Rurik POV
He's been standing at the edge of her courtyard for six hours.
The sun went down at 6 PM and now it's midnight and he's still here in wolf form, watching her apartment, watching her move from window to window. She makes tea. She sits on her couch. She goes to her bedroom. She comes back and opens her window wider like she's asking for something.
His wolf knows what she's asking for.
Rurik has spent two weeks doing this. Hiding in the forest surrounding the city. Watching her from safe distances. Making sure she's eating. Making sure she's safe. Making sure no other wolf gets close enough to recognize her as unclaimed.
She's unclaimed and it's destroying him.
Every night his wolf fights him. Every morning he tells himself he's going back to his pack. Every evening he finds himself back in her courtyard anyway because his body won't accept the separation even though his mind knows it's necessary.
His pack is questioning his absence. His father is getting impatient. His enemies are starting to move.
He should be back in Cascade territory handling pack business.
Instead he's here, bleeding internally, slowly dying from being separated from his mate.
She's his mate.
The universe chose her for him and he chose to walk away because he thought it would protect her. He's been slowly understanding that he was wrong about everything.
Protecting her doesn't mean staying away.
It means claiming her so completely that every creature in the supernatural world knows she belongs to him. It means binding himself to her so tightly that hurting her would be hurting himself. It means surrendering to the connection instead of fighting it.
He can't keep doing this.
Rurik moves deeper into the forest and he shifts.
The transformation happens faster than it used to. His bones change. His fur disappears. His body becomes human again. By the time he's finished, he's standing naked in the cold night air and he's made his decision.
He's going to tell her the truth.
He's going to tell her about the bond. About fated mates. About the fact that the universe decided before either of them were born that they belong together. He's going to tell her that staying away has been the hardest thing he's ever done and he can't do it anymore.
If she wants him to leave after that, he'll leave.
But he's not going to keep suffering in silence.
He walks to her building through the empty streets. A few cars pass. A couple walks by holding hands and Rurik looks at them and thinks about how easy they have it. How simple their connection must be without the weight of two worlds crushing down on them.
He reaches her door at 11:47 PM and his entire body is shaking.
Not from cold. From the effort it's taking to not break down her door.
He knocks.
For a moment nothing happens.
Then he hears her moving. Hears her coming to the door. Hears her looking through the peephole.
And then she opens it.
She doesn't look surprised.
She doesn't look scared.
She looks like she's been waiting for him. Like some part of her felt him standing outside in the night. Like she knew he was coming before he even decided to come.
"Hi," she says softly.
The word is so simple and it destroys him.
She steps aside before he can speak. She lets him inside without demanding explanations. She closes the door and locks it and suddenly they're in her apartment together and the air between them feels electric.
"I can't do this," he says because he has to say something and the truth is the only thing he has left. "I can't be around you like this. I can't maintain control and I can't—"
She reaches out and pulls him inside.
She closes the door and the world shrinks down to just them.
She tells him to stop talking and asks him what he needs.
And he breaks.
"I need you," he says and the words are violent. "I need you to be mine. I need to bind myself to you in every way that matters. I need to never let you go again."
She whispers that she doesn't want him to.
Rurik looks at her and he feels his wolf clawing at his skin, demanding he do this. Demanding he claim her. Demanding he tell her the truth that's been burning inside him since the moment he crashed through her window.
"Sit down," he says.
She sits on the couch and he sits across from her because if he sits next to her, he won't be able to maintain the distance his self control requires.
"When a werewolf meets their fated mate, there's a connection," he starts. "It's not something we choose. It's something written into our genetics. Into our souls. The universe decides before we're even born who we're meant to be with."
Ivy watches him carefully.
"When I smelled you that first night, bleeding on your floor, my wolf recognized you immediately. It felt like coming home. It felt like every empty part of me suddenly had a reason to exist."
He runs his hand through his hair because his hands need to do something besides reach for her.
"A fated mate is absolute. It's permanent. It's the one person in the world that your wolf will never stop wanting. The one person your body recognizes as yours."
"Rurik," she says like she's trying to stop him.
But he has to finish.
"I tried to stay away because you're human and you deserve a choice. You deserve to not be bound to a werewolf by something neither of us can control. But staying away is killing me and it's not working because I can't stop coming back to you."
He looks at her directly.
"Ivy Monroe, you are my fated mate. The universe chose you for me. My wolf chose you. And I'm choosing you. I'm choosing this. I'm choosing us."
Her eyes fill with tears.
"What does that mean?" she asks and her voice is shaking. "What does it mean if I'm your fated mate?"
He takes a breath because this is the part that changes everything.
"It means that every wolf who sees you will know you belong to me. It means my pack will have to accept you whether they like it or not. It means there are ways to bind our connection that go deeper than anything humans understand. It means you'll never be completely safe because loving an Alpha makes you a target."
He pauses.
"It means I can't let you go. Even if you ask me to, I won't be able to walk away. Even if you tell me it's over, my wolf will keep coming back to you. It means you're mine in a way that's absolute and permanent and inescapable."
Ivy stands up and walks to him.
"I don't want to escape," she says.
She reaches out and takes his face in her hands and Rurik feels something break open inside his chest.
"I want this," she says. "I want you. I want whatever this is. I want to be bound to you however that works."
He captures her hands and holds them against his face because if he lets go, he's going to lose control completely.
"You don't understand what you're asking for," he says.
"Then explain it to me."
He stands up and he pulls her close.
"If you accept this bond, if you let me claim you as my mate, you're walking into a world that will try to destroy you. My pack will reject you at first. My enemies will use you against me. Hunters will target you. You'll lose your normal life forever."
She's looking up at him and her eyes are clear.
"I lost my normal life the moment you crashed through my window," she says. "I'm just finally ready to admit it."
Rurik closes his eyes because seeing her look at him like that is going to make him do things he can't take back.
"Say it," he whispers. "Say you understand what this means."
"I understand that you're my mate too," she says. "Even if I don't have a wolf, even if the bond is different for me, I feel it. I feel it in my chest. I feel it when you're near and when you're gone. I feel like half of me has been missing since the night you left."
She reaches up and touches his chest where his heart is pounding.
"Make the bond official," she says. "Whatever that means. Whatever you need to do. I'm yours, Rurik. I've been yours since that first night."
He looks down at her and he realizes that there's no going back from this moment.
She's offering him everything.
She's accepting him completely.
She's choosing to walk into the darkness with him.
"You're sure?" he asks one last time.
"I'm sure," she says.
And he kisses her like he's drowning and she's the only thing that can save him.