The question lands.
Do I?
“I don’t know,” I admit. “The healing bond broke, and I thought… I thought I’d finally know. Thought without the magic forcing me toward him, I’d be able to see clearly. Figure out if what I feel is real or just trauma bonding with extra steps.”
“And?”
“And now there’s a different bond starting. A mate bond. Which is supposedly even more permanent. And I’m supposed to just… What? Trust that my dragon-loving instincts know better than my actual brain?”
“That’s not how mate bonds work,” Lila says.
“Then how do they work?”
She considers this. “They begin when compatible souls recognize each other. Magic calls to magic. But they don’t complete without mutual acceptance. Without…” She pauses. “Without both parties choosing to seal the bond.”
“Seal it how?”
“Intimately.” Lila’s voice is matter-of-fact. Clinical. “The bond forms gradually, but it completes through physical connection. When both parties are ready. When the choice is made freely.”
Oh.
“So I have time,” I say slowly. “To figure out if I actually want this.”
“You have time,” Elena confirms. “The bond can hover at the edge—forming but not complete—until you decide.”
“And if I decide no?”
“That would be… bad,” says Elena.
Oh geez. Great. Just great.
“But it fades. Eventually,” Lila adds quickly. “For some.”
Yeah. I’m screwed.
“But Mara,” she goes on, “if you’re feeling the bond beginning, that means your soul already recognizes his. The question isn’t whether you’re compatible. It’s whether you’re brave enough to accept it.”
Brave enough.
Sure.
Because bravery has been my strong suit lately.
Actually, it has.
“What if I choose wrong?”
“There’s no wrong choice,” Lila says. “Only honest ones.”
“That’s very zen. Very unhelpful.”
Despite everything, Elena almost smiles. “What does your gut say?”
My gut.
Right.
Because my gut has been so reliable lately. Leading me into helicopter crashes and magical kidnappings and falling for ancient dragon kings who call me by dead girlfriends’ names during sex.
