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I stare at him.
Oh. I’ve still got a fistful of his neck fur, and my heart’s going hard enough that he can definitely hear it. I loosen my fingers so I’m not pulling.
“Rauk.”
“There’s more to it than you know. You need to hear it.”
There’s a spot of red coming through the wrap on the arm holding me up.
“Then put me down and tell me. You’re bleeding again.”
He lowers me slowly and keeps his arm behind my back until I’m standing on my own. I take his hand and tow him over to the hearthstone, then sit down next to him, turned so I can see his face.
“What does it mean, being your mate?”
He rests his bitten arm across his knee, palm up. I put my bad hand in his, clear of the bandage, where my shoulder doesn’t have to do anything.
“First, a hunt. You run, and I follow your scent. I have to catch you.”
His trousers still have Keer’s tooth holes in them.
“You’re going to chase me on that leg?”
“I can still catch you.” He keeps his eyes on my face.
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
One side of his brow goes up. “Yes. On this leg.”
He probably can, too.
I run my thumb along the side of his hand.
“And when you catch me?”
“Then the claiming. You’re all mine, riesa. And I’m all yours.”
“That’s what you meant at the shower.”
He nods. He told me he wouldn’t do it by halves under a tree, and I called him old-fashioned.
“You need to choose all of it. Coming back here wasn’t that choice. Neither was kissing me.”
“I knew what I was doing when I kissed you.” My hand stays in his. “Keep going.”
“You can stop the hunt. You can stop after I’ve caught you. I’ll ask you again then. If either of us says stop, we stop.”
“Even if we’ve started the claiming?”
“Until it’s finished, yes. Afterward, the bond stays. We can’t undo it.”
His thumb settles on one of my knuckles.
“I bite you and take your blood. You make a mark on me and take mine. Both of us.”
I look at his fangs, then at the thick fur below his jaw.
“You have rather better equipment for that.”
