Cathair felt the need to make some kind of grand gesture to get back in his mate’s good books. Unfortunately, given his position on his realm, he had no idea how to go about it. His past relationships relied on fawning by others and mere acceptance from his side of things. He wasn’t stupid. He’d done immeasurable harm to his fledgling relationship; an issue he wasn’t sure they could recover from unless he explained himself fast.

Leading Marius to his private dining room, his mind was besieged with images from their claiming. He hadn’t lied to his mate; they were mated. Marius’s animal half was accepted by the magic of his realm, giving him full access rarely granted to a non-elf. And yet without the mark, Marius was still mortal.

I thought I had more time, Cathair reasoned to himself. He held open the door to his dining room for his mate to pass through, pleased his orders had been fulfilled. The pretty table was laden with cloche covered dishes and crystal bowls of salad and side dishes. A centerpiece of flowers emitted a gentle perfume, lifting Cathair’s spirits. Marius eyed the overflowing vase with a scowl and picked it up, moving it to the side the room.

“I prefer my meal without a floral accompaniment,” he said gruffly as he sat down. “I’ve got so many scents stuck up my nose, my wolf thinks we’re in a perfume factory.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Cathair said softly, taking the seat opposite his mate. “Marius, I owe you a giant apology.”

“Why?” Marius lifted one of the cloches, his eyes widening at the pile of steaks underneath. Spearing a piece with a handy fork, he tore off a huge chunk with his teeth, eschewing the need for a plate. This wasn’t the first time Cathair had seen his mate eat so he guessed Marius was making another point.

“Tansin….”

“Is not a topic of conversation that goes with this succulent meat.”

Cathair took a deep breath. He should have realized Marius wouldn’t make this easy on him. “When an elf takes a mate from another realm….”

“I am not interested in hearing a culture lecture while I’m eating either,” Marius chewed on the steak bone he was holding with both hands, his fork stuck like a weapon between his fingers. With his elbows on the table and his surly expression he’d be at home in any biker dive.

“I’m trying to apologize.” Cathair was a leader in his realm. When he spoke, people listened. Why didn’t Marius get that?

“Again, why?” Marius threw the bone on his empty plate and picked up another steak, dropping the fork and using his hands. “You told me we were mated.”

“We are.”

“Yet you missed one crucial part, didn’t you, my mate. I’ve been thinking about that, you know. Why would you refuse to mark me? Did you think my wolf wouldn’t take kindly to being marked by another? Did you think wolves were too territorial to openly wear a mating sign?”

Cathair hadn’t thought of any of that. It was tempting to agree; justify his lack of judgment by pleading ignorance. But that would be neither honest nor fair to his mate.

“I didn’t think so,” Marius chewed noisily, his eyes on the far wall. “So, there must be another reason why the all-powerful Battle Lord neglected to provide a sign or symbol showing his commitment to his fated one. What could that be I wonder?”

“Marius, if you’d just let me explain.”

“Explain what?” Marius gave a hollow laugh before licking the steak juice from his fingers. “That I’m not good enough to be marked by the heir to the realm? That a mere wolf shifter is so far beneath the amazing elves he should be thankful you acknowledge me at all? I don’t think I need to hear those truths from your lips.”

“That’s not it at all.” Cathair wanted to bang his head on the table.

“I believe that,” Marius said surprisingly as he showed his teeth. “The thing I can’t work out is, does your mark only take if your cock is up my ass when it’s given; or did you decided to punish me even after I bared my soul and explained to you why I’m so uncomfortable with bottoming.”

“How did you…” Cathair’s mouth snapped shut. Tansin. Of course, his ex-friend was responsible. Cathair longed to ask exactly what Marius heard when he was eavesdropping, but he didn’t think that line of questioning would be appreciated. “It wasn’t a punishment, more a personal preference. I’ve spent a lot of years imagining how my mating would go and yes, in my mind my cock was buried in my partner’s body when we exchanged marks.”

Pain flashed across Marius’s face before it settled into the inscrutable mask Cathair witnessed in the arena. “And you were so confident of your powers of seduction you believed it would only be a short amount of time before you got what you wanted, right?”

Cathair’s cheeks were hot enough to fry an egg on, but he lifted his chin and met his mate’s angry blue eyes. “Yes.”

“Which means the agreement we had, that convinced me it was safe to claim you, was a lie.”

“What?”

Leaning back in his chair, Marius hooked a piece of meat out of his teeth and rolled it in his fingers. “After I told you the truth; explained why I have never allowed anyone near my ass, you said to me and I’m paraphrasing here, ‘I will bottom for you for one thousand years and if you still haven’t changed your mind, we’ll discuss it then’. You do remember that, don’t you?”

No, Cathair had totally forgotten that part of their conversation and he got a sick feeling in the base of his stomach.

