The First Fae Mate

Fifty-nine | Death

The morning sun rose over the horizon, and the forest held a dim glow around the sleeping couple.

Visena woke with a start when she felt a tickle on her calf and carefully redirected the small frog back in the pond's direction, proud she didn't scream blue murder from the surprise wake-up guest. 

"Visena? Are you alright?" Gideon jolted awake, scanning around them for danger. When he saw the Fae's wide, confused eyes, he rolled his own. "Pack link remember? If you don't put up a mental shield, I can feel everything you're feeling."

"How do I do that?"

"Imagine a shield or wall or bubble around your mind. If you want to share something, create a small opening and let it through..."

Visena stared at him with a grimace. "And can everyone in the pack feel my feelings? Hear my thoughts?"

"If you let them..."

"Oh god. I'm already regretting this."

"Shut up," Gideon grumbled, flipping Visena on top of him and smothering her with wet kisses.

"Stop it, you damn wolf!" she squealed.

The moment triggered insane deja vu, and she paused as the old memory trickled through her defences.

Two teenagers run through the predawn forest after a morning training session. One glamours themself invisible, while the other tracks them frustratingly fast as a green-eyed wolf. 'Stop it, you damn wolf! Go back home!'

In an instant, Visena suppressed the memory and tried to hide her guilt away.

"Why do you feel guilty?"

Fuck.

"Did you hear those weird noises last night over Malum ways?" Nice redirection. Mother would be proud.

Gideon gave her a look that said, This isn't over. "Yeah, I did."

"We should go check it out. Can you ask-"

"You can mind-link them now, Visena. Do it yourself."

Gideon helped her up and found a clothing bundle nearby. "Okay, I will," she replied haughtily, thinking about who she could link. She envisioned a sphere in her mind with hundreds of threads connecting her consciousness to her wolves. The lines lay dormant and dull as her shielding sphere held steady. She searched for the person she wanted and opened a small space around it, letting golden light trickle down the thread. 

Prim? Nothing happened. Prim!

Visena? Oh my gosh, hi! You sound different through mind-link. Are you okay?

Yeah, I just need you to ask Calypso and Mihnea to round up any sun walkers in the area to help me with something.

Will do! I'm guessing the marking went well then...

Goodbye, Prim!

Tinkling laughter trickled down the string as she closed her sphere around her mind again. This doesn't seem too hard.

"You look cute when you mind-link," Gideon said. "Like a dopey puppy."

"Shut up," she replied with a huff. "Let's go."

The bite on her neck had already healed and tingled to the touch. One look at Gideon's had her reeling; the outline of the mark was deep purple and formed a perfect circle on his lat, an intricate maze of black lines webbed inside the indigo border. She hadn't noticed anything like that on Prim or the other marked mates.