“True fated mates are even rarer. Not very many find theirs. What is known is they do not hate each other, nor do they reject each other. They are happy together. Soulmates as it has been described.”
Athena looked up into Draco’s eyes and saw the love and wonderment in them. She knew he was telling the truth.
“So, they are considered truly blessed by the goddess? Have any ever rejected their true fated mates?” Athena’s heart skipped a beat, fearful of the answer.
“No. To my knowledge, once a true fated mate has been found, there is no rejection because they love one another, desire one another and can’t survive without the other. A mate and fated mate can survive without their mates. A true fated mate cannot.”
Athena looked up, her hand going to his cheek. She knew without a shadow of a doubt she could not live without this man in her life.
“Do you remember the feeling you felt, the power when I marked you?”
Athena thought back to the moment that Draco had finally marked her. It had been a shock to her that he had done that when he had been adamant that he wouldn’t do so. But when he did, gods when he did, her whole world tilted upside down.
She felt like her soul left her body and when it had returned, she was finally whole for once in her life. She had finally felt warm in all the places that she had thought were cold and dead.
She nodded her head at him when she looked back at him. She wondered if he had felt it too.
“Yes, I felt that way too. Things that I thought were forever going to be closed off, cold and dead inside are now warm and alive for the first time in a very long time. When I marked you, I thought we were only fated mates. But when you bit me, despite you only being a human, I felt my world upend and my soul leaving my body. I knew then what it had felt like for you when I marked you. You imprinted your soul to mine. Only true fated mates can do that to each other.”
Athena looked at Draco in surprise. She hadn’t even thought about that fact.
The first time she’d “marked” him as Draco has claimed, she didn’t know what drove her to do so. She just felt this need to place her mark on him like he had her.
“Your parents are fated mates, right?” Athena asked, her hand wrapping around his wrist.
“True fated mates. Just like my grandparents are, and their parents before them. Mom noticed the mark on my chest when I had taken my shirt off while working in the yard the other afternoon when she came over. She was the one to ask about us speaking mind to mind. That’s how you know it’s a true mate bond versus the fated mate bond.”
“No one knows about that part of it, then? If something happens, then I should be able to reach out to you from wherever I am?” Athena asked, hope in her voice for the first time in a long time.
“I will always find you, my mate. I will burn down the world to find you wherever you and our child are. No one is safe from me if anything happens to you. I promise you that.”
Chapter
Thirty-Three
Athena wokeup to an empty bed, only to find a note and a red rose on Draco’s pillow the next morning. He had told her last night as he was holding her close that he had to take a tour of the territory, a monthly thing he does, to make sure all is going well.
He was taking Leo, Tucker, Case, and Hawk with him to do the tour so that they could make their presence more known. Dana stayed with her as usual and for her to reach out if they needed anything.
He reminded her that he was only a mind conversation away if she needed him. He signed off on the note that he loved her and couldn’t wait to see her this evening.
She couldn’t help the huge smile on her face as she lay there and inhaled his scent from his side of the bed. Gods help her she loved this man with every fiber of her being.
She couldn’t help but pray that if anything ever happened to Draco, that their little ones were old enough to fend for themselves because she didn’t think she could honestly live in this world without him by her side. She knew that was a harsh thing to think, but Draco was the air she breathed, and gods helpanyone who harmed him, because she would do everything in her power to take them out with her.
Getting up, she completed her morning routine just as Dana knocked on the door to let her know she was there for them to head to the school. She couldn’t remember a day when that didn’t happen anymore.
“Good morning, Dana. Coffee is on. Make you a mug. Would you like a bagel with cream cheese this morning?”
“Good morning, Luna. Thank you. I don’t know why you ask because you make me one anyway.”
Athena laughed at Dana’s response. She was right, though.
Every morning, she had the coffee ready for when Dana arrived, and she made sure there was an extra bagel with extra cream cheese on it just for her shadow. It wasn’t Dana’s fault her husband was overprotective, so she was making sure her guard was well taken care of.
“Just like you don’t listen when I tell you to call me Athena instead of Luna. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to hearing that word in association with my marriage to Draco. I haven’t the first clue how to tell a shifter what they should and shouldn’t do.”
“You know more than you realize, Athena. You’re intelligent and everyone already loves you. That’s all that matters as a Luna. Besides, if anyone gives you any shit, just tell one of us before Draco finds out and we’ll have them crying in their underwear before the boss gets to them. Otherwise, he deals with them after saying something to you, then they may not live another day.”
