Page 40 of Furever Bound
The transformation flowed through him with familiar ease, bones reshaping and muscles reconfiguring while his human awareness remained intact to monitor Sera's reaction. Hisclothes dissolved into shadow as supernatural energy consumed ordinary matter, replacing human form with something larger, more primal, infinitely more honest about what he truly was.
When the shift completed, he stood before her as a silver-furred wolf the size of a small horse, his piercing blue eyes unchanged despite the radical alteration of everything else. Snow clung to his thick coat, and his breath formed clouds in the cold air as he waited for her response to seeing him completely.
"Oh," Sera breathed, her voice carrying awe that made his lupine heart race with satisfaction. "Oh, you're magnificent."
Instead of fear or revulsion, her expression held fascination mixed with something that looked suspiciously like delight. She approached slowly, her movements careful but confident as she extended one hand toward his massive head.
"May I?" she asked with the same respect for boundaries she'd shown Ember.
He dipped his head in permission, and when her fingers touched his fur, the mate bond flared with recognition that transcended species boundaries. Her touch felt like completing something that had been fundamentally incomplete for years.
"Your fur is so soft," she murmured, running her hands along his head and neck with reverent attention. "And you're huge. Much bigger than regular wolves."
He rumbled with contentment that vibrated through his chest, the sound carrying emotional nuances his human voice couldn't express. Through their developing bond, he could sense her wonder and acceptance, her complete lack of fear despite his size and obvious predatory capabilities.
"This is why you were so protective," she said with understanding that proved her intuitive gifts extended beyond psychic manifestation into emotional perception. "Why you could sense threats before I could, why you always positionedyourself between me and potential danger. The wolf's protective instincts."
He shifted back to human form with fluid grace, clothes reforming from shadow as supernatural energy reversed the transformation, a trick most shifters hadn’t learned. When he stood before her again in human shape, her eyes held depths of understanding that proved seeing his wolf had strengthened rather than complicated their bond.
"Any regrets?" he asked, studying her face for signs of uncertainty or second thoughts about accepting partnership with someone whose nature included predatory instincts.
"Only that you waited so long to show me," she replied, stepping closer until she could reach up to cup his face with hands that still carried the warmth of touching his fur. "This is part of who you are, part of what I'm choosing when I choose you. I want all of it."
The simple acceptance made his chest tight with emotions too complex to name, especially when her touch carried the same electric recognition that had sparked between them from their first meeting.
"Sera," he said, her name rough with want and gratitude in equal measure.
"Yes," she replied, understanding the question he hadn't asked.
When he kissed her this time, it carried the desperate hunger of someone who'd found exactly what they'd been unconsciously seeking and the protective determination of someone who would fight any threat to preserve what they'd discovered together.
The snow continued falling around them, creating a world of pristine white silence that felt removed from federal investigations and manifestation crises and all the complications that waited beyond the forest's protective embrace. Here, surrounded by ancient trees and winter's firstblessing, they were simply two souls who'd recognized their perfect match despite impossible circumstances.
"Tonight," Sera said against his mouth, her voice carrying promise and determination.
"Tonight," he agreed, knowing she meant both their planned communication with Grimjaw and the completion of bonds that would make separation impossible regardless of what Elena's federal colleagues had planned.
But for this moment, surrounded by falling snow and the peace of the forest clearing, the future felt manageable as long as they faced it together.
30
SERA
Halloween evening settled over Hollow Oak with the kind of crisp clarity that made every carved pumpkin glow like a beacon and transformed the layer of fresh snow into something magical rather than merely seasonal. From her window at Maddox's house, Sera could see residents moving through the streets with purpose preparing for supernatural activity that traditionally peaked when the barriers between worlds grew thin.
"Second thoughts?" Maddox asked from behind her, his voice carrying concern that resonated through their developing mate bond.
"Hundreds of them," she admitted honestly, watching federal agents position surveillance equipment around the town square where jack-o'-lanterns cast dancing shadows on the snow-covered ground. "But not about the communication attempt. About Elena's agenda, about what happens if we succeed, about what happens if we fail."
"And about completing the mate bond?" he asked, settling beside her on the window seat where they could observeHalloween preparations while discussing decisions that would reshape their entire existence.
"No second thoughts about that," she said. "Seeing your wolf form, understanding what you really are beneath the academic exterior and after everything I’ve learned and experienced in this short amount of time, it only made me more sure. This, here, now, seems more real than anything I experienced in my previous life."
The relief that crossed his features proved he'd been worrying about her reaction to his supernatural nature, despite her earlier acceptance of shapeshifter reality.
She turned to face him fully while outside their window Halloween preparations continued with the organized efficiency of a community that had learned to blend celebration with supernatural defense. "I've spent years in relationships that felt disposable, connections that could be severed the moment they became inconvenient or professionally disadvantageous. Permanent sounds like exactly what I've been missing."
"Even permanent with someone whose protective instincts can be overwhelming?" he asked, his scholarly honesty requiring he acknowledge aspects of supernatural bonding that might prove challenging.
