Chapter 23
When their wolves returned to their bodies, ending the light connection, Slate collapsed, rolling onto his side and bringing Dakota with him.What the fuck just happened?Staring at Dakota’s moonlit face, he could see the same question in his mate’s eyes.
“Slate?” Dakota called, his voice trembling, “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, are you?”
“I think so but I don’t understand what happened? Is it part of our claiming?”
“I’m not sure because I never heard about this when I was taught about Fated Mates.”
It was then Dakota felt something inside him and when he examined it, he was shocked and cried out, “Slate, I have you inside of me! What’s happening?”
Slate, too, realized he now had Dakota in him—not just his wolf—but the man. “Holy shit! I don’t know what’s happening to us but I have you inside me, too. We need to speak to my mother…she’ll know!”
Dakota lay in his mate’s arms, his attention turned inward, said, “Slate? Hmm, I’m in your mind…”
Slate responded, “I know…I’m in yours. I’m so sorry this happened, babe.”
“I don’t mind,” Dakota said, surprised and smiling. For the first time in his life, he felt whole; like the final piece of the puzzle had fallen into place and serenity descended over him and filled his soul. But there was more…his body was changing as it acquired part of his mate’s DNA and he could see Slate’s body had gotten some of his. Two halves now made into one. “Do you feel any different?” Dakota asked.
“Yeah, everything you are experiencing, I am too.”
“Thank the gods for that,” Dakota exclaimed. “I was afraid only I could see it.”
“No, I see it, too and I feel exactly the same…as if a piece that was missing is now in place…like I have just been waiting for this. Weird, huh?”
“Yeah…weird. Why do you suppose the Fates did this?”
“I haven’t a clue but I’m pretty sure my mother knows and I’m betting it has something to do with your gift.”
“You know what I have a hard time understanding?”
“What, babe?”
“How did the Fates know we would come here? I mean, it was a spur of the moment idea…something to fill the time while my kitchen was being cleaned up. Don’t you find it spooky? Does it mean we don’t have any choices at all because everything is decided by the Fates?”
“It does seem that way, but my mother told you the Fates have no control over the choices we make in our lives so that would mean we decided to come here and fuck…maybe the Fates just took advantage of an opportunity we gave them.”
Nodding his head, Dakota said, “Okay, does that mean if I never took you here, what happened here tonight wouldn’t have happened? Crap this is getting confusing.”
Chuckling, Slate answered, “See…that’s why I nearly failed my class on the Fates. I was always posing questions like that, making my teacher so frustrated that she would say to me: ‘It is what it is’.”
Dakota giggled. “I can see you doing that.” Then his mirth ended as he thought about himself. “I nearly failed that class because it wasn’t important to me. As far as I was concerned, the Fates didn’t care about me because they gave me my curse.”
“Aww babe, I know it’s hard to see it any other way, but my teacher told me the Fates gave empath ability to only very special shifters. What you went through with your father was really bad, but the Fates had no way of knowing. And if you step back and look at it, why would anyone think it would happen? Your parents were Fated Mates and they should have been happy.”
“I know. Can I tell you something? I’m not sure my parentswereFated Mates. I mean...I didn’t understand what it meant to have a Fated Mate but now I do and I can’t imagine any circumstances where I could do to you what my father did to Logan knowing how much it would hurt my mate. You know, even when I was growing up, I had a hard time accepting his behavior because sometimes I caught my mother crying in the kitchen after an episode between my father and Logan.”
“Wow, that does make sense, but why would they pretend to be Fated Mates?”
“I don’t know. I could feel very little of my mother’s emotions, mainly because my father’s hatred was so overwhelming. I wonder if Jackson knows.”
“If he does, I bet my brother knows also. What about other family members?” asked Slate.
“I don’t know if my uncle knows,” said Dakota.
“I bet my mother knows,” Slate conjectured.
