Chapter 41 Briar #2
“I don’t know much other than the basics. It usually kicks off solstice after Blooms return from the mortal realm. The ceremony is the formal and public acknowledgment and acceptance of the bond.”
“What do they do at it?” she asks. When I arch a brow at her, she holds up a hand. “Other than the claiming aspect.”
I grip my jeans above the knees, trying not to imagine taking her beneath the sun. Teeth sinking into skin. The vise of her lock pulsing. “Not sure. Never been.”
It’s all I can get out without cracking my teeth from clenching them so tightly.
“What?” Her eyes grow large. “How’s that possible?”
“I always volunteer at the Solstice Center during it.” I blow out a breath, tamping down the memories from our time there. It’s no use, though. Not when I’m talking with my mate about claiming.
“I bet being such a dedicated volunteer kept you pretty busy.” Envy darts across the bond, and my cock twitches against my damp jeans. “But everyone else I’ve talked to seems so into it around here.”
“I mean, I’d be very into it, under the right circumstances.” The shade of her cheeks deepens from its usual pink into near scarlet. “But when you grow up knowing you have eternity and a mate to spend it with, it seems pretty trivial in comparison.”
It’s different for most of my Bloom counterparts.
They were raised in a different world with a different set of rules around sex, relationships, and what’s acceptable.
I see the appeal of letting loose, the sexual freedom of exploring your appetites where the rules are different and you’re free from mortal consequences.
But I never had a mortal life, never felt like I was missing out.
Until now.
“I see.”
Doesn’t she realize? No Bloom could ever captivate me like her. But my volunteering had come in handy. It helped me maintain some level of control and got us safely back. Otherwise, my instincts would have led to us locked together in the dirt, watching our rabbit hole disappear.
I’ve spent years planning out how I’d care for my mate during our first solstice together, but I should have known the moment Fate tethered me to Monroe that no plan could’ve prepared me for falling for her.
Maybe one day, when we aren’t racing time, I’ll earn the privilege of her choosing me to tend to her every solstice-related need.
There’ll be no wall between us, and I’ll give her everything her wildest fantasies conjure and more.
“I know it’s frustrating to have to work on the ceremony, but if you want, I’ll help you.” I offer her a reassuring smile. “No ulterior motive.”
“Uh-huh.” She purses her lips at me. “That’s a bit hard for me to believe.”
“Fine, maybe there’s a bit of an ulterior motive.” I throw up my hands, my thighs aching where I’ve been clutching them more tightly than I realize. “It’s an excuse to spend time with you.”
Her stare drops to the floor before she looks up at me through fanned lashes. “You act as though it’s the only way I’ll see you.”
“Aside from climbing up that ladder?” I tap the window behind me. The pelting rain shifts to a drizzle. It’ll fade into sunshine within the next fifteen minutes. “Possibly.”
Pink kisses her cheeks, and I narrow my stare, searching the bond for any further hint of her emotions. As usual, there are only momentary flickers before they’re tucked away and out of reach. “Are you saying you were planning to seek me out after you woke from rejuvenation?”
“Didn’t you get my bat signal earlier?” The playfulness in her tone, and the realization it was intentional on her part, has my cock springing up for attention.
“Oh, you mean the hard-on I had to hide in front of my family at the Radix meeting?”
“Oops.”
I arch a brow at her faux contrition. “Didn’t realize that was intentional.”
“Think I’d do that unintentionally?”
“I don’t have to think it, I’ve lived it.
” The number of times I’ve woken up in the night or had to excuse myself from classes or meetings has been more frequent than I care to admit.
Though part of me was filled with smug satisfaction that she’d been dreaming of me at all—thinking about our time perhaps.
Not that she’d ever admit it. Even if she wanted to pretend that glamoured wall had never come down between us.
“You may have been asleep the last few months, but I was not.” A flash of her spread open for me across the glass, my jacket hugging her shoulders as she works herself to climax eagerly hops into my mind. “Believe me, today wasn’t the first ill-timed erection. Not by a long shot.”
And it wouldn’t be the last.
She laughs and surprises herself with a snort, covering her face a moment and peering at me between her hands. “I could tell you I’m sorry, but I’m trying to keep myself honest.”
Is she flirting with me? My fingers twitch at my sides. This gives me something to hold on to.
Hope.
“Well then, in the spirit of honesty,” I say before I lose my nerve, “would you like to talk about it over dinner tomorrow night?”
She gnaws at her bottom lip, attention drifting to anywhere in the room but where I sit. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” I press. “Would you like to?”
Her throat works and her mint-green gaze finally reaches mine. “Yes.”
“Good.” I temper my smile, not wanting to come off overeager but so thrilled that my foot taps on the floor a few times before I’m able to stop myself. Monroe chuckles, not missing it. “I’ll come for you at six.”
“That makes this sound suspiciously like a date.”
“We’ll have dinner and if there’s time, we can look for some books on the ceremony,” I say, straightening up and stopping myself from continuing my thumping. “Think of it as…research. Most definitely not a date.”
Dates are for mortals and unmated amateurs.
“So long as that’s clear.” She speaks slowly, as if it’ll help me understand her better.
I flash her a smile. “Crystal.”
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow, Professor Briar,” she replies with a nod, drawing that barrier back up between us.
She thinks it makes her sound professional.
Distanced. Little does she know that the honorific from my mate’s lips will replay on a loop as I stroke myself to soothe the ache her intentional and unintentional desires nurture within me.
“See you then, Dr. Tanner.”
She walks me to her bedroom door and opens it, following me down the stairs. I stop in the entryway and lean against the doorframe. “I promise, tomorrow I’ll use the front door.”
“And here I was hoping you’d be sneaking through my window.”
Shaking my head, I exit the cottage, letting the door snick shut behind me. With each step toward home, my smile grows.
This is my shot at building a future with Monroe, and I’m going to earn it. Day by day, brick by brick, until those walls she hides behind have no choice but to crumble away. Until she can no longer hide from the truth.
I’m not going anywhere.
I’m eternally hers, whether she wants me or not. And if this bond between us remains unclaimed for the rest of our immortal lives, it doesn’t change the fact that she’ll never be alone.