Chapter 5
Calum
Ikept going over our conversation. I couldn’t pinpoint what it was that I had said or done to upset my adorable mate. He was currently pretending to be reading. I knew he wasn’t actually reading, but I honestly didn’t know him yet, so I wasn’t going to call him out on it.
I would imagine it had to be both terrifying as well as exciting to leave the only place you’d ever known and travel to a completely different world in order to meet someone that you were going to spend the rest of your life with.
I shook my head. The similarities of our situation and that of arranged marriages in the human species were uncanny.
“Asher?”
His head rose, and when his eyes met mine, I could tell his were full of tears.
“Oh, sweetheart, what’s wrong?” I asked, getting up and immediately going to him.
I didn’t even think; I just picked him up, pulled him into my lap, and held him tightly.
“Do you not want this? I realize you weren’t given a choice, and I’m sure we can somehow get ahold of the fates and see about getting you a different mate.
You must be terrified to be here all of a sudden. ”
Asher looked up at me, and a lone tear fell from his eye. He quickly swiped at it and lowered his head again. I wasn’t going to have that. If he wanted out, I certainly wasn’t going to force him to be here with me. I gently placed my hand under his chin and raised it until he was looking up at me.
“Talk to me. I can’t fix it if you clam up. Do you want a different mate? Want to go home?”
Asher swiped at his eye again and slowly shook his head. “I don’t. But if you don’t want me, I understand. I don’t have anything to offer, really.”
I was confused. “Why would you say that?”
“You were talking about all the things we were going to do to pass the time while we couldn’t leave the hotel. But you never mentioned claiming each other. If you don’t want me, I understand. Maybe someone older would be better for you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Stop that,” I told him, and without thinking, I leaned down and pressed my lips to his. Asher made a noise that I wasn’t quite sure if it was one of pain, fear, or surprise, but I quickly pulled away and looked at him. “I apologize. I should have asked.”
Asher opened his eyes, and what I saw didn’t show fear, so at least it wasn’t that.
“Why?” he whispered.
“Why what?”
“Why would you ask?” Asher sighed and then seemed to deflate a little. “I don’t understand, Calum. Do you want me or not?”
“I thought I had already said that I did. We’ve been talking about moving to where my family lives. We discussed children. Am I missing something?”
Those blue eyes were once more staring back at me, and I realized they were the color of the sea. I needed to show him.
“You never mentioned claiming me. You talked about everything else but claiming. That’s what fae do when they meet their mate. They claim each other. I guess I don’t understand how shifters do it.”
I couldn’t help but grin. So that was it. Now we were getting somewhere.
“Asher, do you want me to take you to the bedroom and claim you right now?” I asked.
I had thought of maybe romancing him a little first. I wanted to show him that he was already more to me than just someone to have sex with.
He was my mate. He would be the other father to our children.
He would be who I spent evenings cuddled up with.
We would go for walks; I’d take him on digs with our kids.
We would have an amazing life together, exploring the world.
“I mean…I’m fae.”
I nodded. “Yes. I’m aware of that.”
Asher took a deep breath. “Fae are usually virgins when they meet their mates, Calum. You just gave me my first kiss.”
My mouth parted in shock. Well, shit. I hadn’t known. If I had, I would have made that kiss so much more. Then again, now that I knew, I could fix that.
“I wish I would have known,” I told him.
I carefully moved the book so it was no longer jabbing me in the stomach.
Once it was beside us on the couch, I moved my hand up to his cheek, my thumb under his chin to help move him into the position I wanted.
“I’ll make it up to you now if you want,” I whispered as I slowly moved closer to him.
Asher’s eyes closed, and I took that as him being on board with this, so I lowered my mouth to his once more.
This time, he made a whimper sound, and I pressed my lips against his harder.
I slid my hand around the back of his neck, holding his head in place while I slowly opened my mouth against his.
He was so pliant that his mouth opened with mine, and when I gently touched my tongue to his, he whimpered again.
I gently ran my tongue across the tip of his before I curled it and touched the roof of his mouth, and then I found a surprisingly sharp tooth.
When I moved to the other side, I found its mate before I pulled my tongue back and then swiped it across his top lip.
