Page 73 of Knot My Wonderland

His forehead came to rest against mine, teal eyes closing as he absorbed the truth in my words. "I've never been anyone'sfoundation before," he admitted, vulnerability threading through his voice. "I've always been the one who slips between cracks, who exists in the spaces others can't reach."

"Well, now you're mine," I said simply, feeling the rightness of those words. I could see something dark come to his eyes before he moved forward, his trail wrapping itself around my waist until his lips were on mine.

The kiss was electric, sending cascades of silver light racing through my veins. Chi's energy merged with mine in ways that defied explanation—not the steady warmth of the Heart Stone's connection, but something wilder, more fundamental. Like lightning finding its perfect conductor.

His hands left the wall to frame my face, fingers threading through my hair as he deepened the kiss. The silver patterns beneath my skin responded instantly, creating spiraling designs that matched the rhythm of our shared breath. Through the ward consciousness, I felt Chi's essence—no longer fragmented but whole, solid, real in ways he'd never been before.

"Alice," he murmured against my lips, my name a prayer and a claim all at once. His eyes were dark, slitted as they looked down at me, before I could say something his lips were back on me, this time it was with pure hunger.

I gasped against his mouth as Chi's hunger washed over me in waves. His hands slid down to my waist, pulling me flush against him as the silver patterns beneath my skin blazed brighter than I'd ever seen them. The ward consciousness stirred within me, responding not just to Chi's touch but to something deeper—a recognition that sent shivers through every nerve.

"Mine," Chi growled against my throat, his voice carrying harmonics that seemed to resonate in my bones. His teeth grazed my pulse point, and I felt something fundamental shift between us—not just magical connection but something more primal, more permanent.

The Heart Stone flared against my chest, and for a moment I felt Heart's distant alarm through our bond—he could sense my elevated emotions even across realms. Chi's head snapped up, eyes flashing with renewed possessiveness as he felt the intrusion.

"That necklace is an annoyance.” He hissed his tail unwrapping from my waist, as hands moved and lifted me up, pushing me harder against the wall and making me wrap my legs around him with a gasp. The position sent heat spiraling through me, Chi's solid form supporting my weight as if I weighed nothing. His teal eyes held mine, pupils dilated with desire and something deeper—a claiming that went beyond the physical.

"Let me show you what real connection feels like," Chi murmured, his voice rough with need. One hand tangled in my hair while the other traced the silver patterns spreading across my collarbone. Where his fingers touched, the light intensified, creating spirals that seemed to pulse with our shared heartbeat.

I could barely think past the sensations flooding through me—Chi's energy merging with mine in ways that made the Heart Stone's connection feel distant by comparison. This was raw, immediate, transformative. The ward consciousness within me sang with recognition, as if Chi's touch was awakening something that had been dormant.

"Chi," I gasped as his lips found the sensitive spot where my neck met my shoulder. The silver patterns beneath my skin responded instantly, creating intricate designs that spiraled down my arms like living tattoos. His teeth grazed my pulse point again, and I felt something deep within me respond—not just desire, but recognition. As if my body knew his touch, had been waiting for it.

"That's it," Chi murmured against my skin, his voice vibrating through me. The silver light beneath my skin began to pulse in rhythm with Chi's energy, creating a feedback loop that mademy head spin. Through the ward consciousness, I could feel his essence more clearly than ever before—wild, ancient, but somehow perfectly matched to my own chaotic magic.

"Let go," he whispered, his breath hot against my ear. I surrendered to his suggestion, allowing the silver light to move freely from my skin to his. Where our bodies connected, the boundaries between us blurred—his energy and mine intermingling until I couldn't tell where I ended and he began. The ward consciousness expanded, no longer contained within me but flowing between us like quicksilver.

"Chi, I—" Words failed me as sensation overwhelmed thought. His mouth claimed mine again, swallowing whatever I might have said. His kiss tasted of wild magic and impossible things, of moonlight on water and shadows that danced. My fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer. Through the connection, I felt the ward consciousness pulse with recognition—not just of Chi, but of what we were becoming together. The silver patterns beneath my skin flowed outward, creating a luminous web that enveloped us both in shifting light.

"I've waited centuries for this," Chi murmured against my throat, his voice deeper than I'd ever heard it. "For someone who could see all of me, hold all of me."

His hands slid under my shirt, palms flat against my ribs where the silver patterns swirled most intensely. At his touch, the light between us flared brighter, and I gasped as new sensations cascaded through me—memories that weren't mine, emotions too ancient to name. Chi in a thousand different forms across countless timelines, always searching, always incomplete... until now.

"What's happening?" I whispered as images flooded my mind—Chi standing beside a silver-haired woman I somehow recognized as the First Queen; Chi flowing between realities asWonderland fractured; Chi watching over dreamers who carried fragments of the pattern I now held complete.

"Bond formation," Chi explained, his voice rough with emotion as he felt the shared memories flowing between us. "When an Alpha and Omega connect fully, their essences align. Memories transfer, boundaries dissolve."

His fingers traced the silver patterns along my ribs, sending shivers of pleasure and recognition through my entire being. The ward consciousness expanded further, encompassing both our forms in a cocoon of luminous energy.

"I'm not—I don't understand what that means," I managed, even as my body arched into his touch.

Chi's smile was tender yet feral, his eyes holding mine with an intensity that stole my breath. "You're becoming what you were always meant to be, Alice.”

I felt something click into place deep within my chest, like a lock finding its key. The silver patterns beneath my skin pulsed once, brilliantly, before settling into a steady rhythm that matched Chi's heartbeat perfectly. Through our merged consciousness, I could feel his wonder—centuries of fragmented existence suddenly crystallizing into wholeness.

"We're bonded," I whispered, the knowledge flowing through me like warm honey. "or the start of a full bond."

Chi's eyes blazed with triumph and something deeper—a contentment I'd never seen in him before. "The first of five," he murmured, his thumb tracing my lower lip. "But the most important. The anchor that will keep you grounded as the other connections form."

The Heart Stone pulsed against my chest, Heart's distant confusion bleeding through our connection. He could sense the fundamental change in me, the new layer of magical signature that now intertwined with mine like silver thread through fabric.

"He knows," Chi said, a note of satisfaction in his voice as he felt Heart's bewilderment through the crystal. "Good. Let him understand that you belong to more than just political alliances."

I pressed my forehead against Chi's, our shared breath creating small clouds in the suddenly charged air. "This isn't about ownership, Chi."

His hands gentled on my waist, supporting rather than claiming. "The bond doesn't make you mine, Alice. It makes us each other's." He held me close for another second before setting me down and taking a step back.

“You need to get some rest before the others come back. I know you are tired.” I could see the reluctance as he put space between us. I felt the truth of his words resonate through our new bond—exhaustion creeping in as the adrenaline of our connection faded. The silver patterns beneath my skin had settled into a gentle, steady glow rather than their previous chaotic flaring, but I could sense they'd drawn heavily on my energy reserves.

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