Mate, we said, as sure as stone, taking a step around the bed to get to him.
Mate, his Tirian agreed, then came forward, pushing his muzzle into my fur, burying his nose deep, taking long breaths to suck our scent into his lungs. So long. I waited… Where…?
Beyond our lands, in those of the humans. Exile.
Pictures flashed in my mind, of my Tirian being driven out of a Sanctuary much older than the one I stood within now, an authoritative woman, with a look about her that reminded me of Ophelia, directing us to go with a swift movement of her hand. I felt my Tirian’s confusion at that, but he didn’t seem to care, his muzzle burying itself further until I felt the nip of his teeth.
Mate, he insisted, something deeper and hard and desperate there, and I didn’t know if that was Shaun or his Tirian speaking. The nips got harder, more frequent. Mate.
Mate, she agreed, but there was some disquiet there, our body shifting away from his, but he kept on coming.
Mate!
It was a shout in my mind, a command for me to sit still, to take what was coming. He needed me, I could feel it, rushing towards me like a bullet train. But I didn’t know what it was, what this was, the mere fragments my Tirian had shared with me more confusing than anything. I fought then, knowing somehow what it would mean if he got his fangs into me. Shaun seemed like a nice dude, but mated for life? I was not prepared to make that commitment just for some good dick.
Let me out, I insisted.
But it wasn’t me that reverted back to human form first, Shaun going back to skin and standing there, chest heaving as he stared at me wide-eyed.
“I’m sorry, so fucking sorry, Ja—”
“What the fuck?”
The shift from Tirian to human was always disorientating. We were way more reliant on language and logic than they were, and I could feel her low simmering resentment, threaded through with her ravaging need. She wanted to be close to Shaun with every damn breath, needed to feel him, smell him, taste him. The fact he was him and his Tirian was separate didn’t matter to her. He was a part of her mate, and there was no bit of him she didn’t accept. Frankly, I admired her restraint.
How long have you known? I asked her carefully, pretty sure I knew the answer to that.
Always, she replied. Always. We were supposed to be reunited, to come together again and again, through this life and the next. I will always know my mates, and I knew it was him when he first walked in the door.
But I need to find my way in this, I said. I just got here, Sanctuary, whatever that is.
Home, she insisted.
A home we were driven out of. That quieted her. I need to find my feet, and you need to respect that. If I fuck things up in this life, at least you’ll have the next, right?
I could feel her reluctance as my eyes slid to Shaun, his body almost trembling with the effort it took to hold himself back, but he did, then shook his head.
“Fuck, that’s the last… I’m so…”
I laughed, because this felt like one of those postcoital brushoffs. The ole ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ thing, but when his eyes met mine, I knew I’d never get that with him, and wasn’t that a fucking scary thought? His whole soul felt like it was there on the surface, staring into me.
“I—”
“We—”
We both started to talk and then realised we were interrupting the other, then snorted in response.
“You go,” he said.
“I…”
Need to touch him. Your heat is rising again, my Tirian said smugly, and my nakedness and his became suddenly apparent. Odd, I know, but somehow, that shit had gotten sidelined during this whole thing. I wanted to say what I was going to say, but the words, all words got lost, his eyes losing their shell-shocked look as my eyes raked over him.
Do you know how hot it is, watching a guy get hard just from looking at him? His cock twitched as it felt like I was dropping deeper and deeper into a hot bath, the warmth sweeping in and taking over. I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly bone-dry, and his cock twitched in response, as if seeing the movement made him think of other things.
Well, great minds think alike.
I moved closer and saw him hardening at what appeared to be an overwhelming rate, his chest rising and falling as I fell to my knees.