Chapter 4: Mate Bond

Garnet POV

Garnet felt a mix of curiosity and relief.

He would be her Alpha and her mate. He’d agreed.

She understood how he felt because guiding her people, leading them as their Luna, felt like wandering into the wilderness. But it didn’t make her wake up in a cold sweat like being mated to someone, even if that someone was Jiro Cresta.

His words intrigued her, hinting at the next step. “But we need to move with all due haste. Do you want to hear what I have in mind? Maybe you’ve guessed already.”

Her wolf certainly knew. Harlow was howling at the top of her voice, saying, “Mate bond. Mate mark. Mark him, too. NOW. RIGHT NOW.”

Was she ready for this? Was she ready to claim him as hers and for him to claim her so that every shifter would know? They’d just begun exchanging letters and getting to know each other’s minds and hearts, and connecting on a spiritual level. But it felt like enough.

“You want to mark me?” she asked, certain she knew the answer.

His eyes flared with excitement, and his hands trembled. “It seems like the best way, doesn’t it? To bond physically right here and now before … before we leave for Crimsontail territory? Our minds are halfway bonded already.”

They were in tune, although she wanted him to start calling Crimsontail lands home. Still, he’d moved faster than she expected, faster than she had a right to expect. Maybe that was the power of the mate sense? And once they entered Crimsontail territory and encountered the sentries, EVERYONE in the pack would know by the time they reached the capital.

“It’s a brilliant idea. But I want to mark you, too,” she said, hearing boldness in her voice. “I insist on it.”

He puffed out his chest, looking at her with outright flirtation for the first time. He should have warned her before he did that. A woman could drown in his eyes. “Oh, you do, do you?”

“YES!”

He gave her a slow, satisfied smile. “You are halfway to being a Cresta already. Not that I expect you to give up your name–”

“Moon Goddess, yes, please!” She leaned toward him, pointing to the spot where her neck met her right shoulder. “Mark me, Jiro. Make me a full Cresta.”

She would always have the Sinsworth blood and heritage, but she wanted to toss the name into the ocean or bury it deep in the earth, after the way Cyran disgraced it and made it something that people spoke with the same expression they used when smelling a stinking pile of refuse. She wanted a new name.

Emotion filled his eyes, deep sensitivity. She’d seen him take down Cyran’s warriors in battle, in the halls of what would, ironically, be his home now. She’d seen him work together with Kyon to pin Cyran down when Cyran was going to do something savage to Dane during their last fight. The glowing red fire of his eyes in his wolf form matched the depth of caring and empathy she saw now.

“Alright. Just relax,” he said. “I’ve heard it’s not unpleasant. It will hurt a little at first, but then the bond will take over, and we do heal fast.”

“That’s promising.” She brushed a few strands of hair back and leaned closer to him at an easy angle for him to bite.

His teeth sharpened again and he bore down on her, then sunk his teeth into her, hard, in one swift bite. No hesitation, no half measures. He’d decided to do this, and that was that.

She jerked and trembled at the jolt of pain and then pleasure that went through her. It felt hot and pulsing and powerful. She touched the spot, which felt tender. She had her eyes closed, so she didn’t know how he reacted, but she heard what sounded suspiciously like a soft growl of contentment.

“You can open your eyes,” he said.

She did and saw him gazing at her curiously. “Will I have a tattoo? I’ve heard they can be elaborate.”

“Lilia’s, Azandra’s, and Kyon’s aren’t,” he said. “Maybe every mark is different, but a lot of them are subtle. Ah … are you alright?”

It throbbed, but it wasn’t so painful she couldn’t get on with the business at hand. “Now let me mark you.”

He licked his lips and leaned toward her. He preferred the opposite side, and she thought about asking him to match hers, but his long, elegant neck looked so tempting. She had to mark him right now.

But she took her time, fussing, making sure the area was clean. “This is the spot?”

“Yes. It’s very visible. If there is a mark, I want everyone to see it.”

She knew part of this was political, and part of this was Jiro thinking about every angle, but that he wanted everyone to see the mark felt like a boost to her ego.

“Garnet?” he prodded gently. “I’m waiting.”

She trembled, feeling hesitant for the first time, which was silly. He’d marked her, after all. She had stormed into town and demanded that he give her an answer, uproot his life, and return with her to absolute chaos.

Now was NOT the time to suddenly fall over her feet like a newborn cub.

“You can’t hurt me badly,” he said, with impatience. “Just do it.”

She pounced, sinking her teeth into his glorious satiny skin, and heard him cry out. She tasted his blood for a moment, sweet and salty. She felt the life force inside him, the passion and vitality beneath his calm, cool, logical manner.

He gasped, his eyes rolling back in his head. “Moon Goddess.”

Was this how she’d looked? She knew she shut her eyes. “Alright?”

“I think so.” He touched the spot gingerly as if it might break.

A wild impulse surged through her, to press her lips to the marked skin. To kiss him there.

