A Wolf's Miracle

Chapter 57

The bath was more for relaxation, I realized. Because It took like three showers to get all the blood out of my hair. My poor hair, I'd really been neglecting it. This was not the way my nana taught me to take care of it. She's probably sighing from heaven.

Heaven... Was that the place I visited before? I'd had to ask Harlan about that as well. That voice, that female and sweet voice... I wondered what that was as I got dressed with the clothes Harlan left for me.

Even if they did smell like detergent, they also smelled like him. Like rain, is how I'd always described it. He did, inherently smell like rain. I put on his clothes trying to ignore I had no bra on and tried to sort out the mess my hair was in, it looked like a lion's mane. Sometimes I wish I had gotten my mother's hair, it was pin straight and so easy to handle.

I headed downstairs and saw Harlan. I couldn't help but smile, he looked so focused on cooking whatever he was cooking he didn't notice when I snuck up behind him and hugged him from the back.

 It was strange, we had not known each other for long but doing this sort of thing with him just felt so natural and at the same time so exciting and new.

"Hey," I could hear the smile in his voice as he lifted his arm and moved me to hug me from the side. He was still, not wearing a shirt, but his hair was wet and he smelled like soap.

"You smell nice," I said, happy to see my blood no longer staining his pants, I wondered what he would do with those clothes.

He looked at me "You look crazy" he smiled and I faked outrage.

"Hey! I did the best I could" I said a smile forming on my lips and he laughed.

"I'm kidding, you look great," he said and it felt sincere, which led me to believe he really loved me. Because my usually well-defined curls were now puffed up to three times their size.

"Thank you," I said, jumping up on the counter as he suddenly let me go and walked over to the stove. The swiftness of the motion was sort of strange, but I saved my concern for later.

He took off a pot from the stove and placed what looked to be instant ramen in a bowl. "I hope you don't mind eating this, I didn't really have anything else," he said, putting it on the kitchen island.

I jumped down, suddenly realizing I was really hungry. "You're not going to eat?" I asked and he shook his head so I dug in.

He sat by my side, looking at me eat, and I suddenly remembered my questions.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Always."

I moved the noodles around with my fork for a while and then I took a deep breath, unsure of how to breach the subject. "Do you remember when I saw Damien and Selene marking each other?"

He looked slightly startled but he nodded "Yeah," he said, looking down "I was a jerk to you then, I'm sorry... I have so much to apologize for."

"You were kind of a jerk," I said with a smile "But I forgive you, I was rude to you as well" I cleared my throat "What I saw..." Harlan looked away "Selene told me to ask my mate about it."

Harlan took a deep breath, for some reason, and he nodded "Sure, what do you want to know?"

"Well, now that you marked me... what does that mean? Do I have to bite you back? Do we have to do it several times?" I sighed "And I have one more but it can wait."

The last question I had was the most uncomfortable one, it involved Selene. It involved him being in love with Selene, to be more specific. I hadn't thought about it in a while, mostly because he didn't spend as much time with her anymore, so much so that I had almost forgotten.

Harlan simply nodded, the discomfort seemed to be whisked away "Well, now that I marked you we are considered officially mated, which means you are basically my equal in every way. You don't have to mark me back if you don't want to, though it is considered more progressive" he stretched his arms above his head and yawned "The mark used to mean something different before, it used to be a claim a male makes on a female so that no other male can have at her during mating season.

"This obviously limited the female's reproductive rights, having her chained to a man that was as free as a bird" he rolled his eyes. "A man could mark more than one woman in my father's times, it was basically an insult to the sanctity of the mating bond and it was used as a power move to subdue those females that were born with a stronger will," he explained.

"I don't understand what a mating bond could do to subdue a female" I admitted.

"Well, the mark is a connection between two souls. It is a ritual that means two wolves will be together forever. That makes the wolves only want each other, only love each other, only live for each other," he said "But when you mark someone without loving them and that person does not mark you back, you are trapping them, using their instincts against them. But the person that is not marked, when they don't feel any love towards the other, can live a practically unaffected life."

"That sounds awful!" It did honestly sound horrible, and it provided even more evidence of what a horrible person Everest was.

"It was, even for me, as an unmated wolf--" he corrected himself "When I used to be one, I never imagined the pain these women had to go through. And now that I know what it is to be mated, what it is to want someone so badly, I can not imagine having to share you" he admitted with an honest smile. "And we haven't even consumed the mating bond, I have a feeling that would be a lot worse."

I blushed slightly as I tried to summarize "So I don't have to bite you because you bit me with love?" I laughed at how weird that sounded.

"Mark," he corrected "And no, there is no need to, but I would really like it if you do" I wanted to ask why but he launched into answering my final question "Now before I explain why Damien and Selene marked each other again, I think I should explain what happens to a male when he is mated.

"So this will not paint me in a very good light but keep in mind we can't control it" Already a promising start "The mating bond is as old as our wolf spirits are, as old as our instincts, and it can turn us into animals if we are not careful. The first few months can be hard, we can become... possessive and easily jealous of another male glancing at our mate the wrong way. I have never experienced it myself, "he paused and took another deep breath "Obviously, but I've seen others go through it and it's not pretty. You have to understand, even the best of us turn into beasts."

I nodded, I could understand why this happened now that I had become a full werewolf, my instincts were just as heightened as my senses, it was natural animal behavior. Yet, there was something that I still did not comprehend "But Damien and Selene have been mated for more than a few months, and he seems fine with Selene having contact with other males now,"

Harlan smiled "Yes, well" he suddenly stared at me with so much love that I could feel my heart melting "There are certain situations where we become more protective. When our mate is hurt, defenseless, or, the worst of all, pregnant" he laughed "I can not explain to you how much self-control it takes for Damien to allow Selene to be near any of us, mainly because it's no longer only her, it's his child, and we are very instinctively protective of our own children."

Is it wrong to think that is all very cute? It could turn toxic really fast but I could clearly see that Damien was doing his best, and Harlan, judging by how much deep breathing he was suddenly doing, was trying as well. "So marking?" I asked.

"Marking," he continued "After the first time it is more of a way to provide each other comfort and it becomes slightly... erotic," he said with a smile that made me blush again.

"Is that why you wanted me to mark you too?" I said with a big smile and he smiled mischievously as he reached for me, but suddenly stopped himself.

"Any more questions?" He said after clearing his throat a few times.

I suddenly had one more question but decided to ask the other one first "Yes," I didn't know how to ask this, so I thought I should just be direct "Do Damien and Selene know you loved her?"