Page 79 of Thanatos' Craving

Thanatos thinks I’m his mate.

“And how do we know for sure–” I began, “that I am Thanatos’ mate? I’m just–me. I’m human. There are plenty of other more worthy women out there, I’m sure.”

The Fates couldn’t know I was coming—I was a mistake. Surely, they have not had this planned.

Uriel shook her head violently, her pretty long curls brushing down her cheeks. “Oh no, for sure I know. I even double checked with Ember. Thanatos is your mate. It took Thanatos a while to be really sure, though. He isn’t great with emotions–you know that.”

I nodded.

“Ember knew this from the beginning, she was the one that urged him to go find you and help you. Thanatos usually has his reapers go out and take care of things, but Ember knew she would have to give him a nudge.”

I bit my lip. “Ember put Thanatos up to this?”

Uriel grabbed my hand. A light warmed my skin, and a calm brushed over me.

“Understand that Thanatos hasn’t had feelings in a long time. Ember knew you were his last chance at finding them. If you had died that night, Thanatos would have died too. Maybe not right away, but he would have wasted away. Gods need their mates, too. Gods can die.”

My eyes warmed, and I tried to hold back the tears.

It physically hurt to think that something could happen to Thanatos.

“Gods aren’t all invincible?” I asked.

“No,” Ares baritone voice echoed in the room. “Most certainly not. "I can be killed too, if something happened to my Mariah." Ares' gaze softened when he looked at her. “I would wither away and become dust, my soul would be nothing without her.”

Such pressure.

“What is pressure?” Uriel asked.

I twisted my fingers into the green dress that Thanatos had just mended. “You’re saying that if I reject him, he would die, wither away. I feel like I am not given a choice. I have to be with him.”

Uriel wrinkled her nose. “Do you not want to be?”

I leaned back into the plush couch, my lips parting as I thought about it. Do I not want to be with him? Could I go back to earth and forget any of this ever happened? Do I want to live my life without him? Could I after all the things he’s done for me?

What of me? What exactly does he see in me? I haven’t really brought anything to the table for him. Except my body. There’s that. A hole to put his thing in, but really, he hasn’t done that either. I have been the one taking the advances. I’ve been putting the moves on him because I’m obsessed with the guy.

“I don’t want to be–not with him?”

“That’s a double negative.” Uriel tilted her head, raising her eyebrow. “You need to clarify.”

Mariah got up from Ares’ lap and sat beside me. She ran her fingers through my hair.

These people really like to touch.

“Sorry,” Mariah said, blushing and taking her fingers away.

“Damnit, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to say things out loud.” I crossed my arms. “It’s just all of this.” I waved my hands around. I’m not sure why I hadn’t passed out, screamed, gone psycho and what not. It was all weird and complicated now. A tear escaped down my cheek.

“The reason you haven’t,” Uriel began, “is because of the bond. You are supposed to be here. With Thanatos. With your future family and friends, with us. And yeah, it is a lot. I’ve watched humans live through a mirror in my bedroom and learned what they have learned. Your world is smaller than you have lived in. You’re told magic doesn’t exist, that gods are fairy tales, soulmates are fables.” Uriel grabbed my hand again and the light shines again, calming my body. “But it's not. It's all real, and you've been primed to know and feel that it's real. That's why you haven't gone psycho.” She giggled.

I smiled at Uriel and at Mariah patted my hand.

“I was a warrior wolf shifter. I never thought I would be mated to a god,” Mariah glanced at Ares with such adoration. “For a few days, I didn’t believe it, but I let my body follow the pull and I succumbed to his devilishly handsome features.”

“Yeah you did, baby.” Ares growled at her.

“Quickly I realized, though, it wasn’t just my body that followed, but my heart. My soul always wanted him. I just had to let go of the worry, the burden that he would give up on me because I was just a wolf shifter. I worried because he was a god and he could do so much better than me.”

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