Disclaimer: I do not own anything The Nine Lives of Chloe King!

"Alek, what are you talking about? You're scaring me." Chloe said, pulling the covers up to her chin.

"I'm not trying to scare you, I'm just telling you what I think. How about we try something?" He asked her, gently grabbing her hand. "Can we just try one thing?"

"Okay," She nodded. "Go ahead."

"Chloe?" Alek thought. He watched her eyes grow big when she realized that she had heard his voice in her head. "Did you hear that?" He asked her out loud.

"I did." She whispered, looking down at their intertwined hands. "Is it okay to say I'm a little scared?"

"Yeah, it is." He pulled her softly into his arms and kissed her forehead, hoping that he wasn't pushing her; however he smiled when she leaned closer into him. "I'm scared too, but we need to talk to Valentina as soon as possible. Do you want me to let you shower and then come pick you up?"

"No, I showered last night. I just want to be here with you until we have to go talk to her."

"I think we need to go talk to her now, get it over with. She's leaving this afternoon to go to Paris for the weekend."

Chloe nodded, but didn't move to get up; she couldn't shake off the feeling of desire to be next to Alek, it was like a force of nature that was holding them together and was unable to be broken. The force pulled her even closer to him and then she kissed him softly on the lips.

He looked down at her and said, "I'll let you get dressed so we can leave, alright?" When she nodded, he gave her hand a gently squeeze and let go, immediately regretting letting go because the second he did, a jolt of pain shot through his body. He snuck a glance at Chloe, only to see her withering in pain as well. He grabbed her into his arms and they both sighed as the pain wore off. "We need to get to the apartment now. I'm going to carry you."

"That won't look weird at all. You running down the street with me in your arms, perfectly normal." She laughed, still trying to catch her breath.

"Well what do you suggest?"

"I did just get a car…." She smirked, acting like she was talking to a child.

"Fine, but I'm driving." He stated, pulling her out of the bed and down to the car.

"Just please be careful. If anything happens to this car, I'd die."

"Eh, you've got eight more lives…." He joked, laughing at the look on the girl's face. "You know that I'm not going to do anything that would make you lose one of your precious lives, my love."

She smiled, as she looked down at their hands that were resting on the middle console of the car, "Good. So, what do you think that Valentina is going to say?"

"I'm not sure, she probably has a book on this, I swear her library scares me."

"Aw, something that scares Alek Petrov." She laughed, using her free hand to ruffle his hair.

"Hey, not the hair." He smirked.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry." She laughed the flawless laugh that he loved so much.

"Chlo?"

"Yes?"

"Does the kiss in your room mean you chose me?" He asked, hoping desperately not to make her mad.

"It means that I chose you." She smiled at the look on his face.

He happily sighed, "You have no idea how happy that makes me."

"Me, too." She said, looking forward at the room in front of them. "You know, that day in school when Jasmine stopped you from kiss me?"

"Oh yes, I remember that day very well. I almost killed her that night when we got home. Why though?"

"Part of me was disappointed that she interrupted us. Did you have any idea then that I was Mai?"

"I had a hunch that you were. When you made that shot into the trashcan with my basketball, I had my doubts, but then there was something else, you were so graceful with everything. Don't get mad, but I followed you to the bay when you went with Amy and Paul and I watched you gracefully walk on the top of that bench and I really started seeing it. That's why I was going to kiss you. I had wanted to kiss you for so long, ever since eight grade when I first met you."

"Why did you stop speaking to me?"

"You were too good for me, so I thought why torture myself trying to be your friend when I could only thing of you as more than that."

"So that's why you never wanted me to be with Brian. You've liked me since we were thirteen. It all makes sense now. Why didn't you just tell me?"

"I was afraid, like I said, you were —are too good for me."

"Alek Petrov, that is not true. You are too good for me."

"Chloe, I'm not going to play this game." He laughed as he turned into the parking garage of the apartments.

"That's probably a good thing because we both know that I would win."

"Sure, we'll go with that."

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"So from what you're telling me, you feel extreme pain whenever you two stop touching?" Valentina asked as she paced the kitchen of apartment 1803.

"That's correct." Alek told her. "There's another thing, we can hear each other's thoughts."

