33. Clair
CLAIR
When the kiss broke, there was silence—absolute, complete and utter silence.
Kaelus just stared at her and Clair’s heart stopped. Then it started again far too quickly.
Well—there it was, she thought. Not exactly the beautifully planned declaration a woman might imagine making someday, but apparently she was committed now. She’d told him she loved him—there was no going back.
Kaelus’s lips parted.
“You…what?” he whispered.
“Oh, don’t you dare make me repeat it like you didn’t hear me,” Clair snapped.
Maera and Varell and all Council members watching probably thought they were crazy, but she didn’t care anymore.
“I heard you,” Kaelus said carefully.
“Good.”
“But you said—”
“I know what I said!” Clair exclaimed. “I said I didn’t want another man but then you came along.”
Kaelus didn’t move but the hope in his eyes was growing.
Clair cradled his face in her hands and kept talking because she couldn’t seem to stop.
“You came along with your stupid tape dividing our laboratory in half and your ridiculous list of rules and your permanent scowl,” she said. “You drove me crazy. You still drive me crazy. But then I started noticing things…
“Every time I fell, you were there to catch me. Every time I forgot to eat, food mysteriously appeared beside my elbow. When I spilled that chemical solvent on myself, you didn’t hesitate—you took care of me.
When I fell asleep in the lab, you gave me your coat.
When that plant tried to stab me, you put your own hand in the way. ”
Her eyes filled with tears again, but she blinked them away, refusing to look away from him.
“You taught me what it felt like to have a man care about my comfort without expecting payment for it,” she whispered, looking into his golden eyes. “You made me feel safe.”
“Clair…” he began, but she put a finger over his lips.
“No, I’m still talking,” she said firmly. “You keep saying I had sex with you because I had to save you, but you have it backwards. I didn’t have sex with you because I had to save you, Kaelus. I saved you that way because I love you.”
It was the second time she’d told the big Hybrid she loved him and this time, it seemed to finally sink it.
His face changed. Clair saw it happen—the iron control he wore like armor was cracking straight down the middle.
“You love me?” he asked hoarsely.
“Yes.” Clair nodded.
“And you loved me before—before the Bond?” he asked.
“Oh my God.” She threw both hands into the air. “Yes, before the Bond! I loved you before Sendar injected you, before you bit me, probably before we ever got to this crazy planet! I just didn’t have the good sense to admit it.”
There was another stretch of silence and then Kaelus wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to his chest. He buried his face in the side of her neck and breathed her in, inhaling her scent as though he could never get enough.
“Oh, Lissa’ra,” he rumbled in her ear. “I love you too—so much!”
They clung together for a long, long time, breathing each other in, sending feelings of love through their new Bond.
Finally, Kaelus pulled away and Clair saw that his eyes were suspiciously bright. Was her huge, grouchy, muscular lab partner crying?
It seemed he might be.
“Clair,” he said softly, “I will endeavor every day of the rest of my life to deserve you.”
“Well…” Maera and Varell came over to them, smiling and looking slightly confused.
“I’m not quite sure what just happened,” Marea said, looking at both of them. “But it seems the two of you have a reached a happy conclusion.”
“So happy.” Kaelus rose from where he had been kneeling. Reaching down, he swung Clair into his arms, making her gasp.
“Kaelus!” she exclaimed, panting a little. “Behave!”
“I cannot.” He pulled her in for another kiss. “You’re mine, Lissa’ra,” he sent through their link. “And I am yours—forever.”