CHAPTER 15
Talon released Sherry at the edge of the clearing in the forest and was gone in a flash. She swung around, heart pounding at a sickening pace against her ribs and adrenaline flooding her body, making her shake so hard the sword she gripped in her right hand rattled.
Everywhere she looked, people were locked in combat, the black-clad hunters of Archangel wielding swords and crossbows with deadly expertise while Talon’s pride fought with their bare hands.
Or as tigers.
Several of the large gold-and-black cats thundered past her, heading towards a group of Archangel hunters who were breaking cover at the far right of the village. The leader pounced, landing with his huge paws on the shoulders of one of the hunters and his hind legs ploughing into the man’s stomach. The tiger’s head came down, huge fangs bared, and Sherry flinched away, unable to watch as the shifter claimed the hunter’s neck.
A horrific scream rose above the din of battle and a cold shiver skated down her spine.
She shouldn’t be here.
This wasn’t her place.
She was mortal, untrained in combat, weak and vulnerable.
Dressed like the damned hunters who wanted to hurt the tigers.
A deep roar resonated through the village of wooden cabins and her gaze swung towards the source of it, fear of dying morphing into fear of witnessing the owner of that beautiful roar suffering that fate.
Talon launched at the back of a hunter, his broadsword gripped in both hands, held low at his left side. When he reached the man, he brought the sword up in a devastating arc, slicing straight across the hunter’s back. The man unleashed a roar of his own, filled with pain and fear, and went down hard. Talon didn’t stop. He leaped over the man, grabbed a large naked guy by the nape of his neck, and pulled the male behind him as he thrust forwards with his blade.
It punctured the side of another Archangel hunter, sending the man staggering backwards and then slumping down into a heap on the dirt.
“Godsdammit!” Talon turned on the silver-haired male, his amber eyes bright and wild as he came to face him, running over every inch of him. She could almost feel his relief when he saw the male was unharmed, although he didn’t show it. He shoved the male’s shoulder, forcing him to plant one bare foot behind him to stop himself from being tipped off balance. “Fucking be more careful.”
“Love you too, Brother.” The silver-haired shifter gave Talon the finger and pushed him away with his other hand. “I had that. You know I did. You always have to push in and take over. Always have to be top tiger. You’ve been like it since birth.”
Talon huffed and glanced her way, scrubbed a hand around the back of his neck in a way that told her how awkward he felt about her hearing this. Why?
The male’s piercing ice-blue eyes shifted to her. “Byron is going to love this.”
“Fuck off, Grey,” Talon snapped, flashing fangs. “I save your arse and all you can give me is lip?”
Grey growled, baring his own white daggers.
The two stared at each other in silence.
Sherry began to feel a little awkward herself.
Not because of the way they were behaving, but because she was starting to feel as if she was staring into a strange sort of mirror as she looked at them, one that reflected certain aspects of Talon but reversed others.
Grey was almost identical to him.
Only his silver hair and blue eyes set them apart.
They were more than brothers.
They were twins.
Talon cracked first.
He grinned, grabbed Grey by the nape of his neck and dragged him into a hug. “Fuck… I thought I’d never see you again.”
Grey resisted for all of a second before he was wrapping his arms around his brother and squeezing him tightly while slapping his back. “You know I wouldn’t let that happen. I’d just about convinced Byron to let me look for you. Knew some shit was up. Something just felt off. Still does.”
Those piercing blue eyes slid her way.
Talon pulled back and frowned at his twin. “Nothing’s off here.”
It wasn’t? Or was it? She wasn’t sure, wished she knew what the hell they were talking about in code, because it was certainly about her.
Her eyes widened as two Archangel hunters came rushing from beyond a cabin to the right of them.
“Talon!”
He spotted them before she had even started to scream his name, turning on a pinhead to block the sword one of the men swung at him.
Grey had shifted before she could catch up with what was happening and pounced on the hunter on the left, taking him down and savaging his chest with his claws as he ravaged the man’s throat with his fangs.
