The 27th

Chapter 35

Hello! Thank you so much for the support! I am feeling much better and my next appointment is about a week from now. Recovery is going smoothly and great and I'm excited to get back to writing. Then again, I'm not sure if recovery is going to be longer or shorter then predicted so if I have to go on break again, please continue to understand! Thank you so much!

"You know she shouldn't be walking around unclaimed. It's disrespectful." His mother pointed out, the pair watching as Thaelia trimmed the dead leaves off some plants at the other end of the building. It was the first time they left the house since the winter storms had blown though and he was dreading it. He knew he was disrespecting her by living with her and verbally claiming her without placing a mark but he couldn't keep her cooped up in the house forever. She needed a chance to interact with the pack in order to familiarize herself with then and vice versa, however, his pack was well aware of the lack of his claim.

"Can't mark her." He groaned, rubbing his temples as he sat bent over in a chair. "Will scare her."

"There are other means of claiming in our culture, or have you forgotten?"

"No runes." He snapped his head up to look at his mother sternly. "Worse than mark." His mate was terrified of needles so having her endure the emotional and physical torture of a stick and poke would reverse any progress they made or even ruin any chances he had with her.

"Not the tattoos." His mother, deeming her trimming perfect, placed her clippers down and began organizing her plants. "The plait."

"The hair." He leaned back and relaxed in realization. It was an uncommon practice, as most mates were of a werewolf pair, both understanding the meaning of the mark so they would claim that way. However, with the small few pairing that were between humans and or other magically beings, the mark, a bite, could be seen as barbaric. Due to that and the enforcer's nature to provide, protect and ensure their mate's happiness, they created other ways to state a claim until a mark is placed.

"The hair." His mother confirmed, nodding her head as she continued to move the pots around.

"I go to blacksmith. Get beads." He stood from the chair, helping his mother reach one of the higher hanging plants on the wall.

"I still have mine if you want to use them." She offered, taking the pot from his hands.

"Thank you." He leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers.

"You can leave her here with me while you go to the blacksmith. I can ask your father to bring mine here and you can pick them both up.

"Σε αγαπώ" The pair exchanged the saying and Arias began to don his cape.
(I love you)

"Where are you going?" His mate eyed his coat as he approached her.

"I be back." He leaned down to meet their foreheads.

"Can I stay?" She whispered to him with their heads still together and he smiled, opening his eyes as he pulled away.

"If you want." She nodded at him, smiling back.

As he left, she continued the repetitive actions of cutting off browning leaves, a simple yet relaxing task. He, on the other hand, had to trek through the thick, freshly fallen snow, further down the mountain to the metal worker to request custom beading for her plait. Those beads would indicate who stated the claim so they had to be perfect.

Dusk began once he was finished. The snow beneath his feet had now hardened from the hours it had been exposed to the harsh cold, making it easier to make his way back to the healer's dwelling.

"You were gone a while. What did you do?" His mate asked as she helped him discard of his furs. As she grew more comfortable with him, she questioned him more and voiced her opinion, to his pleasure.

"Got you gift."

"Why?" It felt undeserved. She felt more of a burden, living in his house while he provided while she, well, did nothing. She couldn't offer anything. She couldn't cook, she didn't have the skills he had, rather, the only one she possessed was how to skin and animals but it was always done before she could offer help.

"For you. For us." He looked to his mother for guidance. Through he and his mate were able to communicate quite well for the most part, he wanted her to fully understand what he was going to do, not just vaguely.

"He is going to place a claim on you." His mother began. "What he will do is braid a strand of your hair and decorate it with beads with runes on them. The colors represent the male and female in the bonding and the runes read that this is for a claim. In our culture, it is disrespectful to the moon for a male and female bonded pair be so close together for so long without accepting the bond."

"Will it hurt?" She eyed Arias and his mother as they each placed a handful of metal objects on a table.

"It is absolutely painless." His mother assured. "This claim is also the only reversible one, so, if he in anyway disrespects you, you are able to reject his claim by taking them out. If you accept the bond and the plait is loose or you want it redone, you must go to the male for him to do so."

"Okay." She stared at the golden and silver pieces on the table. "I accept the claim but if it hurts," she looked between the mother and son, "I will deny it."

"It won't." The mother stepped forward, pressing her forehead to the bonded pair before stepping out to give them privacy.

"Sir, please." Arias pulled a chair from the wall and placed it in the middle of the aisle to which she sat down cautiously. Just as their routine, Arias began to brush her hair, combing his fingers through it after each pass of the brush. Once it was detangled and it wouldn't hurt her to part her hair, he began.

"Three pieces. You first. The bond connects us. Me." With each description, he separated her hair, choosing a section one by one that would represent each of the three things he listed. "Bond goes through us." She felt as he started to move his hands, manipulating her hair in some way that she couldn't see. "Hold us together." Periodically, he would pick up on the beads, alternating colors as he did so.

It didn't take long for him to finish due to her short hair, tying it off with a piece of thin, black leather. "Together we strong. Together we complete."

Intrigued, she reached for her hair, or what he called a braid, but due to where it was and the lack of length in her hair, she could not see it.

"Here." He directed her over the the reflection pool in the corner, part of the irrigation system his mother used.

Although the water rippled slightly from the trickling water from the small waterfall, she was able to see the twisted hair, the metal beading reflecting the light that shown on it.

In his eyes, the representation of both the gold and silver in her dark hair reminded him of the stars, especially when the light hit them. He could confidently say he throughly enjoyed the public claim he placed on her and he couldn't even imagine what it would be like when he would be able to mark her. He only hoped that she liked his claim as well.

"It's beautiful." She kept turning her head to the right, trying to view every angle possible. Satisfied, she stood and turned back towards him and pulled him in for a hug. "Thank you."

"You welcome." He pressed his cheek to her hair, placing more of his scent on her.

She eyes the left over beads on the table. "Am I supposed to do the same to you?"

"Don't have to. You can." Wearing her claim was tempting but he couldn't influence her decision. It was up to the female to accept and recognize the bond on her own, not the male to force it upon her.

"I don't know how." She admitted. Whatever he did looked fairly difficult and she didn't want to hurt him by doing it wrong.

"It's okay." He reached for the extra beads on the table, clasping onto two that were larger than the others, one gold, one silver. He held them out to her in his palm, turning his head as he bent down, giving her his left ear. "Put them on ear."

She did as he instructed, and once the last piece of metal slid into its place, their bond had been secured.