"I'm fine." She turned to face him. "Corin, what's going on? You're scaring me."
He closed the door and stood there for a moment, his hand still on the knob. Then he let out a breath and crossed to the couch, sinking onto the edge like his legs wouldn't hold him anymore.
"Sit down. Please."
There it was again. Please.
She sat in the chair across from him, her hands folded in her lap. The fire popped and crackled in the silence.
"I need to tell you something," he said. "Something I should have told you awhile ago. But I didn't know how, and I was afraid of what you'd think, and I kept telling myself the timing wasn't right."
"Okay."
"When I caught you that day. On the ice. When my hand touched your wrist." He paused, his jaw working. "Something happened. To me."
Chloe's pulse kicked up. She remembered that moment. The heat that had shot through her, electric and warm. The wayhe'd looked at her afterward, like she'd changed something fundamental between them.
"I felt it too," she said quietly. "I didn't know what it was."
His eyes snapped to hers. "You felt it?"
"Like electricity. Like touching a live wire." She hesitated. "I thought I'd imagined it."
"You didn't." He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, his gaze holding hers with an intensity that made blood rush to her face. "What you felt was the beginning of a mate bond."
The words hung in the air. Chloe heard them, processed them, but they didn't quite make sense.
"A mate bond."
"Bear shifters recognize their mates through touch. Scent. Something in our blood knows when we've found the person we're meant to be with." He spoke carefully, like he was choosing each word with precision. "When I touched your skin that day, my bear recognized you. Immediately. Absolutely. There was no question."
Chloe's mouth had gone dry. "You're saying I'm your mate."
"I'm saying my bear thinks you are. That I think you are." He ran a hand through his still-damp hair, and she saw that it was trembling slightly. "But mate bonds aren't ownership, Chloe. They're not claims. You have a choice. You always had a choice."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you were already dealing with so much. The accusations, the land sickness, people blaming you for things you didn't do. The last thing you needed was some bear shifter announcing that you belonged to him."
"But you didn't announce that." Her voice was steadier than she felt. "You just... showed up. Defended me. Walked me home. Nothing but respect."
"You do matter. More than I know how to say."
"Because of the bond?"
"Because of you." His voice dropped, roughening at the edges. "The bond made me notice. But everything after that was just... you. And honestly, even before. The way you talk to plants. The way you fight for your place here even when people make it hard. The way you looked at me in Freya's garden that first day."
Chloe's chest ached. She wanted to reach for him. Wanted to close the distance between them and find out if that electric warmth was still there.
But she also needed to think. To understand what this meant before she let herself fall any further.
"What does this mean for me? If I'm your mate?"
"Nothing you don't want it to mean." He sat back, giving her space even though she could see how much it cost him. "The bond exists whether you accept it or not. My bear will always see you as mine. But that doesn't obligate you to anything. You can walk out that door right now and never speak to me again, and I'll respect that."
"Would you, though? Respect it?"
"It would kill me." The honesty in his voice was brutal. "But yes. I'd respect it."
