Page 13 of Make Me (Immortal Vices and Virtues: All Hallows’ Eve #1)

TALON

T here’s a small part of me that wants to unleash my ire on that witch, but as I cradle Kasha in my arms, her trembling form pressed to my chest, any lingering fury for Natalia dissolves like mist beneath the rising sun.

My mate’s heart is beating and our bond is still thrumming between us as she breathes the same air I do. Most importantly, I can sense her wolf. They’re both here and that’s all that matters.

“Are you okay?” I ask, tilting her face toward mine. My hands move over her, searching for injuries.

Kasha nods, her eyes glazed with residual shock. “It wasn’t pleasant by any means,” she murmurs. “But it worked.”

Behind us, Natalia lets out a long sigh, the sound entirely too casual for what just happened. “Definitely interesting,” she says. “Watching someone’s spirit leave their body like that? A first for me. I might have to try that again. ”

A low growl tears through my throat, and the air ripples with the force of my wolf pressing closer to the surface. “You killed her?”

“Technically, yes,” Natalia replies with a dismissive shrug.

“But her body was still viable. I just had to give her spirit the boot long enough to invite the other one home. And for the record, that wasn’t easy.

The witch who bound her? She might even rival me, but tricks like hers usually have a way of catching up with even the trickiest of casters. ”

Kasha trembles in my arms, and while I’m sure it’s not from the cold, I still pull my dress shirt over my head with one hand to slip it over her bare body, helping get her hands through the right holes.

“Do you think she’ll know what we did?” Kasha asks, her voice quieter than I like as she leans closer to me, her palms covering my stomach.

Natalia shakes her head. “That’s why I killed you first. She’ll think you died, and without you still kicking and screaming out in the universe, your wolf spirit naturally would have left this world with you.

At least that’s what the witch should believe.

I just wouldn’t recommend going anywhere you might run into her. ”

“Fine with me,” Kasha breathes, then tilts her head back to look at me. Her eyes burn with a new kind of light, feral and bright and alive as her nails scratch lightly over my exposed chest.

My wolf lets out a deep rumble, vibrating through my bones and into hers. Ours .

“I feel it now,” she says, her chest rising and falling with each quickened breath. “The bond. It’s real. It’s,” she licks her lips, “it’s getting stronger every second.”

“I told you,” I say, voice thick with emotion. “You’re mine.”

Kasha surges forward on her toes and fuses her mouth to mine with a desperation that tastes like euphoria. Her fingers thread into the back of my hair, yanking me closer as if I might slip through her grasp otherwise.

But the kiss ends too soon.

Natalia clears her throat. “As riveting as all this mating magic is, I’d like my payment now.”

Kasha doesn’t even look at her. “Tomorrow,” she growls, her voice rough with need and exhaustion. “I’ll bring it to you tomorrow.”

“Kasha—” Natalia starts.

But my mate turns on her with a warning snarl that has even the unshakable witch taking a step back. “Thank you for your help. Truly. But I said tomorrow, Natalia. And I meant it.”

I can’t help the grin that spreads across my face as I watch her reclaim every ounce of her strength. This is the woman I sensed from the moment I found her. Fire and storm and survival.

She grabs my hand and tugs, and I let her lead me out of the park, the night wind chasing us as we run. Though, not from anything, but toward something new, toward our future.

She doesn’t stop until we reach a modest cottage tucked behind a fence painted deep forest green. The trim of the cream-colored house matches, and moonlight bathes the front yard in a pale glow that makes the whole place feel like a memory.

She pulls me up the wooden steps to the front door, and the second we cross the threshold, it’s like something snaps. Whatever restraint either of us had left burns away from the heat between our bodies.

She’s already tugging at my clothes, fumbling with buttons and fabric like the need in her is too fierce to contain.

“I don’t know if this is the bond or a wolf shifter thing,” she breathes, her voice shaking with want, “but I can’t wait, Talon.

” Her eyes meet mine. They’re wild and unguarded, but there’s no hesitation in them, only certainty as she adds, “I need you.”

And gods, those three words nearly level me.

“I’ve got you.” My voice is rough, more growl than speech.

I lift her into my arms, cradling her like she’s the most precious thing I’ve ever held, and carry her through the dimly lit hallway.

Her scent surrounds me—jasmine, now mixed with wild honey and newly fused with the hum of magic and rebirth.

It seeps into every part of me, branding her existence on my soul.

Part of me wants to slow down. To be the rational one. To press pause and ask her if this is what she really wants, if she’s ready to fully accept the bond after everything that’s happened tonight. But another part—one far more primal and honest—knows she’s already made her choice.

I feel her emotions like they’re my own now. The storm of loneliness that’s finally breaking. The ache for touch. The fire of want that has nothing to do with the magic and everything to do with me.

And I can’t ignore any of it.

I won’t.

Because I’ve spent too many years wandering without her, haunted by a bond I’d never felt. Now, that tether is whole. It pulls taut between us like a thread spun by the gods themselves.

Unless she asks me to stop or changes her mind, there’s no holding back.

Not tonight.

Not with her.

Not when she’s everything I’ve ever been willing to wait a lifetime for.