by Harper Wylde
Shaking off my mood, I thought over what he said and blushed. “Like what?”
Theo smirked. “Do you really want me to go into detail? Periods. Pregnancy. Birth control. Relationships. Sex.”
“Okay, okay!” I held up my hands to stop him, choking on an embarrassed laugh. “I see your point.”
“You can always talk to us about those topics, of course,” Theo said, cocking his head. “Though you weren't too happy when we tried to speak with you about it before.”
“It's not that I don't want to talk to you about it. I just… it's awkward.”
“You could just talk to them about what movies you like too,” he proposed with a chuckle. “I was just offering some suggestions.”
“I think maybe we'll stick with that,” I squeaked.
“Good. Besides, I know Rini has missed you.”
“I've missed her too. Molly and your mom as well,” I admitted. It was odd having so many people I was connected to. I wasn’t used to having such a wide circle.
“Then have fun. That's all I ask.” He tugged a bag from the back seat and handed it to me.
“You packed for me?” I gaped.
He shrugged. “It's one of your go bags. I make sure we all have a few. It has the basics in it, nothing special.”
“Thanks, Theo.” I hesitated for a moment, glancing out the window before leaning over to place a soft kiss on his cheek.
“I want some alone time for us soon, if we can manage it,” he said softly, twirling a strand of my hair. Slowly leaning in, he pressed his lips to mine in a sweet kiss before pulling back. “My Kraken misses you.”
“I definitely think we can work in a swim.” I grinned, remembering our last one as I left the car. Heading to the front door, I knocked softly.
“Nix,” Angela greeted me with a smile. “It's nice to see you, sweetheart. We've missed you here.”
“I've missed you too,” I replied.
“Good, then that means you'll come around and see us more often.” Angela moved aside, letting me duck into the kitchen. “The girls are waiting for you in Molly’s room. They've taken a ton of sweets in there so be prepared for a sugar rush.”
“Thanks.” I smiled at her, heading toward the back of the house to knock on Molly’s door.
“Nix!” The dual squeal came from both Rini and Molly as they flung open the door, before dragging me inside the light ocean, teal colored room. I laughed as they slammed the door shut, knocking me into a pile of pastel pillows they had stacked up on the floor.
“Did I interrupt something?” I asked with a laugh, looking at the potato chips that were now scattered over the fluffy white rug that covered the hardwood floor.
“We were reading and waiting for you,” Molly said, indicating the books with a wave.
“Oh, shoot, Rini. I forgot to bring yours back.” I grimaced as I set my bag next to her bed. “I'll get them back to you soon, I promise.”
“Have you read them yet?” she inquired, grabbing a soda from the bedside table.
“You gave me a huge stack of books.” I arched an eyebrow at Rini. “I haven’t had time to go through all of them,” I admitted. “I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve read, though. It's been interesting, all the talk about mates.” I snagged a chip from the bag and eyed my best friend, wondering what her angle with the whole ‘stack of romance books’ thing was. Either way, there’d been a common theme among the books I’d been able to read, and I voiced my thoughts on a sigh. “Aside from them being super hot, it must be nice to have a specific way of knowing who you're meant to be with—fate and no doubts.”
Rini hesitated for a moment, before glancing at Molly. “What if you could have that?”
“Huh?” I asked, completely confused.
“I want to show you something.” She pushed her sleeve up and reached her arm out, showing me a birthmark on her arm—a small spiral that looked like part of a crescent moon.
“Your birthmark?” I questioned curiously.
She chuckled. “It's hard sometimes to remember you didn't grow up in this world. It's not a birthmark, it's my mark. All animal shifters are born with them. They're always in a clear place on our skin, and you see them when we are in either form.”
“It's pretty.”
“It's my mate mark, Nix.”
I cocked my head, considering her. “What… what is that?” I stuttered, leaning closer to get a better look at the mark she seemed determined for me to notice.
“It’s a mark specific to only me. Each female’s mate mark is different… much like how every snowflake is formed differently. There are intricacies to it. And it's on my mates as well. It marks them as mine.” She took a deep breath and held it, waiting for that information to sink in. My eyes flicked to hers, growing wider.
“Why haven’t I heard of this before?” It came out breathier than I expected it to.
“Truthfully?” Rini flicked her gaze to Molly and she nodded, clearly agreeing that Rini should say whatever it was that was on her mind. “It’s just one more piece of valuable information that the Council has corrupted over the years. It doesn’t fit with their ideal ‘breeding program.’” Rini scoffed, disgust clearly coming across in the frustrated anger that seeped into her words. “If they allowed mythologicals to believe in the mating marks, they may not be able to control the types of mythologicals that are born and bend their devote followers to their will.”
I gaped at her. “They’ve covered up this information? You’re saying it’s not widely known?” It made sense, the guys had never so much as mentioned the mark, and it would have been in their best interest to do so. Unless, of course, they wanted me to make up my own mind about them before ‘forcing’ the choice on me. A few months ago, I probably wouldn’t have reacted so well to the news that my mating choices had been taken out of my hands—sealed by fate. Now, however, things were so much different. I cared for them. Hell, I loved them. I just hadn’t admitted as much out loud yet.
