Page 32

Chapter

Thirty-Two

Athena woke with a start. When she realized she was at home in bed with Draco, his arms wrapped around her waist, she relaxed slightly.

With a heavy sigh of relief, she laid back down and curled up closer to Draco. His scent and touch calming her already.

“What’s wrong, mate? Another nightmare?”

“How did you know?”

“We are mates. I can sense your emotions. Want to tell me about it?”

“No, not really. I’m afraid to give them a voice. I can’t lose you, Draco. Not when we’ve finally found each other…”

“Hey, hey! Calm down, baby. I’m not going anywhere.

Not without a fight. They don’t know who or what they are up against when it comes to me or Leo.

We won’t let anything happen to you or our little one.

Even if, by some fluke, they manage to get to you before Leo or myself, just know I will find you. I will always find you.”

“How? How will you find me if they manage to take me into their territory?” Athena sobbed, letting the tears and her fear win out.

“Our minds, our hearts, and our souls are connected, my beautiful mate. There are mates, fated mates, and then there are true fated mates, like us.” Draco pulled her into him, holding her tight.

“I understand the differences between mates and fated mates. But what is the difference between fated mates and true fated mates?”

Athena remembered the conversations with them all in the beginning about the differences between mates and fated mates. Rolling over, she turned to face her husband, her hand going to his to intertwine their fingers together.

She breathed in his scent when he moved to wipe the tears falling freely down her cheeks with his thumbs. Her heart thumping like a runaway horse racing to the finish line.

“Mates choose whomever they want, which is something that happens more often than not. Fated mates are a rarity among shifters. With fated mates, they share a bond that is unshakeable. They can sense feelings and emotions. With fated mates, it’s not talked about, but they don’t even have to like one another or even love one another.

That bond can be rejected. It’s hard as hell, but it can be rejected, just like the mate bond when they want to divorce. ”

Athena’s eyes jumped to Draco’s. That was something they had failed to tell her about fated mates.

“I thought fated mates were blessed by the goddess or whatnot from the way you guys were talking.”

Athena started to pull away but was stopped with Draco’s hand on her hips stalling her movement. When he pulled up to his elbow so that he could stare down at her, she knew he meant business now.

“For some, yes. If their fated mate was one that they were happy with, then it is a blessing by the goddess. For some, the belief is that fated mates are found to bear strong offspring. There are many different beliefs around it,” Draco answered, rubbing his thumb on her hips in circles.

“True fated mates? Can they be rejected or hate each other?” Athena bit her lip, fear seeping into her eyes and voice.

“True fated mates are even rarer. Not very many find theirs. What is known is they do not hate each other, nor do they reject each other. They are happy together. Soulmates as it has been described.”

Athena looked up into Draco’s eyes and saw the love and wonderment in them. She knew he was telling the truth.

“So, they are considered truly blessed by the goddess? Have any ever rejected their true fated mates?” Athena’s heart skipped a beat, fearful of the answer.

“No. To my knowledge, once a true fated mate has been found, there is no rejection because they love one another, desire one another and can’t survive without the other. A mate and fated mate can survive without their mates. A true fated mate cannot.”

Athena looked up, her hand going to his cheek. She knew without a shadow of a doubt she could not live without this man in her life.

“Do you remember the feeling you felt, the power when I marked you?”

Athena thought back to the moment that Draco had finally marked her. It had been a shock to her that he had done that when he had been adamant that he wouldn’t do so. But when he did, gods when he did, her whole world tilted upside down.

She felt like her soul left her body and when it had returned, she was finally whole for once in her life. She had finally felt warm in all the places that she had thought were cold and dead.

She nodded her head at him when she looked back at him. She wondered if he had felt it too.

“Yes, I felt that way too. Things that I thought were forever going to be closed off, cold and dead inside are now warm and alive for the first time in a very long time. When I marked you, I thought we were only fated mates. But when you bit me, despite you only being a human, I felt my world upend and my soul leaving my body. I knew then what it had felt like for you when I marked you. You imprinted your soul to mine. Only true fated mates can do that to each other.”

Athena looked at Draco in surprise. She hadn’t even thought about that fact.

The first time she’d “marked” him as Draco has claimed, she didn’t know what drove her to do so. She just felt this need to place her mark on him like he had her.

“Your parents are fated mates, right?” Athena asked, her hand wrapping around his wrist.

“True fated mates. Just like my grandparents are, and their parents before them. Mom noticed the mark on my chest when I had taken my shirt off while working in the yard the other afternoon when she came over. She was the one to ask about us speaking mind to mind. That’s how you know it’s a true mate bond versus the fated mate bond. ”

“No one knows about that part of it, then? If something happens, then I should be able to reach out to you from wherever I am?” Athena asked, hope in her voice for the first time in a long time.

“I will always find you, my mate. I will burn down the world to find you wherever you and our child are. No one is safe from me if anything happens to you. I promise you that.”