She nods jerkily and tries to comply, visibly struggling to take slower breaths.
“Good. That’s good.” I squeeze her hands gently. “What you’re experiencing is normal. It’s part of the claiming.”
“The claiming?”
“When I bit you. When I marked you.” I release one of her hands to touch the scar on her neck, my fingers gentle against the raised skin. “I claimed you as my mate. And when a shifter claims a human, the human takes on some of the shifter’s traits.”
She stares at me. “What kind of traits?”
“Heightened senses, mostly. Smell, hearing, sometimes sight. It’s temporary at first, comes and goes while your body adjusts. Eventually it will settle and you’ll be able to control it.”
“Control it.” She laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “I can hear your heartbeat right now. I can smell the soap you used three days ago. How am I supposed to control that?”
“I’ll teach you. It takes time, but you’ll learn.”
She’s quiet for a moment, processing. I can feel her emotions through the bond, a tangled mess of confusion and fear and underneath it all, a thread of curiosity.
“Is it mutual?” she finally asks.
“What do you mean?”
“The claim. The bond.” She touches the mark on her neck again. “You claimed me. But do I have to claim you too? For it to be complete?”
My bear perks up at the question. He wants her mark on us just as badly as we wanted ours on her.
“Yes,” I admit. “For the mate bond to be fully solidified, you’ll need to claim me too.”
Her eyebrows rise. “I have to bite you?”
“When the time comes.”
“When do I claim you?” She sits up straighter, suddenly alert. “Do we do it now? How does it work?”
My lips curve upward. My eager little mate.
“It needs to happen naturally,” I explain. “You can’t force it. When the bond is ready, when your body has fully accepted the connection, you’ll feel the urge. The need to mark me the way I marked you.”
“So I’ll just... know?”
“You’ll know.” I tuck a curl behind her ear. “Your instincts will guide you. It might happen tomorrow, might happen in a week. But when the moment comes, you won’t be able to stop yourself. And I don’t want you to.”
She’s quiet for a moment, processing.
“So right now, the bond is only half complete?”
“Right now, you’re mine. But I’m not fully yours yet.” I take her hand and press it against my chest, over my heart. “I will be, though. When you’re ready.”
“What if I’m never ready? What if the urge never comes?”
“It will.” I hold her gaze, letting her see my certainty. “You’re my fated mate, Imani. What’s between us is real. Your body will recognize that, even if your mind is still catching up.”
She stares at me for a long moment.
“I want to,” she says softly. “Claim you, I mean. I want you to be mine too.”
“I already am.” I cover her hand with mine. “The mark will just make it official.”
“Why?” she asks.
