Mated to the Warrior Beast

Chapter 10: Caution, Love

~ HARTH ~

Harth’s heart chilled a little when Tarkyn pulled out of the kiss, his eyes wide and fixed on hers. What was wrong?

“You’ve... you’ve never mated? At all?” he asked, sounding stunned.

Harth frowned, shaking her head. “Of course not. I never found you!”

Tarkyn’s brows rose high. “You chose not to mate until you found your True Mate?” his voice was awed, but Harth was confused.

“There was no choice-except in the mate, I suppose. But if I’d mated, I would have bonded with that male and that would’ve killed you since we have the soul bond. I’m so glad... so glad I never found a male who tempted me, Tarkyn.” She stroked his chest and smiled, but nerves fluttered in her stomach. Why did he look so shocked? “Didn’t you... know that?” she asked hesitantly. Then it dawned on her if that if he’d taken someone else, she might have lost him and ended up wasting away like the females she’d watched pine after her Alpha, Zev-the only Chimera who’d been made by the humans able to mate with more than one partner without forming a mate bond. Though that hadn’t stopped the females bonding to him when the humans put them together.

Rage at the humans and everything they’d stolen from Harth and her people wanted to burn in her chest, but she reminded herself that Zev had found his soul bond now. He and Sasha were Ardent. The humans hadn’t been able to take that from them... she hoped.

.....

Zev and Sasha were still missing. It had been almost three months, but the Chimera’s true Alphas still hadn’t arrived in this new, safe world.

Harth’s heart clenched. She prayed that Zev-dan and Sasha-don made it safely to this place with their child. But that wasn’t what she needed to focus on right now. She pushed the thoughts of others away.

The important thing was that she had made it here. And she’d found her mate, and he was... staring at her as if he was afraid?

“Tarkyn?” she murmured. “What’s wrong?”

He pushed himself up on his elbows, combing her hair back from her face with gentle fingers, his face lined with worry.

“Harth,” he breathed, “What did the humans do to you?”

Harth swallowed the lump that appeared in her throat as her mind flashed with too many images she never wanted to see again-Chimera harmed, tortured, imprisoned, used for testing in science labs...

She flinched and looked away from him, but Tarkyn took her face in his hands and stroked her cheeks with his thumbs, his eyes locked on hers, waiting for her to answer.

And that was when it dawned on her...

He didn’t understand the mate bond the way she did. What did that mean for them?

She swallowed again. “We were made this way. We mate for life. If our mates are taken from us, we’ll die. Is that not... doesn’t it work that way here? With you?”

Tarkyn’s jaw went slack. “You only mate with one male... your whole life?”

Suddenly aware of her nakedness in a way she’d never been before-aware of the searing hurt at the shadows in his eyes-Harth fought the urge to pull out of his arms. He was her mate! She didn’t need to feel ashamed with him.

Did she?

Insecurity fluttered in her chest.

“Of course-how else could I be certain...” she started defensively, but then she clicked. “Wait...” Harth sucked in a breath of her own. “Don’t you mate for life?!”

*****

~ TARKYN ~

The sheer horror on her face made him want to weep. He held her face tightly when she looked like she might pull away, rushing to reassure her.

“Yes, yes, of course, Harth. Do not fear-I forgo all others for you. I swear it. I only meant... the act of mating, of making love, that’s different from being True Mates.”

Harth slumped with relief, her smile returning. “Thank the Creator.” Then she smiled and put a hand to his face. “So, we’re fine then,” she grinned. “We can finally take each other.”

She leaned up to pull him into a kiss and though he yearned to give in, to surrender to the beast within, and the bond, and everything that was good and perfect about having her there with him, he knew he couldn’t let her continue to think...

He dropped his forehead to her chest, groaning.

“Tarkyn, what is it?” Her fingers tightened in his hair and he lifted his head. He let her do it, let her see the pain in his eyes, the regret. “What’s wrong? I want to do this with you. My fear is just nerves, don’t worry-”

“Harth, the bond is different for me,” he said, his voice a dry husk. “I have... I have mated with others before. But never taken... never vowed. It was only... only physical-”

Her eyes flew wide and she scrambled, pushing back, out from under his weight, pulling herself up to sit, pulling her knees up and hugging them, staring at him, wide-eyed not with the anger he would have expected if she had expected him to wait, but with fear.

Why fear?

“Harth-”

“You’re like Zev?” she breathed.

Tarkyn frowned. “Who-”

“You can mate with... with more than one female and not form the bond? With any of them?”

He sighed at the horror in her voice, but nodded slowly.

Harth made a small cry, her hand flying to her mouth.

“But Harth, it was never-”

“Am I going to die?” she breathed, looking down at herself. “Will I... why haven’t I felt it? Why didn’t it close you away from me? Why...” then she went still, her eyes flicking back and forth as if she was watching something in her own mind. “No... no... it... when Zev found Sasha she wasn’t... hadn’t been affected by his other matings. But she’s human.”

“Who’s human?” Tarkyn growled, confused-who were these people? Were they here too? But before he could ask, her eyes snapped back up to meet his.

When she pulled away from him he’d pulled his knees under him to kneel. She sat in front of him, gloriously naked, knees hugged to her chest, but she was still only inches away, her eyes latched on his, wide and pleading.

“Are there... other females here who... who have bonded to you even though you didn’t form the bond?” she whispered. “Are they pining for you? Have some... died?”

Tarkyn jerked his head back. “What? No! Of course not! I would never... Harth, listen, please. I would never deny a bond. You are my True Mate. The only bond the Creator chose for me. I begged him to reveal you. This is the best thing that could have happened to me. The others, they were only fun. Companionship. We enjoyed each other, then left each other alone. Most of them have their mates now-”

“Their mates allowed you to mate with them?!” she gasped.

“No!” Tarkyn dropped his head into his hands, shivering with the frustration of the moment, this moment that should have been so beautiful and special. That should have completed the bond and brought them together as a true pair.

Instead, he sat here, trembling with weakness instead of desire. He didn’t want to frighten her, but every word he said seemed to mean things to her that he’d never intended.

“Please, Harth, listen to me. Feel me.” He offered his hand for her to take and even though she was clearly confused and frightened, she gave it. He dropped his face to the back of her hand for a moment, inhaling her scent, reminding himself of her rightness. Then he sighed and pulled her hand to his chest, resting it there, flat at the center, letting her feel his heartbeat under his ribs.

“Harth... No matter what’s happened before, I’ve never found the female that was my True Heart’s Call. That’s you, beautiful. I went to the Hallowed Grounds to seek the Creator’s blessing, I pleaded with Him to bring you to me, and He has.

“It’s clear there’s many differences between our people, and we will need to... learn each other. But do not doubt this: No matter what comes, no matter what we face, I will stand for you. Always. You are the one the Creator made for me. I will... I put my life in your hands, and I will give it defense of yours. Please... Harth. Please don’t ever question that.”

Her brows rose, pinching together over her nose, and when he finished speaking, her eyes shone. A little strangled noise broke in her throat and she threw herself at him, tumbling him back onto the furs as she devoured his mouth, whimpering her own promises of forever.

Tarkyn’s heart sang, but his soul roared.

She was here. She was finally here. The Creator had heard his plea.

He had found his mate.

As he rolled her onto her back and whispered her beauty and the joy he found at touching her, preparing to finally make her his, he thanked the Creator above. Because no matter what had happened in their lives before now, they were finally together.

Finally.

And he’d never let anyone take her from him.

*****

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