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“Unfortunately for you, yes.”
I laughed, and Ivaylo laughed with me.
There was something just so… content about the moment. I enjoyed talking with him, and being around him, in a way I rarely had with anyone on Earth.
“So you force it by…”
“By forcing the magic to your skin, similar to a shift. Many shifters don’t believe in forcing a mate run at all.”
“And you’re one of them?” I checked, remembering him saying that on the night he found me, he hadn’t been with those who were forcing their run.
“Truthfully?”
“Of course.”
He studied me for a moment before finally admitting, “If I met a female I wanted to spend my life with, and she wanted to mate with me as well, I would force a mate run as many times as I had to in order to ensure we could bond. I believe in fate, but I also believe in freedom.”
“Damn, that’s a good answer.”
He continued washing dishes. “I imagined myself being among the last to take a mate, if I ever mated at all. There’s nothing outside of fate that could convince me to force a bond with a female I knew may not want me.”
“You’re not such a bad guy, Vay.” I accepted the final dish as he handed it to me, and he chuckled.
“Thank you. Tell me—what do humans do when they pick a mate?”
“A husband or wife,” I corrected. “And we call it marriage. Where I’m from, when two people get married, they make promises in front of all of their friends and family to stay together for the rest of their lives. Then they usually throw a big party, with cake, flowers, and dancing.”
“And sometimes, the marriages end.”
“Sometimes,” I agreed, stepping back after I put the plate away.
He grimaced, leaning back against the cabinets. “I cannot imagine sealing myself to someone and then parting ways.”
“I don’t think anyone imagines that when they get married. Divorce is a good thing, sometimes. Some relationships aren’t healthy or safe. In Evare, what happens when a woman is tied to a physically abusive male shifter? Or a male is tied to a female who is cruel to him?”
“The pack gets involved,” he said simply. “It’s not possible for a mated shifter to abuse their mate in any way. Their very nature refuses it, and their magic will drive them to take their own life if it does occur. If someone were to lose their mind and grow violent, or hurt an unmated shifter, he or she would be killed by their packmates.”
Ivaylo studied me for a few minutes before adding, “More than anything, mating is about having a companion at your side. Some mates are not intimate after the frenzy. Some do not share beds. Some are of the same gender, and some prefer to keep separate dens. But mating is knowing that you are not alone—that if anything goes wrong, someone else’s mind is at the other end of yours, and you need not be afraid.”
“That’s really beautiful.”
“It is.” He captured my hand and lifted it to his lips. “Will you share a bed with me in this form tonight?”
My face warmed a little as the glow around both of us swelled lightly. “I will.”
With that, he swept me off my feet.
I laughed as the side of my head collided with his chest, and he strode across the room. “I’m not all that tired right now, Vay.”
“Then we will talk in bed.”
We got comfortable beneath the sheets, and I leaned my head against his shoulder as he held me close to his side.
And we talked.
And talked.
And talked.
