Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Requiem in Reverse ❯ Chapter 1

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes, I know. I've fallen into the trap of `youkai in heat sex' cliché fic, which I'd been so careful to avoid doing until now, even if I do enjoy reading it. All is not happy and fluffy like most stuff I've seen along these lines, but still…Damn me. Oh, well. I suppose it had to happen sooner or later. Just chalk it up to temporary weakness courtesy of vacationing in foreign climates. All that tropical air is messed with the mind. =P

 

Anyway, this was meant as a one-shot though I've left it open for more to be added later if I get the inclination, and even have ideas to possibly add Kurama and Yusuke into the mix. Other fics I've got going have priority for me right now, this was more of a whim. So…lets just leave this as a one-shot for now, okay?

 

Hope you enjoy. Until later, folks!

 

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The shaking overtook him a scant few minutes after he saw his Shura off safely, bound for a friend's stronghold where he was to remain for the next month with the keeper assigned to accompany him for his safety. It was good that his son was out of possible harm's way but it was unfortunate that Yomi couldn't say the same for himself. His skin crawled while his flesh trembled with involuntary tension and a single goal crowded his thoughts, threatening to drown out all that made him who he was and leave only a mindless beast in the wake of destruction.

 

Yomi cursed.

 

And then he ran.

 

He dove into the surrounding wilds bordering the outskirts of Gandara, the signs of civilization and technology he'd worked so long and hard to bring into Makai fading away as he ran. All else fell away from him - all except for the pounding in his heart, the heat in his blood, and the bitter taste of need in his mouth.

 

There was no help for it now.

 

He had done what he rarely ever did these days - he had made a major miscalculation. And he wasn't used to it.

 

His original intention to head straight back to his stronghold after seeing his son head off safely and then confining himself to complete isolation for the next month was lost. Now he had to find somewhere else where he wouldn't come into contact with anyone until the fever working its way through his system had passed. He would go deeper into the forests of Makai, find an area further within that was lacking indications of any intelligent life, and then erect a warded barrier around himself that would conceal his scent, youki, and other aspects of his form from detection, as well as those of others. That's what he would do. That is -

 

If he could hold onto the coherency of his mind long enough to do it.

 

As if to mock him, a fresh fiery surge if heat flashed through him, a strong force swelling inside and overtaking him, pushing all senses urging for release. But no matter what his tension-wracked body shrieked, he didn't want this and tried his best to ruthlessly beat it back, cling to the last vestiges of control and subdue the flaming roar in his veins even as he continued to run.

 

But it was no use.

 

Unable to hold it in, Yomi threw his head back and screamed.

 

oOoOoOo

 

Weird.

 

That was the predominant thought in one Yukimura Keiko's mind. Maybe she had inadvertently fallen asleep somehow and been sucked into a strange dream world. Any other speculation was too unnerving to contemplate to explain how one moment she was standing outside the florist's shop clutching a bouquet of yellow roses and then, in the next, she was -

 

Not.

 

Definitely not at the florist's shop.

 

Severely disoriented, not to mention baffled, by the sudden shift in scenery, she had just enough time to discern that she wasn't even in Tokyo anymore when, as if that wasn't enough, she noticed something coming towards her. Hurtling towards her actually.

 

Directly towards her.

 

Fast.

 

Oh, God. Please just let this be a dream, was all Keiko had time to frantically think and then that hurtling form was on top of her before she could even think of attempting to get out of its way, before she could even get a clear glimpse as to what `it' was. All she knew was that one moment she was standing in panic and the next she was knocked to the ground, the impact forcing all the air out of her lungs with a low whoosh while somewhere in the process the bouquet of yellow roses fell away.

 

How long she lay like that, she wasn't sure. But it was dark. Which was strange because it was daytime, she was sure it was. But it was dark.

 

And that didn't make sense.

 

The odd puzzle gave her the strength to push past the panic clawing at her and give her back her ability to reason…only to register the heavy weight pinning her, the harsh breathing that wasn't her own, and the heated warmth that dampened her cheeks with every pant. It was then that she came to the realization that, at some point amidst the flurry of activity, she had squeezed her eyes shut. But as the weight didn't move, the breathing never changed, the heated wafts of air that brushed her flesh didn't abate, Keiko knew that she had to open her eyes and see for herself what new trouble she suddenly found herself pulled into.

 

Screwing up her courage while she trembled in trepidation and fear, she told herself there was nothing to be afraid of even as another voice screamed - Yes, there is! Swallowing around the lump in her throat, she slowly opened her eyes and -

 

Immediately wished she hadn't.

 

Oh, God, I'm going to die!

 

A scream choked off in a throat gone too dry to make a sound. Cinnamon brown eyes widened in terror upon gazing at the fiercesome visage snarling down at her from scant inches away while -

 

His eyes were closed?

 

And he wasn't…doing anything. Well, except for breathing on her.

 

Weird.

 

In her long line of experience of being kidnapped and used to blackmail Yusuke, this was usually the point where her kidnapper would start inflicting pain, mind control, or start bragging about himself or his evil plans, actions that were usually accompanied by vicious glares. Though her fear didn't disappear, it did abate when it seemed that this particular youkai - and he had to be one given the horns and multiple ears - didn't have any immediate plans to eat or harm her. In fact, he seemed to be…

 

Trembling?

 

Definitely weird.

 

“…ama…Ku…rama…”

 

The sounds came out roughly, almost desperately as if they were being dragged from a closed throat and Keiko's breath caught at the familiar name that she had not been the one to voice. Hope flared within her that maybe she'd be able to find a way out of this mess after all.

 

Her words were tentative. “Are you a…friend of Kurama-san's?”

 

“…yesss…”

 

“Oh!” she gasped in relief. “That's good.”

