Page 89 of Chaos Carnival

“Next time, it'll be even more fun,” she cut me off, gentle but immovable. “I'm not fragile anymore. You don't need to shelter me.”

“You're my mate,” I growled, leaning into the possessive surge.

She didn't flinch. Instead, she stepped closer. “Yes. And I'm strong enough to protect what's mine too.”

It hit me like a sucker punch. She wasn't just claiming her own might—she was claiming me, claiming all of us, with the same fierce protectiveness I'd always felt toward her.

“The hunters,” Stone spoke up, his voice measured. “They're dead?”

“Just one of them.” Tess's smile held darkness I'd never seen before. “The rest will spread their fear through Hell itself.”

Something dark and demanding unfurled inside me. My mate wasn't just powerful, she was delicious. Terrible and magnificent and mine. Even if I couldn't cage her anymore, I could get used to this.

Later, as we headed backstage, my shadows sensed a shift in her. Reality bent around her steps as she materialized in my path.

“We've got a few minutes.” The way she said it made me wonder if she meant minutes or eternities. “Remember how you used to just teleport us wherever you wanted?”

I laughed, the sound an odd echo. “I don't recall you complaining.”

“Well,” she pressed closer, “I think maybe it's my turn.”

The big top's atmosphere pressed around us, heavy with anticipation. My pupils dilated as magic rolled off her, and I finally understood what she intended.

“Trust me?” she asked, though the knowing gleam in her eyes suggested she'd already seen my answer.

“Always.”

She rose up, pressing her lips to mine in a kiss that felt like smoke and starlight. The circus blurred as the world bent to her will, pulling us sideways through dimensions until nothing existed but us and possibility.

An observation deck formed around us, glass and steel condensing out of void. Chicago seemed to spread like a glittering carpet, millions of miles beneath us.

The platform beneath us shimmered like liquid glass as Tess's power rippled through the air. I'd seen countless wonders in my centuries of existence, but nothing compared to the woman before me.

Chapter 41: Tempestuous Anchors

Maverick

Iwatchedherfaceas she surveyed her creation—this impossible space suspended between worlds. Pride swelled in my chest, mingled with a fear I wasn't ready to admit. The Tess from months ago had been extraordinary in her own right—fierce, determined, brilliant. But this Tess? She was something else entirely.

“Beautiful, isn't it?” she whispered, her voice carrying undertones that hadn't been there before. Echoes of something ancient and vast.

“You're beautiful,” I replied, meaning it more than ever.

Her smile held secrets now—universes of knowledge that hadn't been there before. The mate bond between us pulsedwith new energy, no longer a simple connection but something complex and multilayered.

I traced the curve of her jaw with my fingertips, both relieved and unnerved by how familiar she still felt despite everything that had changed. Beneath my touch, her skin hummed with power that made my senses tingle.

“Does it bother you?” she asked, those knowing eyes seeing straight through me.

I hesitated, wrestling with my own pride. I'd always been the protector, the shield between her and danger. Now she wielded forces I barely comprehended.

“Not bothered,” I said carefully. “Adjusting.”

Her laugh rippled through the air, sending waves of light dancing across the glass beneath our feet. “That's diplomatic of you.”

“I'm known for my diplomacy.”

“You're known for being a possessive ass,” she countered, but there was no heat in her words.

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