*Mature Content ahead in the chapter, you've been warned*

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M A R I L L A
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"Just One Night."

Zander stares at me, those grey eyes filled with a thousand emotions boring into mine.

His palm cups my right cheek ever so gently, his lips moving against my earlobe as he says, "So be it."

He traces a path of wild kisses from my cheek over to my jaw trailing down to the crook of my neck, licking and nipping in its path.

A shudder of breath releases from me while Zander's other hand moves over to the thick knot binding my robe in place.

He hooks a finger under it and with one graceful pull, the knot comes undone just like the rest of my robe. The material slips from my shoulder and Zander inches a step back to slide the sleeves down my arms as I unhook then from around his neck.

Soon, the robe is a puddle at his feet and I'm bare save for my undergarments. My body heats up at the feel of my skin against his. He's equally naked as me except the towel looped around his hips.

Zander's darkened eyes meet mine as I slide my hand between us, down his bare muscled chest towards the towel. Hooking my arm on the cloth, I shrug it off with a single tug bearing him completely nude and me still clung to him with my legs around his waist, my arms around his neck.

The realization of the position, despite myself, has my cheeks heating up. Zander seems to catch on the little reaction and I see a sly smirk pull at his lips.

His fingers trail sensously down my spine igniting a shiver in its wake, "You getting shy on me now?"

That instantly snaps me out of the daze and has me rolling my eyes at him, "Never in your wildest dreams."

"Oh, love, you don't know the nasty things I do to you in my wildest dreams." His voice is full of raw desire as he winks at me.

Before I can even react to the words, he hoists me back against the wall and kisses me hard.

I feel my head spin as his palm glides up my stomach to my back where the hook of the bra is. He stops and pulls back, his hand halting, "You're sure about this?"

For a moment, the words don't make sense to me but then when it does, I find my arms looping around Zander's neck and my head resting on his shoulder, "Yes. Now take it off, Zander."

On cue, he unclasps the hook. I watch as he inches back, slides his index finger lazily down my throat, between my breasts under the lacy material and with one effortless tug the bra falls down, my upper body now completely exposed to the chimy air and his darkened gaze.

"Gorgeous, aren't you?" His eyes flick to mine and I feel my throat go dry at the desire in them.

My legs tighten around his torso as his fingers draw idle circles around my breast.

"Tell me what you want me to do." He whispers into my ears and a sickening shudder rockets through my being.

"I. . ." His finger now reaches the hardened nipples, tweaking them between his fingers.

"Yes, you?" He starts kissing, nibbling his way down my throat.

"Want you to. . ." That stupid, sexy mouth encloses around the pebbled nub just as his other hand slides up my thighs and I almost loose my mind at the mind-numbing sensation it awakens.

"Hmm?" I feel the echo of his mumble from my chest down to my very core where he's nearing with those teasing fingers. His tongue rolls over the sensitivite skin as his other hand play with the hem of my panties, fingers idly circling around my core.

My head tips back against the wall in a tremor and Zander smirks against my skin. Fucking tease.

"Take that off." I order towards his annoying hands teasing my feminity.

Zander tips his head off my chest and throws me a grin, "As you say, your Highness."

And then he's descending me down on my foot. My eyes follow his actions as he kneels down in front of me, gloriously, shamelessly naked.

Those stormy onyx eyes remain trained on me through thick hooded lashes as he brings both of his hands on either sides of my undies and then with a torturous slowness, he pulls them down all the while looking at me.

My toes curl at his heated gaze on my face and the way he keeps kneeling there, his hand slowly moving from my ankle up my knees up my thighs and up up up, until they're so deadly close to. . .

"Get up." Even my words sound strained, indicating the effort it'd taken to blurt them out.

Zander's brow raises in amusement but he obliges anyway standing on his feet again. His palms flatten on either sides of my head caging me between his arms as he tilts his head to the side with a cunning smile, "What now, Fish?"

He wants me to say it? Literally? Well, bad thing he isn't the only one who knows to tease here.

And so before he could continue with his seducing, I inch closer to him, so close that every part of our naked bodies are indecently pressed up against each other, every single intimate part.

Zander's whole body tenses at the contact and he lets out a feral groan as I wrap my arms around his neck and move my body against his, against his hard member poking my abdomen.

His hands fists on the wall and I grin at the leash he holds himself back with. One of his arm almost lifts from the wall in a way as if he's going to hold me back.

But before he can do that, I take advantage of his momentary distraction and flip us over. His back goes plastering against the wall. His eyes widen with surprise at being caught offguard but nothing compares to the stun heated shock on his face as I kneel down in front of him.

I look at him through my lashes and pass him a seductively smile, "You think you're the only one who can tease?"

And then without warning, I grip his member with my hands. Zander groans tipping his head back on the wall.

But those eyes watch me with a scorching intensity as I run my fingers over the length of him, torturously slow just like he did.

