Page 73 of The Botanist and the Beast

"Okay, what are we looking for?" Theo said, clapping his hands with determination.I want to learn anything and everything about her, but that has to come after I save Sebastian.

"I'm not entirely sure, but we need to know more about curses and nymphs of death and decay in general. If we knew more, perhaps we could find a way to nullify the curse or come up with a new method based on findings. Maybe we look for books and journals that could have something promising?"

"Perfect. Let's get to it."

They spent the next couple of hours shifting through the desk's messy piles. When that was fruitless, they moved on tothe bookshelf. Starting on opposite ends, they plucked a book or journal, paged through it, and if it looked helpful set it aside.

As they worked, time and time again nothing pointed towards useful information, but they did their best to stay in good spirits since they had a lot of books to work through.

Theo grabbed what felt like his hundredth book, flipped through it, and brightened. "I found a shifter book!" He tossed it to Sebastian. "You mentioned not knowing a lot about your current state. Maybe this could be useful."

"At least something came out of this long search," Sebastian said, paging through the book. "I'm beginning to feel discouraged."

"If you need a break, we can go to bed and then come back in the morning. This is a large wall of books, and it'll take a while." When he got no answer, he looked at Sebastian. His eyes were locked on the page. "Sebastian? Everything okay?"

"Um yes....I... I think I found something useful," he stammered.

"That's great!" Theo hurried over to his side. "What did you find?"

"Shifters accept their Chosens by performing a mating ritual." He ran his finger across the page as he explained. "They chase them down and give them a claiming bite while mating to completion. A claiming bite is a deep, intentional bite that draws blood. Mating to completion includes knotting inside their Chosen. Once this is done their souls are bonded together. The ritual is dangerous if their Chosen is not a shifter due to the violent nature of claiming."

There was a note to flip to a different page to learn about shifter and non-shifter pairings and Sebastian quickly went to it, cleared his throat, and continued to read.

"Shifters often accidentally devour or severely injure their non-shifter Chosens in the process of claiming them if theyaren't careful. Various precautions can be taken such as binding the shifter or having others present to intervene. If their Chosen survives being claimed, there is great benefit. The shifter’s violent urges will decrease and the urge to protect and reproduce with their Chosen will increase, making the relationship much safer for a non-shifter."

"This is it!" Theo said, snatching the book and reading it again. "Veil said it has to be more than words and made a point to highlight that you hadn't claimed me. Maybe if we do this the curse will be satisfied."

"I don't want to do it," Sebastian mumbled.

"What? Why not?" Theo frowned. "I think it's worth a shot. You're my Chosen, so why not try and solidify the bond?"

"What if I accidentally eat you?" His voice shook. "I'd never forgive myself. This curse has taken everything from me. If it ends with me killing you, I don't know how I'd move forward."

"You won't." Theo set aside the book and took his hands firmly in his. "We've gotten this far without you consuming me. Apparently, other shifters can do this ritual successfully, so why not us?"

Sebastian was quiet for a while thinking it over, then sighed. "If we thoroughly prepare, then I'll try it. We have to keep you as safe as possible."

"Perfect. It's settled." Theo kissed his knuckles. "Today we prepare, and tomorrow night, you hunt me down."

Chapter Forty-Four

The next day, Theo and Sebastian planned how things would go and went their separate ways to get things in order. Theo didn't tell his sisters he was planning to participate in a mating ritual. They all deserved to be spared the embarrassment of that conversation. But he did have them help search for his healing medicines he lost in the initial crash with Adora. He was confident that things wouldn't go awry, but to be safe, he figured anything to help him recover was good to have.

Once everyone slept and the kingdom was dark, the two of them met among a cluster of trees on the castle grounds.

"You're sure about this?" Sebastian asked. He fiddled with a silver collar and chain in his hands. "You're going to get hurt. There's no way around it."

"I'm sure," Theo said, taking the collar and looking it over. It had spikes inside that would poke into Sebastian's neck if it was pulled in any direction. "Did Oliver get this for you?"

"Yes." He groaned and his antlers shined a soft pink. "He and Jacques saw the book. They offered to be present, but I can't handle that. So, they helped me think of this choke collar and leash idea. The spikes should wake me up or tame my leopard side if necessary. Do you think it'll be enough?"

"I think so. We used a makeshift chain before. An actual collar is much better." Theo gently snapped the silver collar around his neck and locked it on with a little key. It was a bit big but when Sebastian shifted, he'd fill it out. Then he took thechain with a padlock on the end and wrapped it around his hand for later. "Are you ready?"

"As I can be," he said anxiously. "Did you put the medicine and cloaks where we agreed?"

"I did." Theo leaned in and kissed his lips.

"And your safe word is?"

---