“When you say companions, you mean like…” She lifted her eyebrows as her cheeks grew red.
“Sex shouldn’t be an act of ownership.” He looked back at the paintings. “Just like love and sex have never been mutually exclusive, no matter how much humans like to pretend otherwise.”
Was he serious? She blinked, her mouth slightly agape. It almost sounded like he was putting some kind of polyamorous relationship on the table.
“I don’t like the word ownership… but I mean, when you get married you are basically signing a contract that says I’m yours and you’re mine.” She shrugged. “Unless you have an open relationship or something, but I always thought that was something reserved for people who weren’t really happy with each other. Sex is supposed to be something special that you only share with the person you’re with.”
“No wonder you’ve expressed a distaste for marriage.” His eyes moved over her as he circled around. “Sex is about desire, trust, and creating a new life. And love does not get diluted if it’s bigger than just two people.”
“And the consorts in your tribe were all okay with knowing their partner was sleeping around with everyone?” Jillian rubbed her arms, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “I don’t know if I could ever be okay with someone sleeping with my husband. The whole polyamory thing seems a little more deviant than I could ever be.”
“Why? There were no lies.” He traced his finger along her collar bone to the small indentation at the base of her throat, and her heart raced at the sensation. “No winners or losers. When you have multiple lovers who respect you and respect one another, there’s nothing deviant about it. When you take a mate, all your decisions get made together. Consorts or companions are more like friends that come and go as they please.”
“And your mother was one of your father’s consorts?” She looked around at the paintings of swirling campfires and people dancing around them.
“She wasn’t one of his consorts.” He cleared his throat. “She was a member of another tribe; because she was a vessel, it was her responsibility to make as many children as she could. She came to my father for that reason only and left shortly after I was born.”
“That’s so sad.” Jillian frowned. “I couldn’t imagine just traveling around to have babies and then leave them behind.”
“With vessels being in such short supply, it’s just how things were done.” He looked down. “I don’t begrudge her for leaving, but I do wonder if I’ll ever get to meet her.”
“My oracle intuition tells me that you will.” She reached out and took his hand. “Why did you never take a mate?”
“Only half of our tribe were shifters, and most were related to me in some way. My grandmother told me that it was my destiny to be mated to a vessel.”
“So, you’ve never…” Her mouth slackened as she searched for an appropriate way to ask.
“I’m an alpha, not a priest.” He smiled. “I messed around with a couple of shifter girls from other tribes that joined us during my teenaged years. And I dated human women in college. But I always felt like I was waiting for something. None of them ever knew what I was. It was a secret part of my heart, reserved for someone who was still out there. That probably sounds ridiculous.”
“No.” She blushed, returning her gaze to the wall. “I think I get exactly what you mean.”
Vincent walked with her, never standing more than a couple feet away as she studied the pictures, committing each one to memory as if there were something she was supposed to put together, some detail that would fall into place. Maybe then, everything would make sense.
The light started to dim as the battery waned, and her shoulders shivered.
“Damn.” She patted the light against the heel of her hand.”
“I have photographs of every inch of this place back at the cabin. I know it’s not the same as seeing it in person, but I can bring you back here any time.” Vincent rubbed her shoulders. “Let’s get home.”
Home… That cabin wasn’t her home, was it? Hand in hand, they made their way back through the cave where the white water glowed from the moonlight outside. She turned to speak to him, but the roar of the falls was louder than she could shout.
He pointed to his ear and then shook his head no. Sadness darkened her face as he turned to face her. The reality of what he’d said in there finally started to set in. Because of what she was, no matter where she went, other shifters would come looking for her, and not all of them would be good people. Sure, if she went back home, she would be surrounded by bodyguards, but none of them cared about her, and they certainly didn’t know about all this magical stuff.
Vincent placed a chaste kiss on her forehead, and the two of them got back into the water. They swam under the falls, and she looked down into the pitch-black depths beneath her. Opaque moonbeams filtered down around them, and she held onto the image, hoping that it would be one of those perfect moments that would flash before her eyes at the end of her life. He swam off ahead of her, and they broke the surface.
As Jillian reached the edge, Vincent was waiting there with the quilt, ready to wrap it around her shoulders. Overcome with emotion about the inevitable future barreling toward her, Jillian’s chin scrunched up, and she started to cry. Vincent put his arms around her, but she pushed him away.
“The spirits made a mistake.” She wiped her eyes. “I can think of a hundred other women that I know could save the world. But I...”
“I
