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the assistance to make things easier.”
    “Seriously? I have to take a knife to you?”
    He held out his hand. “Wrist to wrist.”
    She tugged the knife out of the stone and wondered if it would make her queen of the ancient land of England. With a giggle, she held the knife awkwardly and raised it toward him. “What now?”
    He pressed the knife against his wrist and wrapped his hand around hers, pulling it sharply until his blood welled.
    She gasped and jerked her hand back but his grip was tight. He raised her wrist to his lips, the blood trailing down the blade still in her fist. She winced at the flare of pain as he bit into her, but the moment he broke her skin he released her wrist and moved it to press against his own open wound.
    Her mind opened wide as his blood seeped into her arm and hers moved into his. Her hand maintained the grip on the dagger as she took all of his knowledge into her including his emotions and the personal details of his life.
    Ziggy’s breath came out of her on a moan, and her knees buckled. She took them both to the ground and she collapsed under the burn of pain mixed with the knowledge of a lifetime that was not hers.
    She leaned forward and he mimicked her, their foreheads leaning together, their breath mingling as they completed the bonding that he needed to still the fire in his veins.
    In less than one day she had gone from being Ziggy, to being Signy Alora Rothaway Vaddos, and it was quite the alteration.
     

 
     
    Chapter Eight
     
    “Why don’t you use your last names?”
    He raised his head slowly and focussed on her. Rothaway’s eyes were no longer crimson. “They are clan names and we only use them for formal occasions and documents. How do you know about the other name?”
    She winced. Busted. “Your knowledge came to me in your blood.”
    Rothaway looked at where their wrists were still pressed together. “I did not receive that effect.”
    She blinked. “Do you think it could have something to do with my potential?”
    “What precisely did you gain?”
    She touched his knee with her free hand. “You have a scar here from when you were ten, climbed a tree and got attacked by another shifter in a feline form.”
    Her eyes widened as she realized that he actually could change his shape. “You can really shift your form?”
    He raised one eyebrow. “You would like a demonstration now?”
    She blinked. The bonding was a sacred moment on the mother ship. They were in a bonding grove and Lyneer was acting as their guardian, keeping others away while they were vulnerable. “I suppose not.”
    Rothaway laughed and lifted her bleeding wrist to his lips, licking the wounds closed. He did the same to his own wrist a moment later and then helped her to her feet.
    She still had the dagger in her hand. “What do I do with this?”
    He smiled, “Place it back in the stone.”
    Shrugging she walked back to the rock and slid the dagger home. It immediately sank into the edifice and disappeared. “Where did it go?”
    “It is being filed for proof of our bonding. My blood and your DNA on the handle is proof of our union.”
    She smirked. “Or that I stabbed you and left you for dead.”
    “In that case it is doubtful that you would have put the dagger back into the stone.” He grinned, at ease.
    “Why did it come on you so suddenly? The rut is supposed to take weeks to reach its peak.”
    “I stopped my suppressing medications when we found the ship. I wanted to make sure that I was ready for you the moment that we met again.”
    She followed her impulse and hugged him. “How did you know I didn’t die on that ship?”
    “Because a woman who could face down an entire ship of Tokkel with nothing more than bare feet and attitude, would not die in a simple ship crash.”
    She blushed as his arms came around her and rubbed her back slowly but pressed her tightly against him. He was still interested in her and the ridge of his sex against her belly was both hot an