Page 1 of A Bond so Fierce and Fragile

Chapter 1

Lessia

Merrick grinned at her as he opened his arms, and Lessia couldn’t help but break into a run to reach him where he stood upon one of the cliffs beneath her childhood home, his silver hair dancing around his face in the warm summer breeze.

The sun blasted her skin as she pushed herself to move faster, and she had to fight to keep her eyes from closing against the bright light as her feet dug into the sand to close the distance between them.

But as Merrick’s arms wrapped around her waist, she gave up and let her lids fall shut, allowing her other senses to take in the male she loved.

Merrick.

Her mate.

His wild scent whirled around her, and she couldn’t get enough of how it filled her nostrils—nor how it filled her with that sense of freedom, of casting off shackles, of being utterly and entirely herself.

“I missed you,” he murmured into her hair, and his heart began pumping faster, the drums tapping against her own chest and filling the air like a soft melody.

Pulling back, she finally opened her eyes to his, and the ones that usually held the darkness of the night sky were now nearly pure silver, the flecks appearing to whirl as they flickered over her.

“I missed you too,” she whispered before she crashed her lips against his.

The groan ripping from him nearly sent Lessia to her knees, and only because his strong arms held her did she not tumble down onto the white stone beneath them.

Gods, she had missed him so much.

Lessia wasn’t sure how long it’d been, but any time away from him was too long.

She’d gotten too used to him always being there.

I’m here.

I’m always here.

Lessia smiled against his mouth, interrupting the kiss, and when Merrick pulled back to search her eyes, she let her lips pull even wider until he also broke into a grin.

“I’ll never get used to that.” Merrick shook his head so wildly his hair flew around it, sparkling against the blue sky behind him. “I’ll never get used to you being mine.”

Lifting her hand to caress his cheek, her palm rasping against the silver stubble growing there, she responded, “I’m always yours. Always.”

Merrick brushed his lips against hers again. “As I’m always yours.”

“Are you coming or what? We’ve waited forever!” A voice broke through the clear air, and Lessia hadn’t thought her smile could go any wider, but her cheeks began hurting when her sister impatiently waved at them from behind Merrick’s tall frame before she sprinted up the trail toward their home.

After a final look at Merrick, who nodded and released her, she grabbed his hand and began dragging him the familiar pathup to the stone house where she’d grown up—where she’d spent her first twelve years of life.

Large green bushes flanked the road, and the birdsong she remembered loving as a child filled her ears as copses of trees popped up on either side.

The sound of small animals rushing across the forest bed joined the chirping and the wind rustling the leaves, and Merrick pulled at her hand when a rabbit crossed their path, to stop her from stepping on it.

Lessia drank in every sound, every smell, every familiar curve of the road.

She’d missed this island so much.

Thirteen years…

That’s how long it’d been since she’d last been here.

Her favorite place.