“Rowan.” My heart pounded, my blood heating in my veins.
His breath was warm against my neck. “Warmer?”
I didn’t want to say yes, but I’d already stopped shivering. Say what you want about shifters, but being cuddled by one, especially a bear, felt like snuggling up next to a cozy fireplace.
“Yes, but you’re making it difficult to concentrate.”
“Oh? How so?”
“Incorrigible brat,” I muttered.
Rowan snorted.
“I’m worried I’m going to hurt you.”
“Is that all you’re worried about?”
No. He was warm and pressed against me and lean and hard in all the right places, and his breath was on my skin, and his hair was tickling my cheek and what in the actual hell was I thinking? A month ago, I was engaged and about to walk down the aisle with the man I thought I’d be with forever.
Now I was sitting in a remote area with my friend, my good friend, and I wasreacting. He was warm and his arms were around me, and I was having trouble thinking about doing anything other than turning around and?—
“Yes,” I snapped.
He leaned closer, his breath warm against the shell of my ear. “Liar,” he whispered.
“If you get stabbed with a tree limb, I’m not going to feel sorry for you.”
“Mmm. Worth it.”
“Stop being an ass, please.”
He laughed. “Fine. But you are warmer, and you have a bear to thank for that. Did you know our body temperatures are over a hundred degrees?”
“Rowan, if I don’t siphon this magic out, I’m going to self-combust. Please shut up.”
His arms tightened just a hair. “Alright. Do your worst.”
I sank into my power, Rowan’s warmth helping my concentration, even though he was a menace. Deeper and deeper I went, reaching for Donovan’s border, but more and more power spooled from my body, the normal well of magic far greater than it had ever been before. Even then, it had been immense, but now, with my tattoos damaged and my Chimera power right at the surface, I felt like a supernova burning with magic.
The ground, still slumbering in this unusual winter, responded, roots reaching toward me, gently wrapping around my thighs and waist, including Rowan in their seeking.
The Lord let out a soft gasp of surprise but made no move to jerk away or recoil. Instead, he pulled me closer until I could barely tell him or myself apart. Flowers bloomed around us, sprouting from my hair and skin, the land responding not only to me but to the Lord whose arms wrapped around me. Vines and roots and flower bulbs quested curiously toward him, my mind’s eye watching as they gently nudged and explored the Lord’s clothing and skin.
He is your Lord, I said to the land.I am merely one of your stewards.
The earth never spoke to me with words. Its sentience was profoundly different from humans or animals. Anycommunication came through images and feelings. And the land…it loved him. Images flew at me of Rowan in his greenhouse, of his careful stewardship of the grounds around the Keep, his choice of gardeners to help him with the things he didn’t have time to do.
“The land loves you,” I murmured.
Rowan’s voice shook. “I—I had no idea your power felt like this.”
I stilled. “You can sense what I sense? You feel the power below the ground?”
Pulling my senses back just a hair, I focused on Rowan. His heart pounded against my back, his breath ragged in my ear.
“I can. Evie, this—” He let out a long breath. “This power is staggering. Stunning. You—” He laid his head against the crook of my shoulder. “Are beautiful,” he whispered. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
My heart lurched. “Rowan.”
