Page 18 of Claws for Celebration (Hollow Oak Mates #3)

MOIRA

D awn was painting the sky in soft pastels when Moira woke in Lucien's arms, her body still humming with the afterglow of their passionate night together.

The garden around them had transformed during their sleep, flowers blooming out of season in response to the magical energy they'd shared, their petals glowing with faint traces of golden light that matched the contentment spreading through her chest.

"Good morning, beautiful," Lucien murmured against her hair, his voice rough with sleep and satisfaction. "How are you feeling?"

Moira stretched carefully, noting the delicious soreness in muscles she hadn't used in far too long.

"Like I've been fundamentally changed in ways I'm still trying to understand," she admitted, turning in his arms to study his face in the early morning light.

"But also like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. "

His smile was warm enough to melt her remaining reservations about the impossibility of their situation. "No regrets about diving headfirst into the supernatural deep end?"

"With you? No regrets at all." She pressed a soft kiss to his jaw, marveling at how natural the gesture felt despite having known him for such a short time. "Though I suspect I'm going to need coffee and food before I can properly process everything that's happened."

"Coffee and food I can definitely provide." Lucien sat up, reaching for the clothes they'd scattered across the grass in their urgency the night before. "Twyla opens the café early for the breakfast crowd. I could grab us something while you get dressed?"

The practical suggestion made Moira acutely aware of their state of undress and the fact that they were still in his bookstore's garden where anyone could potentially discover them.

"That's probably wise. I should also check on the grimoire and make sure I didn't accidentally trigger any magical incidents while I was. .. distracted."

"Your magic was perfectly controlled last night," Lucien assured her, pulling on his shirt with fluid grace. "If anything, it seemed more stable than usual. Like having an emotional anchor helped ground your abilities."

The observation made her pulse flutter with possibilities she wasn't ready to examine too closely. "Emotional anchor?"

"Strong feelings can either destabilize awakening magic or provide focus, depending on the circumstances." He leaned down to kiss her forehead with gentle reverence. "You were magnificent, Moira. In every possible way."

After he left for the café, walking with that characteristic silent grace that now made perfect sense given his shifter nature, Moira dressed quickly and made her way back into the bookstore.

The Shadowheart Codex sat exactly where she'd left it the previous afternoon, but something about its leather binding seemed different.

More alert somehow, as if it had been waiting for her return.

"Well," she said to the ancient tome, settling into her usual chair, "I suppose you want to know what happened in the garden."

The grimoire's pages rustled softly despite the still air, and when Moira opened the cover, she wasn't surprised to find new text appearing in elegant silver script across the parchment.

The bloodline awakens fully when heart and soul align with destiny.

"Destiny," she murmured, tracing the words with one finger. "Is that what this is? Destiny?"

More words appeared, flowing across the page with ethereal beauty.

Love calls to love across impossible distances. Magic recognizes its perfect complement in another soul. When shifter and witch unite in harmony, their combined power can reshape the very foundations of reality.

Moira's breath caught in her throat. "Shifter and witch. You're talking about Lucien and me."

The panther knows what the human heart has not yet accepted. Bonds forged in starlight and sealed with magic cannot be broken by doubt or fear.

"What bonds?" she asked aloud, though part of her already suspected the answer. The connection she felt with Lucien went deeper than simple attraction or even love. It felt fundamental, as if some part of her soul had been missing until she'd found him among dusty books and afternoon conversations.

The grimoire's response sent shivers down her spine.

Mate bonds are gifts from the oldest magic, connecting souls across lifetimes and species. When a shifter recognizes their destined partner, the universe conspires to bring them together. The witch who accepts such a bond gains not only love but magical amplification beyond mortal comprehension.

"Mate bonds," Moira whispered, the pieces of a cosmic puzzle clicking into place.

The way Lucien looked at her sometimes, with an intensity that went beyond romantic interest. The protective instincts that seemed to overtake him whenever she was confused or frightened.

His panther's recognition of her, as if the animal side of his nature had been waiting for her specifically.

But beware, daughter of shadows. Power shared is power doubled, but also responsibility multiplied. The awakened witch who bonds with her shifter mate becomes guardian of more than just herself. She becomes protector of all who shelter beneath her magic's embrace.

"Protector," she repeated, thinking about the unconscious ward-work she'd been weaving around Hollow Oak, the way her magic seemed to extend protective energy to encompass the entire downtown area. "You're saying this is just the beginning."

The beginning of everything your bloodline was meant to become.

Before Moira could ask more questions, the brass bell dinged, announcing Lucien's return. She quickly closed the grimoire, though the words it had shown her continued echoing in her mind as he approached carrying a paper bag that smelled like heaven and a coffee carrier with two steaming cups.

