22. Chapter 22

Chapter twenty-two

Blue

I can hear Sammy's footsteps on the stairs. Immediately my heart goes crazy. I roll over in my bed and face my closed door. It's the middle of the night and dark. I hope Sammy can see okay.

His footsteps patter down the hallway, coming closer. He is quiet for a human. He is getting even closer to my room. My heart is really thumping now. But Sammy might be on his way to see Pink or Jade or any of the others.

His footsteps stop outside my door. I'm holding my breath now. My body is frozen on the bed. All I can do is stare at the plain white plywood that separates us.

Minutes tick by. My chest is beginning to ache. Should I call out and let him know that I know he is there? What if he changes his mind and walks away?

A soft knock echoes around my room. I could cry with relief.

"Come in!" I call out.

The door swings open and Sammy stands in the doorway. His hair is all messy and there are dark circles under his eyes.

"I can't sleep," he says.

Wordlessly, I lift my blankets. He hurries across the room and slides into my bed. I pull him close and hold him tight. Spooning him as if the world depends on it. The warm feel of him pressed against me is divine. Sammy lets out a huge sigh and I feel all the tension leave his body.

"That's better," he mutters .

I fully agree. The mate bond is much happier now. Sammy's absence was gnawing at me relentlessly. Now he is here, everything feels perfect. Right. The way it should be. Sammy belongs in my arms.

The mate bond has clearly been eating at Sammy in the same way. Giving him no peace. Driving him to my bed.

Well, tomorrow is the dark moon and the day of the ritual. After tonight, Sammy will be free. He'll be able to sleep in peace.

But for tonight, I can hold him. There is no harm in that. None at all.

He wriggles against me and then freezes with his ass pressed against my hard cock.

Silence falls around us. It's a weighted thing, heavy with potential and possibilities. But it's not awkward.

"Do you want to do anything about that?" he asks, gently breaking the silence.

My heart swells. My sweet, sweet Sammy. I adore the way he has framed his question and I know he is lovely enough not to be offended if I say no. Despite the fact his own arousal is tingling along my skin.

"Maybe," I whisper.

Sammy turns around to face me. "What would you like to do?"

My body is trembling. My heart is going to beat its way right out of my chest. Sammy's eyes are kind. He is practically glowing with beauty. I think if I were to close my eyes, I would still see him.

"Our mating bond is being broken tomorrow," I remind him.

He shrugs. "One more time for old times' sake?"

The mischief and charm in his eyes is mesmerizing. I could watch him forever and never tire of it.

My desire has grown into a sparkling thing. Shining and pulsing and driving all else away.

"I'd like to watch you," I say.

Sammy's eyes darken.

I lick my lips. "While touching myself. "

Sammy's perfectly shaped eyebrows rise, and he gives me one of his dazzling grins.

"Joint jerk-off session? I like it!"

Heat coils low in my gut. It feels good. I love that Sammy can make me feel like this.

Sammy throws back the covers and unties his robe. He is naked underneath. I drink in the sight of him. I'm already naked and as Sammy's gaze dances over me appreciatively, I don't mind at all. In fact, I actually like it.

I turn away from him briefly to fetch something from the drawer by my bed. Rolling back to face him, I present my gift. A small, unopened bottle of baby oil. When I bought it, the hope that Sammy might come to my room one night seemed silly and foolish. Now look at us.

Sammy's face lights up with delight, and he chuckles warmly.

"My favorite brand too. Blue, this is the sweetest."

He takes it from my fingers, tears the plastic seal off, flips open the lid and proceeds to drizzle it over his hard cock. The sight of the slick oil sliding over his length, turning it glistening and delicious, is searing into my mind. I don't think I've ever seen a more wondrous sight.

Sammy moves the bottle until it is hovering over my own cock. He pauses and gives me a questioning look.

Something flutters in my stomach. Do I let him? Do I take the bottle and do it myself?

I stare into his gorgeous eyes, and suddenly the answer becomes clear. I lick my lips again and nod.

Sammy's smile is blinding. I gasp as the cool oil rains down on my heated cock. The way the slickness slides over me, steals my breath away. Sammy watches my reactions intensely. And the heat of that makes me feel as if I am about to burst into flames.

