Synnr's Hope - Kate Rudolph Page 0,24

things we revisit this one.”

His eyes narrowed but he nodded. “One final thing.”

“I’m all ears.”

He opened his mouth but no words came out. Then he took a deep breath, but the silence dragged on. Just as Lena was ready to tell him to spit it out, he spoke. “We wait to introduce you to my family. Once they know about you there will be... expectations. And since this is nothing more than a convenient arrangement, we won’t be telling them. Yet.”

Was Solan doing this for the right reasons? It wasn’t Lena’s place to worry, but that last caveat made her want to put on the brakes. She’d never been someone’s dirty little secret before, and she didn’t want to start now. “Won’t your family know?” From everything she’d heard, Matches were a big deal. Why would he want to hide it?

He grimaced. “I did tell my brother that I met my Match,” he admitted, “and surely news will travel. But they don’t need to meet you until we’re comfortable together.”

That sounded somewhat better than being a dirty little secret, but not much. “How long were you thinking?”

“Just a few months. My sister has her own bonding ceremony happening soon and my brother is getting married. I don’t want to steal the attention from them.” He traced a finger along the fabric of the couch and she couldn’t help but stare at the graceful length.

She managed to tear her gaze away. “Three months.”

“Three months what?”

“Until we tell them.” This felt like a bad idea, but Lena didn’t know how to walk away from it. Solan was offering her everything she asked for. What did it matter if he didn’t want to put her on display?

He thought about it for a moment. “We will see where we are in three months.”

It wasn’t an agreement. He could back out and keep her a secret forever. But she could tell from his tone that it was the best she was going to get. And she didn’t care enough to argue any further. She didn’t need to get close to his family; she could make a family of her own among the humans she was living with. “So when do we do it? Bond?”

He shrugged. “Now?”

Her eyes darted around the room, as if she’d catch someone sneaking in. But they were still alone. “Now? Here?” She hadn’t expected him to dive right in, especially given how much he wanted to keep this a secret.

“Why wait?”

Because it would give her time to think. But that was exactly why he was right about doing this now. If she thought about it she’d have doubts. And Lena didn’t want doubts. He was her ticket to a career, a purpose. And she’d get those super cool looking wings. She’d be able to climb that rope and jump down just like all those other soldiers.

She wanted it.

“Let’s do it.”

He stood and offered her a hand. Lena laced their fingers together and tried not to notice the heat of him. Strictly professional. If she noticed his muscles, it was purely for tactical purposes. The heat of his skin would tell her if he had a fever. His masculine scent... well, at least he was clean. It wasn’t inherently unprofessional to notice those things. It was what she did with the information that mattered. And she wasn’t going to do anything.

“How do we...?” She waved her free hand between them, as if that could encompass all the Match entailed.

They stood in the middle of the room and Solan pushed a table out of the way so everything was clear. “It’s fairly simple. I’ll reach for your spark and call on your power. Then you reach for mine and call on my power. That will break down the barrier between the two of us and we’ll be bonded. You’ll have your wings.”

She wanted those wings. She hadn’t realized how much until her heart sped up and her fingers curled, as if grasping for something just out of reach. “Your power? That sounds simple but I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She didn’t have any power. Not that she knew of. But she’d seen Emily shoot lightning out of her hands and grow wings. Clearly a human could do this.

“It’s there,” he assured her. “Close your eyes and breathe deep.”

She’d never been a big fan of meditation. But Lena did as instructed. She could feel her heart beating a bit too fast and her breaths were way too loud. She scrunched up