I wrap my hand around his member, squeezing him. Zander's eyes blaze with lechery but he doesn't speak a word, just stares at me in a way—as if thinking of a thousand methods to ravish me in his head—that makes me feel hot without him needing to do anything.

When I bring my mouth where my hands were, Zander's grunt is loud enough to shatter glass. He jerks back at the contact of my tongue on him.

I feel a treacherous satisfaction at his reactions, at the way his breath is loud, his chest heaving and those eyes....still staring at me as if....

He grabs me by shoulders and careens me back on my feet. I smile maddeningly as he lifts me by my waist and we return to that position with my back against the wall, legs hooked around his waist, his arms on my lower back.

"Aren't you a vixen?" He asks tucking my hair behind my ear while that other hand roamd up my calf and up...up...up.

I bite my bottom lip to suppress a moan as his fingers tease my core.

"Tell me what you want." He almost draws his hand back before rubbing circles on my inner thigh so very close to my center.

This time I fight back a groan of frustration. Tightening my legs around him, "Touch me." I let out.

With a too smug smile, his finger stops on their senseless circles over my thigh and moves over to my folds. Holding my gaze, he parts the skin before inserting a finger in. Then another.

I bury my face into his shoulder as his fingers move inside of me, as my breathing becomes shallow, as my mind fogs over and all I feel is the heady sensation of his skin against mine, his fingers inside me and the heat of his eyes.

My climax rockets through me within minutes and I keep my face burried in his neck. Zander carresses my hair as if to satiate me from my clouding lust.

But when I pull back, my breath hitches at the way he's looking at me. That same way he looked at me earlier, with so much awe and softness and love.

Urgency and a foreign need fills me like never before, "Zander. . ." I drawl breathlessly.

"Tell me what you want, Marilla. Where you want it. Here against the wall or on the bed." The way he speaks, his voice deep and sensual and full of midnight haze, makes me stop thinking.

But then I snap out of it.

"Fuck me." I mumble into his ear, "Here, against the wall."

With a gentle kiss to my forehead, his arms wound around my waist lowering me. Lowering me enough until the tip of his cock brushes my entrance.

Zander pushes me back firmly against the wall before descending me completely down on his length, stretching me beyond limit.

I writhe at the contact, my legs locking around him so tight it's a wonder he's not brutalized yet. Zander's own breath puffs out next to my ear as he remains still as ever, deeply burried inside me but not moving an inch, tormenting me.

"Ugh, move Zander." I groan feeling my body burn and feel squirmish.

Zander chuckles at the desperacy in my tone, the action sending a vibration straight from him to my body where we are connected. One of his hand flattens on my ass while his other rests on the wall.

"As you command, Fishy."

Then he moves, faster and harder and quicker. My back is slack against the wall but my whole body hums with his relentless thrusts, moving to match his pace.

I feel sparks ignite at the back of my eyes as I burry my face between his shoulder and neck. Zander's grip on my bottom moves to my hips squeezing the skin.

My own hands wrap around him in a somewhat of an embrace, my nails digging into his back as he moves with a pace that has me seeing stars in my vision.

"Oh, God." My nails scrape down his back, my senses loosing themselves in pure ecstasy.

"Shit, Marilla. You. . ." He thrusts harder, ". . .feel so fucking good."

My hand fists behind his back as I fight back a scream at the pressure building at the pit of my stomach. He pounds into me unstoppably.

"You too." I manage to mumble past my moans, gripping tightly to him as my orgasm hits me in waves.

Zander pauses. I lift my head from his shoulder to glance at him. He's staring at me so intensely, I feel more naked than I am.

He holds my face with one hand, brushing his fingers over my cheek and I shut my eyes at the sensation. It feels so intimate. More intimate than what we were doing.

"I love you." He says gazing into my eyes, "And I'm glad you're my mate, Marilla. I couldn't ask for anyone better."

The back of my eyes pricks at that and I rest my head on his chest so that I don't have to focus on his eyes. He runs a hand over my hair, smothening it.

Still inside me, he starts moving again, but this time it's slow and gentle and something about it just claws at my heartstrings.

A tear manages to slip past my eyes but I lift my head so that I can look at him. Zander is staring back, still thrusting, still looking at me so druggingly with so much sincerity it breaks my heart.

Just one night. I could be honest. I could say it, even if I'd reduced the fraction of those feelings by saying 'I like you' because I was afraid, terrified that it'd break me if I accepted the feelings. I'd realized my feelings in the two weeks I'd avoided him, when I'd craved his company but my guilt kept me away from him. If I. . .told him and then. . .

"I'm glad you're my mate too," I keep my eyes on him so he knows I mean it, that today for once I'm truly honest to him, "I. . ."

Zander rests his forehead against mine, still moving and I feel my pit heating again due to those slow thrusts.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"I love you too." I peer at him as the pressure builds and builds and builds and he thrusts and thrusts and thrusts.

His eyes are soft, filled with emotion and it hits me so deep in so many ways. If only we could be together.....I would love to be together with him.

