Soulmates by Kate Munro

Author:Kate Munro [Munro, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-09-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

Cricket had shown them to their rooms. The swamp house, as Maddox mentally named it, had bedrooms on the second floor and an office that looked like it didn’t get much use, especially considering the desk and mass of books scattered across the downstairs. The rooms were neat and homey-looking, which was a surprise, though Cricket kept surprising him. After his insistence on seeing their magic to enter the house, Maddox had expected more paranoia. And more eccentricity. Who voluntarily lived in a swamp? But Cricket was welcoming and informative, if gruff.

As the hours passed, exhaustion pulled at Maddox. When he laid his head on Jake’s shoulder while Cricket showed them another depiction of a Soul Exchange ceremony, Cricket had stopped the conversation to send Maddox, and therefore Jake, to bed. The guest rooms were next to each other, with a shared bathroom across the hall. Santiago put her bag away and then went downstairs to raid Cricket’s fridge. Maddox wondered idly if Cricket knew what was coming, feeding his two warrior friends.

Cricket left them at the doorway to their room and handed Jake the half-empty bottle of potion, instructing him to make Maddox drink it first thing in the morning. He assured them he had more setting overnight. He’d need two to three doses per day until they figured out what to do.

Maddox tried to pay attention, but he couldn’t focus. He leaned on Jake, and Cricket told Jake to get Maddox comfortable and be intimate, which Jake jerked back at with a horrified look. “Young mage, honestly. Can you think of no other intimacy than sex? Take care of him, talk to him, hold him. Bond. No one said you had to have sex. Gods.” And Cricket turned and left.

Young mage. How long had it been since someone had called either of them that? It was something his grandparents used to say to him, an endearment meant for someone you cared about and wanted to nurture in their magic. How strange to hear that from a virtual stranger.

Jake laughed as Cricket walked away. “I guess I have a lot to learn, huh?” he said.

Maddox nodded with a smile, and whatever Jake saw on his face made him pull Maddox to the bathroom to get as ready for bed as quickly as they could.

Back in the room, they took off their traveled-in sweatpants, and Jake got all their dirty clothes into a pile to deal with in the morning. In underwear and a T-shirt, Jake got them into bed under the worn, soft quilt. It had a homemade feel to it. It felt to Maddox like family. Was he getting loopy?

“Maddy, come here,” Jake said, and Maddox scooted himself over until he could rest his head on Jake’s chest. “How are you feeling?”

“So tired,” Maddox said. “I want to complete the bond.”

“Honestly, I do too. I don’t want to take it back even if I could. I just wanted you to have the option.”

“I don’t want the option.”

“Okay, then we’ll complete it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.