Chapter 14 #3
A cool tingling came over her, with the scent of flowers, and in her mind’s eye she found a golden chain going from her heart to his, pulsing with their love for each other. “What—what is this?”
“The Great Mother blesses our union and gave us the mate bond,” Jamirr said. “We’ll always be linked now, in this life and the Afterlife. I’m proud to be your claimed mate.”
“And I to be yours.” She remembered Rennyr had told her the Badari magic was in the blood and understood she must have sealed the connection when she tasted Jamirr’s blood. He’d already tasted hers the first time they’d gone over the edge together tonight.
They lay together for a while, cuddling and enjoying the luxury of being uninterrupted and unworried about consequences or problems arising from their new union.
“Is this what the pack bond is like?” she asked, tracing the indentations of his abdominal muscles with a lazy fingernail.
“No, the bond between Alpha and brothers is different. It is its own magic, but powerful and sustaining.” He stroked her hair.
“I confess I’ll be grateful to be a pack member again and not to have this empty painful spot in my heart, but even if I never was accepted into Kyden’s pack, the fact of our mate bond would sustain me. ”
Samyra raised herself on one elbow so she could gaze into his eyes. “What are we going to do next? We can’t ever go back to Porter Three, not that I want to in any case but what do we do here?”
“Whatever the Alpha wants,” Jamirr said simply.
“Have faith in Kyden—he has countless resources at his fingertips now and his mate-wife has even more she can call upon. No one in the pack is idle but the work is tailored to each person’s needs.
If I decide to join my brothers in the arena here, it’ll be fine and if not Kyden will find other tasks for me. What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “The future is cloudy to me on that point. I’ll probably agree to be in his exhibition troupe, although without my animals—”
Jamirr kissed her. “I know how hard it must have been to leave them all and especially Tazur.”
“It breaks my heart,” she admitted. “But it had to be done. You’re far more important to me than anything or anyone else.” Wanting to completely clear the air she went on. “It might have been my fault Tirion’s men kidnapped you.”
Arching an eyebrow, Tirion asked, “How so?”
“I’d boasted to him a few days prior how you were going to be the centerpiece of my new team and implied we might be getting gladiators from the Five Systems too.
” She sighed. “It was all a lie—you know I’d never force you into the arena—but he was being so condescending and hateful I had to burst his bubble. ”
“What’s done is done,” Jamirr said calmly, holding her close. “He might have had plans to kidnap me anyway, knowing I’d die to protect you. Darryl betrayed us, you know. He was there when they were restraining me.”
The news was a shock but she said, “Kyden warned me not to trust anyone. I came close to confiding in Darryl a number of times over the two days I had to wait for the Badari to arrive but I’d given my word to Kyden and so I didn’t.”
“The Alpha gives wise counsel. And speaking of him, we’d better let him know I’ve revived and claimed my mate at last.”
Dawn was breaking the next morning and Jamirr stood proud in the circle of trees Kyden had planted in a protected corner of the vast estate.
His brothers stood around him in a half circle—Rennyr, Talinn, Benet and Dmitri, with Kyden standing in front of him.
The mates were close by, Samyra in the center next to Elara, who had her arm around his mate.
Rennyr sang a paean to the Great Mother, asking her blessing on the day and the oath about to be sworn.
The song was moving and Rennyr had a smooth, deep voice.
Chills ran through Jamirr and he had flashes of memory from his earlier life on the Badari home planet, of standing in a circle of even older trees with other men and an Alpha and appealing to the goddess for her help.
As the last notes faded, Kyden stepped forward commanding attention, eyes glowing hot gold with emotion and dominance. “Accept me as your Alpha, swear the pack oath.”
Jamirr met the other man’s eyes and stood proud.
“Today I’m a free man who can accept the pack bond with no reservations.
I will be honored to become a part of this pack.
” Ready to commit, Jamirr knelt and tilted his head to bare his throat to the man meant to be his Alpha in this time and place.
“I swear to accept you as my Alpha from now until death, obeying your orders in all things, fighting at your side, protecting the pack from enemies, keeping the Badari secrets.” He readied himself to hold steady while Kyden completed the pact.
“In turn I give you my promise to put the welfare of the pack above all else and to rule as a just and fair leader, preserving the Badari tradition. Accept my mark and by so doing pledge your fealty to me.” Moving so fast he was practically invisible, Kyden extended his fangs and blooded Jamirr to seal the bond between them.
Although the sky was cloudless, thunder cracked above.
The pack bond took root in his heart and his mind and spread through his entire body in a flood of warmth and renewed energy.
The pain which he’d carried every moment since his first awakening from cryosleep so long ago disappeared as if it had never been.
For an instant he saw the Great Mother standing behind the line of mates.
Her face wasn’t visible but her silver hair and flowing white robes stood out in the golden dawn light.
And then she was gone.
Kyden extended a hand to pull Jamirr to his feet and the two men embraced, pounding each other on the back. His new pack brothers surrounded them and Samyra flew into his arms for a hug.
“I feel it too,” she said, wide eyed. “I can’t explain it, not like the mate bond, but I’ve got a connection, an awareness of your brothers and even the other mates.”
“Although I swore fealty for myself alone, you’re a member of the pack as well, because you’re a claimed mate,” he told her. “So yes, you can sense the link.”
“My only family all my life was my father,” she said in a wondering tone.
“You have all of us now,” Kyden told her, his arm around Elara, who nodded her agreement.
“I’ve arranged a celebratory breakfast,” the Alpha’s mate-wife said. “It should be ready in the private dining room now. Arinna assured me she’d have everyone’s favorite dishes, even yours, Dmitri.”
“Syrniki,” he said with a smile. “Pan fried cottage cheese filled pancakes,” he added as Samyra looked puzzled.
“I drench them in syrup as well, which isn’t traditional but tastes damn good.
I appreciate the thought, Elara, but the cooks here can’t get it right.
I have to drown the taste with hot coffee, black. ”
“Arinna told me she’d cook them herself today, especially for you.”
“Let us go then.” The big man laughed boisterously and made a sweeping gesture for the others to precede him out of the sacred grove.
Jamirr took one last glance as he left with his new brothers and his mate and with awe observed the grass was now dotted again with the special purple flowers of the Great Mother. He retraced his steps to pluck one and presented it to Samyra with a kiss.
“For luck,” he said.
“I’ve had all the luck one woman is entitled to,” she said, accepting the bloom and taking an appreciative sniff of the perfume. “I met you.”
“And here we are,” he replied, sweeping her off her feet to carry her to the house.
And here they’d stay.