He leans closer.
“And I've spent my whole life waiting for someone to look at.”
Our foreheads meet.
The room grows impossibly quiet.
Then I feel it.
Not with my hands.
Not with my skin.
With my heart.
“Rand?”
“I feel it too, Honey.”
And I believe him.
I gasp as a warm thread of golden light unfurls between us.
Like a ribbon woven from sunlight itself.
It wraps gently around us, looping from his heart to mine and back again, pulsing with every heartbeat.
Love.
Hope.
Joy.
Possibility.
“That’s our matebond,” he whispers.
Our matebond.
I gasp.
“You feel it too, don’t you?My amazing mate,” he whispers.
I nod.
“It's...”
I can't find the words.
“Beautiful?”
He smiles.
“Exactly.”
The ribbon pulses once more, warm and alive, as though celebrating with us.
I lift my hand to his face.
