Three months had passed since the night Clara saved Graylock.
The cabin was finished now. The roof didn't leak, the porch didn't sag, and the windows let in light instead of cold. Clara had painted the walls a soft cream color, hung curtains Elara had helped her sew, and filled the shelves with books she'd ordered from the city. It was hers. Truly hers.
But she still spent most nights at the mansion.
Kael's bedroom had become theirs. His clothes hung next to hers in the closet. Her books stacked on his nightstand. Her hairbrush on the bathroom counter. Small things that added up to something bigger.
She was packing a bag now, her hands moving automatically, her mind elsewhere. The full moon was three days away. Riven had been quiet since the attack, but everyone knew it wouldn't last.
"You're thinking too loud."
She looked up. Kael was in the doorway, leaning against the frame, his arms crossed. He wore a simple grey shirt and dark pants, his feet bare on the wooden floor. The scars on his chest were visible at the collar new ones, from the fight with Riven.
"I'm not thinking anything."
"You're thinking about the full moon. About Riven. About whether the wards will hold."
She sighed, turning back to her bag. "They'll hold. I've been reinforcing them every day."
"But you're still worried."
She zipped the bag and turned to face him. "Yes. I'm worried. He's been quiet for three months. That's not like him, according to everything you've told me. He's planning something."
Kael crossed the room and took her hands. "He's waiting. Testing the wards. Looking for weaknesses. But he won't find any. Not with you holding them."
She wanted to believe that. She wanted to believe that the power she'd found the magic that ran through her veins like a second heartbeat—was enough to keep them safe.
But Riven had killed Kael's mother. He'd killed his own father and brothers. He'd been a threat for decades, and he wasn't going to disappear just because a human woman with some old magic had pushed him back once.
"There's something I need to show you," she said.
Kael's brow furrowed. "What is it?"
She pulled her hands free and crossed to the dresser, where Margaret's journal lay open. She'd been studying it for weeks, reading and rereading every entry, trying to understand the full scope of her great-aunt's power.
"I found something last night. An entry I hadn't read before." She flipped to the marked page and handed it to him. "Read this."
Kael took the journal, his eyes scanning the page. As he read, his face went pale.
The wards are not enough, Margaret had written. They can hold back an army, but they cannot hold back the one who knows the old ways. Riven has been learning. Studying. Finding the cracks in the old magic. If he comes again, the wards will break. There is only one way to stop him.
The bond. The mate bond between a wolf and a Sensitive is the strongest magic there is. Stronger than the land. Stronger than the old ways. If the bond is completed truly completed, body and soul it creates a power that no enemy can break.
But it comes with a cost. For the wolf, the bond is life. For the Sensitive, it is a binding. Once the bond is sealed, she cannot leave the territory. Cannot stray far from her mate. Her power becomes tied to the land, to the pack, to him. She becomes part of the territory itself.
I never completed the bond with Kael's father. I was too afraid of what it would mean. And that fear cost us. Cost him. Cost me. Don't make the same mistake, Clara. If you love him, if you want to protect what you've built, you must be all in. There is no halfway in this world.
Kael looked up from the journal. His face was unreadable.
"When did you find this?"
"Last night. I've been thinking about it ever since."
"And what have you decided?"
She took a breath. "I don't know. I need to understand what it means. What it would do to me. To us."
He set the journal down and took her hands again. "Clara, listen to me. I don't want you to do anything you're not ready for. The bond we have now it's enough. I don't need more."
"Riven is coming. The wards won't hold forever. You know that."
"I know that I'm not going to pressure you into something you don't want." His voice was firm. "The mate bond between a wolf and a human—it's not the same as between two wolves. For us, it's... permanent. Irreversible. You would be tied to this place, to me, for the rest of your life."
"I'm already tied to you."
"In your heart. Not in your blood. There's a difference."
She pulled her hands away, frustration building in her chest. "You're protecting me again. You're trying to make the choice for me."
"I'm trying to make sure you understand what you're choosing."
"I understand." She met his eyes. "I understand that Riven will keep coming until he destroys everything we've built. I understand that the wards are getting weaker, no matter how much power I pour into them. I understand that Margaret was too scared to complete the bond, and that fear cost her everything."
She stepped closer, putting her hand on his chest, over his heart.
"I'm not Margaret. I'm not scared of what it means to love you. I'm scared of losing you. And if completing the bond is the only way to keep you safe, then I'll do it."
Kael closed his eyes. She felt his heart racing under her palm, felt the war inside him the wolf wanting to claim her, the man wanting to protect her.
"When?" he asked.
She looked at the calendar on the wall. The full moon was circled in red, three days away.
"On the full moon. Margaret wrote that the magic is strongest then. It makes the bond... easier. Safer."
He opened his eyes. They were amber, glowing, the wolf close to the surface.
"Three days," he said.
"Three days."
He pulled her into his arms, holding her so tight she could barely breathe. She held him back, her face pressed against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.
Three days. And then everything would change.