Luna. Chapter 106

(Lyra's POV)

By evening, I could barely function without Kael's touch.

The primitive impulses were getting stronger. More demanding. I couldn't focus on anything else.

Dad kept shooting worried looks between us. Asher kept asking if I was sick. I didn't know how to explain what was happening without scaring everyone.

"There's one more thing we need to do," Kael said quietly after dinner. "To complete the ritual."

"What thing?"

"We need to return to the river. Where you first transformed."

My stomach dropped. "Why?"

"The transformation needs to be acknowledged by the natural elements. Water is the most important for celestial wolves."

"Can't we just... skip that part?"

"No. If we don't complete the ritual properly, the impulses will never stabilize. They'll just keep getting worse."

Worse than this? I couldn't imagine feeling more desperate for his touch than I already did.

"How long will it take?" I asked.

"Not long. But we need to do it tonight."

I looked outside. It had stopped raining, but everything was still soaked. The thought of leaving the house, leaving the safety of having Kael close, made me panic.

"I don't think I can handle being away from you long enough to get to the car."

"You won't have to. I'll carry you."

"Carry me?"

"If that's okay with you."

The idea of being in his arms for an extended period of time should have made me nervous.

Instead, it made me ache with want.

"Okay," I whispered.

We told Dad and Asher we were going for a short drive. I hated lying, but the truth was too complicated to explain.

Kael lifted me easily. Like I weighed nothing.

The moment his arms came around me, everything went quiet. The desperate need calmed to a manageable hum.

"Better?" he murmured against my hair.

"Perfect."

He carried me to his truck, settled me in the passenger seat. But when he let go to walk around to the driver's side, the burning came roaring back.

"Wait," I gasped.

He turned back immediately. "What do you need?"

"Your hand. While you drive. I need to be touching you."

He nodded. Got behind the wheel, immediately reaching for my hand.

The relief was instant.

"This is insane," I muttered.

"It's temporary," he promised. "Once the ritual is complete, the bond will stabilize. You'll still prefer my touch, but you won't need it to function."

"How do you know all this?"

"My grandmother went through something similar when she bonded with my grandfather. She used to tell me stories."

"Your grandmother was a celestial wolf?"

"No. But she was powerful. And she loved him deeply." His voice was soft. "Love makes the bond stronger. More intense."

Love.

The word hung in the air between us.

Neither of us acknowledged it directly.

But we both heard it.

The drive to the river took twenty minutes. Twenty minutes of Kael's thumb tracing patterns on my palm while I tried not to think too hard about what we were about to do.

When we reached the spot where I'd first transformed, Kael parked and turned to me.

"Ready?"

I wasn't. But I nodded anyway.

He came around to my side, lifted me out of the truck. The walk to the water's edge was short, but by the time we got there, I was shaking again. Not from cold. From the intensity of being so close to him.

"What do we do?" I asked.

"You need to touch the water. Acknowledge what you've become."

The river was dark. Quiet. Peaceful.

I thought about fighting him that night. About the terror and confusion and pain.

About waking up in his arms feeling safe for the first time in years.

He waded into the water still holding me. When it reached his knees, he stopped.

"You can do this," he whispered.

I reached down. Touched the cool water with my fingertips.

The moment I did, something shifted inside me. The wolf that had been restless and demanding suddenly went still. Satisfied.

"I accept what I am," I said quietly. The words came without conscious thought. "I accept the bond. I accept my mate."

The last words weren't part of any ritual.

But they felt necessary.

True.

Kael's arms tightened around me. "Lyra..."

"Take me home," I whispered.

He carried me back to the truck. But this time, when he set me down, the desperate need didn't return.

I still wanted his touch. Still craved his closeness.

But I could breathe without it.

"It's done," he said softly.

"It's done."

The drive home was quiet. Peaceful.

But the awareness between us was stronger than ever.

The ritual was complete.

But something new was just beginning.