Page 65 of The Right to Bear Claws
"Tomorrow night," she confirmed. "And Elias? Thank you."
"For what?"
"For seeing me. For choosing me. For following me into hell and refusing to let me face it alone." She smiled, feeling lighter than she had in years. "For showing me what home feels like."
"Thank you for letting me," he said simply, pulling her close as fireworks began to explode over the lake, celebrating the successful end of Hollow Oak's most dangerous Halloween night in centuries.
But for Kaia, the real celebration was just beginning. Tomorrow night, she would officially become Elias Vane's mate, permanently and irrevocably bound to the man who'd seen her broken pieces and helped her forge them into something stronger.
Tomorrow night, she would finally, truly, be home.
33
KAIA
The Vane family cabin felt like a sanctuary wrapped in timber and starlight.
Kaia had spent the day helping clean up from Halloween night's festivities, sweeping candy wrappers from Main Street and helping Twyla organize leftover pumpkins from the festival. But as evening approached and she'd made her way up the mountain path to where Elias waited, everything else had faded into background noise.
This was the night they'd both been waiting for.
The cabin itself was rustic perfection—all warm wood and soft lighting, with a stone fireplace crackling against the November chill. Elias had spent hours preparing, she could tell. Candles flickered on every surface, filling the space with vanilla and cedar scents, and he'd laid out thick furs in front of the hearth that looked impossibly inviting.
"You didn't have to do all this," she said, turning to find him watching her from the kitchen doorway, two glasses of wine in his hands.
"I wanted tonight to be perfect," he replied, crossing to offer her a glass. "You deserve romance, not just claiming instincts."
She accepted the wine but set it aside immediately, stepping into his space instead. "Elias, everything about this is already perfect because it's us. You don't have to prove anything or make grand gestures. I just need you."
Relief flickered across his features before heat replaced it. "In that case," he said, setting his own glass down, "come here."
The kiss that followed was different from any they'd shared before. There was reverence in it, yes, but also hunger—the knowledge that tonight would change everything between them, permanently and beautifully.
"I've been thinking about this all day," she admitted against his lips. "About what it will feel like to be yours completely."
"You're already mine," he said, hands framing her face with gentle possession. "Tonight just makes it official."
"Then make it official," she whispered, fingers working at the buttons of his flannel shirt. "But first, let me do something for you."
He stilled as her meaning became clear. "Kaia, you don't have to?—"
"I want to." She pushed the shirt off his shoulders, revealing the broad expanse of his chest with its scars and dark hair. "You saved me, Elias. You followed me into a nightmare realm and brought me back. Let me show you what that means to me."
The groan that escaped him when she sank to her knees was pure need made audible. His hands tangled in her hair as she worked open his belt, then his jeans, freeing his cock with reverent hands.
"God," she breathed, taking him in her mouth with slow deliberation.
The taste of him was intoxicating—salt and musk and something uniquely Elias that made her pussy clench with want. She worked him with tongue and lips, loving the way hisbreathing grew ragged, the way his fingers tightened in her hair without pulling.
"Kaia," he gasped when she took him deeper. "If you keep doing that, this is going to be over before it starts."
She pulled back with a wicked smile. "We can't have that. Not tonight."
His answering growl was pure bear as he lifted her to her feet, claiming her mouth in a kiss that tasted like desperation and promises. Her dress disappeared under his hands—dream logic made manifest in the waking world—leaving her bare and trembling with anticipation.
"My turn," he said, sweeping her up and carrying her to the furs by the fire.
The next hour was a symphony of sensation. Elias worshipped her body with hands and mouth and tongue until she was writhing beneath him, begging for release, begging for him. When he finally positioned himself at her entrance, she was so wet and ready that the first press of his cock inside her made her cry out with relief.