Sherry stared at him, fascination sweeping through her to make her forget the battle that raged around them.
The huge tiger lifted his head, frosty blue eyes swinging her way, and bared his fangs at her on a hiss, his fur stained with blood around his mouth and on his paws.
He was beautiful.
White and black.
Not a drop of amber on him.
And he was gone before she could gather herself, sprinting into the fray again, tackling a huntress as she went for one of the women frantically trying to usher two children to safety.
Talon jogged back to Sherry. “Sorry… he tends to react like that the first time someone sees him.”
Because he was different, and he probably felt it more keenly than any tiger because his twin had come out normal, fur a striking shade of deep gold and black.
She shook her head, and smiled when Talon took her hand, pressing his thumb against her palm. He stared at them, a myriad of emotions sweeping across his face, all too brief for her to catch and decipher.
When he lifted his golden eyes to hers, they were sombre and distant. “I didn’t want you here.”
She stepped closer to him, settled her hand on his bare chest, over the tiger inked on his left pectoral, and looked up into his eyes. “I know… but I want to be here.”
With him.
She didn’t want him to face this alone, or Byron once this battle was done. She wanted to be there for him.
“Come on.” He tugged on her hand and she ran with him, skirting the edge of the battle.
A fire raged to the right of the village now, one of the smaller cabins ablaze, the flames reaching high to dance in the darkness, releasing bursts of sparks as a gentle breeze blew and caught them.
Bastards.
Why was Archangel doing this?
Fire swept through her blood too, igniting it and rousing her courage. That courage rose higher as she glanced off to her left and saw a huge jaguar savagely battling two Archangel hunters who had cornered another woman.
Kyter was fighting.
She looked just beyond him as the air there shimmered and Bleu suddenly appeared, his spear making swift work of one of the hunters for Kyter, earning him a low growl of disapproval. Iolanthe finished up with a huntress and crossed the distance between her and her mate in a heartbeat, appearing between him and Bleu.
“No… we are meant to be fighting Archangel, not each other.” She fixed Bleu with a withering glare, which he returned one-hundred-fold. The guy knew how to make his feelings clear with just a look, she had to give him that. Iolanthe turned that glare on her mate. “Shoo… go help the others.”
Kyter grunted and loped off, joining a pack of tigers as they prowled through the throng of hunters and shifters.
“This way.” Talon tugged her towards the burning cabin. “We need to see if anyone is in there.”
Sherry followed, heart thundering wildly, making her dizzy as she scanned her surroundings, fearing someone would get the jump on her. Another team of Archangel hunters broke out of the forest to her right and Talon snarled, released her and leaped into action.
Hell.
He had been made for war.
She skidded to a halt near the blazing house, stunned by how swiftly he moved, how graceful he appeared as he ducked and dodged, and swung the broadsword as if it weighed nothing, as if it was all a dance, perfectly choreographed and practiced a thousand times. He cut down two hunters with one swing, twisted and stabbed a third in his thigh, crippling him.
The fourth aimed a crossbow at his back and Sherry reacted without thinking, all of her fear and the battle drifting away in an instant as she launched towards him and raised her sword. The man turned towards her, his crossbow swinging with him, and she brought her blade down hard in a diagonal arc.
The hunter’s finger pressed against the trigger.
Her sword sliced down his left shoulder and across his chest.
The tinny odour of blood flooded the air and her stomach rebelled.
The hunter grunted and collapsed to his knees, the crossbow falling from his hands as he looked down at the blade sticking out of his stomach, pointed towards her.
Talon’s blade.
Her warrior tiger stood behind the man, his amber eyes cold as he stared down at the back of his head and twisted the sword, ripping a shriek from the hunter. He pressed his bare foot against the male’s back and kicked forwards, drawing his sword back at the same time and pulling it free.
The man groaned and landed on his side.
