We ran until the exhilaration of the chase eased Abrođen's anxiety and soothed what was between us, then we wandered through the night-time woodland, hunting game birds to take back to the pack, and falling back into sync once more. With each passing hour, the truth of Fenn’s heritage became more obvious. Just as Leof, even as Conn, had developed a subtle and ever present ‘glow', so too did Ábrođen. The faintest shimmer of runes and patters glinted in his fur, and even the yellow eyes of his wolf became the golden eye of a god., and when we eventually turned back towards Alnford, I knew for certain that I had made the right decision; he would retain control, and his people would learn to trust him and his magic, just as they learned to trust me and mine.
Once we delivered the game birds to the pack's butcher, we returned to Fenn's tipi, and to our less furry forms, where we sat side by side, talking about the pack, the cohort, the alliance between the country's packs and NorVaC, and even Game of Thrones, until Ábrođen began to yawn. When his head nodded for the fourth or fifth time, I pulled him back towards the bed again, and he didn't rebel as I made him lie down once more. He let me lie next to him, gently running my fingers through his dark hair, until his eyes closed and his breathing deepened in sleep. Then I slid, silent, from his bed, because there was another place I needed to be, where I belonged more, but not before I cast a temporary charm, an enchantment which would keep nightmares away, at least for one night. Abrođen would need to face his demons, but he had been free from Tiw for only a matter of days, and I could grant him a little peace.
As I left his tipi and headed back towards my bike, I nodded to other members of his back, and to members of my cohort who went to and from the hall. People smiled back at me, despite the hardships they had faced, and even cubs ran around me feet, doing their best to trip me up while exhausted looking parents attempted to regain control. I chuckled at the antics, knowing that with time, they’d regain their easy-going natures around their Chief too.
When I climbed back onto my bike, the children ran off, playing some game that involved a lot of pouncing at each other and rolling around, and in my mind, I saw two other cubs, twin boys, one with serious nature and the strength of his father, and one with a wanderer’s heart and a dreamer's head. I felt the joy those boys would bring Fenn, and despite the fleeting nature of what Neamhain could offer him, those boys would ensure he always had a reason to be the best he could be, and he would do that for them. Dislike Neamhain though I did, she would give Abrođen something I could not, and I wouldn’t say anything to dissuade that. With any luck, I wouldn't need to say anything on the matter at all, and they would do their own thing without any input from me.
Once my helmet was in place once more, I turned my bike away from Alnford Hall, and headed back along the driveway that cut through the woodland. For the duration of the ride, I forced my mind to stop whirring, to stop chasing every possible event to each potential reward and consequence, and I focussed solely on the growl of my motorcycle as it devoured the road. I enjoyed that freedom, and by the time I pulled into my usual parking bay and made my way back into the house, even my heart felt a little lighter.
My sentries nodded greetings to me, as they came and went from the dojo, and down the hall I could hear the house secretaries typing away or answering phone calls. In the CCTV room, Oliver laughed at something his partner had said or done, while it sounded like someone upstairs, in the recreation room, was mid battle on Star Wars Battlefront. For a moment, I stood listening to my cohort, to my family, going about their lives. A part of it and not a part of it all at the same time.
“I was thinking, if we win this war, we need to consider moving,” Leof appraised from his place, leaning in the door of the security office.
“You want to leave Milbank House?” I asked, my brow creasing at the thought.
“Want to?” he repeated, considering. “No. Not exactly. This has been my home for a long time. Milbank is part of the cohort, as much as any person. But there are other things I want more than a city centre address and the traditional Sire's suite.”
“Oh?” I prompted, choosing not to look at where this conversation would end up, and instead waiting for him to reveal his reasoning.
He straightened, peeling his tall, broad body away from the frame and coming towards me, his hand resting over my abdomen, over the child who didn't share his DNA, but who would be his son regardless, just as surely as his biological son, currently safely growing in my bother body.
“The Sire's suite isn't big enough for us and the animals as it is, let alone us plus children, however many children we have,” he insisted, his lips tipping upwards into a smile. “And I'm sort of hoping you might give me some more daughters too.”
That drew a laugh from me, at least, and I rested my hand over his, against my stomach, which didn't yet hint at a bump, but which would soon swell with the child thriving there. “Oh? Is that right now, husband?”
He grinned and nodded, murmuring “Uh huh, it is,” before kissing me tenderly, his arms slipping around my waist.
“Well then, where do you propose we like instead? What will happen here?” I wondered as I leaned against him, enjoying his proximity.
“I want Milbank to become a... hub, I guess,” he explained, as his hand stroked up and down my back. “Not just a residence anymore, because if the press blocking our doorway constantly proves anything, it's that city centre buildings have no privacy. Instead, I want community resources here; law enforcement and security will remain based here, along with a new Contact Centre.
