Here Kitty, Kitty - 54. Chapter 21.2

Carl slammed into his rooms and froze. He hadn’t thought of what to do once they were back.

“Are you going to let me down or stand here staring at the couch all afternoon?” Tristan’s muffled voice demanded.

Carl shook himself and slowly lowered Tristan to his feet. And if he allowed a bit more full body contact than was necessary well who could blame him?

Tristan straightened his clothes, crossed his arms and glared. “I supposed you think you're clever carting me off so we don’t have to do any of the clean up? So, you have me alone again. What are you going to do now?”

Carl’s mind blanked. He knew what he wanted to do, but shouldn’t they be talking? They hadn’t finished their discussion before the attack. They needed to decide things. Like where would they live when this mess was finished? Would Tristan move to the clan? Or should Carl tell his council to start looking for a new elder? If Tristan was willing to give him time he could have Simon trained enough to take over and he could mentor him from wherever they decided to settle down. What about children? Did Tristan want kids? Carl had no preference either way, he’d raised several younglings over his lifetime.

“Carl, are you going to stand there staring into space or are you going to answer me?”

“Um, we need to talk.”

Tristan rolled his eyes. “Like anyone wants to hear that from a potential partner, or especially from their unclaimed mate.” He flopped down on the couch. “What do you want to talk about this time.”

Carl screwed up his courage and laid out everything he’d been thinking.

Tristan stared at him open-mouthed by the time he’d finished. “You’d leave your clan for me?”

Carl frowned. “I will do whatever I have to do to ensure we are together and that you are happy. You’re my mate. What else would I do?”

Tristan didn’t answer, but Carl did find his arms suddenly full of a happy wriggling mate who was peppering kisses all over his face.

“Our talk,” he tried to say.

“Talk later,” Tristan mumbled between kisses, “Claim now.”

Carl gave up holding back and gladly acceded to his mate's demands. By dawn they would both be thoroughly claimed.

***

Tristan ran his fingers over the parts of Carl’s chest he could reach from his position half covering his mate.

“Did you mean it?”

Carl made a questioning noise. Dawn was near and the vamp was no doubt feeling the pull of sleep. No matter how old a vamp got they couldn’t ever fight the call of sleep at dawn for long.

“I said, did you mean it? Would you leave your clan if I asked you to?”

Carl opened his eyes and Tristan found himself pinned in place by a very penetrating gaze. “Yes. I have waited a very long time for you. As far as I am concerned you are the most important being in my life now. Nothing else matters. I have enough money that we would never have to worry about living costs. We can go wherever you wish.”

Tristan could feel his eyes tearing up and blinked to banish them. He needed to get this conversation over before Carl couldn’t fight dawn’s pull.

“I wouldn’t want you to give up your clan for me. I have nothing holding me where I’m currently living. I can move to the clan if you think they will accept me as your mate.”

“They will. The majority of my clan are older vamps who are also looking for their mates. I have a few younglings, but I trained most of them at some point and they know better than to question me when it comes to clan matters. What about your family. Don’t mages usually live in family groups?”

Tristan lowered his gaze. “I’m the letdown of the family. All my family are level five mages, or even above. I’m only a level two. The further I am from the family home the better. That way I can’t embarrass the family name.” Tristan knew his bitterness was showing in his tone, but he couldn’t help it.

Carl growled making his chest vibrate distractingly against Tristan’s cheek.

“From what I know of mage levels and age you are still growing in your magic. Why would someone as young as you be measured yet? Do you even know what your specialty is yet?”

Tristan shook his head, rubbing his face on Carl’s chest. “No one bothered to test what my magic is once they had tested my level. All my family are tested when they come of age at sixteen.”

“Sixteen! That’s ridiculous. A mage's magic keeps growing well into their thirties. Have you even found someone to retest you? I mean I saw the effects of some of your spells when I came looking for you. No level two mage I know would be able to perform spells that powerful. The strongest mage I’ve known was a level ten. I have heard of a level fifteen. But both of those beings were over a hundred years old. I think if you were retested you would find your level has gone up considerably. Add in the fact you are now claimed by an old vampire and your magic may be even higher than the rest of your family’s. Oh, and as for your specialty, since you are the mate of a vamp, I would say that yours will center around the night. Maybe you will take your power from the moon? Or you could even have magic linked to death, since vamps are sometimes referred to as the walking dead. Although I feel compelled to say that turning a human would be impossible if they were dead. How would they swallow their sire’s blood if they were no longer alive?”

Tristan didn’t reply. He was too busy sorting through all the information he’d just received.

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