This morning’s attempted escape had been particularly dramatic. She’d returned from the shower to find his bed empty and the sound of his voice echoing from the hallway. The sight of him leaning heavily against the wall had sent her storming after him like an avenging angel.
“Damon Veyr, get your stubborn behind back in that bed right now!”
The clan member had fled. Damon had the audacity to look sheepish as she’d marched him back to his bed, muttering under her breath about impossible men.
But somewhere between his protests and her increasingly creative methods of keeping him bedridden, somethingprofound had shifted in her. The mate bond that had started as an electric pull had deepened into something that made her soul sing every time she looked at him. When he’d wake from fevered dreams calling her name, when he’d catch her hand and press it to his lips in gratitude, when his green eyes would soften with an emotion so raw it made her breath catch—those moments had carved themselves into her heart with permanent ink.
This wasn’t just destiny anymore. This was choice. Her choice.
She loved his fierce protectiveness, the way he’d rather bleed out than admit weakness. She loved how he listened when she spoke, really listened, like her words carried weight in his dangerous world. She loved the glimpses of vulnerability he showed only her, the way his control cracked just enough to let her see the man beneath the Alpha.
Harper would call her insane. Hell, a week ago she would have called herself insane. But sitting here tonight, watching Damon prop himself against the headboard with that familiar scowl as he read the book she’d recommended, Isla knew with bone-deep certainty that this was her person. Not because some cosmic force decreed it, but because every fiber of her being recognized him as home.
The moonlight streaming through the windows caught the sharp angles of his face, highlighting the stubborn set of his jaw as he turned a page with more force than necessary. Even injured and confined to bed, he radiated that commanding presence that made her pulse quicken.
Today,she decided, her heart hammering.Today I tell him I want forever.
“I need to tell you something,” she said, moving toward the bed with purposeful steps.
His green eyes lifted from the pages, immediately alert. “Please tell me you’re finally letting me out of this bed.”
The hope in his deep voice made her smile despite the nerves dancing in her stomach. “Well, yes and no.”
His brow furrowed, that familiar expression of controlled confusion that she’d grown to adore. “What does that mean?”
Isla perched on the edge of the bed, close enough to feel the warmth radiating from his skin. The mate bond hummed, growing stronger with proximity, but she needed him to understand this wasn’t just supernatural compulsion talking.
“Yes, you can get out of this bed,” she said, her voice steady despite the magnitude of what she was about to say. “But not until you complete the mate bond with me.”
The book slipped from his fingers, hitting the coverlet with a soft thud. His eyes went wide, pupils dilating as her words sank in. The careful control he wore like armor cracked, revealing something raw and desperate beneath.
“What did you just say?”
The question came out rough, like he couldn’t quite believe what he’d heard. Isla reached for his hands, threading their fingers together, anchoring herself in his touch.
“Damon, I choose you.” The words came easier than she’d expected, flowing from her heart with perfect clarity. “I want to complete the mate bond. I want forever with you.”
For a moment, he looked like a man who’d been struck by lightning—stunned, overwhelmed, barely containing the force of his reaction. His grip on her hands tightened, his green eyes blazing with an intensity that made her breath hitch.
“Isla.” Her name on his lips sounded like a prayer, like disbelief and hope wrapped together. “Are you sure? This will change you, change everything. We’ll be bound together forever. There’s no going back from this.”
The Alpha in him demanded honesty, and required her to understand exactly what she was choosing. But beneath that, shecould feel his desperate hope through their bond, the way his dragon was practically roaring with triumph.
“Yes, I’m sure.” She leaned closer, close enough to see the flecks of gold in his green eyes. “I’m ready to face anything with you. This dangerous world, your healing, whatever comes next—I want all of it. I want you, Damon. Not because fate says I should, but because you’re everything I never knew I was looking for.”
Something in his expression shifted, his control finally shattering completely. His hands reached up to frame her face, his thumbs brushing over her cheekbones with reverent touches.
“You magnificent, impossible woman,” he murmured, his voice thick with emotion. “Do you have any idea what you’re saying? What you’re offering me?”
“I’m offering you everything,” she whispered.
The kiss that followed was nothing like their previous encounters. This was a claiming, fierce and desperate and full of promises that would bind them for eternity. His mouth moved against hers with the hunger of a man who’d been starving, and Isla melted into him completely.
Isla soon broke the kiss with a desperate gasp and stood up, her hands flying to the thin straps of her sundress. This wasn’t a seductive striptease. She needed her skin against his. The cotton dress pooled at her feet, followed by the whisper of her lace panties.
She could feel the shockwave of his need through the bond, a visceral punch of heat and hunger and an awe so profound it stole her breath. This was more than attraction. It was recognition. Destiny had brought them to this precipice, but their choices would launch them over the edge. She knew, with crystalline clarity, that once they stepped over, the bond would become an unbreakable tether, amplifying every sensation andevery emotion. The thought sent a thrill through her. She wanted that intensity. She wanted every part of him.
“Let me see you,” she whispered, her voice husky with need.