The leering face of one of Cyran’s supporters in the pack, an enforcer, appeared in her mind. She wanted to forget his name … and the things he whispered in her ear whenever he got the chance. It might not be a coincidence that after Cyran fled, Barrett had sent this enforcer to patrol the farthest part of the territory he could find. The enforcer, whom she just called Dragon Breath, never lost an opportunity to tell her exactly what he would do to her when Cyran gave her to him.

“Garnet? Who upset you? Please tell me it wasn’t me …”

He was too perceptive by half. “It wasn’t you, and I’m fine.”

His eyes narrowed to turquoise slivers. “You forget that I can feel you through the bond.”

She had forgotten, but the surge of protectiveness and possessiveness overwhelmed her.

“It’s no one that matters,” she said. “Not anymore. How is the mark? How did it feel?”

His eyes widened and he relaxed, although the alertness remained like a constant hum. “You were fierce. And that’s a compliment. It felt powerful.”

“That’s a very good word.” She reached up and touched his cheek, then felt his muscles move into the most beautiful smile she’d ever seen on a man.

* * * * *

Jiro POV

He felt the pheromones go to his head in a way he hadn’t expected. Of course. An alpha’s child had those pheromones, not to the degree that an alpha did, but still capable of making a mate dizzy.

His pheromones must have the same effect, because Garnet’s eyes looked soft and dreamy in a way they hadn’t before, after everything she’d been through. Lilia had described her as unsure.

She hadn’t seemed anxious at all in the last hour, although he sensed some of that right now. Of course, she would be. How could she not?

“Then it’s done. We’re bonded,” she said, in a voice full of wonder.

“Double bonded,” he said, filled with awe. “We should go and share the good news, especially after I fled the room so hastily. Knowing my family, Dane won’t be the only one searching for us.”

Her forehead wrinkled. “Does he always go out of his way to reassure the family? He seems as if he’s trying to hold everyone together.”

Jiro rolled his eyes. “This is mild for him, believe it or not.”

It was amazing how she’d captured Dane’s essence in two brief sentences, especially the Dane who had to be Alpha and head of the family all these years.

“He’s had to worry about so much,” he went on, with a quiver in his voice. “Not the least of which, I’m sorry to say, has been the conflict with the Crimsontails … us.”

Garnet’s beautiful eyes lit up. “And with Evenhide on our end. It was the same for me … and for Cyran.” She lowered her head. “He just went about it with poisoned darts and a broadsword. And I … I let him.”

Jiro put his hands on her shoulders, feeling the warmth of her pale skin. “That’s in the past,” he said quietly.

She looked up, meeting his gaze, her amber eyes swirling with darkness and light. “You’ve been honest from the beginning, Jiro. Don’t stop now! You can’t deny what happened just to soothe me. It happened.”

She was right. He wanted to spare her the pain and the guilt. He wanted to take it away with one of Lilia’s spells, even though Lilia, Ravyn, Tulaska, Anneliese, and Azandra would all give him an earful for thinking that way.

“I know. I was there.” He struggled to breathe from the intensity of her gaze and her emotions. “You heard us when everyone stood up to Cyran. You were only guilty of loving your brother.”

“I want to hate him, truly hate him, but I can’t.”

“He must have had a lot of good qualities, yes?”

“How can you say that after what he did?”

Jiro sensed he needed to tiptoe or risk plunging into a pit. “He’s related to you,” he said and noticed how hesitant he sounded.

“I think it’s easy to believe that, surrounded by all this,” Garnet said, a quiet challenge in her voice.

Other people might have snapped at her, but Jiro felt intrigued. “You could be right. But I still don’t think you have it in you to truly hate him, as much as his actions deserve it.”

“Why?”

“You’re too good a person,” he said softly.

“Could you? Would you?

He wanted to say that his brothers weren’t dark and twisted madmen, but admitted instead, “I don’t know. We question each other all the time. I didn’t oppose Dane’s mate bond with Lilia, though. Kyon and Dirge were wary. Not about the Moon Goddess, but about Dane choosing a non-shifter and a witch.”

Garnet reached up and brushed the hair back from his face. It felt more intimate than if they mated right then and there. Certain parts of him were starting to like that last idea!

“I think you know the answer to my question,” she said. “I don’t think you could hate them. Well, they’re all perfect anyway.”

He snorted, breaking the spell. “You haven’t seen us when we’re howling during an argument and we settle it in the training area.” She hadn’t been there when Kyon lost his head over rumors about Azandra kissing her old lover … Dane.

Garnet warmed to her argument with a fire that didn’t do anything to calm him. “But you’re there for each other and you love each other. That’s perfection.”

As if on cue, two dark heads appeared in the doorway, one with a telltale splotch of pink. Two identical mischievous grins made Jiro’s insides twist up in knots.

“We have an important message for the new Alpha and Luna,” Patch and Dirge sang.