“There's been so much going on since the Bloodied Hand raided the old Contact Centre, and we haven't gotten around to replacing it, but we'll need to when this is all over, and a sentry presence could keep it safer than the previous facility. Also, Sires will still pay a key role in marriages and registering newly converted vampires, as well as overseeing most funerals, so we could set it up as a registry office of sorts too.
“I really want your opinion on this next bit, though. I thought, maybe, we could have some offices dealing with interspecies relationships too. While the alliances we have only stand until our current battle is won or lost, it would be a shame to undo the achievement that is our cross-species collaboration. We have so many facilities, that opening up the city centre building for vampires, wolves, incubi and succubae, and even humans, might help us to maintain good terms. We could let the pack and the Incubi council use the rooms when they need to have contact with other groups, while we could also have a contact point for human law enforcement to get in touch with and work in tandem with our sentries. I don't want our kind to slide back, when you've brought us so far.”
I smiled to myself as he said ‘our kind', knowing he meant ‘vampirekind', not gods, because just like it was for me, and Syn, and Ve, removing the vampire seemed nowhere near as simple as removing the divine.
“I think that's a wonderful idea,” I admitted, kissing him with enthusiasm. “I agree, we should nurture the friendships we've developed, and a place for cross-species contact as well as for cohort members to contact their Sires seems like something that's long overdue. We should have a press office here too, to handle any official statements we do need to put out to the wider world. But Milbank isn't just our home, and others may not want to leave.”
“I know,” Leof admitted. “It's something we'd need to put to them. But in truth we've been over-crowded here for a while. Even before you joined the cohort. We were meant to provide accommodation for management, sentries, and the newly turned, but over the last century or two, fewer and fewer people have moved out. Our people are crammed into small dorm rooms, and they deserve more.
“Chances are, a lot of those currently in the shelters will want to return to their homes once the risk of being picked off one by one has lessened, which gives us option for where to put Milbank's residents, away from the prying eyes of reporters. We could even keep some of Milbank's rooms as bookable guest rooms, so that if anyone gets stuck in the city at dawn for any reason, they still have a place to wait out the day. Milbank should benefit all of our cohort, not just the people who currently have it as their address.”
“As a concept, I like it. It'll take a little bit of implementing, but it could work, definitely. But what about us? Are you planning on buying us a cottage somewhere with a white picket fence?” I asked, grinning up at him.
He laughed at that, but shook his head and gave me a cocky smirk. “Oh no. I'm an ex-king, don't you know? That would be far too common. Actually, I'm thinking about Alnford Hall. It has vast gardens for children to play in, and for our animals to explore. Plenty space to be converted into apartments, even family accommodation. And it has additional buildings, like the stables and old coach houses, that could be renovated and turned into further living spaces too. Plus, didn't you once dream about our sons running across the atrium there?”
My smile grew, and I held him tighter, in love with him and his plan. “Yes. Yes, I did.”
Brushing my hair back behind my ear, Leof studied me, hesitating a moment before adding, “I don't know if the wolves will want to return to their camp, after what happened there, especially when so many of them are forging close friendships with our people. There's a chance they might stay at Alnford; with their camp where it is now, by the hall, or maybe in the woods... Neamhain said our children would grow up together.”
I stared at Leof in surprise and awe, my jaw hanging open as I tried to grasp what he was offering; a way to be close to both him and Ábrođen. A way for our children to grow up as close as siblings or cousins. A way for me to run with Fenn whenever we wanted, even though we'd both return home to our own spouses. He attempted to give me the world, and asked for nothing in return. Tears stung my eyes at that realisation, because how could I ever deserve this man who loved me so much?
A soft chuckle escaped him, and he cupped my cheeks, wiping tears from them. “Oh, love; you've given me the world many times over, and given yourself up to save it. You sacrificed everything, again and again. Maybe it's time someone gave you the world.”
“I love you,” I promised as I leaned up, capturing his lips with mine. “I love you so much. Forever. Whatever life brings, and whichever way the war goes, I adore you, Leof.”
“I adore you too, mínu Lýtel Cempestre,” he replied without missing a beat. Then deepened the kiss as he lifted me up, holding me against the hard planes of his muscular chest.
My arms slid around his shoulders, and a wiser person might’ve predicted where such proximity would lead. A less shameless woman might have put on the brakes and slowed things down, especially as we were still in a hallway with sentries coming and going around us. But I was neither wise nor ashamed, not when if came to Leof. I'd had enough shame in my lives, and I refused to do anything but revel in the desire that sparked between us, more and more so with each second that we spent together.
His lips brushed my ear, his breath warm on my throat, taunting my senses as he whispered, “I want you, Little Warrior. I want to sink into your body, and worship you until even speech is beyond you. My name will be the only word you remember, and I want to make you scream it, over and over, until we are both sated, and you are too exhausted to move."
