Updated Nov 6, 2025 • ~9 min read
“I’m fine, just a few more days.”
Willow was lying through her teeth to Reid, and they both knew it.
“You said that last week,” Reid said, concern evident in his voice that crackled through the satellite connection. “Willow, you’ve been out there for almost two months. The documentary team is ready to go. National Geographic is breathing down my neck for more content on that panther. I need you to either come in or give me a realistic timeline.”
Willow glanced at Caspian, who was across the cave sharpening weapons with methodical precision. After Jack’s threat, they’d been on high alert for days. No attack had come yet, but they both knew it was only a matter of time. The waiting was almost worse than the actual confrontation would be.
“Two more weeks,” Willow said, hating herself for the deception. “I’m so close to something incredible, Reid. I just need a little more time.”
It wasn’t entirely a lie. She was close to something incredible—a life with Caspian. A future in the wilderness. A love that defied logic and biology and everything she’d thought she knew about herself.
But she couldn’t tell Reid any of that. Couldn’t explain that the panther in her photos was actually a man. That she’d fallen in love with a shifter. That she was planning to bond with him permanently and give up her entire human life.
Reid would think she’d lost her mind. Hell, maybe she had.
“Fine. Two weeks. But that’s it, Willow. After that, I’m coming out there myself with a search team if I have to.”
The threat made her stomach clench. “Deal,” Willow said, knowing she’d figure out how to handle that particular crisis when it came. “I won’t make you regret trusting me.”
Another lie. Reid was definitely going to regret this.
After she hung up, Caspian looked up from his work. “You’re a terrible liar, you know that?”
“I know.” Willow sank down beside him, watching his scarred hands work. “I hate this. Hiding you, hiding us, pretending I’m just on a normal assignment like nothing life-changing has happened. When this is over—when Jack is dealt with—we need to figure out how to do this. How to live our lives without me constantly lying to everyone I know and care about.”
“What do you want to tell them?” Caspian set down the knife he’d been sharpening and gave her his full attention.
“The truth. Or as much of it as they can handle without thinking I’ve completely lost it.” Willow took his hand, threading their fingers together. “That I’ve met someone. That I’m choosing to live out here. That I’m happy—happier than I’ve ever been. That I’m not coming back to my old life because I’ve found something better.”
“And if they ask about me? Want to meet me?”
“I’ll tell them you’re private. That you prefer solitude, don’t like outsiders, value your isolation.” She smiled wryly. “All of which is absolutely true. I don’t have to tell them about the shifting part. That’s your secret to share or not share.”
Caspian pulled her into his lap, and she went willingly, curling against his chest. “You’re sure about this? About giving up your old life for this? For me? No second thoughts? No regrets?”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything.” She cupped his face, making him meet her eyes. “I don’t feel like I’m giving anything up, Caspian. I feel like I’m gaining everything. My old life was… hollow. I was constantly moving, constantly leaving, never letting myself stay anywhere long enough to actually connect. I thought that was freedom. But it was just a different kind of prison.”
“And this?” He gestured around the cave, at their primitive but comfortable life.
“This is actual freedom. The freedom to choose what I want, not what I’m supposed to want. To build something permanent instead of always being temporary. To love someone fully instead of keeping one foot out the door.” She kissed him softly. “You freed me, Caspian. Not by trapping me, but by giving me a reason to stop running.”
He kissed her back, deep and claiming, and Willow felt the incomplete bond pull tight between them. Soon. Soon they’d complete it and she’d never have to doubt their connection again.
“I overheard something,” Caspian said when they broke apart, his expression troubled. “When you were talking to Reid. You said ‘I’m fine.’ But you sounded…not fine.”
Willow sighed, resting her head against his shoulder. “Because I’m not fine. I’m terrified. Not of you, not of us, not of the bond or the future. But of Jack. Of what’s coming. Of the fact that we’re sitting here preparing for a battle that might kill one or both of us.”
“We’re going to survive.”
“How do you know?” She pulled back to look at him. “How can you be so certain when we’re facing a man who’s been hunting you for forty years? Who knows your patterns, your territory, your weaknesses? Who’s coming with reinforcements and silver bullets?”
