Page 78 of Curses and Casualties
“This is the weirdest night of my life,” I whisper. “And considering I’ve been glowing like a human lava lamp for weeks, that’s saying something.”
“Focus,” Ryan says, but his lips twitch. “We’ll laugh about this later.”
“Right. OK. The ritual.” I glance around at the glowing heartstones, the chamber where Elder Gray nearly killed us. “So we just...?”
“The sacred joining under the supermoon’s power,” Ryan says, his voice rough. “That’s what completes it.”
We stand there for a moment, both still reeling from the transformations, from the fight, from everything. Then Ryan steps closer, his hand cupping my face with infinite gentleness.
“Georgia,” he breathes. “My mate. My Luna.”
“This is weird,” I whisper, but I’m already leaning into his touch. “With them right there, and after everything?—”
He silences me with a kiss, soft at first, almost hesitant. But the moment our lips meet, the bond ignites. It’s like touching a live wire—every nerve ending lights up, every cell recognizes its match.
He pulls back just enough to whisper against my mouth, his voice rough with emotion. “By blood and bone, by moon and stone, I am yours as you are mine.”
The words resonate through our bond, primordial and potent. I feel them settle into my very soul, binding us with more than magic.
“By blood and bone,” I breathe back. “By moon and stone, I am yours as you are mine.”
The moment the words leave my lips, the blessed moonwater, still singing in our veins, flares to life. The bond solidifies, becomes unbreakable, and suddenly tentative is a memory. We crash together like waves meeting shore, desperate and inevitable. The tattered robes are gone in seconds—I don’t know if we tear them off or if they simply dissolve, but skin meets skin, and the world narrows to just us.
“Mine,” Ryan growls, and it’s both him and his wolf speaking. His mouth traces fire down my throat, teeth grazing where my pulse hammers.
“Yours,” I manage to get out, but his mouth is already on mine, desperate and hungry. Our bodies collide, all leftover pain eclipsed by a need so raw it’s almost animal. Every other time we’ve been together, something held back—fear, caution, the shadow of Luna’s curse. Now there’s nothing but heat and the tidal pull of our souls fusing.
He lifts me easily, my legs wrapping around his waist as he presses me against the smooth stone wall. The contrast of cool rock and his burning skin makes me cry out. Through our bond, I feel everything. His desperate need, his love, his wolf’s hunger finally about to be satisfied.
“I need—” I start, but he knows. He always knows.
When he enters me, the cave itself responds. The heartstones blaze brighter, their separate glows beginning to merge into something greater. I can feel the ritual taking hold, magic building with each movement, each shared breath.
“Georgia,” he pants against my neck. “Can you feel it?”
I can. Power spirals through us, around us, building like a storm. Every thrust drives it higher, every kiss feeds the flame. We’re not just joining bodies. We’re joining all four of our souls, and the universe is taking notice.
His hand slides between us, finding that bundle of nerves that makes me see stars. But these aren’t just stars tonight, they’re galaxies being born, nebulas exploding into existence. The pleasure is cosmic, overwhelming, too much and not enough all at once.
“Together,” he commands, feeling how close I am. “We go together.”
The bond ensures it. As my climax approaches like a tidal wave, I feel his building in perfect synchronization. We’re one being with two bodies, four souls finally complete. The magic crests with us, power beyond comprehension gathering for release.
“Ryan!” I scream as we shatter.
The climax is transcendent, pleasure beyond physical, beyond thought, beyond the bounds of mortality. We come apart at the seams and are remade in the same instant. Light explodes from where we’re joined, not gentle moonlight but the birth of stars.
The cave can’t contain it.
The stone around us cracks, then crumbles. The sorted heartstones—thousands upon thousands—disintegrate into luminous dust. The light we’ve created turns solid matter into pure magic, unmaking centuries of hoarded power in seconds.
Through the destroying brilliance, Ryan and I cling to each other as we look on in awe. The mountain shudders and the Soulcave, repository of hoarded magic for generations, simply ceases to be.
But the magic doesn’t disappear. As the dust of countless heartstones rises through the collapsing cave, caught on impossible winds, I understand what Luna meant. This was always meant to happen. The Soul Bond was never meant to be rare. The magic was never meant to be contained.
It spreads outward like ripples on water, each mote of heartstone dust carrying the potential for new bonds, new connections, new hope. Across the world, wolves who had given up on finding their mates will feel the pull. Humans with latent magic will dream of running on four legs. The old ways, the true ways, return.
Ryan and I remain rooted to the spot as the world remakes itself around us, still joined, still coming down from the impossible high. When it feels like I can breathe again, we’re standing in a crater where the Soulcave used to be, naked under the supermoon’s light, glowing like newborn stars.
