Chapter 12 – Locheran #2
The two leave with Mira trailing behind.
I gulp as silence blankets the room.
“So…” I say, dipping my head and running my hand over the back of my neck.
Why am I being shy all of a sudden?
Maybe because I have a mate.
It’s surreal.
But it’s also not yet set in stone.
I step further into the living room toward Farrah, and she flinches.
“Farrah,” I breathe. “I’m so sorry.”
She sniffles and wipes her cheek.
“You know I’d never do anything to hurt you, right?”
She nods.
“I hate that I wasn’t able to control myself. You passed out while I was still inside you, and I felt so ashamed. Like I was violating you.”
“You didn’t,” she says, her voice still so small and uncertain. She pinches her shirt, then her sweatpants. “You dressed me. And cleaned me up. You took care of me.”
She says it like it was a chore for me. It was the bare minimum.
Has no one ever cared for her?
“You have a choice, you know?”
Her brows pinch together. “A choice?”
“The fated mate bond will only work if this is what you want.”
She laughs, rather manically. “I don’t know what I want.”
She kisses Potato on the head before placing him on the floor.
“We barely know each other,” she says and stands.
“I know.”
She takes a strand of her hair and twists it between her fingers.
“And I’m not right for you,” she adds with a huff.
I scoff and she rolls her eyes, tossing her arms out in frustration.
“I mean because of my family. Being with me is a bad idea. My father and brother will do everything they can to kill you. To kill Xander and Evangeline. All my friends. And now that I’m your mate?”
She shakes her head.
“But honestly why would you want to be with—”
“Don’t,” I say, interrupting whatever negative words were about to fall out of her mouth.
“Oh, please, Locheran. You’re like some mystical god and I’m…”
She waves her hand up and down her body as if it explains her point. All I see is my beautiful mate. A woman who caught my attention long before our bodies knew we belonged together.
I step closer, shortening the distance between us. She shifts on her feet but doesn’t move. She lets me take her hand in mine.
“I’ve waited a thousand years for you,” I say quietly.
Everything about Farrah is tiny compared to me. Like her fingers. I inspect the nails that are painted a lovely blue—amazingly close to the color of my hair.
I place her hand on my chest, over my heart.
“Can you feel how fast it beats for you?”
She nods, letting out a shaky breath.
“I was drawn to you the night we met. That wasn’t the mating bond because our connection was blocked.
I was drawn to you because of your smile.
Most people wear fake smiles, but not you.
It’s genuine and full of love, especially around Evangeline.
And when you laugh… remember when Xander unintentionally made a joke the night we met? ”
She nods again.
“Your laughter was so bright and joyful, and my heart responded like it was a siren’s song.”
Her eyes glaze over with unshed tears.
“Do you know how many beings I’ve been with over my thousand years of living?”
She shakes her head; those unshed tears now beading at the edges.
“Hundreds. I’ve been with women. Men. Humans and supernatural beings alike… no one has ever made my heart flutter the way you did the night we met and every day since.”
She frowns. “But you looked at me like you hated me or were disgusted by me.”
“I hate that’s what you saw. What I felt that night was confusion for the strange emotions I was experiencing. But mostly, I struggled because I couldn’t act on the desire I had for you that night.”
“Why?”
“Evangeline threatened to kick my ass.”
A giggle slips past her lips, and I bring her hand up to my mouth, pressing a kiss to the knuckles.
“Do you know how hard it was to resist you in that flowing skirt and shiny gold crop top you wore? The color bringing out the blue in your eyes. The fabric allowing peeks of all your wonderful curves, taunting me? Your then-red hair falling over your shoulders in loose curls.”
She smiles, fluttering her lashes as she looks up at me. “You remember what I wore? And how I styled my hair?”
“Of course I do. I remember everything.”
She frowns again. “But the bond…”
“Mira says it didn’t unlock until the night you kissed me at Evangeline and Xander’s wedding reception. Everything before that was all me.” I cup her cheek, and she closes her eyes, leaning into my touch. “It was all you.”
She shakes her head, a smile teasing the corners of her mouth.
“I told you, you have a choice when it comes to our fated mate connection. I have a choice too.”
Her hand is still in mine. I press it to my stomach, then move it lower until she’s cupping my straining cock.
“This is what you do to me. Your body, your mind, your soul.”
She snorts and covers her mouth with her free hand.
“What?”
She shakes her head.
“Tell me,” I demand, dropping my hold on her.
After nearly a minute of trying to control her humor, she clears her throat.
“You’re so dramatic,” she says in a deep voice that mocks me. “Your body, your mind, your soul.”
I try to turn away, feigning offense, but her hand on my forearm stops me. “I like dramatic.”
She slides her palm down to my wrist and lifts my hand to inspect it like I’d just done with hers. She skims her fingertips over every inch, across my palm and along each of my four fingers.
She’s careful not to touch my claws.
“Do these always stay out?”
She yelps when I retract them.
“Oh,” she whispers. Her eyes lift to meet mine, and they’re glazed over with impending tears. “I’m scared, Locheran.”
The words are barely a whisper.
“What if my family—”
I cut off the rest of her words by bringing her into a hug, wrapping my large arms around her fragile frame.
She cries into my chest while I console her, smoothing my palm up and down her spine.
I don’t know if she’s scared about being my mate or about her family finding out. Possibly both.
“Tell me what you need,” I say.
“Water,” she mumbles into my chest.
I release her but take her hand to lead her into the kitchen. After grabbing her empty cup from the living room, and filling it with ice and water, I hand it to her.
She gulps down nearly half of it.
Her eyes are red from crying, but I don’t miss the way they scan me from head to toe.
I have to stifle the groan when the scent of her decadent arousal fills my nose.
It’s stronger now that we’re mated.
It’s intoxicating.
She huffs and sets the glass down. “I can’t think right now. All I want to do is touch you.”
“It’s the bond.”
“The bond is why I’m so horny?”
I chuckle. “Yes.”
“Is it why I come so easily with you?”
“Well…” I smirk. “That and I’m just that good.”
She huffs and walks to where I stand, leaned up against the counter.
“So I guess me being horny for you means I made my choice?” she asks, though it’s more of a statement.
“Have you?”
She’s inches from me now. My body heats with her nearness. My cock aches to be let loose.
She shrugs. “Maybe.”
Her eyes dart down to my groin, then back up to my eyes before landing on my mouth. My fangs are out, and my tail whips back and forth against the cabinet doors, rattling the wood.
“Are you teasing me?” I stand straight and Farrah glances up, biting her lip. Her seductive smile slowly morphs into one full of compassion.
“No teasing. I accept the bond.” Her eyes widen. “Wait… that doesn’t mean that we’re in love, right? That’d be crazy.”
A fated mate bond can feel an awful lot like love. I have no doubt that I’m already head over heels for this woman. But she’s human and she didn’t spend one thousand years waiting for her soul to finally feel complete.
Because that’s how I feel right now.
She’s my missing piece, but gargoyles are notoriously patient. I can wait for as long as she needs until she’s comfortable saying those three big words.
“We should probably talk about this… about you accepting the mating bond. I’m sure you have a million questions or—”
I choke on my words when her palms flatten on my chest, sliding them up and down.
“Or…”
“Say less,” I whisper and scoop her face in my hands to bring her in for a kiss.