within himself. Lowering his head, he took her branded nipple into his mouth and swirled his tongue across the sensitive tip. She held him there, her fingers spearing through his hair.
“You taste of moonlight,” he whispered against her skin. “Moonlight and magic.” Raising his gaze to hers, he saw the flare of desire spark again within her and answered it with a smile. “My witch. My mate. You are in my soul, Teresa.”
“As you are in mine,” she confessed on a sigh. “Rune, when you appeared in that tower of fire tonight, I’d never seen anything more magnificent in my life.”
“I felt your pain. Your fear,” he said and thumped one hand hard against his chest. “Here. Inside me, raw and bleeding. I knew you needed me and nothing could have kept me away.”
Her fingers moved over the mating brand on his chest again as if she could somehow soothe the ache that lingered there. “I should have waited for you, to do the moon spell. I know that. But once it started, Rune, I couldn’t stop it.”
Frowning slightly, he asked, “What do you mean?”
“The moon’s energies poured into me. Like a water faucet turned on full, it just kept coming. The mystical force of it was staggering and it was all over me. Inside, outside. I felt it sliding through my skin into the air and then wrapping itself around me again and seeping back in.” Her voice trembled and he cupped her branded breast with his palm to ground her. “I tapped into something that I wasn’t prepared for. I don’t know why it happened, what exactly I freed….”
“You freed yourself, Teresa,” he said, with a slow smile in the face of her confusion.
“What?”
“You said your memories returned. Can’t you recall the reason why the moon reacted so to your spell?”
Her features twisted as she tried to make sense of what was no doubt a spill of information flooding her mind. Eventually, she sighed and admitted, “No. No idea. I told you, the memories are there, but they’re all tangled up in knots and I’ll probably spend the next fifty years trying to work them free.”
“You were the moon’s priestess,” he said, his own memory nearly choking him now. “In the coven, on that last night so long ago, it was you who called down the moon. You who asked her blessing on the magic you all created. You who turned her gift into a weapon.”
“Oh, God …” She slipped out from under him, rolled off the bed and crossed the room in jerking, halting steps. At the window, she peeled back the edge of the dark red drapes and stared out at the night. Beyond the lamplit emptiness of the parking lot, there was the jungle, with the moonlight glimmering softly over the darkness.
He came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her trembling body and said, “Tonight, you welcomed the moon back into your life, into your spirit. You reclaimed what you had once lost and its power staggered you.
“As it was meant to be.” He kissed her forehead, then reached down, grabbed her behind and lifted her, setting her legs at his waist. She hooked her feet at the small of his back and as their gazes met, he said, “The moon has forgiven you, Teresa. It blessed you tonight with the energies it has been holding on to for centuries, in wait for you. Now it’s time to forgive yourself. And to remember.”
She nodded solemnly and he could see in her eyes that acceptance was growing within her. His witch amazed him anew. Her power was strengthening, as were her confidence and inner control. Her heart was full and ripe and he felt her determination to finally succeed at what they needed to accomplish.
She had withstood tonight what might have broken other women and still held her head high and faced her past with the same resolve that she claimed her future.
Leaning in, Teresa kissed him. Softly. Sweetly. In a benediction of sorts that tugged at Rune’s heart and made his soul ache to forever be a part of hers. This one woman had somehow taken his battered, unforgiving nature and turned him into a beast who lived only to protect her.
“You’re right,” she said, then smiled briefly. “I may not say that often, so you should enjoy it while you can.”
“Noted,” he answered wryly, tightening his grip on her behind, kneading her flesh until she sighed with pleasure. That one soft sound jerked