Page 18 of His Impossible Elf Mate
He came into my arms with a happy sigh. “Now, can you explain the tattoo?”
“Alright,” I agreed as I stroked his hair. All I wanted to do was keep touching him. I feared he was about to fall asleep. “Feel free to ask me in the morning. You can sleep if you are tired.”
“I want to know. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep if I don’t know. Everything about you fascinates me. I want to know all there is to know about you.”
“The feeling is mutual.” I took a moment to gather my thoughts. Although I wanted Axel to know I was a prince, telling him after we had just had sex for the first time was not a good idea.
“You know that I have served in the military.”
“Yeah. Is that where it’s from?”
“It is. As is customary, we all wear our family’s symbol on us. Usually in the form of the amulet I took off earlier. It is a way to identify us by house. Every house, or family, has a different owl, as they are the mark of our goddess. My family uses the snowy owl as its symbol. Hakeem, though we are distantly related, uses an eagle owl.”
“You’re related to Hakeem?” Axel asked in surprise.
“Truthfully, I am related to Ívarr and Teagan, too.”
“Oh, wow.”
“Yes. So these emblems identify fallen soldiers. Unfortunately, the enemy knows this, so they often remove any trace of the house, making it harder to identify whoever has died. A long time ago, an elf discovered tattoos in the human world and took it back to us. We began to tattoo the house emblem on every soldier who enlisted, usually in a place that was easily hidden, so if they fall in battle, we can identify them later and give them a proper funeral.
“That’s…”
“I have complicated feelings towards it, too. It should not be necessary, but I am proud of my houseand family, so I do not mind having the tattoo, just that it was deemed important.”
“Yeah, that’s a lot.” Axel was silent for a long time. “T?”
“Yes?”
“Please stay the night.”
“Dear one, I will stay all of your nights if you let me.”
Family
Axel
About six weeks after I’d woken, my body was beginning to feel like mine again. Instead of feeling like a stranger occupying my old skin suit, life felt good, but changes were just around the corner.
Blake took me out of sleep with a shout down our family link.
Kade is shifted! Help! I think the babies are coming!
Woah, hold on. He could be shifted in preparation. Is he doing anything else?I got out of bed, looking longingly at T with his beautiful platinum hair splayed along my pillow. He belonged in my bed.
He’s literally spent all night making a nest.
All night? And you’re just telling us now?Chase butted into the conversation.
He wouldn’t let me before! Said it was fine. His wolf just wanted to build the nest for the babies. He can’t shift back! I can feel him freaking out and I’m trying to hide my own freak out.
Blake did seem like he was on the brink of a freak out.
Casually, I wondered how many times I could use the term freak out before it ceased to make sense. Okay, maybe I was losing it, too. There wasn’t time for that.
Shit!Chase was succinct for a change.
Call Dakota and Jasper. You should call Aldrin, too.It was time for me to take over this shit show. Blake was not in his right mind. Never was when it came to Kade. He loved his omega more than he loved anything. If asked to stop breathing to keep Kade alive, he would.
