Azriel. She has to find Azriel. Okay, but where is he now? A few hours ago she had left him with Cassian in the meeting room, and now... Gods, he could be everywhere. Especially if he stayed with Cass...

The first place she looks for him is the kitchen. She found him right there not too long ago, and it doesn't eliminate the possibility that he's waiting for her to eat his favorite chocolate cake with her. When she enters, however, she does not find her mate, but Elain.

"Hi." She greets her, her cheeks slightly pink in a clear sign of embarrassment. Selaene returns the greeting and is ready to turn on her heels and go back to where she came from to start her search again, but something inside her tells her that her realization can wait for a few minutes.

"See, Elain..." She starts. She stands a little ahead of the jamb of the door, leaning on two slightly uncertain feet. "I'm sorry for the other time."

If the Fae is surprised by her words, she doesn't show it. "It's okay." She simply answers, almost indifferently.

"Is that all?" Selaene asks her, surprised. "I mean... I embarrassed you in front of everyone and-" Elain interrupts her. She speaks with a gentle smile that makes her even more beautiful, brighter.

"Between me and Azriel it ended even before it started, Selaene. He always wanted only you." She explains to her. The eyes of the illyrian are glued to her figure as she gets up with elegant and controlled movements from the table, until she reaches her and can look straight into her honey-colored eyes.

"Are you sure?"

Elain nods. "Obviously. And then, your words made me think." The cheeks take on a brighter color and she looks down at her feet. "Reflect on my... mate." She pronounces the word as if it were foreign to her.

"So... peace?"

"If you want to call it that." Finally says the Archeron, advancing a step and passing her, leaving the room.

She has to wait a few minutes before going out too and resuming her research, somehow shaken by her words.

Between me and Azriel it ended even before it started, Selaene. He always wanted only you.

But that means something has happened, right...?

Selaene chases her thoughts out of her mind and resumes her research. Of all the things she needs right now, the last one is to worry about this.

She goes to his room and once in front of the wooden door, she knows that Azriel is there, the bond seems to light up at the proximity, and she does not hesitate to knock on the door.

A few moments later, his tired face, but beautiful as always, appears in front of the young woman's sight. "Hey..." She greets him. The embarrassment forces her to avoid eye contact, and Azriel notices it immediately.

The male moves aside with his wings in order to let her pass, and closes the door as soon as his mate puts both feet in the room.

"Hey." He says hello back. The air is tense again, but not as usual. In addition to the awareness established in Selaene, there is a voltage... electrical.

"Azriel." She begins, to stop the trembling of her hands she crosses her fingers to each other, shaking them on her lap. She takes a step closer, until the male oversteps her and she is forced to raise her chin to look him in the eyes. "I thought of something..."

Azriel moves a rebellious lock behind her ear, the touch is delicate like that of a feather. "Tell me, my love."

"If I leave... we have to consider that I won't come back." Her mate's heart skips a beat, but he knows it's true. "I don't want to make the same mistake." Continues Selaene. "I don't want to wait any longer."

Her heart beats hard and this is enough to make Azriel understand where she wants to go. "Are you sure?" He asks her. The last thing he wants at the moment is to make her feel obliged to do it when in reality she doesn't feel ready yet. The Fae nods and the gesture manages to reassure her mate, who relaxes her muscles imperceptibly.

She grabs his hand and intertwines her fingers with his. She squeezes it in a gesture of comfort and silently drags him to the kitchen, where she was a little while ago.

During the short journey, the house seems to be still in time. The sun outside the windows enters, heating the rooms and illuminating the walls with gold, making the winter less harsh and more fascinating. Selaene and Azriel, without realizing it, have entered a bubble of their own, and they have no intention of going out for quite a while.

"What are you going to feed me?" Azriel asks once sitting at the table, at the sight of her mate fluttering from one side of the kitchen to the other he can't hold back a smile.

"Mh... let's see what's here." Says Selaene, also smiling and happy as a puppy dog in front of its master.