His hand starts to move. I watch his face, his eyes. I drink in his blooming pleasure that is flowing down our mate bond. I'm so consumed by him that I forget to move my own hand.

Then I remember what I am supposed to be doing. The first stroke feels strange. It's been so long since I did this. Even before the harem, I wasn't particularly interested in sex. Perhaps because I was young, or because I hadn't met anyone special. Or maybe I am just wired this way, and the harem has not shaped me. I guess now I'll never know.

The second stroke feels good. I like this. I like this intimacy with Sammy. We are mere inches apart. Nose to nose. Sharing the same oxygen. His pleasure and mine are twisting and dancing together. Coiling around us and shimmering over our skin. I can picture it as colors. Blue seeping from me, yellow rising from Sammy. Both swirling together to create a stunning green that swells both our auras.

It is magical and profound. Awe-inspiring.

All of a sudden, my pleasure crests and peaks. It carries me to new heights. Sammy's eyes grow huge. As if watching me orgasm is the greatest privilege of his life. He shudders and I watch transfixed as his orgasm consumes him. The tide of our joint ecstasy carries us high, before gently receding. Leaving us trembling with aftershocks.

"Wow!" gasps Sammy.

I nod in agreement. Wow, is also the only word I can find.

Wow.

S ammy is nervous. Which is very understandable. Last time we tried to mess with the mate bond, he was knocked out cold. And that was probably one of his first experiences with magic. No wonder he is a little on edge.

"It's going to be fine," I say.

He flashes me a quick smile that doesn't reach his eyes. My words have not comforted him, and why would they? I have done nothing to earn his trust .

His gaze fixes back on Pink, who is kneeling on the dining room floor, drawing twisting symbols onto the wooden floorboards with a piece of white chalk.

The dining room looks much bigger with the table and chairs piled up against the far wall, and the carpet rolled up.

The sun has set, and the dark moon is about to rise. The pungent scent of white sage is wafting in the air. Unlit candles are forming a large circle in the middle of the room. It's going to look pretty when we turn the electric overhead light off and ignite the candles.

Sammy and I are standing with our backs against the wall. Trying to stay out of everyone's way.

I have no idea what Ned, Jade, and Brodie are doing. But they are clearly preparing for their parts in the ritual.

It's finally here. The night we break the mate bond. Sammy will be free and everything will go back to the way it should be. My heart feels heavy, but I know this is the right thing to do. I need to do what is best for Sammy. Nothing else matters.

"All right," says Pink as he stands up and dusts his hands off. "That will do. Blue and Sammy, can you lie down in the center here, head to head, making one long line?"

Sammy turns to me. His eyes are wide. I nod my reassurance and he steps forward. We get into position and settle on the hard floor. I wish we were side by side, or even back to back. It's only the crowns of our heads that are touching, and it seems like I can barely feel him.

Jade solemnly lights the candles. One by one. Walking widdershins around the circle. As soon as he is back in the north, by my feet, Ned flicks the light switch and the room is plunged into the soft glow of candlelight.

Sammy gasps and I wish I could hold his hand.

"Ready?" asks Pink.

"Yes," I say clearly, so Sammy can hear me and the false confidence in my voice. I hope it is of some comfort to him .

I close my eyes and try to brace myself. Somebody lights more herbs, the mandrake root, I guess. The smoke contaminates the air. Cloying, heady. Heavy. A chime sounds and chanting begins.

Magic coils around me. It probes. It prods. It pulls.

Suddenly something snaps. I almost hear it. Like an awful crunching of bones. A sound of savage destruction and mortal injury.

I wince.

The chanting stops. The world holds its breath. Was that it? Surely not? Something so very monumental can not be so…anticlimactic.

Tentatively, I reach for the bond, but it's not there. Nothing but a gaping emptiness where it should be. Sammy is gone. From my mind, from my awareness. Untwined from my soul. But not my heart. Never my heart. That will always belong to Sammy.

"You guys feel okay?" asks Pink.

I sit up and twist around. Sammy is blinking up at the ceiling. He looks pale but unharmed.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I lie.

I'm not fine at all. I'm like the mate bond.

Broken and empty and utterly destroyed.