"I realize it is not my business, but I am aware of the change in your scent and will not pretend otherwise," Gideon mentioned quietly. "I am also familiar with that scent. As much as I am familiar with the makeup of Lycanthrope blood when I see it in a body it does not belong in."
"Has anyone else…?"
"If they took note, they did not mention it. It is possible they overlooked it, but I would not bet large sums of money on it." Gideon paused long enough to brush a thoughtful hand at some invisible piece of lint on his trouser leg. "The female's scent is Siena's, is it not?"
"Don't play games with me, medic," Elijah said bitterly. "You know exactly who it is and don't need to ask me useless questions."
"I do," Gideon admitted. "As improbable as it seems."
"Believe me, I am as shocked as you are," Elijah admitted with a sigh. "It gets worse, Gideon." Elijah laughed humorlessly. "The beautiful Lycanthrope Queen wants nothing further to do with me. So if you planned on setting the Enforcers on me for breaking the law or giving me some sort of purity lecture, I might take that fact into consideration if I were you."
The silver-haired Ancient did not respond immediately, instead studying the warrior's expression and noting the strain around his attempts to brush off how much he was affected by the situation he found himself in.
"Siena may not have much choice in the matter, Elijah," he informed him quietly.
"I am sorry?" Elijah wasn't sure he'd heard that correctly. He sat forward slightly, meeting the medic's unwavering gaze. "Explain that."
"There are very distinct rules governing Siena's fate."
"Yeah. I know. One mate only. A rule she feels doesn't apply to a lowly Demon male such as myself." Elijah's sarcasm was sharp, but not directed anywhere other than his own bruised ego.
"I do not believe that is her decision to make. Destiny-"
Elijah's sharp laugh cut the Ancient off.
The warrior moved out of bed, shedding the bedding and reaching into the closet for pants and a shirt. At least these would fit him because they were his, left behind for the frequent times he was a guest in Noah's house and in this room. He was shrugging into a white moire satin shirt when he finally turned back to Gideon.
"Don't talk to me about Destiny, Gideon. If you ask me, it sucks pretty royally at the moment." Elijah jammed the tails of the shirt into his trousers.
"You truly do not know what has happened?" Gideon asked, looking puzzled.
The remark gave Elijah pause. He halted in the middle of buttoning a shirt cuff to look at the other man.
"Do you think you could do me the favor of keeping the cryptic statements to a minimum?" Elijah asked, ignoring the sudden, anticipatory thrum of his heart.
"Elijah, you have to be the first Demon male I have encountered who does not recognize the effects of an Imprinting for what they are."
Now that definitely got the Warrior Captain's attention.
"Imprinting? Are you out of your silver head?" Again, that embittered laugh. "Between a Demon and a Lycanthrope?"
"As improbable as an Imprinting between a Druid and a Demon was a year ago," Gideon mused, "but here we are nonetheless."
Elijah forced himself to fight back the surge of excitement and hope that inexplicably rushed through him.
"Explain why you think…just explain," he demanded.
"You mean other than telling you that I can see it plain as day in your body chemistry? That had Jacob sat there a few minutes more, he would have noticed you carry the scent of a woman all over you despite your attempts to cleanse yourself of it? Or perhaps I might mention the fact that your hair has changed color."
Elijah's eyes widened and he turned back to the closet to look into the mirror hanging on the door.
Sure enough, his hair had changed to a uniformly gold color, identical to that of the Lycanthrope woman he had recently made love to. It shocked him that no one had noticed outside of Gideon. It shocked him, period.
"Your hair was wet when they first saw you. And frankly, they were far more concerned with your health than the color of your hair," Gideon informed him.
"Damn," Elijah whispered, running fingers through the waved strands of gold. Bella had even touched it and hadn't noticed. "But I thought Imprinting changed a woman's eyes. Siena's eyes are as gold as ever, I assure you."
"The Imprinting is marked by three very distinct traits, Elijah. The first is an uncontrollable desire between the male and the female. One that cannot be resisted for long, and absolutely not at all on the Hallowed moons of Beltane and Samhain, sometimes even the Solstices." The Demon raised a silvery brow. "I believe it is safe to say you and Siena have met that criterion?"
"Yes," Elijah admitted quietly.