"Twyla's breakfast special," he announced, settling into the chair across from her with easy familiarity. "Eggs Benedict with her famous hollandaise sauce, fresh fruit, and coffee that could wake the dead."

"Bless her," Moira said, accepting the coffee gratefully. The first sip was pure magic, rich and complex with undertones she couldn't identify but that made her entire body feel more alert and grounded.

"She also sent along a message," Lucien continued, unpacking their breakfast with careful efficiency. "Something about hoping you slept well and that the mountain air agreed with you."

Heat flooded Moira's cheeks. "She knows, doesn't she? About what happened between us?"

"Twyla has excellent instincts about people and their emotional states. Plus, you're glowing with residual magic in a way that suggests significant life changes." His smile was fond rather than embarrassed. "But she's discreet. Whatever she suspects, she won't share it with anyone."

They ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes, the intimacy of sharing breakfast after their passionate night creating a domestic atmosphere that felt both new and familiar.

But as the food settled and her magical senses fully awakened, Moira found herself returning to the grimoire's revelations.

"Lucien," she said carefully, "what do you know about mate bonds?"

He went very still, his fork pausing halfway to his mouth. "Why do you ask?"

"The grimoire showed me some interesting information this morning.

About shifters and witches, and the kinds of connections that can form between them.

" She studied his face, noting the subtle tension that had appeared around his eyes.

"It mentioned something about destiny and souls recognizing each other across impossible circumstances. "

"And what did you think about that information?"

"I think it explains a lot about what I've been feeling since I arrived in Hollow Oak." Moira set down her coffee cup with deliberate care. "This connection between us, it's not just attraction or even ordinary love, is it?"

"No," he said quietly. "It's not ordinary."

"Are you going to tell me what it actually is, or are you going to keep protecting me from information you think I can't handle?"

The directness of her question seemed to surprise him. "I'm trying to find the balance between honesty and overwhelming you with concepts that take most people years to fully understand."

"Try me."

Lucien studied her face with the intensity she'd grown accustomed to. "In shifter culture, there's a belief that every person has one perfect complement in the world. Someone whose soul fits with theirs so completely that being apart feels like missing a vital organ."

"A mate."

"Yes. And when shifters find their mates, especially if that mate has magical abilities of their own, the bond that forms between them can amplify both of their supernatural gifts exponentially."

Moira felt the last pieces of the puzzle clicking into place. "That's what you recognized in me. Not just magical ability, but compatibility. The potential for this kind of bond."

"The potential," he agreed carefully. "But Moira, mate bonds aren't something that can be forced or hurried. They develop naturally when both people are ready to accept what they mean."

"And what do they mean?"

"Partnership in every sense of the word.

Emotional, physical, magical, spiritual.

A connection that goes deeper than marriage or any human concept of commitment.

" His voice grew soft with an emotion she was beginning to recognize as carefully restrained longing.

"It means never being truly alone again, but also never being truly independent in the way you've known your entire life. "

The weight of that explanation settled over her like a blanket, heavy with implications. "And you think we could have that? This kind of bond?"

"I think we're already building it," he said honestly. "Every conversation, every touch, every moment of trust and understanding. The question is whether you want to continue building it, knowing where it might lead."

She still felt like he was holding back something, but knew that he was also being very honest in the words he chose.

Moira looked around the bookstore that had become her sanctuary, at the man who'd guided her with infinite patience and care, at the grimoire that held secrets about her family's magical legacy. A week ago, she'd been Dr. Moira Marsh, respectable academic with a quiet life and modest ambitions.

Now she was discovering that she was something far more complex and potentially dangerous. A witch whose awakening abilities could reshape reality. A woman whose heart had recognized its perfect complement in a panther shifter who looked at her like she was his salvation.

"I'm not the same person who arrived in Hollow Oak two weeks ago," she said finally.

"No," Lucien agreed. "You're not. The question is, do you like who you're becoming?"

Moira thought about the protective magic that flowed from her fingertips without conscious thought, the way ancient knowledge seemed to surface when she needed it most, the profound sense of rightness she felt when Lucien's arms were around her.

"I'm terrifying and powerful and apparently destined to be responsible for protecting an entire supernatural community," she said. "But yes, I think I like who I'm becoming. Especially when I'm becoming her with you."

The relief that flooded his expression was almost palpable. "Then we'll figure out the rest together. One impossible revelation at a time."

As morning light strengthened around them and the normal sounds of Hollow Oak waking up filtered through the bookstore windows, Moira found herself looking forward to whatever came next. She was no longer just an archivist researching her family's history.

She was a Shadowheart witch coming into her power, with a potential mate whose own supernatural nature complemented hers in ways that promised extraordinary possibilities.

The future had never looked more uncertain or more full of promise.