Remi pulled the hoodie off me and then attacked my pants. He had already stripped down to his boxers, his stunning body on full display in front of me. I’d waited on this day since I learned I would get my own mate one day. It was mostly the knowledge of getting my person that excited me. Not knowing what lust and attraction felt like, much less romantic love, made it hard to imagine how I would feel towards Remi. He was my everything.
“How, um,” Remi looked unsure as all our clothes, except our boxers were now off. “How do you want to do this?”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
He waved a finger between us. “With us.” He was blushing again and now I could see the color was running down to his chest too. I really liked him blushing.
“I’m afraid I still don’t understand, Remi. Do you not know how to mate?” We were taught in school, but maybe they weren’t? It seemed rather rude to just trust people to know how to do things when they were old enough.
“I um, I think it’s the same for us as it is for you. I was asking about positions, Juno.” He seemed more comfortable now.
“Ah, I know normally you try both to see what you prefer,” I didn’t care who did what, it didn’t matter much to me. I just wanted Remi.
“You truly don’t care?” he tilted his head, looking confused.
“I just want you, Remi. Do you have a preference?” He looked shy again, so I caressed his cheek gently, forcing him to look at me.
“I um, I would prefer if you fucked me,” he looked at me as he said the words, those perfect words.
“I would love that.” I kissed him softly, getting myself mentally ready to claim my mate. I would be inside of him soon. I couldn’t think too hard on that part, or I would explode with want. I wanted this to last but just his words and my imagination weren’t helping with that.
He pushed me away softly, “I have a question.” I nodded, always ready to answer whatever questions he had for me. “I thought kissing mated us? I got magic from it. So why is it required we have sex then? Not that I mind that part, just curious.”
I shook my head. “You unlocked your own magic, now we need to combine our magic, sharing it between us, making itours. We’ll be stronger and offer this world some of our magic to help sustain it. After we’ve mated, we’ll go outside and lay down on the ground, letting the earth take what it needs fromus.” It was a cool sort of ritual, we got magic from our world, and gave some back, but whenever matings happened, we got magic ourselves, making the world stronger, brighter, because of it.
He just blinked at me. “Cool. Can we please start touching now? I’ve never been harder.” I grinned. He was getting more comfortable around me. I truly enjoyed seeing more of his personality come out.
“I would’ve claimed you as mine as soon as I saw you, remember?” I teased him as I resumed kissing his neck.
“I had to run,” he rasped, stretching his neck so I’d have more access. “I had Hayley.”
That put a stop to the kissing. “You can’t talk about her just before our mating, Remi.” I knew he didn’t mean anything by it but telling me about a person he’d been with still felt like a blow. Especially now when we were about to join our magic and bodies, I didn’t want anything or anyone else between us.
I sat up, not feeling the mood anymore, hating that the thought of his ex-girlfriend had ruined this for me. “I need some fresh air,” I said, leaving Remi confused on our bed. I walked out to my garden, allowing the sun to warm my nearly naked body as I sat on the grass, letting nature calm my thoughts. Maybe I was overreacting, but since being with someone other than your mate wasn’t normal here, the thought took some adjusting. I’d never heard about anyone else touching someone that wasn’t their mate. They didn’t get anything out of it, and neither did the other person. Just thinking that someone had touched my Remi, and he’d touched them too… It did something to my chest that made it nearly impossible to breathe.
Chapter Thirteen
Remi
I had definitely ruined the moment. I’d loved Hayley, but it was never romantic love. I thought Juno understood that. When I saw him for the first time, I’d run because I didn’t want to be a cheater. If I’d known being with Hayley was basically cheating on Juno, I would’ve never been with her. I would’ve waited forever for Juno. I would’vehappilywaited for him. But there was no way I could have known that. That there was even a thing such as mates and then someone from an entirely different world too.
I walked around his house,our house, trying to find him. The only indication that he was outside was the slightly open door that led to the garden. I hadn’t seen it yet, but it looked closed in with trees surrounding it. Here people had more room between houses, making it more private and quieter. I found that I preferred this world’s way of housing people. Maybe they had busy cities like my world had, but here where Juno lived, it was perfect.
I silently opened the door and joined him on the grass. He had his eyes closed and I could tell he was crying softly. I’d done that. Ruined our moment together and made my mate cry. I had to see it from his perspective. I’d cheated on him and then brought her up just before we mated. He’d never been with anyone else, waiting for me. His mate. This was basically like a marriage for Juno, and I’d brought up Hayley, simply because I wanted to assure Juno why I’d run, hoping he would understand. But how could he? It wasn’t normal here; he’d said so himself. Everyone waited to find their mates, happy with themselves and their friends until the day came where they found their person. I wished I could’ve done the same. I would’ve, had I known.
“I’m sorry,” I said, breaking the silence. “I keep forgetting about our differences and hurting you. I never want to be the reason you cry, Juno.” He’d cried just a few hours ago from happiness with his dad. This wasn’t happiness, though, and I had caused it.
“I know,” Juno replied, his voice breaking a little. “I’m really trying to be understanding of your world and not be angry at you, Remi. But why did you have to bring her up?”
Why indeed. “I guess I want to punish myself for it.” That was the only reason I could think of. “I think some part of me knew it was wrong to be with Hayley, but I wanted to fit in, to please my parents, to show them that I could find a partner. And Hayley was my closest friend. I love her. It was never romantic love, but I thought it could turn into that. It didn’t. I understand why now, but then I thought my unease with the situation was because something was wrong with me. I felt wrong. I wished I’d just followed my heart and stayed true to myself. That having friends and going to school was enough for me. But I stupidly let my parents influence my life.” Letting my mom guilt me into asking Hayley to prom and then calling Hayley my girlfriend when we weren’t even dating had made Hayley ask me if I wanted to dateand I’d thought why not? She was a person I loved and we had fun together.
He looked at me with a pained smile. “I’m dealing with the same mess of emotions and feelings as you are. Our bodies need balance and it will only get worse until we mate, but I won’t mate with Hayley’s name between us. I’d rather be a mess than allow her into our mating.” I nodded, understanding him completely. “I don’t blame you for having had love in your life. This isn’t something you did knowingly and I know this is something I just have to deal with.” He laughed then, “I can’t even blame her for loving you. Not loving you is simply impossible. And I know you love her too, not the same kind of love, but still love.”
He shook his head with a wistful smile, like he was working through everything while battling the heightened feelings simultaneously. I took his hand in mine, grateful he wasn’t blaming me but just needed to work through it. We would work through it. Together.
“I’m glad you had her friendship. Had it not been for her you might’ve turned out differently, and the person I’ve been blessed with is perfect.”
Damn these feelings were hitting hard. A tear escaped my left eye as I clutched his hand tighter in mine, not quite able to respond to those kind words.