"I think that would be one of the first things you would tell me." She said, looking between Alek and Chloe. "From what you have told me, I'm assuming that is all?" She continued when Chloe nodded, "I think you two are bonded."

"Bonded?" Chloe asked, sitting up straight in her chair.

"Like Soul-Bonded." Valentina said, sitting down on chair at the island in the middle of the kitchen. "Have you two kissed?"

Alek looked at Chloe and nodded. "Last night and then this morning."

"Okay, I read once that when the Uniter meets her mate and kisses him for the first time, they become one. The mind reading and extreme pain is when you first kiss, however when you become more intimate, you gain more powers together, such as the ability to pinpoint the other's location. If you look down at your ring fingers, you will see a faint line that wraps around them, in the Mai world, it means you two are married."

"Wait so you mean that we're married?"

"Yes, Alek, you're married.

"And when you say more intimate, you mean…?" Chloe began.

"Making love." Valentina said bluntly.

"Okay…." Chloe said slowly.

"What do we do about the pain whenever we stop touching?" Alek said, motioning to their linked hands.

"You are going to have to stay in physical contact for a while until you get through the bonding phase."

"How long will that last?"

"Until you make love, sealing the bond."

"Oh God."

"So there isn't any other way?" Chloe asked.

"No, I'm sorry, there is not." Valentina stated, sending an apologetic look at the two. "Chloe, I'm going to need to talk to your mother about this. I know you don't want your human life and your Mai life to be involved, but I think that right now what we were always afraid of is happening. Your mother needs to know why you and Alek are constantly physically touching."

"So we have to tell her about me being the Uniter?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

"Oh this isn't going to go well." Chloe said, dropping her head.

"I think this is all that we needed to talk about Aunt Val. Thank you for explaining everything to us."

"You're welcome. However, there is one last thing that we need to discuss. Alek, you're off Uniter duty from now on. You won't be able to protect Chloe while in this state. Especially because you now share her remaining lives, so if Alek dies, he will come back to life until all of your lives are gone. I will leave you two to talk now." She said, getting up from her chair and walking back to her room.

"Chloe, I'm sorry. I never meant to take any of your lives." Alek apologized, pulling Chloe over to the black leather sofa.

"Alek, if I have to share my lives with anyone, I'm glad it's you." She stated, laying her head on his shoulder. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you, I—I love you."

Alek closed his eyes and sighed softly. "You don't know how long I've been waiting to hear you say that." He kissed her softly. "I love you, too."

"Alek, I'm not ready to make love yet." Chloe whispered, looking down at her hands.

"I know, I'm not either."

"What?" She gasped. "Alek Petrov, Jocko, London Calling is a virgin? I'm shocked!"

"As corny as this sounds, I was waiting for you."

"That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard." She smiled. "But how are we going to keep up with the physical contact?"

"We're just going to have to. I think we can do it. You can stay here at nights, I know Valentina will be okay with it given the situation."

"She's really going to tell my mom isn't she?"

"Yes, love, she is."

"Oh God, I didn't want her to know; she's going to be worried constantly about me and I don't want to put her through that anymore than I already have."

"Chloe, I promise you, everything is going to be okay. She's going to accept you for who you are. I'll talk to her if I have to. It's going to be okay."

"She is going to flip out, Alek. I wouldn't put it past her to put me under house arrest." Chloe replied, rubbing his hand.

"Well I doubt she'll put you on house arrest, but if she does, then I will be there with you. She can't keep your protector away."

"News flash, you're not my protector any longer."

"No, but I am your mate, and if she knows about how much pain it causes us to be away from each other then she can't keep us apart."

"You're not mad at me for not ending the constant physical contact right?"

"Chloe King, I'm not mad at you at all. If you're not ready, you're not ready and I'm not going to rush you into anything that you're not ready to do."

"You're the most amazing guy, you know that?" Chloe said, staring deep into Alek's chocolate brown eyes.

"And you're the most wonderful girl in the world." He smiled, rubbing her hand, "How long is your mom going to be gone?"

"A week. She left yesterday."

"Well good, so we don't have to worry yet about telling her why you'll be staying in my bed."

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Hey guys,

I hope you like this new chapter of "It Was Always You"!

Please let me know what you think! Read and Review!

XoXo,

Little Rose Potter.