She giggles and pulls her collar down, showing me a black mark between her breasts. “Yes, but I haven’t met them yet.”
“How does that work?” I ask, leaning forward to get a closer look. Her marks are different from Gracelin’s. Hers are a series of geometric designs.
“Like a bond group, I register the mark with the mark registry and then wait until someone else gets the same mark. It’s been a year now. I’m hoping it happens soon, because I’m getting anxious,” she admits.
Gracelin reaches out and gives her sister’s hand a squeeze. “It will, and when it does, we won’t see you for weeks. Mating is an intense process.” She grins mischievously and winks at her sister who rolls her eyes.
“I remember. I’m just glad the rooms in the palace are soundproofed. None of us needed to hear what you and Adam got up to during those few weeks.”
“Mating? It isn’t just the marks and bam, you’re together?” I have so much to learn, and my head throbs with all the information, and maybe from the sparkling wine I’ve been mainlining.
All three girls giggle like schoolboys, and Gracelin shakes her head. “No, when you are marked and meet your marked mate, there is an instant attraction, and you can’t keep your hands off one another. You need to bite each other to seal the mating during sex, and if it’s not during sex, then it usually occurs very quickly after it. Once that happens, the mark turns golden like mine, forever sealing you together.” She points to a scar on her neck that I hadn’t noticed. It’s the perfect imprint of an animal bite. It’s silvery and faded, but it’s definitely there.
“You look like you got mauled by a bear,” I remark, leaning forward to get a better look.
She bursts out laughing. “That’s because I did. Adam is a bear.”
“And he bites you in shifted form?” I ask, sounding horrified, and then something else pops into my mind, and I can’t stop the flow of words. “Do you fuck in shifted form as well? I read a book that talked about knots and spurs and all sorts of things. Is that right?”
They all laugh again, Violet rolling off the bed with a thud, but Gretchin shakes her head and reaches down to give our friend a hand back up. “No fucking in shifted form—you aren’t always mated to the same kind of animal—but you partially shift your mouth so you can seal the bond. As for knots and spurs, if you’re mated to the same animal, then they can fuck in shifted form, and that’s when those things come into play.”
I sigh with relief, and some of the tension leaves my body. “Well, that’s good, because could you imagine having to have sex with a six-headed hydra? Talk about a boner killer,” I grumble.
“But you aren’t just a hydra, are you?” Gracelin points out, and I shrug.
“No, I guess not, but I don’t really understand that. Your dad and moms talked about me being a dual shifter this morning, but it kind of went over my head, and I don’t remember much after I shifted the first time.”
“Shifting for the first time is disorienting for mythical shifters. Natural shifters have been doing it for as long as they can remember, so it doesn’t really matter,” she assures me.
“And you three are natural shifters, right?” I ask, and Gretchin nods.
“Yes. I’m a panther and Gracelin is a tiger.” We all look at Violet, and she blushes and looks down at her hands. “What kind of shifter are you? Usually I can tell, but I have no idea with you.”
“I’m a fairy,” she mutters, and both Gracelin and Gretchin gasp.
“Seriously? That’s super rare too! There are only small groups of fairy families, but they stick to one farming community. I’ve never met any of them, because they stick to their own.”
“Yes, my mother is a fairy, and the fairy gene is guaranteed to pass to any female. For males, it can be a toss-up whether they inherit it or get the gene from their father. If their father is a fairy and their mother isn’t, and they have a son, then that could be what he is. We don’t advertise it because fairies were almost hunted to extinction by humans during the war. They would kill us and keep our wings as trophies, not to mention the rest of shifter society has always looked down on us because we don’t shift into an animal.” Violet’s expression darkens. “My parents didn’t even want me to go to college, and they only let me when I promised not to shift in front of anyone. They were worried that someone would try to mate me by force.”
“How long has it been since you shifted?” Gretchin asks at the same time I exclaim, “You can be forcefully mated?”
“I haven’t shifted all semester,” she admits before turning her attention to my question. “Yeah, you can, but it will only ever be one-sided, and it causes agonizing pain for the individual who is bitten unless they return the bite. It’s forbidden and punishable by death, but it still happens. Not all shifters are good people.”
“It’s punishable by death because that will cause the half mark to fade on the shifter who was bitten without consent, allowing them to live a normal life.” Fury flashes in Gretchin’s eyes. “But sometimes the person bitten without consent just gives in because the pain is so bad, and then the shifter is imprisoned, because when one mate dies, the other usually will as well.”
We fall into an uneasy silence while I process everything they just told me. It’s a lot, but it’s been a good distraction from learning about my fated bonds.
“How can you stand it?” Gracelin asks Violet gently.
“I haven’t felt comfortable in my skin for a long time. It’s why I got a job with Colbie. I need the money, but the distraction also helps. I should probably take a trip home so I can shift, but I can’t afford to miss any classes.”
“Well, now that you’re one of Colbie’s advisors, you can use the same room she did when she shifted the first time.” Gretchin gives the girl’s hand a squeeze. “We’ll go first thing tomorrow. I know it won’t be the same as shifting in nature, but at least it’s something.”
“That would be great, thank you.” Tears well in Violet’s eyes, and I lunge forward to give her a hug. Gretchin and Gracelin join the pile, and Violet giggles. I feel a wave of relief. I don’t like seeing her sad. It’s like kicking a puppy.
We pull apart, and the three of them look at me, their expressions turning serious.
“How do you feel about everything you just learned?” Gracelin asks warily.
