He flashed them to a hotel he knew none of his brothers or any other residents used. They checked in and went upstairs in silence, and when they got into the room he watched her walk over to the bed and sit herself primly on the edge of the bed, looking like she was ready to bolt. Not that he could blame her, he was acting like a madman. It was a wonder she hadn't gone running for home when he'd first looked at the telltale mating mark on her hand. He kept his distance for now, trying to calm his racing, furious thoughts. He was mated. He was in love with Becca who was mated to his twin brother and he himself was mated to a young human friend of Kara's. This had to be some sort of sick joke, and he was going to wake up any second to realize he had never met Sanna and his life was a frustrating and unchanging as ever.
She was inspecting her hand, tracing her fingertips down the pattern as she waited to him to decide if he was going to say anything.
"It's called a mating mark." Dammit, he hadn't meant that to come out so snappish.
She looked up in surprise. "A MATING mark? That sounds serious..."
He nodded, rubbing a hand over his face. "Yeah, it is." he said, going quiet again. He wasn't sure how to start explaining what he needed to explain to her. This was beyond a human girl's ability to cope with.
"Kara hinted that it was like, dating or marriage or something like that..." She offered, obviously straining to help him out.
He shrugged. "Sort of. But more serious."
"You can sit. I promise not to bite or anything." She tried to smile, and he realized he was still in the corner of the room, standing legs apart with his arms folded across his chest. He must be frightening her, and despite his anger and frustration at their whole situation, he didn't want to do that to her. This wasn't her fault, and honestly it was probably going to be a lot worse for her than for him. He crossed the room and sat next to her on the bed. "Sorry." He muttered. "So, about mating..." he trailed off again, still not sure where to begin.
"What does it mean, exactly? That we're a good match if we wanted to date or marry or whatever?"
"Not quite." He sighed. "Have you ever read how some birds mate for life?" She nodded. "Well, think of were-hunters like that. Only we don't choose our mates, the Fates do that."
She almost laughed. "The Fates like the three crones past, present, future Goddess kind of Fates?" He nodded and she still choked back a laugh. "And they just sit around deciding who mates to who in the were-hunter world?" He nodded again and her expression fell a little, realizing he was serious. He growled under his breath and clenched his fists. "Yeah, and they just love to screw us all over. I'm sorry you got involved in this."
"So, mates for life, that's what this means?"
He nodded. "Only if you choose though. It's always the female's choice. f you don't want to, the only thing that changes for you is that you can't have children."
She shrugged, unconcerned. "I don't even know if I ever want kids, but what about you? What does it mean for you?"
He clenched his jaw. "I can't ever be with anyone else. For all intents and purposes, I'm a eunuch."
She looked upset about that. "Ever ever?"
"Ever ever." He agreed. "Even if you choose to mate with me, you're the only woman I can ever be with."
"Wow. Talk about an anti-cheating guarantee." She attempted a joke, looking up to meet his eyes. "It'd be a shame to eunuch someone so handsome."
It couldn't possibly be this easy. She reached to touch him, but he scooted away from her, putting a good foot of space between them. "Not yet Sanna. You don't have any clue what you're getting into."
She rolled her eyes. "Because my daimon problem is so infinitesimal."
He almost chuckled. "Compared to some of the things that happen in our world, it is." He managed to surprise her with that one, and he continued. "There's really no good place to start at, so I'm just going to to from the beginning. If you get bored, just deal with it until the end."
She made a playful face at him. "Should I be taking notes? Will there be a test?"
He growled at her, but she was giggling, and he started the story anyway. He didn't know or care about most of the details, but he got the important highlights; the never-ending war between Arcadians and Katagaria, the twelve were-hunter species, Sentinels and Strati (which led to a quick side note about Colt and his irregular loyalty to the Katagari at Sanctuary despite his being a Sentinel plus an extra explaination of the core differences between the human hearted Arcadians and the animal hearted Katagari), a description of limanis like Sanctuary, and finally, the impacts of mates for both designations.
She never did get bored, and by the time he decided he was finished, she was lying on her stomach, her chin propped on her palms as he bright eyes watched him avidly. "So Katagaria, the animals that can turn human, they pretty much just sleep around until they find a mate? Then it's just like, 'oh cool' and business as normal?"
"The women, yes. The men are usually less inclined until they're older and looking to start families or legacies."
She nodded eagerly. "But Arcadians are the humans that can turn animal- which is a very important difference..." she waited for him to nod in confirmation before continuing, "and they're more hesitant about it. They want courtship and wooing and dating?"
"Most do."
"Cool. So back to limanis, so anyone, no matter who they are or what they've done, is safe from the law?"
He nodded even though he could tell she didn't like that very much. "Yes and no. They're safe from anyone who might be looking for them. Sometimes it's the law, sometimes it's an enemy or someone looking to settle a family feud by killin' someone. Most of the weres in Sanctuary are hidin' from someone, but not all are criminals. And some are more complicated than even that. But their stories ain't mine to tell." And honestly, he didn't know most of them. He'd never cared before. She nodded too, looking more at ease, and he couldn't help but add, "But everyone who stays in Sanc abides by the rules. You won't ever be in danger from one of them." He couldn't promise none of the residents wouldn't try to hurt her, but he'd skin anyone who got near her.
She smiled. "Then I'm good. So I know I've asked this already, but I didn't really get a straight answer so; if I say yes to this mating, what does it mean, for you and me specifically?"
He watched her sweet emerald eyes, half wanting her to flee finally, half wanting her back closer to him. "That I'm yours and you're mine." He said, his southern accent thicker than usual.
She nodded slowly. "And how do you feel about that?" She sounded nervous again, and his heart ached at how much she sounded like Becca just then. It literally felt like his heart was being ripped apart all over again.
"I ain't thought about mating, not in a long while, so I don't have an answer for you."
"Well, we have three weeks, right?"
He nodded. He should tell her about Becca, he knew that. But it hurt too much for now. He'd tell her tomorrow, or another day. "That we do." He masked the mark on his hand with his powers and reached for her hand, but she drew her hand to her. "I like mine, though." She protested.
"I don't want the others knowing yet. We have to decide for ourselves what's gonna happen, I don't need them tellin' us what to do." That was a partial lie. Everyone would be able to scent that he was mated, but he didn't want them knowing to to who. Not until he figured out how he felt about Sanna and Becca both, and especially how he felt about them in relation to each other.
She reluctantly nodded and offered him her hand. He masked that mark, too, and stood. "I should get you home."
"It's three in the morning. I'd rather just stay here and go home in the morning. I'll see you at work tomorrow, though." She rolled from her stomach to her back and repositioned herself on the bed.
He didn't want to stay, but he didn't want her going home alone in the morning. That was a recipie for disaster. "You shouldn't be walkin' anywhere alone."
She giggled, and the sound hit him somewhere south. "I'll be fine, Remi. I'll take a cab or something. My tips tonight will cover it."
He shook his head. "I thought you were tryin' to save money, not spend it."
"It's one cab ride, relax."
He moved off the bed and kicked his shoes off, going toward the bathroom. "I'll just stay here. I'll take the floor."
"Remi, you don't have to take the floor-" He shut the bathroom door on her protest and heard her groan. This was going to be an interesting night.
