Page 108 of Cosmic Power

It was distracting, to say the least.

“This.” She gestured between the two of them. “Us.”

“What’s there to talk about? I thought last night was pretty clear.”

Was it? Not to Zamorra. Sure, they’d finally managed to act on the sexual tension riddling them since they first met, but the fact her mark no longer marred his skin made her nervous.

The whole point of marking your partner was to warn other females off. To make it clear he was off limits. Mating marks were to supernaturals what wedding rings were to humans. A clear, definitive sign that they were taken.

She’d never marked another before. It pissed her off that the first time she did, it healed.

Of course, she should have known it would. The fact that he was a vampire meant it was virtually impossible to mark him permanently.

And didn’t that just piss her the fuck off.

“Are we together? Friends with benefits? Mates?” She didn’t see the point in screwing around. She’d always been a straight shooter.

At that last word, Luther stiffened. For the first time since Zamorra met him, an awkward look crossed his face. He withdrew his hand and scratched the side of his neck, glancing away.

Her stomach plummeted. Oh God. How had she misread the situation so badly?

“Zamorra, look—”

She held up her hand. “No, Luther, it’s all good. You don’t have to explain anything. I get it.” She went to get off the bed and he gripped her arm, stopping her.

“It’s not what you think.” Sincerity burned in his eyes. “There’s something you need to understand. Something we probably should have discussed before this. If we’re together, we will never form a Mate bond. The last time I went down that road, I was abandoned by the one person I thought would always have my back. That did something to me. Changed me. Even though Leilani and I never officially mated, she was so important to me that we might as well have. The sting of her betrayal cut me deep. The fact that I had everything planned for a mating ceremony made it all the more hurtful. I don’teverwant to have a mate. Just the idea of it—” his body shook with rage, his muscles tensing in anger.

Zamorra could definitely see where he was coming from. She understood his point of view. Especially when she considered the fact that he’d been betrayed by numerous people close to him—Leilani, Ophelia and Maddox, to name a few—but all that information didn’t help ebb the irritation flowing though her.

She ignored the fact that (for now) he was essentially saying he didn’t trust her and focused on something else that was annoying her about the whole situation.

“What was with the whole ‘you’re mine’ nonsense if you weren’t planning to take me as your mate?”

A frown creased his brows. “Just because I don’t ever want to take a mate doesn’t mean I don’t want to be with you.”

Zamorra’s face dropped in sadness at his words. For as long as she could remember, she longed for a mate bond. For a connection with someone so strong, so powerful, nothing could break it. To take another as their Eternal Life Mate was the ultimate show of love and trust.

It was a melding of the souls, binding them together in an intimate ceremony with light magic. It was a lifelong commitment; something that wasn’t easy to undo should you change your mind about the partner you chose. It required pulling the souls apart with dark magic. Nine times out of ten, it resulted in death. Which was why it was so uncommon for vampires, demons and mages to take mates. Zamorra knew there were some supernaturals out there that did it, but it was in the low hundreds.

The soul was a delicate, precious thing that couldn’t handle much trauma, and forcibly ripping two souls apart after they’d been blended together was about as traumatic as it could get.

But her kind was different. Shifters shared their body with powerful, emotional creatures. Those creatures craved a mating bond. It was a deep, fundamental need they had that was impossible to ignore. Shifters could go hundreds of years without feeling the need to find a mate, but eventually that would change. An overwhelming urge to settle down and breed would take over and there would be nothing their human side could do about it. Their creature would push and push them until they had no choice but to follow that deep, primal instinct.

Of course, Zamorra didn’t expect such a big commitment from Luther right away. They still had so much to learn about one another. But hearing that he was so closed off to the idea of mating made her heart splinter.

Growing up, she got to watch her mother and father live as Eternal Life Mates. To see with her own eyes the magnificent, loving bond they shared.

To be so attuned, so connected to another being, was something Zamorra desperately craved. She was looking forward to the day her werewolf pushed her to take a mate.

Who wouldn’t want to feel the warmth and glow a mate bond provided? To be linked to the one you love; mind, body and soul.

She wasn’t sure if she was prepared to give that up. Not even for Luther. And she knew without a doubt that when the time came, her werewolf wouldn’t be willing to either.

“Is there a chance that over time you could change your mind? I’m not saying we have to form a mate bond straight away, or even for the next hundred or so years but…never? Not at all?”

Luther gave her a sad look. “It’s been over five-hundred years and the idea of forming a mate bond is just as repulsive to me now as it was back then. No amount of time is going to change that.”

Zamorra tried to hide her disappointment. Her werewolf whined and brushed her mind against Zamorra’s in an offer of comfort.

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