Mac couldn't believe the feelings that were flowing through her, and she knew they were all coming from Nikhil through the True Mate bead she wore. Reaching out, she grasped the braid that had once held that bead and felt an extra jolt of love and connection that sent her into a powerful orgasm that had her screaming out her pleasure as Nikhil exploded inside of her.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Nikhil lay beside his Mackenzie in their bed, an arm thrown across her waist keeping her close as he watched her sleep. Goddess, he shouldn't have taken her like that. Especially after all she'd been through that day. He should have just cleansed her and let her rest... but he couldn't regret it, he'd never regret it.
"You'd better not," she told him sleepily.
"What?" he asked and watched as she struggled to open her eyes far enough to gaze into his.
"You better not regret it," she told him. "If you do, I'll kick your ass."
"How... how did you know I was thinking that?"
"Because you said it, dummy." Her eyes started to close again.
"I didn't. I just thought it." Nikhil's whisper had her eyes opening again.
"You had to have said it, otherwise how could I have heard you?"
"Because that is the other secret Kaliszians have always kept about their True Mate bead. When exchanged, they allow them to not only feel what the other is feeling, but also speak to them in their minds.
"What?" she gave him a confused look.
"Only True Mates, ones they have exchanged their beads and have the deepest of bonds, can hear the other’s thoughts."
"But we didn't..." Mackenzie's words trailed off as her gaze went to Nikhil's braid that once held his True Mate and Ashe bead. Now, halfway up that braid was a green bead with amber swirling through it.
Nikhil's gaze followed hers and came to rest on what she was holding in her delicate hand, and he felt his heart stutter. There, attached to his braid, his Ashe's fingers lovingly caressing it, lay the most beautiful bead he had ever seen. It was a lighter green than the one she wore, and it swirled with warm amber instead of the white of his, but he still knew what it was. It was impossible. She wasn't Kaliszian, but he was wearing her True Mate bead. He was wearing it.
"Nikhil? How is this possible?"
"I do not know, but I can only thank the Goddess that it has."
"The Goddess?" she whispered.
Something in his Mackenzie's tone had him giving her a hard look. "Mackenzie, what aren't you telling me?"
"I thought it was a dream," she whispered.
"What are you talking about?"
"Meeting the Goddess... and her mate. We, umm, really didn't get along all that well."
"What?!!" Nikhil didn't try to hide his shock.
"She challenged what I felt for you, that it was truth because I didn't believe in the bead."
"You don't?" he asked.
"I believe in you, Nikhil, with or without your bead. But I will always love, cherish and protect it, just as I will you for the rest of my life." She looked at her braid that held his True Mate and Ashe bead and smiled at what she somehow knew would be there.
A Dasho bead.
Reaching up, she removed the amber bead with white swirls running through it and looked to her Nikhil.
"Nikhil Kozar, will you be my Dasho? I vow if you accept this bead that I will always love and protect you with all my heart and soul and that when the Goddess calls my name to enter the Promised Land, I will still fight to remain at your side."
Nikhil felt his breath stall. He'd come to accept that he would never wear her Dasho bead. He'd thought he was fine with it, but now he realized how much he had wanted to wear her bead.
"Mackenzie Wharton, I accept you as my Ashe, as I have before and always will with or without wearing your bead. You are my love, my heart, and my soul, and if the Goddess tries to welcome me into the Promised Land without you, I will refuse and always remain at your side."
Wrapping his fingers around hers, together they brought the bead closer, and it seemed to jump from their fingertips to firmly affix itself halfway up his braid.
Mac stared at the bead for a moment then looked into Nikhil's eyes. "I love you, Nikhil. With or without those beads, you are the only one I was meant for, the only one I will ever love. Now," she gave him a teasing smile, "show me how much you love me."