Page 27 of Claws for Celebration
She considered her words with the same precision she brought to academic analysis. "I understand why you didn't tell me immediately. If someone had started our first conversation with 'Hello, I'm a shape-shifting panther and you're a witch,' I probably would have left town that same day."
"Probably?"
"Definitely." Her smile was soft and tinged with something that might have been affection. "But now that I know, I'm glad you trusted me enough to show me."
As they stood in the moonlit garden, surrounded by the protective wards that had witnessed his transformation and her acceptance, Lucien found himself hoping that her openness would extend to the other truths that would inevitably come to light.
Because hiding his shifter nature had been simple compared to the challenges that lay ahead. Soon, very soon, she would need to understand not just what they were individually, but what they could become together.
16
MOIRA
The transformation had been breathtaking in its fluid grace, human form melting into something wild and magnificent that should have terrified her but instead felt like recognition. Watching Lucien shift from man to panther and back again obliterated the last fragile barriers her rational mind had constructed around the impossible.
Magic was real. Shape-shifters existed. And she was apparently both a witch and completely, helplessly attracted to a man who could become a two-hundred-pound predator at will.
"That was extraordinary," she breathed, her hands still tingling from the memory of touching his midnight-black fur. The panther's warmth had felt like touching liquid starlight, powerful and otherworldly yet somehow familiar. "You were beautiful. Both forms, but especially..."
"Especially what?" Lucien asked, pulling his shirt over his head with movements that seemed more fluid now that she understood what lay beneath his human facade.
"Especially as yourself. Your true self." Moira stood from the bench, drawn toward him by forces she couldn't name but no longer wanted to resist. "When you were the panther, I couldsee you in those green eyes. All of you. Not hiding, not carefully managing what you revealed. Just... you."
Something shifted in his expression, vulnerability replacing the careful control he'd maintained throughout their conversation. "And that doesn't frighten you?"
"It should," she admitted, taking another step closer until she could see the silver flecks in his eyes that the moonlight revealed. "Logic says I should be terrified of falling for someone whose other form could kill me without breaking a sweat."
"I would never hurt you."
"I know." The certainty in her voice surprised them both. "That's what should scare me most, how completely I trust you despite everything I've learned tonight. Despite barely knowing you for two weeks."
"Sometimes two weeks can feel like a lifetime," Lucien said softly, his hand coming up to cup her cheek with the same gentle reverence he'd shown her throughout their impossible evening. "Sometimes people recognize each other from the very first meeting."
His thumb traced across her cheekbone, and Moira felt a tingling sensation between them; the gravitational pull that had been building since their first conversation among ancient books and afternoon tea.
"Is that what happened to us?" she asked. "Recognition?"
"I think so. Though I'm still not entirely sure what we recognized."
Moira thought about the way her magical abilities had responded to his presence from the beginning, how the protective spells she'd unconsciously woven had always included him in their sphere of influence. How being near him felt like coming home to a place she'd never been but had always been searching for.
"Maybe we recognized possibility," she said, reaching up to cover his hand with hers. "The chance to be ourselves completely, without hiding or pretending or carefully managing what we reveal."
"Is that what you want? To stop hiding?"
"With you? Yes." The admission felt like stepping off a cliff, exhilarating and terrifying in equal measure. "I've spent my entire adult life being careful, being professional, being the responsible academic who never takes risks or makes impulsive decisions. And look where it's gotten me."
"Where has it gotten you?"
"Alone," she said simply. "Successful but alone. Respected but never really known. I've been so busy protecting myself from making mistakes that I forgot to actually live."
Lucien's other hand came up to her face, his touch warm and steady in the cool mountain air. "And now?"
"Now I'm standing in a magical garden with a shape-shifting panther who makes me feel more alive than I've ever felt in my life." Moira laughed softly at the absurdity of the statement. "If this is a mistake, at least it's an interesting one."
"Moira," he said, her name carrying weight that spoke of unspoken promises and possibilities she was only beginning to understand. "You should know that what I'm feeling for you goes far beyond simple attraction."
"How far beyond?"
