When Damian woke up her bed was empty.

He didn't question it this early into the morning; he didn't want to. He remembered those few days he had stayed at her house to watch over her, how she always grumbled in the morning. How she twisted and turned in irritation at every sound her sensitive ears picked up, and how her eyes stayed vexingly narrowed before she had her fill of breakfast.

Yet another miracle his cooking performed. He smiled to himself. No one could resist his happy blobs.

He grabbed a bag of breakfast from the kitchen and stretched, finding satisfaction in pulling at his sore muscles. He saw Ian dashing toward their room, a phone pressed tightly over his ear, but chose to focus more on the redhead cleaning a cup of pudding with all the meticulousness her spoon could provide.

"Where's everyone?" he asked, laughing lightly when she gave up on the spoon and scooped whatever she could with her finger. It reminded him of someone.

Lana licked at the pudding and threw the cup in the trash. "Training," she said simply, turning the faucet on to wash her hands.

Damian hummed and started walking out to join the others. Of course they'd be out, wolves couldn't take too long being cooped up in small spaces. Val was living proof of that.

And with the added protection of Moiras' walls, not using this chance to prepare would be a waste. Nevermind deadly.

"She's there, too." He heard her supply, and laugh. He gritted his teeth, hating how his body had gone rigid just by a mention of her. Was he so transparent?

Heading over to the training grounds by the forest, he scrunched up his nose in distaste at all the grunts and grumbles. Everyone seemed to be over-exerting themselves, the sounds they made a testament to their resolve.

The blood didn't bother him much — not that it ever really did. He didn't understand where this control stemmed from, it sure as hell wasn't from him. He grew up watching people — his friends — struggle with the thirst, and yet he never felt that same pull toward it ever since the day he was turned.

Human blood preserved him so he needed it to survive, but beings that were part of the supernatural had a certain scent in their blood, and it never appealed to him to try it.

Then she came along.

He wasn't sure when it started, but the scent of her blood didn't irritate him half as bad. It smelled... nice. And that day at that lake...

No. He wasn't good at holding back.

He snapped out of the haze and shook his head.

After seeing Val like that, it felt like everyone had hurried their pace, rushing to get as strong as possible before their inevitable battle. He shuddered. Having seen her die time and time again but still fight...

He couldn't imagine himself able of such strong will. Not when he knew losing her once would crush him beyond repair.

When had those feelings begun? And how was it that the moment he realized them was the moment she was taken away from him?

He listened in, blocking out every other sound that wasn't her. When he found her, inside the ring and mercilessly pulling at Mark's rear leg with her teeth, he saw Evan sitting by a tree near them.

He was shirtless and sweaty, so it was pretty easy to discern what he must have been doing before he decided to sit down and watch her. Some kind of sick satisfaction enveloped him at the sight of the blood on his body, wounds that had already healed. And he hated it. He hated himself for it.

Damian knew they must have been feeling each other's presence; they were mates, after all. He was starting to hate that word, too. But he was sitting far away enough to not disturb her, which didn't really sit right as an excuse for the irk he was feeling.

He hated how he acted. How his mind saw Evan as an enemy. They were all preparing to put their lives on the line, again, to protect her, and yet here he was, glowering over the pettiest of things.

A selfish prick.

He laughed to himself, barely making any sound. It was pathetic really.

"How long will you be standing there for," Evan said finally. He twisted his head to look back at him for a moment before she caught his attention again.

Damian gritted his teeth but said nothing. He had no right to her. Her choices were her own, and there was none to be made here. They had something, sure, for a moment, but Evan was her mate. Nothing changed that.

Whatever they had was nothing compared to their bond.

"I'm not sure what happened between the two of you before, but I'm not letting go of her," he continued.

Damian chuckled. "In case you haven't noticed already, there's no 'letting her do anything' with Val."

Evan smiled, amused. "That's true. Still, I won't. I'm not going to give up, whatever it takes. I'm sure you understand that." He spared him another glance, but Damian wasn't looking at him anymore. Val was on the ground, claws slicing out wherever they could find purchase. She pushed one of the wolves away and rolled to her feet.

She glanced — briefly — their way.

"I'm sure you'll understand when I say I won't give up either," he said firmly. Even though logic screamed at him to. Val stumbled, another look their way before a wolf took her down from the side. Zack.

Evan nodded. "I expected as much."

It was a lot later at night that he could see her. Mark and David were determined to drill as much fighting experience into her as they could, and Damian had spent the majority of his day in the ring.

