Down With The Border: A Shadow People Novel

Chapter 12: A New Life

Terrence: 

"Darling!" My mom called me from inside the Main House. I looked over my shoulder to see her almost skip out of the door, with my mate following close behind. 

I smiled to myself. 

After we were done in the infirmary, mom had taken her to change out of the dirt ridden clothes she wore here. I was going to have to have clothes mad for her soon, she had only brought one bag. That is, if she wanted to stay. 

"Are you ready?" Mom smiled at me as I looked between the two of them. It had begun to snow earlier so they had both come out in warm, wintry clothes. Mom was in a grey sweater I had given her for her birthday a decade ago, and Viviana had on grey sweatpants and a green beanie. She looked adorable. 

"As I'll ever be." 

We began wandering around the pack grounds, per mom's request. 

"So," Viviana began. I mentally prepared myself for the millions of questions she was bound to have, "Mates are like soulmates, right?" 

"Yes." 

"What happens after you find your mate? I mean, do you just date forever?" She snickered. 

"Actually," Mom linked her arm through mine, "It's a bit more complicated than that, especially for you two."

"What do you mean?" 

"Well-" 

Mom 

I mind-linked her before she could answer

Could I talk to her? Alone, I mean. Please?

Mom had done most of the talking in the infirmary. I figured if there was even going to be a chance of Viviana staying with me, we should at least be comfortable talking to each other. 

"Oh! I actually remembered that I have a meeting to attend." She winked at me and turned to walk back to the Main House. "I'll let you two keep talking."

"So." Viviana said after a moment.

"So." I repeated, admiring how the snow fell on her hair, softly settling in her dark curls. 

"So," Clearing my throat I began walking again when I realized I had begun to stare. "When mates find each other, um, and after they mark one another, they are able to - uh, able to feel each other's emotions and stuff. So you can tell if your mate is hurt or upset, or like really happy." 

"Marking." She said slowly and looked up at me. "What's that?" 

"Oh!" 

Fuck, I didn't expect this to get this awkward this fast.

"Well marking is- this is gonna sound a lot weirder than it actually is okay?" She gave me a curious look and nodded her head.

"Okay," I took a deep breath, "Marking usually happens when mates are, um- well, you know. And it's when one of them uh, bites, the other, us-usually on their neck or shoulder." 

When I looked back at her, she had the most perplexed look on her face. 

"It only hurts for like half a second though! I mean from what I've heard. I-I've never done it before." I tried to save it. I really didn't want her to get scared and not want to stay already, we were only talking for a minute. 

"Mhmm." She mumbled. "And why do you guys do that, exactly?" 

Letting out the breath I didn't realize I was holding, I began to ease up. "I mean it's called 'marking' because it leaves a mark for everyone to see, so I guess it's like a 'marking your territory' kind of thing."