AARYN

"El?" he pushed under the trailing branches and leaves of the Weeping Tree and didn't immediately find her where he'd expected—in her usual spot, with her back to the trunk of the large tree and her knees folded up in front of her.

"Over here." Her voice came from the other side of the trunk, and Aaryn frowned. They didn't usually spend much time back there anymore because the tree's branches began much closer to the ground, so it didn't allow as much clearance for adult Anima height.

But he made his way around the tree, hunching slightly to keep the smaller twigs and branches out of his hair.

Then he stopped dead and his mouth fell open.

She'd collected grasses from the meadow and spread them over a space about as large as a sleeping platform. And she had laid down in the middle of it.

Naked.

"El, what are you doing?" he asked breathlessly.

Her bright smile faltered. She lay on her side, her head propped on one hand, her legs pressed together, one hand not-so-casually resting in a way that blocked his sight of her most private skin. Seeing his face, she pushed up on one hand and covered herself. "I'm… I mean… don't you want to…"

"Yes, oh, yes, El, but…" he hurried over to her, kneeling on the ground at the edge of the grasses she'd collected. She immediately put her hand to his neck and stared into his eyes.

"I don't think we should wait anymore," she whispered, and her voice was high and tight.

"What?! Why not?"

She swallowed. "Because… they all know now. The real point of waiting was so they wouldn't scent us and guess. Now they know. However they're going to react, it's going to happen, regardless. All we're doing is torturing ourselves." She swallowed and leaned in until they were nose to nose. "Aaryn when you touched me this afternoon, I was on fire. My entire body trembled. I wanted you. Badly. I was still feeling it when we went to dinner. If it feels that good when we haven't completed the bond, imagine what it's going to be like when we do?!"

Aaryn groaned. No. No, no, no. She couldn't do this to him. That afternoon had been magical, but it had almost pushed him over the edge. He needed her to be the strong one!

"El, we can't—"

"Yes, we can, Aaryn. I'm saying yes. And it's up to me, right?" she whispered.

He stared at her full lips as she spoke and the mating call rolled in his throat. She had that hand clasped at the back of his neck and was pulling him in.

He wanted to go to her. Badly.

Then she slid her other hand up his thigh to cup him through his leathers and kissed him, her tongue flicking into his mouth to tease at him, and he groaned for real.

"El… stop…"

"No."

"Please, we have to—"

She found his hand and brought it to her breast, pressing it against her and Aaryn shivered. He hadn't expected this… this onslaught! It was unfair! He wasn't prepared. He'd known they would play tonight. But this? His fire had already been lit that afternoon, and now he was supposed to bank it against this?

He was still arguing with himself when Elreth pushed his vest off of his shoulders, then pulled him down as she lay back down… and he went with her.

Creator forgive him, he couldn't stop.

He couldn't bring himself to stop kissing her, stroking her, kneading her breast, flicking her nipple with his thumb to hear her gasp, rolling his hips against hers.

He couldn't deny himself the sound of her gasps and the tiny whimpers she made when he pressed against her. He couldn't resist the shiver that ran down his spine when she finally got all the buttons on his leather's undone and he sprang into her hand.

He couldn't think twice about yanking the pants off and laying himself over her, letting their hips dance, their most sensitive flesh sliding and sliding, rolling, readying her—readying him!

"El…" he groaned.

"I want you," she murmured between kisses, tilting her hips up so their slide became a whole new type of delicious. "I want you when I want you, not when some stupid ritual says I should have you… I want you when we're alone and no one knows to listen, or to scent us the next day. I want you when we're making a memory, not meeting expectations…"

He growled and arched over her, pressing against her harder than he ever had, his hands clawing into her, sucking on her nipple hard enough to make her cry out.

Her head dropped back and she clutched at his lower back, her fingers digging into him so he growled with approval.

Then, as they slid together, suddenly he was there—right there—and they both froze. He need only press a hair harder, tilt his hips, and he would take her and they would complete the bond and she would be his mate utterly.

He lifted his head and they stared at each other.

"El—"

"Please, Aaryn," she breathed, her eyes silvered with tears. "Please. I can't lose you."

"You'd never lose me, Elreth—"

"I want you to be mine," she whispered urgently. "No more questions, no more delays. If my parents can end up in this place, anyone can—and that's with the bond!"

His stomach dropped as he heard what she wasn't saying—as her reasons for urgency suddenly became clear to him.

"…I won't let anything take you from me, Aaryn, please!"

He let himself sag over her, reminding himself the waiting wasn't for the tradition of it, it was to show the people how they meant to rule together. How they planned to remember history and respect the old ways even when they changed things…

They lost the contact, and she whimpered again, but not with heat this time. With desperation. "Please, Aaryn, don't—"

"No, El, stop," he whispered, taking her lips gently—without the fire he'd had a moment before. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. No matter what."

"I know you aren't, but we can't know! We can't know what's going to come tomorrow. I want you all mine, no matter what they say—"

"I am, El, I promise. I'm here. I'm yours. Completely."

"But—"

"No, El, listen…" he rolled them onto their sides and forced himself to relax, to keep his eyes from her nakedness and hold her gaze instead. "You don't have to be afraid. I've waited years for you. I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

"But!"

"No buts, El. No buts. You don't have to be afraid. I promise. Shhhhhh… my beautiful girl, shhhhhh…"

She'd begun to cry, clutching at his shoulders and pulling herself into him.

His cursed body still knew she was naked and ready and responded. But it wasn't what she needed. So he pulled her in close and kept whispering, stroking her hair away from her face, and holding himself on a tight leash.

While she cried, then just clung to him, he continued to stroke her hair and back, that sick dread creeping up his spine again now that his favorite distraction was gone.

But every word he spoke was true.

Forever.

Together.

No. Matter. What.

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