I thank you, Zai.
Yet still, the Dark One shook his head.
“This is madness,” he muttered beneath his breath.
“Whatever this is between us…it cannot work. It will not last.”
Sin’s hackles raised and his muscles locked against that harsh proclamation, but he fought down his instincts to bark and argue back.
Instead, he breathed deeply, pulled on the very small store of patience he had and finally said simply:
We will see.
To this, the Hunter had no further response.
After Sin closed his eyes and drifted toward slumber once more, he felt Zai shift closer and lie down next to him, leaning lightly against his flank.
Sin slowly curled closer around the male, until his maw was laid in the Hunter’s lap.
In his dreams, he felt Zai’s fingers sifting through his tufted mane, scratching lightly behind and between his ears.
A feline smile pulled at the corners of his furry mouth, content.
Chapter Fifteen
“So, too, are all Immortals bound. The One Eternal, Blooded, Chosen, or Destined Mate…by whatever name for whichever Kind, the One True Soul-Mate of the Immortal being is the Balance he or she requires to embrace their humanity. The lack leads to madness, despair and unending Darkness…”
—From the lost oral fables of Immortals
The journey to the Eagle King’s mountain and the long trek to the top were relatively uneventful.
It took two days and nights, during which Sin and Zai seemed to have come to some sort of understanding. They interacted as naturally as they breathed, often moving and thinking in perfect synchronization.
Ben could tell they communicated on their own frequency, for a look between them would lead one to take action that the other already anticipated. Sometimes, they wore similar wry expressions on their faces as if sharing a private joke, though Sin’s were carried on his furry feline maw, for he remained in liger form throughout their travels.
Ben also knew, though he turned a blind eye and deaf ear, that when they rested during day or night, Sin shifted to man and the two males slept wrapped around each other as if they were halves of a whole. Unless they were the stealthiest lovers in creation, they simply slept.
(For which Ben was thankful, because it was damned hard not to be vicariously horny if they went at it like rabbits. Or lions in heat, as the case might be. And Ben really didn’t relish blue balls all day long as a result).
There was a playful, mischievous, devilish side of Sin that always made Ben crack up, especially when he taunted and teased the stoic Hunter.
Like slapping Zai’s ass with his tufted tail every time he padded by. Or licking a scratchy strip up the Hunter’s neck when he wasn’t paying attention. Or knocking into him as he walked to take him off balance so Sin could pounce on top of him, nuzzle his chest and throat and rub his scent glands all over Zai.
Zai, for his part, always reacted with exasperation and long-suffering, reluctant acceptance, though he still fought back at times, albeit half-heartedly.
But Ben saw how he hid his smile from Sin during these occasions. He clearly enjoyed their interactions as much as Sin did, no matter how he tried to convince himself otherwise. Honestly, Ben didn’t know why he kept fighting the inevitable:
Sin and Zai were made for each other.
They were clearly Destined Mates.
For the most part, the three of them traveled in silence, for the two males tended to communicate telepathically.
Ben didn’t mind. He wanted them to have the time to strengthen their Bond and come to terms with each other.
It was awe-inspiring to witness the growing love between them, like the dawning of a new day. A multitude of gorgeous colors tentatively reaching for each other in a slowly brightening sky…until the life-giving sun blooms on the horizon and chases all the darkness away.
Watching this new dawn between the two warrior males as it unfolded triggered Ben’s own reflections.