Page 29 of The Right to Bear Claws
"According to the research, yes. A completed mate bond creates spiritual armor that's incredibly difficult for dream entities to penetrate. But Kaia, I need you to understand something." He turned to face her fully. "I'm not offering this bond as some kind of supernatural solution to your problems. I'm offering it because I care about you. Because I want to build a life with you, not because you need protection."
"What if I can't feel the same connection you do? What if this bond only works one way?"
"Then we figure it out. But I don't think that's the case." His thumb brushed across her knuckles. "You feel it too, don't you? The pull between us, the way everything feels right when we're together?"
Kaia's breath caught. "I feel like I've been wandering my whole life and suddenly I'm home. Like you see parts of me I didn't even know existed."
"That's the bond."
"And if I accept it? What does that mean, exactly?"
"It means we're partners in every sense. Connected on levels most people never experience. It means I claim you as mine and you claim me as yours, and nothing in this world or any other can break that connection."
"Even death?"
"Especially death." His voice grew fierce. "Mate bonds transcend physical existence, Kaia. Whatever Tobias thinks he can do to us, he's wrong. Love like this doesn't break."
Tears gathered in her eyes. "I'm scared, Elias. What if I'm not strong enough, or good enough, or?—"
"Hey." He cupped her face in his hands, thumbs brushing away the tears that had started to fall. "You're perfect exactly as you are. Brave and kind and stronger than you know. And you're not facing any of this alone anymore."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
Then, before he could stop it, he leaned in.
The kiss happened without conscious thought, born from weeks of growing tension and the desperate need to prove that what they had was real. Kaia's lips were soft and warm under his.
She melted against him, fingers tangling in his hair as she kissed him back with a passion that stole his breath.
14
KAIA
The kiss shattered every wall Kaia had built around her heart.
Elias's lips moved against hers with a reverence that made her knees weak, his hands cradling her face like she was something precious and fragile. She'd been kissed before, but never like this. Never with the feeling that the world had tilted on its axis and nothing would ever be the same.
When she forced herself to take a breath, they were both breathing hard, she could see the stars beginning to emerge in the darkening sky above his shoulder. The lake lapped gently at the dock beneath them, and somewhere in the distance, she could hear the faint sounds of the town settling into evening.
"Kaia," he whispered, her name a sweet on his lips.
She should pull away. Should remember all the reasons this was dangerous, all the ways caring about him put him at risk. But looking into those silver eyes, seeing the hunger there tempered by such careful restraint, she couldn't make herself care about anything beyond this moment.
"I've wanted this since that first night you showed me around," she admitted, her fingers still tangled in his dark hair. "Even when I was trying to convince myself I shouldn't."
His hands slid down to frame her waist, thumbs stroking along her ribs through the thin fabric of her dress. "We don't have to do anything you're not ready for."
The careful control in his voice, the way his whole body vibrated with barely leashed desire while he put her comfort above his own need, made something deep inside her chest unfurl like a flower turning toward sunlight.
"What if I'm ready for everything?" The words slipped out, bold and breathless.
Something primal flashed across his features, there and gone so quickly she might have imagined it. But then his hands were moving, one sliding up to cup the back of her neck while the other remained at her waist, and she knew he'd heard the invitation in her voice.
"Here?" he asked, glancing around at the empty shoreline, the secluded dock surrounded by whispering trees.
"Here," she confirmed, then pulled his mouth back down to hers.
