Page 26 of Claws for Celebration
"Oh my God," she whispered, her voice filled with wonder rather than fear. "You're beautiful."
The panther preened at the praise, powerful muscles rippling beneath midnight-black fur as he approached her with careful deliberation. He was large even for his species, built for strength and stealth in equal measure, but he moved with exaggerated gentleness to avoid triggering any latent prey responses.
"You're huge," Moira continued, her scholarly fascination overriding any instinctive caution. "How much do you weigh in this form?"
The practical question made his human consciousness laugh, though the sound emerged as a soft chuff from the panther's throat. Even faced with impossible transformation, she wanted data and measurements.
"Can you understand me when you're like this?"
He nodded once, the human gesture looking strange on the big cat's elegant head.
"And you're still you? Still Lucien, just in a different shape?"
Another nod, though that was a simplification of the complex relationship between his human and panther aspects. Both sides of his nature were equally real, equally fundamental to who he was.
Moira leaned forward slightly, studying him with the intense focus she usually reserved for ancient manuscripts. "May I touch you?"
The question sent electricity racing through both sides of his nature. His panther wanted her hands on his fur, wanted to feel her acceptance of what they were. His human consciousness craved the intimacy of being touched and acknowledged in his true form.
He approached the bench slowly, placing himself within easy reach while giving her space to change her mind if his proximity became overwhelming. The scent of her growing excitement mixed with lingering nervousness made his enhanced senses tingle with awareness.
"Incredible," she breathed, extending one trembling hand toward his massive head.
The moment her fingers made contact with his fur, everything changed.
The mate bond that had been building between them since her arrival in Hollow Oak suddenly snapped into sharp focus, no longer a subtle pull but a blazing certainty that connected their souls with chains of magic and destiny. His panther roared silently with recognition and triumph, finally touching the other half of their existence.
She was his mate. Not just attraction, not just potential compatibility, but the cosmic completion that shifters spent lifetimes searching for. Fate and magic had conspired to bring her to Hollow Oak, to awaken her dormant abilities in the one place where their connection could flourish.
Moira gasped, her hand stilling against his fur as her magical senses apparently picked up some echo of the profound connection that had just solidified between them. "What was that?"
He couldn't answer in this form, couldn't explain the significance of what had just occurred. Instead, he leaned into her touch, rumbling with the deep contentment that came from finally being fully accepted by the person who mattered most.
"You're purring," she said with wonder, her other hand joining the first as she stroked the thick fur along his neck and shoulders. "I can feel your heartbeat. Feel how warm you are."
The intimacy of her touch, the way she explored his transformed body with gentle reverence rather than fear, madehis human consciousness ache with emotions too complex to process. Love, gratitude, fierce protectiveness, and beneath that, the desperate need to shift back to human form and pull her into his arms.
"I should let you change back," Moira said softly, as if sensing his internal struggle. "You probably can't stay like this indefinitely."
He stepped back reluctantly, already missing the warmth of her hands in his fur. The transformation back to human form was more difficult this time, his panther reluctant to give up the closeness they'd just achieved.
But eventually he stood on two legs again, naked in the moonlight and more vulnerable than he'd ever been with another person. The cool air raised goose bumps across his skin, but it was the intensity of Moira's gaze that made him feel truly exposed.
"That was," she began, then seemed to lose her words entirely.
"Overwhelming?" he suggested, reaching for his clothes while trying to maintain some semblance of dignity despite his state of undress.
"Incredible," she finished. "Absolutely incredible."
As Lucien pulled on his shirt with movements made clumsy by the emotional aftermath of revealing his true nature, he fought the urge to confess everything. To tell her about the mate bond that now burned between them like a beacon, about the Council's expectations and the growing supernatural threats that her awakening was attracting.
But looking at her face, seeing the wonder and acceptance that had replaced fear, he realized she was already processing more than most people could handle in a lifetime. Adding the weight of destined partnerships and supernatural politics would be too much, too soon.
"Moira," he said carefully, "how are you feeling about all of this? The magic, the shape-shifting, learning that nothing is what it seemed?"
"Terrified," she admitted with characteristic honesty. "But also relieved. Like I've finally found the missing piece that explains why I never felt like I belonged anywhere else."
"And us? How do you feel about the fact that I've been hiding what I am since the day you arrived?"
