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"But . . . wil I see you again?" I couldn't bear to walk away. Not now, not after I'd just found him. A piece of me had broken away during our lovemaking, and it was with him. And I held a piece of his heart in my own.
"I promise you, my love, I wil meet you soon in your world. Keep watch for me." He helped me dress, stopping to kiss me time and again.
My head fuzzy from the rush of emotion and desire, I stared into his eyes. He was different--oh, so different--from both Chase and Zachary. Shade met my eyes, calm, cool, unwavering. And in his gaze, I saw no backpedaling, no hesitation. And in that moment, I understood.
"You are the one . . . he wil use you to . . ."
"Hush, go now." He pressed his fingers to my lips, and I pressed my nose to his neck, inhaling deeply the scents of pumpkins and apples and spiced rum and woodsmoke.
Our roots ran deep into the same core. Beyond Were and--whatever Shade was--we were bound by the same master, by the same Elemental Lord.
We walked the same energy, we understood the thril of the flame and the pungent odor of freshly til ed harvest soil.
"I choose . . . to take the chance," I whispered. "Come to me soon."
"I wil . Until then . . ." He pressed a box into my hand. "This is to remember me by."
I blinked, trying to hold my eyes open, but the room began to spin, and he vanished before I could say another word. I started to look at what he'd given me, but Greta was suddenly at my side, lowering me to the bench. She leaned down and breathed a kiss into my mouth, and everything began to fade. I struggled, not wanting to leave yet, but then I let go and surrendered my wil . To her, to Shade, to Hi'ran. To my destiny.
"Delilah? Delilah, wake up." Iris shook me awake, and I blinked against the light flooding from the overhead fixture on the ceiling.
I struggled awake, wiping my hand across my eyes. "Is it . . . seven o'clock already?"
"Seven thirty. I let you sleep a little longer. Both you and Camil e needed it. You were dead to the world when I tried to wake you up half an hour ago.
Now, come on, get dressed."
I scrambled out of bed, wondering how much of the dream had been real and how much had been wish fulfil ment. As I finished fastening my bra and pul ed on a pair of jeans and a shirt, Iris made my bed for me.
After a moment, she said, "Delilah--what's this?"
I turned to see she was holding . . . the box Shade had given me. No, not a dream at al . "I'm not sure, to tel you the truth. Open it, would you?"
She did, gasping as she flipped the top open. "Look," she said hoarsely.
I finished tucking in my shirt and fed a leather belt through the loops on my jeans, buckling it as I walked back to the bed. The box contained a ring. It was gold, with a faceted smoky quartz. I slowly took the ring out of the box and rested the intricately etched band in the palm of my hand.
With every fiber of my being, I knew that if I put this on, Shade would become a part of my life. Memories of Camil e talking about Tril ian and how they met flashed by, and for the first time, I understood. I understood the connection they shared and would never again question it.
I looked up to find Iris staring at me, a peculiar look on her face.
"What's going on, Delilah? Where did you get that?"
"Why? Can't it just be a ring?"
She shook her head. "Not with the energy rol ing off that band. I recognize that energy. I've felt it before."
I slowly held it up to the light. It sparkled. A ring of promise. A ring of binding. A ring of acceptance and submission to my destiny. A ring of empowerment by accepting my destiny. Once I put this on, there was no going back. The only question was: Did I want to know what Iris knew before or after I put on the ring? If I hesitated, was I stil resisting the inevitable?
Sometimes, I thought, you just have to submit to your life . . . go with the flow, take a chance, leap before you look. In tabby form, I was a free spirit. I bounced and played my way through the day without worrying what waited ahead. In panther form, I did what came natural y--I bounded ahead, fearless.
At what point had I lost that fearlessness in my life as a woman, half-Fae or not? When had I become afraid? Or had I ever been without the fear and doubt? What made me so hesitant in two-legged form when I could let go and just be who I wanted to be as a cat--big or smal ? When had I first begun to put everyone else's opinions ahead of my own intuition?
I'd learned to break through my inner darkness in that room with Shade, and I'd tasted the passion in a way I could only dream of. Now, was I ready to take a chance? To stride ahead and be the woman I knew I could be?
I looked up at Iris, thinking al of these things, as I slowly slid the ring on the fourth finger of my right hand. No booming chimes or tril ing harps sounded, but I'd just signed the pact. I'd jumped at the chance, taken the leap, and nothing would ever be the same.
Iris sat on the edge of my bed. "Oh girl, what have you done? I felt the shift in your aura as plainly as I see it when you change shape. I hope you know what you're doing."
