Mated to the Warrior Beast

Confusion twisted his chest and made breathing difficult as he looked around at his friends, all of whom stared back like they were stunned.

It was Gar that answered him.

“Tarkyn, that’s not the Anima bond. Not... not if you can sense what she’s actually feeling. I mean, more than a vague impression. If you can feel it when her body hurts or her pulse is up... that doesn’t come from the Anima bond.”

Tarkyn’s eyes went wide, then he looked down at her. Harth stared right back, shaking her head.

He looked back at his friends. “But... I described it to you last night. You said-”

“And we were honest,” Aaryn said quickly. “What you described last night sounded every inch what I had with Elreth before we completed the bond. But this?”

There was a silent, hanging moment when no one spoke.

Then Elreth blew out a breath. “Well, I guess we got our answer about which bond was completed. I can’t believe-”

.....

That feeling tore through Tarkyn again-a fierce sense of fear mingled with determination. It wanted to push him forward, to make him take what he wanted, but he caught himself because it was Harth who spoke.

“No!” He could feel her heart pounding against his chest. She was so afraid! But she shoved out her jaw and turned in his arms to face Elreth, her eyes ablaze. “No,” she repeated. “What he’s describing isn’t... it isn’t from the Chimeran bond-I’ve never heard any of them describe that.”

She hadn’t?

Tarkyn’s stomach went cold. “Harth-”

“Do you have it?” Elreth asked starkly. “Can you feel him that way?”

Harth’s brows pinched over her nose. “No. I mean, there’s a sense of him... of his feelings-his emotions. I can reach his mind. But he’s... he is apart from me.”

Then she turned back to look at him. Tarkyn realized he was standing there, arms around her, gaping at her like she’d just grown a second head. He made himself close his mouth and swallow to wet his throat before he spoke.

“You don’t feel that?” he whispered.

She shook her head. “I feel so much, Tarkyn. So much of you and who you are and... so much. But I don’t feel that.”

Tarkyn’s head spun. What the ever-loving hell was going on?

*****

It took only minutes, and testimony from every True-Mated heart in the room, for Tarkyn to understand that whatever he was feeling, it wasn’t the Anima bond... or perhaps that it wasn’t only the Anima’s True Mate bond.

Pieces of it aligned with the experiences of his friends-he felt... right when Harth was close. Their scents were entwined-confirmed by the others-and the love... the overwhelming love. It was all part of the Anima way, things he’d known and understood, though never experienced them before.

But the mindlink. That was from the Chimera-as evidenced by the fact that Aaryn couldn’t speak into Elreth’s mind.

Tarkyn’s ability to feel Harth’s emotions-not just perceive them from her scent or body language, and to sense her emotions even without his other senses was something Harth shared with him. She could feel the greater impact of his feelings, especially when they were very strong, she said. But a few questions revealed that her perception of him wasn’t nearly as detailed or clear as his was of her.

Tarkyn’s blood ran cold.

Then, as everyone spoke and speculated, one of the guards was called by Elreth to take a message to Jayah, and as he passed Harth, he brushed against her arm.

The hair on Tarkyn’s corresponding arm stood up.

While everyone around him murmured and frowned and shook their heads, Harth stared at him, and he just held her.

Whatever had happened when they’d completed the bond, Tarkyn had been left with... well, it was as if she’d become a piece of him. Literally. Though he admitted that the sensations of her skin weren’t as acute as his awareness of his own, there was no doubt he could feel her.

And then, without any apparent trigger, her eyes widened and her grip on him tightened.

‘What is it?’ he asked quickly through the link.

‘Tarkyn... the Chimeran bond... the way we die if we lose each other... I knew it would be that way for me. I knew... I knew that’s what I was facing. But if you can feel me so deeply... you’ll feel me if... if something happens...’

She trailed off in his head, watching him, measuring him, as if she was nervous about his reaction.

Tarkyn’s breath was shallow and he clung to her, keeping her against his side, unwilling to have any space between them.

He knew her words were important... and probably true. But looking at her wide, shining eyes, feeling her warmth against him... it didn’t matter. He could feel another kind of fear creeping up on her-the fear of him, of how he might resist.

He would never resist her. Not like that.

‘Harth...’ he shook his head and only dropped to embrace her again for a moment, to lay a soft kiss on the side of her neck. ‘Don’t look at me like that. I don’t regret this. I don’t regret you. I never will. I asked for you. I’ve never wanted anything in my life as much as I wanted you.’

When they pulled apart there were tears in her eyes, but he could feel her-feel her relief and a little easing in her fear. And not just because of him. They finally had some space so they could both breathe easier.

Elreth had moved the guards, and the leaders had clustered, discussing what they’d heard. Though they glanced at Harth and Tarkyn several times, no one was closing tightly on them. Tarkyn’s trembling had finally stopped, though he still felt like a bow string-tight and ready for action.

His mind spun, his body and heart yearning to be nowhere except close to his mate, while he knew that his responsibility to his people and his Queen hadn’t shifted. If anything, it had become even more critical.

But that knot of her in his chest, that sense of her, it threatened to derail every thought. Every other motive.

Tarkyn took a deep breath as Elreth turned away from an intense exchange with her brother, to look at him.

He pulled Harth into his side so they could face the Queen together, then shifted his weight so he stood with his feet planted and shoulders back.

Whatever was to come, whatever was needed, he would be it-or call the Creator Himself to bring it.

*****

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