Chapter 33
Alanna
Cocooned in heat and the scent of woodsmoke, I wake slowly, feeling more rested than I have in years. Maybe ever. A languorous fulfillment has settled into my marrow, weighting my limbs in the best possible way.
Kade’s arm is heavy and possessive around my waist as he sleeps, his breath lightly tickling the back of my neck.
We’re tangled together, limbs intertwined.
And woven between us, a new presence—the bond.
It wraps around my soul, warm and grounding.
It’s not a frantic pull anymore, but a steady connection that sings with a satisfied sense of rightness.
My fingers drift to the curve of my neck. The skin is already healed, but beneath it, a faint pulse resonates with the crystal mark on my arm. My magic. His claim. An instinctive thrill shoots through me. Mine. He is mine, and I am his.
A quiet smile touches my lips as the memory of the bond settling washes over me—not just the starburst of pleasure, but the dazzling flash of shared understanding that came with it.
His soul laid bare. And there I was, through his eyes—not a burden, not a distraction, but a light. His aine. His dawn.
We saw the jagged edges of each other’s souls and welcomed them, weaving ourselves together in an unbreakable bond.
A giddy excitement bubbles up, bright and effervescent.
The echo-beast is gone, the wound in my power healed, my past robbed of its power to hurt me.
And ahead lies . . . everything. A whole world, hidden just beneath the surface of the one I knew, teeming with magic and history and mysteries, all waiting to be uncovered.
My fingers itch to get back to the Warden library, to dive into those ancient texts, to finally understand the “Great Core” that was sundered, and my own strange, wonderful power.
And Kade will be right beside me, my partner, my mate, ready to truly live for the first time in one hundred years.
We have a future to build, a life to explore, together.
I shift, snuggling closer, and his arm instantly tightens around me—a reflex, even in sleep. Then he stirs, burying his face in the crook of my neck, his voice rough with sleep.
“Stop thinking so loud, aine,” he grumbles. “Go back to sleep.”
I smile, pressing a kiss to his forearm. “Can’t. Too much to do.”
He grunts, pulling me flush against him until every inch of us is aligned. “Later. Right now, you’re mine.”
I let him pull me under, content to linger here just a little longer. The sun is rising on a brand-new world, and now, I’m not facing it alone.