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“You were free where it mattered.” He touches my temple, then my heart. “In here. In here. They never broke you, Lila. That’s what I saw the moment I met you. That’s what I fell in love with.”

Tears prick behind my eyes. “I still don’t understand how this happened so fast.”

“It doesn’t make sense to humans,” he acknowledges. “But to dragons, to magic… time measures differently. When you know, you know.”

My fingers find the mark on my neck, feeling the tenderness where his teeth pierced my skin. “And this—the bond—what does it mean, exactly?”

“It means we’re connected, always. Not just emotionally, but physically. Magically.” His expression grows serious. “We’ll feel each other’s pain, each other’s pleasure. Know when the other is in danger. Draw strength from each other when needed.”

“And if something happens to one of us?” The question feels necessary, even as it tears at something inside me.

“It would be… unbearable.” His honesty doesn’t surprise me. “Not fatal, but close. Part of your soul torn away.”

“So, no pressure,” I try to joke, but it falls flat.

His smile is gentle. “It’s already done, Lila. There’s no going back, even if we wanted to.”

Strangely, that doesn’t terrify me. I’ve developed a fine-tuned sense for cages. This doesn’t feel like one. It feels like…connection. Like finding the other half of something I hadn’t realized was broken.

“What happens now?” I ask. “With Elena. With Creed. With everything.”

He draws me closer, his heartbeat strong against my cheek. “Now we fight back. We take down the Syndicate. Stop the Circle. Make a world where our kind doesn’t have to hide or be hunted or control others to survive.”

“You make it sound simple.”

“It won’t be.” His arm tightens around me. “But we have something they don’t—truth. Love.”

“Love.” I test the word on my tongue. After years of never speaking it, never even thinking it, the syllable feels foreign. But right. “Is that really what this is?” It still seems unbelievable.

“What else would make a dragon throw himself against impossible odds? What else would make a witch risk everything for a daughter she hasn’t seen in decades?” His fingers trace patterns on my bare skin. “Love is the only thing worth dying for. The only thing worth living for, too.”

Outside the window, Seattle awakens to another day, unaware of the supernatural war brewing beneath its surface. Somewhere out there, Creed plots his next move. Malakai Steele gathers his forces. The world spins on, oblivious to magic and dragons and witches finding each other across impossible divides.

But here, in this moment, none of that matters. Only this—Talon’s heart beneath my ear, his arms around me, the mate bond humming between us like a perfect note sustained.

For the first time in twenty years, I am not alone.

For the first time in my life, I am truly free.

Chapter 33

Talon

Sunlight warms the bed, turning everything gold. I watch Lila beside me, her breathing steady, at ease. Her scent has changed, now carrying traces of mine beneath her own. Any dragon who encounters her will know. She is claimed. Protected. Loved.

The mark on her neck—the place where my teeth pierced her flesh—stands out against her pale skin. Already healed, it’s not a bruise or a scar, but something else. Something magical. A visible sign of an invisible connection.

“We should join the others,” I murmur, though every part of me wants to keep her here, safe in my arms.

She sighs, her breath warm against my skin. “I know. Elena’s waiting.” Her voice softens on her daughter’s name, longing evident in those two syllables.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I remind her, sensing her reluctance to leave the sanctuary we’ve created. “We have time.”

A smile blooms on her face, lighting her eyes in a way I’ve never seen before.

“Time,” she repeats, like it’s a gift she never expected to receive. “What a concept.”

We dress in borrowed clothes—mine from Caleb, hers from Elena, both ill-fitting. The humor of it breaks some tension, and her laugh—rare and precious—fills the room.

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