"Yes." My throat tightened. "If I hadn't been there. If you'd been alone when the bear attacked. You could have shifted and not known how to come back."
His grip tightened. "But you talked me through it."
"I've been learning and studying everything I can about shifters and trauma and becoming feral for the last seven years.” I swallowed hard. "That's why I'm here. There's someone on this mountain who needs that. Someone the visions keep showing me."
"And you're going to save them."
"I'm going to try."
The wind howled outside, rattling the tent walls. James shifted closer, and I let him—let his warmth seep into me, let the bond hum with contentment at the proximity.
"The mate bond," he said after a long silence. "You mentioned it before. What does it actually mean?"
Here it was. The conversation I'd been avoiding since orientation.
"Mate bonds are... connections. Deep ones. They form between shifters—or between a shifter and someone compatible—and they're basically unbreakable. Not forced," I added quickly. "The bond doesn't make you feel things you wouldn't feel anyway. It just... amplifies. Clarifies. Makes it impossible to ignore what's already there."
"And we have one."
“A partial one,” I said quietly. “It started forming before you shifted. That hum you’ve been feeling—that wasn’t random.”
James’s brow furrowed. “Then what was it?”
“The beginning.” I hesitated, choosing my words. “In our world, bonds don’t always form all at once. Especially not when there’s more than one mate involved.”
He absorbed that, eyes steady on mine. “More than one.”
“Yes.” I didn’t soften it. “Fate decides that part. Not choice. Not want. Sometimes a bond needs more than one person to balance it.”
“And this—” He gestured vaguely between us, then pressed a hand to his chest. “This is just the start?”
I nodded. “Your wolf waking up strengthened it. Made it louder. More aware. But it’s still incomplete.”
“What happens when it’s complete?”
I lifted my wrist, turning it palm-up, bare skin catching the dim light. “Usually a mate mark appears. Right here. Every bond looks a little different, but that’s where it settles.”
His gaze dropped to my wrist, then back to my eyes. “And what triggers it?”
“A claiming, usually more than one fated mate, touching–” My voice went softer. “Physical and emotional. Not just sex—though that can be part of it. It’s acknowledgment. Acceptance. On both sides.”
“And after that?”
“The bond stabilizes,” I said. “Becomes permanent. Strong enough to carry everything that comes with it.”
He was quiet for a long moment. Then, carefully, “You said ‘usually.’”
“Yes.” A faint smile touched my mouth. “Some bonds form differently. Some come with… extra abilities.”
“Like the hum.”
“Like awareness. Pull. Sometimes even communication, once the bond is settled.” I met his gaze. “That part varies.”
James exhaled slowly. “So what does this mean for us? Right now.”
“It means,” I said honestly, “that fate opened a door. It doesn’t mean it’s finished building the room.”
He was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded, once.
