"What?" I ask.
"Move in with me."
I blink. "What?"
"Don't go back to town except for supplies and to see your mother. Stay here. With me. Make this official."
"Rhett, I practically already live here."
"I know. But I want it to be real. Want your things here, want to know you're coming back every night, want—" He stops, jaw working. "Want you to choose this. Choose me. Permanently."
My heart is pounding. This is huge. This is giving up my apartment, my independence, my easy access to civilization.
This is choosing a life on a mountain with a bear shifter who still has nightmares, who still struggles with control, who's still learning how to be in a relationship.
This is choosing us.
"Okay," I say.
"Okay?"
"Okay, I'll move in. Officially. Permanently. All of it."
The joy that floods through the bond is almost overwhelming. He picks me up and spins me around, and I laugh, clinging to his shoulders.
"You're sure?" he asks, setting me down but not letting go.
"I'm sure. I love it here. I love—" I catch myself, but he's looking at me with such hope that I can't stop the words. "I love you."
He goes very, very still.
"You don't have to say it back," I add quickly. "I know it's soon, I know we're still figuring this out, I just—"
"I love you too," he interrupts roughly. "Fuck, Autumn, I've loved you since you showed up with chocolate and refused to be scared of me. I just didn't know how to say it."
"You just did."
"I love you," he says again, like he's testing the words. "I love you. Is that right? Does it sound right?"
"It sounds perfect."
He kisses me again, and I can feel the bear surging forward, wanting to claim, to mark, to celebrate.
"Bed," I murmur against his mouth. "Now."
"Demanding."
"You love it."
"I love you," he corrects, already steering me toward the cabin door. "Everything else is just details."
And as he carries me inside, our bond singing with happiness and desire and the bone-deep certainty of forever, I can't help but think about how wrong I was a month ago.
I thought I was just exploring the mountains around Blackwater Falls.
Turns out I was finding home.
I was finding him. I was finding us. And I wouldn't change a single second of it.
