Heat shot straight to his groin, primal and demanding.
Her hands rose to his chest, her fingertips tracing the scars that mapped his history. Each touch sent electricity through his nervous system, and he had to clench his jaw to maintain control.
“Korrak…” Her voice was low but steady, cutting through the sound of falling water. “I know you’re… my mate. I know now that what we have is real. I know now that your love is unconditional. And all you want is to protect me and make me happy. Make me feel safe and sturdy for once.”
The words landed like thunderclaps in his chest. His polar bear roared triumph, the sound echoing through his bones even as he kept his expression controlled. The mate bond tightened between them, visceral and undeniable.
“I guess what I’m saying is that I want you,” she continued, her fingers still mapping his chest. “I want this—this mate bond thing—if it means I can keep you in my life. I know I still have healing to do, but I know you’ll stand by my side while I do it.”
Something fundamental shifted inside him—his world realigning after years of careful isolation and order. This wasn’t submission or surrender on her part. This was choice. Conscious, deliberate choice.
“Always,” he said, his voice rough with emotion he no longer bothered to hide. “I will stand beside you no matter what comes. The mate bond doesn’t mean erasure, Winslet. It means strength. Steadiness. Partnership.”
He stepped closer, his hands finding her shoulders, guiding her to lean into his warmth. She came willingly, and the simple trust in that movement nearly undid him completely.
They began washing each other with careful precision—her hands soaping his shoulders while his worked shampoo throughher hair. Every touch was electric, methodical, yet intimate. Steam swirled around them, creating a private universe where only they existed.
Their breathing synchronized without conscious effort, and with each movement, Korrak felt his polar bear’s claim pressing against his control. She was choosing this. Choosing him. The knowledge sang through his blood like victory.
Their lips eventually met, urgency replaced careful exploration. Winslet’s fingers threaded through his wet hair, her body pressing against his with a hunger that matched his own. The kiss deepened, and Korrak knew with absolute certainty that tonight would redefine his existence.
When they finally pulled apart, gasping, his mind spun with implications—she was ready, willing, and trusting. His polar bear screamed for permanence, for the marking that would bind them irrevocably.
“Winslet,” he said, cupping her face in his hands. “I need to ask you something, and I need you to be completely certain of your answer.”
Her eyes met his, bright with anticipation and something that looked suspiciously like unshed tears of joy.
“Are you ready to accept my mate mark? Ready to accept forever with me?” The words came out unexpectedly thick with emotion. “We haven’t known each other long, but?—“
“It feels like lifetimes,” she finished, her smile radiant despite the emotion threatening to spill over. “Being with you feels like coming home, Korrak. Like everything before was just… preparation.”
His chest tightened with an emotion too large for words. In this moment, he knew with crystalline clarity that nothing—not Bracken, not the clan’s doubts, not the harsh Arctic itself—would ever threaten her again. Not while he drew breath.
“I’m ready for forever,” she whispered, her hands framing his face. “As long as it’s with you.”
The simple words shattered the last of his restraint. His polar bear pushed forward, no longer contained, and Korrak knew there would be no going back from this moment.
SEVENTEEN
WINSLET
Steam curled around them in the shower, warm and thick as the promise hanging in the air between them. Winslet stood under the spray, the water sluicing over her skin, but she barely felt it. Her entire world had narrowed to the ice-blue eyes locked on hers and the thunderous rhythm of her own heart. She was on the cliff’s edge, looking down into forever, and for the first time in her life, she wasn’t scared of the fall.
This was it. The mate mark. The soon-to-be completed mate bond. No take-backs, no retreats. A permanent tether to this powerful, complicated man and his wild, unforgiving world.
A laugh bubbled up in her chest, born of pure, unguarded joy. Six months ago, she’d been planning floral arrangements for a wedding that would have been a prison sentence. Now, she was choosing a bond that looked like captivity to anyone who didn’t understand. But shedidunderstand now. Korrak’s love wasn’t a cage—it was the foundation from which she could finally stand tall. With him, she wasn’t diminished. She wasmore.
Her gaze traced the hard lines of his face. The sharp cut of his jaw, the focused intensity in his eyes, and the quiet, predatory stillness in him even now. Everything about him was a study in controlled power. His polar bear was there, just beneath thesurface, a primal force that should have terrified her. Instead, it called to something just as fierce she was only now discovering within herself.
He wasn’t subtracting pieces of her and locking her away, like Bracken had. He was asking her to be whole and stand by his side as his equal.
The weight of her choice pressed on her chest, sweet and heavy. She could still step back. She could play it safe, keep her life small, manageable, and defined by fear. She could spend the rest of her days surviving but never truly living.
Or,she thought, her pulse kicking into a gallop,I can leap.
The decision crystallized, sharp and clean. She didn’t just want him. She wanted the storm and the silence, the challenge and the peace. She wanted all of it, with him.
Without breaking eye contact, she let her knees bend, sinking slowly to the wet tile floor of the shower. The movement was one of offering, of devotion, but also of claiming. This was her power, too.
