Thorn (Werewolf) ✔

Chapter Thirty-Six

"I think I've worked out why he wouldn't look at me," Sky says. I sigh as I try to focus on the pages of the book that I'm reading. I lift it a little higher to try and block her out. "Remember when Fiona told us about selective sight among alphas?"

"No," Dominic says.

We're laying around the fire that I started a few hours ago. It's been hours since the connection with Thorn ended and although I'm relieved that he's okay, I'm still shaken up by it. Hearing his voice was just another reminder that I'm far away from him. The forest glows a strange colour in the dark. Most of the trees still give off the red smoke but the entire ground glistens like it's made of gemstones.

"Selective sight is when an alpha without a mate won't look females in the eye because it avoids them being mated to someone they don't like or aren't attracted to. They basically hand pick their own mates by using this tactic."

"Not true. They could look a hundred females in the eye and still not be mated."

"It's better than looking all of them in the eye and finding himself chained to someone unbearable or ugly. Hm. So which one am I?"

"Young," I say.

"Not in our species. Sixteen is the age we can find our mates. It's rare. It doesn't usually happen until our twenties but my age is still considered acceptable."

"There are a range of factors," Dominic says. "You're a truant. As Devon pointed out, you are young."

"I'm not-"

"Yes, you are. Alphas would not trust the fate and safety of their packs with a sixteen-year-old."

Sky scoffs. "Get off your high horse. You're only two years older than me."

I place the book back into my bag and I lay backwards on the bed of leaves that I've assembled. I stare up at the bright stars.

"Devon?"

"Hm?"

"What's it like? The bond?"

I shrug my shoulders, unconsciously rubbing the medallion again.

"Please," Sky says. "It'll help to take my mind off the high probability that our mother has been executed."

"I don't know if I can describe it. It's hard to put into words."

"Are you in love with him?" she asks. "Or is it just a physical thing?"

"I. . . I don't know." I squint my eyes at the bright moon through a gap in the trees. "It was just physical at first. It was fun. Being with him felt exciting and there was this rush every time we looked at each other. I just thought it was physical but. . ."

"What changed?"

"When he told me how to break the curse, I offered him the chance to kill me without hesitation. I still would. I don't think I would have done that if I wasn't mated with him. Feeling the effects of this bond means that I'd literally do anything to put his needs above my own."

I turn my head to see Sky smiling to herself. "And that was when you knew you were in love with him. The mating comes first, that emotional connection comes after. That's so interesting. I wonder if he realized it at the same time when he rejected your offer."

"You had the moon kiss," Dominic says.

"What's that?"

"The moon kiss is when two werewolf mates mark each other with an emotional gesture," Sky explains. "It usually comes a long time after the initial mating. When their trust is built completely and they are completely in love. Some mates never experience it. Honestly, it's like a fairy tale. They both give the other some kind of representation of their feelings and they become moon kissed." Sky looks up at the sky in a daydream. "Offering your life for his freedom was that gesture and him not taking it—despite it endangering his pack—was his. It sounds corny but it's a big part of our beliefs."