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“Did you grow up in Endcliffe?” The question slips from my lips, wondering how I hadn’t seen him before. Sure there’s an age gap, but Glenda made it a point to introduce me to every magical family in town from a young age.
“No,” he rushes out, swallowing down a lump in his throat before he continues. “My birth family is from here, but my parents moved us out the moment they adopted me.”
My lips purse as I look him over, sensing there’s something he’s still keeping from me, but I don’t want to push. I want to ask him who his family is, but nothing good will come from that.
“Did you always know that you’re a monster?” I ask, still trying to piece together his life. How could he hunt for monsters when he’s apparently half-monster himself?
“I knew there was something different about me that I needed to hide, but no one told me, not until I was in my five years as a hunter,” he explains, his tawny-brown eyes tinged with regret. “My parents only told me after an encounter with a monster where the monster had insisted I should help them because of our ... similarities.”
“What type of monster are you?” I ask hesitantly. I believe him about his childhood but for some reason, I can’t wrap my head around him being part monster. I’ve seen both Damon and Kai and it’s immediately obvious they aren’t remotely human, but Landon looks like any other warlock I’ve met before.
“You don’t believe me, do you?” he asks, as though he hadn’t imagined I’d react this way.
“No,” I breathe, not really wanting to admit it. But after seeing those pictures last week and encountering the monsters I have so far, the man before me seems like the furthest thing from a monster.
“Do you want me to show you then?” His voice darkens slightly as he takes a step forward.
“Yes.” The word slips from my lips without a second thought, my mind immediately going to the pleasure I felt with Kai. My tongue sweeps over my bottom lip, moistening it as anticipation coils in my stomach.
Landon closes his eyes and tips his head back. I wait for a transformation or something to happen, but nothing comes. He still looks exactly the same. A crease forms between my brows, I’m sure I must’ve missed something, but still nothing. I’m about to tell him just that when flashes of brown and green shoot from the palms of his hands.
I suck in a startled gasp as the ropes fly towards me. They wrap around my calves, the rough bark scraping gently against my skin as it coils up my legs. I try to scoot back on the desk and away from the snake-like plants but they tug me back. The leaves brush against my inner thigh and send tendrils of desire shooting straight to my core. An unbidden moan slips from my lips as arousal pools in my center, making me thankful I had the chance to get a new thong after my shower.
The vines slowly part my thighs before tying around the legs of the desk, leaving me spread open for the man in front of me. I pull in a ragged breath, barely even registering what’s happening with the desire coursing through me right now. I don’t fucking care that he’s part monster at this moment, and I don’t care that he’s my professor, not when he opens his eyes and gazes down at me with hunger. His normally tawny-brown are speckled with flashes of emerald-green lighting them up just like his vines.
“I’m part arbor,” he says, his breaths coming in staggered pants as he edges closer. “Do you believe me now?” He closes the distance between us and steps between my legs where warmth radiating off his body seeps into me, the connection humming in contentment with his proximity. I just want him to close those few inches between us and—
“Yes,” I whisper, realizing I should probably say something and not keep imagining if he’s hard for me. “What is this?” I rub at the center of my chest, at the invisible link that connects us.
Kai mentioned the connection and how having sex would cement it, but I’ve felt that same bond with both Damon and Landon. From the moment I laid eyes on him something pulsed between us, that magnetic force that keeps pulling us to each other.
Landon looks down at his own chest, glancing between us as though he can see the link. His chest rises as he takes a deep breath, clearly steeling himself for this revelation, this next truth. My lips quirk to the side in annoyance as I watch him in anticipation. He obviously knew what it meant this entire time and didn’t think to let me know.
“Alpha shifters have mates, and well, so do monsters,” he admits, sheepishly.
“But witches don’t have mates, at least not the same sort of bond that shifters do,” I murmur almost to myself as I attempt to make sense of the bomb he just dropped at my feet. My chest tightens, and I search my knowledge for some way to prove him wrong. “Some say that there’s a pull towards a partner that is a goddess-blessed union, but it’s never been described as this.”
I rub at my chest absentmindedly, trying to collect my muddled thoughts.
“Exactly, but monsters do have mate bonds, and they can be any species,” he explains, his voice soft and comforting. I understand why he hasn’t told me now. There was no way to explain the bond without admitting he’s a monster, and I’m sure that just like me and my power, he kept that information guarded like his life depends on it—which it does.
“So, can someone be a mate to more than one monster?” I ask hesitantly, not exactly sure how to bring this up. I need to know the answer, and even though nothing has happened between us, he deserves to know that there are others I’ve felt this bond with.
“I’m not sure, I’m only just starting to gather what little information I can on that side of me, but I don’t see why not,” he says cautiously, understanding already lighting in his eyes.
He scented Kai on me, and after last week and the warning he gave us on just how dangerous monsters are, there’d only be one reason why I’d let one get close enough to me to be intimate in any way.
“I thought it was my intuition,” I huff out on a breath of amusement, shaking my head at just how stupid I’d been, how willing I’d been to deny anything else was at play. “That the goddess was pushing me towards you for some reason.”
“Well in a way she is.” His tone is comforting and warm as he tilts my chin back up to look at him, and the vines still attached to his palms brush against my thigh. His hands are rough, betraying the years he spent as a hunter, tracking down his own kind and sending them back to their realm. How many had he sent back? Did he feel guilty after he found out he’s part monster?
“You’re right.” My lips tilt up into a small smile. With everything considered, I think I’m doing pretty well with this news, but if I hadn’t met Kai and Damon before would I really feel this comfortable right now? Landon being part monster seems like nothing in comparison right now.
“So more than one mate bond?” he asks hesitantly, his eyes crinkling as though he’s dreading the answer to this question even if he seems to already suspect it. His hand eases away from my chin, leaving a cold, bereft feeling in his wake. Honestly, I’m not looking forward to this either, but I need to talk about it with someone because right now my thoughts are a jumbled mess.
I take a deep breath, steeling myself as I launch into the same story I told Carter and Harper last week about meeting Damon in the dream realm. Landon’s eyes widen in shock but he remains silent, and I cringe internally for not warning him about that first. I’m sure when I said more than one he thought I meant two, not a whopping three monster mates.
“It makes sense that you saw him that night,” he says, his eyes gleaming with intrigue as though he’s just been handed a new problem to solve. He truly loves learning and teaching. I can tell by the joy and pride he gets by the excitement that lights in his gaze when a student gets an answer right. “Your need to make that initial bond with your mates was also probably amplified by our connection forming earlier that evening.”
