Page 6 of Her Second-Hand Mate

“The marking,” I looked away. “Everything.”

He seemed genuinely confused, and then it dawned on him and he changed the way he was sitting to see me better.

“Just the marking tonight. We leave early tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

I was torn between relief and disappointment.

“Look at me, Penelope,” he said in that low voice, so I lifted and turned my head.

He used his index finger to rub something thick and sticky onto my lips, and when I darted out my tongue to taste it, I realized it was the honey.

Before I knew what was going on, he brought his face to mine and started licking off the honey - gently at first, but then he started really savoring it.

He held me by the back of my head as he sucked and licked and made little appreciative sounds. I suddenly realized the sounds were coming from me. I broke the kiss, and his eyes searched my face intently.

I felt dazed and warm and my eyelids felt heavy. My heart was beating somewhere really low in my stomach. Dominic's nostrils flared. He took more honey and then put it onhislips.

As he was doing so, I noticed that his fingernails were bitten to the quick, and it filled me with a strange tenderness. It was the first imperfect, insecure, human thing I'd noticed about him, and it made him less intimidating and more endearing.

“Your turn,” he said.

I immediately leaned in with a hunger I'd had no idea I even had. I even drew some blood in the process since my canines unexpectedly descended. He looked at me like he couldn't believe what he was experiencing. Maybe I was doing it wrong.

His hand traveled from my nape into my hair, which he grabbed to tilt and expose my neck to him in the most sensual submission I'd ever experienced. Then he sank his teeth in. It burned, but in a good way. It felt like my skin was on fire. I might have been screaming or moaning since, at the end of it, my voice was hoarse, and my mouth was dry.

He looked at me wide-eyed and offered me his neck. Without hesitation, I returned the favor. I enjoyed the give of his flesh, the rush of his blood. With it, I expected to be flooded with his feelings and thoughts, but instead, I got just a vague sense of who he was as a person. A better understanding of his essence.

“Is everything okay?” he asked when I kept staring at him wordlessly.

I shook my head a little.

“Yes, I just – I guess I'd imagined the process of marking as more dramatic than it really is.”

He nodded and then stood up.

“I have to go see my Beta about something. Don't wait up for me,” he said and left before I could even formulate an answer to that.

2

That night, I dreamed that my mate was in bed next to me - holding me, nuzzling my neck, inhaling my scent; but when I woke up, his side of the bed was cold and I could hear him, probably packing, in the other room.

I quickly changed, went through my morning routine, and joined him in the living room.

“Good morning,” I said, suddenly shy and uncertain again.

Dominic looked up and nodded before returning to the task at hand. He froze briefly and I guessed he was mind-linking someone.

“My Beta, Elliot, will come up shortly to help with the bags.”

It was my turn to nod. What a couple we were. Thankfully, Elliot’s knocking soon broke the oppressive silence between us. He was probably present at our mating ceremony yesterday but it was all such a blur for me that I never noticed him.

“Hello Luna, it’s great to meet you,” he said and bared his neck respectfully.

“Likewise, Beta Elliot.”

“Where do you want these?” he asked, gesturing towards all my earthly possessions.

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