Sparks ignite all over my body suddenly. Zander's eyes widen simultaneously as mine does. His hand freezes on my lower back as I gape at him.

Shit shit shit.

My thought process probably had the mate bond considering I'm willing to mate with Zander and clicking into place. Even if I wouldn't admit it outright, I have accepted him as my mate. If we proceed now then. . . .

We should pull back before it's too late. We should do the sensible thing to spare us both a bigger heartache.

But none of us make an attempt to detach ourselves from each other, neither me nor Zander. My heart gallops in my chest with a strange feeling of. . .excitement. Zander's thrusts doesn't stop, if anything it gets faster but I know he's not going full on frenzy. He's giving me a chance to choose.

I tighten my legs around his waist. Holding his face with both my hands, I kiss him letting him know through the kiss what I want.

Zander's hand grip my hair tilting my head back as he pounds into me harder than ever. His lips moves over to my neck, nibbling that one highly sensitive spot before I feel the sharpness of his grown canines dig into my skin, marking me.

My toes curl, my body tingles everywhere it's connected to him and my mind reels with a feeling of pure joy and ecstasy and. . . .wholeness.

God, I never knew it'd feel like this.

When I come undone, Zander follows me to the edge before pulling out last moment. Slumping his weight against me, he holds me in the circle of his arms as I rest my head on his chest.

We're both silent then. Silent because we need a moment to catch our ragged breaths. Silent because neither of us have the courage to voice out what we just did.

Running his hand down the length of my hair, Zander steps back with me still in his arms.

He whirls us around before carrying me over to the bed. Descending me on the soft mattress, he tucks away my hair from my face then pulls the duvet over my bare body.

Walking over to the other side of the bed, Zander gets under the covers beside me. Wrapping an arm around my waist, he pulls my backside to his front and kisses the top of my head softly.

"Zander. . ." I shut my eyes, brisking in the feel of his body cocooning me.

"I know, Marilla. I know." His arms just tighten around me, "Do you regret it?" His voice so low as if he's afraid to hear my answer.

Just one night. Be honest.

"No, I don't." I say turning around so that I'm facing him.

Wounding my own arms around his waist, I scoot over to him. With a smile, Zander pulls me closer and rests his chin on my head. I let out a sigh of content.

I'll take this moment as long as it lasts.

Because I hadn't been lying to Zander. I did not regret it.

Even if I knew it'd hurt like a bitch tomorrow. Even if I knew it'd be more difficult than ever to break the bond after what we did today.

Even if in our own chaos of emotions, we ended up mating each other, I don't regret it one single bit.

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AUTHOR'S  POV
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As the first rays of sun cast its light down on the sea castle, Laira stirred awake from her sleep.

Her arms stretched above her head as she stiffled a yawn. Opening her lids, she found a dark wall obstructing her sight.

With a roll of her eyes, she picked up the book off her face and plopped it down on the night table next to the couch.

Peeking at Layla's sleeping form on the bed, Laira let out a sigh as the sound of the siren's beating heart buzzed in her ears.

Laira had been so terrified yesterday when after snooping to take a look of her sleeping brother, she'd approached Layla's room to find the silver-haired girl leaning out of her window, her eyes hollow as if she were going to jump off the sill. Laira had pulled her away on the right time and almost fought back the urge to slap some sense into the woman.

But then she'd noticed how tears stained Layla's cheeks despite her utterly emotionless eyes. Laira hadn't asked what happened. She'd simply pulled her into a warm comforting hug and Layla had let Laira hug her for the first time.

Out of sheer fear that Layla doesn't end up doing something stupid, Laira had adamantly forced Layla to bed and then stayed up on her side in the room the whole night monitoring her.

Seeing the siren still alive filled her with stark relief as she shook her head and rose off the couch.

'Layla's head would be cleared by the time she wakes up again, I should go check on our captors.' Laira thought with her mind still groggy from sleep.

Taking one last quick assuring glance of Layla, she sneakily got out of the room.

Her feet carried her down the stairs towards Layla's sitting room where the door to the secret cellar was behind an old bookshelf.

Laira pressed the button hidden between the books and the shelf parted into two revealing a pathway.

She quickly got in and pressed a similar button from inside the pathway which had the shelf shutting back again.

Hopping towards the room where Ursula and Avyanna were kept, Laira didn't expect what she saw when she opened the door.

One of the glass flasks was toppled onto the ground, water and cranberries spilled all over the velvet rugs. Avyanna's flasks was intact as it is with the nymph still sleeping inside but the other one,

It wasn't only just toppled over, but it was empty too. Which meant. . .

Ursula had escaped.

Y'all better still believe I'm a Saint after this chapter or I'll hunt each of you down🔪

What's up with Layla?

Where do you think Ursula is?

Why are spicy scenes always so long to write tho....

Anyways I hope you enjoyed the chapter along with its ending👀😂