Barely Winging It (11 page)

“I can tell you’re in some pain. Headache right?” he quietly
asked.

Bronya
nodded slightly and slowly blinked her tired eyes.

“Do you have any allergies to any medications?”

She slowly shook her head.

“Good, I have something I think might take the edge
off. They’re in my office. Let me run and get them. I need to get a few things
from there anyway. Would it be too much to ask if you could take these into the
kitchen for me?”

Without speaking,
Bronya
reached for the items and slowly walked back to the kitchen. The sharp sounds
of the utensils and dishes clashing together pounded through her head. She
quickly dropped off the items then found her way into the living room. She
wanted a place to lie down in a hurry. Though the two tots running around
didn’t give her much rest, weirdly enough, they were quieter than the walking
caffeine rush doing dishes.
Bronya
sighed. She probably
really just needed some sleep, but she wanted to hold out long enough to see
the picture again. Havana was really eager to show it to them, and
Bronya
didn’t have the heart to refuse, and it really was a
beautiful piece.

Seamus returned with some pills for her. She drank
them down and rested until the girls gathered her to help with the picture. The
nails pounding into the wall were painful, but after helping to hang the
picture and smiling her appreciation for the piece, she found her way back to
Nix’s room. With the help of the painkillers kicking in, she closed her eyes
and fell to sleep. She couldn’t have been asleep more than an hour, but when
Nix gently woke her up, her headache was fortunately gone, which went a long
ways to lifting her spirits.

“Sorry to have to wake you, Dove, but we got a call
from your dad about a plane for us to look at.
Thought you
would like to come with us.”

Rubbing her face, she nodded and sat up. Minutes
later, she was sitting in the back seat of the car next to Nix, behind
Alphy
and Gale.

Once on the pavement, after the roller-coaster
driveway,
Alphy
looked at her through the review mirror.
“How are you doing,
Bronya
? Gale mentioned you had to
get some meds from the doc.”

Nix was holding her hand. He looked over with his brows
knitted in concern. “Is that true?”

“I’m better thanks. I just had a pretty bad headache.
It’s gone now.”

“With all you just learned and the lack of sleep, I
can believe it. You let us know if the headache comes back and we’ll do
whatever needs to be done to help you out,”
Alphy
offered with a concerned look.

“Thank you.”

Gale slightly turned her head. “Now would be a good
time to ask us anything you want to know if you have any questions.”

Bronya
thought about that. “Okay, I have one that I can’t seem to figure
out,
or the whole subject really. I don’t think I understand
your beliefs on mates. Everyone keeps referring to me as Nix’s mate, but we
only met. And what’s a claiming?”

Alphy
chuckled. “Nix, do you want to explain it or would you like me to?”

Nix scrubbed his face with his free hand. “It might be
better coming from me, but if I screw up, I would welcome it if you helped me
out.”
Alphy
nodded, and Nix turned an uncomfortable
look to
Bronya
. “Each paranormal gets a soul-mate, if
you will, destined by fate. There are a few things that can tell us who
is
our mate. For shifters, we know by the person’s scent. We
search our whole lives looking for our fated mate, and as soon as we
scent
them, we do not and cannot want another.”

Gale interrupted. “They’re hardwired to love and keep
their mate happy. This doesn’t mean there won’t be disagreements. It still
takes work, and mistakes will be made. But they would and could
never
cheat on their mate, and they
would put their mate before even their own family if forced to choose.
Which for them, is saying a lot since they are generally very loyal
to their families.
Remember what I said at breakfast about their packs.”

They kept silent as
Bronya
tried to piece things together. “Ok, so you scented me that day in the field
and knew I was your mate. Is that why you’re doing business with my dad?
To find me?”

Alphy
answered before Nix.
“Partly,
Bronya
.
We really do believe in fate, not just to find our mates. We had several events
take place all requiring us to fly to certain places. We are a newly formed
pack, so we didn’t have a plane. We had to borrow two of them. Not all packs have
a plane. Only the wealthier ones do. But we have recently received the funds,
and with what has been going on, it was mentioned more than once that we should
get our own plane. I had just ordered it to be on our priority list when Nix
spotted you.”

“So you took it as a sign?”

Alphy
nodded.

“I can see that,”
Bronya
said. “My parents believe a lot in fate and other things. Ok, so then what’s
the claiming? Do I get a choice? How long does this all take?”

Nix’s thumb rubbed over her hand, warming her belly
with flutters as he answered. “Of course you have a say in it. We will go
whatever speed you feel comfortable with. Shifters fall in love fast. Fate
wouldn’t put us together if we weren’t perfect for each other, and because
shifters can never cheat on their mate, giving our full heart over to our mate
is pretty instant.”

“Instant?”

“Yes.”

Alphy’s
tone was serious when he spoke. “Though you do have a choice, know that when a
shifter finds his mate and is separated from them, the longer they are apart,
the more pain they feel. It is physically painful. Whatever you decide, you
must remember it impacts him as well as yourself. I don’t want you pushing
yourself faster than you are willing, but just remember whatever affects you
and whatever choices you make,
will
have an impact on him.”

Gale added, “I don’t like to gossip, but I think it
would be good for you to understand a case in point. The girl you met this
morning, Havana? Her mate is
Dultyn
if you remember.”
Bronya
nodded even though she knew Gale couldn’t see.
“
Dultyn
had to wait until just two days ago to be
able to claim her because she wasn’t legal age yet. But because of how young
she is and because of some things in his past, he was afraid it would hurt her
to claim her right away so he refused. But it only hurt them both, and actually
hurt her more than anything. She told me just this morning that he plans to
claim her tonight. It was a painful lesson for him to learn that not talking to
her about it, and not letting her
choose,
hurt her
worse than whatever he was afraid would have hurt her to tell her.”

