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“The mating bond.” Landon sounded awed. “You and I are inextricably intertwined.”

I frowned, not sure I understood exactly what a mating bond was. Landon smoothed the wrinkles between my eyebrows with the bad of his thumb. “Sleep, Red. We’ll talk more when you wake up.”

I don’t remember falling asleep, but sometime later, I woke to Landon peppering me with kisses. I was still reeling from the effects of our bonding, but I wholeheartedly welcomed his advances, wanting nothing more than to make love to him over and over again. We still had a ton to talk about, but he was going nowhere and neither was I. So, for now, I put everything else on the backburner and decided to enjoy the moment.

EPILOGUE

LANDON

Ten months had passed since Julia and I had bonded, three since her thirtieth birthday, and a month since our wedding. Life could not get any more perfect than it already was, and yet, my wife would not stop brooding instead of enjoying the last days of our honeymoon exploring the Caribbean. One of the benefits of being ancient was all the accumulated wealth; I could afford to take my wife on an extended honeymoon and show her sights many would never see. And yet it felt like I was the only one having the time of my life.

I knew what was bothering her, of course; I was just looking for the right time to bring it up. I’d noticed the changes in Julia ever since her birthday passed—the issue of her mortality was starting to bother her.

We’d talked about it in the days after our bonding, and she had told me at the time that she was not sure she wanted to be turned into a vampire just yet. While I respected her wishes, there was a part of me that had been apprehensive and feeling like I was holding a ticking time bomb in my hands—the thought of Julia getting older and eventually perishing from this world while I remained frozen in time had held my heart in a vice grip of anxiety and terror. But I didn’t want to push her into doing something she’d come to regret in the future, so I’d never brought up turning her again after that one conversation. But lately, I’d noticed the way she had become self-conscious about things like aging or her health or anything to do with her mortality, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to bring it up again later tonight at dinner. As usual, my wife beat me to the punch.

“I want you to turn me,” she announced once our private yacht had set sail off the coast of St. Lucia for a day out at sea. The two champagne flutes I held clattered to the floor and broke into sharp pieces. I managed to catch the bottle of champagne before it splashed all over the deck through pure reflexes because my brain had gone blank.

“Turn you into what?” I asked lamely, internally telling myself not to jump to conclusions as I stared dumbfounded at my beautiful wife. The sun shone down on her red curls, making them appear as if they were aflame, and her skin glistened from all the sunscreen she’d applied because she would fry out in the sun otherwise. She wore a bright blue bikini and a see-through wrap, her face clear of any makeup. Her freckles stood out against her pale skin and she looked like a sea goddess come to life.

“Into a vampire, dummy.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m not totally down with the idea of drinking blood, but I’ll get used to it eventually. What I can’t get used to is the fact that I might suddenly die one day and leave you behind. Not even forever is long enough. I want to be with you longer than that. I want to love you beyond forever, so I want you to make me your vampire. Make me your mate in all the ways that count… But we’ll have to tell my family the truth somehow because I don’t plan on faking my death or anything once they realize that I am not aging. So, what do you say?”

Walking toward her, I took her face in both my hands and tilted her head back. “I say, I’ll see you on the other side of forever.”

And then I kissed her.

THE END