Chapter Ninety One

*Ariya*


“Yup.” Ivan said.
Ivan was bright red and I was guessing that I was too. We had gotten a little heated at times and I had felt his excitement before. I knew it was likely that he wanted to have sex but we never talked about it. We always stopped because I was starving. I needed blood. That and I had chains on up until just yesterday. I was suddenly grateful that we hadn’t learned about the mate bond while I was still in chains. That would have been some freaky stuff without meaning to be.
“That’s pretty specific. Is it possible to make all 4 of those happen at the same time?” I asked.
“I think so, but I’m sure we’ll have to communicate somehow. If I’m being honest, me biting you when I finish probably isn’t the hard part of the equation.” Ivan said.
“It sounds like the easiest part of all of it.” I laughed.
“Yeah. The difficult part should be finishing together and then finishing the kill so to speak at the same time. Is there a way to control the amount of blood you take at a time? Like to make it faster or…” Ivan trailed off, realizing my expression.
My breathing had picked up and my fangs had come out. The hunger was eating away at me. I need blood and the thought of taking a lot of it made me start to lose control. My tongue was moving back and forth across my fangs as the thought of feeding was sinking in. A growl escaped me as my eyes locked on Ivan’s neck.
Ivan cursed, “I’m sorry, Ari. I forgot.”
Ivan pulled me closer to him and lifted my head to force my gaze to meet his. His eyes glowed blue as he leaned down and kissed me gently.
“Come back to me.” Ivan whispered.
“Ivan.” I breathed.
“Don’t worry, princess. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.” Ivan said softly, nuzzling my head with his.
I took a few deep breaths, regaining my control. It wasn’t going to last for very long. If we were going to complete the mate bond we needed to do it soon, or Ivan would need to get me more blood bags to drink. I looked up at Ivan, locking eyes with him. I knew he could see the worried expression on my face. He pulled me close to him, letting me bury my head in his chest. For some reason, even though I was hungry, when I was in his arms it was like the hunger didn’t exist. Like I could stay in control because he was protecting me.
“We’ll make it work somehow if that’s what you want to do. But you need to know what completing the mate bond means.” Ivan paused for a moment before continuing, “Completing the mate bond means we will be able to communicate similar to the way you can communicate with Keo, Drake, and Caleb. For them they send you a push and the other accepts it to create the connection. For you and I we only need to send the push.”
“So accepting each other by completing the mate bonds means that we accept everything, including the mind link at all times?” I asked.
“Yes, but I believe it’s also different. It was really hard to understand that part for me since I’ve never experienced it. They tried explaining but we were running out of time. They told me to tell you it’s different than what’s been happening now but that they would explain.”
“They?” I asked, looking up at Ivan, confused.
“Right. Um. So that’s also really hard to explain. Long story short, your Mom did something and I was able to talk to my parents again. They say hi by the way. Oh and that we would meet with them together if we completed the mate bond. They would explain more about things that I didn’t completely understand.”
Tears threatened to fall as I looked at Ivan. I was so happy that he was able to speak to his parents again after losing them. The pain he’d been in after losing them was hard enough for him the first time. I couldn’t imagine going through it again a second time. I was sure they’d taken the suffering away so he wouldn’t have to go through it a second time.
“I was happy too. Don’t cry though, it’s ok.” Ivan said softly.
“I can’t help it. I’m emotional sometimes.” I said.
“I love you even more for it.” Ivan smiled before continuing, “So yeah, they’ll have to explain how it’s different but it is. It’s not like we’re always in each other’s heads but it sounded like we could be if we wanted to. But they said that we could borrow or enhance each other’s abilities. I didn’t completely understand that part either. They said that it would take a lot of training but that as mates we could learn to read each other’s movements which means that fighting together is a lot more effective. But while I could basically borrow your energy manipulation or dragon’s eye, I wouldn’t be able to borrow your vampire side. For you, you could borrow my sense of smell and hearing but you wouldn’t be able to shift into a wolf. If that makes sense.”
“Not gonna lie. I’m a little jealous that I’m not going to be able to borrow your wolf.” I laughed.
Ivan laughed with me, “You might not be able to borrow it, but if I’m not mistaken you can still experience it. You would have to do it through me with our mind link.”
My eyes got big, “I could feel how you feel?”
Ivan grinned, “Yup and I could feel how you feel.”
I squealed a bit in excitement. I was always curious about how it felt for Ivan. His wolf was very large and beautiful and I used to wonder how he saw things. How he felt. What it felt like to run. Everything.
“There’s a bit more, Ari. Completing the mate bond means I will instantly know if it’s you. Everytime. My parents said it would leave 2 marks. One on your left shoulder and one that was invisible to everyone but me. Specifically my wolf eyes. They also said that you would mark me in the same way as well. As long as you were alive I would live. I would stop aging with you. If I was ever to die, it wouldn’t change your aging, but if you were to die I would start aging again.”
“I would rather die than lose you.” I said, the tears streaming down my face at the thought of him not being there with me.
Ivan looked at me softly, “I feel the same way, princess. But promise this to me, instead of dying with me, live for me, for both of us.”
“I will, but only if you promise to as well.” I whispered.
Ivan lifted my head to his, “I promise, Ari.”
Ivan kissed me softly. I hated the thought of losing him but I would do as he asked, no matter how painful it was. For some reason I knew a part of him would always be with me, just like a part of me would always be with him.
“There’s one last thing that I remember but this one goes whether we complete the mate bond or not.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“My blood will be poison to everyone but you.”