I think about how when I detonated, the potential of our mate bond deepened.
I think about how he has never silenced me, only stayed by my side, no matter the anger I express.
I think about how when I punch him, he punches back.
But: it’s not all anger between us, either.
Certainlynot today.
There’s laughter, and ice cream.
There’s flying, and holding.
Maybe wrath isn’t going to destroy what we have; it’s what brings us together.
It’s what makes it possible for us to hold this space for each other.
Without my wrath, I’d never have freed myself from the Order. I’d never have saved Zan, and he’d never have been able to save me.
Walls aren’t just a way of keeping people out; they’re a way of protecting what’s inside.
Boundaries can be opportunities for growth, on all sides of them.
Wrath can make space for joy.
My magic flushes through me at that thought, my kata settling into my skin in a deeper way. Clarity.
And it’s only then that I become aware of another feeling; so deep a part of me that I never registered it, because—a wonder—it means safety.
Zan is leaning against the door, watching me.
He hasn’t dried himself off; his hair is dripping wet, and he’s as unbelievably attractive as he was when he dropped us in the lake.
Somehow more, even, now that he’s not trying to hide that look in his eyes.
Is thatwhy?
Dammit, I should have bathed with him.
Surely that would have been movement too.
...Perhaps not meditative in quite the same way, though.
Then again... maybe I should test that assumption.
Without ever stopping moving, becauseZanof all people will never stop me, I crook one hand toward him.
In an instant, he darts in.
My magic reacts to him without thought, spilling out of me to curl around him.
I reach for him, but with a playful smirk, he doesn’t let more than my magic touch him.
But his magic also touchesme.
It’s a different kind of dance, this one; we match each other movement for movement, a chase we both want to end the same way.
And ultimately it does, our magical auras of azure and magenta so entwined that they close us together, and we kiss as though it’s been a lifetime.
