Chapter 14
QUINN
Ican't sleep.
The ley lines pulse beneath the Inn, steady and insistent, calling to something deep inside me. I've been lying here for hours, staring at the ceiling, replaying everything that happened at the tavern tonight.
Eli defending me. His fury barely controlled, protective and fierce. The way he looked at that drunk tourist like he was deciding whether violence was worth it.
The way he looked at me after. Like I was worth fighting for.
My phone sits on the nightstand, dark and silent. It's past midnight. Too late to text. Too late to show up at someone's door and say the words that have been building in my chest since I left the Bear Claw.
I'm staying. I choose this. I choose him.
The ley lines pulse again, stronger this time. Not painful, but impossible to ignore. Like the land itself is reaching for me, pulling me deeper into Redwood Rise's magic.
I sit up, pushing back the covers. Sleep isn't coming. Not with this restless energy thrumming through me, not with my mind spinning through every reason I should run and every reason I want to stay.
Vanessa took my work. Took my credibility. Made me doubt everything I'd built.
But Eli believes me. Defended me to a stranger without hesitation. Looks at me like I'm whole, not broken. Like I'm exactly who I'm supposed to be.
I've been running my whole life. From my parents' impossible standards. From relationships that wanted to reshape me. From a mentor who saw my talent as something to steal rather than nurture.
Here, in this impossible town full of shapeshifters and magic, I finally want to stop running.
I want to stay. Build something new. Reclaim my voice on my own terms.
I pull on jeans and a sweater, grab my keys. The Inn is quiet as I slip downstairs and out into the night. The air is cold, crisp, carrying the scent of pine and earth and that green, alive smell that means the ley lines are active.
They pulse beneath my feet as I walk, guiding me. Not toward the tavern—toward the edge of town. Toward the compound where Eli went to talk to his brothers about whatever's happening with the magic.
I follow the pull of the ley lines, trusting them to lead me where I need to go. The forest closes around me, familiar now after my walk with Eli this morning. Has it only been one day since I watched him transform? Since I learned the truth about this town?
It feels like a lifetime. Like I've been two different people—the Quinn who arrived broken and lost, and the Quinn walking through these woods with purpose.
Light spills from the windows of the compound ahead. Whatever's happening, it's big enough to get the whole family out of bed.
I hesitate at the edge of the clearing. This is their space. Their family. Am I intruding?
Then a front door opens, and Eli steps out onto the porch. He sees me immediately, like he was waiting. Like some part of him knew I'd come.
"Quinn." Just my name, but the relief in his voice makes my chest tight.
I cross the clearing toward him. "I couldn't sleep. The ley lines...”
"I know. We've been monitoring them all night." He pulls me into his arms, and I lean into his warmth. "They're accelerating. Calder thinks it's because the bond is incomplete. You're tied to this land now, but without the ceremony, the connection is unstable."
"What ceremony?"
He pulls back to look at me. "The bonding ceremony. It's how shifters formalize mate bonds. We exchange blood—a mutual claiming that binds us together permanently."
My heart pounds faster. "Blood exchange?"
"When we complete the ceremony, my bear DNA will overwrite your human genetics." His thumb traces circles on my back, the touch grounding even as his words shake my world. "You'll become a bear shifter. The transformation takes a few days, but it's permanent. Irreversible."
I pull back enough to meet his eyes. "You're saying I'd stop being human?"
"You'd become something more." His gaze holds mine, serious and unflinching. "Stronger, faster, longer-lived. Connected to the magic in ways humans can't access. But yes—your human DNA would be gone, replaced by mine."
The weight of it settles over me. Not just a ceremony. Not just a bond. A complete transformation of what I am at the most fundamental level.
"And you think that's why the ley lines are so active?" The question comes out quieter than I intend.
"Calder does. And he's usually right about this stuff." Eli's hands are warm on my arms. "But Quinn, we don't have to do this now. We can wait until...”
"I don't want to wait."
The words come out clear and certain. No hesitation. No fear.
"I came here to tell you I'm staying," I continue.
"I'm done running. From Vanessa, from my past, from the possibility of getting hurt again.
I choose this. I choose you. I choose Redwood Rise.