"For your second sign, though it is true the female of an Imprinting often takes on the eye color of her intended mate, sometimes it is hair color or even their mate's powers. And the change can come to either the male or the female. It is exactly this kind of alteration, I assure you," he said, indicating the warrior's hair. "In my case, Legna gained my eye color. As for the Enforcers, and Kane and Corrine, in their cases, with a Demon/Druid Imprinting, it is the awakening of the Druid's powers that takes place."
"And the third is the telepathy between the couple," Elijah finished for him. "The ability to be in constant mental contact with the other person." Elijah made a sound of frustration, smacking an abusive palm into his forehead. "Now I understand why I feel like I can still hear her voice. Why we always seemed to know what the other was thinking or feeling without saying anything. I don't know why I didn't notice it myself."
"It takes time for it to become strong between Druids and Demons. Perhaps it is the same for any Imprinting across species."
Elijah laughed at that, but the sound was terribly painful and Gideon felt a reflexive response in the back of his mind from his wife. Hard as she tried, she could not cut herself off from him completely, and he felt that she had wanted to leave them in privacy. It was one of her foibles, this notion of privacy, that he would not understand any time soon. Privacy was not a Demon concept. It was a human one. Where she had picked it up was beyond him.
Do not worry, sweet, he assured her softly. He will recover from this shock just as you did when you discovered I was to be your mate.
Who said I recovered? she teased him. But he felt the sadness beneath her humor. It will be so hard for them, for so many reasons.
It always is, he agreed gently.
Gideon turned his full attention back to the warrior. He had moved to a window and was staring down at the manicured grounds outside of it.
"Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't this whole thing against the law?" he asked, a corner of his mouth lifting in a wry smile.
"That did not stop you from taking her to your bed," Gideon remarked.
Elijah swore softly, the sharp term aimed at Gideon's cold attitude. "Is there anything you don't have an answer for?" he bit out.
"Elijah, I am being direct for a reason," Gideon said. "The Hallowed moon of Samhain is not five nights away. You will not be able to keep from her on this night. You do realize this, do you not?"
Elijah's answer was another bluish string of words. His temper got the better of him and he grabbed the nearest object and threw it across the room, where it shattered against the stone wall.
"Damn! Damn it!" Elijah whirled to face the medic, his fists clenched so tightly they were turning white. "She's going to hate me. Do you understand that? You know her better than any of us and you know she is going to hate me for this."
"Only in the beginning," Gideon assured the other man with surprising gentleness. "And it will be resistance and fear, not hatred. Trust me on this."
Elijah understood what the Ancient was telling him. He had been through this very situation himself. He'd had to win his mate over on many levels himself.
Her. Her friends. Her family.
But the difference was, all of Legna's friends and family knew about the permanence of the Imprinting and the futility of fighting it. Siena might know something about it from what she had heard and seen from Gideon and Legna living in her court, but experiencing it firsthand was going to be difficult, and explaining it to a society who didn't believe in such things was going to be nearly impossible.
"I will do what I can to help, Elijah," Gideon offered magnanimously. He had known Siena the longest of them all, a fact Elijah tried not to feel slighted by. But if anyone could make her see light, it would be Gideon.
"I appreciate that. And do it soon, Gideon. I need to see her, to talk to her. Before I end up tearing into her bedroom with nothing but animal lust on my mind. She has to understand this. If she doesn't…" Elijah turned back to his window, sighing as he rested his forehead against the glass. "If she doesn't, to her mind I will be taking her against her will."
Gideon understood that better than Elijah thought he did. Siena was made of proud and stubborn stuff. As long as she resisted the inevitable, any move Elijah made toward her would be seen as hostile. The more that happened, the harder it would be to regain the lost ground and connect them. The worst shortcoming of an Imprinting was that it usually occurred close to those urgent holy days. It was as if nature was giving them a few days to get a grip, but would have her way in the end. And that end would come quickly.
"She found me in the forest, frightened away my attackers before they could finish me off. She carried me to shelter, tended my wounds, fed and cared for me…" Elijah paused to flick a startling emerald gaze up to the medic. "And then she turned my entire existence inside out. What a hell of a way to thank her for her hospitality." He paused, rubbing a finger at a smudge on the window. "And what about Jacob? Noah? The law? Remember? 'The dog does not lie with the cat. The cat does not lie with the mouse.' And that's only one out of about a dozen purity laws this is breaking."