Ayn's Healing

Chapter 25 - Kari

A week has passed since the stormy night when Ayn and I became one.

My mom and my sister were ecstatic when we told them we are now mates for life and they already started to talk about our ceremony. Their happy mood went away when I told them we probably won't mark each other.

I had to remind them that, in theory, I could place a Lycan mark on Ayn's shoulder and she could brand me with her witches' mark. However, it would be just a painful process with at most a symbolic meaning, since we probably wouldn't be able to connect through the marks like a pair of shifters or a magic couple would.

My mom was in tears, because "Kari and Ayn, it is unfathomable that you even think of leading the pack unmarked, like a couple of heathen rogues" and because "Kari, no son of mine will deny his mate the Lycan mark". In order to calm her down, we promised her we will think about it, or maybe find some other way to celebrate our bond. In addition we agreed that she could plan our ceremony as she found fit.

I didn't expect any effusion of happiness from my father and I was not disappointed. He told me he is ready when I am. Much to the dismay of my wolf, I didn't feel the need to jump from my mate's arms at my Alpha's throat. I thought I would give it some weeks, time to hand in my notice for the dayjob and time I needed to convince my mom or my sister to take a random trip with Ayn, so that I could spare her the pain of seeing me fight my dad.

Timo and the warriors sighed a sigh of relief - they thought that, now that I am mated, I would give them a break for a while and put my energy into something else than training. They were of course wrong. I did reduce the sessions in duration, to allow me to spend more time with my mate, but I compensated that by a sufficient increase in intensity.

However, today is a recovery day and I want to go with Ayn to her garden, because of a conversation we had yesterday night.

****

We had made love and had written our names with our mouths and tongues and fingers on each other's bodies until we came and we tried to come silently, to see what happens with all that energy when we don't moan it out. Ayn had enjoyed it so much that she wasn't able to make full sentences anymore and tell me where her orgasmic energy went. Mine went directly to my brain, exploding it swiftly to smithereens and, for some seconds, my heart gave up trying to maintain the rhythm against the waves of pleasure that ravaged through my body.

As a race, we shapeshifters are not shy when it comes to mating, and I have had my fair share of enjoyable experiences. But never have I had my body so tenderly touched and my mind so thoroughly blown until now.

So I jokingly asked her how exactly she learned all those things.

"Books."

"What? I suddenly regret that my parents didn't send me to a witch school."

"But see, this is the irony, that our subspecies are not as different as they are usually presented. We see pleasure as essential for nourishing the soulmate link. You bond with your mates by following your instincts and listening to your animal side. The essence is the same, the bond needs intimacy to be sealed and to survive."

"That is true, but still I didn't have shag classes in school."

"Oh, well, to disappoint you, we didn't have that either. We were allowed, if we wanted, to have access to age-appropriate books. Some were more technical and some were more fictional."

"Which ones were your favorites? " I ask, raising my eyebrows and resting my chin on my hands.

"The forbidden ones. I was a pretty rowdy student and got detention often. Sibylle had this room in the back of her office, which was semi-dark, and for me it always felt like it was filled with fog. I had to sit in there and meditate on my behaviour.