Page 13 of Mated to Fenrir (Fated Mates Collection #5)

DELIA

I picked up my glass and took a sip of water, sneaking another look at Fenrir as I did. Except there wasn't a lot of sneaking going on when he caught me and smiled.

I burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, I feel like a teenager sneaking looks at you across the table."

He chuckled. "I know what you mean."

"I think it's just because of what tonight is," I said. "It feels like something big."

"It is," he pointed out. "Every wolf shifter hopes that the next time they seal a mating bond will be the last."

"Do you hope that?"

He met my gaze, an intensity lingering there that I didn't expect. "Yes."

I swallowed hard. "Even if I'm not immortal?"

"You haven't said that you're opposed to becoming immortal," he pointed out. "So yes, I hope that this is the last time I'm going to seal something like this."

"I think I'd be okay with being immortal," I said. "With the right person, anyway. But I don't have to decide now, right?"

"No. You've got time. As much as you want, really, within reason."

I nodded. "So maybe another ten years or so? I'll still look great then."

He laughed. "Is that your criteria for when to take immortality?"

"Well, yes. I don't want to spend eternity with bad knees. And how does it work for kids?" I asked.

"Kids?"

"Yes. If I want children, or if we want children, do I need to do that before I become immortal?"

"Not if you're turned immortal while you're still fertile."

"Ah, a downside to immortality, an eternity of periods," I muttered.

He chuckled. "I've heard some of the goddesses complain about that."

"Still worth it, I imagine. But that's also good. I don't even know if I want children, but there's something appealing about knowing I could have more time to decide that I do."

He nodded.

"Do you have any?" I asked curiously.

"No."

"Do you want them?"

"Maybe one day. When I grow up," he teased.

I laughed. "So in another eight hundred years?"

"I don't know," he answered honestly, leaning across the table so that he was closer to me. "I'm not against the idea of having children, I've just never been with someone whom I wanted to raise them with."

"Not even your previous fated mates?"

"They were a future thing for me and my first mate. My second mate didn't want them."

"Ah." I ran my fingers over my glass. "Kids aren't a deal breaker for me. I was actually starting to assume that I wouldn't have any at all."

"Are you okay with that?"

"Yes. I didn't think I would be in my early twenties, but it's one of those things that, as time passed, I realised I had lots of other things in my life that brought me joy. I do want a dog though."

"You've never had one?"

"Honestly, I've always felt bad about the idea of leaving a dog at home all day while I'm at work, so I've never gotten one," I admitted.

The waiter arrived with our starters and placed them down in front of us.

There was a part of me that wasn't sure whether we should have come for a formal meal out before the biting, but I knew that it was sensible to have something to slow us down.

It meant that we could let our wolves calm down and make the decision based on what we want, rather than on what they demand of us.

I picked up one of my calamari rings and bit into it, not caring that I should really be using a knife and fork for it, given that we were in a nice restaurant. At least Fenrir didn't seem to care, and had picked up one of his ribs with his fingers too.

"So, you want a dog, but you're not sure about kids," he said. "What about travel?"

"What about it?"

"Is that something you want to do?"

I nodded. "I've been to a few places with my friends, but nowhere too exciting. I've never been to any of the Scandinavian countries, which I'm going to guess is a minus when dating a Norse god."

He chuckled. "It's also easily remedied."

"True. In all honesty, I like experiencing new places, but I hate staying away from home. I'd rather be comfortable in my own bed and then venture out for the day."

"Then you'll like the god realm," he said. "There's still a bit of travel involved, but there are portals connecting it to every country in the world. We can go on a day trip and then stop back at my house overnight."

"Your house?" I echoed.

"It's in the god realm," he said needlessly.

"I guessed. Am I allowed to go there?"

"Why wouldn't you be allowed in my house?" he asked.

"To the god realm," I corrected. "I'm not a god."

"Neither are a lot of people who go there. You need to be accompanied by a god, at least the first few times you go, but after that, you can go back and forth as you like. You just have to make sure you go through the right portal, because otherwise, you could end up halfway around the world."

"I think I'll stick with you until I get the hang of the portals," I joked.

"I can show you how to navigate them," he promised. "Maybe next week? My sister is having a birthday party at The Underworld ."

"I can't go to The Underworld , I'm not dead."

He chuckled. "Not the literal underworld, none of us can go there. It's a club run by Hades. I think he has one in the human realm now too."

A blush spread over my cheeks at such a rookie mistake. "I'm sorry, you must think that I'm an idiot."

"I really don't," he assured me. "The club is older than I am, and I made the mistake the first time Hel invited me there." From the expression on his face, I had to assume that he was telling the truth.

"That does make me feel a little better." I finished the last of my starter and pushed my plate away. "I'd like to go with you, if that's not going to be too soon for introducing me to your family."

He reached across the table and took my hand in his. "If we go ahead with the biting tonight, then you'll be my fated mate in every way. I don't think it's going to be too early to introduce you to my family."

My heart skipped a beat at the words. "I suppose I should probably call my parents and set up a dinner for you to meet them too. Though I think we should maybe avoid telling them that you're an eight-hundred-year-old god straight away. I'll find a good way to break that to them."

He laughed. "So you haven't been telling them that you've been hanging out around gods, then?"

"They know I've been using Jinx's dating services over the past couple of years, but I don't think it's fully sunk in that means that I've got the potential to match with a god.

There aren't really many wolf-shifting gods for them to want me to match with anyway.

What were the chances of the two of us meeting and being fated mates? "

"Quite high, apparently," he pointed out.

"Yes, it does seem that way. But I'm grateful that I got to meet you."

"What would you have done if we hadn't run into one another at the Horus Sanctuary party?" he asked.

"That's a good question. I suppose I'd have hoped that the effect you had over me would wear off, and if it didn't, I'd probably go to a few more Jinx events and hope that you'd be there. Which isn't necessarily the best way to deal with it."

"It's probably what I'd have done," he admitted. "It's been a while since my wolf responded to anyone."

"Why me?"

"Why not you? I'm just a person, Delia."

"A person who has been worshipped."

"I know it seems like that somehow makes me special, but it's no more so than the thousands of other gods who exist in the world.

I don't have much more magic than you do as a wolf shifter, and the same is true for the other gods.

Hel is just a necromancer, she doesn't actually have anything to do with the dead. "

"I thought she was your sister?"

"She is. We have different mothers, so we got different magic. Just like it works with non-god beings."

"Ah."

The waiter appeared to take our plates away. We broke apart, leaving me feeling disappointed at the lack of connection.

"Can we get dessert to go?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow.

"For after." I bit my lip and looked at him so he knew exactly why I wanted to do that. As much as it was nice to be out with him, there was a part of me that was yearning to seal the bond between us. The longer I spent with him, the more certain I was that it was what I wanted.

And I didn't want to waste a moment getting to the next stage.