Page 81 of Growl Me, Maybe

“Then it’s long overdue.”

She smiled, heart full.

She didn’t need spells or fire or fury. She just neededthis.

Him.

Home.

42

JACE

The celebration melted behind them like sugar on the tongue.

Laughter still danced in the air. Music floated down the hill, soft and fading, wrapped in the scent of bonfire smoke and fresh cider. But Jace barely heard any of it—not with Lyra’s hand curled in his and her eyes catching the moonlight like twin spells he’d never escape.

They walked in silence for a while, shoes crunching over pine needles, the forest pressing in soft and familiar around them. He led her to the grove without words—he didn’t need them. This path was old. Sacred. Hidden beneath oaks and thick-bellied stars.

When they reached the clearing, moonlight spilled through the trees like liquid silver. The grass was soft beneath their feet. Quiet surrounded them. Not the kind that made you feel alone.

The kind that made you feelheld.

Jace stopped in the center, turned to her, and let himself really look.

She was radiant.

Barefoot now, flower crown tilted, her curls a mess of magic and moonshine. Her lips were flushed from laughing, and her eyes shimmered with something deeper than joy—belonging.

She tilted her head, teasing. “You gonna stare at me all night or kiss me?”

He stepped closer. “Can I do both?”

Her smile softened. “Always.”

He took her face in his hands and kissed her like a vow. Slow. Deep. The kind of kiss that rewrote everything that came before.

When he pulled back, their foreheads touched.

“I brought you here for a reason,” he said, voice low.

“I figured. You don’t do much without reason.”

“It’s shifter tradition. The claiming bite.” He paused. “It’s sacred to us. Permanent. No going back after this.”

Her fingers slid up his chest, curled around the collar of his shirt.

“I’m not going anywhere, Jace.”

His throat tightened.

“I need you to be sure.”

“I was sure the moment you yelled at Ezra like a feral dad wolf in the office.”

That made him laugh. “Romantic.”

She smirked. “I try.”

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