Sherry continued to stare at him, at the blood that pooled beneath him and coated the edge of her silver sword.
She hadn’t killed him, but she had wanted to.
She felt numb.
“Sherry,” Talon barked and approached her slowly.
Odd.
He looked worried, as if she was about to fall apart.
His amber eyes dropped.
Hers fell too.
Landed on the slim wooden bolt sticking out of her thigh.
What?
She blinked, mind fraying, unable to process what she was seeing as a dark slick patch crept down the front of her black fatigues.
“Gods,” Talon growled and eased onto his knees in front of her.
He tipped his head back, eyes seeking hers, searching them.
For permission.
She nodded slowly, closed her eyes and steeled herself, aware of what he was going to do and that when it happened, the pleasant numbness she was enjoying would be obliterated by pain.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
All the warning she had.
She screamed as white-hot pain blazed over her thigh and burrowed into her hip bone, so fierce she turned away and vomited. Darkness swept over her but strong arms held her, anchored her to the world together with his deep voice as it murmured in her ear, telling her how strong she was and how brave, and whispering other things to her through those words, things that told her of his heart, and echoed what was in her own.
Sherry sank against him, using his strength, taking all that she could from him because she refused to pass out. Not here. Not now. His pride were still in danger, and if she lost consciousness, he would be too. She knew it deep in her heart. She would be a distraction, and she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if that got him killed.
“Talon!” A soft female voice rose above the growls and grunts surrounding her.
Talon shifted against her, and she wearily opened her eyes and looked at him. Her vision wobbled, the pain flowing through her still so intense that it stole her breath. His handsome face lightened, filling with concern as he looked off to his right.
Sherry followed his gaze, blinked to clear her vision, and stared at the beautiful woman running towards them, her deep gold dress whipping around her long legs and a small white bag bouncing around in her left hand.
A vicious hiss sounded in her ears again, and she tried to shoo it away, didn’t want to listen to it because she was bone-deep tired of being jealous of every beautiful woman who knew Talon.
She didn’t want to be that way anymore, didn’t want to feel threatened by every stunning female who so much as looked at him, all because they belonged with him more than she ever could.
Because they were all immortals.
Tigers.
“Maya,” Talon snapped, darkness falling like a shadow across his face as his black eyebrows dipped low, narrowing his amber eyes. “What the hell are you doing outside?”
Maya looked over her shoulder as she stopped in front of him, her long black hair falling down the left side of her chest and her amber eyes seeking something. The place where she was meant to be?
Why did Talon want her away from the fight?
To protect her?
Sherry looked up at him as he held her in his arms, still kneeling on the floor with her, clutching her close to him.
Yet she felt she was drifting away, or was that him?
She could see the love in his eyes as he looked at this woman, the deep affection, and it made her realise he had never looked at her that way. There had been desire, lust, and maybe affection, but not love.
This was the way he looked at someone he loved.
Sherry tried to push out of his arms, but he huffed and clucked his tongue at her, and held her even closer, crushing her to him. When she kept shoving at his chest, he heaved a long sigh, and looked from her to the woman, and back again.
“This is Maya… my reckless sister who is meant to be in the main cabin with the other females and children.” Talon gave her a pointed look. “I’m assuming Byron issued that order?”
Maya’s cheeks pinkened, and then her eyes flashed fiercely. “I can fight.”
Talon huffed. “I don’t have time to argue with you. Go back.”
“No.” The slender shifter stood her ground, but her hands shook as she held them at her sides and Sherry could see the fear building inside her, recognised it because it was building in her again too. “I saw her hurt… I wanted to help.”
He huffed again. “Fine.”
Before Sherry could protest, Talon had hauled her onto her feet and into his arms, lifting her like some damned weak princess.
“I can still fight.” She pressed her hands against his shoulders and fought another sickening wave of pain that spread outwards from her thigh, hoping he wouldn’t see it.
His amber eyes slid her way. “Not you too.”
