On Bended Knee

Chapter 6

"Are you sure you're ok?" Andromeda asked me that twice already, but I just rolled my eyes at her and repeated myself for the third time.

"Yes, Andromeda, I have had blue balls before, you seem pretty good at doing that to me. I promise I will be fine." I laughed lightly as I kissed her forehead, passing her on my way to the fridge. "Do you want anything to drink?" My head was wedged in the fridge when I felt her hands on my back.

"Andromeda." I ground out a warning. I turned and faced her, still in my briefs and t-shirt, but just with a mischievous grin and sexy bedhead. "You are the one that stopped us back there, not me." I grabbed both of her hands and pulled them off of me. I kissed each finger in turn as I spoke. "You said that we had to stop." Kiss. "There were things I needed to know." Kiss. "Things about being your mate." Another kiss as I growled out the last word, eyeing her over our joined hands. "As much as I would love to jump into bed with your and lick. Every. Single. Inch. Of your skin, I don't want to start this the wrong way." I lowered our hands away from my face and looked down at this woman in front of me. Her face was still flushed from arousal, but it looked like my words were sinking in.

"Damn, these hormones are real." She shook her head like she was trying to clear water from her ear. "All I can think about is climbing you like a tree, stripping you naked, riding you like a wild animal, and sinking my teeth into you." She blinked multiple times, kind of like a cartoon character.

I didn't hold in my laugh, but I led her back to the living room. "Once we get through this, you can do whatever you want to me, babe."

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How in the hell did wolves keep it in their pants with their mates around all the time? I haven't felt this sex-crazed since puberty and right before my first shift. I was amazed at my lack of control around my lumberjack. Not very Alpha-like behavior.

"You're right, Atlas. I have a few things we have to talk about before we complete mating."

"Can we not call it 'mating'? It's just sex, right?" Atlas laughed as we walked into the living room and sat the opposite ends of the couch.

I winced internally. I forgot just how little he knows. "Not really, Atlas. This isn't just sex and it's actually a huge deal for wolves. You will only mate once in your life. And that's only if you are lucky enough to find your mate in the first place.

Mating is something intimate between two wolves—or in this case a wolf and a human—that creates an unbreakable bond between the souls. Like a marriage on steroids. It's a physical, emotional, and mental connection. It's tangible, you can feel it, Atlas. Like a thread connecting my head to yours, my heart to yours, my-uh-pleasure to yours." I could feel my face go red. "It's called the Bond. There are different types of bonds, between pack members, family members, and mates. The mate bond is the strongest and the bond that cannot be broken once established." My father's face flashed behind my eyelids. "Only death severs the connection, Atlas." I looked to my mate in front of me. I tried to put all of my weight into the words I said next. "You would never be able to be with anyone else ever again. We would be effectively married and inside each other's minds for every second of every day until one or both of us died."

He was too quiet as he just stared back at me, thinking. I could practically see the smoke coming out of his ears from the gears working overdrive in there. "That's what happened to your mom, isn't it. Her mate died, but she survived."

Atlas's words were kind, gentle even, but they still hit me like a Mack truck. "Yes," I whispered, hoarse all of a sudden. "My mother's mate died and her soul died with him. She hasn't spoken since he left us, she is a shell of who she used to be. It would be kinder if she died."