He stroked a thumb over my cheekbone. “You started something when you fed me your magic…”
“The fae joining pact? Axel told me.” I bit my lip, wondering where he was going with this.
He moved his hand over my heart. “I can still feel it. Especially after what we’ve just done.” He swallowed thickly. “Can you?”
I nodded. “Like an ache. While you were gone, my magic would reach out sometimes and you weren’t there.”
“I can stop it,” he said softly, gaze never leaving mine. “If you want me to.” He drew his bottom lip between his teeth, looking uncharacteristically uncertain. “Or we could leave it alone and see how things develop between us.”
Having thought I’d lost Dathal once, I knew what it was like to be without him, and I didn’t want to experience that again. Maybe it was too soon to complete a fae joining pact, whatever the fuck that was, but I wanted to keep him.
Forever.
“I want the second option.”
His smile was blinding. “Me too.”
He scooted closer and kissed me, hard and fierce, and I poured everything I could into it, because I knew with absolute certainty that I’d never wanted anything more in my whole life.
Not even my magic back.
I didn’t know how Dathal had made his way back to me or how long he was here for, but unlike last time I wasn’t worried. Because as our magic swirled and twined together again, beautiful and intricate, somehow I knew that whatever happened, nothing would separate us again.
EPILOGUE
Dathal
Two months later
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked, earning myself an eye-roll from Nick.
“Having second thoughts?” He walked over to me and slipped his hands around my waist.
“Never.” I kissed him, refusing to let him draw me into deepening it because we had no time for that.
“Good. Because Lady Sarhin scares me, and I don’t want to be the one to tell her she’d set all this up for nothing.” He shuddered and I grinned. I guessed she was fearsome if you didn’t know her like I had come to over the last couple of months.
After she’d persuaded the council to let me take the role of Axel’s bodyguard and fae liaison to the paranormal police, we’d reached an understanding. Much to my surprise, and Axel’s delight, she’d taken quite the interest in my and Nick’s relationship.
Since Vai Zh’alek seemed to have vanished, the high court had raised the issue of whether Axel still needed a full-time fae guard. As far as I was concerned, Axel needed me as long as that psychopath Zh’alek was anywhere other than a fae prison.
Lady Sarhin happened to agree with me.
We were also concerned in case they decided to replace me as police liaison. There were rumblings the position could be used as a training initiative for other guards. While I could see their point, there was no way I was returning to the Fae Realm and leaving Nick.
Lady Sarhin had pointed out that if we both felt that way, then the best course of action was to complete the joining pact. Much like a shifter soulbond, once completed, not even the high court could interfere. She’d also confided that it was exactly what she and Nathan Calder had done.
So that’s what we had decided to do.
And today was the day.
I’d spent the last two months getting to know everything about Nick and letting him know me. I’d met his coven, his family, and spent more nights at Midnight than even Axel. Our magic fit in a way I’d never expected, seamlessly combining every time we touched. It was a beautiful thing, and far from feeling rushed, completing the joining pact felt like the natural progression of our relationship. I wanted to share everything with Nick: my body, my magic, the rest of my life.
The thought made me smile, like always.
“What’s got you grinning like one of my cats?” He paused from buttoning up his shirt, watching me.
“I look nothing like those beasts.”