He couldn’t have sounded more exasperated if he had tried.
A roar echoed around the woods.
“Byron,” Talon hissed and looked ahead of them, all the irritation leaving his eyes, swiftly replaced with worry.
Sherry looked towards the centre of the village.
Ten hunters fought there, surrounding a single large tiger.
The animal hissed and swiped at them, forcing them to dodge backwards to avoid its claws, but they were closing in, preparing to strike.
“Go,” Sherry whispered and looked back at Talon. “He needs you.”
He swallowed hard and looked down at her, and her heart ached. He had never looked so torn, so afraid, as if she was asking him to do the impossible by leaving her yet he felt the pressing need to go.
She cupped his cheek with her left hand. “Go. Maya will take care of me.”
Talon glanced at his sister. She nodded. His face contorted in a vicious grimace and he growled through his teeth as he looked from Sherry to Byron and back again.
His brother needed him, and he was wasting time.
She was going to make this decision for him, because he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if something happened to his brother, and she would never forgive herself either.
She shoved hard, pushed right out of his arms and landed on the dirt with a spine-jolting thud that had her biting back a cry as fresh pain rolled through her.
“Go!” she snapped when he still dawdled, staring down at her.
“You dare get hurt,” he bit out, deep voice a growl of thunder, and then he was gone.
Maya beamed at her. “He really likes you.”
He did?
She looked at Maya for an answer to that question, but the black-haired tigress was focused on her white bag, pulling bandages from it in a long stream and cursing as they got tangled.
Sherry tracked Talon as he barrelled into the group of hunters, only realising as he grabbed one and hurled him away from Byron that he was bare handed, his sword forgotten. Panic began to creep and curl through her as he fought, knocking the arms and wrists of any hunter with a sword to stop them from landing their attacks.
He needed a weapon.
Or to shift.
Byron was fighting in his tiger form, Grey beside him now, both majestic and vicious tigers. Why wasn’t Talon joining them?
“Shift, dammit,” she muttered.
Maya paused and looked over at the fight, her voice laced with a sombre edge. “Oh, Talon.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Before she could ask, Maya looked back at her, golden eyes awash with sorrow.
“He has a thing about tradition… when… how long has it been since he escaped and Jayna died?”
Sherry wracked her brain. “Two… maybe three days.”
“Not long enough. He’s mourning Jayna… he can’t shift yet.”
But Byron had shifted, and Jayna had been intended for him. Wasn’t he mourning her too? Did Byron care about her at all?
“It’s a stupid tradition,” Sherry grumbled and grunted as she moved onto her knees and then slowly rose onto her feet, ignoring Maya as she tried to stop her.
Damn, her leg hurt like a bitch. She put weight on it but fire screamed up her body and she barely stopped herself from crying out.
Sword.
She had to get the sword to Talon.
She wasn’t strong enough right now to carry his broadsword, so she plucked her smaller blade from the dirt.
“Get out of here,” she said, but Maya didn’t move. She looked at her, caught the concern in her eyes as she watched Talon, and Talon alone. She didn’t fear for her other brothers, because they were strong as tigers, swift and taking down hunters together. Talon was fighting alone, four on one, and with only his hands as weapons. Sherry placed her hand on Maya’s shoulder and gently squeezed, and Maya glanced at her. “Go. I’ll make sure he’s okay. I really like him too.”
Maya managed a smile and nodded, and then she was gone, ducking past Iolanthe and Bleu where they were taking down the last of a group near the largest cabin and disappearing inside.
Sherry clutched the blade and hobbled towards the centre of the village, her focus locked on Talon. She moved as quickly as she could, most of the hunters uninterested in fighting her because she was dressed like them and the tigers thinking twice the moment they neared her.
Could they smell Talon on her?
“Talon,” she whispered, heart screaming across the distance between them that she was coming.
A shockwave of heat rolled over her and she swiftly turned to her left and staggered backwards, away from the nearest cabin as fire exploded from the front door and the small window, and licked up along the porch.
