Page 51 of Cryptic Dreams
Which is not including what Atticus and Drusilla will know anyway. My parents will know we have not mated simply by being who they are. My father is a Descendant, which means he will be able to determine whether or not we have completed the act just by looking at us together.
When vampires mate and the bond is sealed, our genetic makeup physically changes. Our bodies change in order to adapt to our mate’s physiology, to become so in tune with them that they essentially become an extension of us and in turn create the need for our mate and them alone in order to continue living.
Mating your fated one takescodependencyto a whole new level.
Our scent changes and becomes a combination of each party involved, it turns into an identifying marker, one that shows who you belong to and that you have solidified your bond. It is also a deterrent, the only way anyone other than a Descendant is able to physically detect a mated pair and not just by the shared scent markers. A mated couple exhibit a sharp, but not unpleasant, trait in their scent that warns others that they are off limits.
And with all of the other physical things even someone like myself is unaware of, all of the changes I’m sure only my father will detect, there are two very critical pieces that will be missing, both of which will be very large red flags for Atticus specifically.
In order to complete the mating of a fated pair, they must willingly feed from each other during the act of coitus and not before. Theycanfeed from each other prior to mating but it would only be slightly different from feeding from any other willing donor. It would taste better, and would have a much stronger response within the body in terms of nourishment, but it does not activate either bond because the feeding has to be connected to the sex—the pair has to be connected in the most intimate and sacred of ways. The release of endorphins and pheromones, the exchange of bodily fluids, it is all critical in order to bind the two together for all time and it has to be willingly, fully accepted and desired by both in order for it to be successful as well as eternal.
And while no one else would see it, the mark made on the throat or wrist during the mating process can absolutely be seen by a Descendant.
Then there’s the little matter of my signet ring.
Before humans found us out, before we were forced to change our ways and conform to human restrictions and laws, my father and mother were the king and queen of our kind.
Vampires had always followed a hierarchy, a monarchy that started with Kadoc himself. He was the sovereign king, said to have been planted directly in the womb by Xenith—the creator of us all—during the forbidden coupling of Neit, a god of war and Bébinn, a goddess associated with birth as well as the underworld, both of them Welsh and Irish Gods of Old.
Kadoc was the first of our kind, a feral, bloodthirsty tyrant, and as the other Gods of Old followed suit and began producing more of us within their tribes, Kadoc also established the monarchy we followed until just a few hundred years ago. The one that put any male of his line as the sovereign king, any male of a line belonging to one of the other elder tribes as the equivalent of a duke.
To be considered a Descendant, one must share the blood of an original vampire and it can only be a male. My father and I are the only two left of Kadoc’s line—not that there were many to begin with, but my aunt is long gone and her sons perished during the Species War—and the other ancients that make up what little of us there are, are direct descendants of Aztec, Inuit, Norse, Irish, Zulu, Hindu, and Rapa Nui, the rest of the elder tribes unfortunately wiped out during the war as well. But because we had operated as a monarchy then dissolved it into the current ridiculous system we now follow, not all traditions were lost.
Including a signet ring that has been passed down to the heir apparent by the sovereign king as a promise of the future and their place in it. And that ring is one I am to give my mate upon completion of our mating, a promise and symbol ofourfuture and her place in it.
If Atticus does not see Zephyr’s mark on my body or mine on hers, does not see my grandfather’s ring on her finger, the fact that our scents have not changed will mean nothing. It will be damning for both of us and it will give my father every reason to make sure we are unable to complete the act because if we do not, neither of us will be complete. Neither of us will be at full power and if something were to happen to one of us, it would easily kill the other without much effort at all.
An unmated pair that have in fact found their mate are the most vulnerable kind of vampires until bonded and unless the act is completed, so it shall remain.
Which is why I rub the back of my neck and grunt, “I’m going to propose Zephyr and I go on anouting. One where I will take her shopping for the proper attire as well as a variety of things my parents will most likely serve at the meeting and this stupid dinner.”
Both males blink at me with wide eyes but Aries speaks. “Like, a date?”
I roll my eyes. “If that is what you would like to call it, so be it, but after our interaction earlier coupled with my many impending concerns, I feel it is necessary to involve her in this process so she is prepared. It is for her safety, not only by having a heads up but also to save face. I am watched almost constantly and if we are seen out together, then it will help throw Atticus off his suspicions that we have not mated.”
“You don’t think asking Z to go out will automatically mean she falls into bed with you, right? Because if that’s your plan… ” Orion arches a brow and I wave him off.
“Of course not. If Zephyr chooses to mate me then it will be of her own free will, a choice made by my attempts to show her what she means to me and nothing more.” Then I grin. “If treating her to a night on the town we both love so much works in my favor, then I shall take that as a victory, but it is not my intent.”
He nods his approval. “So how are you going to do it?”
“Do what?”
“Get Z to warm up to you enough to consider mating before the meeting?”
I shrug. “I’ve no bloody clue, but I will keep trying. She has not rejected our bond, almost seems to accept it, but she is leery of me still and it has taken much to get us to our current situation.”
“Because you really are an ass.”
Frowning, I sigh. “Yes. Yes, I suppose I am an arse but I’ve no fight left in me to continue being one to our gentle breeze.”
Orion smiles a little. “She is pretty great, right?”
“She is.” I find myself smiling as well. “Zephyr is a rather extraordinary creature and the more I discover about her, the more grateful I become that we were paired. She is my match in every way, a mate I am most unworthy of, and I hope to make her see that because I fear she still believes it to be the other way around.”
“That’ll be the hard part, convincing Z that she’s worthy of you, thatyou’reunworthy ofher,making her see that she is everything you want and not just because it was designed by fate. She’ll come around though.”
I frown at him but Orion smiles.