Rini nodded her head, confirming my suspicions. “Animal shifters believe in the marks. We spend so much time together, in both forms, that it's easy to see which males share your marks. It's why I've been connected to my bears for as long as I have. Once we saw the marks, we grew up knowing we were meant for each other.” She smiled. “For us, marks are a sign of the female's power. She's the center, you see. It's common for females to have several mates, each one bearing our mark. We're seen as the center of our males.”
“That's... kind of incredible,” I said. “But it’s a little hard to prove scientifically, right?” I spouted the question, feeling like I’d borrowed some of Theo’s skeptical personality on wanting to verify the facts before I bought into the whole thing. “I mean, being told exactly who to mate with just because they have a similar mark?”
“Not similar. Exactly the same. Down to every curve and line. Always. Just like those snowflakes I mentioned. No two mate marks are the same.”
My mind spun as I leaned back against the bed, propping myself against it. “So why don't I have one? I mean, I don't have any birthmarks. I haven't seen anyone else with them either.”
“Mythologicals marks don’t show in the same way that regular animal shifter’s marks do,” Molly said softly. “It’s why the Council has been able to spin it all as a myth. They say that animal shifters believe in fairy tales, that mythologicals have evolved past that, and it's what makes us different. It's one of the reason our matings are different.”
“When I complete a mating, I don't need the Council's approval,” Rini began. “They don't issue a license like they would for you as a mythological. We consider anyone with marks to be true mates, and no matter what the Council may say, we're meant to be together and no law outweighs that.”
“Okay, so…” I took a minute to process, making sure I was understanding what they were saying. “Mythologicals don’t believe in the mating marks. So they don’t even care to look?”
Molly nodded. “Most mythologicals have dismi
ssed the whole concept as nothing but lore. I only learned about its validity because Rini showed me. She wanted to make sure I was prepared before I started choosing mates from my suitors.” Molly sighed. “The trouble is, marks on mythologicals only show up in our shifted form. As a Kraken, it’s been hard to spot mine on my own. Rini’s promised to come out with me while I shift to help me find it and document it so I can use it to help guide me in my mate choices. I…” Molly hesitated. “I don’t want to choose someone I’m not meant to be with. Even if I never find them.” Sadness moved in like a heavy rain cloud over Molly’s head.
“You are going to find your mates,” Rini soothed, rubbing her hand over the back of Molly’s. “You’re giving up before we’ve even started. Chin up, girl.” Rini chucked Molly under the chin, making her lift her face, and she plastered a watery smile on her lips.
My hands were shaking with anxiety and I started fidgeting to keep my nerves at bay. “So, hypothetically speaking, when you find your mates as a mythological, you still need approval from the Council. How does that work with… what was that term you used earlier?”
“True mates,” Rini answered.
“Yeah… how does that work with true mates?” I asked.
“The Council has their followers believing that no mythological has had a mark in decades. It hasn’t been hard for them to twist information to their own will. They have everyone believing they have the final say on who mates with whom in the mythological world. It’s how the whole suitor business started. Matings became political rather than about love, family, and true matings.” Molly shook her head. “With the way things are run now, I'd need a license, gifted to me from the Council, in order to take a mate. Of course you know that we can bear children with whomever we choose, but if we intend to mate, to have one person or even multiple mates for the rest of our lives, we must have the Council’s approval.”
“We’re convinced it’s just a power play by the Council. A way for them to choose what types of mythologicals are born. The stronger, the better. Much like how they’ve limited who can even bid on you. They want more phoenix. Not more—for example—kraken. That’s why Theo was allowed to place his bid, but Ryder wasn’t. It’s all about the rarity of the type of shifter. It has nothing to do with who would actually pair well.” Rini expanded on some of the knowledge I already knew, but the severity of what she was saying was making me sick to my stomach. Who the fuck was the Council to insert themselves into such important matters. It just solidified my opinion of them that much more.
“They’ve rejected many pairs too. Many times, those mythologicals choose to live together, breed, and raise their families without the license at the expense of giving up their good standing in the Council’s eyes. But depending on what rank they are—if they’re high ranking—sometimes the Council will push hard enough that they cave and accept an approved mate.” Molly played her fingers through her ponytail, which she’d pulled over her shoulder.
“It’s a fear tactic,” Rini added, grabbing a handful of chips.
Stealing one of Rini’s chips, Molly continued, “It's one of the reason so many of us have rituals of our own. If the Council denies us, we can still consider ourselves mates among our own cultures.”
“The guys mentioned something about that. They each have their own mating rituals based on their mythological side.” I pursed my lips and tried to connect the dots. “So, it's almost relatable to marriage in the human world?” I inquired, trying to sort through everything they’d said. “You need a marriage license to legally marry in the United States. Many times throughout history, people have been denied licenses. If you were gay, different religions, different races—the government wouldn’t sanction the marriage.”
“Yes, it's similar to that,” Rini agreed.
