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A release.

A pulse.

Another release.

And our breaths were the rhythm.

And the knot pulled back, triggering these tiny sparks of aftershock to slip through me.

I whimpered.

“God, yes.” He kissed the corners of my mouth. “I know.”

I was about to speak when this awareness came over me. I somehow knew that the orange sigils along his cock begun to glow bright within.

Holy shit. What sort of magic is this?

Even more important. . .how could I know? That was the question I was scared to explore.

Seconds later, the glowing inside me, faded one by one. I could feel the sigils going dark. It was the exact experience of walking down Frenchmen Street at closing time, watching the bars shut their lights off in a row, the music quieting door by door until only the river was left talking.

And right when the last sigil darkened, the knot eased free.

The back of my neck throbbed.

Sighing, Yoichi pulled his cock out of me. “Fuck. I didn’t want to leave, but. . .”

I quirked my brows.

His jaw tightened. “But I have to take care of you.”

“Take care of me?”

“Yes, little witch.” He licked his lips. “Are you hungry or thirsty?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? What do you need?”

“I just want you.” Shock hit me at my answer, but somehow it was also the truth. I’d spent my night shooting him and then running, and I also now could not live without him. Both had become true in this oddly fascinating world.

Red glimmered at the edge of my vision.

I turned in that direction.

Oh, shit.

I looked down and spotted a thin, sparkling red thread wrapped around my left pinky.

What is this?

The sparkling thread shimmered, stretched through the air, and curled around Yoichi’s smallest finger resting beside my head.

Oh, fuck.

My breaths skipped. It was so bright, so delicate, yet, so impossibly strong too. Then, I blinked, and it was gone. Only my bare pinky remained.

It’s real. Fuck. If I needed another sign that we were fated mates. . .there it was.