Page 39 of Unbearable Attraction
"Sharing the load," he replied, threading their fingers together more tightly. "Isn't that what partners do?"
The spirits around them were murmuring in languages he didn't recognize, their ethereal forms growing brighter as his lifeforce joined Leenah's in the bridging ritual. But instead of the desperate hunger he'd expected from entities trapped between worlds for centuries, he sensed something closer to amazement.
"This is unprecedented," came a voice that seemed to speak directly into his consciousness. An elderly Cherokee woman materialized beside them, her traditional dress shimmering with accumulated power. "Two souls offering their strength as one. Two life forces freely given without coercion or manipulation."
"Aiyana," Leenah breathed, recognition flickering across her exhausted features. "We can do this. Together, we can bear the spiritual burden and free your people."
The ancient medicine woman studied them both with eyes that held the wisdom of centuries. "Perhaps. But the question remains whether freedom is what we truly seek, or if there might be a better path forward."
"What do you mean?" Luka asked, though he was beginning to suspect the answer. His bear was rumbling with contentment, recognizing something in the merged magical working that felt like completion rather than sacrifice.
"Your bond changes everything," Aiyana explained, her form growing more solid as their combined power strengthened the bridge between worlds. "Instead of one person sacrificing themselves to free the dead, we have two people choosing to build something lasting. Something that could serve both the living and those who have passed beyond the veil."
Around them, other spirits began to manifest more clearly. Cherokee shamans whose wisdom had helped establish the original protections. Fae guardians whose life force was woven into Hollow Oak's defensive barriers. European spiritualists who'd died trying to honor agreements their neighbors had abandoned.
All of them looking at Luka and Leenah with expressions of growing hope.
"A new pact," one of the shamans said, his voice carrying the weight of accumulated grief and stubborn determination. "Not one built on sacrifice and loss, but on acknowledgment and ongoing commitment."
"The original agreement was broken by those who chose greed over honor," added a fae guardian whose wings shimmered with otherworldly light. "But their descendants still benefit from protections they never earned. Perhaps it's time for true justice rather than simple revenge."
Aiyana nodded slowly, her ancient eyes fixed on the way Luka and Leenah's life forces had braided together into something stronger than either could achieve alone. "A permanent bridge between worlds. Two people who choose to serve as advocates for both sides of the Veil, ensuring that the mistakes of the past are never repeated."
"What would that mean?" Leenah asked, though her voice held the kind of careful hope that suggested she was beginning to understand the implications.
"It means Hollow Oak's supernatural community formally acknowledges the wrongs committed by their ancestors," Aiyana replied. "It means establishing protections for all sacred sites in perpetuity, with your bonded pair serving as guardians of that commitment."
"And in exchange?" Luka prompted.
"In exchange, we share our accumulated wisdom with the living world. The knowledge of protective magic that has kept this valley safe for centuries. The understanding of how to work with spiritual forces rather than simply exploiting them." The medicine woman's expression grew grave. "But this bond, once sealed, cannot be easily broken. You would be committing not just to each other, but to generations of responsibility."
Luka looked at Leenah, seeing his own understanding reflected in her eyes. This wasn't about sacrifice anymore. Thiswas about choice, about building something that could last beyond their individual lives and create real justice for the spirits who'd been trapped by others' betrayal.
"The Council will have to agree," Leenah said quietly. "The entire supernatural community will need to acknowledge their ancestors' crimes and commit to doing better."
"They will," Luka said with more certainty than he felt. "Once they understand what's at stake, they'll agree."
"And if they don't?"
"Then we'll make them understand." His bear rumbled with territorial satisfaction at the idea of protecting both his mate and the sacred sites that defined their home. "Whatever it takes."
Aiyana smiled, and for a moment she looked exactly like the young woman who'd sealed the original pact with hope and determination. "Then let us begin the true ceremony. Not a transfer of burden, but a forging of bonds that will outlast any individual lifetime."
The power that flowed through them as the spirits began the new ritual was unlike anything Luka had ever experienced. Not the burning drain of magical sacrifice, but the warm strength of shared purpose. His bear consciousness merged completely with his human awareness, creating a hybrid understanding that could communicate with both the living and the dead.
Beside him, Leenah's necromantic abilities expanded beyond simple spirit communication to encompass the kind of advocacy work that could bridge centuries of mistrust and neglect. Together, they became something neither could have achieved alone: a permanent connection between worlds that would ensure the living never forgot their obligations to those who had passed beyond the veil.
"It's working," Leenah whispered, wonder transforming her exhausted features as power flowed through them without the devastating drain of the original ritual.
This was what his bear had been searching for without knowing it: not just a mate, but a purpose that gave meaning to all the loss and survival that had brought him to this moment.
As the ritual reached its crescendo, the trapped spirits began to fade not into nothingness but into peace, their centuries-long vigil finally ended by the promise of ongoing justice. The sacred grove filled with golden light that seemed to come from everywhere at once, and Luka realized that whatever they'd just become, there was no going back.
They were bound now, not just to each other but to something larger than their individual desires. And surprisingly, that felt not like loss but like the most profound kind of freedom he'd ever known.
26
LEENAH
