Page 78 of Earth-Bound

Chapter 32: Joe

It was hard to define exactly what had changed but something had. I felt it, even though I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where I felt it.

The handprint Terrund left on my chest was gorgeous but it didn’t actually feel like anything other than skin. Just like the rest of my skin. Only prettier and it gave me a glow of satisfaction that we were mated.

I liked the sound of that.Mated. It sounded somehow even better thanmarried, though I’d have gone for that, if it had been what Terrund wanted. The point was that I felt somehow different and couldn’t exactly explain why, even to myself.

After we’d fucked, and Terrund had done his marking-me-with-his-hand thing, we’d stood up, kissing and touching, and had dressed. Then we’d walked out of the clearing like nothing had happened. I’d gone back to work and Terrund had come with me.

That had felt nice. Having him beside me.

For some reason, even though I’d spent years alone, my eyes seemed to automatically look up and scan around forTerrund. When I saw him nearby, my heart flipped happily. It was taking some getting used to.

“I’m going to go back to the house and lock up. I don’t think the dragons did it.”

Terrund nodded and stepped right up to me, taking my hand. We were still doing that. Holding hands. And it felt just as good now as it had before.

We walked across the fields and I tried to think of a way of asking what I wanted to without coming across as weird.

Terrund looked at me as we walked. “What’s on your mind, Joe?”

“I was just wondering…”

“Yes?”

“I don’t want to sound weird…”

His fingers squeezed mine. “We told you: it doesn’t matter to us if you’re weird. You’re wonderful just the way you are.”

I took a breath. “I feel like I can understand the trees.”

“Which ones?”

I looked at him. “You’re not freaked out?”

“No. I’m an earth spirit, Joe. I talk to the trees all the time. Well, not really all the time, because trees don’t like to be disturbed over and over again. And we don’t talk in the same way that humans talk, but we communicate. Which ones are you communicating with?”

I let out my breath in a rush. “I thought for sure this would be one step too weird for you.”

His hand tightened some more so that he was holding me like a vice, not crushing my hand but definitely tight and solid.

“Nothing you do will ever be too much for me. You are my mate. You are perfect for me. That is all there is to it.”

“In that case, it was the oak tree in the clearing, just before we left. It sort of… wished me luck.”

“Ah yes, that is a very old tree and they are very kind and wise. They wished me luck, too, as we start our lives together as mates.”

I tugged at Terrund’s hand, stopping him from walking and making him look at me. “Are you saying this is real? Really real?”

“Yes.”

“Did I accidentally get some of your power when we mated?”

Terrund’s eyes went soft and I could see he would melt every time I mentioned that we were mated, and I secretly hoped he would do it for a long, long time.

“No, I don’t think so. I cannot share my power. It’s inside me, part of me, it’s not something I can gift to other people.”

A fragment of me I hadn’t even realised was hopeful suddenly sank at his words. Damn, that would have been cool.

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