Chapter 15 - The Talk

Trey lifted Cat off his lap and sat her next to him on the bed. He knew if she continued sitting on him and wiggling around, he would have difficulty restraining himself. Cat leaned over and lay her head on his chest while rubbing her hand over his abdomen. Trey sighed as he wrapped his arm around her; he didn't know if this was better or worse. Her soft hand on his skin was a distraction.

"As you've seen, there are those of us who can shift into animals. There are werewolves, werebears, werecats even werebirds, to name a few. We're also called shifters because we shift from human to animal forms. One of the benefits of being a shifter is that we can heal a lot faster than humans. For instance, if I broke my leg, it would be healed within a few hours at the most. We also live longer than humans do. It's not unheard of for some shifters to live a few hundred years."

Cat absently rubbed her hand on Trey as she listened. The last part saddened her. If he could live hundreds of years, but she couldn't, their time together would not be as long.

"What's wrong? Why are you sad?" Trey had been watching her face while he talked.

"I was thinking that if you lived for hundreds of years as a werelion, but I'm only a human, I won't have that much time with you."

"That won't happen, and I'll explain why. It has to do with us being mates, but let me get through this first part, and then I'll tell you more." Cat was eager to hear more. Was she somehow going to be affected by being Trey's mate?

"I'll try to keep my questions to a minimum." Cat leaned up and kissed his cheek. Trey felt his heart melting for his lovely mate after her feather-soft kiss.

"You can ask whatever questions you want. Besides those of us who are shifters, there are also witches and vampires. They look like humans, so you've probably come into contact with some of each and not realized it. Most don't hurt humans because it goes against the laws of the supernatural. There are always those that don't follow the rules, though." Trey looked down at Cat, and she looked like she was listening intently.

"How are you doing with what I've told you?"

"Honestly, I don't know what to think. To find out there are others who aren't human but look human is hard to wrap my brain around. So do they all eat regular human food or something else? I mean, I'm not going to have to worry about Atlas suddenly wanting to eat a Caterina steak, am I?" Cat looked up at Trey and smiled when she heard a low growl. "I take it Atlas didn't like my question."

"Actually, he said if anyone tried to eat a Caterina steak, he would eat them first before they could touch you. In human form, shifters eat human food, but in animal form, we can eat what our animals would eat if they were in the wild. So if Atlas were running through the forest and came upon a deer, he could eat it. Vampires can also eat human food but need blood to survive. Most have their own blood banks with a blood supply to meet their needs. Witches eat human food."

Trey couldn't believe how well Cat was taking everything. He was getting ready to tell her what it meant to be mates and how it would affect her if she decided to mate with him. He was most nervous about this part because if she didn't mate with him, it would kill him.

"Wow, this is amazing. I feel like I'm living in a kid's storybook. Does your team know that you're a werelion?" Cat moved closer to Trey even though she was practically lying on top of him already. She couldn't get enough of how good it felt to have her skin touching his, and Atlas' purring was soothing.

"My sergeant Roger Brooks and his wife Valerie know. They also know how long I've been looking for my mate. I'm not close to my family, so they've been like surrogate parents after I graduated from the police academy. You'll meet them when we go back to Sacramento."

Cat suddenly remembered what brought them together and realized that Leo was still hunting her down. However, she felt a little better knowing she had a lion to protect her. She started laughing, and Trey looked at her in question.

"I was thinking I'd like to let Atlas loose on Leo. Then I would know he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else." Cat heard a soft growl, and she laughed even harder.

"Atlas said he would love to take care of Leo for you. This next part I have to tell you is about what it means to be mates and how it can change your life. I don't want you to feel pressured to do anything, so think about it before you make up your mind, okay?"

Trey wrapped his arms around Cat tighter. She fit so perfectly that he never wanted to feel what it would be like not to have her there.

"I promise. This is the part I've been anxiously waiting for." Cat had a feeling that what she was about to learn would make her and Trey even closer.

"In the shifter world, we have one other person we're destined to be with. That person is considered our fated mate because they're our other half. Once you meet this person, you know you'll do anything to be with them. That's how I felt when I met you. Humans don't feel it as strongly as we do when mated to a shifter, but it still affects them. So that's probably why you felt the pull toward me, and you're comfortable with me touching you. It's called the mate bond. It's so strong that if one of the mates rejects the other, it can kill them both."

Trey stopped to look down at Cat. She didn't look upset; she looked thoughtful.

"You're telling me that what I'm feeling for you isn't real, but it's this mate bond thing?" She knew there was a reason he was different, but this was more. She wasn't sure how she felt about it. If what he said was true, it was like her feelings weren't her feelings at all.

"No, your feelings are real. Even with the mate bond, mates will begin to have feelings for each other, or they won't. Some mates mutually agree to reject each other. When this happens, they don't feel the same pain if only one rejects the other. The mate bond makes the feelings that you have stronger. There will be an attraction from the bond, but how you feel inside is all you." Trey held his breath while he waited for Cat to respond.

"Thank goodness. I knew what I felt was more than this mate bond. You saved me from spending my life alone and hiding. You saved me from thinking I could never be touched or feel anything for anyone. You have changed my entire life, and there is nothing that I could ever do to thank you enough for that. That's more than a mate bond."

