"He'll never be in a fight until he’s sure he can win." His mouth tightens into a hard line. "Which is why we need to draw him out. Create a situation where he has to join the fight personally or lose everything he's built."
"How?"
"I don't know yet. But we're running out of time to figure it out."
Finn stays with his grief while I head back to the cottage. The sun's higher now, burning off the morning mist. Inside, Kian's starting to stir, low growls rumbling through his chest as consciousness returns.
Kneeling beside him, I touch his face gently. His eyes snap open, immediately alert despite the injury. The gold flickers across his gaze as his tiger surfaces before settling back.
"Cat." His voice is rough from disuse. "How long?"
"Hours. You're healing fast." Supporting his weight, I help him sit up, "The syndicate's gone. The girl surrendered. We have intelligence now."
"Good." He leans into me, still weak but getting stronger with every breath. "What's the plan?"
How do we fight an enemy who's had centuries to perfect his craft while we're still learning the rules of engagement?
The decision makes itself.
"The plan is I accept your claiming bite." The words come steady and certain with no hesitation. "I become a shifter. Because fighting this level of evil requires becoming more thanhuman, and I'm done pretending I can do this with just a badge and a gun."
Kian goes very still. "Cat?—"
"I'm not asking permission. I'm telling you what I want." Holding his stare, I let him see the certainty in my eyes. "You stopped the claiming because you thought you were deciding for me. But I'm making my own choice now. I want this. I want you. I want the strength to fight beside you instead of being the weak link you have to protect."
"You're not weak."
"I'm human. Which makes me vulnerable. Unacceptably vulnerable." The bite mark on my shoulder still heals from where he stopped himself. My fingers find it. "Finish what you started. Make me yours. Transform me into something that can survive what's coming."
He cups my face, thumb brushing my cheekbone. "When?"
His tiger surfaces, fierce and hungry and possessive. The transformation burns through his gaze as want and possession and hunger take over.
"Now. Before Zharkov comes back. Before the next attack. Before I lose my nerve or you decide to be noble again." Close enough that our lips almost touch, I make my demand clear. "Claim me, Kian. Transform me into a shifter who can stand beside you when the real war starts."
The kiss is inevitable. His mouth crashes against mine, hot and demanding and thorough, claiming me with lips and tongue before teeth ever break skin. Kissing him back just as fiercely, I pour certainty and want and determination into the connection.
When we finally break apart, we're both breathing hard.
"Tonight. After sunset." His voice drops to pure gravel. "The transition is painful, Cat. Your body breaks and rebuilds itself. I'll be there, but I can't stop the pain once it starts."
"I don't want you to stop it." The second kiss comes softer. "I want you to finish it. All of it."
"Then tonight, you're mine." He pulls me against his chest, careful of the healing wound. "No going back."
"Promise?"
His growl vibrates through both our chests. "Promise."
Outside, boots crunch across broken glass. The brotherhood regroups, planning the next move against an enemy who's had centuries to perfect his craft… let them plan.
Kian's chest rises and falls beneath my cheek, the wound already healing. Shifter healing will be mine soon too, along with the strength and the speed and the centuries stretching ahead instead of decades. The transition terrifies me with the pain he described and the permanence of it all.
But staying human terrifies me more. "Tonight," I say against his skin. Not a question. A promise.
His arms tighten around me, and the growl that rumbles through his chest says everything he doesn't need to put into words.
The brotherhood can wait. Zharkov can wait. The war brewing on the horizon can wait.
