Page 36 of Riding A Cock-Horse
“Right. Well, I guess we'll just have to tell your folks that we eloped to Gretna Green!” she jokes, and I roll my eyes.
“We can't mate, love. You'realreadymated—to Nestor.”
Belle scowls.
“That was not of my choice! I was tricked into it, I say, tricked! Besides, if I can mate with the Loch Ness Monster when I'mnota Loch Ness Monster, then it stands to reason that I can mate with any of you.”
I look over at Arthur, Jude, and Jack, who all just kind of shrug because the brilliant Yank has a valid point. Nestor stands there with his arms crossed, unamused. I don't know if he's upset because he hasn't consummated the mating bond with Belle yet, that she keeps punching him in the junk, or because she's demanding that she mate with the rest of us.
If I were to be given a guess, it would probably be the latter—but the Tersh can't really be angry at us for Belle's ultimatum, can he?
I shudder. He probably can, and being a slippery dick makes meespeciallyafraid of water predators—the last person I want to piss off is the Loch Ness Monster.
“Well, tell me how we can make a mating bond so we can just do it. All Nestor did was say some words with Alastair holding our hands together. Give me yours and mutter the same words,” she snaps.
“What if they don't want to be your mates?” Nestor throws out.
Belle's face blanks, and it's obvious that she hasn’t even thought of this. She turns to us in surprise—and guilt.
“I'm so sorry,” she starts. “I didn't even think about any of younotwanting to mate with me…” Her anguish over the idea is palpable, and I quickly put a finger to her lips.
“I would behonoredto be your mate,” I say with the heartfelt sincerity I feel inside.
Jude steps up to her right side, Arthur to her left, and Jack steps up to her back. Together, we envelop her in a hug as the three all avow how wonderful it would be to have someone as special as her as our mate. I know right then and there that none of us care if we had to share Belle because it’s better to have some of her than none of her.
“But,” I explain, pulling back a bit, “mating ceremonies are different for all shifters.”
“Well, what are the words that slippery dicks use?” she prompts.
I shrug.
“My kind doesn’t really use words because we complete the bond while we're in fish form. Obviously, there’s…you know…” I clear my throat in embarrassment when the woman who put herself in sexaholics anonymous looks clueless. “Sex…a mating bond involves sex, but there's so much more to it. As I mentioned, it varies from shifter to shifter. Slippery dicks are required to be in our shifted form because we rub our scales against one another.”
Jude nods.
“Cockchafers have a similar ritual. For example, we fly around and spray each other with our scents.”
Belle frowns.
“Well, I suppose you could do that to me… but don’t you dare get too close and get stuck in my hair! But if I shifted, I don't know what I could spray you with besides venom or lion pee… Ooo, maybe my goat could split on you!” she offers.
Jude shudders.
“No, thanks.”
“I don't understand,” Belle states in blatant confusion. “What did Nestor say that made me his mate that we all can't do together?”
Arthur steps up to explain.
“Nestor didn't actually use the niseag mating bond; he used the old Gaelic wedding ceremony to claim you as his mate. Your mating bond will be complete when you…”
“When we fuck,” Nestor finishes crudely.
Belle points an aggressive finger at him.
“You hush up, Buster! We're not doing any boning any time soon!”
Nestor gives her a look that suggests she better change her mind quickly,or else. This raises my hackles, and I turn to glare at the Tertiary.
