Page 12 of A Drink of Destiny
“Huh? I got lost in you,” I admitted.
“I was saying that Dern probably wants to do good things and it’s okay for Mori to be part of that but only if it’s not all at Mori’s expense.”
“Totally. What do you want?”
“Uh… In what way?” Alvis laughed and the melody wrapped around me like a warm blanket.
“For your courting gifts,” I said. “It’s not customary to ask. Usually, they’re all surprises. Sometimes omegas don’t even know who’s courting them until the end.”
Alvis smiled softly at me. He was going to make me guess. It was only fair. After all, it was my job to prove that I could provide and make him happy.
“Raiel,” he said my name and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up to listen. “Survival and providing have meant different things in different parts of history and to different peoples. I live in a world with grocery stores and blood banks. I have a beautiful house that I hope you’ll see one day. I have beautiful grown sons and most of the things any man could want and now I have you. Everything else is icing on the cake. So, yes, to me blood counts. It counts because part of you is still pumping around inside of me, fueling me, and reminding me that you’re the guy I’m spending the rest of my life with. I never understood how people didn’t stress out about true-mate relationships. I’ve had a few chosen mates over the years, and we had a lot of the normal problems. Mostly, I worried that they’d hightail it out of there when things got rough but with us, I know it won’t be like that. We wouldn’t have chosen each other in the Other World just to run away now.”
I pulled out my phone and shared my location. It wasn’t something I liked to do. I didn’t even share it with Beal when it would make meeting up easier to do. Alvis looked at me confused until his phone chimed.
“This better not be a dick pic. If you want to show it off, I want to see the real-life thing,” he chuckled, retrieving his phone from his pocket. “Oh. I forgot that was a thing.”
“I know once we exchange the claiming vows, you won’t need that, but there. Now I can’t run away. You’ll always know where I am.”
Alvis leaned up for a kiss. His lips brushed against mine softly at first and I couldn’t help but put my hands on the curve of his waist. He leaned into me, and I held onto him as my tongue snaked into his mouth to dance with his. Later we’d have to figure out what to do about Annila and possibly Sharon Claudis too, but for now, I just wanted to kiss this guy forever and through whatever came after forever too.
“That’s two,” Alvis teased when the kiss broke.
I opened my mouth to tell him that most definitely was not a courting gift, but the sly fucker kissed me again before I could object.
Chapter Nine
Alvis
Moonscale London
I planned to keep kissing Raiel until he agreed with me that the sharing of his location was my second courting gift.
“No, it’s not,” Raiel growled against my lips.
“You’re right. It’s the third,” I said, leaning back just enough to meet his feline gaze.
“What?” he laughed. “Are you making up gifts in your head now, mate?”
“No, the shirt! It was exactly what I needed when we got to your car!” I laughed. “That makes your location the third! So, yes! Yes, I accept your gifts!”
Raiel laughed and kissed me again. His hands slid to my ass as if he realized that if the courting gift period of our relationship was over that meant he could put his hands all over me and all over me was exactly where I wanted his big, warm hands. At my age, I didn’t feel much like puttering around what we both wanted. We were both too old to play games. I’d been courted and now it was time for the primal cat to lay his claiming bite.
Raiel’s tongue plunged into my mouth and his fingers kneaded into my ass. I leaned into him, letting his broad, muscular form take on my weight. His teeth were sharp and pointy, and the tips of my sharp fangs brushed against his lip. Between us, this kiss grew coppery, and I couldn’t get enough of him.
“I’m not on the pill or the shot or whatever the young people are doing these days. I’m not much for casual hookups. So, I never bothered with it,” I said between kisses. “So, the true-mate magic won’t have to work too hard on getting it’s way.”
“Do you want more kids?” Raiel asked.
“Yes,” I nodded. “I always thought I’d have more but then... Well, life said fuck you,” I laughed and kissed him again. I could’ve kissed him forever, but the night was wearing on, and I wanted a few hours of sleep and maybe our claiming vows before the sun came up and I had to convince Nic and Beal to load up their baby and come out to brunch with us. Anything to get them out of the house and away from the eavesdropper long enough for me to let them in on the details.
“To fuck me in particular?” he teased when the kiss broke again.
“Maybe.”
“Life knew what it was talking about. We have barbs to ensure conception. At least I do when I’m not on the potion.”
“Barbs?” I cocked a brow. “I don’t want to jump to conclusions but…”
