Tor kept Salem coming at me and when he got close, he leaned down to the side. His arm hooking around my waist, he lifted me up and set me on the horse in front of him.
I didn’t hesitate. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, aimed my mouth at his and the minute our lips touched, they opened and his tongue slid in my mouth.
Oh yes. There it was.
I was home.
I didn’t notice Salem slow to a halt under us because Tor’s arms were around me, his mouth was on mine, his sandalwood scent filled my nostrils and his strength surrounded me. He kissed me hard and I kissed him back just as hard, pushing close, draining him dry.
His mouth tore from mine and his hands came to either side of my head where he held me still while his eyes searched my face so I took that opportunity to allow mine to roam his.
Then he let my head go, his arms crushed me to him and he shoved his face in my neck.
“My love,” he said there, his voice low and hoarse with unconcealed relief.
Feeling it, hearing it, my tears came instantly and started to fall.
“Honey,” I whispered against his skin, holding him tight but my arms still clenched in a futile effort to hold him tighter.
In return, his arms gave me a squeeze.
“I was dying without you,” I told him, my voice trembling with tears.
“I know, sweets,” he told me.
“You came to me,” I breathed. “I prayed you would.” I pulled my face out of his neck, his head came up and I smiled a tremulous smile into his beautiful face. “I prayed you’d crash into me, but, honey, I didn’t mean it literally.”
A slow smile spread across his face and then he snatched me back into his arms. I shoved my face back into his neck and took him in with all my senses, opening them so I could suck everything I could from him.
Which was why I immediately felt it when his body went solid.
“Fuckin’ hell,” Noc muttered.
Uh-oh.
“By the gods, tell me you jest, Cora,” Tor stated.
Uh-oh!
I pulled my face from his neck and looked up at him. He was looking down but beyond me. I followed his gaze and saw Noc standing in the drizzling rain with his arms crossed on his chest, his feet planted wide looking a lot like Tor. Well, just like him, actually.
Oh shit.
“Uh…” I started and stopped when I felt the heat of Tor’s gaze so I looked back at him.
“You were with this man.”
“Tor, honey –”
“Jesus, Cora, babe, fuck me. You weren’t lying,” I heard Noc say, his voice heavy with shocked surprise and Tor’s eyes narrowed.
“Cora babe?” he asked.
“Tor –”
“I thought I told you that you were not to be in the presence of this man.”
“You did, but –”
“It appears to me, my sweet, that you’re in the presence of this man.”
“I am, but, you see, he was –”
“I was in my world, searching high and low for magic which would bring me back to you, and you were carrying on with this man,” he ground out.
Now hang on a second.
My back went straight and I pulled away as best I could (seeing as we were on Salem), snapping, “I was not carrying on with Noc! He was –”
“You were in his transport with him,” Tor interrupted me to point out.
“He was taking me to Clarabelle to find you, you jerk!” I shouted, Tor’s head jolted and I smacked his bicep before continuing. “A Clarabelle who Harold, Marlene, Phoebe, Brianna, Dad, Mom and half of Seattle have been looking high and low for but Noc found for me in, like, ten minutes. So you should be thanking him because we were on our way to her so I could get back to you before you came tearing through the sky on your mighty beast!” At my mention of him, Salem threw his head back and whinnied, alerting me to his presence and when he did, I instantly twisted and bent to pat his neck and coo, “Heya Salem, missed you, boy.”
He snorted, shook his head and stamped a foot.
“Thank you for coming to get me.” I kept cooing and stroking.
Salem let out a soft, sweet whinny and I knew what that meant.
“I love you too, buddy,” I whispered.
“This is not unusual,” Tor announced. “Our souls are torn asunder, I move heaven and earth, tearing my kingdom apart to find magic that will bring me back to her, she spends approximately five minutes greeting me then she fawns over my horse.” I twisted back to look at him to see he was addressing Noc. “It vexes me,” he stated and his eyes cut to mine when he concluded, “Greatly.”
“Jesus,” Noc muttered.
I glared at my man. Then I stared at my man. Then I put my hands to both sides of his face, pulled it down to mine and I kissed him.
He kissed me back.
The kiss started to get heated in a good way when I heard Noc say, “Kids, I can see this is a touching reunion but it’s fuckin’ wet and we’re in the middle of the goddamned road.”
Tor lifted his head and aimed his eyes to Noc. I kept my arms around him as I twisted to do the same.
“You have found the witch?” Tor asked and I saw Noc staring at him.
“Jesus, I don’t know whether to be creeped out I’m starin’ at another me, relieved I wasn’t tagging a head case or pissed I didn’t find this Cora before you,” Noc muttered, not tearing his eyes from Tor.
I pressed my lips together to stop from giggling.
Tor, on the other hand, didn’t find anything amusing.
“Have you found the witch?” Tor semi-repeated, his tone edging toward impatience.
“Yeah, man, I found the… witch,” Noc answered, saying the words like he really wished he didn’t have to say them.
“You must take us to her,” Tor commanded.
Noc stared at Tor another second then mumbled, “Fuck me, this shit is whacked.”
“Sir, you must take us to her,” Tor ordered again, definitely losing patience.
Noc lifted a hand and nodded his head. “Yeah, yeah, I get that. Let Cora down so she can get in the SUV with me,” he replied and Tor’s body got tight.
Oh dear.
“She will ride with me, we will follow,” Tor decreed.
“Uh… Tor, yeah?” Noc asked his name.
“That is me,” Tor confirmed his name.
“I gotta point out, man, that it’s raining and you’re on a fuckin’ horse,” Noc noted.
“I’m aware of that,” Tor retorted.
“And your babe is pregnant. She needs to be in a car where it’s warm, dry and safe, not riding on the back of a horse in the rain,” Noc remarked sensibly and logically and, I will add, sweetly.
I so totally had to hook him up with Phoebe.
Tor’s arms convulsed around me and a low growl escaped his throat. He didn’t want to let me go but he knew he should.
God, I loved my man.
Noc moved a step forward and continued in a quiet voice. “I understand that you two have been separated awhile and had your souls torn apart and shit but I swear I won’t let anything hurt her. She’s safe with me. Yeah?”
Tor scowled at Noc but I watched his face gentle when his neck bent so he could look at me.
“You will ride with the other me,” he said softly.
“Okay, honey,” I whispered.
His arms gave me a squeeze and his lips brushed mine. Noc moved closer as Tor lowered me off of Salem and Noc’s hands caught my waist and steadied my descent. This made Tor’s jaw get tight and I had to admit, it was a weird sensation to have the hands of two of the exact same, but entirely different, men on me.
When my feet were on the asphalt, Noc grabbed my hand and pulled me a couple of steps away from Tor and Salem.
“We cannot waste time,” Tor announced, his eyes moving from Noc’s hand in mine to Noc.
“I got a lot more horsepower under my hood than you’re sittin’ on,” Noc pointed out.