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“Oh. I didn’t realize. Sorry.”
BBD smiled. “It’s okay. It’s just like the king not to explain how rare your coupling is.”
“You say that like it’s a good thing. Like withholding information is an enviable quality.”
B nodded. “I know it’s hard coming into a new world when you’re used to the way humans do things. But you have to trust that the king always has a reason for his actions. Usually multiple reasons. It’s likely he didn’t tell you how rare mate bonds are or that mate bonds between made and born vampires are even more so because he didn’t want to put any extra pressure on you.”
“It’s not his job to manage my emotions. It’s his job to give me the facts so I can make informed decisions.”
“That’s another way of looking at it.”
I huffed out a breath. “Let’s just get to the lesson.”
“Right.” He took a wider stance and I did the same. “Remember, you’re trying to coat yourself in vamp magic. Just enough to cloak your physicality. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“And you’re sure you’ve removed your emotions from your powers?”
“Yes, B. I already told you that. I put all my powers in nice, neat, mental safes, far away from anything that might make things go boom, okay?”
He nodded. “Then close your eyes and let the compulsion slide over your body.”
My lids fluttered closed and I unlocked the safe housing that power and willed it to travel over me.
“Good. That’s great, Eden. You’ve dampened your heart, respiration, and your lunch digesting from my ears.”
My eyes flew open. “Really? Oh wow, that was easy.”
“Yes. The hard part is getting it to stick while you’re busy doing other things.”
“Oh.” Of course there was a catch. There was always a catch. And the moment I focused on that, and not keeping the compulsion surrounding me, it all slipped back into its safe.
Fantastic.“Well, how do I keep it where I want it?”
“Practice.”
I pulled a face at him. “That’s not what I wanted to hear, B. Isn’t there some kind of shortcut or something?” I really wanted to have all this vamp shit down before the incursion.
“Sorry. Repetition and exercising that muscle. That’s all there is to it.”
I shook my head. “There’s got to be a faster way, B. I can’t go meet Titus like this.”
“Do you drive?” B asked.
Okay, non sequitur. “Yeah?” Though not recently. A car was an expense I didn’t need, not when saving for my nest egg.
“Do you remember when you first learned? How overwhelming everything was? You had to remember to look in the mirrors and use the blinker and stay between the lines and control your speed all at once.”
I nodded, seeing where he was going.
“And now you can drive anywhere and not really think about any of those individual steps. Your brain has done them so many times, it’s automated it for you.”
I sighed. His point was clear. “So I have to do this enough times that my brain automates it for me.”
“Exactly. Do it all the time. And don’t beat yourself up when it slips because that’s just part of the process. Just keep practicing and I promise you’ll get it sooner than you think.”
I slid my compulsion over myself again and tried to focus on something else. “Hey, so I know you said mating bonds are rare, so maybe your knowledge is limited, but what do you know about mates reading each other’s thoughts?”
