Word Count: 1817

*Mature Content Warning!*

~Aspen

I stare out the window, watching the rain as it soaks into the forest floor.

Kastriv hasn't told me where he has taken me. From what I know, it looks like Territory Ten, but I can't be certain. All I really know is this place only has one bedroom, and it's small.

But out here, there is truly no one for miles. Kastriv assured me of that.

We are completely alone out here.

I turn around, leaning against the sill. Kastriv has managed to light the fire, dousing the small space in golden light. It feels comfortable and warm, and most importantly, far away from those who know what I am.

What people choose to say about me doesn't matter out here.

"How are you feeling?" Kastriv asks, straightening as he wipes his ashy hands together.

I shrug, loosening a breath. "I don't know. I'm scared my life will always feel like this."

Kastriv rinses his hands in the sink, frowning slightly. "Like what?"

"Unsettled. Like nothing is grounded and sure. Everything is so uncertain right now," I admit, shivering. I just want to know what tomorrow will bring, and not be frightened each time I open my eyes in the morning.

"Tomorrow we can go and confront Atari. I'm not going to leave until she understands that even she isn't above a mate bond," Kastriv assures me, although he cannot hide his doubt.

I eye him carefully. "Whatever she has over you is obviously powerful. Are you sure you can stand up to her."

He winces, looking away.

My eyes narrow, examining the tension in his shoulders, the way he siezes up at the mention of Atari and whatever she has over him.

I want to know...I so badly want to know. It may make what Keo says about him make sense. That darkness everyone seems to see, it has to stem from somewhere.

"I'll be fine," he murmurs.

Releasing a slow breath, I stride toward him. Grabbing his arm, I turn him to look at me.

There are a striking flash of emotions in his eyes. They don't last long enough for me to understand what he is feeling, but I know they are rooted in a deep memory that arises at every mention of Atari.

"I'm here for you. Whatever it is that haunts you," I breathe, reaching up to cup either side of his face. His eyes are tender, as he gazes down at me.

"I love you, Aspen. I'll do anything to protect you," he tells me assuredly, holding my hands as they touch his face.

My heart flutters. Love.

I haven't felt true love in a long time. I thought I loved my mother for a time, until I realised I was only pushing on myself what I thought I should feel, rather than what I actually felt.

And with Oliver, I thought I would fall in love with him, and it never came.

So facing this reality that I may love Kastriv is both terrifying and exciting.

I suck in a breath, smiling tentatively. "I think I love you two."

Kastriv's face breaks into a warm smile, and all of a sudden he sweeps me into his arms, melting away all my concerns, all my worries.

He is my mate. Whatever else that is going on around us doesn't matter.

"I wish I could transport us away from this mess. I wish I could have you all to myself, no interrupts," he breathes against my lips, still not letting my feet touch the ground.

"I guess we are just going to have to make the most of the time we do have together." I kiss his lips gently, smiling as I pull back.

His eyes close for a long moment, and when he opens them, there's a deep hunger in him that sets off a similar feeling in me. We both don't know how much time we have together, and putting off what we know we have between us isn't what either of us want anymore.

Spirits in the room or not, I press my lips to my mates again, and this time, I don't pull them away again.

Kastriv slowly lets me down, pressing me back foot by foot until my back hits the wall.

"Every moment I've been near you I've been suffering," he says into my mouth, barely breaking the kiss as utters each word. "I can't stop wanting you, wanting to be with you."

Excitment flutters in my stomach as I run my hands over his shoulders, down his arms. I want to touch all of his skin, to feel him pressed against me.

"I want you," I insist, my eyes drawing closed as he kisses incessantly from my lips, down my jaw and neck.

I'm not even sure what I'm alluding to...I want him in everyway I can get him, and I'm tired of pretending like I'm not.

He picks me up again, except this time, he wraps my legs around my waist and walks me through the small cabin and to the only room, with a bed he lays me down on that we were going to have to share tonight anyway.

He rears back, looming over me as I sinks my head deep into the pillows.