“It’s painfully obvious why you lied at the time. After all, no one has ever resisted your charms before, am I right?” Marius didn’t give him a chance to answer. “Of course, I am. After all, I’m just a lowly wolf shifter, a slave to my instincts to love and cherish my mate. How long did you think it would be before you convinced me to change my mind? A week, a month? Despite my telling you about my nightmares and how abusive my father was, you dismissed all of that as childish and figured your big dick was the cure I needed to straighten my head out. Well?”

“No.” But even as the word fell from his lips Cathair wondered if Marius was right. He had no experience with lovers who’d been abused. It rarely happened on the elven realm and his interactions with other species were limited for the most part to stopping them from killing each other. He had a sinking feeling he may have underestimated his mate’s strength of character and the depth of the impact of the abuse he’d gone through.

“This mark, does it change the nature of our mating?”

Cathair nodded, shame filling his body. “It grants you immortality, the same as me.”

Marius’s lips tightened. “No wonder you were so quick to offer to protect me in the arena today. And if I die before I am granted this blessed mark you saw fit to deprive me of? What happens to you? Do you die, too?”

“I can’t die.”

“Lucky you.” Marius’s smile wasn’t pretty. “I have just one more question.”

A shaft of dread pierced Cathair’s heart.

“Do you know how long a wolf shifter typically lives for?”

What the fuck does that have to do with anything? Cathair racked his brain, trying to remember all he’d learned over the years. “Wolves typically have a shorter life span than other paranormals. Research suggests it’s because they find it easier to have children than other species so there are more of them and it’s part of nature’s balancing act. Estimates of life span range from between two and five hundred years but no one is completely sure. A shifter’s lifestyle means that very few shifters die from natural causes.”

“You have done your homework.” Marius wiped his face with a napkin and stood, resting his hands on the table. “So, tell me, my very clever mate, when you made your pledge to me were you planning to mark a corpse? Because if you didn’t lie when we first met, and you honestly did agree to wait a thousand years before fucking my ass and finally granting me the honor your mark, there wouldn’t be anything left of me. You’d be fucking a damn skeleton.”

“I don’t have to fuck you to mark you,” Cathair yelled desperately as Marius headed for the door. “I can do it now. I will do it now. Marius, please.”

“What makes you think I want you to?” Marius shook his head and this time he didn’t even try and hide the pain. “You played me, Cathair. You made me a promise you never intended on keeping, just so you could get your own way. You have no idea how hard I’ve wrestled with my natural desires over the years; how hard I’ve tried to banish the ghost of my father and his abuse. I never had any intention of holding you to such a ridiculous agreement. I just wanted the chance to trust you first.”

“And you have every right to feel that way. Please, Marius, let me mark you. All I have to do is clasp my hands around your neck and it’s done. Thirty seconds and you’ll be immortal just like me.”

“Something you could have done when we came together for the first time, then. You know, I’m not sure immortality is all it’s cracked up to be,” Marius blinked rapidly but Cathair watched in horror as a single tear tracked down his face. “The only people I’ve ever truly trusted in my life are my brothers before now. I thought I could trust you. I told you I trusted you and I never lie and yet you did. If I can’t trust you, Cathair, then why the hell would I commit to spending eternity with you?”

Marius slipped out of the door, as silently as a shadow but the weight of his mate’s despair hung in the room like a toxic cloud. Arrogance, that’s what’s caused this. My damn arrogance. Cathair had listened to everything Marius said when they’d met. He’d even felt a degree of empathy. But as he sat in his lonely dining room, the food he’d ordered congealing on their plates, Cathair realized he could never fully understand how badly childhood abuse could twist a person’s way of thinking, especially when it came to their sense of self. He’d never experienced it and survived as his mate had done. And yes, Cathair truly had believed his presence in his mate’s life would be enough to cure anything that ailed him. Fucking idiot. Banging his head on the table didn’t help.

You haven’t got much time. The thought came unbidden but Cathair felt a sense of urgency as he pushed himself out of his chair. Tansin was determined to kill Marius and was prepared to wipe out an entire pack to do it. Valouf confirmed Tansin’s intent towards Marius, if not the pack. Valouf didn’t seem to know anything about Tansin’s bid to become heir of the realm but when that was added to the equation, Marius’s life could be measured in hours rather than the years Cathair dreamed of them spending together. And that’s without the threat towards Cloverleah from the dark elves.

One thing at a time, Cathair reminded himself as he let himself out of the room. He desperately wanted to follow Marius, but he needed a plan. Changing direction, Cathair decided to find his mother. She had tried, centuries before, to explain the nature of relationships and their need for nurturing like a bud in springtime. In his youth, Cathair had ignored her advice as foolishness and after the debacle with Jorge, he wasn’t sure he wanted a relationship as such until he met his mate. In his arrogance, Cathair had always believed his mate would be so besotted with him, all her advice seemed unnecessary. He just prayed she was prepared to counsel him now. He was going to need all the help he could get.