She would look at him every now and then when they took a break to eat, but he had made sure he was busy each time.

A few hours prior he'd been adamant about not giving up on her, funny how he didn't plan for that to start with him avoiding her.

He sighed at the crunching of leaves. The scent of her blood. It drove him crazy.

"Damian," she said.

~~~~~

Val sat down next to him, her eyes tracking every movement.

"You're avoiding me," she said.

Damian hummed, eyes anywhere but at her. "Not really, it's been a very busy day."

"Damian," she said again and he closed his eyes, wincing.

"You don't have to say it." He whispered so, so lowly.

She knew what he meant. What he thought she was going to say. She smiled, near ironic.

"I don't know why you two keep making assumptions on your own." Her wolf rumbled in her mind, but she wasn't sure if it was in agreement.

He seemed resigned. "It's not an assumption, it's an understanding. I know what this bond is, Val, I don't expect you to give that up for something that'd barely even started." He gritted his teeth. "I won't take that away from you."

Val furrowed her brows, her temper flaring. "Isn't that a decision for me to make? Was that all talk before with Evan? Because I was pretty sure you said you didn't want to give this up either."

"I didn't. Don't." He choked on his words. "I just don't know what to do. It feels like every road is leading you to him and I have no idea what that means for me. Because I have no right to stop it."

Her gaze softened. "A few months ago I didn't even know what this was, Damian." He shivered at his name on her lips. "I didn't know what or who I was, and I never expected to have a mate bond to pull me into someone.

"Evan pulled me in because of the bond, and whatever it is that I feel whenever I'm near him is a result of that." He dropped his head. "But what I'm feeling when I'm with you is not something influenced by a bond I can barely control. It's me, my decisions, my feelings." She knelt in front of him and looked up so that their eyes were level.

"I won't lie to you, I have no idea what I'm going to do. But I can't pretend like nothing happened between us. And I sure as hell won't let that bond influence my decisions. My choices are my own."

Damian's gaze dropped to her lips. He cupped her face between his hands and pulled her up to his lips, his kiss so soft.

She didn't know what to expect of her wolf, but she was met with near silence. She wasn't repulsed like wolves usually were around males after they'd found their mates, she just felt — confused. Bewildered.

Nice.

She let him set the pace, let him pull back and lean his forehead on hers because her head was filled with thoughts too jumbled to put together and understand. Because she thought that if she made a wrong move here she might shatter them both.

"I always wanted this bond," Damian said softly, his breath caressing her cheek and making her wet lips tingle once more. He looked down at Val, and the sadness she saw made something crack in her. "There were few chances I could ever shift, the gene was too diluted, but I hoped. And I begged so badly." Her wolf nudged at her softly.

Val lifted a hand to his cheek, her thumb drawing soothing circles at the hollow of them. She caught a tear, feeling when he clenched his teeth to stop them from falling. But she pulled him in a hug and he broke down completely.

"I never wanted this, Val. I wanted to shift, I wanted to run and feel the earth under my paws, but I never wanted this. I never wanted to be a vampire." Always a vampire, his voice echoed in her mind, and she hadn't realized just how much the words were laced with pain. How much he'd suffered by simply surviving.

She held him until the sobs receded and his body stopped trembling. She held on until his hands relaxed around her, and he moved back to kiss her again, more urgently — desperately.

When they pulled away again Val turned around and let the shift take over, shaking her fur out. Her wolf was eager; she hoped she wasn't making a mistake when Damian watched her with red eyes.

I can't change what you are, Damian, she said softly through a link, and I don't know if this is enough to help you experience what you've always wanted to. But I'll be right here whenever you need me.

And she sat down low so that he could climb onto her back, heart thundering in her ears. Please don't let this be a mistake, she repeated in her mind. Because she wanted to make him feel better, if only by a little.

Damian's body molded onto hers, his hands stroking her fur as she let out an appreciating purr.

Val took off immediately. She felt him waver, and she turned every now and then to help balance him until he was able to hold on with not much problem. His laugh made her shiver against her ears, and she pushed her legs further, ran faster.

She'd known what it was like to run like a vampire when he'd pulled that stick out of her leg and took her to Derek. Everything had seemed hazy at the time, but it still felt like a human running, if only much faster. But Damian had never felt what it was like to run like a wolf. To feel the wind ruffling your fur, or the ground give under your paws.

She would do this often, she decided, hearing him laugh from above her. She could just barely see the smile that stretched his face, wider than any other she'd ever seen.

Yes, whenever.