“Because I have something to live for now. Something worth fighting for.” He touched her face gently, reverently. “I’m not going down without taking Jack with me. And I’m not letting anything happen to you. You’re mine to protect. My mate. My future. My everything.”
“I’m not helpless,” Willow reminded him, even as warmth spread through her chest at his protectiveness. “I can fight too. I’ve been practicing with the weapons. Learning to defend myself.”
“I know. But if it comes down to it—if it’s your life or mine—”
“Don’t.” Willow pressed her fingers to his lips, cutting him off. “Don’t even say it. We both survive or neither of us does. That’s the deal. That’s non-negotiable.”
“Willow—”
“No. I mean it, Caspian.” She grabbed his face with both hands, forcing him to really see her. “I’m not living without you. So you’d better plan on surviving. For both our sakes. Because if you die protecting me, I’ll find a way to bring you back just so I can kill you myself for leaving me.”
He stared at her for a long moment, then pulled her close, and she felt him tremble. “I’m terrified of losing you. Of finally having everything—having you, having hope, having a future—and watching it get ripped away. Like it did with my family.”
“Then we make sure that doesn’t happen.” She pulled back to look at him seriously. “We’re smart. We’re prepared. And we have something Jack doesn’t have. We’re fighting for love. For each other. That makes us stronger than him. It has to.”
“You really believe that?”
“I have to. Because the alternative is unthinkable.” She touched the spot on her neck where the claiming mark would go. “I’m not losing you before I even get to officially be yours.”
They held each other as the sun set outside the cave, both lost in their own thoughts and fears.
Willow thought about Reid’s concern, about the lies she was telling, about the life she was building with Caspian. She thought about the claiming bite they’d planned for after Jack was dealt with, about forever, about the family they might someday have if they survived.
She thought about all the things that could go wrong. And all the reasons they had to go right.
“I don’t want to leave,” she whispered into the darkness as night fell fully. “Not for two weeks, not for two days, not even for two hours. I want to stay here. With you. Forever. Right now.”
Caspian’s arms tightened around her. “Then stay.”
“I have to check in with Reid eventually. Make him believe I’m okay. Handle the documentary team—”
“So check in. Hike out when you need to, do what you have to do, and come back.” He turned her in his arms to face him. “But your home is here now. With me. In this cave, in this territory, in this life we’re building. You don’t have to keep one foot out the door anymore. You don’t have to treat us as temporary.”
Willow realized he was right. Even after committing, even after choosing him, even after planning the mate bond, some part of her had still been preparing for an exit. Still treating this as something that might not last. Still protecting herself from potential heartbreak by not fully investing.
“I’m scared,” she admitted quietly. “Not of you or commitment. Of how much I want this. Of how devastating it would be to lose it—to lose you. I’ve never wanted anything this much. Never let myself be this vulnerable.”
“So don’t lose it. Stay. Fight for it. Choose it every single day.” He cupped her face, amber eyes fierce in the firelight. “I’m choosing you every day, Willow. Every single day for the rest of my very long life, I’m choosing you. Choosing us. Choosing this. All I’m asking is that you do the same.”
“I do. I am.” She kissed him fiercely, pouring everything she felt into it. “I’m staying. Not just for two weeks or two months. Forever. This is my home now. You’re my home.”
“Forever,” Caspian repeated, and she heard the relief and joy and desperate hope in his voice.
They made love that night, slowly and thoroughly, the incomplete bond singing between them with every touch, every kiss, every whispered promise. Soon it would be complete. Soon they’d be truly mated, connected soul to soul. But even now, unclaimed and unbonded, Willow felt the connection growing stronger every day.
She was his. He was hers. And nothing—not Jack, not hunters, not distance, not her own lingering fears—would come between them.
As she drifted off to sleep in his arms, warm and safe and loved, she heard him whisper against her hair: “Just a little longer. Stay with me just a little longer, and then you’ll be mine forever.”
But Willow was done leaving. Done running. Done preparing exit strategies.
She was home. And she was staying.
Forever.
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