Trey was speechless. He wasn't expecting that response from her. He hoped that she would accept the rest he had to tell her.

"You're remarkable. I've just turned your world upside down, and you're thanking me. Let me tell you the rest and see if you still feel that way." He sounded nervous, and Cat looked up into his eyes.

"I don't care what you tell me. It won't change my mind." She leaned up and softly kissed his lips. She felt those sparks flying, and before she knew it, she was sitting on his lap, straddling him again.

Cat hadn't meant to take the kiss so far, but as soon as her lips touched his, it made her want more than just a kiss. She wanted to feel his skin and run her fingers through his hair.

Trey was completely taken off guard. One minute he was worried about telling Cat what it meant to mate, and the next, she was on his lap again, kissing and rubbing her hands all over him. He wasn't a fool and wasn't going to reject her kisses.

He wrapped his arms around her and started caressing her back. Cat kept moving closer and closer to him until it was like she was a second skin. All her moving and shifting on his lap was getting him hard very quickly. It got to the point it was painful.

Cat continued kissing him, and this time she put her tongue in his mouth, tasting all of him. He responded by sliding his tongue along with hers until they were doing their own dance. She started feeling a yearning ache between her legs.

She suddenly felt Trey's erection pushing against her, and it excited her instead of scaring her like she would have expected. Cat moved slightly, rubbing against his hardness, and she felt herself getting wet. He had his boxer briefs on, and she had on shorts and panties, but that didn't stop the sensations from taking over their bodies.

Trey moaned when he felt Cat rubbing against him. He could smell her arousal and feel the wetness that was soaking through her shorts. He had to stop her before he couldn't stop himself.

"As good as that feels, I can't let you continue. I don't think you're ready for that yet. Things are moving too fast for you to process them, and I don't want to hurt you. Also, I need to tell you what it means if we mate. Then we can see how you feel, okay?" Trey had a hard time controlling his breathing. With Cat's arousal floating around him, it was taking all of his strength not to encourage her to keep going.

"Alright, but I'm going to keep sitting like this because I like how it feels with you pushing against me. I've never felt this need before or the sensations I'm feeling from you touching me there, even through our clothes. Finish what you need to say, but I promise it won't change anything." Trey groaned as Cat got comfortable sitting on him. He knew he better get this over with before he went insane.

"You're making this immensely difficult." Cat smiled and wiggled a little bit on him, making him push against her even more.

"Sorry, but it feels too good, and I want more. I want to feel you touch me there, but we'll wait. After our talk, I know we need to check in with your team. I haven't totally forgotten what we're here for." She moved on him again, and they both moaned as she covered him with even more of her juices.

"I'll try and get through this before you kill me. We'll need to mark each other if you accept me as your mate. How we do that is I will bite down on your neck with my fangs, it will hurt at first, but it doesn't last long. Once you've been marked by me, you'll notice some changes. First of all, you'll begin to transition to a werelion. The transformation takes about a month. During that time, you'll get your lioness. You won't be able to shift immediately, but she'll help you through the process. You will mark me when you've transitioned completely by biting down on my neck. Once we have fully marked each other, we are considered mated. After we are mated, we'll be able to mindlink each other so we can talk with our minds rather than our mouths."

Cat couldn't believe what Trey had said. If she agreed to this, then she would be a werelion too. She thought about changing into a big lioness and running through the forest with Atlas. She wondered what her lion's name would be. Cat suddenly burst out laughing and rolled off Trey to lie on the bed. She was laughing so hard she couldn't stop.

Trey watched her in confusion. He had just told her that if they marked each other, she would be a werelion, and she was laughing. As much as he loved the sound of her laugh and the look of pure joy on her face, he needed Cat to talk to him.

"Are you alright? What's so funny?" Trey reached over and pulled Cat to his side.

"Everything is funny. Do you know what this means? I have lived in fear my entire life because of the way I've been hurt by others. Now you tell me I'll be a werelion and can live with you for hundreds of years. Do you have any idea how happy that makes me? I'll get to be part of this fantastic world that I didn't know existed before today." He was lost. She was excited to be one of them?

"You're okay with everything I told you?" He had to be sure. Cat got up and sat on his lap again so she could be face-to-face with him.

"I'm not just okay with it. I'm excited to get started. When can you mark me?" She was ready for him to do it now.

"The change can be hard on you, so I think we should wait until after we catch Leo. Then I'll take you away for a month so we can be alone, and you can go through the whole transformation." Trey couldn't believe she was so calm about this.

"That sounds great, but we don't have to wait to do other stuff before we are mated, do we?" Cat wiggled on him, letting him know what she was talking about.

"No, we don't have to wait, but are you sure you're ready for that?" Trey was still worried that this was going too fast for her.

"Yes, I'm ready. However, I'm hungry right now, so let's eat something and check in with your team. Tonight when we're ready to settle in, I'll tell you what Leo and the others did to me. You've told me all about you, so it's only fair you know about me." Trey smiled and pulled her in for a quick but passionate kiss.

"Alright, let's get up and eat. Hopefully, we catch Leo quickly so we can get on with our lives." When they finally got out of bed, it was afternoon. Trey felt like he was walking on air with Cat's acceptance. He looked over at his mate and almost broke down in tears from his happiness. He knew at that moment that he loved her.