" I meet his eyes. "So if there's a ceremony that makes it official, that stabilizes whatever's happening with the magic, then let's do it. Now. Tonight."
Something fierce and tender fills his expression. "Are you sure?"
"I've never been more sure of anything."
He kisses me then, soft and claiming all at once. When we pull apart, he's smiling.
"Okay then." He takes my hand. "Let's make you family."
The bonding space is tucked into the forest behind the compound, a clearing ringed by standing stones that hum with ancient power.
Calder has lit torches around the perimeter, their flames casting dancing shadows across the weathered stone surfaces.
Cilla, Beau and Anabeth are here, along with Sawyer.
No one asks why I showed up in the middle of the night or questions my decision to go through with this immediately.
They just welcome me with quiet acceptance.
Eli leads me to the center of the circle, where the ley lines pulse strongest beneath our feet. I can feel them thrumming through the stone, through the earth, waiting.
"The ceremony is simple," Eli explains, his voice low and reverent.
"We speak our vows. Seal them with blood.
Bind our hands together." He gestures to where Calder stands holding a ceremonial dagger and a length of woven cloth—deep red silk embroidered with symbols I don't recognize.
"The binding represents our lives woven together.
The blood seals the bond to the land and to each other. "
My hands shake slightly, but not from fear. From anticipation. From the rightness of this moment.
"Ready?" Eli asks softly.
"Ready."
Eli turns to me, taking both my hands in his. The torchlight catches in his dark eyes, making them warm.
"Quinn." His voice is low, meant just for me even though everyone can hear.
"I didn't expect you. Didn't think fate would bring someone like you into my life.
But here you are, and everything makes sense in a way it never did before.
You're brilliant and brave. You've been hurt, but you haven't let it make you cruel.
You see beauty in the small things—the perfect rise of bread, the way light hits beer in a glass, the taste of something made with care.
You make me want to be better. More patient.
More open. I promise to protect you, to support your dreams, to never take credit for your work or your voice.
I promise to love you exactly as you are, broken and whole and everything in between. "
Tears blur my vision. I blink them away, needing to see him clearly.
"I've spent years trying to prove I'm good enough," I say.
"To my friends, to my profession, to Vanessa.
But you've never asked me to prove anything.
You see who I am and accept it. You defended me tonight without hesitation.
You've shown me what real partnership looks like, where success is shared and trust is given freely.
" I squeeze his hands. "I promise to stay.
To build a life here with you. To trust this bond even when it scares me.
To use my voice to tell true stories, to give credit where it's due, to create something honest and good.
And I promise to love you—your strength, your protectiveness, your patience with stubborn food writers who have trust issues. "
His laugh is choked with emotion.
"That's beautiful," Anabeth whispers.
Calder steps forward with the ceremonial dagger. "Blood seals the vows. Binds you to each other and to the land."
Eli takes the blade first. He doesn't flinch as he draws it across his palm, blood welling dark red. Then he hands it to me.
I mirror his cut, the sting sharp but not unbearable. When I lower my hand, Eli catches it, pressing our bleeding palms together. The warmth of his blood mixes with mine, and the moment our skin touches, the bond snaps fully into place.
It's like a circuit completing. Electricity and heat and rightness pouring through me. I gasp, my knees nearly buckling, but Eli's other arm comes around my waist, holding me steady.
"I've got you," he murmurs. "Just breathe."
The bond settles, a golden thread connecting us. I can feel him now—not just physically, but emotionally. His fierce joy, his protective love, his absolute certainty that this is right.
Calder wraps the red silk cloth around our joined hands, binding them together with practiced movements.
The fabric is soft against my skin, the symbols seeming to glow faintly in the torchlight.
"What's joined here cannot be undone," he says formally.
"Witnessed by family, sealed by blood, blessed by the land. You are mated. You are one."
The ley lines pulse beneath us. Not frantic or demanding anymore. Gentle. Welcoming. Like the land is exhaling in relief.
Eli kisses me then, our hands still bound between us, and I taste salt and copper and promise. When we break apart, everyone is smiling.
"Welcome to the clan, Quinn," Sawyer says.
Beau grins. "Guess this means you're stuck with us now."
Anabeth pulls me into a hug that smells like vanilla and contentment. "I'm so glad you're staying."