Page 85 of I Replaced His Husband
"Only True Mates can mark each other outside of heats. I think that’s why we managed to bond the way we did. Brian’s mark was fading anyway, so it wasn’t hard for mine to take over. But I noticed that you were sucking on my glands pretty hard. It felt instinctive. My mark was stronger and fresher than yours, but you didn’t give up."
A hot blush crept across my face.
"Yes, I like to suck you, though… not just your glands," I murmured, hoping to lighten the mood.
Kay's cheeks flushed crimson, mirroring mine.
"And you’re very good at it."
"Thanks."
"Anyway, back to what I was saying. I didn’t mind the attention you gave my glands, even though I never really did that with Maurice, it just wasn’t our thing. But with you, it’s different. I think my body wanted the mark to take."
He paused, then lowered his voice.
"And the knotting thing. That’s an extremely rare thing outside of a heat too, except with True Mates. For them, it’s much more possible, especially during fighting mode, with the extra hormones kicking in."
A strange ripple ran through me. I hadn’t realized just how much Kay had been thinking about all this. Still, I had to ask.
"So what about the blockers?"
"With that, I'm not sure. I can only guess that even if I can't scent your original Allure scent, and you can't scent mine because of the suppressants, our fluids, our DNA, once they came in contact, they somehow knew. They recognized a True Mate. We orgasmed the first time you entered me, which was an immediate telltale sign. Yeah, there were no… electrical discharges or those supposed magical… side effects, but it could have been mitigated by Seprudin 1000."
I raised my eyebrows and cleared my throat. I felt… relieved, in a strange way.
Kay seemingly sounded calm, but was he really that okay with the whole True Mate idea?
Yesterday, he seemed upset about the TM thing overshadowing his marriage, and now he was suddenly so calm and analytical about it?
Something didn’t quite sit right. His demeanor was too practiced, too measured. And underneath, was thatsadnessI was picking up? Well, the strange way I was almost telepathically sensing him turned out to be helpful in determining it.
"I think you’ve pieced it together on your own," I said quietly, hoping that if he’d come to the conclusion himself, it might’ve softened the impact. Or maybe not?
"Not exactly. Like I said, I don’t know how the blockers fit into this, whether they mess with your Allure or even the fighting mode response. We’ll see what they’ll say."
I nodded. "Right."
At that moment, the phone started ringing. Kay and I exchanged glances.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Rain Nolan? This is Dr. Jon Darren from Malden Pharmaceuticals."
"Oh, hi, Doctor." I put the phone on speaker.
"I have to say, your case is very interesting. Our product’s still pretty new, and we’d like to investigate further. We’d be happy to cover all costs if you’d be willing to come to our facility for testing."
"I’m not sure if the last consultant mentioned it, but I might be facing a lawsuit. I’m trying to find out whether my reaction was caused by the blockers, or because I was with my True Mate."
"If we find any evidence that Seprudin 1000 played a role, we can provide a report or even an expert opinion for your case."
I rubbed my chin, figuring I’d better be upfront.
"But wouldn’t that go against your company’s interests? Most corporations don’t exactly jump at the chance to admit their product might’ve caused something."
"This is a pretty unique situation. Your partner’s pregnant, which makes it different. It wouldn’t hurt our reputation. Seprudin 1000 is a safe drug, but it was only tested on the general population. It's not recommended for partners expecting a child. We can't predict every single case, especially with something as rare as a True Mate Bond interfering ora widowed pregnancy, which is well known to make omegas produce a strong, sexually stimulating scent that can also affect alpha behavior. So don’t worry about company policy. We’ll cover travel and accommodation, whatever the results turn out to be."
"I can’t leave my partner. As you already know, he’s pregnant and has been having intense cramps that only recently eased—"
