Page 233 of Fated or Knot

He distracted me for a moment. “It’s going to be a ring?”

“Aye. It’s the first place a dark elf looks for the particular shine of stone match jewelry. I want all of my kind to know you’re mine. The world, too. But other dark elf males, especially.” His sharp teeth flashed as he took a more possessive tone, all alpha.

“Then that’s where I’ll wear it,” I said.

“Such a good omega,” he purred, adding in a bit of his alpha’s influence, so I felt the words like a stroke of affection on my skin. He also laid his torso back on the bed, so I could easily access his mark.

I stood and leaned over his hip, pressing a kiss to the sideways loop darkened on his skin. Fine trembles stirred over his skin. He seemed to hold his breath as he waited for me to line up my little fangs with the top of his mark, to bite him in a mirror to how he’d claimed me. We exchanged magic in the moments after I claimed him, and his sunshine and grass pheromones flooded my mouth.

The loops of magic that bound Fal and me together in the pack bond shifted and tightened, our souls permanently entwined. I released the bite and nuzzled against his mark, filled with euphoria. We might not be able to speak mind to mind, like I could with Marius, but we were still connected just as intimately, able to sense one another’s needs and emotions separately from the general pack bond.

“I love you,” I sighed out, climbing on top of him to hug him, needing to feel his skin against mine and his heartbeat under my palms.

He tilted my face up to kiss me. “I love you too,mo stór.” And the warmth of his emotions in my chest echoed his words. We laid together in an emotional afterglow, just wanting to be close without pushing our sore intimate areas unless my heat spiked again. Eventually, he asked, “Have you looked in a mirror lately?”

I shook my head and he ushered me into the bathroom. I nearly climbed onto the vanity to see myself closer, gasping as I poked the three pointed crown between my brows. “When did that get there?”

“Oh, you know, when you joined Pack Sorles. Five days ago,” he said playfully.

Stars. I’d been too busy being horny to notice. Not that any of my mates had interrupted said horniness to show this to me, until now. I had a pack mark! I did a little happy dance and he joined in.

“You’re going to teach me how to actually use the pack bond, right?” I asked.

We went back to the bed and talked about pack bond basics. He helped me figure out how to close off all but the stronger emotions from entering the circle of our bond, so I wasn’t constantly shoving my feelings directly into my mates’ heads at all times. I started practicing tapping into it. When I had more practice, it was supposed to be as easy as a thought.

Kauz, fully dressed, walked into the bedroom as I was still getting it down. I turned toward him, clutching my thighs. “How’d it go?”

He extended his wing. The wound that’d cut through it was reduced to a crescent-shaped patch with the shadow of stitches.“It’s going to scar, but I’ll wear the mark of protecting you proudly,” he said.

Fal put his hand over his mouth to whisper aside to me, “Bite his mark next. He’ll wear that scar proudly too.” He winked and got up, walking into my nest while he whistled a tune idly.

“Would you be okay with that?” I asked, not thinking for a moment that Kauz’s bat ears hadn’t picked up what Fal whispered.

“I thought you’d never ask.” He started taking his clothes off to rejoin the pack in our shared nakedness. I went over to help him with his shirt. “Would you be okay if I painted some art on you in return?”

“Yes, of course! I still miss the art you put on my arm.”

His eyes twinkled. “Well, we can’t have that,” he said in his mild way. “I ran into Laurel as I was leaving the infirmary, by the way.”

I stilled at the change of subject. “Oh? How is she doing?” I asked more guardedly.

He ran his fingers through my hair in soothing strokes. “Eletha helped her through regaining her memories, like I did for you. They may have become friends while we weren’t looking. She asked how you were doing, too, and wanted to come apologize when you’re ready to see her. Rennyn has offered her a job, and she’s considering accepting, but only if you, as the new princess, can stand having her around.”

“Offered her a…” I narrowed my eyes.

“As a spy. Though she doesn’t know that yet. She thinks she’s going to be a housekeeper,” he said, chuckling.

A mermaid with Serian loyalties and the siren’s song at her disposal would be quite the spy.IfI didn’t try to send her away. “I’ll hear her out. See if we can give each other a second chance,” I said.

He inclined his head. “How does it go? As my mate demands, I echo.”

I wasn’t sure if I reddened any further, but I could feel myself blush.

“Can I see your beta mark now?” I murmured.

He lifted his healing wing, angling to show me the B-shaped mark nestled just below his shoulder blade. There was a healed scar in the center of it, from Fal biting him into the pack. “You know this won’t change our pack bond, right?” His wings shivered audibly when I kissed his mark.

“I know, but you’re still my Always. It means something to me if you’ll let me claim you.” I ran my tongue over the long tail at the end of his mark, enjoying seeing his stance tense and hands flex in reaction.

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