The anger that had begun to blaze inside her earlier when Archangel had set the first cabin alight to flush out the women and children burned hotter.
It became an inferno of fury as she spotted two male hunters and a female pulling three women from the next cabin along, and a fourth hunter outside it with a canister of gasoline.
Bastards.
A dark-haired and very naked man came out of nowhere and sliced the huntresses throat with his claws, freeing one of the women, and took on a hunter next, causing him to lose his grip on another. She ran straight towards Sherry.
The hunter with the canister looked her way, and his eyes narrowed as he spotted her. “You… I saw you with one of them. Traitor! She’s working with them.”
Sherry’s blood turned to ice.
Someone roared.
Everything slowed.
He dropped the canister, turning at the same time, bringing his other hand up as the third hunter shoved the last woman away from him and reached for his hip.
Both drew guns and had them aimed in an instant, one directly at Sherry and the other at the running woman as she passed her.
Her heart missed a beat as both guns fired, a flash of light the only warning she had as her ears rang and she stared death in the face.
A wall of darkness came down across her vision and she flinched away, heard a scream she thought might have been her own and smelled blood, thick and strong, choking her.
Male screams joined hers, the scent of blood growing stronger, and then the sound of boots pounding the dirt. Wind whipped past her, something jostled her, and someone growled.
When silence fell, and she could breathe again, awareness of the world gradually came back, little by little.
Someone was holding her.
Someone who smelled like Heaven.
Sherry burrowed into him, wanting to be closer still, afraid she was about to lose him, because this was the end for her.
Wasn’t it?
“I want a fucking word with you,” someone snarled.
With her?
Talon moved back, a pained hiss leaving him. “Later.”
“Now,” the man barked. “You fail to protect my future bride, lead Archangel to our pride, and then you insult me further by proving yourself incapable of protecting one of my current brides?”
She cracked her eyes open and they widened when she saw the woman sprawled on the ground near her, her eyes sightlessly staring at her and a dark patch covering her back.
Naked masculine legs filled the space just beyond her, and Sherry tracked them upwards, to their owner’s face.
The black-haired male scowled down at her, eyes like fire in the low light.
He sneered at Talon. “You certainly managed to protect your mate though.”
Mate?
Talon swallowed hard as she looked at him, but he refused to look at her, kept his profile to her and his eyes fixed on his brother.
Those eyes slowly closed and he hung his head. “It’s true. I failed Jayna… and I failed Alicia… and I did choose to protect my fated one over her…” He lifted his head and fixed hard eyes back on his brother, and bit out, “But tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing if our positions had been reversed.”
Hell.
It was Sherry’s turn to swallow hard as her mouth dried out.
She was Talon’s fated one?
Working with Kyter and Cavanaugh had told her everything she needed to know about this particular aspect of shifter life. They could fall in love with anyone, but they all had a single fated mate, one they felt was made for them and with whom they could have a deep and powerful bond. She was human though. Sure, she felt connected to him, deeply drawn to him, but being his fated one? It seemed so impossible.
Byron looked as if he might strike Talon for saying that, and then all the tension left his wide shoulders and he eased back a step.
“It doesn’t excuse what you did.” Byron’s amber eyes lost only a drop of their iciness and his tone remained as frigid as the Antarctic. “You led them here.”
“Jayna led them here,” Sherry blurted and flinched away when his cold eyes dropped to her.
Talon growled, and she had the feeling it had been a warning to his brother because Byron shifted his eyes away from her. “It’s true. Jayna told Archangel our location. I didn’t know, or I would have come here sooner.”
“You should have come home straight away.”
Sherry wasn’t going to sit still and let him speak to Talon like that, treating him as if he had done everything wrong when he knew nothing about what had happened. “Talon couldn’t… Archangel were hunting him, and he was severely injured.”
