"Knotting? I don't understand."
He rolled his hips just a bit. And he felt like he was glued to her.
And she remembered one of her classes had referred to knotting.
"We are connected for a while," he said.
She blinked, the class information coming back to her. "We knotted? I thought that didn't happen right away. It was supposed to happen later, as the bond developed. That's what they said."
"You are correct," he said. "It usually doesn't happen like this. The first time. Our bond must be stronger than we realize."
She nodded. "I guess life threats will do that."
"I would have warned you if I expected it," he said. "I apologize."
"Don't," she replied. "Out of your control. Guess this means I am officially your mate, huh?"
"Was there any doubt?"
If she had any, it was gone now.
"Not anymore."
17
"And Adryel is well?" Janae asked Stron on the hologram.
"She is here if you wish to speak to her," he replied, and Adryel came into view.
Janae sighed. "I just was worried about you. You disappeared after we went to Terra North," Janae said.
"I went with him to see what we could find out about what happened," Adryel said.
Janae nodded, and Khalzin put his arm around her and whispered in her ear. "I told you she was fine."
"Well, you didn't know. You didn't know what happened to Stron either."
He stroked her back.
She wasn't wrong. He would not have known that Stron and Adryel were missing had Janae not tried to reach out to Adryel.
He had been otherwise occupied, between his wound healing and his now almost overbearing desire to take his mate at any given time. Fortunately, she was almost always open to intimacy as well.
And the knotting.
He had not expected that so quickly.
It usually took much longer for a couple to knot together like that. It would take at least a week before they would know if he had impregnated her, but it certainly was not from lack of trying.
"What did you learn?" Khalzin asked.
Stron shook his head. "I would rather wait until--"
The hologram pinged.
"There is Dhomhes." Khalzin connected them all. "Dhomhes. Nice of you to join us."
"Yes. Well, I am here now, so let us get on with it."
