I stand and walk toward Nash as he offers me his hand. “Let me help ground you,” he murmurs. He jerks his head at Gwyneth. “I think you should hold her other hand. You are built to even each other out and complement your power.”
I run my tongue over my teeth as Gwyneth does exactly that. “You’ve got this,” she whispers.
Charming narrows his gaze on me, a warning that he’ll end me if I cause Gwyneth harm. I could never.
“How do I take it back?” I whisper as Theo bumbles into a chair leg and rolls over dramatically.
“Do you still feel the strange power in your chest?” Nash asks.
“Yes.” How does he know that?
“Concentrate and separate it out from anything familiar.”
I run my teeth over my bottom lip and ignore the golden thread linking me to Theo, and instead focus on the shimmering red that belongs to neither of us. “Got it,” I whisper.
“Good, now close your eyes.” I obey with a nod. “And don’t overthink it. Just curl that power like you’re winding a spool of cotton. Easy does it.” I pull, and at first, it slides out of my grasp. My brow furrows as I concentrate and tug harder. There it is. “That’s it, Daphne,” Nash encourages. The power starts humming under my flesh once more, making me twitch. Gwyneth’s hand tightens around mine, grounding me between them in the here and now.
“Almost there,” Genie says. “A little more. Careful, just a smidgen. There it is.”
I blow out a breath and flip my eyes open to come face to face with a fully human Theo. I drop my gaze. A very naked Theo.
“And that’s our cue to leave,” Gwyneth shouts.
Theo’s chest rises and falls as he eyes me like I’m his last meal, the golden link between almost painful in its demand.
The room empties of all beings, magical or otherwise, until we’re alone.
“Mine,” he growls.
Holy Idol babies…
Chapter Twenty Seven
Theo
Nash gives me a warning look before he nods and closes the door, sealing us inside the chamber. Daphne’s throat bobs.
My lips lift. “You tamed my feral dragon, and now you get nervous?”
She fists her hands and releases them, letting her shoulders drop. “Don’t mistake how terrified of being burned to a crisp I was.”
I stalk closer, and she backs up. “Then why do it?”
She lifts her chin. “Because I couldn’t exist in a future without you in it. Plus, you stole something of mine.”
The throb in my chest intensifies. “And what would that be?” I drawl as I rake her with my gaze.
“My soul,” she whispers. The words feel right. Validating.
“And in return, you have stolen a piece of mine.”
She drags her bottom lip between her teeth. “Then I guess we will have to take care of each other’s.”
“Looks that way. But I trust you.”
Her legs hit the edge of the bed, and she blinks as if she isn’t sure how I maneuvered her back.
Mate.
