Page 29 of Before the Bond Breaks
Before we started eating, Winter stood and raised her glass, eyes glassy but voice unshaken. “To Jessica. May she cause trouble on the other side like she did here. May she haunt her enemies with style.”
The toast hit like a jolt. Every hand lifted, glasses clinked together, and the air filled with a brief, wild lightness.
Candra used the moment to slide closer to Jenson, murmuring something that made him almost smile. Even Larc relaxed a fraction, his posture loosening as the stories took a darker, sharper turn—tales of battle and rivalry, of Jessica’s refusal to quit even when the odds went bad.
Maze’s body settled further against my side with each round of food and memory. Her fingers traced the rim of her glass, but her pulse was slow and her breathing steady. She didn’t speak at first, but when Kyley roasted her for letting Jessica hack Winter’s security grid, Maze countered with a dry retort about the time Kyley blew up half the evidence lab on a dare. The table soaked up the laughter, every member offering a piece of Jessica’s history to keep her alive.
As the night deepened, so did the sense of family.
I kept my arm braced behind Maze’s chair, an anchor she could lean into whenever she needed. She took the offer more than once, her hand briefly finding my wrist, her head tipping to rest at my shoulder before she straightened.
Winter and Quil fussed over the dessert. It was a hybrid of cake and tart that Jess always requested on her birthday. The first bite sent Maze into a coughing fit, which she tried to muffle behind her hand. Rina smirked, tossing a napkin Maze’s way.
“Should’ve seen that coming,” Rina said. “Jessica said this cake could raise the dead.”
Maze took the jab in stride, voice stronger than it had been all night. “That’s why she always outlasted us.”
There was no single moment when the grief lifted, but the laughter grew louder, the stories brighter.
Sybil poured one more round for the table, her voice steady. “For what it’s worth, Jess would’ve hated a fancy funeral. But she also would’ve loved this.”
I watched Maze as the sound washed over her. She didn’t push the emotion away this time. She let herself feel it, jaw tight but eyes soft, and when the group ribbed her for the time she refused to let Jessica drive the getaway vehicle, she actually laughed.
A few minutes later, I pressed a kiss to her cheek and whispered, “Do you think anyone would notice if we snuck out?”
Desire flashed in her eyes. “If they do, I don’t care.”
On that note, I stood and took her hand. With a wave, we slipped out of the community center and made our way to my house at the back edge of the 200-acre property.
My bedroom had a balcony that overlooked the property. Maze opened the doors wide and walked out and leaned against the stone railing. Moonlight painted the courtyard below, silvering the grass and the dark shapes of the clan buildings. In the silence, I listened to the steady tempo of her breathing, the way each exhale made the exhaustion in her body more obvious.
I let her lean. We didn’t need to fill the air with words. Never had. She’d bled herself dry today for her sisters and our clans, for everyone except herself. I respected her need for refusing to break, even wrung out and bare.
I broke the quiet first, my voice pitched low enough for her alone. “Move in with me.”
She met my stare and didn’t answer right away. Her blue eyes brighten in the moonlight. “Okay.”
“I was expecting a fight.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s something we always knew we had to do. But I need to talk to my sisters.”
“We don’t have to rush the formalities. I’ve seen what happens when you force a pack or a flight to adjust too fast. We move slow. Let them get used to the idea. Once the soulbond ritual is complete, then your sisters will find their mates. Shifters need a clan, a community, to survive.”
Maze nodded. “You want the clan to accept me as their Alpha female, not just as your mate. Same goes for the Valkyries. I have to lead them, not just partner with you.”
“Do you ever worry about balance?” I asked, softer. “If you give too much to one side, do you lose your edge?”
Maze didn’t answer for several breaths. She watched the moon, fingers tracing invisible runes along the curve of the stone. “Always. If I let down my guard—just once—I could lose everyone. I’m not sure how to turn that off, even for you.”
The words landed. Not a challenge, not an apology, just the truth.
I leaned closer, letting our shoulders touch. “I worry about it, too. I tried to keep the clan together after…everything that happened. I made a brotherhood so tight nobody could betray us. Now, half of me wants to pull you in close and never let go, but the other half says that if I lose focus, someone will die.”
Her gaze shifted upward, pinning me in place. “You don’t have to choose. That was Balder’s mistake. Power and love aren’t exclusive, not if you lead with both.”
I covered her hand with mine. “We make it work. Even if we have to invent new rules every day.”
Maze’s laugh was rough, real. “The Norns must be sick of our shit by now.”
