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I relaxed into his arms, then it struck me. Bonded mates. My head flew up so fast I nearly headbutted him. “Wait. Shit.”

49

YOU HAVE MY BLESSING

SYLVAN

“What are you doing?” Aura whisper-shouted as I tugged her closer by her hips. I was perched at the edge of the tub, dipping a cloth into the water as Aura’s confusion nudged me.

“Tending to my stubborn mate who insisted on opening up her wounds,” I said. “Now, legs apart.”

To my surprise, she didn’t resist, and I delighted in that tiny intake of breath as the cloth glided against her. I cleaned the essence of our union from her skin, resisting the temptation to make her wet again in an attempt to keep her here forever. Her gaze on me was heavy, her fangs sinking gently into her lower lip. I rinsed the cloth out in the water of the tub and continued to clean her, this time dabbing at the thin line of black blood across her thigh.

“I need you to make something for me,” she said.

“Like?”

“A tiny crossbow. Just something with a click trigger mechanism for a needle. Like a dart, but not quite. I need it to be fast enough for the plan to work. That way I don’t have to be at such close range. You did say you enjoyed woodwork and weaponry, right?”

My chest tightened with nerves. Her plan was risky at best, but there weren’t many options. “Are you sure?”

Her lips pressed firmly together, eyelids lowered. “Can you do it or not?”

“Yes.”

“Good, then when we leave this bathroom, you work on that, I’ll finalize the serum.”

There wasn’t much talking between us as we tended to each other’s wounds. Aura was a little worse for wear with so much of her skin not yet fully healed. “No more sex until you’re fully healed,” I told her as I bandaged the wound on her inner thigh.

She gave me a look that said try me, and my traitorous cock hardened. How she managed to easily turn me on outside of a rut, I didn’t know. Her laughter echoed in the bathroom as I adjusted myself in my trousers.

“Oh, you’re fun to mess with,” she said, slipping a dress on over her head. She strode over to the bathroom mirror and tugged down the neckline to prod at the claiming mark. It was pink against her skin but already healing, a small bruise forming around it. “Does it hurt?” I asked her.

“No.” She shook her head.

“Do you still feel different?”

“Not quite? But when you bit me, it was definitely⁠—”

“Intense,” we said at the same time.

She nodded. “So, mates, hmm?” Her face contorted, then her lips pursed together in thought. “It’ll take me a moment to get used to that. It’s bizarre.”

I smiled at her. “Hopefully we’ll have a lifetime.”

Even with Aura next door at the spellcaster’s hut and me whittling away outside, it felt unnatural. She wasn’t close enough. I reminded myself that this was probably a normal feeling since we were newly bonded. Or maybe I just wanted all the time I could get with her in case the plan went completely sideways.

Aura joined me after some time, and we tested out the device I built. It needed a bit of tweaking, but we managed to get it figured out. I watched that look of concentration on her face. The dedicated focus and determination. It was foolish to think I ever considered her cold and indifferent. Even with the hard set of her jaw and the fierceness in her eyes, there was that softness. Not a weakness, but a strength to consider publicizing her vulnerability for the salvation of our kinds.

“I need you to do me one more favor,” she said, her voice soft. I tried not to react with surprise. “Teach me to control my shifting. I know it’ll take more than just one time, but … I just want to know.”

I nodded then took her hand, guiding her toward a spot between two trees. Sitting in the grass, I patted the spot in front of me. She sighed but reluctantly joined me. With both our legs crisscrossed, I tried to bring to mind what I’d been taught and the way I normally controlled my shifts. “The key is not to fear the wolf, but to connect with it. To become one and the same. If you look at it as some beast apart from you, that’s exactly what it will be. But if you accept it, it becomes part of your sprit. Part of you.”

Aura’s brows drew close together, her lips tugging down. I smiled at her, thinking of how to hold my very impatient mate’s attention. “Alright, try this. Close your eyes. Think of all the things that have been holding you back. The people who made you feel less than you were, the times you put yourself down, the lies you’ve been made to know, the things that have scared you and kept you from accepting your true self.”

As I spoke, her chest began to heave. For a moment I thought I’d gone too far, that I’d awoken her trauma. I expected to scent terror, but instead it was a crushing sadness.

“Now, let it all go,” I said. “Envision your body changing, embrace all that you are and all you can be.”