“She’s telling the truth,” Kyter put in as he tugged on his trousers and buttoned them, seemingly oblivious to the black looks all the tigers gave him.
Or ignoring them.
Iolanthe stood at his side, cleaning her black blade and watching everyone closely, making it clear that if anyone dared to attack her mate just because he was a jaguar and not a tiger, she was going to skewer them.
Sherry would be right there with her.
Bleu too.
He hadn’t taken his violet eyes off Byron the entire time he had been speaking with Talon.
“Talon came to my nightclub for sanctuary,” Kyter said. “Sherry took him somewhere safe so he could heal.”
“Once he was strong enough, we infiltrated Archangel.” Sherry needed that one out there, because no damn way she was going to let Byron get away with not knowing just how much effort all of them had put into protecting the tigers and all the immortal species. “We got all the information we could and that’s when we found out Archangel knew this location. As soon as I told Talon, we teleported here.”
Byron looked down at Talon.
“It’s true. We have to move.” The solemn edge to Talon’s deep voice, and the way his eyes drifted around their burning village, made Sherry want to hold him until his pain ebbed away and he found his strength again.
They had won the fight against Archangel, had left none of the hunters alive by the looks of things, but they had lost tigers in the process, and their home.
Byron growled. “I decide when we move. Not you.”
Talon didn’t react to that. She felt a tremor run through him, swore she could feel a flicker of his emotions, his hurt, and she wanted to lash out at Byron and retaliate for him. She did her best to bite her tongue for his sake, aware it would only make the situation worse.
And in a way, she couldn’t blame Byron for being angry.
Or any of the tigers that surrounded her, licking their wounds, tending to each other, and to the dead.
Archangel had attacked them, and Byron wanted to lash out at someone, needed to blame someone after their home had been violated and their pride members killed.
By humans.
Sherry became increasingly aware of the tigers that surrounded her, a wall of men hemming her and Talon, and her friends, in against one of the cabins.
She became increasingly aware that she was human too, the only human left in the village now, and she was dressed like an Archangel hunter.
Talon curled his arm around her waist and pulled her closer, as if he had felt her rising fear and had sensed the air shift, growing darker around them. His eyes didn’t leave his brother’s, held them calmly, a steely edge to his and the set of his jaw. His fingers flexed against her, muscles coiling in readiness as he waited for Byron to make a move.
Byron stared him down.
Raised his hand.
Talon tensed.
Byron growled.
“Move it. We’re leaving, and we’re leaving tonight.”
The group surrounding her splintered, everyone rushing into action, and the darkness lifted, drawing all of her fear out of her. She sagged against Talon and drew slow breaths to steady her pounding heart.
Byron continued to stare down at Talon, silent so long she began to feel nervous again. A need grew inside her, a fierce desire to take hold of him and shake him until he said what was on his mind. She needed to know, because she feared it was something about her, and something that was going to hurt her.
He glanced at the other tigers as they hurried around the village, and then looked back at Talon and softly said, “We’re leaving… you know what that means?”
“I do,” Talon husked, his voice steady, filled with certainty that had those damned nerves rising swifter, flooding her head with painful images she didn’t want to see but couldn’t shut out.
His brother huffed, pivoted on his heel and walked away.
Sherry looked at Talon, not following. Why was Byron upset? Shouldn’t she be the one upset about what was going to happen? Talon refused to look at her. His eyes remained locked on his brother’s back.
Byron stopped a short distance away, and looked back over his shoulder. “Someday… if she makes the leap… they’ll be ready then.”
She still didn’t understand, but whatever was happening, it had gravity to it, weight that settled on her chest and pressed down on her.
Iolanthe, Kyter and Bleu muttered something about Kincaid and disappeared, leaving her alone with Talon.
Alone, but hurting.
Unsure, yet afraid.
“You’re leaving?” she whispered, and he finally looked at her. Her heart broke a little as his eyes said that he was, that she was the one who should be upset and not Byron, but she held it together, clutching the fractured pieces and refusing to let it fall apart.
