his fingers glide over her, spreading her for him, and then he lowered his head and she felt the first rasp of his tongue over her heated flesh.
Allie cried out, her eyes slamming shut and her body jerking. And then she tangled her fingers in the sheet and held on for dear life, her hips lifting off the bed and moving to his rhythm as he finally drove them both over the edge they’d danced so close to repeatedly this past half hour.
The explosion when it came was much more powerful than Allie could have imagined, sending her almost into a seizure that left lights exploding behind her eyes and her whole body shaking before darkness swept in to claim her.
Allie woke up to find herself cuddled against Magnus’s side, her head resting on his chest and his hand moving soothingly up and down her arm. For a moment, she just lay still, enjoying the caress, but then she sighed, and said, “Sorry.”
Magnus’s hand stilled at once and then he asked, “For what?”
“I fainted again,” she pointed out with a grimace. “I guess my blood levels are still a little low. Dani said they would be.”
She felt him relax and his hand started to slide up and down her arm again.
“Yes, you fainted,” Magnus agreed, and she could hear the smile in his voice. “But that was not a result of your blood levels. It is because we are life mates. I lost consciousness too.”
Allie pushed herself up on one arm to stare at him with disbelief. “What?”
“For life mates, the shared experience of lovemaking is so overwhelming that both members usually lose consciousness on completion,” he explained, and then added, “At least, for the first year or so.”
She considered that briefly, and then asked, “Why only for a year or so? Does it get boring after that or something?”
“No,” he assured her. “It is just that it takes that long for our bodies to adjust to the intensity of the experience.”
“Oh.” Allie nodded. She could see that. It had been pretty intense, she thought, recalling his glowing eyes staring up at her as he— Blinking, she rolled away from him, nearly tumbling off the bed before she caught herself and gained her feet.
“What is it?” Magnus asked with concern, and she heard the rustle of the sheets as he followed.
She didn’t answer, but hurried to the dresser to look at herself in the large mirror over it.
“Damn,” Allie breathed as she saw herself.
Her hair was a tumbled mass of waves around her face, that sexy just-rolled-out-of-bed look that no application of hairspray and curling iron had ever managed to achieve for her, and the blond streaks in her light brown hair were more obvious for some reason. She shifted her attention to her face then, noting the complete lack of anything resembling acne scars, which she used to have a few of. Now her skin was completely unblemished and the pores were so tiny they were nonexistent.
Her eyes were different too. The hazel was now greener, the brown having been pushed to the outer edge so that it acted almost like eyeliner for the iris. She didn’t see any silver, though, Allie noted with disappointment.
“Is something wrong?” Magnus asked, appearing behind her in the mirror.
Allie smiled wryly, and admitted, “I wanted to see the silver in my eyes, but they aren’t silver anymore.”
He looked surprised, but then slid his arms around her waist and drew her back against his chest. Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, he said, “We can bring the silver out if you like.”
Allie peered at their reflection, her gaze sliding over his wide shoulders, and the muscled arms wrapped around her under breasts that were fuller and perkier than they used to be, and she nodded. “Let’s make them glow.”
Magnus chuckled, but caught her hands when she reached back to touch him. “I will make them glow. You watch. I would not wish you to miss it again.”
Releasing her hands then, he glided his own up her arms and then around to cover her breasts. Her hands moved up to cover his when he began to knead the tender flesh, urging her more firmly against his chest. She watched their reflection, finding the sight of his body framing hers and his hands on her incredibly erotic. But then he bent to kiss her neck and her head tilted to the side, her eyes closing as she shivered and moaned at the combined