Now having felt her reaction to Klaus, I search for her emotional connection to the other two. It takes a moment to tap into the bond enough for me to travel to its core, but when I do, I finally find a wall for Alex that has a few holes blasted into it. Makes sense, he was able to form a connection with her yesterday while he was working. It’s almost pointless to search for her feelings regarding Marcus because she seems to wear those on her sleeve, but I do it anyway. I’m not surprised when I find it. His wall looms over everything, built higher and thicker than Fort Knox.
Of course, I can’t read her mind or view these walls with any actuality. It’s all just an impression sent through the bond when I search for it. Our connection is giving me insight into how I can help her, and it’s made clear to me she has a connection to all of us. It’s amazing how much I’m learning about her in the few moments I’ve spent trying to explore the bond. Along with the walls, there’s varying levels of a bond with each of us.
The string she has connecting to me is strong, thick, and shiny. As I’m inspecting them, Klaus’ grows stronger. Alex’s string is there, but clearly needs a lot of strengthening before he gets anywhere with her. Then, there’s Marcus’. His appears more like a mirage effect, like two strings vibrating against each other. One string shimmers similar to mine but it’s frayed, while the other is as thin as a spider’s web.
My attention has been so distracted by discovering our bond that I stopped paying attention to what’s going on in front of me. Cecily and Klaus are both out of breath from their kissing. Her arms are around his neck and his are wrapped around her waist, holding her to him. She gazes up at him with a giddy smile on her face and longing in her eyes. She bites her lip as she’s lost in his hold. Her pleasure drives mine. The rapture she derives in his arms, not only visually turns me on, but her emotions feed my desire for her satisfaction and my own.Who would’ve thought I’d be turned on seeing her in the arms of my best friend.
Damn it, I can see it now. He’s going to ask if he can be the one spending the night in the tent with her tonight. I’m going to be stuck not only hearing her pleasure, but through our new bond, I’ll be a third wheel to their intimacy. I don’t know if I’m ready to hear and feel her fuck one of the others, even if these guys are my best friends. No sense in thinking about it now. I can give him that if she wants it, but I’m not willing to give up my time with her today. No way she’s going to get out of giving me the answers she promised.
“Are you guys done sucking face? We have places to be.” Marcus’ gruff voice cuts into their bubble, drawing their attention to the rest of us who’ve been watching the show. Her face reddens in a blush as she tries to hide it in Klaus’ chest.
Trying to help her out and get the attention off of her, I answer for all of us, “Yeah, man, let’s go. Lead the way.” He rolls his eyes before dropping his pants and taking off his shirt to pack away, Alex following his lead. I walk over to where Klaus still has his arms around Cecily. The moment her eyes land on me, worry slithers down the bond. Her eyes go wide, realizing she just kissed my best friend in front of me right after we sealed our bond.
It’s unprecedented for one of our kind to have more than one fated mate, so her worry and confusion don’t surprise me. What does surprise me is how accepting I am of the situation. Usually a bonded pair can’t get enough of each other, and stay locked up in a room continuing to nurture the bond. They certainly wouldn’t be out traipsing through the woods or kissing other men.
This woman sure has stirred things up since she came into our lives. Wanting to soothe her worries, I give her a kiss on the forehead. At first, she stiffens at my approach, but the moment my lips touch her head, she relaxes with a sigh. “You ready to get a move on, Precious?” At my question, she turns to face me. Klaus doesn’t give up his hold and keeps his hands on her waist. Can’t say I blame him. Getting your first taste of Cecily is mind-blowing and leaves you wanting more. There’s no way he’s going to want to give up any time with her.
She clears her throat and simply nods in response. My hand reaches for hers, needing the connection with her. She reaches for mine at the same time and the moment our hands clasp, she gives mine a squeeze, sending comfort down the line along with her affection for me. I can’t tell if she’s as tuned in with our bond as I am, but clearly she feels something if she knows that I was needing some kind of reassurance from her.
Marcus and Alex having finished shifting, walk off toward the direction of our first target, the feral wolf. My eyes dart to Klaus for a moment, not wanting to leave her face for very long. “You good with him joining us? You know I’m not letting you get out of sharing your secrets today.”
She glances between myself and Klaus and finally answers, “I think it’s safe to let him know right now too... as long as you don’t mind. Don’t worry, I didn’t forget my promise and I won’t use him being here as an excuse not to tell you, as long as you’re okay with it.” I swear this woman is constantly creating more questions than she ever answers.
Nodding my head, I just say, “Well, let’s go then.” We follow after Marcus and watch as Alex breaks off to check our surroundings.
