Then he pulled out suddenly, flipping her onto her back.
“Want to see your face when I make you come,” he said roughly, driving back into her with one thrust that had her legs locking around his waist.
He fucked her hard now, rhythm relentless, cock spearing deep with every snap of his hips.
“You feel so fucking good,” he growled, sweat dripping from his jaw as he watched her unravel. “This pussy—gods, Aerin—it was made for me.”
“Yours,” she cried, nails dragging down his back. “Always—fuck—Leo, I’m so close?—”
“Let go,” he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers. “Come for me, sweetheart. Let me feel you.”
She did. The orgasm hit her like wildfire—ripping through her, lighting up her magic so brightly the room felt like it glowed. Her body clamped down around him, her walls pulsing as she sobbed his name.
Leo lost it.
He growled her name like a curse and a prayer, then shoved in hard and came with a shudder that rocked through both of them. Hot, thick pulses of cum filled her, and the moment sealed with a golden flash of their bond locking tighter around them like a promise.
Afterward, they didn’t speak for a long time.
He lay beside her, their bodies tangled, chests rising and falling in sync. Aerin’s fingers traced lazy patterns on his chest as she felt the magic in the air settle.
No darkness. No fear.
Just heat. Home. And a man who looked at her like she was everything worth surviving for.
"Holy sage," Aerin managed, her voice muffled against his shoulder. "That was..."
"Celebratory," Leo finished, his arms tightening around her as contentment settled over them like a warm blanket. "And just the beginning."
"The beginning of what?"
"Of everything we're going to accomplish together," Leo said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Professional, personal, and everything in between."
They lay together in comfortable silence, their bodies still entwined as they contemplated a future that seemed to offer unlimited possibilities for both personal happiness and professional fulfillment. Outside their windows, Mistwhisper Falls settled into the peaceful rhythm of night, its supernatural residents secured that their protectors had found the kind of partnership that made both of them stronger.
But it was while they dozed in the aftermath of celebration that Aerin received the message that reminded her their work was far from finished.
The communication crystal on her bedside table chimed softly with an incoming transmission from Dr. Rebecca Chen, a researcher she'd collaborated with during her early years at the fae university. When Rebecca's image materialized in the crystal's depths, her expression carried the kind of professional concern that made Aerin's academic instincts immediately alert.
"Aerin," Rebecca said without preamble, "I need to ask you about something strange that's been happening here in Salem. Ever since your redemption protocols were implemented at our founder site, we've been detecting some unusual activity."
"What kind of activity?" Aerin asked, noting the way Leo had moved closer to listen despite the late hour.
"Temporal fluctuations around the original binding site. Brief manifestations of what appear to be people who don'tbelong to any known bloodlines. And yesterday, someone reported seeing figures in colonial dress examining our transformed seal matrix." Rebecca's voice carried growing unease. "Aerin, I think your redemption protocol might have awakened something that was bound even deeper than the original entity."
"Deeper how?"
"Deeper as in older. Deeper as in whatever the original founders were really trying to contain when they established these sites." Rebecca's image flickered as interference disrupted the transmission. "I'm sending you all our data, but Aerin—I think we need to consider the possibility that the entities you've been redeeming were never the real threat."
The transmission cut off, leaving Aerin and Leo staring at the now-dark crystal while implications settled over them like storm clouds. Their work with the redemption protocols had been so successful, their integration into the supernatural community so complete, that it was easy to forget they might have been addressing symptoms rather than the underlying cause.
"Another mystery," Leo observed, though his tone carried anticipation rather than dread. "Another chance to choose redemption over destruction."
"Another chance to work together on something that matters," Aerin agreed, her hand finding his as they contemplated challenges that would test everything they'd learned about magic, love, and the delicate balance between the two.
Outside the inn's windows, Mistwhisper Falls glowed with the warm light of supernatural contentment, its residents felt secured knowing that their protectors had chosen each other as completely as they'd chosen to protect their community. But somewhere in the shadows between realities, something much older than the founder network was beginning to stir, curiousabout the changes that had transformed imprisonment into liberation and wondering whether these new guardians could be as easily manipulated as their predecessors.
FIFTEEN
