He had to do this to save her life.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Eros appearing in god-form. Invisible to humans, the god of love was easily discernible to Talon's Dark-Hunter senses.
"You sure?" Eros's voice echoed in his head.
Talon leaned over, kissed Sunshine gently on the lips, and then nodded.
He held her face in his hands, and stared at her brown eyes, waiting for the moment when they would turn dark with hatred. Waiting for her to stiffen and curse him.
Eros raised his bow up and shot it straight into Sunshine.
Talon swallowed as painful expectation tore through him.
Goodbye, my love.
She grimaced at him. "Ow! Talon, did you hit me?
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"
He shook his head and waited for the hatred to come into her eyes.
It didn't.
Seconds ticked by slowly as her frown deepened.
"I don't feel right." She rubbed her heart where Eros had shot her.
Then, amazingly, she looked up and focused her gaze on Eros. "Cupid?
"
Eros looked around nervously. "You can see me?
"
"Well, yeah," she said.
Eros shifted and looked a bit green.
Talon frowned as a bad feeling went through him. "What happened, Eros? Why doesn't she hate me?
"
Eros looked even more uncomfortable. "You two wouldn't happen to be soulmates, would you?
"
"Yes," Sunshine answered. "Psyche said we were.
"
Eros gave a sheepish grin. "Oops. I think I need to have a talk with my wife. Damn, she should have told me.
"
"Oops?" Talon repeated. "Eros,oops better not be in your vocabulary.
"
Eros cleared his throat. "No one told me you two were soulmates. See, this"—he held up his bow—"only works on lust and infatuation. Soulmates are a whole 'nother ball game. That kind of love, I
can't kill. Nothing can."
Sunshine gaped as she understood what was going on. In that moment, she wanted to strangle Talon.
"You tried to get him to make me hate you?"
Now Talon looked as sheepish as Eros. "Honey, I can explain.
"
She glared at him as rage rocked every particle of her body. "Oh, you're going to explain all right. How dare you try to monkey with my mind and heart? I don't appreciate your doing something so underhanded.
"
"Sunshine," her father said. "He's right. You can't have a future with him. He's not human.
"
"I don't care what he is. He and I have something together and I can't believe he'd do something like this.
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"
"I forbid you to see him anymore." Her father's tone was stern.
She turned her anger toward her father. "And I'm not thirteen. I don't care what you forbid or not, Daddy. This is between me and him.
"
"I will not watch you die again," Talon said slowly, stressing each word.
"And I will not be manipulated. Nor will I just give you up.
"
Talon turned and stormed out of the club, his emotions churning. He couldn't do this. He couldn't.
He had to let her go.
It was for both their sakes.
Without looking back, he went to his motorcycle. He got on it, but before he could kick-start it, Sunshine grabbed his arm.
"You're not going to get rid of me like this.
"
He bared his fangs at her. "Do you not understand what I am?
"
Sunshine swallowed. Suddenly everything Psyche had said made sense to her. He wasn't Speirr, the leader of his people. The frightened little boy who had turned his heart to stone in order to live. The man who had stolen Nynia's heart and then claimed her when no other would have.
This was Talon, the Dark-Hunter who spent eternity, protecting strangers from the dark evil of the night.
She loved him even more.
He made her heart sing. Without him, she couldn't even imagine her future.
She didn't know how to conquer everything that stood between them, but he was worth fighting for.
"I know what you are, Talon. You are the man I was born to love. Theonly man I was born to love."
"I am not a man. Not anymore."
"You are mine and I will not let you go without a fight."
Talon didn't know what to do. The tone of her voice tore through him.
He wanted to crush her to him and hold on to her forever.
He wanted to push her away and curse. To make her hate him.
She stepped into his arms and kissed him deeply.
Talon groaned at the taste of her. Although he knew he shouldn't, he pulled her across his bike and started it, then headed off into traffic.
His love and anger roiling, he drove them out of the city, all the way to the edge of his swamp. The entire time the scent and feel of her permeated him, making his emotions even more volatile. Her body was pressed so close to him that it was all he could focus on.
Her warmth, her love.
He had to have her.
Unable to stand it, he pulled up into the woods and turned the engine off.