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Staring at Dakota, I couldn’t breathe.

Had he just?—

Was that magic?

His hand lingered in the air, and I could practically feel the thrum of his power dancing around us.

I felt Jillian’s eyes on me.

But me? All I could do was stare at Prudence, breathlessly waiting for her answer.

She was beaming at Dakota like he was her very own son. Like he’d just performed a godsdamned miracle.

Hehad.

“Can’t say anything like this has happened in my lifetime,” she said. “A shifter and a mage? Aren’t you just full of surprises?”

He was still a mage.

I hadn’t taken a damn thing from him with my bite. He still had his magic, and now?—

Ours, my wolf preened.

Dakota felt it too. His eyes met mine, and he bit his lip. I could feel the elation, pure victory, rippling between us.

A smile spread on my face, despite myself. Broad and full and in less than a second, I’d crossed the space between us.

Before I even reached him, Dakota pressed up on his toes and stretched out his arms, and it was so simple to bend down and slide in right where he wanted me.

My lips closed over his, and his mouth parted so sweetly beneath mine. His breath hitched. His arms tightened around my neck.

He stood so much on his toes that his weight fell into me, and moon above, there was nowhere I’d rather be. His fingers spread, scratching through my hair at the nape of my neck.

It was the best feeling in the world.

Not just kissing him, or having him there in my arms when only the night before, I’d thought I lost him. No, the best part was the bond that’d formed between us. I couldfeelhim, and for the first time, I let myself fall into the sensation of his wholeness.

He was there, in my arms, and so fucking perfect.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered against his lips.

I’d never wanted to see him hurt. I didn’t know if I was apologizing for letting him get injured, biting him, or even waiting so long to make him my mate.

It’d only been a handful of weeks, and even that amount of time felt way too long now that I knew what it was to feel him in my head.

Before Jiro had come, I’d been willing to stay with Dakota even if he was never my mate. I could’ve given upthis, and I never would’ve known.

It would’ve been fine. Even without the bond, he was worth it.

But this wasperfect.

Dakota shook his head. His hands slipped down, and his fingertips left a warm, pleasant trail over my skin until he cupped both my cheeks. My stubbled beard bent under his palms.

“You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for,” he said thickly.

Tears hung in his black lashes, glittering as the last few hours fell over him. Everything I’d almost lost, and Dakota had risked so much more.

I wanted to tear Igarashi Jiro limb from fucking limb.