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I became in-tuned with my surroundings and realized I was pressed against a large chest with brawny arms wrapped around me, tucking me against him. From the scratch of a beard and the familiar taste of strawberries as his tongue danced with mine, I knew it was Rune. Onlyhecould bring me warmth and pull me out of a storm. I circled my arms around his neck as I got lost in his kiss instead.

His shoulders were stiff with tension, but at my response, he relaxed and ran his hands along my body and squeezed my ass a couple of times. I whimpered as he pulled away and scowled down at me with his nostrils flaring.

Oh, he was big mad.

“You took a thousand years off my lifespan, Isa.” He ground his teeth and looked like he was fighting himself with what he wanted to say because I was sure there was a lot. “What thefuckwere you thinking?”

I blinked up at him as he kept glaring at me like I was a naughty child, and he was one second away from taking me over his knee and blistering my ass. I pulled away from him, but he kept me against him, his hands on me, never loosening and allowing me to retreat from him. Glancing around us, I gasped at all the destruction around me. Large patches of snow were melted away with black scorch marks, creating some kind of messed-up ring.

So the lightningwasstriking right by me, yet I wasn’t electrocuted despite the close proximity?

My mouth dropped open in shock as I looked at all the destruction. The snow was gone in a large circle where I stood, and my feet were covered in dirt and mud.

“Holy shit,” I whispered on a shaky breath.

I turned in a slow circle as I took everything in. Snow continued to fall, but the lightning and thunder were gone. Almost like it was being pulled away by Rune.

I looked at him with my lips still parted. He narrowed his eyes and flared his nostrils.

“How... how the hell am I still alive?”

“I told you. You aren’t human anymore.” He jerked his head toward a scorch mark by my feet with his dark, narrowed eyes still on me. “If you were, you would have died from the first strike.” He took in a deep breath through his nose and let it out through his mouth as he tried calming his anger. “You need to take it easy when you gain your powers. I want you to be powerful again, but you were lost in the storm, and that’s not good. You need control over it.” He grabbed my hand and tugged me back inside the house.

I stumbled beside him with the large strides he took. Once the door was closed, he pinned me against it with his hands slamming beside my head to trap me in. Even in the darkness of the room, with some of the moonlight coming in from the windows, I could make out the scowl he gave me. But beneath it all... I saw his fear. Whatever he witnessed must’ve been pretty bad.

“If you’re going to do this again, I need to be there to pull you back.” His words were thicker and harder to understand because of his accent. “Too much power too quickly and you may not return,” he whispered, maybe more for himself than me.

I lowered my eyes for a moment as I thought it over, then looked back up at him.

“I could have pulled myself out just fine.”

Why did that feel like a lie?

When I listened to the whispers, I didn’t want to open my eyes as Rune called to me. But there was this underlying worry that if I wanted to, it wouldn’t have happened because of how deep I was in listening to the voices.

Our link wasn’t connected. At some point, it must’ve been blocked off. But his eyes darkened, and he pulled the corner of his lips into a snarl like hedidhear my thoughts.

The piece of my soul...

He had the connection with me through the small piece. He told me he had access to my memories, so did that mean even recent ones as they happened? It was my soul... so that meant it was connected to me and everything I was. I would assume that piece wasn’t dead.

I blinked out of my wandering thoughts when he slowly leaned in until we were nose to nose. His eyes were sharp, and I knew he saw right through my bullshit.

“Don’t lie to me,” he rumbled so low it was hard to hear. “You weren’t responding to me when I yelled for you or shook you.”

I tried to keep myself from showing my shock. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew Rune was doing more than calling for me. But my eyes widened anyway, and I sucked in a sharp breath.

I didn’t feel him do that. Just the heat spreading through my body.

Cupping my jaw, he rubbed his thumb along my bottom lip. He kept staring at me with hard eyes and bunched his eyebrows as he fought himself on something he was thinking. He had to be internally fighting with himself, and I knew I could force myself into his mind to know what was going through it.

“Fuck. What you did scared the shit out of me but made my dick hard as I watched you take on the lightning.” His jaw worked for a moment, and he ran his hand through my hair, threading his fingers through my damp locks. “I don’t know whether to scold you or fuck you.”

My lips parted on a soft moan. Heat coursed through my body like his words were a struck match catching me on fire. My stomach flipped with a funny feeling, and my pussy clenched.

I grabbed his bare shoulders, pulling him flush against me.

I shouldn’t be turned on because he was so upset with me. I didn’t do anything wrong, and even Estrid made it seem like I needed to listen to the storm. But here I was, turned on, my panties soaked with my need for him to punish me.