so many centuries feeling cold.
But with Teresa’s touch, that cold was abated. Magic, he thought with satisfaction. The blending of two mated souls.
“I can’t heal with touch,” she warned him.
“No, but our powers together will do the job. Concentrate your magic on my injuries.”
He watched her over his shoulder, saw her center herself, then close her eyes to focus better. Then he drew on the fire and in an instant, flames jumped to life on his skin. As they danced across her hands and his back, he felt the healing swiftly overtake him.
Teresa’s eyes opened wide and she stared down at the quickening flames covering her hands. She watched as the ragged holes in his body sealed over and became smooth again, as if he’d never been shot at all. And still the flames burned, covering her palms on his back. She took a breath and let it slowly slide from her lungs.
“That’s amazing,” she whispered. “The fire doesn’t burn.”
“No,” he said, allowing the flames to flicker and fade away as his body was healed. “Not unless I will it. I am the fire, Teresa. The flames are what form me. And what I am will never harm you.”
She pulled in another deep breath and studied his face as if coming to a decision. Nodding, she said, “I believe you. Your back is healed over. Not even a scar.” She trailed the fingertips of one hand across his skin as if checking for flaws she couldn’t see. “But your power was drained by the white gold, right?”
“Yes.”
Lifting the hem of her shirt, she pulled it up and over her head, tossing it to the floor. “All right, then. We’ve got to get you healed completely. I know about the sex magic between a witch and her Eternal. My abuela told me that sex drives your power. Right?”
“That is true,” he said, gaze dropping to the swell of her breasts, hidden behind a plain white cotton bra. Through the fabric, he saw her pebbled nipples and his hands itched to touch her. His mouth watered for the taste of her. “We were made as two halves of the same whole. When we join, our powers grow and our strength increases. We are mates, Teresa. Bound by the fires of creation. Sex is the most intimate of joinings, twining our powers together, creating strength. The Mating ritual binds us even more deeply—but my magic is too depleted at the moment to begin the ritual.”
“The ritual is more than sex?”
“Yes. Much more.”
“But sex alone will give you back your strength.”
“It will.”
“Then we’re having sex. Right now.” She unhooked her bra and tossed it aside, baring her breasts to him unself-consciously. Then she stood and before he knew it, she had whipped off her boots, jeans and panties, standing before him completely naked with the dignity and pride of a young queen.
She was magnificent.
“You amaze me,” he said as his body tightened in an agony of need. He’d had no idea his witch was this strong. He had expected her to be afraid and anticipated that she would be hesitant to take hold of their shared destiny. Instead, she had been expecting him. She’d defied him. Helped him. And now she offered herself to bring him back to full strength.
This witch, this woman, had the inner strength of a warrior. She would do whatever was necessary to survive. His admiration for her matched his desire.
He ran one hand up her naked calf and she shivered. Her brown eyes were shadowed, but her expression was determined. “Take your clothes off, Eternal.”
With a snap of his fingers, his clothes disappeared and he rolled over onto his back to look up at her. He felt the fire in him roaring at the promise of sex with his mate.
Teresa dropped to the floor, then straddled him to cover his body with hers. Rune grabbed her and pulled her even closer, his hands coming down onto her hips and holding tightly as if to keep her from changing her mind.
But his witch was nothing if not single-minded. She smiled at him and whispered, “I’m not going anywhere.”
Then she raised up on her knees and his hands slid from her hips to her thighs, loving the hot feel of her skin beneath his palms. His cock was hard and ready. His breath stilled in his chest. If he’d had a heartbeat, it would have staggered as she slowly lowered herself onto him.
Heat at her center welcomed him. Liquid warmth drew