When I moved back enough to look at him, he seemed to be frozen in place.
I couldn’t help but smile at my mate. He was simply adorable.
And quite addictive already. I wanted to kiss him again, but first…
I moved my hand back around his face, his eyes opening when my thumb touched his upper lip and raised it gently.
Sure enough, there were a pair of canines there.
“You have canines?”
It took a moment, but Asher finally seemed to understand what I’d just asked and nodded.
“But you’re not a shifter.” Granted, they weren’t nearly as large as mine, but he was essentially the equivalent of a warlock. They marked with a mating mark. I’d seen Dad’s, and I knew that Ben had marked Eli that way.
Asher shrugged. “I can’t explain it. When we mark, we bite. You’re right though. I’m not a shifter. I wonder if it’s an ancient thing?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, fae used to be here in this realm, right?”
It was my turn to shrug. “I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask around to see if anyone knows anything about your species.”
Asher shook his head. “No, we did. But a long time ago, we were sent to our own realm because of problems between the first fae and the first warlock.”
Master Edison? “I know Master Edison. But I’ll admit that sadly I don’t know about what you’re referring to.”
“I don’t know specifics. Over time, we were told stories about what happened, but like so many things, the story changed from generation to generation.
There was a fight though? And the created fae was killed.
As was his son or grandson? I’m not sure.
But I wonder if it has something to do with that.
From what I’ve read, it used to be that we used to be able to fly.
Like, we had wings? But we don’t now. And again, I’m not sure it’s entirely true or not.
There seem to be different kinds of fae. ”
This was utterly fascinating, and I definitely was going to have Father reach out to Master Edison. I really wanted to know what exactly had happened.
“What do you mean, different kinds?”
Asher shrugged again. “Well, there are shorter fae, and we seem to have more rounded features except our ears.”
I looked at Asher’s ears. They looked completely normal. “Your ears don’t look any different than mine. Not really.”
Asher snorted. My eyes widened when suddenly his face rounded a bit more, but his ears became pointed on the top.
“May I touch them?”
Asher nodded. When I touched the top of his ear, it felt exactly like mine did. I wouldn’t say they were incredibly pointed, but they were definitely more pointed than they had been before.
“I don’t understand.”
“I was using a glamor. It’s a magical spell that will disguise my most fae-like features. I can’t go around letting people see my ears. They’ll stare.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. His ears didn’t look overly pointed, just a bit taller on top. And really, his hair flopped over the tips enough that you couldn’t really see them. Not really.
“I don’t think they’d be that noticeable. But what were you saying? Shorter fae?”
Asher nodded. “Yes. I’m obviously one of the shorter fae. So are both of my parents. But there are also taller fae. They’re taller and more slender than we are. Their features are usually more angular. They have amazing cheekbones, and their ears are definitely more pointed than ours are.”
“All right. So you have different types of fae. That’s not really unusual, is it? There are a lot of different types of shifters.”
“I’m not sure. I honestly think, with all of the reading I’ve done and some of the books I’d found that weren’t really supposed to have been read anymore, we used to be two species but both fae?”
“How so?”
“The taller fae were elven. The shorter, more sprites.” Asher shrugged. “At least, that’s what I read once.”
All right, that was actually incredibly fascinating.
“We really need to see if we can get to the bottom of this, because honestly, I don’t mind either way what you are.
You’re my mate, and my fox is very much on board with claiming you whenever you’re ready and willing.
But now I want to ask my father to talk to Master Edison and see if he knows anything about the fae.
You said Master Edison was the one that killed the created fae. ”
“That’s what we’ve been told. There were issues with who was more powerful. I’m not sure what all happened. It was obviously way before my time.”
“Do you mind if we do a video call with my parents?”
“I’m not sure what that is exactly, but all right. How do we do that?”
I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was just after ten in the morning here, which meant it was just after one in the morning there. They were most likely fast asleep, and I couldn’t blame them even a little.
“All right. How about we shelve that for now. It’s the middle of the night in Montana.”
Asher chuckled, and I found it so damn adorable. “They’re sleeping. I mean, I guess you could wake them?”