Page 27 of Make Me
“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 moonlightbathes 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 achefor 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.
Chapter 10
KASHA
The moment the door clicks shut behind us, and Talon begins carrying me toward my room, it feels as though something inside me finally stops unraveling. Like I’ve spent years clawing at the edges of my own skin, trying to remember how it feels to be alive. Now, I don’t have to remember. I just have to feel.
And I do. I feeleverything.
His touch, his need, my need, the tether between us humming with heat and promise and something sacred.
I know this isn’t just about lust. It’s not just about the mate bond or some supernatural urgency pulsing within our veins.
