The Unexpected Inheritances

Chapter 15

Disclaimer:

- this - means thoughts

this means creature talking in head

"this" means normal talking

Severus's P.O.V.

I don't remember falling asleep, but I must have, because I wake up warm and comfortable, except for the painful throbbing in my chest, shoulders, and face. At first I don't remember what had happened, then it all comes rushing back to me.

James, my mate, escaping, the chimera, the fox....

No, not the fox, James's fox. My mate. My mate saved me.

I told you, I told you, he doesn't hate us, he doesn't, Axel saved us, he saved us, he loves us, he does, he does!

I....I....

"Severus?" Mate.

I open my eyes, blinking at the light. It's bright at first, but I realize it's actually getting dark. It was just after breakfast when- when I fell asleep. We must have been out here all day. Because we're still out here- a quick look around shows we're still outside the chimera's den. The chimera who lies a few feet away, head a few inches away from its body.

And James. James, not the lazy, arrogant bully, but James the kitsune, James my dominant, James my mate. He lies next to me, so close I can feel his body heat. So close that it's not until I lower my eyes so as not to meet his that I realize he is naked. I blush madly, squeezing my eyes shut again, but the shape of him is imprinted in the back of my eyelids- his smooth tan skin and muscles and hips and legs and- no, stop it, Severus.

He chuckles lightly, not meanly, and the sound is so sweet I want to hear it over and over and over until I die. He brings a hand to my cheek, rubbing a thumb across my blush, and I can't help but lean into it. He stops chuckling abruptly.

"My mate, my Severus.", he says solemnly. And I realize, even if Nat was somehow miraculously right, even if he doesn't hate me, I still ran from him. I still disrespected him, my dominant, my mate.

No, no, apologize, quick, quick- but he cuts Nat off.

"I'm so sorry, my darling." Sorry? I open my eyes again, keeping them on his face. He looks sincere, and, in fact, sorry. Sad.

No, he can't be sad, mate can't be sad, make him happy again.

I raise a hand to his face, smoothing out the crease between his brows and running a thumb over his lips to pull them into a smile. I immediately think that I've gone too far- I did it without thinking, I just wanted him to be happy again- but his face splits into a real smile, a smile that makes every single thing in this world okay. Because surely in a world where this smile exists nothing bad can ever happen.

"I'm glad you're okay. I don't know what I would have done if...." and then he's sad again. "I'm sorry."

"Why?" And I realize I spoke without being told to, and my stomach drops in fear, because I've already been a bad sub, and-

"Hey, Sev, love, it's okay, it's okay." He pulls my hands away from my face which I didn't even realize I had put there. "You're allowed to speak. You don't need to ask." But... but I want to, I need to, how do I know what to do if he doesn't tell me? I need him, I need him to- "Hey, hey, what's going on up there, darling? What are you thinking about so hard?"

"I-I need to ask. Please."

"Okay. That's more than alright, my love. Whatever you need. You have my permission to speak throughout this entire conversation. Is that okay?" I suck in a breath, nodding. "Good boy, you're so good for me." I chirp happily at his praise, nuzzling further into his hand which is still on my cheek.

We're good, we're good, mate thinks we're good!

"Now, what was your question?"

"Oh, um, why were you sorry?"

"Because you were hurt, Sev, and I wasn't there to save you."

"But.... you were."

"Not soon enough." He moves the hand that was absently running across my chest my hip to my chest, running his fingers gently across the healing wound.

"My fault. I shouldn't've flown away."

"Why did you?" He sounds so sad, and I hate that I made him, my mate, my dominant, sound like that.

"Scared. Thought you would reject me." He still could to be honest.

No, he wouldn't, stop, he saved us, he's holding us, he.... he came after us.

"Oh, Severus, I would never. Never. We were meant to be together. I was made for you, to be yours. I'm yours, Severus." No, that's not right. I'm his.

"But.... but you hated me." There's a pause. Long enough for the tendrils I would dread wind back around my heart, but they're banished as soon as he speaks.

"Emphasis on the past-tense. I only hated you because I was young and stupid and didn't understand the pressure placed on you. But I understand now. I only wish I had then, and maybe I could have helped..."

"No, no, not your fault, stop it." I hate the thought of my mate blaming himself for something he shouldn't. I hate it.

He smiles at me.

"This is why you seemed distant in the dreams, because you thought I would reject you? " I nod, somewhat shyly. "But, you didn't know who I was. How could you have known?"

"You're not the only one who hated me, you know."

"Who? I'll kill them. Sev, I'm serious(sirius), just tell me who and I'll find them and make sure they never-" He looks so angry. I don't want him angry, I want him happy.

I press my forehead against his, effectively distracting him, without considering the consequences. My eyes are so close to his, I can see every speck of color in them. They're basic brown, sure, but a thousand different browns, darker on the outside, almost black, through every shade to the lightest gold around the pupils, which have blown wide. His eyes sparkle with emotion, with strength. The way he looks at me makes me want to melt into this moment and become so intricately part of it that I stay here forever and time never passes.

The hand on my cheek starts tracing my face, the shape of my cheeks and jaw and brow and lips. Without my consent, my tongue darts out to taste his skin. He groans lowly, and the sound makes me keen, going limp against him, my head falling against his shoulder.

"Does it hurt?" I frown, then remember he can't see my face, and I speak instead.

"What?" What could possibly hurt when I'm with him, when everything is light and wonderful? I feel his hand go down to my cheek, running a finger across it in three lines.

"Here. The chimera scratched you." 

"Oh. I can't feel it."

"What about here?" He traces the scratch marks on my chest, making me slightly breathless as I feel his hand brushing against my bare skin. I shake my head because any pain I might have felt is replaced with skin, my mate's skin, on mine. "Or, here?" His hand goes to my shoulder, drawing patterns on the teeth marks. I mumble a no. "Or.... here?" His hand runs over my shoulder to my feathers, and Oh Merlin, that feels like the best thing ever. A moan escapes my lips, and I feel his body go rigid against me.

The hand still on my cheek moves to my chin, lifting my face to his. His eyes are filled with something I can't quite decipher. 

"Oh, mate mine, the things you do to me..."

And then his lips are on mine, and Nat is screaming in my head, and his lips are soft and slightly chapped and warm, and his hand threaded through my wings moves to my hips and everything, everything, is better than it's ever been, and if this moment ever ends I'll just die. Because my mate is kissing me. My mate loves me. And, Merlin, I love him.

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(1325 words. credit to @cameronn__'s story "Be My Wings".)