Rivers of blood and sand

We were still in the water when I came to. Ander’s arms cradled me to his hard and warm chest. The comforting smell of his scent and blood invaded my senses, overpowering the salty and stagnant scent of the freezing, dark green murky water. A groan slipped free at the aches littering my body. The most dominant of them were my pounding head and aching neck.

Memories of what happened rushed to the surface and I jerked against Ander, my hand flying to my throat. The skin was torn and stung at the contact, making me hiss and jerk my hand away, but it was nowhere near as bad as it should’ve been. With how depleted my dragon and I had been, there was no way I healed on my own. This was all Ander’s doing. He healed me.

My focus darted to him and heat simmered in my stomach as our gazes collided. Something was different between us as we stared at each other. A warmth bloomed in the center of my being and began buzzing with life and energy. At first, I couldn’t understand what was happening. All I could think about was how weirdly pleasant the sensation was. After nearly a minute, the puzzle pieces finally fit into place. No… There was no way this was possible.

I’d never felt anything close to this before, but this was one of those feelings you instinctually knew. I was feeling the very beginnings of a bond clicking into place. And not just any bond, but a fated mate bond.

The cord of the fates was still fairly thin, feeling more like a string than a cord. The strength of it was faint and barely there, but it was enough for me to feel it.

My jaw dropped as I stared up at Ander, noting the hint of panic shining behind his eyes—the only sign of emotion—and I wasn’t sure if it was because of what happened or the thought of having a bond with me. Hopefully, it wasn’t the latter, but I doubted he was thrilled about it. Not with how until yesterday, he refused to touch me unless it was life or death.

“How is your neck feeling?” Ander asked, preventing me from trying to form a response to this new development. His voice was void of emotion, and that shit frustrated me more than anything. At least if he was mad and showed signs of anger, I’d know where we stood. All I could do at this moment was make assumptions based on what I’d witnessed from him so far.

Fuck that. This shit was too important to make assumptions. I already witnessed how well that worked. It was how Koa and Jade ended up in a mess all those months ago. He assumed he knew what was best for her, and in doing so, put both of them through a month of agony.

“It still hurts, but I’ll be fine. Ander, I—”

“We should keep moving, she may not be able to join us in the water, but we shouldn’t remain in one place,” Ander said, ignoring the elephant in the room. He glanced over his shoulder, staring at something I couldn’t see, or maybe he was trying to look away from me.

“We need to talk about this—”

Once again, he cut me off, still not looking at me. “I think there's an island up ahead, but I’m not too sure how deep the water will be, or if there is anything living out there. Are you healed enough to swim?”

“Ander.” My emotions were a turbulent swirl of frustration, anger, and confusion, and his avoiding the topic wasn’t helping matters in the slightest. My hand shook as I touched his cheek, trying to get him to look at me.

When he finally met my gaze, his eyes were cold chips of ice. Not like they had been before, but they lacked all of the warmth they sometimes had the past day. It was one of those closed-off type of chills. Like he was trying to distance himself from me. I was already cold from the water, but the chill that invaded my body was different.

The thought of being rejected had my chest constricting, making it difficult to breathe.

He let out a long sigh, his eyes defrosting ever so slightly as they tracked over my face. “We’ll talk about all of this later, okay? When you’re fully healed and we’re not at risk of being attacked anymore.”

Letting out a sigh of my own, I looked out at the dark waters, knowing he was right—and sort of hating it. I mentally cataloged all the aches and pains in my body, mainly noting the throb in my head, neck, and sides. “I can swim.”

Despite asking if I could swim, Ander didn’t set me down like I thought he would. He continued holding me against his chest as he waded through the water that came up to the middle of his biceps. I wrapped my arms around his neck since it felt awkward to have my hands in my lap. His muscles coiled and flexed under my hands, and I wanted nothing more than to run my hands down his chest. Preferably with him not wearing a shirt.

I struggled to remain silent—a feat I normally didn’t have to work so hard to achieve. I wanted to know his thoughts on the subject, and whether or not he had an inkling before. It was difficult to truly know, with how hot and cold he’d been playing lately.

Looking back with this new knowledge, several moments hinted at the possibility of the bond. The first time I saw him, I was stunned into complete silence. He was easily the sexiest man I ever saw. The low rumble of his voice did things to me that no other voice had done before. Of course, soon after our first meeting, his attitude marred my attraction to him, or so I told myself.

I was still attracted to him, still wanted him when he was acting like a fucking dick, which was another hint towards the bond lurking beneath the surface—waiting for us to get our shit together and form the bond. Usually, if a guy acted like that, I no longer wanted anything to do with him, and his looks diminished in my eyes.

The way we easily fit together physically was another indication. But the moment I truly felt dumb for having not realized it, was how hurt I was at his rejection at Roman’s house. I should’ve known then, but I wasn’t ready to see the truth.

“You used magic on me while in the water,” I whispered when the thoughts became too much and I needed a distraction. Since I knew he’d refuse to talk about the bond, I decided to go with the next thought plaguing my mind. It had been clear to me that he was the one to heal me, but I was still stunned he did so, considering where we were.

His arms slightly tightened around me as he clenched his jaw. “I had no other choice. You lost too much blood.”

I jolted at the implication in his words, meeting his steady gaze with wide eyes and a slack jaw. “You used a blood sigil on me?” My words were barely louder than a breath, but I knew he heard me.

“You would’ve died if I hadn’t,” Ander said gruffly, turning his gaze back to the water as it got deeper.

I was already having a tough time processing him casting in the water to save me, but this? This was something else entirely. It was a sigil blood mages rarely cast, and when they did, they only used it on their family members or their mates.

The sigil was basically a blood transfusion like in the human realm, but as I’ve said multiple times, blood was a big deal in our realm. I now had Ander’s blood pumping through my veins. If another blood mage were to get ahold of it, they would have power over both Ander and me. By using this sigil, Ander had added a new risk against himself. So long as his blood was still inside me, I was a weakness to him, and I had no idea how long his blood would last inside my body. A day? A week?

The island Ander mentioned was now fully visible in the distance. While it appeared to be a sandy beach with not much else going for it, at least the blood mage bitch couldn’t get to us since it seemed she had an aversion to water.

Blood mages didn’t have the best relationship with water when it came to casting. While it didn’t physically hurt or weaken them, it could ruin their casting process. A good way to stop a blood mage from casting was to wash away the sigils before they went into effect. I’ve heard you also could mess them up by adding an extra line while they cast, but it wasn’t recommended. Their sigils were an art form and had to be done correctly, or it could cause some serious backfiring.

Which was why I was so shocked he risked casting while in the water.

The woman’s avoidance of the water made a little bit of sense. It seemed everything about her powers was heightened, with how she could cast from just drawing blood. So why would her weaknesses be heightened as well? Maybe her avoidance of the water was a heightened fear, or maybe she physically couldn’t enter the water. Whatever the case, it was an advantage we could use against her. Now we just needed to find one for the skeletal-looking beings and the summoner.