Rite of Submission - Rite 1

49: Nathan

I was wearing the black button down shirt I'd nabbed from Dmitri's closet before I left his empty room, pulled over a silver colored satin tank, and a pair of white jeggings. After I put up my hair in a high pony tail, I put on the necklace Sophie had given me and the cuff he'd sent over. She made a face that told me she didn't like this outfit as much as my others, until I shrugged and let his shirt slip to hang off a shoulder, making it very clear that I was not wearing a bra. It was also the only way to see that I was wearing the cuff on my arm.

"Can we skip wolf lessons today?" she frowned, trying not to giggle at the name I'd given our cram sessions, "I know that there is a lot for me to learn, but I think I just need a breather today." Mostly I knew Nathan would not let go of what happened downstairs and I didn't want to have to explain to her why he was so overbearing today.

She shrugged, "I mean it's up to you, but we don't know exactly how long we have for you to learn everything you wanted to know about."

"I'd like to try and figure out some other stuff today." I curled up in the corner of the couch.

"What kinda stuff?" she took up a space close to me.

"How about we focus on you for a while, and figure out if there is some way we can get you out of the house without you being terrified some guy is going to club you over the head and drag you off." I hoped this topic would help me find some answers to questions I couldn't just ask for myself.

She thought about it a moment, "I'm not really sure how it works, just that I'd rather not have to go through it."

I looked at Nathan with a grin, "Well look at that, we happen to have a specimen of the mated variety to ask." They shared a grim look, "What was that about?"

There was a long awkward silence, "I don't have a mate, not anymore." Nathan explained. He set his jaw and ran his fingers through his hair, "What did you want to know," I got the sense that he'd been told to tell me anything I wanted to know, whether or not he wanted to share that information.

"Really, you don't..."

"What would you like to know, Selene?" It still felt a little jarring to hear that name directed at me.

Sophie went unusually quiet and still, barely glancing between the two of us. "I was just curious about how it worked. Like how can you tell that someone is your mate."

He took a long slow breath, "It feels like your being pulled towards each other by some invisible force, a need driving you to find the other half of your soul. And when you finally lock eyes with one another," he closed his eyes and let out another slow breath, "you just feel whole, and at peace with the world." He opened his eyes, staring at me; a hint of a shadow dancing behind the golden brown rings in his eyes. "I cannot begin to know what it would be like for someone like Sophia."

"What if you don't want to be with that person?"

He barked out a harsh laugh, "If you have the strength to pull it off, you can reject them." He shot me a meaningful look as if he understood why I was really asking, "It's an incredibly cruel and painful process. It can even kill the one who is rejected."

"How does someone do that? Reject someone I mean." I could still hear his threat ringing in my ears, "Do they have to do some kind of voodoo ceremony or just pray to the goddess?"

"You have to look them in the eye and mentally sever you connection to them while saying you reject them."

"That doesn't sound painful at all," I frowned.