Family Forever

Chapter 24 Hermia

We woke up early in the morning because it was a long carriage ride to Buckingham Palace, the palace of the Queen. We got ready and the carriage was waiting for us. Will was the one who's driving.

We got into the carriage. I almost fell asleep but I wanted to ask my father a question because I saw the scar on his neck glowing slightly purple. AND HE WAS ASLEEP!!!!

"Dad?" I poked him lightly on the shoulder. "Huh?", he groggily said. "Why is the scar on your neck glowing purple?" He looked at the window, deep in thought, as if he did not want to tell me. "Uh, Hermia, this, is the mating mark. " He told me all about it.

He told me that when Therians find their mates, they mark each other. For normal Therians, they could choose anyone to be their mate. But for Specials, and Legendaries, that was not the case. These types of shifters have a mate destined for them, and them alone. The mate maybe a human, or an ordinary shifter. Huh. Explains why I got Lysander in the first place.

Speaking of which, the little puppy was drooling on me while he slept. Why wasn't he listening? I shook him so he woke up. He sat up and I motioned for him to listen to Dad who was going on blah blah blah about the reactions of the specials to their mate.

So, he went on to the most important part. The mating mark. "I see you haven't marked each other yet." He said, staring at our necks. "How?" I asked. He told us that Therians mark each other by biting their mate on the neck and lick up the blood that comes out.

The wound heals the next day, but leaves a faint pinkish scar which glows a certain color which tells the bearer what situation his/her mate is in, or what is the bearer feeling if he/she is with his mate.

He said it glows RED, and is burning hot when the other mate is in pain, and they feel the same amount of pain in the part of the body where the mate was struck. I shuddered as I remembered when I was playing with my dolls in my room when I heard a shout of pain from my father's room. He was on his back clutching his hand, and then his leg. I looked back at him as he looked at me thoughtfully, knowing what I saw in my mind.

Then, it glows BLUE, and is ice cold when one of the mates are dying. The one who is left lives a life of sorrow until they die, and their eyes turn a shade darker.

It glows ORANGE when they are feeling pleasure, when they are happy, or pleasure, well you can work this one out.

It glows PURPLE, when they feel lust, but, in some cases, it glows red, and is burning hot because maybe, the mates haven't seen each other in a long time. Oh, so that's why his mark was burning red when he saw Mom like three days ago? In that color, the normals, even the Legendaries can't control their feelings and suddenly shift or worse, you know. This color is for males only. But why didn't Dad shift accidentally?

He then explained that he could control "it" because he was the King, a very powerful shifter. But if you let it linger until the next day, things could get really bad. I rolled my eyes at him. "What? It's part of life!" He said in embarrassment.

"But the most important thing is this. Lysander?" My mate's head turned to face his father in law. "Always protect your mate." "Same to you Hermia." He said. Then, he added some words. "Because, I have learned it the hard way. Your mate is your other half. I have learned it from experience. Look at my eyes."

I looked at his eyes. The same black ones. "They weren't always black." I looked at him in shock. "What?"
"Because," he sighed, " Over the past twenty years I suffered the pain that was inflicted on your mother, and I felt her sadness, her pain. I wanted to go to her, but I had to protect her pack as well. I was the King, after all, and I didn't want her pack to know. You are one of the few packs who know my true person."

"I was known as the Wild One, but not my name, Egeus. That's why I stayed back. But, I would always remember her through you. I went into despair, and my personality changed, and with that, my eyes. My eyes were once sky blue, then they went darker and darker until this. Black. Losing your mate to death was torturous enough to make your eyes darker in color, but them being tortured while you feel their pain, turns your human eyes black."

I gasped. There was a hint of sadness in his voice. "So, when you mark each other, you are risking your lives. But, there is beauty in it. It will bond you until the end of time. " He glanced thoughtfully at the window and dreamily said, " A life with your mate away from you,-" he did not finish his sentence but Mom did. "--Is a life without meaning."

Dad looked into his mate's eyes, his mating mark turning from purple to orange as she had her hands on his chest, purring like a cat. So this was how you have a mate. Lysander looked at me and shrugged. I shrugged too, and Dad looked at me again.

"The only comfort that I had in my twenty years, was YOU. " He clasped my hand in his, and he looked into my eyes. I saw the sorrow, and suffering I had never seen, until now. But, I saw for a brief moment, the man he was, when my mother was not yet ripped from his grasp. I had never understood him, and his motives. But now, I did.

"Dad, I'm so sorry, I didn't know," I said, while a tear ran down my cheek. He looked at me with loving eyes, and wiped the tear with his hand. "It's alright. " He said. I cried into his chest and I felt his arm around me.

I looked into his eyes, his EYES! They flashed gold then I saw the color change, slowly into a shade of dark blue.

I turned away, resting my head on Lysander's chest. So, he had loved me all these years, but, he was afraid to really show it.

A shout interrupted my flow of thought. "We're here! " Will shouted.