Page 51 of Love the Way You Lion
She whispers, “It’s not done. It needs something.”
I take the metal from her hand, looking at it. “What does it need?”
“A lock of your hair,” she says. The words tumble out so fast that I don’t even think she paused between them. Her face is bright red beneath all the hair she’s hiding behind; I know it. “If you can’t, I understand. I don’t have to have it.”
Eyeing her thigh, I point. “Cut it with Precious. I don’t have sharp pointies like the cat. At least, none that I’ve seen yet.”
“Huh?” She blinks, looking dumbfounded.
“The hair, love. It will not fall on its own, right?”
Stuttering, she nods. “O—okay.” Plucking Precious out of her sheath, Blade looks for a place in the back that won’t be too noticeable.
I shake my head. “Wait a moment.” I look down at the middle finger of my left hand and remove the band. It was a gift of love—not intended for any nuptials—but as it symbolizes a commitment, I couldn’t bring myself to take it off yet. I thought it healed until now, but I move it to my right index finger and look up at her. “Now, I’m ready.”
She looks confused and I sigh, not wanting to go into detail about something that is going to upset her. “I want—I want to put this on you. I want it to mean something. For thatto happen, I have to make a conscious decision about who I am committed to. That person is you,” I mumble.
Making an owlish face, she looks as if she wants to ask, but decides not to. She holds up the dagger, spinning it a little. Winking, she shears the lock without me even blinking an eye and picks it up. “Lay it across the ring in your hand and then say something. Give me a minute to remember what Damien said.”
“I hope to hell it isn’t ‘hunk of burning clone’.”
She bursts out laughing. “You know about that? Oh, the stories I could tell about the fights at the house between Damien and Taurus over that incident.” Giggling, she blinks. “Now I remember! You say ‘chosen’.”
I chuckle. “That git fancies himself a funny rotter, eh? My girl did clone hand puppet theater for us one night about those two. She loves a good sock puppet clone show.” Seeing her smile as she imagines it, I look at the flat thing again. “I lay it here like this with the hair on it and say the word?”
She looks unsure. “I’m not sure. It’s muse magick. They’re supposed to—but that might not work now that it’s only—I’m not sure.”
Looking confused, I nod. “Okay. Let’s try it, yeah?”
“WAIT!” she yells, looking panicked. “Damn it.” Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out another piece of metal. “I might not have mentioned everything. I didn’t want to ask you to wear this because you’re not—but you can. No meaning other than your affection for me. They’re a matched set. They’re supposed to work in tandem.”
Pursing my lips, I ask, “Was it because of what I can’t give you? If you don’t want to, I’ll understand.” I feel doubt on my face, warring with what I want and what is right. I know how the catfeels now, worried that the ties that bind from the past have screwed you out of happiness now. I know she’s been hiding how much she’s hurting that the bird has never reciprocated the ring she gave him because she knows it’s her own fault. She won’t put herself on the line and ask. I thought it was stupid, given how bonkers he was for her. Now I know why she won’t. It’s because asking that question made my heart shrivel in my chest for a moment.
I suppose it’s a constant open wound on hers.
Knowing all the things she’s carrying, I hope to hell no one ever has to go searching around inside her to heal anything. Demons lurk there, and I don’t mean the sexy ones we clones have. I mean, she stores true black holes to hell inside labeled drawers just waiting to get free. I look over at my mate again, troubled by her silence as I ponder.
Finally, she lifts her head and peers at me, eyes dark with emotion. “I choose you to be my soul mate until the end of days. I want you to be mine and wear that ring for all to see as a testament to that. Regardless of what your prior commitments are, I want that, but I won’t ask you to if you feel compromised by the request.”
Relief has to be written on my face because it’s a tidal wave in my heart. “Then we should get moving on this. Let’s get them nice and settled on our fingers.”
She beams and hands me Precious. “This one needs a lock, too.”
I take it and give a spin, winking at her.
Her eyes follow the dagger and she murmurs, “That’s weird. No one else but me has ever used that dagger. No one’s even touched it since I got it. I’m protective. I handed it over to you. I didn’t even think about it. Huh.”
I test the weight in my hand, noting that it feels familiar, despite not having touched it before. “It feels like it belongs here. It must be a mating thing.” I reach out and snag the needed lock.
“It must be. You are running around with all of my blood in your veins.”
The blade spins in my hand unbidden as I listen. I sit it in her palm with a small grin. My hands moved faster than I’ve seen before while I was touching it. “I think you’ve made me dangerous.”
Her eyes glow, and her smile is a unique blend of love, seduction, and pure evil. “Yeah, I’ve been told I have that effect on people.”
She holds the ring in the palm of her left hand, lays the lock of hair over it. “Ready?”
“I am.”
