, on the edge of bursting anew with ether. Renewed ecstasy plunged through her with the perfection of their united magic. Her release went on longer than she thought possible, rocking her body against Ryan. More of her magic spilled into him as Ryan’s magnificent magic took its place.

She cried out, dragging in gulps of air. Only the power fuse inside her kept her from passing out. Ryan collapsed on top of her, panting hard. Morgan lay beneath his welcome weight, reaching for the tantalizing power fuse, glorying in the excruciating pleasure of their union. They lay still for several long moments, leveling their breathing and pulses. Their magic danced a slow waltz inside each other, a tantalizing mix of life and love.

“Holy hellfire.” Ryan shifted his weight off her. “You just about killed me.” He managed a chuckle that turned into a snort. “That’s one helluva ritual.” He stroked her face, love blazing with the dance of firelight in his eyes. “Your magic is so sweet and fresh inside me. I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven with everything I’ve ever wanted.”

“I
am
in heaven.” She nestled into his sweat-drenched body. “Your ether magic plays nice with mine, too. I feel invincible.” Morgan pulled his head down and kissed him. She parted her lips and released a final taste of magic into his welcoming mouth.

Ryan jerked his head back. “What was that?”

“Another gift. Something I tried to tell you when you stomped away from me earlier.”

Ryan hung his head sheepishly. The visions of home hit him and he whipped his head up, landing a wide-eyed look on her. The visions played through Ryan’s mind. His expression changed from confusion, to awe, finally to relief when he witnessed Alexander’s death scene.

“Michael and Lauren would be dead if not for us,” he said in an awed whisper.

She nodded. “We saved their lives.”

Moving his full weight off Morgan, he molded her to him, chest to chest. “Killing WindWraith broke his tie to Alexander?”

“Yes, also Alexander’s minions who will not survive without him. Those carrying his mark are free.” She swept his damp hair off his temples. “Michael and Lauren did not betray you. They love each other. But they first and foremost honored you and your duty.”

“Wow.” Ryan rubbed his chin. “I underestimated Michael and his potions. I’d been so sucked up in leading and protecting our people, I ignored what was in front of my face.”

“I think they’ll make wonderful leaders and prove they can guide and love at the same time.” Morgan caressed his face. “How do you think they’ll fare against the Alasoron Cabal now that the Overlord is dead and the Fomorian ranks reduced?”

“The Alasorons can barely wipe their asses without Alexander’s leadership and power. They’ll start infighting and their powers will dwindle without ties to Alexander. Eventually, they’ll kill each other off.”

“What if they don’t? What if you’re wrong?”

Ryan hugged her tighter, his relief a palpable weight on their bond. “My love, you don’t have anything to worry about me leaving you alone now. There’s really no need for me to return. Alexander was our greatest threat. Michael and Lauren can take it from here.”

She kissed his rune brand, relishing his musky, salty skin on her lips. “Did you know that your adoptive father was the cause of your mother’s death?”

“No,” he whispered, his voice cracking. “The bastard played it off, made me think Michael forced James and my mother to take a prototype balancing potion to help them focus their magic easier. They’d both had problems with inconsistent casting.”

“But didn’t Michael refute your father?”

“He tried. I wouldn’t listen.” Ryan’s faced reddened. “Then he took off to the East Coast. Gods, I’m such an idiot.”

“I’m sorry you won’t ever see Michael again.”

A melancholy frown flitted across his features. “Maybe we’ll find a way to scry to my world someday so I can tell him I’m alive, that he and I are where we belong. Maybe my people will wind up here. Isn’t that the purpose of the island?”

Morgan touched her fingers to his whiskered cheek, glad she’d told him about her ability to scry. No more secrets would separate them. “The magic here is unfathomable. Killing WindWraith opened the lock on the island’s door, so to speak. On an isle with two moons shadowing each other in the sky, anything’s possible.”

Ryan pressed his feverish forehead to hers, his fingers playing with a lock of her hair. “You are the star of my sky now.”

Morgan felt the buoyancy of his heart and gloried in the easing of his burdens. Her magic bottled his ether inside her in warm comfort. “I definitely feel like starfire.” A tear of happiness slipped down her cheek.

He delicately traced the scars on her stomach. No longer stinging with misery and embarrassment, they melted every time he touched them. No longer evidence of fear and abandonment, she wore her badges with pride.

“What I don’t get is how Michael pulled magic from the stars. That bastard my mother married didn’t possess ether magic.”