Sapphire's point of view:
Since I was a little girl and for as long as I can remember, my mother always used to tell me stories about the ancient ritual of marking your mate. She would use every opportunity to tell me how excited she is for the day when my mate would come and take me away and when I'd run home to show her the bite mark on my neck.
She also used to tell me about when dad marked her. The name Pumpkin used to be hers before I came into the picture. The ritual was quite simple: when your mate bites your neck and gives you a ‘hickey’. According to wolves, that is the owning process. The mark may fade, but the mate bond would last forever, so that even if you were no longer together, you could never find another love; there was no second chance for a marked mate, especially one done with a naturally strong bond.
Yes, all mates did have strong bonds, but according to Mother, this bond was different. It was when the moon goddess brought two people together to fight for a greater cause than their love. They usually had a common enemy that they had to conquer through their love or a common goal they had to reach.
Growing up, I had always imagined how I'd be marked, and when I hooked up with random guys, I'd make sure they gave me a hickey so I could stare at it and imagine how different it would be for my true love, the person that was made just for me, placing that same mark on my skin.
Mother also told me that I was destined for great things and that one day, when I found my mate, we'd be a special bond, something I'd appreciate and love. I guess that didn't work out because my first mate was a cheat and my second chance mate was a power-hungry bastard.
I looked at myself in the mirror as I cleaned up in the hostel room bathroom. I was going to have sex with this faceless man, a one-night stand. And for some reason, my wolf was so excited for this, more excited than it has ever been for any random sex. I wiped my neck with baby wipes. I was going to make him give me a hickey, just like I always did. I put my mask back on and went into the room naked. He was also naked, with his mask as the only ornament in his body. This was going to be so exciting.
In a minute he was all over me, kissing and biting me everywhere. Making me moan as loud as possible and cupping my mouth as he thrust in so that other people wouldn't hear us so much. He was so good, sending chills down my spine with every thought and making me want more by the minute. In a short while, he pulled out and slumped into the bed.
I turned to face him. My blood was rushing really fast, and I wanted more of him, so much more. He seemed to want the same thing because he pulled me in and started kissing me so passionately. There was an urge to take off my mask because it disturbed our kissing session so much, but I warned myself against it. I was the future Luna, and I already have my mate; letting this man see my face would be the biggest mistake ever.
He moved his tongue down to my neck and then my nipples and started nibbling on them. Moaning, I moved his head back to my neck, and he understood me and stayed there, kissing and tickling it passionately till he got to that spot.
“Hickey,” I moaned. He got the cue and stayed there. Making sexual moves that excited me more and turned me on while he set the stage for a hickey.
The bite brought me back to my senses. My body tingled and shook against him as he bit me slowly, forming the perfect mark on my neck. He also began to shake, and he let go of me and growled loudly, holding the sides of his head and shouting. His eyes were a bloodshot red, and I could tell that he was very restless, but then he pulled off the mask, confirming my thoughts. I also felt restless, but seeing the face of my mate made me even more restless.
He had just marked me.
We both fell back to the bed and relaxed, not speaking while we tried to catch our breaths. As for me, I was trying to process what had just happened and what this meant for our future, but my mind was blank. A man who had tried to kill me was the one who just marked me as his mate.
Even if I felt bad, Enya was being really selfish and celebrating. She finally truly belonged to her mate without any sign of breaking off.
She growled and howled in joy as she teased me about what had just happened. If only I had read her happiness as a warning sign, then I wouldn't be in this mess. The long-awaited marking was on my neck, but I wasn't truly happy. This wasn't the story I wanted to share with my daughter, just as Mom had shared hers with me. I wanted to brag about it everywhere to everyone that I had gotten marked by my mate, but now I had no story to tell them. How was I supposed to tell them that I thought it was a mystery man and I slept with him just because I was a drunk and sad girl? And for the hickey, I told him to do that because I had a fantasy of having hickeys from guys I spend the night with.
I buried my face in my palms, folded my jeans to my chest level, and drew the duvet over me.
He didn't speak, and I also didn't want to. The encounter had both of us thinking about it a lot, and I respected his decision to be quiet.
I took off my mask and dropped it on the bedside table while trying to shut my eyes. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.