“So, you want to mark me as your territory? Your property?”
Theo paused, noticing the spiteful tone in my voice, and moved his office chair closer to me. He placed his hands on my knees and cleared his throat. “I guess I didn’t say that as well as I hoped. It’s not me marking my territory; it’s me claiming you as mine. It means that I want you all to myself, and I don’t want anyone else’s hands on you. It means I’m taking on the responsibility of a mate, and that you are as well.”
His thumb moved circularly on my thigh as I peered at him suspiciously.
“Will it hurt?”
His face scrunched up in guilt, and he ultimately sighed, dragging his hands off my legs. “Honestly? I don’t know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’ve never marked anyone, Margo,” he said chuckling, shrugging his shoulders. “From what I was told, it’s very pleasurable for wolves. After the initial break into the skin, the marking bite releases all kinds of endorphins and chemicals in your brain. I’ve just never heard what it’s like from a human standpoint. There hasn’t been much research done on human mates because it happens so infrequently, and it’s not like there’s a blog about it.”
“Well, what if it feels like you’re stabbing me in the neck fifty times?” Theo laughed at my example. He reached for my hands, bending his head down to kiss my knuckles before looking up at me through his dark eyelashes.
“Margo, I would never do something that causes you pain like that. The worst it would ever feel like is an actual bite, but it would be over in thirty seconds, and I could give you some of my blood to heal you if you needed.”
“Why do you want to feed me your blood?” I asked horrified. I knew I was only focusing on the negative parts of his explanation, but I couldn’t help it. Watching Theo get flustered and try to reel back his statements was too fun. Most of the time, I was the one fumbling over my words, and I wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass without evening the playing field.
“Did you learn anything from your pack?” he asked in exasperation, looking at me with wide eyes. I fought back a chuckle and kept my scared look. “Margo, it’s not like drinking someone’s blood for sport. One of the amazing things about finding your mate is their blood can heal wounds. I don’t think it would work on me because you’re human, so it’s a good thing I never get hurt.” He smirked. “But, a small amount of my blood will stop the pain from the marking bite, though I don’t think you’ll actually need it.”
“So, you bite me, then I bite you, and then we’re marked?”
“Essentially, yes.” He pursed his lips, waiting for my next remark.
“And how do I know that you won’t give me the shifter’s bite instead?” I raised one eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Do you really think I would do that to you?”
“No,” I admitted. “But I’d like to know the semantics of that as well.”
Theo chuckled, squeezing the bridge of his nose as he settled into his seat. “This is going to be a long night, isn’t it?”
“No. I just want to know what I’m getting myself into. If you were a human and your big, scary mate asked to bite you on your neck, you’d feel the same way.”
“Well, if my big, scary mate was half as cute as you, I’d let them,” he teased, loving the dark red blush that crept onto my face. “And then my big, scary mate would reassure me that the marking bite and the shifter’s bite are completely different. In order for a shifter to turn their human mate, the shifter has to be…shifted for lack of a better word. I’d have to be in my wolf form to turn you. I think that would give you a little heads up, so if I suddenly shift in front of you and go for your neck, you’d have plenty of time to find a lamp or something to bash over my head.”
“That’s comforting,” I noted sarcastically.
“The hardest thing is going to be you trying to bite through my skin with these little baby incisors,” he said, reaching to move my upper lip, and run his thumb over my tooth. I shoved his hand away as he laughed. “Can you even bite through an apple with those little guys?”
“Of course I can,” I gritted, clenching my jaw tightly. “Sorry, I don’t have dog teeth like you.”
“Wolf teeth, sweetheart. Not dog.” I rolled my eyes. “I guess you’ll just have to bite really hard, find some pent-up aggression and let it out.”
“Because I have no aggression towards you at all,” I smirked. “And it can’t be that hard.”
“Shifter’s skin is a bit tougher than human skin. It’d be pretty hard to be fierce predators if we got paper cuts and slivers,” he chuckled.
“Well, fine,” I declared, sliding off the desk. “I can do it.”
“Not here, Margo,” Theo shook his head. I grabbed his hand and tugged until he stood up from his chair and followed me to our bedroom. I dropped his hand and stood with my hands on my hips as he sunk into the bed. “Don’t you think it’s a bit strange that we’re about to mark each other and you still haven’t kissed me yet?”
“I know where you’re going with this, and you can have your kiss after we do this,” I said determinedly.
“Why not now?”
“Because if we wait too long, I’ll chicken out, and also because you said I couldn’t do the bite.”
“So, that means we have to do it right now?” Theo concluded. I nodded. “Of course.”
“Why?” I asked, stepping back. “Do you not want to?”
Theo grabbed my hips and pulled me onto him, my legs between his and my hands resting on his shoulders. “Of course, I want