Refusing to let herself fall apart.
Until he gently cupped her cheek, tilted her head up so their eyes met, and lowered his lips towards hers, and whispered against them, “I’m leaving with you.”
She really didn’t understand now. “Your pride—”
“The pride will still be a part of me… and I will still be a part of it… but right now… many of them will find it hard to trust humans.”
Humans like her.
Wait. Did that mean he wanted her to be with him?
“What I did,” he started, sighed and tipped his head back, staring up at the stars as if they could guide him or give him strength. He lowered his head again, meeting her gaze once more. “You are my fated one… but it wasn’t the reason I chose to protect you over… it isn’t the reason I put you first.”
His eyes told her the things he couldn’t find the courage to say, shone with the love he held in his heart for her, revealing it to her at last.
She felt it too, that quickening of the pulse, that warming of her heart whenever she looked at him and he looked at her. It was more than desire. It was deeper than that.
Deeper than love.
Her gut whispered to her, telling her that she was Talon’s fated one and it didn’t matter that she was human. They were destined, made for each other. Soul mates. This time love would work out just fine, and it wouldn’t be messy and painful, it would be wonderful.
All she had to do was give it a chance.
Give Talon a chance.
She just had to take that leap Byron had mentioned.
Whatever the hell that was.
Talon smoothed his fingers across her brow, distracting her before she could ask about it, and brushed them down her right cheek, his eyes holding hers. “It’s going to take a while before they’re ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“Ready to accept you,” he murmured and rubbed his thumb across her lower lip, making it tingle and sending a shiver of heat over her skin.
He gathered her closer.
Hissed.
She quickly pushed back and ran her eyes over him, charting all the wounds that littered his chest. None of them looked deep.
“Don’t fuss,” he said in a voice that made it clear she was going to fuss whether he commanded it or not. “It’s just a little hole.”
A hole?
Her eyes widened.
“Fuck… the bullet.” She had forgotten about the bullet that had been aiming for her.
A bullet that he had blocked.
A bullet he had taken for her.
“It’ll heal.” He swatted her hands away when she tried to get him to turn around so she could see his back and the wound. “Let me finish.”
He sounded so serious that she stopped trying to see and stilled, her eyes leaping back to his, that strange gravity pressing down on her again.
“When a tiger finds his mate… she becomes his home… she becomes his pride in part… a new pride… made up of just him and his mate. You’re my pride now, and my home is wherever you are… so one day… if you’re ready and you step into my world… and into the pride born of my blood, then it will become my home again. Fuck, this isn’t coming out right. I never figured I would have to make this speech.” He looked beautifully irritated, confused and afraid at the same time.
“Why not?” She frowned at him. “Because it’s rare for tigers to find their fated one?”
He shook his head.
“Byron said something about making the leap… and now you’re talking about me stepping into your world… but feline shifters… I know a few things, Talon, and I know cat shifters can’t turn people… you’re all born as shifters… but I’m confused because you sound as if you’re not talking about me joining the pride as a human.” Her voice shook and she cursed her nerves and how much this was affecting her, tearing her apart inside as she tried to figure everything out. She wanted to be with Talon, but how was that even possible? Unless. “If we mated… would I become immortal like humans do when they mate with demons or elves?”
He looked away, sighed and solemnly shook his head.
Sorrow arrowed through her, stronger than she had ever felt it, ripping into her as she thought about that and the fact she would only have a short time with Talon even if she did take the leap and they mated, that she would continue to age while he remained the same. She had foolishly started to dream of a life with him, one where they could be together forever, like Iolanthe and Kyter, and Cavanaugh and Eloise. She had wanted that for them. Maybe this love was fated to be messy and painful after all and her gut was wrong.
Talon quietly turned to face her.
Sucked down a deep breath.
Rocked her entire world on its axis.
“If we mated… you would become a tiger.”