Page 29 of Furever Bound
"It's me showing you that your abilities extend beyond manifestation triggering," he replied, his voice gentle but serious. "Your intuitive gifts are remarkable, Sera. You just need to learn to trust what you're sensing."
She closed her eyes and went still, her breathing deepening as she focused on impressions beyond ordinary perception. Maddox watched her face as awareness shifted across her features, noting the moment when supernatural sensitivity engaged.
"Warmth," she said slowly, her voice carrying wonder. "Not just temperature, but... safety. Like the house itself is protective rather than just private space."
"Good. What else?"
"Ember's energy feels ancient but benevolent. Almost maternal, which is strange for a bird." She paused, her expression growing more confident. "And you... you feel like home. Like coming back to something I didn't realize I'd been missing."
The last observation hit him with emotional force. She felt like home to him too—the missing piece that completed something he hadn't known was broken.
"Open your eyes," he said softly.
When she did, her hazel gaze held depths of understanding that proved her psychic development was accelerating in response to their supernatural community's concentrated energy.
"I really can sense these things," she said with amazement. "It's not just imagination or wishful thinking."
"Your abilities are responding to being in an environment where supernatural energy is accepted rather than dismissed," he explained, reaching for her hand to maintain the physical connection that seemed to ground both of them. "Most psychically gifted humans spend their lives thinking they're overly imaginative or slightly crazy because mainstream society doesn't acknowledge what they're experiencing."
"Whereas here, people with psychic gifts are valued community members rather than curiosities to be studied," she said, the bitter edge in her voice suggesting she was thinking about Elena's clinical assessment of her abilities.
"Here, you're valued for who you are, not what you can do," he corrected, bringing her hand to his lips to press a kiss against her knuckles. "The abilities are part of you, but they're not the only part that matters."
The tender gesture made her breath catch, and he felt the electric connection between them intensify as physical attraction combined with emotional intimacy. His wolf wantedto claim and possess, but his human understanding recognized that building trust required patience.
"Maddox," she said, his name rough with want that made his control strain against itself.
"Tell me what you need," he said, studying her face for signs of uncertainty or hesitation.
"I need to know that this is real," she admitted, vulnerability bleeding through her usual confidence. "That what I'm feeling isn't just supernatural recognition or crisis bonding or some kind of psychic manipulation."
"It's real," he said simply, the words carrying weight that transformed them from reassurance to vow. "What's between us started before either of us understood supernatural connections. It began with conversation and intellectual sparring and genuine attraction to who you are when the cameras aren't rolling."
"And the mate bond?"
"The mate bond is recognition of what was already developing naturally," he explained, his thumb tracing patterns across her palm. "It doesn't create artificial feelings—it identifies authentic compatibility that could grow into something permanent."
"Something permanent," she repeated.
"If that's what we both choose," he said, careful to emphasize choice rather than inevitability. "We build what we want to build, at the pace we want to build it."
The reassurance that she retained agency in their developing relationship seemed to relax something in her posture, and when she leaned closer, it was with confidence rather than uncertainty.
"I choose this," she said, her tone one of decision-making. "I choose you, this community, building something real together. Whatever comes next, I want to face it as your mate."
The declaration sent satisfaction racing through his wolf with an intensity that made his breath catch. Instead of responding with words, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her again, this time with purpose that went beyond testing attraction.
Sera melted into him with a soft moan that vibrated against his lips, her hands sliding beneath his thermal shirt to explore the hard planes of his chest. Her touch was electric, sending shivers through his heightened shifter senses.
"God, you feel incredible," she whispered against his mouth, her fingers tracing the defined muscles of his abdomen. "I can feel your heart racing."
"My wolf recognizes you," he said, his voice rougher than usual as her exploration grew bolder. "Every instinct I have is telling me you're mine."
"Show me," she challenged, her hazel eyes dark with desire. "Show me what that means."
Maddox didn't need to be asked twice. In one fluid motion, he lifted her onto his lap so she straddled his thighs, her strawberry blonde hair falling like a curtain around them. The position brought her core directly against the growing hardness beneath his jeans, and they both groaned at the contact.
"Is this what you want?" he asked, his hands settling on her hips to guide her movements as she rocked against him.
