I had worked extremely hard to master a few spells before attempting the Forever Mate spell.
"Are you ready?" I asked Luca. The plan was simple: set the spell over him and then let him touch me to trigger the fated mate bond. Afterward, we would shift one at a time to claim each other.
"I want to be your forever mate," Luca said carefully, his voice low but weighted with hesitation, "but I feel like if you claim me today using Khimar's wolf, then won't that mean I'm fated to him, and will immediately suffer the loss of a mate when he's gone?"
He looked at me then, his eyes flickering between longing and fear, a war raging behind them. His fingers twitched at his sides as though resisting the urge to reach for me, to pull me close and seal what we both wanted so badly. The dim light caught the sharp line of his jaw, tightening as he swallowed hard.
