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Kai grinned. “Yes, it’s about time this happened.”

“What he means to say is congratulations,” Mera said as she gave Kai a withering glance. He shrugged.

Riley sighed dreamily. “I can’t wait until I find my pair.”

Rolling his eyes, Seth said, “No one is going to put up with you long enough to complete a bon—ow!” He rubbed his arm where Riley punched him.

“I will kill you and help them look for your body.”

“You wouldn’t…” Seth glared at her.

Riley shrugged. “Try me. Do you honestly think they’d suspect me? I’ll even lead the search team.”

“Considering you’re admitting your intentions of killing me in front of everyone? Yeah.”

Riley rolled her eyes.

Everyone laughed and made plans for the rest of the weekend before Mera spoke up, causing the mood to shift.

“Have you decided if you’ll allow Lukas to turn you, since you’ve accepted the bond?”

Lukas tensed and ran a hand through his hair. He wasn’t wanting to deal with this yet, not with how good things were going. Couldn’t he have one day of peace and happiness with Blaire before everything fell apart? He looked over at her warily.

Blaire shook her head, but Lukas didn’t sense the usual knee-jerk angst at the question. “No, I’m not ready for that, and honestly, I don’t know if I’ll ever be, but I’m not going to run from the Order, or Lukas. I’m not going anywhere. I tried that already, and I realized before I even made it anywhere, it would be the biggest mistake of my life if I did. The idea almost cost me everything that mattered to me.” She looked up into Lukas’s eyes and he leaned down, kissing her lips softly.

“Aw, it’s so sweet!” Riley squealed.

Seth covered his face with his hand and shook his head, annoyed with her outbursts.

Kai raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean, Blaire?”

“I was going to leave Blackthorn, but I decided that wasn’t the path I wanted to take anymore.”

Lukas gripped her shoulder. Being able to touch her soothed so much of his insecurities; feeling her body made everything better.

Riley gasped. “No! You can’t leave!”

“I know,” Blaire said, nodding. “I acted impulsively on fear and didn’t think things through. Things just overwhelmed me, and I ran away, but I would never be happy with that decision, especially with how I feel for Lukas.”

Seth shook his head. “So, you actually do like him?”

Blaire looked down and murmured, “I’ve known for a while I was in love with Lukas, but I tried to convince myself it was for the best to let him go.”

Lukas reached out and pulled her close, burying his head into the side of her neck, kissing over the mark there.

Aiden rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m glad you both got your heads out of the sand and shared your feelings with each other, because it was honestly getting difficult to watch.”

Riley laughed. “Yeah, you can say that again.”

Aiden sighed. “And we will protect her from the Order, no matter what, so that’s a moot point.”

Seeing his friends expressing their desire to be there for his pair warmed Lukas inside. Having friends dedicated to protecting the one person made for him in this world was everything. He spent so long keeping his distance from others, and now he had a support system he wouldn’t trade for the world.

“Hopefully, now that they have completed their bond, the Order will see no reason to continue to experiment on Blaire,” Kai said, sitting back in his seat and crossing his arms.

Lukas sure hoped so. Without her willingness to become like him, she was at high risk. He wanted to convince her, but at the same time, he wanted to respect her wishes. It was difficult. He loved her so much, and the idea she was so fragile was hard to swallow.

Mera shook her head. “It’s doubtful, because if Professor Velastra is correct, the whole reason for their behavior is because they want to see why a human can be a Korrena, not because they wanted to force the pairing.”