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Destiny rolled her eyes. “Not all mates find a perfect love though. Marriage is a choice. Cain and I are married.”
“Not all marriages are by choice,” Larissa argued.
Annalise sighed as if to cut the tension. “There are good marriages and bad marriages, just like there are all over the world. And some partners are just assholes, whether they’re called by God or driven by some other force. It’s possible to have a mate and not love him the way one might love a husband, but there is always a holy link that cannot be broken.”
“I thought mates had to protect each other.”
“They should,” Anna said. “But different mates share different connections. And because the privacy of mates is so protected here, there’s still a lot we don’t understand.”
Destiny leaned forward, cupping her hand over the side of her mouth as she whispered, “And some of the elders have been around since God was a boy. So, if you think it’s hard to pass laws with the crypt keepers in congress, prepare yourself for a new level of old-school.”
“Careful, Destiny,” Larissa warned. “Christian’s on The Elder’s Council.”
“Don’t worry if your guy’s older than dirt,” Destiny joked. “The males here put Charlie Chaplin to shame. I’m sure he’s already proven his virility a hundred times over.”
The girls giggled all except for Gracie.
A hundred times? Delilah thought, a pinch of inadequacy coming out of nowhere. More like twice with a chaser of panic and regret.
“The bonding is sacred,” Gracie said, her voice taking on a reverent tone. “The connection to a called mate is formed at creation and fortified during the blood exchange. Most mates cannot live a full life without their other half.”
Destiny stopped laughing. “But neither is better than the other. It’s not a competition.”
Gracie pursed her lips as if she disagreed, but before she could comment, a masculine voice called from inside the house.
“Hello? Anyone home?”
A man appeared in the shadow of the back door and Gracie scowled. Delilah instantly recognized him as Christian’s half-brother, Dane, but she didn’t recognize the man holding a small child beside him.
“Momma!” the little girl squealed and the man lowered her to the ground. She looked like a doll in her little bonnet and black Amish gown as she ran to Larissa.
“Moriah, How did you end up with your uncle?” Larissa frowned at the man who had been carrying her daughter. “Cain, did Eleazar—”
He held up his hands. “I volunteered to take her. The bishop had to deal with an issue in the cells.”
Gracie’s eyes lit with concern. “Cybil?”
A strange look passed between the siblings and Cain nodded.
“Has there been any news regarding Juniper,” Annalise asked.
He gave her a stern look. “Didn’t ask. Don’t care.”
Destiny cleared her throat. “Cain, this is Delilah, Christian’s new mate.”
Rather than acknowledge her presence, he lowered his head to kiss his wife’s lips, lingering and whispering something in a foreign language against her mouth. It sounded… Portuguese. Destiny’s caramel cheeks deepened to a dusky shade of rose. Whatever Cain whispered must have been dirty.
Delilah swallowed back the sense of envy constricting her throat, curious what that sort of love and adoration would feel like, having never been kissed like that a day in her life. Not only were the two obviously in love but there was also a protectiveness in the way they touched one another, a coherency of need and respect, sort of like the way the ocean meets the sand, again and again, one forming around the other.
Only when they pulled away did Delilah get a full look at the man. Talk about an Amish cover model. It occurred to her then that none of the men wore beards, and she wondered if that was an immortal thing or something to do with their sect.
“We were playing with the clouds with Uncle Cain,” the little girl exclaimed then hugged Jaden with unguarded affection. “Can Jaden play?”
The little boy looked up at his young relatives, his silver eyes flashing above the disturbing mask. There had to be a better solution to teething. She supposed impetuous toddlers with fangs might complicate things. Forget about nursing.
“Hello, Grace,” Dane said with pointed directness.
Grace said nothing, obviously hearing his greeting but choosing to ignore him as she busied herself with the sewing.
Delilah sensed Cain staring at her and turned, but he immediately averted his eyes—deliberately snubbing her. He didn’t initially strike her as impolite, but the way he ignored her certainly felt rude. He seemed perfectly friendly with the other women.
Dane had no issue addressing her. “Does Christian know you’re here?”
Her hackles rose at the implication that she might not be permitted to sit with the other women in their sewing circle. Apparently, Christian’s brother was also a dick. It made sense why Gracie would ignore him.
Gracie snickered.
“Careful, Dane, you know how temperamental Christian can be,” Cain warned. “New mates are extremely territorial. Don’t speak to her in his absence.”
