Page 20 of Dweller of the Mists

“Life may not always be perfect, but I’m able to freely be with the one that I love. I couldn’t ask for anything more,” she murmured, and he pressed a kiss into her hair as she rested her cheek over his heart.

“I would ask something, however,” he whispered into her hair.

“Hmm?”

Lifting his head, he curled his finger beneath her chin and tipped her head so that she met his eyes. He stared into her eyes, wanting to imprint this moment upon his memory. With the gold-lit mist rolling around them and the flowers in full bloom as they clung to the trees. The moment was perfect.

“Though it has already been done, I wish to properly make you my mate,” he quietly explained.

A confused look crossed her face. “What? I know that you said I’m your mate, but I didn’t realize that it was already done. When did that happen?”

Not wanting to release her from his arms, he shrugged in the more human manner that his mate favored and smiled down at her. “When you first accepted me into your body, I becamepheromone bound to you, my scent changing to align with yours.”

Her brow crinkled at him. “But… you still let me leave? Even though we had mated, and you would feel the repercussions of it?”

“You are not Bia,” he gently reminded her. “It is not fair to bind you to the customs of my people when you are not similarly afflicted. Nor did you know beforehand.”

She searched his gaze with concern. “You would never have told me if I hadn’t chosen to come with you.”

It was not a question, but he nodded all the same. “I had already bonded with you. There was no going back for me. I just wanted to have one thing to keep with me… just as you also desired.”

She exhaled slowly with a shaky laugh and shook her head. “I cannot believe how close I came to losing my own mate. And I never would have known it.” Her mouth tightened slightly. “Don’t keep things from me again. If we are mates now, then I must be aware of everything that is going on.”

He inclined his head, his chest tightening with emotion. He truly had a mate who would walk with him. “This I can agree with.”

“Good.” She regarded him seriously for a long moment but then her lips twitched, and she peered at him speculatively. “So, how do we properly mate, then?”

He nodded to the side of the tree. “In the Bia fashion. I turn you to the tree and you accept me in mounting you.”

Her brows rose. “The first time when you kept trying to turn me toward the bed posts?—”

“It is instinct to mate in such a way. Our claws can make breeding hazardous,” he pointed out with a chuckle.

Her eyes fell to his claws, and she winced in sympathy though she laughed as well. “That’s fair. I don’t have any such claws, butI can see how evolutionary that just feels like the right position… but… outside?”

She looked uneasily around them, but he smoothed a hand along her shoulder, seeking to both comfort her and draw her attention back to him. It worked enough so that he could feel some of her tension flee just before she looked over at him inquisitively.

“Just this one time,” he murmured. “Few Bia females enjoy mating in the trees, so it is not expected except at the time of mating when she chooses the male from all of her gathered suitors.”

“Thankfully I was able to skip over the step,” she muttered, and his lips twitched with amusement.

“I am thankful, too,” he agreed. “I would not have enjoyed chasing away rivals and working so hard to capture your attention. It is selfish but it pleases me that it was only I who discovered your presence in the swamps.”

“You and me both. I don’t think I would have enjoyed being the center of attention among multiple males.” Her gaze skittered over the trees. “How is this even going to happen without someone seeing.”

The corner of his mouth hitched in amusement. Her sense of smell was truly terrible. She hadn’t noticed the subtle change to scent from the chemical mixture now flowing through him.

“No one will approach,” he assured her, and he took her hand in his reassuringly. “I have entered into an aroused state since returning to the tree and my pheromone signature is letting anyone within the vicinity to stay away.”

A pink color crept into her face, and she chuckled wryly. “Are you telling me that your entire family knows when you are aroused.”

He inclined his head. “And when you are, as well. Your scent changes quite distinctly.”

“That… is mortifying,” she admitted, burying her face in her hands.

Gwum laughed quietly and he gently pulled her hands away. “It is natural. No one would have the bad manners to comment on it or to intrude upon our privacy.”

She took a depth breath and glanced at the thick trunk of their tree. “So… right here, huh?”

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