Bronya
looked out the window through the soggy trees that passed and thought about
that for a few minutes. She read books and always hated when the hero always
tried to keep their distance under the guise of “protecting” whomever they were
trying to protect, and it always went bad. She wouldn’t normally agree, but she
did have a stalker, and for a fleeting moment, she could actually relate to
those wayward heroes. She wouldn’t want to put someone she cared about in
harm’s way.
But then again, these guys
are far more capable of defending themselves than any legal authority could be
.
As she continued to mull over everything she’d learned, she couldn’t deny how
she felt for the man beside her. It felt special. In fact, she couldn’t
discount her parents’ belief in fate any longer. After the events of the past
few days, she now believed it herself. However, she knew she still had a lot to
learn and a lot of questions.

Hmm,
first question
.
“Ok, what’s a claiming?”

Bronya
wanted to giggle at the
embarrassed
look on Nix’s
face. She had a feeling he didn’t get like that often. In the front, Gale did
giggle, and
Bronya
could see a slight pink on
Alphy’s
cheeks.
Oh
for crying out loud! How bad can it be?

Nix opened and closed his mouth a few times, obviously
trying hard to figure out what to say and failing, repeatedly. Gale broke the
silence.
“Really, you two.
You can walk around naked
in front of each other without batting an eye and face armies of bad guys armed
with guns, fangs and claws without fear, but try to tell a girl you want to
bite them on the neck during sex and you turn into speechless pansies. One
would think
you
are the teenager and
not me.”

Bronya
really liked Gale. She couldn’t stop the smirk that played over her face at the
lighthearted chastisement. The men shifted in their seats but still didn’t say
anything. They were obviously uncomfortable.

“Ok, here’s the scoop,
Bronya
.
When a paranormal finds their mate, they want to claim them. It’s like claiming
their territory so others know not to touch what’s theirs. If you know how
territorial men or animals can be, a shifter is a double whammy, so they are
super territorial over their mates. It’s worse before they mate, but after
mating, they calm just a little bit. Katie couldn’t even hug her dad until
after she was claimed by Slate, but now she can.”

Bronya
turned to Nix. “So I can’t even hug my dad until you claim me?” She was not
going to stop hugging her dad just because she wasn’t ready to be “claimed”.
She was hoping he would deny Gale’s claim, but the guilty look on his face said
otherwise. Now she felt like luggage. She tried to pull her hand away, but Nix
tightened his hold.

Alphy’s
low voice spoke calmly. “That was a little different, Honey-bear. Her dad was
not her biological dad, and he was unmated at the time himself.
Bronya
,”
Alphy
looked at her
through the review mirror, “Nix may not have any trouble with you hugging your
dad. What Gale was trying to convey is that all
paranormals
,
before they claim their mate, can be irrational and their emotions are
extremely heightened. He could lose control and potentially seriously harm or
even kill someone.”

Bronya
looked back at Nix. She was sure he could see her confusion and worry expressed
on her face. His lips thinned, and he placed his other hand over hers, rubbing
his thumbs over her skin. “
Alphy’s
right. We do
become irrational, so I can’t promise not to get upset with others, but
remember when your parents sent you away yesterday?”
Bronya
nodded. “Your dad hugged you then, and I didn’t have a problem with it.”
Bronya
relaxed just a little bit and turned to look back
out the window.

“Sorry,
Bronya
.
I didn’t mean to scare you.” Gale’s voice was more
subdued.

“It’s all right. I think I know what you were trying
to get across.” Nix’s thumb lightly rubbed over her hand, the goosebumps
eliciting a reminder what this man did to her. She still didn’t know what the
claiming involved. “So Gale, you still didn’t tell me what entails a claiming.”

“Oh, right. I don’t know about other
paranormals
, but for shifters to permanently bond, two
things have to happen. The shifter climaxes inside of you, and they bite you.
The bite brings in your blood into their system, and their canines deliver
their saliva into your system to change your chemistry. And let me tell you,
there’s just no describing how much you’ll want him to claim you over and over
and over again. Their bite is that good. Oh, and just so you know, they can’t
catch or pass on any human STDs.”

“That’s it? There’s no ceremony or initiation?”

Gale chortled. “I think the biting can be considered
an initiation, but to be claimed, that’s all it takes. You can still have a
wedding if you want, but to be untouchable to other
paranormals
,
it’s swapping of fluids. They are pretty simple and basic. I may be mated to
Alphy
, but I still plan to get married. I want the human
legal system to acknowledge
my
claim,
and I want his last name. Besides, who doesn’t love a good party to celebrate
something so monumental? There are shifters who are never blessed with finding
their true mate, so it really is a big thing.”

Bronya
could totally believe that. She turned to Nix. “So you want to claim me?”

Nix gave her hand a squeeze. “Yes, more than anything.
But the claiming would bond us together for life. There is no turning back. No
divorce. If you die, so would I and vice versa. It’s a lot to process and
accept, and I know humans don’t feel the mating pull like we do, so take what
time you need. We will go at your speed.”
 

Gale let out a sound of derision. “You all need to get
your facts straight. We feel the mating pull every bit as much as you, but
those who aren’t raised to understand what we’re feeling wouldn’t know what to
do about it. I talked with Katie, and she agrees with me. What about you,
Bronya
? Do you feel an intense and possibly illogical pull
towards Nix? And do you see red with the idea of any woman or gay man touching
him?”