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At last I had enough and stepped back a little. I expected Ari to let me go but he surprised me by pulling me in close again and kissing me hard, tasting his own blood on my lips. The way he looked at me was enough to make me feel weak all over. But what he said surprised me.
“Quickly, before your fangs shrink back to normal, bite your thumb.”
“Uh…what?” I looked at him, confused.
“I have marked you but you never marked me in return,” Ari explained. “You need to mark me now, to strengthen the tie between us, Kaitlyn. It will help when you meet my mother.”
“All right.” I knew that marking him as he had marked me would draw us together, but I also knew it wasn’t a permanent tie—not as if we’d become Blood Bonded. Which, despite everything going on, I didn’t feel ready for yet.
Baring my fangs, I pressed the pad of my right thumb to the needle-sharp tip of my right fang. There was a sharp little pain and then a droplet of crimson welled up on my thumb.
“Press it to my forehead,” Ari instructed, ducking his head so I could reach him. “Mark me as your own, Kaitlyn. Claim me as I have claimed you.”
Feeling a little shy about the whole thing, I nevertheless did as he said. I pressed my thumb with its little droplet of blood to the spot between his eyebrows and murmured,
“Ari Reyes, you are mine. And…and I’m marking you so everyone will know it.”
That same tingling, foaming feeling like baking soda mixed with vinegar rushed over me again and I could tell Ari was feeling it too. He let out a low groan and pulled me closer to him, pressing me against his hard, muscular body as the rush of power flowed out of both of us like an invisible wave.
“Dios, Kaitlyn…” His voice was low and rough and then he looked at me, his eyes filled with wonder.
“Ari?” I whispered. “Are you…are you all right?”
“I’m better than all right—I’m yours now,” he murmured. “You own me—body and soul, Kaitlyn. My Drake and I will belong to you forever.”
“Oh, Ari…” I didn’t know what to say. The way he was looking at me made me feel breathless—tight and achy in places I usually tried not to think about.
I was just leaning in to kiss him again when a knocking on the wooden door of the private bathing chamber startled us apart.
“Just a moment,” I called and Ari went to open the door.
“It’s just me.” Jalli came in with a bundle of clothes in her arms and wide eyes. “I felt what you two were doing, even through the door. Ari did you just…mark each other?”
“I had already marked Kaitlyn,” he said firmly. “What you felt was Kaitlyn marking me in return.”
Jalli’s eyes got even bigger.
“You didn’t Blood-Bond each other, did you? You know if you did, Papa will have no choice but to exile you for bonding without his will!”
“No, we haven’t done that. Not yet, anyway.” Ari gave me a significant look. “I thought it was better not to push quite that hard,” he added.
Well, seeing that he had already brought me to the very public Audience Chamber and declared in front of everyone that he was going to make me his queen, I supposed it would be better not to press our luck. Plus, Blood-Bonding was forever—which is a scary long time when you’re only sixteen. I was kind of glad that Ari had chosen not to have us do that yet—I wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment.
After all, we weren’t like Megan and Griffin who had found out they were meant to be the reincarnations of the Witch Queen and her Blood Knight. They had been fated to be together forever, which wasn’t the case for us.
As far as I could tell, Ari and his Drake had simply fallen for me and decided to have me, even though it was against the Edict and broke every single rule and norm his people had about who an Alpha-to-be ought to pick to rule by his side.
That was romantic and wonderful, of course, but it wasn’t foretold by some kind of prophecy or fated to happen or anything like that.
So I was content to stick with the marking for now and I thanked Jalli for the clothing and waited until she and Ari both had stepped outside the room to get dressed.
I hoped I could make myself presentable—the stack of rich clothing would no doubt help. But I had a bad feeling nothing I could do would make Ari’s mother like me.
79
Ari
I was glad I had thought of having her mark me and tie us closer together. My Drake roared within me in approval and agreement. We were committed now in a way we hadn’t been before, he informed me. Our tie would be that much harder for my parents to break.