A heavy ache flared in my belly, and my awareness of him heighted, until every touch seemed to scald, and every kiss stole my breath. My fingers tangled in his hair, while I nipped across his jaw and down his throat, my lips and teeth teasing his skin, even though I had no fangs. How I wished I could bite him, savour him...
Moaning softly, I pressed my body more firmly against his as I admitted, “I miss how you taste. I miss hearing you groan as I sink my fangs into your flesh. I miss having your mark on my skin, and mine on yours...”
Leof groaned anyway, and the telling strain of his jeans gave away just how much he agreed. He gripped my ass, holding me in place with one hand as he carried me upstairs, ignoring anyone who might’ve been in the entrance hall as he headed back up to the privacy of our suite. Maybe cohort members shook their heads in our direction, or smirked and gave each other suggestive winks, or maybe they smiled because they still felt happy to see us together, united. I don't know. I didn't see. Because all my attention had focussed on the man I wanted above anything else.
His mouth found mine again, his tongue following the curve of my lip, teasing to gain access, and then stroking my own tongue when I opened for him, more than willing to give him anything he wanted. We hadn't even made it to the top floor when his free hand slid under my t-shirt, teasing suddenly too hot skin and sliding upwards to cup my heaving, lace-clad breast. He pinched and rolled a peaked nipple, the sharp pleasure-pain drawing a ragged gasp from me.
I have no idea if anyone saw us. In that moment, I didn't care. Nothing mattered beyond getting Leof naked, to soothe my instinctive craving for him; his body, his heart, his soul. I tore his shirt, pushing it from his shoulders just as we reached the top floor landing, letting it fall to the carpet as I raked my nails over his exposed, shimmering, and heated skin. He hissed, rocking his hips, his erection pressed tight against my apex, even as he pinned me to the wall by the door of our apartment and fumbled with the lock.
Licking and sucking a path down his throat, and nipping over his collar bone, I made sure to bruise his skin, marking him in the only way I could. At the same time, I circled my hips, need pooling in my core, so urgent it grew into a throbbing ache which demanded satisfaction. My fingertips trailed down Leof’s chest, and over the well-defined ridges of his abs, to pop open the button of his jeans and free his impressive length, and all thoughts of getting through the door left his mind as I gripped him, taunting him with each firm stroke of his manhood.
My jeans went the way of his shirt, the torn remnants cast aside as his fingers sought out my core, pressing damp lace against my heat, seconds before my underwear joined the rest of our clothes. Then Leof slammed into me, the abrupt filling of my body sending a shockwave of pleasure through me, so that I cried out and arched against him, needing more; needing everything.
A growl of desire vibrated through my husband as his larger body penned me in, my back against the cool plaster of the wall. The corded muscle of his forearms bunched as he gripped my wrists, pinning them over my head so that I stayed arched, my hips tilted to take him deeper into me. The position left me vulnerable, deliciously so, in a way that no other would ever be permitted to make me feel, but with him, none of the fear I associated with vulnerability remained, because I trusted him completely. If I asked him to stop, he would do so, but I had no intention of stopping him.
When he withdrew, a moan, a plea escaped me, only to become another shout of ecstasy as he slammed into me again, taking me hard and fast, his grip on my wrists, perfect, and magic sparking between us, a tingling burn of raw energy that intensified every touch and sensation. The warmth of his mouth on my skin as he licked at pebbled flesh sent sparks of exquisite pleasure to my throbbing, desperate centre, and when he lifted his head again to watch me, demanding, “Scream for me, love,” as his fingers found the sensitive bundle of nerves at my apex, I had no option but to comply.
I couldn't have wrestled back control even if I'd wanted too, and my body writhed against him as I yelled his name, unaware of anything but him and how perfect it felt to be with him, to be his.
Leof kept up his relentless pace, drawing out every second of my pleasure. Sweat beaded on his skin as his muscles bunched and released with each sure rock of his hips. Then he yelled his own release, spilling into me as aftershocks of pleasure rippled through my clenching core.
“Fuck,” he breathed, when he could finally speak again. Panting, his breath still ragged, he sank to the floor, pulling me onto his lap as we tried to calm our racing pulses and regain the ability to stand.
For some reason, a laugh bubbled up, and within moments, we were both giggling like teenagers, sat naked on the landing outside the Sire's suite, hoping the rest of the cohort had the sense to stay away for a little while longer. I realise then that if I had to tag any scenario as ‘#relationshipgoals', this was it; being entirely inappropriate in a stairwell with the husband I adored.
“I love you,” I told him again.
Leof grinned, his expression almost boyish, despite his missing eye and all the ages and horrors he'd seen, and I could feel the absolute truth behind his declaration as he announced, “I love you too, Little Warrior.”