It doesn’t take long before Klaus is speaking into my mind, keeping it private between the two of us. The longer we’re around Cecily, the more we figure out this psychic stuff.“You okay, dude? I didn’t want to cut in on things between the two of you so soon after you just sealed your bond, but after you gave your assurance, I couldn’t deny the pull that was forcing me to kiss her. I swear it felt painful to deny.”
“All good, man. I won’t lie and say I wasn’t jealous for a moment, but I felt her pain when you pulled away. There was no way I was willing to allow her to go through that just to protect myself from having to figure out how to be okay with sharing. After you started kissing, I probed my bond with her, and there’s no denying she has a connection to each of us. There’s way more going on than I believe any of us know.”Our pace is slow as we keep walking through the woods. Klaus and I may be having a conversation, but our girl is silent while sorting through her own thoughts.
Klaus pushes up his right sleeve then the left, and when he gets to the latter, both Cecily and I freeze when a mark is peeking out from where his sleeve stops. Since he’s on her left side, she reaches across his body to grab for his arm. When she has it in hand, she pushes up his sleeve to see all of it. There, on his arm, is a mark matching both mine and Cecily’s mate marks.
Knowing how we all react toward her, and after seeing she has bonds forming with all four of us, finding a mark on Klaus isn’t as surprising to me as it should’ve been. I wouldn’t enjoy being blindsided by something like this. Cecily peers into Klaus’ face with shock, and he just glances down at her with pure calm exuding from him.
She seems even more unsettled with him not giving her a reaction, as if he already knew the mark was there. “Klaus,” she whispers. Tracing his mark with her fingertip, she glances over to me with confusion. Before I realize what she’s about to do, she takes my left arm and removes the magic covering my mark. As soon as it’s uncovered, she lets out a hiss of breath in relief as if she was worried it wouldn’t be there anymore.
A smile creeps up on my face at her worry. This seems to answer my question about me exploring the bond more than she has. I’ve always had a curious mind for research and learning everything I can about our history; this bond falls firmly in that category. I reach for her chin and tilt it toward me. “Don’t worry, Precious, you aren’t getting rid of me.” Placing a soft kiss on her lips to seal my words, I release my hold on her.
She pulls away and glances at Klaus, then back at me, letting her mouth hang open and close a few times while she tries to figure out something to say. Finally, she settles on one word. “When?” It seems she picked up on Klaus not being shocked about the mark either.
Color me shocked because Klaus gets a sheepish smile, an expression I’ve never seen on his face. “It showed up yesterday right after your shower.” He shares a knowing look with her, and I get the distinct impression there’s more to what he’s saying.
Chapter 12
Marcellus
Five Hundred Years Ago
It’s taken me a long time to find my way back to the hiding spot I made for Cecily. Avoiding Silas after his failed attack wasn’t hard. In fact, he was still in the area when I left, trying to figure out how to cross the boundary spell to gain access to the castle, which no longer exists. Of course he doesn’t know that.
What took me so long to get back was my lack of knowing where to go. Obviously, I knew the general direction—sun comes up in the east and sets in the west and all that. What I didn’t know was how far in each direction we had gone. I was too distracted by all of my worries, so I followed those surrounding me when we traveled out, and I never thought to pay enough attention to be able to get back on my own.
Traveling back on the trail we came in on wasn’t an option, avoiding Silas felt imperative, and it would’ve been too easy for him to find me. Alas, I came to a point where I had to search inward, and found the barest hint of a warm buzz which felt like my mate. That’s how I found my way... I followed the feeling all the way back to her.
Every night away from her, I dreamed I would find her awake when I made it back. I wish I arrived to find my dream come true, but I came back to my nightmare instead. She’s still lying where I left her, a peacefulness on her face, with no hint of her having woken up at all. My heart is full of disappointment and longing. I always knew there was a void in my life having never known my parents, but now I find myself lucky having missed out on that opportunity. It’s so much harder knowing what you’re missing out on.
The book I found in the ruins of her home is a journal she kept. She wrote all about her days spent training with her mother, learning to one day take over as Queen. There are also endless amounts of entries explaining about her learning how to use her magic, the uses of ingredients, how she came up with her own spells.
I spend every free moment, which is just about constant these days, reading through this masterpiece of hers. Three times I’ve read through it, and each time I learn more information. The slope of her handwriting flowing across the page is forever imprinted in my mind, my eyes having traced each line like a caress she could feel as she wrote them. Finding out little tidbits about my love helps ease the ache in my heart, not enough to be a fully functioning person, but enough to imagine a connection with her.
