"Lumi?" His voice was rough with sleep.
"I'm here."
He relaxed immediately, pulling me closer. "Good. Thought maybe I dreamed all of it."
"The bear? The shifting? The part where you turned into a giant wolf and saved us both?"
"That's the one." I could hear the smile in his voice. "Still processing."
I turned in his arms, facing him. In the dim light, his features were soft, unguarded. He looked younger like this—less like the stubborn cowboy who'd followed me into the wilderness, more like someone who'd just discovered the world was bigger and stranger than he'd ever imagined.
"How do you feel?" I asked.
"Amazing, actually." He stretched, and I felt the movement ripple through his whole body—coiled energy looking for release. "Like I slept for a week. Like I could climb this whole mountain in an hour. Is that normal?"
"First shift takes a lot out of you, but once you recover, there's usually an energy surge. Your body's adjusting to its new capabilities."
"New capabilities." He grinned, and there was something wild in it—something that hadn't been there before. His wolf, closer to the surface now. "I'm a werewolf. An actual, literal werewolf. Lumi, that's incredible."
His enthusiasm was infectious. I felt it bleeding through the partial bond—not just happiness, but a bone-deep rightness. Like he'd finally found a missing piece of himself.
"Most people freak out more than this," I said.
"Oh, I'm freaking out. But it's the good kind." He propped himself up on one elbow, looking down at me with an intensity that made my breath catch. "My whole life, I felt like something was off. Like I was waiting for something I couldn't name. And now I know what it was. This. The wolf. Being here with you."
The partial bond hummed at his words, warm and insistent.
"You protected me," I said quietly. "With the bear. You didn't even know what you were doing, and you put yourself between me and eight hundred pounds of predator."
"Didn't think about it. Just moved." His hand came up to brush hair from my face, fingertips trailing along my cheekbone. "The only thing in my head was keeping you safe. Nothing else mattered."
"And then I talked you back. You were so scared, James. I could feel it through the bond—how lost you were, how much you needed an anchor."
"You were my anchor." His voice dropped, roughened. "You are my anchor. Whatever this thing between us is, whatever it becomes—you're the reason I found my way back to myself."
The air in the tent shifted. Charged. The partial bond pulled at us both, demanding closeness, demanding more. We'd survived something together. We'd faced death and come out the other side, and now every instinct was screaming to affirm that survival in the most primal way possible.
"James." My voice came out breathier than I intended.
"I know." His thumb traced my lower lip, and I shivered. "I feel it too. The pull. It's been there since we met, but now it's..."
"Louder."
"Yeah." He swallowed hard. "I don't want to push. After everything that happened, if you need space—"
"I don't want space."
His eyes darkened. "What do you want?"
"You." The word escaped before I could second-guess it. "I want you, James. Not because the bond is pushing us, not because we almost died—because I choose you. Because you followed me into the wilderness and turned into a wolf to protect me and you're still here, still looking at me like I'm something worth fighting for."
"You are." He leaned closer, and I could feel the heat radiating off him, his new shifter metabolism running hot. "You're worth everything."
"Then show me."
Something shifted in his expression. The careful restraint he'd been maintaining cracked, and then his mouth was on mine.
The kiss started gentle—a question, a confirmation—but it didn't stay that way. The partial bond sang between us, amplifying every sensation, and I opened for him without hesitation. His tongue swept against mine, and I made a sound I'd never heard myself make before.
