Page 40 of Titan’s Mate

Titan was taken aback—that wasn’t what he was expecting at all. “No. I mean—” He hesitated. “I don’t know.” He thought about that—about how Mari made him feel, how his body burned for her, how she seemed to fit that empty place inside him he’d never known he had.

What if she was his mate? Would that make a difference? He asked slowly, “Would a mating bond heal her?”

Tyr looked surprised, then thoughtful. “A true mate bond?” He thought some more, and then said slowly, “It’s hard to tell. It might.” As Titan opened his mouth he held up his hand and added, “And it might not. Mating bonds are intensely powerful, but they’re also totally unpredictable.”

“But it could heal her. Possibly.”

Tyr sighed. “Okay look, before you run back there and claim her, hear me out. This is a volatile and unprecedented situation. Not just because of her, but because of you.”

The truth hit Titan like a hammer in the stomach. “Because I’m a shaman.” Fuck. That was what it always seemed to come down to.

“Exactly. Your additional power might make it easier for the bond to heal her. On the other hand, it could just as easily make both of you more vulnerable to the demon.”

Of course it would. Titan gave a little snort of almost-humor. “At least then we’d die together.”

“And possibly both get taken by the demon.”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

Tyr shifted his bag of magical implements. “Come on, Titan. Unless I find another case just like this in the archives, you know this is all just guesswork—except that you love her.” He gave Titan a sidelong glance. “That I do know for sure.”

Another hammer blow to the gut. Did he love Mari? Or did he just need her? Was there any difference?

“I’ve hardly known her any time at all.”

Tyr gave a little snort. “Believe me, that doesn’t matter.” He looked into the distance, his face growing soft. “I fell for my mate the very first time I saw her. Head over tail. Boom.”

Boom. Just like him seeing Mari for the first time.

“There has to be something we can do,” he said fiercely. “If claiming her might heal her, then I will.”

Tyr said, “It may come to that, if that barrier fails sooner than I believe. But please don’t try it yet, okay? I’ll search the archives. And I’ll come by regularly and check on her, shore up the barrier as long as I can.”

Titan ran his hand through his hair. “I appreciate that. I do. It’s just—”

“I know.”

They were at the top of the hill now, at the level area by the cliff where Brandon had had his dragon friends magically ward a safe area for portals. Tyr said, “I’ll talk to some of the Draken and any Ki-rin I can find, too. If there’s a way to beat this, we’ll find it.”

Titan nodded. He knew Tyr would do everything he could. But Titan knew better than anyone, sometimes that just wasn’t enough. “But you don’t think there’s much hope, do you?”

Tyr just said, “We’ll do our best.”

Which meant ‘no.’

Tyr pulled an ornate metal key out of his pocket and murmured a few words in Draken. A large circle about eight feet in diameter appeared in the air in front of them, the surface shimmering. The dragon walked up to it, then turned and gave Titan a final salute before stepping through.

The portal winked out.

Titan was alone, staring into nothingness.

When Brock came back inside the house, Mari had already unearthed the rest of the Thanksgiving pumpkin pie and was eating it straight out of the pan with hot fudge sauce and whipped cream.

“Where’s Titan?” she asked immediately.

“He went up the hill with Tyr to see him off.”

Mari toyed with her whipped cream. “Is he okay?” she asked.