Page 19

She smiled, the sun and memories warming the chill in her bones.

Ellie’s light hearted giggle as they jumped from the falls. Talon’s roaring laugh when they leapt over the edge, racing toward the bottom, carefree and young.

She teetered on the edge. “I won’t drop you,” she promised. Rion glanced at her, then the cliff.

“You intend to—”

She cut him off with a swift kiss that turned deep, then tilted to the side and let their bodies fall.

His grip tightened but a smile spread across her face and she tilted her head back letting the rush of the wind steal her breath and worries. Rion clutched her hand and she held his in return. She knew how many seconds it took to reach the bottom like she knew how to walk the estate in the black pitch of night.

Arianna pulled droplets from the air, letting them surround their bodies and slow their descent. He didn’t resist and the pair pointed their feet, pressed their hands into their sides, then their bodies broke the surface of the deep, glittering pool.

Breath left her at the sheer frigid temperature, and the pounding of the falls pushed them deeper, a strong current rolling the pair along.

A sudden spike down the bond had Arianna diving for her mate. She propelled them away from the current and both gasped when they broke the surface.

Then Rion was laughing, really laughing, the sound full and loud and Arianna couldn’t help but laugh along with him.

A fight. That’s all it had been. No one was hurt. Not really, and compared to what they’d faced before and all the losses they’d suffered, it was a blessing.

Arianna splashed water on his face. “I thought you were panicking.”

Those alluring emerald green eyes lit up in such a rare way. Then he pulled her close and kissed her. She melted into his touch and let her magic spread to warm the water surrounding them.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, brushing the wet hair from her face as they treaded water.

She shook her head. “We knew it was too soon.” Steam rose in the air around them. “How many times have you two done that?”

“A few,” he admitted. “Though we were interrupted a lot for one reason or another. The only other time we fought unhindered—well, that’s the night a beautiful female chose to save my life rather than end it.”

She ran her hand down his torso. “I’m glad I did.”

Rion pressed his forehead to hers. “Me, too.”

“Do you think it was instinct?”

His mouth brushed hers and her heart leapt, need instantly demanding she pull him closer. “I don’t know.” They kissed, long and slow and her need turned more fierce and demanding.

The pair swam closer to shore and as soon as Rion’s feet touched the bottom, Arianna wrapped her legs around his waist, feeling a desire that matched her own.

His tongue dove into her mouth and everything that was Rion became her. They had eternity to work together, learn, and grow as a mated pair. And once that bond solidified, she’d feel things from him she’d never feel from another.

His pleasure. His pain.

And she wanted nothing more.

***

After letting his presence consume her, the pair laid in the grass at the edge of the shore, watching the falls and the sky as it shifted to orange and purples above them. She’d dried their clothes and Rion had one hand behind his head and the other wrapped around her shoulders.

“Who taught you how to swim?” she asked.

“My mother. There’s a lake not far from Nàdiar. She liked to visit, so my father built her a house next to the water.”

“That was kind of him.” She bit her tongue, remembering exactly what his father had done, but Rion just shrugged.

“He was a different male when my mother was around.”