Page 33 of Untraced Magic (Cutters Cove Witches #1)

Tyler

As night swallowed the cove in darkness, I’d moved Morgan to a blanket where she now lay sleeping peacefully against me, one leg curled over mine and body spent. Her breathing had eventually mellowed during the night, now light and chest barely moving.

I inhaled her scent like my drug of choice, the pull of the mate bond enhancing every touch, every feeling inside me to the extreme. It was surreal, invigorating even.

Our closeness calmed my mind, yet every touch of her skin burned a deep yearning inside me, raw desire consuming me entirely, eager to consummate our bond now at its full strength.

I pushed the thoughts away as her breath floated against my neck, sending a shiver curling over my skin.

My gaze drifted to the horizon, where streaks of bronze and gold danced across the ocean as the day woke from its slumber. My fingers grazed the small of Morgan’s back between her top and pants, warmth filling my heart.

My mate, a powerful witch. I was beyond proud of her.

She stirred against me, a light hum in response to my caress.

“Happy Birthday,” I whispered .

She mumbled drowsily into my chest, a hand moving over her face. “I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus.”

I smiled, subtly shaking my head. “You just had a lifetime’s worth of magic hit you in one evening. I imagine that’s to be expected.”

She scanned the beach, confusion settling on her face and wrinkling her nose.

“We slept here all night?”

“Yeah. You were out of it, so I thought it best you rest where you were.”

She stared at me incredulously. “In the middle of winter? How are we not frozen solid?”

I chuckled. “Do I need to remind you of the fact you have your own personal heater now?”

Amusement pooled in her eyes. “Yeah, a one bar heater.”

“I didn’t mean that ,” I chuckled at her innuendo. “My body heat alone warmed us both the entire night.” I placed a kiss on her forehead. “Perks of being mated to a thermo mage, princess.”

Her cheeks flushed, and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, pulling her close again.

I mustered the cheekiest look I could. “You have a filthy mind, witch.”

“I do not !” she grumbled, playfully thumping me in the chest with her fist, her head bobbing with laughter. The sound strummed pleasurable chords within me, my dick throbbing in response.

Tugging the blanket tighter around us, I nuzzled into her neck. “How do you feel? ”

Morgan leaned against my chest, staring out to the ocean, the sun having now completely melted away the night, splashing its golden glow over the cove for the first time in what seemed like weeks.

A comfortable silence sat between us as she contemplated life.

“I feel alive. I feel… free. It feels right,” she admitted, turning to look at me.

The pull of the mate bond tugged deep within me again.

“Mate,” she whispered.

I smiled, trying to hide my nerves. There was still so much I needed to explain.

Her hand traced my cheek, down to my jaw, the gentle caress making my dick twitch. She looked at me as if seeing me for the first time, a new intensity burning in her eyes.

“So how does this mate thing work exactly?” Morgan asked, her voice huskier now.

I sucked in a breath as she inspected me like something she could paint. “Where do I start?” I said, more to myself than to her. “Does it freak you out?”

Her head bowed a little, breaking our eye contact. “It did at first. But now…” She paused again.

I waited with bated breath, not sure if I was ready for the answer.

“Now, I get it,” she finally said, a smile creasing her cheeks that now blushed a deep crimson. “I feel it,” she added, as if realizing the assurance I desperately needed.

A grin spread over my face as I registered her words, knowing she was feeling the same pull inside her. The same heat at our mere touch .

I brushed my lips against hers, and the heat inside me exploded into a full-blown inferno. I needed to be inside her as my mate. I let Morgan take the lead; she had to want this, now aware of our bond and the meaning behind it.

She adjusted her body until she faced me, a palm over my heart.

It beat hard, pounding in my chest. I knew she could feel it, as I could hers, a connection between mates.

She climbed over me, straddling my waist, her hands crawling up my neck and into my hair.

Her palm cradled my neck, a heated look consuming her chocolate orbs.

She dropped her gaze to my lips, molten with desire. “I need you. More than I’ve ever needed anything in my life.”

Her hand dropped to fidget with my belt, eyes never wavering from mine.

“Morgan…” I wrapped my hand around her wrist, and she startled, glancing to where my hand grasped hers. “We don’t have to do this. Not here. Let me take you home,” I offered, but her head shook slowly as she removed my hand with her free one.

Morgan spoke lowly, “Please. I’ve felt nothing like this before. No one’s here. It’s just us.”

