Chapter 266

This is the moment everything changes. I feel it in my bones before I feel it in my body. I can feel the Veil itself leaning in, the ancient magic coiling around us like it’s been starving for this exact second for years. The glowing symbols pulse brighter, gold and white light licking up our legs, but all I can see is her. My Macey. My best friend. My heartbeat. The only light I’ve ever been afraid to look at directly because it hurt too much to hope. She’s trembling in my arms, but it isn’t fear. It’s the same earthquake I feel in my chest, the one that says finally, finally, finally. I slide one hand into her hair, cradling the back of her head like she’s made of starlight, and kiss her again. Slower this time. Deeper. Like I’m trying to tell her every secret I’ve swallowed since we were younger, and I realised I would burn the

world down before I let anyone hurt her.

Her mouth opens under mine with a soft, broken sound that spears straight through me. I taste salt, tears or moonlight, I don’t know, and I drink it in like it’s the only thing that can keep me alive. My other hand slides down her spine, pressing her closer until there’s no space left between us, until I can feel her heart hammering against my ribs like it’s trying to reach mine.

“Elliot,” she breathes against my lips, and my name in her voice is a prayer I never deserved but will spend the rest of eternity trying to

be worthy of.

I pull back just far enough to look at her. Really look. Moonlight spills over her face, catching on the curve of her cheek, the parted swell of her mouth, the fierce, steady love in her eyes. She has never been more beautiful, and she has always been the most beautiful thing

I’ve ever seen.

“I love you,” I say, voice raw. “I have loved you so long it’s the only language I remember how to speak.”

Her eyes shimmer. “Then speak it with your hands,” she whispers. “With your mouth. With everything you are.”

I kiss her again, down her neck, jaw, the soft spot just below her ear that makes her gasp my name. We sink to the ground together slowly, the soft grass and glowing runes cradling us like the Veil itself is laying us down on an altar. My shirt is gone first, then hers, fingers shaking with too much want and too much awe. Every inch of skin I uncover feels sacred. I kiss her collarbone, the slope of her breast, the frantic pulse at her throat. I’m learning and mapping her like she’s the only territory I ever want to claim. Because she is. When I settle over her, when I finally slide home inside her, we both cry out at the same moment. It isn’t just bodies joining. It’s souls. It’s every lonely night, every near–miss, every time I watched her laugh with someone else and died a little inside. It’s every promise l

never got to make until now.

I move slowly at first, savouring the way she arches beneath me, the way her thighs tighten around my hips like she never wants to let go. The magic swells with every thrust, gold light weaving tighter around us, the air thick with ozone and wildflowers and the scent of her skin. Her nails rake down my back, and I shudder, burying my face in her neck.

“Macey,” I rasp, “look at me.”

Her eyes open and they’re glowing, luminous, ancient and brand new all at once. I see the goddess in her, the queen she’s about to become, and I have never been more proud or more humbled.

“I’m yours,” I tell her. “Every broken, starving, monstrous piece of me. Please take it. Take all of it.”

She surges up to kiss me, hard and claiming, and then her mouth moves to the juncture of my neck and shoulder. I feel her teeth graze, testing the skin, and my whole body locks in anticipation.

“Do it,” I breathe. “Mark me. Make me yours forever.”

Her woll rises. I feel the shift in her energy, the primal surge and then her teeth sink deep. Pleasure–pain explodes through me, white hot and perfect. I groan her name like a dying man seeing heaven. The bond snaps into place with an almost audible crack, golden light flaring so bright I have to squeeze my eyes shut. I feel her in my veins, in my soul, in the marrow of my bones. Mine. Finally mine.

But I’m not finished. I slide my hand between us, palm flattening over her heart. My soul – dark, smoky, threaded with need – uncoils from my chest like living ink. It pours into my hand, eager and desperate to reach her.

“I love you,” I whisper against her lips. “Let me give you my heart. The real one. The one that’s only ever beaten for you.”

She nods, tears slipping down her temples into her hair as she whispers, “I love you, Elliot. Make me yours, forever,” and I press my hand

harder against her skin.

The moment my soul touches hers, everything stops. The whole world ceases to exist. It’s just her and me. There is only the feeling of sinking into warm, endless light. My darkness flows into her, merging, twining, becoming something new. I feel her wolf curl around it protectively, feel the goddess in her welcome me home. A mark blooms beneath my palm, my heart, rendered in swirling black ink, veins and all, spreading across her chest like spilled midnight. It pulses once, twice, then settles into her skin like it was always meant to be

there.

Then everything starts to move again, and I swear the veil sings. Golden light erupts around us, shooting skyward in joyous spirals. Power floods through our bond — hers, mine, ours — ancient and new, queen and consort, light and shadow finally made whole. I collapse against her, shaking, pressing open–mouthed kisses to the mark I just made. She holds me so tightly I can barely breathe, but I don’t need

air. I only need her.

“We’re one,” she whispers, voice cracked with wonder.

I lift my head to look at her. My Macey. My Soul mate. Mine. “We’re one,” I echo.

And for the first time in what was my endless life, I am not lonely anymore. I am home.