Blooded Mate

Chapter 58 - Fetish

Ethan peeked sideways at his mate. "Should we not wait for Zyga and Jeb?"

He kept his voice level so as not to betray his hopes.

"They know the way back," Jan replied coolly. He did not even glance in the direction of the wolves in question as he started the engine.

This time, Ethan could not stop the smile splitting his face in two. Finally, his dreams were about to come true.

His mate eased further into the seat as he drove them away from the training complex. But there were signs that Jan's fury had not fully diminished yet. Like the way his knuckles turned white from gripping the wheel. Or how his blood-red eyes gleamed in the moonlit night, even though his fangs and nails had retracted. Or the cold aura that hung around him, sucking the heat out of the car.

Ethan glanced at the edge of the windshield, surprised frost had not yet formed on the glass.

"You're still mad," he murmured.

Jan looked sideways at him and then back to the road. "I'm not."

Ethan sighed, shaking his head at his mate's reluctance to admit the truth. He really is stubborn.

Not wanting to argue at the only chance he had gotten to be with Jan, he changed tactics.

Ethan closed his eyes, sinking inward into his mental space. His ball of flame danced with happiness, eager to frolic with its other half. He approached the gap in the darkness that led to Jan's side. It was rarely closed, except the occasional times when he managed to tick the vampire off with his trespassing.

On the other side of the channel, his mate's orb had shrunk down on itself, condensed and tight, as if waiting to pounce.

Ethan sent a probing tendril, rubbing it against the rounded ball of blue ice that was the essence of his mate. The orb throbbed deeply and sent out a strong pulse, shoving the swirl away.

"Stop it!" Jan ordered, but the vampire did not push him out of his space. Neither did he close the connection.

So Ethan kept his eyes closed, took a deep breath, and tried again. This time, he repeated in his mind, Calm down. I'm here.

The first tendril looped around Jan. The light within the blue orb flared, but it did not drive him away this time. Emboldened, he sent another and then another until his flame was wrapped around the glacial conscience like a woolen blanket.

Being with his mate this way was so surreal ... so intimate. It almost felt like they were one. But for a while, nothing happened. Jan did not flare up or pulse like before, and doubts began to sink sharp thorns into Ethan's joy.

Maybe he's angry at me too.

He pulled back a tendril to peer into the cocoon. And that's when he realized Jan's orb was almost the same size as his flame now. It had swollen, and its shade had lightened from the stormy blue to the color of a clear sunny sky.

The corner of Ethan's lips tilted up. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the robust, foresty-pine aroma.

"We're here," a husky, lilting tenor from the driver's side mumbled.

Ethan groaned, unwilling to open his eyes.

He cracked his eyelids open and blinked at the glare of the hotel's garage lights. He glanced at his mate, and Jan looked back at him, their gazes holding after the initial clash.

His mate's irises had returned to their molten-silver color. They were so clear and so intense that it felt like they stripped off all of Ethan's layers, leaving his soul bare. But he did not look away.