Her breath caught and I regretted the words the second they left my mouth—but she didn’t pull back. She didn’t look startled or afraid the way I would expect. In fact, her eyes were warm and welcoming.
“Okay,” she whispered.
We stepped into the hall and were immediately bombarded.
“Oh my Goddess Mother, they’re cuddling!” Becca screeched. “Rok, look!”
“If you drop her, I’ll hex your spine,” Zara hissed.
Then Tasia murmured, “If he drops her, I’ll kill him first.”
Rudgar sighed. “Everyone quiet. They’re tired.”
Tabitha huffed out a breath. “It’s about time if you ask me.”
“We should have the mating ceremony in the gathering hall,” Dristan said. “So there won’t be too many unwanted visitors. Keep it small.”
“Please name your firstborn after me,” Penelope called from where she was carrying her youngling.
Hanna covered her face. “Please tell me I’m hallucinating.”
“You’re not,” I muttered.
Ribbon croaked loudly and hopped in circles around us like an overexcited puppy in a toad’s body.Zara pointed at him.
“See? Even Ribbon knows,” she insisted.
I carried Hanna to the dining hall even though she murmured that she could walk on her own. I ignored her.
“I’mfine,” she insisted.I ignored her harder.
By the time we reached the long table, Pen had already set out breakfast and ordered everyone to behave. They didnot, in fact, behave. The entire clan and coven stared as I set Hanna gently into a chair.
And as she looked back at me like I’d hung the moon, it made my hands shake. I turned to get her tea—and she reached out, catching my fingers.
“Savla?” she whispered.
I looked down at her where her eyes were soft, still tired, still bruised, but warm with something that made my ribs ache.
“Sit with me?”
Gods.
I sat right beside her, close enough that our legs brushed. Close enough to feel the bond humming like a quiet song. I looked up to see that all the other members of our clan were doing the same with their mates.Sitting next to them with relaxed postures and fulfilled, contented expressions.
So this is what mating is.
Hanna exhaled shakily and rested her head on my shoulder. All of the chatter and conversation that had been happening around us stopped entirely.Enka dropped his fork, the clatter noisy in the silence around us, Tabitha grinned like she’d orchestrated the entire thing, and Dristan muttered something about ‘finally’ while rolling his eyes.
Krusk murmured, “If anyone speaks, I’ll break your jaw.”
But I couldn’t take my eyes off Hanna.
“Hanna,” I said quietly, heart pounding. “About last night—”
Her fingers slid into mine under the table.
“Do you regret it?” she whispered.
