I stared at him with confusion spreading across my face before I said, “You are a what?
Darren gave me a Cheshire cat smile as he replied, “I am a Lemurian.”
I crinkled my eyebrows as I frowned at him. With that grin plastered to his face, I could tell he was loving every minute of my confusion. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore, and had to ask, “What the hell is that?”
That smile of his grew bigger into a ‘I have a dirty secret that I want you to guess’ smile as he replied, “Oh this is going to be so fun explaining what I am. Let me start off by talking about the history of the Lemurians and myths. It is believed that we were aliens from all over the galaxy seeking refuge on earth, but this was during the time of the dinosaurs. Of course, I don’t really know if that is true since I’m only a tenth generation Lemurian. What I do know is that we are the third root race that came before the Atlantians. A long time ago, we moved underground to escape the death of our people, yet we still lost people when the Atlantians were destroyed.”
I held my hand up to make him hold on as I added up the facts. My inner self pointed out that he was unworldly beautiful, but a being from a prehistoric race of people? Not likely. I wanted to argue with my inner self about how he could be telling the truth, but the inner self just shakes his head at me with disapproval. My eyes locked with Darren’s intense hazel eyes before I said, “How can that be possible? I may not know much about the Lemurian race, but I do know some stuff about the Atlantians. They have been died for millions of years or so the rumors say. It is hard to believe that you are just the tenth generation of a race that was suppose to have died and lived before Atlantis was destroyed!”
Darren ran a hand through that gorgeous spiky caramel hair of his as if he was thinking of what to say next to me. Finally he spoke, “But I am tenth generation of a race that lived and died before Atlantis was destroyed. Almost all of the Lemurians died because there was only time to save 200,000 people. My father died trying to save his family and the people he ruled. I have lost track of how many years it has been since his death. Hell, I have even lost track of how old I am over the centuries, but I remember that day as if it was yesterday. You may not believe a word I am saying, but I can show how I keep up with an estimation of how old I am. I have a leaf vines that are tattooed on my arms that were tattooed on each Lemurian child at the age of ten. The leaves grow like real ones to show the aging in tens only.”
I frowned at him as I looked his perfect sculpted body over to see not a single ink dot on him. My eyebrows raised as my frown deepened before I said, “You would have to have microscope or black light tattoos in order for me to not see them. Plus you get a leaf tattoo every time it is your birthday right? That is the only way I can come up with that sounds normal enough to believe. You get a leaf tattooed in black light ink every ten years it is your birthday.”
He just shook his head as laughter escaped his lips before he replied, “Lukus! Lukus! Lukus! Do you not have any imagination under that sandy blonde hair of yours? My body can shift to any form I need. What do you humans call them? Weres? No…. Skinwalkers? No. That is not it either. Oh! I remember! Shape shifters! I have a true form that I am going to show you since you are my ‘soul mate’ as humans call it. Now, stay on the bed, and close your eyes. Remember not to freak or else this will go bad.”
I closed my eyes even though my inner self was screaming he was crazy, and I need to run and to get the hell away from him. As I argue with my inner self, I started to realize that the wait was killing me to see what he looked like. Finally after what felt like ages, he said, “Open your eyes, Lukus. Take a look at my true form.”
I slowly opened my eyes, and at first my mind didn’t register what I was seeing before me. First, I noticed that his back was to me, and there was a tribal dragon tattoo there. It was solid black with it’s wings spread shoulder to shoulder with it’s tail running in and out of his skin as it went down his back. The dragon’s head rested on the back of his neck which seemed to be sleeping until I touched it to see if it was really there. Without warning, the dragon turned his head towards me to reveal crimson eyes, and to get a gasp from me. I forced myself to move on to his hair though the dragon was still staring at me. His hair still held the same spiky caramel look, yet it shined as if it was under direct sunlight. As I took this in, I noticed his skin had a shine to it like some freshly washed window. It was not translucent, but more like water was running over it without no end. The twilight vampires had nothing on sparkle like he did, and damnit I wanted to touch him so badly. I licked my lips at the thought of running my tongue along ever curve and line of his flawless body. My eyes glided down to lock onto his tight sculpted ass which I wanted to squeeze so much just to see if it felt the way it looked.
I hadn’t realized I was staring until I noticed he had turned to face me with a big ass smile plastered on his face. My mouth closed automatically and I locked gazes with glowing emerald eyes not the hazel I was use to. He said with that grin still in place, “ Do you see something you like, Mr. Mark? Because you are staring at me like a hungry lion. Do you also believe me now, my love?”
My lips tried to move, but sadly no sound escaped from them. I ripped my gaze away from him to give him a reply, “Damn you! I want you so fucking bad, Darren! Of course, I have to believe you now! I have no choice! There is no way anyone could human looking as wonderful as you are now!”
