Page 54 of Claws for Celebration
"It was. The bookstore helped, gave me a purpose beyond just being the Council's weapon, but it was still a carefully constructed facade. Friendly shopkeeper by day, shadow enforcer by night, never allowing anyone to see both sides of who I am." Lucien's thumb traced across her knuckles, drawing comfort from the simple contact. "Until you."
"Me?"
"You're the first person who's ever seen both versions of me and accepted them as parts of the same whole. When you touched my panther form that first night, when you weren't afraid but fascinated, I realized you weren't just seeing what I allowed you to see. You were seeing me, completely, and choosing to stay anyway."
"Of course I was choosing to stay," Moira replied, though her voice carried surprise that he'd ever doubted it. "Lucien, watching you transform was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever witnessed. Why would that make me want to leave?"
"Because most people can't handle the predator that lives beneath my human facade. The territorial instincts, the protective aggression, the fact that my panther sees you as mine in ways that go deeper than rational thought. Even to other supernatural beings, it’s a lot. Panther shifters are more…. Intense than others." He met her gaze directly, knowing this was the moment of complete honesty that would determine their future. "When I walked away from you, it wasn't because I didn't love you enough to stay. It was because I loved you too much to risk being the reason you were destroyed."
"And now?"
"Now I understand that loving someone doesn't mean making decisions for them, even when those decisions feel like the only way to keep them safe." Lucien brought her hand to his lips for a gentle kiss. "It means trusting them to be strong enough to face whatever comes, and being brave enough to stand beside them through it all."
Moira processed his confession slowly. But when she spoke, her words carried the weight of someone who'd made a fundamental decision about her future.
"I've been lonely too," she admitted. "Different reasons, but the same result. Academic success, professional respect, all of it built on carefully maintained distance from anyone who might see through the competent facade to the woman underneath who never felt like she quite belonged anywhere."
"And now?"
"Now I'm sitting in a garden with a shifter who owns a bookstore and hunts supernatural threats in his spare time, discussing whether to bind our souls together to prevent magical apocalypse." She laughed with wonder. "Three weeks ago, that sentence would have gotten me committed. Now it feels like the most natural conversation in the world."
"Because you've found where you belong," Lucien said with certainty that came from his panther's absolute recognition of their mate.
"I've found who I belong with," she corrected, the distinction carrying weight that made his breath catch. "Lucien, I'm still terrified of the mate bond. Not the magical aspects, but the emotional vulnerability it represents. Trusting someone that completely after being hurt feels like jumping off a cliff and hoping you'll catch me."
"I will catch you," he promised, meaning it with every fiber of his being. "Moira, if you choose this, if you choose us, I will spend the rest of our lives proving that your trust wasn't misplaced."
"And if I don't choose it? If the fear is too much and I decide the risks outweigh the benefits?"
The question was like a knife to the chest, but he forced himself to answer honestly. "Then I'll respect your decision and find another way to help you control your magic. The mate bond might be the most effective solution, but it's not the only option. I won't pressure you into permanent connection just because it would make my life easier."
"Even if it means the grimoire eventually wins?"
"Even then. Moira, your happiness and autonomy matter more to me than preventing apocalypse. If you're not completely certain that this is what you want, then we find another path forward."
His genuine sincerity seemed to reach something deep inside her, because her shoulders relaxed finally. "You really mean that."
"I really mean that."
"Then I need you to know something too," she said, turning to face him fully on the bench. "When you left, when you walkedaway because you thought it was protecting me, it didn't feel like love. It felt like being judged inadequate and found wanting."
He saw his mistake with devastating clarity. "I made you feel like I didn't trust you to handle the truth."
"Exactly. Like I was too fragile or too foolish to make informed decisions about my own life." Moira's voice carried pain that had been building for days. "If we do this, if we complete the mate bond, I need to know that you see me as an equal partner, not someone who needs to be managed for her own good."
"You're the strongest person I've ever known," Lucien said firmly. "What happened wasn't about your strength or your judgment. It was about my fear making me stupid."
"Promise me," she said, her brown eyes holding his with intensity that demanded complete honesty. "Promise me that if we do this, you'll talk to me before making any major decisions that affect both our lives. Promise me that you'll trust me to be brave enough to handle whatever truth we're facing together."
"I promise," he replied without hesitation. "Equal partners in everything, facing whatever comes as a team rather than you facing it alone while I try to shield you from consequences."
"And I promise to trust you when you say you want to be with me," Moira said, her voice growing stronger with each word. "Not because the Council needs it, not because fate or magic demands it, but because you've chosen me just as I've chosen you."
"Does that mean...?"
"It means I want to try," she said, reaching up to cup his face with hands that trembled slightly. "The mate bond, the magical anchoring, all of it. But not here, not surrounded by the wreckage of tonight's chaos."
"Where then?"