I tilted my head to one side and then the other as I worked to release the stress building up in my shoulders. “So...” I hesitated for a moment, glancing between the pair of them. “If mate marks show up differently between animal shifters and mythologicals, does that mean that animal shifters and mythologicals cannot mate?” It’d been a question that had been plaguing me since I noticed the growing relationship between Rini and Ciarán, and with the added complication of the mating marks, I was dying to know the answer. I kept my eyes locked on my best friend, gauging her reaction as the question slipped off my tongue.
Rini froze for a moment, looking like a deer caught in a pair of headlights. “It's unusual for animal and mythological shifters to mate. Some animal shifters never meet anyone with their marks. Others have mates who die, or they simply make a choice. Some believe that their mates may develop a mark over time.” She shook her head.
“But, if they're true mates...” I let the sentence hang before whispering, “Like Ciarán?” When she gaped at me, I smiled and shrugged. “It hasn’t been a well guarded secret… at least not to me.” I patted Rini’s hand. “It's easy to see there's a connection between you. I thought it was just surprise at first, but I see it when you're together—when you talk about each other. And after I questioned you the other day, I was pretty sure my suspicions were confirmed, even though you weren’t ready to talk about it at the time.”
Rini rubbed her hands down her cheeks. “I'm not sure, Nix. I'm really not. You know I was hesitant to formalize my mating, and that was before Ciarán came to Alaska. When I met him for the first time, something inside of me just... lit up. I knew him in some way. It was the same sense of knowing I have with the others. I don't know why, but something just felt… complete.”
“What do your mates think?” I nearly whispered, giving the delicate situation the respect it deserved.
“It's been an interesting conversation. They trust and love me. They aren't pressuring me. Ciarán, he feels something too. That's what makes this so hard. I can't betray my mates, but if I feel the same way about him, then how can I truly be separated from him without it hurting? I mean, my mates are brothers. They're used to the idea of sharing. We never considered there might be a fifth member of our family. It's taking some adjustment.”
“They're going to let you mate him?” I was shocked that they'd even consider it.
“They feel it too,” she murmured. “As jealous as they are of him, they're connected as well. They don't like being separated from me, but they always know I'm safe if I'm with him. It's an adjustment period right now. I don't even know if Ciarán will want to be with us long-term, or what that will mean.”
“Does he have your mate mark?” It seemed that would be a tried and true method for finding out what the future held for all of them, if they all chose and accepted the change.
“We haven’t checked yet.” She bit her bottom lip, looking at Molly and me with wide eyes. “I haven’t been ready to take that leap. Besides, much like I’m sure you’re feeling right now… I want to make sure my feelings are real, solid things before I let fate make an irreversible decision for me. And it’s as much Ciarán and my bears’ decision as it is mine.” She released a shaky breath. “Who knows if Ciar will even want to be mated to animal shifters. I’m sure he’s grown up planning to have a normal mating… you know… with a mythological.” It was the first time I’d heard such insecurity in her voice, and I didn’t like it.
“Rini,” I scolded her gently. “Nothing about Ciarán is normal. You, of all people, should know that. And if what I’m picking up on from him is any indication, that man child is head over heels for you. You being a regular animal shifter probably hasn’t even crossed his mind.” I pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry this has been so tough on you. I hope you know you can come to me anytime to vent or talk.”
“Same here,” Molly chimed in, scooting closer and joining our group hug.
She smiled weakly as we pulled away. “Hey, we've all got mate issues. Molly's still dating, I'm stretching boundaries, what about you?”
“Me?” I squeaked.
She chuckled. “Yes, you. All of this talk about mate marks. You can’t tell
me you’re not itching to get home, make those men yours strip and shift so you can check them over for your mate mark.” She arched a knowing brow at me, giving me a taste of my own medicine.
“I won’t lie, I’m curious…” I worried the inside corner of my lip, and Molly and Rini gazed at me with unbelieving smiles. “Okay, fine! I’m dying to fucking know. And worried about the possibility that they won’t. And unsure of what my next move will be if they do!” I flopped down onto the floor, grabbing a small round donut from a stack on a nearby plate. “This is so much to take in,” I muttered around the chocolate covered donut.
“Have you noticed any marks on any of the guys when they were shifted?” I had the complete attention of both girls while I thought about it, distinctly remembering the starburst birthmark I saw on Theo’s Kraken, the similar mark I’d seen on Killian’s Puca, and the mark I’d traced on Ryder just the other day. “Holy fucking stars.” The color drained from my face as I glanced at Rini and Molly, both of whom had caught on to my excited panic.
“You have!” Molly squealed. “Oh my gods, you’re so lucky. I’m jealous. Can I be jealous?” She swooned into Rini playfully.
I jumped from the floor, quickly pulling my shirt over my head and popping the buttons on my jeans before shimmying them to the floor.
“While I always appreciate a good strip tease,” Rini giggled, “what the everloving hell are you doing?”
“We need to double check!” My heart was racing a million miles a minute as I shucked the rest of my clothing, deciding it wasn’t a huge deal to be naked in front of my two friends, and let my shift consume me, being careful to contain my flames so I didn’t singe any part of Molly’s room. The shift took longer with my concentration on protecting the interior of the space, but once it was complete, my Phoenix reined in all her fire, leaving us in simple bird form.
