Out of the Ashes (Maji 1)

“A thousand years,” I stammered. “Have you lost your mind?”

Kol’s brows furrowed. “No, it is still inside my head… why?”

I shouldn’t have laughed at him, but when he took what I said literally, it was too funny.

“I mean, are you crazy?” I clarified. “My lifespan is very short, Kol.”

He clicked his tongue. “Once we mate, you will receive my essence, and that will keep you alive for a very long time.”

Hold up.

“Your essence?” I repeated. “Like your freaking soul?”

He barked a laugh before he nudged himself away from the column, crossed the room, and sat a couple of feet away from me on the bed. I turned to face him and waited.

“I’ve never had to explain this before, so please be understanding… okay?”

I gulped. “Okay.”

Kol inhaled and exhaled. “When a couple mates, we males have instinctual needs that must be acted on for a mating bond to be sealed for life. If our instinct is denied, we do not mate the female, and no bond is formed.”

“Okay,” I said tentatively.

“When a couple shares sex, before or after an orgasm, the male will… he will… he has to… Please, keep in mind that he doesn’t want to do it, but his instincts are telling him—”

“Kol,” I cut him off. “It’s okay; you can tell me.”

He watched me, and I got the impression that he was scared I would run away from him.

“He bites the female.”

I gasped. “He bites her?”

“On the neck.”

“On the neck?” I repeated.

“And… uh… he doesn’t release his hold on the female until his essence has entered her bloodstream and—”

“Wait, what?”

“When his body recognises the female as his mate, it has a strong urge to claim her. He bites her, and this releases his essence through the tips of his teeth.” Kol winced when he looked at me. “It sounds a lot worse than it is, shiva, I swear it.”

“Let me summarise,” I said, holding my hand in the air so Kol wouldn’t speak. “If we have sex—”

“When we have sex,” Kol corrected.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “When we have sex, before or after we come, you’ll bite me on my neck and won’t let go until your essence is in my bloodstream. Do I have that correct so far?”

“Yes.” Kol sighed. “But let me explain why.”

“Please,” I said with a wave of my hand. “Go ahead.”

“On a Maji female, my essence would calm her uva contractions, which cause her pain and force her to seek a male to mate for sex to conceive a young one. It would not completely take the discomfort away, but it wouldn’t be much more than small aches every month after she receives my essence. It is nature’s way of telling her body that a healthy male is present in the female’s life, and he will give her offspring, so there is no need to contract so much to remind a female to get pregnant. It also is a chemical bond between us; her scent is all a male would ever desire and yearn for, and his scent would be the same for her.”

I scratched my head. “That’s all fine and dandy for your females, but what will it do to a human? In this case: me!”

Kol hesitated, and I dangerously pointed my finger at him.

“No bullshit answers, be straight with me.”

“It is hard to say it in terms you will understand.” He groaned and shook his head. “We have no way of knowing for sure, but Surkah is positive that my essence would enter your bloodstream, then your heart, and… recode it. That is the best way I can explain it. My essence would be like… a life potion to you. Once you have it, it will always flow through your veins, and keep you and your organs healthy for a very long time. It will dramatically slow down your aging.”

This is too much.

I lifted my hands to my temples and rubbed.

“Stuff like this doesn’t happen, Kol. It just doesn’t.”

“Yet here we are.” He tentatively smiled. “Two different species intended to be the other’s mate for life.”

I lowered my hands and frowned at him. “I don’t want your chance at a mate to be ruined if this doesn’t go right.”

Kol tensed. “I’ve never doubted my sister, and I won’t start now. If Surkah says it’s safe, then it’s safe.”

“I’m not talking shit about Surkah’s ability, but this is a big risk.”

He scooted closer to me and took my small hands in his large ones. “I would never hurt you, shiva.”

Not intentionally.

“What if something backfires, though, and my blood makes you sick, and you die?”

The thought of Kol dying felt like a sucker punch.

“You cannot harm me, my human,” he mused.

I glared at him, which only made him snort.

“Okay, if I died during our mating, which I won’t, and my essence entered your bloodstream, then it will die, and then you will eventually die. My essence will only live in you and keep you alive as long as I live. Mates are nothing without the other, so it is a blessing when the female dies not long after her male does because it saves her pain. No one wants to experience a mate loss.”

“A mate loss is a bad thing?” I questioned.

“The worst pain imaginable,” Kol answered.

I sucked in a staggered breath. “Do males naturally die first out of a mated pair?”

“Always.” Kol nodded. “It is cruel to us males, but if our female dies, we can survive. But if a male dies, the female never survives for much longer.”

“But… why?”

“Our essence becomes part of them, and when the male dies, so does that essence. When it comes to death, even nature shows mercy to the females. We believe that Thanas does not want our females to suffer, so when her male dies, she will follow.”

I frowned. “Aren’t males important to Thanas?”

“Of course.” Kol smiled softly. “But males need to protect the people, and Thanas gives them the strength to live on after a female’s death. I think it is futile, though, because if a male lost his female, he would crumble from the inside out. His world, his life, his everything would die with his female.”

A shiver shot up my spine

“Could a male not find another mate?” I asked, feeling sad for any male who had ever suffered a mate loss.

“Never,” Kol instantly replied. “Even badly matched males and females still become the other’s everything. My aunt and uncle once hated the other, and I mean hated each other, and though their mating started out unstable, their bond is one of the strongest I have ever seen. We mate for life, shiva. Even if one life ends, the mate bond never does. The need for the other is instant after a mating, and love follows eventually.”

I was shocked at the knowledge, and my heart hurt knowing if I successfully mated with Kol, that he would eventually die, and I’d exist on my own without him even if only for a short time. It didn’t take long for tears to fill my eyes.

“Shiva,” Kol hissed. “I have saddened you? I beg your forgiveness.”

“I thought a royal never begs?” I whispered.

He pressed his forehead to mine. “You make everything possible, my Nova.”

My tears fell and splashed onto my cheeks, and right away, Kol leaned in and kissed them away.

“Please,” he rasped. “It causes me great pain to see you like this, Nova.”

His words wrapped around my heart like a blanket.

“I’m sorry.” I sniffled. “I’m sad at the thought of you dying and leaving me.”

Kol placed his hands on my face, brushing his calloused thumbs under my eyes.

“We will have many centuries together, and when it is my time, your time will follow. We give our hearts to our mates, which is why a male’s female joins him so quickly in death. She cannot live without her heart.”

This is it.

At that moment, I felt I was beginning to lose my heart to this male.

&nbs

p; “This is crazy,” I said with a shake of my head. “How can I care for you so much in such a short amount of time?”