Page 17 of Make Me
Her eyes flicker briefly, and for a heartbeat, the cold distance between us softens into something fragile and hopeful. She doesn’t pull away, merely holds the contact as if testing its weight.
She swallows hard, her gaze dropping to our joined hands before she speaks with a mixture of resolve and aching vulnerability.
“I…” she begins, her voice quiet. “I need to see Natalia.” Her words hover between confession and command, a fragile lifeline. “She’s a powerful witch here in Crossroads, and I need her help to…unbind my wolf,” she adds, and there’s a tremor in her tone that betrays emotions I’m sure she’d rather I not see.
For a moment, her eyes search mine—an invitation, maybe a challenge—as she meets my gaze with something like certainty. “You can come with me if you want,” she says softly, the offer earnest despite the lingering pain. “But I can’t wait any longer. I’ve hurt her long enough.”
At first, I think she’s talking about the witch, but then she places a hand over her chest and I realize she’s talking about herself.
“Are you more than fae?” I ask, because even though I could tell before that there’s something more to her, I want her to feel comfortable telling me.
She nods, looking away from me, dropping her face. “Half fae, half wolf shifter.”
There’s a sadness in her words. Almost as if she’s ashamed.
I step closer, lifting her chin with two fingers, careful and slow. “You should be proud of that,” I tell her. “Two powerful lineages, two worlds of magic. Anyone who sees less in you for it is just afraid of what you are.”
Her breath falters, but then she pulls back.
Not harshly but the warmth of her slips away all the same, and it stings more than I’m prepared for.
“Let’s go.”
She doesn’t wait. Just walks through the mangled doorway, head held high, shoulders squared like armor she might not realize she’s still wearing.
I stay there for a beat, watching her go, before I move to catch up.
Kasha might be willing to believe me now, but something tells me she’s not going to let me in without effort and possibly even a bit of faith.
Luckily for me, I’ve never given up easily.
Chapter 6
KASHA
I’m not sure how I’m still upright after everything Vaelora said in that hallway and what Talon confessed, but somehow, I keep moving. One step at a time, one shaky breath after the next. I refuse to stop now. Not until I know the truth for myself.
Vaelora may have shown up with her mysterious powers and her truths, but I can’t take her certainty and make it my own. Ineedto feel the bond. I want the racing heart, the tingling skin, the kind of breathless recognition I’ve seen in my friends when they look at their mates. I want toknowTalon is mine the moment I look at him.
Being told we’re fated either by him or even her isn’t enough. Not for me.
Which is how, once I use the portal spell to return back to the center of Crossroads, I end up practically dragging him through the streets toward Natalia’s shop, chasing a hope I’m not sure I deserve.
My thoughts twist with every step, tangled between disbelief and desperation. I didn’t just bind my wolf butsacrificedher. A piece of me has been missing all this time, and I had no idea how much I gave up to survive.
I tell myself Natalia will help. That if anyone can restore what I’ve lost, it’s her. But even if shecan, what happens after that?
What if my wolf rejects me? What if she forces a shift and goes feral, claiming control I can’t take back?
What if I deserve it?
The closer we get to the shop, the less those thoughts feel like fears and more like facts. My life already feels half-empty, and if this doesn’t work—if she can’t forgive me—maybe becoming a rogue wolf isn’t punishment. Maybe it’s fate.
The streets of Crossroads are quiet, the usual nighttime hum of magic and muffled conversation dulled beneath the pressure in my chest. Talon stays silent, his presence a steady thread of calm I didn’t know I was craving until now.
I catch myself glancing at him more than once. At the way his dark hair shifts in the moonlight, how his jaw flexes like he’s chewing on too many thoughts at once. How he walks half a step behind me, like he’s guarding my back without saying a word.
It’s unsettling and comforting and could possibly betoo muchif I let it.
