“We're rare. Seers, I mean.”
Her wide eyes find mine, and when I nod, she bites her lip. I try not to react, but I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes.
If I don't fuck this woman soon, I'm going to explode. Fucking explode.
“You are rare anyway, Blair, without being a fucking Seer.”
She stares at me, her gaze suddenly heated. “What does ‘marking me’ mean?”
I scrub my face and groan.
I can't dance around this. May as well just say it.
“Well, it's where we fuck, and I mark you with my teeth.”
Way to go, hero.
Blair swallows—well, gulps—then says, “And then?”
“And then?” I laugh harshly. “Then the mating bond begins.”
“Does it hurt?” She tilts her head and stares at me with her big fucking eyes, and I can't help but tease her.
“Thefucking?”
She blushes violently, and it makes me feel like a demon, but I love seeing her cheeks flush for me.
“The—the biting,” Blair whispers, leaning closer. “Does it hurt?”
“Yes,” I admit to her, scanning memories of countless females screaming in agony while being marked by their mates. “But it goes away, eventually.”
“So does a broken arm,” Blair mumbles. “I still wouldn't want one.”
She’s got a point.
I sigh and stare at the lake. It's calm at night, and I've spent many evenings in its healing water, forgetting the world above me as I swam beneath it, my lungs burning for air. Still, I can swim longer underwater than a human, like Blair.
Goddess, she's so vulnerable.
And now she's a Seer.
“Would it kill me?”
I turn my attention to her and shake my head. “No.”
“You're positive?” Blair rasps, and I frown. “You're positive I'll survive?”
“Blair, you don’t know what you’re asking me to do. Once I’ve done this, that’s it. I need you to be sure that this is what you want. I’m not marking you until you’re sure.”
The pain at the words leaving my lips makes my wolf howl, and I grit my teeth, my fingers tight around the steering wheel. I can't mark her. She's too special—too fragile. The pack needs her—Ineed her.
“The mating bond will expire if we don’t, right?” Blair leans over and gazes into my eyes, her lips parting to let out her sweet breath.
I want to eat it. Inhale it. Make it a part of me.
“Yes,” I grit out, stroking her cheek. “But I can't force you to do something that will change your life forever, Blair.”
“Force?” Blair scoffs, her brow furrowing. “Who said anything about force, Calix?”