Crave (BWWM)

8. Allow the Changes

GAIA's POV

The last few months I've spent with Avalon have been the easiest time I've had in years, and though it's a cause for concern that everything has been so peaceful, I can't help but revel in the calm. Just as promised, Avalon has been nothing but patient with my reluctance to accept the bond. It took me several weeks to finally allow some form of intimacy in our progress to a complete relationship; The heated make-out session we're having right now where I'm on the bathroom sink with him between my legs is a far cry from the tune I was singing in the beginning. It's even more startling with how fast we're moving, but to ease my guilty conscience I blame it on the bond, and right now with his hands on my waist and my hands buried in the mess of dark soft hair, I lose my train of thought and become distracted yet again. Every time his tongue clashes with mine I can't help the soft moans that slip past my lips, the soft caress of his tongue against mine, the way my hands tighten on his shoulder and in his hair every time he releases a soft groan of satisfaction.

"As much as I want to continue love.... we have a ceremony to prepare for.", I panted after pulling away.

Avalon rests his head in the crease of my neck and shoulder, his heavy pants falling on my shoulder. He makes a noise of protest when I move to leave, and I can't help the hands and look him in the eyes, "I'm serious Avalon."

His blue eyes are a darker shade of blue than his usual lighter shade of blue. The smell of his arousal is delectable, and I almost feel bad for leaving him in this painful state. But I understood that Avalon would not cross that line without completing the bond, it was his non-negotiable. I remember the conversation we had where he explained the tradition of the pack when it comes to completing the mate bond.

                                                                        **Flashback**

                       (This scene contains a mixed dialogue without written indicators)

Gaia looked at Avalon with the most alarming expression he's seen since they met, and he couldn't seem to wrap his head around the fact that it was because of him, or rather what he said.

"Are you daft? You want to place MY coven and YOUR pack in the same breathing space with the expectation that no blood would be shed? Even if it is for a few hours to complete the ceremony, it's a terrible idea. Your wolves are far too temperamental. They wouldn't last an hour."

"And if you have not forgotten, our kind bloody hate each other. There is no civility when we are mixed. That might very well be a recipe for disaster.", Thomas spoke exasperatedly.

"This has always been pack tradition performed by many of my ancestors. An alpha of this pack must complete the bond like this when the Luna is not a wolf.", he explained.

"Okay, what is the process of this...ceremony your people practice?"

Gaia removed herself from the wall she was leaning on and took a seat on one of the chairs in Avalon's office. Thomas stood behind the chair she took a seat in on alert. Avalon disliked the fact that another male was always around his mate, even at times when he wasn't there but what could he do? Thomas and Gaia had a bond Avalon wasn't sure he could ever replace. And sometimes that worried him more than it should, especially when Gaia told him he had no reason to be jealous of Thomas and to put his trust in her if not her mweya.

"It's not much work at all. You and I will make an oath to the gods we serve under a full moon. Your coven and my pack will bear witness to the completion of the bond as we exchange pledges and that's it."

"My mother always spoke of a story passed down for generations of alpha that the first alpha of this pack created the ceremony to prove his love for his mate who was not a werewolf to those who disagreed with their mixed-species bond, but he never got the chance to before they both died. His brother who later became alpha set the tradition in stone just as his brother had wanted.", Avalon recapped briefly from the stories his mother would tell him and his brother.