"Hmm?" I stilled when I saw the look on her perfect face. "What's wrong?"
"You gave me your blood."
It wasn't a question, so I waited, watching her gorgeous eyes as she spoke the words out loud.
"And you took my blood. The other night. When you kissed me."
"Yes," I said.
I could practically hear her mind spinning with the implications.
Quietly, she said, "I can't leave you now. Because it's true, isn't it? The bond between us. It's why I came to you at the beginning of all this. And you need me now."
I held myself very still, trying like hell not to show the panic racing through me. "Do you want to leave me?" My breath froze in my lungs as I waited for her response.
"No," she told me after a long pause. "And that's going to be the hard part."
She wasn't making any sense. "What do you mean?"
But she only gave me a sad smile. "You'll see."
My heart stopped, then broke into a million pieces as her eyes filled with tears. "Talin…"
I had no words for the emotions raging inside of me. Just crushed my mouth to hers in a kiss that was more claiming than caress, more possession than affection. She gasped against my lips, and I took advantage, sweeping my tongue into her mouth to taste her properly.
Blood and woman and magic and MINE.
She kissed me back with a hunger that matched my own, her fingers digging into my shoulders, her body arching against mine like she was trying to crawl inside me. Like she needed this as badly as I did.
No. She needed this more.
I could feel it through the bond now that I'd stopped fighting it. The hunger, the loneliness, the desperate ache of being separated from your other half. She'd been suffering just as much as I had, maybe more, because she hadn't had a century of practice at denying what she wanted.
The thought made me gentle the kiss, made me pull back enough to look at her. Her lips were swollen, her eyes glazed, her chest heaving with rapid breaths.
"I'm sorry," I said, because she needed to hear it. "I'm sorry I made you hurt." My fangs grazed her skin, and she shivered. Not with fear. With anticipation.
I carried Talin out into the night, the pull between us humming with rightness for the first time since I'd tasted her blood. She was exhausted and healing. I was injured and starving. We were both traumatized and terrified and had no idea what the hell we were doing.
But we were together.
And somehow, for now, that was enough.
Chapter 10
Dae-Jung
Ancient Magicks smelled like sage, old books, and secrets. I'd been here before. Plenty of times, actually, since Killian mated Lizzy and our two covens started playing nice together. But tonight the air felt heavier, charged with the kind of tension that made my fangs itch.
Or maybe that was just because Alice Moss was sitting three feet away from me, looking brighter than a star trapped in human form despite the seriousness of the situation.
I leaned against the wall near the back of the shop's secret room, arms crossed, trying to look casual. Bored, even. The last thing I needed was for anyone to notice the way my gaze kept drifting to her honey-blonde hair, the gentle curve of her neck, or the way her flowing rainbow dress moved around her legs when she shifted in her seat.
???. Focus.
Killian stood at the front of the room, Lizzy at his side. Judy Moss occupied the chair in the back, her expression and bright blue eyes giving her the appearance of someone who'd seen everything and wasn't impressed by any of it. The rest of the witches—Angel, Esme, and my Alice—filled the other seats, while we vampires held up the walls, since we could stand here all night without getting tired.
My Alice? Where the hell had that come from?
