With a sudden flurry of conflicting emotions that races through me, I run outside, away from Klevon, who doesn't make any move to stop me. My heart pounds with an intensity that I had never felt before. My mind is a jumble of thoughts, my hair flowing behind me like a flag as I run.
Outside, the night is calm and peaceful. The air is crisp and clear. The full moon above cast its gentle glow on the landscape, but it doesn't mirror what I feel now.
I run towards the tree where Theo gave me a ring with the Pitchford crest. I want to be near him. I want to feel his embrace and to know that whatever we had was real. That this disgust I am feeling over myself can still be cleansed.
I am relieved when I see him leaning over the tree. He stands up upon seeing him.
"Kaiya," he says. "Is it done?"
Instead of answering, with a sudden rush of emotion, I run towards him, and like an animal, I attack him with a flurry of kisses. He is taken by surprise that he stumbles backward with his arms around me.
And yet, I never stopped. I straddle him while pulling his head closer to me, kissing him with so much passion, as if my life depended on it.
I am panting with such a desire that I claw at his cheeks. "I want you inside, Theo. Take me in like an animal. Take me roughly over and over under the moonlight," I hiss at him, my nails drawing blood at his cheeks.
Without asking more questions, he rips my underwear off and lifts my waist. My body bends as I take him in, feeling him so pronounced inside and deliciously throbbing. And then, we move in a frenzied passion. It's nothing like I experienced before. I am swept away by a storm of emotion as I move my hips up and down, impaling myself in him, and trembling in a raised desire, that I only feel for him. The intensity between us is overwhelming, yet it feels so, so right.
When we both release, he shelters me in his arms. I feel his warmth, his strength, and his love. I feel safe with him. And before long, I am kissing him again with gusto.
Suddenly, he lifts me up, and we transfer to a hidden part of the garden. He lays me down on the grass and bunches my skirt up.
"Kaiya…" he whispers.
He takes hold of my ankle and kisses them. I moan, and then his mouth moves down to my calves, my inner legs, and my crotch. He sucks on me as if cleaning it with both our juices.
He continues to move his tongue around my center and then laps on my folds, licking and tasting until I am releasing on his mouth again, without restriction.
Letting my tremors die down, he drops on my crotch again, repeating the process of making me crazy. Electricity and nonstop pleasure radiate through my body. His tongue goes inside, and he clings to my legs, licking and sucking, making me scream his name repeatedly.
"Theo, please..." I beg. "I want you inside again."
He moves up and rips my dress to kiss my feverish body. And as his mouth clamps on my breast, I know I am completely in love with him. I am floating, and on his first thrust inside again, I am overwhelmed by another orgasm.
He gazes at me intently, his eyes glimmering in the moonlight as if he is worshipping my body, making it shiver in an acute need for him.
"Kaiya…" he calls again, pushing against me.
"Oh, oh, Theo..."
He moves slowly now, letting it last as long as possible as if he doesn't want it to end. I wrap my legs around him and move my hips in a synchronized fashion with his. And while he is pounding inside me, I know that for a moment, everything is perfect.
"I love you, Theo," I whisper.
He pauses, and with one final thrust, he releases inside me. His seed is warm against me. He grabs and lifts me, his hold on me too tight that I feel like my ribs will crack.
"I love you too, Kaiya," he murmurs. "As long as I am alive. Forever."
Without a word, I take hold of his manhood and take him into my mouth this time.
"No, don't!" he starts but stops complaining when I suck him.
My head bobs up and down, and soon, he releases inside my mouth. I swallow it, and he grabs my mouth and sucks my lips-too much that I feel like they will fall off.
And soon, I find myself writhing underneath him again. We make love over and over again in the garden, conjoined in our nether regions, our delirious, frantic passions with no end in sight.
It was not until the early morning light that we decided to stop, but only in the garden. When we return to his room, we make love again until the bath is pulled into the room. And even then, we didn't stop. We continue in the tub until the water temperature goes tepid, until we are so sore that we just lie in the tub–heaving, sore and exhausted.
"I shouldn't have taken you that night you were almost reaped," he whispers.
"It's not your fault. Making love with you is not the catalyst. The Moon Goddess is just getting impatient."
After a while, "I thought you had sex with Klevon before," he whispers while his mouth is on my shoulders, nibbling along the way, and I rub his arm around my naked body.
"We didn't. As I know now, it's hard to have sex with someone who is not my mate. Worse, I will become an animal and attack you again."
"You did attack me," he says. "I have bruises all over my body."
I face him and see that his shoulders and chest are riddled with my bite marks. I lightly touch it, and he winces.
"I am sorry. I lost it last night."
He grins, "So penetration can't be done while you have another mate, huh?"
I nod, afraid of the repercussions.
"So, we need to break the mate bond for you to bear another man's child," he states.
"I don't want to," I say like a child. I move closer to him and wrap my arms around his neck before hiding my face in the nook of his neck and shoulders.
Theo embraces me while he massages my back. "You said it before. We need to trust that we will stay together even if we are no longer bound by a mate bond."
"But I am a she-wolf! Mate bonds control us!"
"I know it is a risk, but I would rather trust your love than lose you."
"And if I mate with another?!"
Theo tightens his hold on me and takes a sniff of me. And for a moment, it feels like everything will be alright.
"I will still love you, irrevocably," he says. "Even if I no longer have your heart."
A wave of sadness washes over me. I close my eyes, fearing what's coming.
"Is there another choice?"
"None are presented yet. But we need to break the mate bond as soon as possible while you are still conscious, while whatever Inanna has done for you is still working against the Moon Goddess."
After taking a deep breath, I stand and escape from his embrace.
"Kaiya..." he calls as I take my clothes and wear them.
Reaching the door, I say to him, "Let me think about it for the entire day. Once I am decided, I will come here tonight and tell you."
When he nods, I close the door and run to my room. And there, I weep, confused, while at the crossroads of my life.