pressed up.
“You’re so growly,” I teased.
“I don’t like other men questioning if I can take care of you,” he mumbled before scoping me up. “Besides, it sounds like they have their own mate problems to handle.”
“You think Eleven is their mate?” I blinked, feeling stupid for not thinking of that.
“Oh, I don’t think that’s in question,” Marco confirmed and then sighed. “I almost feel bad for them. I have no idea how anyone fights a mating bond, but considering she’s not a shifter, it may be easier for her.”
I nodded, not fully understanding it either, while leaning my head against his chest. I closed my eyes only momentarily, breathing in his scent, but before I knew it, the world around us faded and I found myself thankful that I had never bothered denying this bond between us. Finding my mates was one of the best things that had ever happened to me.
17
Croy
“I need to get the hell out of this realm,” I admitted to Henry, rubbing my temples. “It’s messing with my wolf so fucking bad.”
“Yeah, I’m ready to go home. I hate this place,” he muttered. “Thank fuck mine and Marco’s families are out of the realm right now. I couldn’t stand running into them. It’s enough that the twins had to see their father from a distance as it is.”
I offered a small nod of agreement, watching the way the Dreki sun was beginning to rise in the early dawn sky, painting the Fire Lands pink and orange. There were gold streaks throughout the landscape, brightening the morning and casting rays across the balcony. My eyes moved down to the gold mark Maya had left on me, a rope of flames that encircled my entire wrist and was streaked with hints of blue. It felt like a brand, because it was a brand, and I couldn’t begin to describe home much I fucking loved that.
I was possessive over Maya—that wasn’t in question in the least—but I had never expected her to feel the same way over me. To mark me. To stand up for me to her parents or to anyone at all. I’d been around long enough to know most dragons didn’t like wolf shifters, so I had been unsurprised by any of their reactions. But to hear Maya stand up for me? It left me with a sensation I was still growing used to. One of affection mixed with devotion and possession that I felt over my little phoenix.
My smile grew, thinking about the mark that was on the back of her neck. It was one that would fade into a silver scar but always be extremely visible to the wolf shifters around her, not even including the fact that she would always have my scent on her from now on. I was worried, though. Maya only had so much to her, and with the way we were marking up every inch of her perfect body, there was bound to be no space left soon. Although, at least then no one would really be able to miss it.
Just like no one could miss that massive ring on her finger.
I hadn’t been lying to her. I had always planned on marrying my mate, and while our situation was a bit more complicated, not having considered her having multiple mates, I planned on continuing forward with that plan. Call me old-fashioned or whatever the hell you wanted, but I needed to marry Maya. I needed to see a wedding band on her finger next to the massive flashy stone she was wearing. I needed to hear her promise to be mine forever as I returned the same sentiment. Just like a mating pledge, marriage was an ‘all in’ type of situation for me.
I could have married before now. There had been plenty of times where I could have married into the human world. It would have provided the perfect cover, and in the long span of years when I was especially lonely without a mate, the concept had been appealing. But I knew nothing would ever compare to the bond between two people who were meant to be together. So I waited, and when I woke up about a week ago, a ringing in my head feeling as though something had shifted, I hadn’t considered what it meant. I hadn’t considered the fact that after all this time, there was a possibility that my mate was now out there.
And I hadn’t been wrong, for the record. Having a