Darren gave me a ‘kid in a candy store’ smile as he laid down next to me on the bed. He slowly raised his hand to caress my cheek, and I closed my eyes to take in the warmth of his slightly large hand. It was like being touched by the warmth of heaven which made me peek to see if it was really Darren or some part of my imagination. I opened my eyes wide when I spotted the leaves on vines going down his arms. My eyes saw one gold maple leaf on each of his shoulders that looked just like real leaves attached to a tree, but these leaves were attached to a black inky vine that twisted downwards to the next leaves. The next set of leaves were silver in color with a total of seven split between each arm. Three on his left and four on the right in nice little groups. Though these leaves were just as stunning as the gold ones, I forced myself to move on to look at the next bunch. I looked down his arm the rest of the way without counting, so I could see all the colors without the numbers. There are rows of copper, yellow, orange, red, and green leaves that fill his arm. My eyes traveled back up his arm to count the copper leaves which only had one on each arm. Then I moved back down to the yellow to count a total of three, two on the left and one on the right. Down I went to orange which I counted just two leaves in total. To the next color I moved which is red with just one leaf on his right arm. The last color I came to was green which had a total of five leaves. Three on the left and two on the right, but what did his leaves mean? I remember he said it was his age, but how could that be? I meet his eyes as confusion filled my face again, and I asked, “You said you keep your age by these tattoo leaves, but what do the colors mean?”
He replied with sarcasm, “OH! Now you are curious about them! I guess seeing is believing since I told you about them before when you didn’t believe me!” Darren laughed at the frown on my face before he continued, “Well the gold are ten million years, the silver are one million years, the copper are one hundred thousand years, the yellow are ten thousand, the red are a hundred, and the green are just ten years. Pass the green, I have no clue my age because time has been meaningless to me. That all changed when I meet you because every second with you is dear to me. Every minute that I am able to touch you, it assures me that you are really here in front of me. Just an hour with you is better than anything I have ever felt in all my years of living. So will you do me the honor of staying with me until the end of my time or the end of the world?”
I grind my teeth as I went over what he had just said in my head. Deep down I knew I was going to say yes until I realized that he was a lot older than me. Finally, I said, “I don’t know if I can spend the rest of my days with someone as old as you. I mean you are 27,232,150 years old, and there is no telling how long you are going to live compared to me. But if you can handle someone a lot younger than you, I am sure it will work out fine. So yes I will stay with you until the rest of my days just because you had to hurt your proud by saying something as charming as those words of poetry.”
At first he had not realized I was joking, then he busted out laughing as he replied, “You had me scared there for a minute at the thought you were going to say no to me. What are you talking about the rest of your days? I must not have told you that when we complete the last stage of the bond, you will live as long as me.”
I frowned at him as I said, “I thought we were bonded already? Tell me what I have to do to make you mine forever.”
He looked down at the bed as he answered, “You have to meet my family, pass whatever test my mother gives you, and you have to earn their blessing to be in my family.”
I nervously laughed as I said, “That should not be too hard to do since I am such a charmer and the best with people…”

Now here I am standing outside of his family’s home which happens to be in the middle of the woods in the middle of no fucking where. Every horror movie I have ever seen pops into my mind as we walk slowly to the mansion of my doom. The door opens when we reach the front porch and a man that looks just like a butler leads us down a hallway that is decorated with thousands of pictures. We come to a large living room with just a few couches pressed against the walls. I spot a woman that is extremely beautiful sitting on one of the couches. She has the same caramel colored hair as Darren’s, yet hers curls past her shoulders. She holds up her hand to stop us and says, “Both of you take off your shoes now! I just had this floor waxed. Darren, you know my rules on this, so why didn’t you just do it?”
I nervously look at Darren as I quickly take off my shoes. He replies back, “But mom! It is just a floor, so don’t get your panties in a twist! Besides you are being rude to my bonded love, so why don’t you let me introduce him before you go crazy over some shoes! This is Lukus Mark, the one I have been waiting for so long. Lukus, this is my mother, Cherista LaCross, the queen of the Lemurians.”
When I look her in those hazel eyes, it is like she is burning a hole through me. I say to her trying to calm my nerves while still making eye contract, “You have a very nice home, your highness. Please give me permission to love your son for all eternally?”
She glares at me for a minute before bursting into laughter as she says, “Your highness? Boy, if you are going to be in this family, you are either going to call me mom or Cherista. Darren, you sure picked a winner here. He held it together even though he looked as if he was going to wet himself. I can only hope he passes my test because I look forward to picking on him in the future.”
Darren joins her in laughing as I breath a sigh of relief from their sense of humor. She stops laughing and her face goes serious as she says, “Lukus Mark, you have been brought before me, Queen of the Lemurians, in the name of being a bonded mate with the Second Prince, Darren LaCross.