Azriel gets up and with feline steps he reaches her, his shadows dancing on the skin of both giving the Fae sweet chills. "You know you don't have to worry... I'm fine with everything, my love."

Selaene smiles again at his words, and chuckles when the male girds her body with his arms. She doesn't mind how she is able to feel her partner's firm chest against her back.

"How about some pancakes?" She finally says but she doesn't expect an answer.

Azriel, in a cheeky move, begins to give her many small kisses starting on the cheek, then further and lower, until reaching the recess between neck and shoulder.

"Azriel..." Selaene sighs heavily. She leaves the flour in mid-air, her brain suddenly unable to formulate every single rational thought.

"It takes too long to make pancakes, love." Azriel complains on her skin, puts a final kiss on the back of her neck and pulls off his lips with a loud snap, a lazy smile is painted on his face.

Selaene turns around, letting their chests meet and their heartbeat mix with each other. "Azzie... we've been waiting for this moment for so long, I want it to be special for you. I want to cook you a good meal and..."

The male interrupts her by placing his lips on hers. His hands find the female's hips instinctively, as if that were their place.

It comes off only after long seconds, the cheeks of both red from the lack of air. "Every moment with you is special, given by the Mother herself. I don't need anything spasty, you're enough for me."

Selaene smiles at his words, her delicate gouts become a darker shade of red. "I agree..." She turns her head, looking at the kitchen counter in search of something, anything, that she can offer her mate to confirm their bond once and for all.

She grabs an apple from the fruit basket. "An apple?"

Azriel rubs his nose on his mate's skin, the lazy smile on his lips is even more accentuated. "It's more than fine."

He moves enough to allow her to open a drawer and take out a small knife. "Az, be good," chuckles Selaene, "sit down and wait for me."

Azriel obeys her without replying even a word, the features of his face are so relaxed and characterized by a happiness that he hasn't seen for a long time, that they make him several decades younger. Selaene doesn't take long, she continues to turn her back on him while she takes care of preparing at least a decent plating, her mate's gaze burns her back.

She is not unaware of what will happen.

She knows what happens when two mates accept the bond... She doesn't want to deny this opportunity. She doesn't want to risk another time and live her whole existence with the regret of not having made love to her mate. Because for her this is the thing: making love. No sex, no fucking. It is the bodily union of their souls, the definitive union. She will become his, and he will become her.

She turns around with a genuine smile and a plate in her hands. "Ta-dan!" She exclaims with joy. She puts the plate on the table and slides it until it reaches in front of Azriel's eyes. But he doesn't seem to care, he's too busy staring at her.

"Azzie!" She chuckles, her cheeks turn a pinkish color. "Look!" She incites him.

Finally the male moves his eyes to the plate, and a genuine smile appears on his face at the sight of what his mate has done for him.

"Selaene, my love." He speaks to her in a sweet voice, his heart tightens in a delicious vice because fuck - he loves this female more than anything else in the world, and soon she will be his forever.

Selaene takes a seat next to him and grabs between trembling fingers of emotion a slice that she has previously cut carefully and reaches out her hand so that it reaches Azriel's face.

"Eat." She orders him with an authoritarian tone, but determined. Azriel chuckles and in doing so he opens his lips slightly, and Selaene takes the opportunity to stick the piece of apple inside his mouth.

Azriel complains with his mouth full, causing a disgusted grimace on her mate's face. "Do you want me to choke?" Both giggle, but Selaene is becoming impatient. The blood boils in her veins and trembles from waiting for what she knows will happen.

"Move, Azzie." She complains. Azriel, instead of answering, puts practically the whole plate in his mouth, and Selaene doesn't even want to pretend to be disgusted by the male in front of her.

He chews with speed, also impatient to make this bond official and finally be able to hold her in his arms.

He finally sends down the last bite, and everything changes.

In their chests that thread of gold shines, now more than ever. It turns and turns, jumps, beats, moves and lives. All is accentuated and Azriel hears Selaene in the same way she feels him.

But the thing that catches his attention is the little gasp she emits, followed by her sweet smell that intensifies. And he knows very well what it means.