Her words alone could’ve finished me—if on my feet, could’ve dropped me to my knees.

Her hands moved back to my belt, and this time I didn’t attempt to stop her. Consumed by the mate bond, its force was an indestructible thing.

I couldn’t imagine anyone or anything able to destroy such a powerful connection .

I brushed her hair from her face, tucking it behind an ear as she held my stare, sliding my belt from its buckle and undoing the zipper.

“I’m the luckiest man alive,” I mused as her hands wrapped around my length.

I moved the blanket around us as her head dipped lower, taking me in her mouth.

A groan ripped from me as her warmth surrounded me, her tongue’s caress sending me into a state of mind unknown.

Before, everything was muted compared to this; this was something else entirely.

She wound me tight as she curled her tongue around me from head to tip, all the while moving her hand over me until it fucking wrecked me.

“Fuuuck,” I groaned, sliding my hand into her hair.

She took me in again, deeper this time, moaning like she couldn’t get enough. I threw my head to the sky as the vibrations barreled through me, my hips falling naturally into a rhythm as her mouth slid over me repeatedly.

I let her have all of me, let her take control, the entire beach to ourselves as we hugged the hues of dawn.

I watched her in awe as she took every inch of me. “How are you real?”

Morgan took that as her invitation to glance up at me, and fuck if she couldn’t be any more perfect in that moment.

I cupped her cheek, drawing my thumb over her jaw. “Come here, please.”

I pulled her toward me, and we discarded our clothing until she straddled my thighs.

She gathered the blanket around us before the bite of dawn left its mark, skin crawling over skin as we wrapped our hands around each other.

She lowered to kiss me, a deep, all-consuming kiss that held nothing back as she lapped her tongue against mine.

Pulling away, she stared at me with those doe eyes. I was sure they could break a man, leave him begging on the ground.

“Tyler… I…” Her lids closed as she drew in a breath.

Something inside me knew what she wanted to say. The bond, like a tether to her mind.

“I love you,” I whispered, my hand landing between her breasts, settling on her heart.

Her lips parted without words. Even if she wasn’t ready to say them herself, I felt it.

A lone tear ran the length of her cheek, and then she kissed me again, the tang of salted tears sliding between our lips until turning into something more.

A fresh hunger moved my mouth against hers, ground her hips into mine.

The mate bond fueling the intensity between us until I ached with arousal.

I drew my hands between her thighs to find her already slick and ready for me, my dick aching to be inside her. Her forehead connected with mine, her intensity so raw with emotion it wracked my soul.

Morgan lowered herself ever so slowly onto me, connected as one as she moved over me in a growing, needy rhythm.

Heavy breaths and graveled whispers hushed between us as the mate bond pulled us closer. Wrapped its bond around us, securing its leash. She rode me like she was claiming me as her own, a fucking and utterly gorgeous thing to watch as she moved with me.

Lost in ourselves in nature, we took everything the other had to give, fucking under the beady eyes of wilderness, and I knew I’d never forget it.

“Take what you need, baby, come with me,” I ordered as she rolled her hips over me repeatedly.

Her hands clung onto my shoulders, nails digging into flesh as she found her rhythm, grinding against me in a way I knew would hit her sweet spot. Her walls clenched around me, and I knew she was close, knew this would be quick and intense.

“I love you,” Morgan breathed into the wind before crying out in waves of pleasure, and I let myself go with her.

A swarm of our magic surrounded us as we barreled over the edge together, our cries gusted away and swallowed by the stiff breeze.

Her legs remained straddling my thighs, chest heaving as she laid her head on my shoulder. I skimmed my arm around her waist, resting it in the natural curve of her hip, the other gathering the blanket around us that had slipped at some point.

Engulfed in my thermo magic, we spent the early hours of the morning wrapped in nature, exchanging kisses and swimming in the depths of the ocean, naked as the trees around us in the thick of winter.

“Tyler,” came Morgan’s breathless voice. She turned to me, her attention consuming me.

“Yeah?”

“I would really like to go to this dance with you. ”

I smiled at the weight of her words, at what this meant for us. For Cutters Cove.

“I would really like that, too.”

On the outside, I was the picture of calm as I planted a delicate kiss on her shoulder. But inside, a storm ravaged my nervous system, anxiety suddenly pitching its tent and anchoring its poles into my skin.

Morgan’s magic emerging was one thing, but now it had, she was effectively public domain until she learned to control it.