Already Mated

THIRTY: History

"How do you know all of this stuff so easily?" I asked, dumfounded. 

He had been able to answer all of my question without having to refer to any text. 

"We start learning about our history from a very young age." he shrugged again as if it was normal. 

"So my wolf was killing me from the inside so she could take over and come back to you?" I asked, finally realizing what he was saying. 

He just nodded in response. 

"B*tch..." I whispered quietly earning a small chuckle from Caleb. 

You'll thank me later for that... 

My wolf purred in my head. 

I rolled my eyes and bit my lip to stop myself from smiling. 

"Is there anything else you needed to know about the mate bond?" Caleb lifted the book to see what else he could discuss with me. 

There was one subject I really wanted to learn about but I was afraid to ask. 

No way was I going to discuss sexual relations with Caleb. 

"How about the first mating?" I literally choked on my own saliva. 

"perhaps not..." he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'm s-sorry... I just wasn't expecting you to say that." I coughed out, regaining my composer. 

"We don't have to talk about that if you don't want to." He said, leaning back into his chair.

"I don't think I'm ready to talk about that stuff with you yet..." I trialed off, picking at my nails nervously and biting my lip softly.  

"yeah, of course, that was stupid of me to ask." he also trailed off, both of us falling into a tense silence. 

I sighed heavily, know that the next words out of my mouth may just add to the tenseness.

"Caleb," I started, biting my lip again "can you explain the rejection process?" 

His eyes snapped up and looked at me intensely. He took his bottom lip between his teeth and looked extremely tense and stiff. 

"What exactly do you want to know about it?" he asked, biting his lip again. 

"How... like how do you actually do it?" I asked, playing with my fingers. 

"Well its a bit of a process but one person has to say the phrase," He passed the book over to me and slid his finger down to a section of the page, I knew that phrase, it was all I thought the rejection process was. "Then a rejection ritual has to happen within 72 hours and that is the painful part." he added with a sigh. 

"What makes it so painful?" I asked tipping my head to the side. 

"Well its literally a part of your soul being torn from you body and dying." he shrugged, obviously not wanting to discuss it any more. 

"I get that but what kind of pain do you feel?" I asked, wanting to know everything I could.

"I've never experienced it myself and I hope I never do..." He chuckled to himself quietly, rubbing the back of his neck "but its said that its one of the most painful experiences anyone can go through." he added, catching my gaze. 

"I don't think we would benefit from discussing the grotesque details though... I wouldn't want to scare you into a relationship you're not happy with." he looked genuinely sincere and my heart skipped a beat. 

That's actually quite sweet of him. 

"If that is the way you decide to go, I'll make sure you are as prepared as possible before anything happens though." He added with a sad smile. 

"Thank you Caleb," I reached over the small table between us and rested my hand on his knee "I really appreciate your honesty." 

He smiled at me softly and peered down at my hand touching his leg. 

His hand slowly inched closer to mine and soon it was laying on top of my hand. 

His thumb rubbed soft circles on my hand and my hand started to tingle pleasantly. 

Our eyes were locked and I couldn't help but swoon over his gray eyes.

"do you wanna go for a run?" Caleb wiggled his eyebrows up and down. 

I giggled quietly as Caleb took a hold of my hand and started guiding me through the hallways until we were outside .

He quickly started to strip his clothing and I turned away blushing. 

Goddess give me strength...