"Then explain it to me."
He was quiet for a long moment, his thumb tracing patterns on my palm—circles and lines and shapes that had no meaning except comfort.
"The Vaktaire mating bond," he said finally, each word careful and measured, "It's not a choice you can unmake or a contract you can dissolve when things get hard. It's permanent. Absolute. Forever, in every sense of the word."
"I know."
His eyes met mine—fierce and vulnerable and desperate for me to understand what I was committing to. "When the bond completes, our hearts will synchronize. They'll beat in perfect rhythm, forever. Like two drums playing the same song. If one of us dies, the other will feel it. A Vaktaire knows the exact moment their mate's heart stops beating and more often than not follows them into death."
Ice ran down my spine, cold and sharp.
"That's—"
"Terrifying," he finished, his voice quiet. "I know. But it's also beautiful. Because it means we'll never be alone. Never be separate. We'll feel each other's emotions, sense each other's presence across any distance, know when the other is in danger or hurt or afraid."
He lifted my hand to his chest, pressing my palm flat against his heart. I felt it beating beneath my hand—strong and steady and alive.
"Can you feel that?" he asked softly.
I could.
His heartbeat—powerful and steady and real beneath my palm.
"Yes."
"When the bond completes, you'll always feel it. No matter how far apart we are. No matter what happens." His voice dropped to a whisper, intimate and raw. "You'll carry a piece of me inside you, and I'll carry a piece of you. We'll be two halves of one whole. Incomplete without each other."
Tears pricked my eyes, hot and immediate.
"That's what I want," I said fiercely, meaning every word.
"Merrilee—"
"I love you." The words came out passionate. Final. Undeniable. "I love you, and I want to be bound to you in every way possible. I want to feel your heartbeat. I want to be yours, completely and forever, in every way that matters."
His breath caught, his entire body going still.
"You're sure."
"I've never been more sure of anything in my life."
He pulled me into his lap, his arms wrapping around me like he could merge us through sheer force of will, his face buried in my hair.
"I love you," he said against my temple, his voice breaking on the words. "I love you so much. So much I don't know what to do with it."
"Good." I tilted my head back to look at him, to meet his eyes.
He laughed—a rough, broken sound that turned into a kiss.
Deep.
Claiming.
Possessive.
His tongue swept into my mouth, demanding and hungry, and I opened to him immediately. My hands fisted in his hair, pulling him closer, my body pressing against his with desperate need. The towel around his waist fell away, forgotten, and I felt him—hard and thick against my thigh, the heat of him making me gasp into his mouth.
"Ahrick—"
