Page 23 of Tino

“I come with good news,” she began, smiling even brighter. “The twenty mages that were working on how to properly hide your magic have finally found a way for us to shield you.”

I was so damn happy I could cry. I should’ve felt bad for hating on her when I thought she was wasting her time doing other things. I’d genuinely thought she and Nujik were the ones who had to figure out how to shield us.

“That’s amazing!” Tair exclaimed, sending me a blinding smile. I mirrored it and winked. It made him blush, but Willow didn’t seem to notice.

“It really is! We need ten mages including the other true leaders, to help us maintain the magic while you bond. I know it might not seem romantic, but we need to keep you safe,” Willow explained, giving us a knowing look. She wasn’t a bad person, and it seemed she truly cared about our needs. Even if there wasn’t anything else to do than bond while ten mages stood outside and waited.

Fun times.

“So, when can we do the ritual?” I asked, knowing we might be celebrating too early.

“In one hour,” she announced, then stood. “I’ll tell the other true leaders now so they can get ready.”

I suddenly felt what I believed to be performance anxiety. Tair took my hand in his and gave me the smile I’d only ever seen him direct at me. It wasmysmile. His silent support worked wonders on my nerves.

“Silver will be adding a silencing ward before we start. I’ll make sure that it stays in place for two hours,” she said as she opened the door. “As soon as you’ve received your magic and have bathed or whatever you need, come out and join us to add your magic to the ward. We can’t stay out there working forever, and the ward willprotect you after you’ve added your magic to it, making us free from shielding you.”

“Thank you,” Altair said and I nodded, grateful I was given the chance to claim the man I’d always loved.

We decided to bathe separately before bonding, since it would simply be too hard to resist knowing we would soon be allowed to truly have one another. It also gave us something to do instead of us just buzzing with excitement until they’d knock on the door, alerting us we could begin.

I sat freshly showered on the bed. We’d left the bedroom door open so we could hear them knock. The curtains were drawn, offering us a semblance of privacy.

“This is so weird,” Tair said, having just finished his own bath. He sat down next to me, a towel wrapped around his waist. I myself had pulled on some boxers, not really seeing the point of getting fully dressed.

“It definitely wasn’t how I expected our first time together to go,” I agreed. “But it will still be the most important day in my life nonetheless.”

He gasped softly and sniffed. “The most perfect day,” he agreed, kissing me softly on the lips. “I still can’t believe you’ll soon be mine forever.”

I couldn’t either.

“Forever,” I said, resting my forehead against his, knowing if we continued to kiss, we wouldn’t stop at kissing.

Then the most amazing sound came from the front door. Four knocks.

It was finally time.

“Fuck!” Tair blurted loudly, surprising me. “We haven’t even decided who tops.”

I burst out laughing. “And here I was worried you’d changed your mind on us,” I teased.

He swatted my arm. “This is serious! Who tops?!”

“Me,” I shrugged, knowing I actually didn’t care, but we needed to decide on one of us. “You can top me next,” I offered.

“You’d be okay with that?”

“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?”

He shrugged. “We haven’t really talked about what we each wanted to do when we finally did have sex.”

“But neither of us knows what we prefer yet,” I reminded him. “I thought we’d each get to try out both and see what we prefer, but for now I’ll just start.”

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense.”

I could tell he was as nervous as I was, but we sadly didn’t have the luxury of taking our sweet time. Knowing ten mages, including our friends, were out there working their magic, made me move quicker.

Thinking we had all day to explore each other, I offered, “Tonight, I’ll let you fuck me, but it won’t be until I’ve mapped out every tiny part of your body. I want to take my time with you. Savor you. But now, for our first time, there isn’t time for that.” I removed my boxers and grabbed the lube from the bedside drawer, where I’d put it when Xarius had handed it over awkwardly. Something we would never mention ever again.