"There was a lot that went through my head when I first met you," he says, pulling his shirt off. "Firstly, I couldn't believe you existed. To me, you were this beautiful, sad spirit in my mind. And then I met you, and I couldn't believe someone like you could possibly exist.

I bite down hard on my lower, trying to stop myself from saying anything that may break the spell that he has put me under.

"And then I saw you had a husband, and I...I was angry. Especially when I learned of what he was doing to you," he murmurs, frowning slightly as he gazes down at me.

I draw in a short breath.

I reach for him, but he steps back, slowly shaking his head in warning. Whatever he has planned for me, I know he is going to take his time.

"He can't hurt me anymore," I breathe assuredly, although the edge of anger doesn't fade from his eyes.

"No one will ever touch you again. You're mine."

An untamed thrill strikes through me. I haven't heard him talk like this, and the way he looks down at me has me practically writhing at in the sheets, waiting for him to hurry up and touch me.

"I'm yours," I affirm.

Suddenly he grabs my legs and drags me to the end of the bed. He holds my gaze as he drops to one knee, and then the other.

"Ever since I first laid my eyes on you, I've wanted to do this," he says, slowly dragging my pants down my legs, giving me a chance to say no.

There is no chance I want this to end...

I brace myself up on my elbows. "I haven't been with anyone in a long time."

Kastriv probably already knows that, but I feel the need to tell him. I'm nervous, having not felt intimacy like this in so long. But being with Kastriv puts me at ease, knowing he isn't going to push me into anything I'm not comfortable with.

"Just relax." He kisses the inside of my thigh gently, drawing my underwear down my legs and off completely.

He pauses, hearing me draw in a sharp breath. I nod assuredly, turning my nerves into excitment.

He pins me with his gaze as he spreads my legs wider. "I can't wait to taste you."

Digging my fingers into the sheets, I fall back down onto the bed, squeezing my eyes shut in anticipation. He draws his hands up my legs, gripping my thighs tightly as he kisses toward the centre of me.

For a long moment there is nothing, and then his tongue hits me, licking a strip right up the middle of me.

I let out a shuddering breath, my composure shattering into nothingness as I try make sense of what I'm feeling. He immediately doesn't hold back, tongue moving in consistent, world-ending strokes.

My hands delve into his silken hair, feeling it glide through my fingers. I can't seem to find a handle on the pleasure that wracks through my body with every move of Kastriv tongue, every slight brush of his teeth as he doesn't hold back.

"You taste amazing," he murmurs against me, grip tightening on my thighs as he looks up at me through his fringe of hair.

I hold his gaze, until the pleasure becomes too much and my head falls back, a moan falling past my lips.

When he releases his hold on me, I whimper pathetically, worried he's stopping right as I feel my climax beckoning. However, I realise how truly wrong I am, once I feel two of his fingers brush against my entrance, before pressing inside of me at a torturous pace.

I'm not sure I can moan Kastriv's name loud enough, or beg him not to stop fervently enough.

For a while he just holds his fingers inside me, while his tongue continues to sweep against me, leaving me bowing my hips off the bed. As a result, he uses his free hand to pin me down against the bed.

By the time he starts moving his fingers, I'm already a mess, my release nearly in reach.

"Kastriv," I gasp out in a choked moan as his fingers reach parts of me that I never knew could be reached, at a pace I can almost not handle.

Looking down, I find him gazing up at me. He looks so beautiful, so otherworldly and so utterly in love with me that I can't help it as my release floods over me, washing me with pleasure so euphoric all I can do is continue breathing.

Kastriv doesn't stop until I am thoroughly rung out of all the pleasure I can possibly feel. Then, he rises, smiling down at me.

"Your beauty will never cease to amaze me," he exclaims earnestly.

There are no words that make sense to me, other than three. "I love you."

He circles the bed, coming to lie next to me, gathering me in his arms. The fire from outside has died, however, I feel a warmth deep inside me that cannot be quelled.

"Who knows about tomorrow. But what you can be sure of is that I will never leave you. I will be with you always, my mate," he breathes into my hair.

I believe him. This is forever, and for once, I can finally set my worries aside.

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