 

Not for him, it wasn't.

 

Yomi cursed inwardly as his tension-riddled body wouldn't allow him to do outwardly. Since the moment he had caught her scent and had been drawn towards her, up until the moment that he had thrown himself on top of her, he hadn't been completely sure just what it was he was going to do once he had her in his hands, whether to kill her or-

 

He clenched his jaw at the other thought that arose. He didn't need those kinds of thoughts right now, his control was already as shaky as was and he wasn't sure just how much longer he could hold back. The only thing he was sure of was that he couldn't kill her, not now.

 

She knew Kurama.

 

Only when he had been airborne as he leapt at his captive had that unmistakable scent been detected around her, familiar and smelling of more than just the roses that she'd been carrying. He could hear the relief that had flooded her voice when he'd claimed himself as Kurama's friend, knew that somehow she was important to him for all of Yomi's research into the life of Youko Kurama upon being forced into the human world as Minamino Shuichi indicated that only those there closest to him would know his true form, his true name.

 

And that was what made this all so difficult.

 

Especially since she was human.

 

Though he could not see, his sight forever lost to him, the senses he'd enhanced to overcome that handicap told him that there wasn't even the smallest traces of youki within her small body that, pressed again him from chest to toe, was all too feminine. Ignoring the lust that flared in his blood at the realization, he clung to his thoughts as he reasoned things through.

 

Obviously, she was completely human. Obviously, she had not been claimed as there were no indications of the changes that inevitably occurred with a claiming mark, no matter what race was being mated with a youkai. And, just as obviously, she was somehow on good terms with Kurama for her to be alive despite her knowledge about the truth of his nature. Yomi was fairly certain that not even Kurama's human mother knew. And as Yomi did not wish to break the recently formed truce between Kurama and himself, he could not harm this female who was acquainted with him.

 

That left him with only one option, even if it wasn't one of his choosing.

 

Then again, none of this was.

 

He cursed his race, the kind of youkai that he was. His mating cycle only hit every three hundred years, which was longer that those of other youkai types and shorter than others. But he didn't care about the others, not now. He had always hated the lack of control that came with such cycles, being reduced to a mindless lusting beast that craved only one thing with the most available female that met the criteria, no matter whether he'd ever met the female in question before or not. And he'd been successful so far in avoiding following through with the urge when his cycles had come upon him by finding somewhere that he could isolate himself so completely that there had been little chance of having a female cross his path with the ability to trigger his full cycle.

 

Until now.

 

He had no desire to be truly mated, to a human no less. He already had a son without the unwanted need for mating that usually came with the creation of a child. And if he could kill the woman before him sparking the urges riding him, the target focus of his mating cycle would disperse in search of someone new, someone alive, and might just allow him the extra time he needed to barricade himself in warded shields before that someone new could be found to tempt him. That had been the vague initial plan he'd formed upon first seeing her but-

 

She knew Kurama.

 

He had to change his plans. Again. And not even he could predict where everything would lead.

 

Still, there was still something that he needed to know…

 

“Kurama,” he growled out, relieved he somehow sounded slightly more coherent even as he struggled to find the right words he wanted to say through the red haze of lust clouding his mind. “His scent…you smell like him.”

 

“W-What?” she stuttered in confusion. “Oh. Oh, that. He helped me pick out some roses today. That must be why.”

 

Black hair streamed over her as he shook his head. That hadn't been what he wanted to ask. He had the words in his mind; he just needed to make them come from his mouth as well. It was important, very much so to him, and he concentrated on presenting to her the question he most needed the answer to.

 

“Kurama…are you…his?”

 

“W-What?” She stumbled over the idea. “You mean- What?”

 

He snarled impatiently, “Are you his?!”

 

“Why- N-No. No. I'm -”

 

Whatever words she might have said next were cut off, swallowed in a feral mouth as it claimed hers in possession. He had his answer; she didn't belong to Kurama no matter what else kind of relationship she had with him. At least Yomi had one less thing to worry about and was able to keep a few pieces of whatever remained of his shredded dignity and honor intact.

 

Thank the Gods that his son wasn't here to see this.

 

The thought acted like a splash of Makai's coldest waters from the ice island of Koorime and brought him back to himself, if only for the moment. He wasn't a fool and knew the respite wouldn't last long. He didn't have much time so he took advantage of the lapse and wasted no preamble.

 

“What do you know about the mating cycle?” he demanded of the dazed young woman panting beneath him.

 

“…what mating cycle?”

 

A soft curse was spoken in a tone too low for her to make out the words, but Keiko suddenly had a bad feeling. Not that she hadn't had one the moment the world around her shifted, quite literally too, but what she was feeling now was twice as worse and only mounting as time ticked by.

 

Oh, God. I kissed him! No, wait. He kissed me! Argh! What does it matter? We kissed!

 

Guilt, anger, shame and a host of other emotions rushed through her in a confusing mix. What was going on? She didn't know this youkai so she couldn't say what his normal way of dealing with unacquainted females was, but she knew who she was - or at least she had - and falling into a strange male's kiss was not something she normally did-

 

No matter how hot he made her feel!

 

And she didn't even know his name.

 

Shame and guilt surged. She might not have had sex yet, but that didn't mean she was a complete innocent. She loved Yusuke, after all, and two people who were engaged were allowed to be involved in sexual acts, weren't they? Though they'd never gone all the way; her conservative nature had always kept them restricted to heavy petting but Yusuke had never complained.

 

Well, not too much anyway.

 

But that was then. And, now…now she was feeling and doing these things with- with-

 

A choked cry clogged in her throat, her mind unable to finish the disgraceful thought. Filled with shame and other things she didn't want to even think about, she twisted and struggled to break free, to get away from the cause of it all. But his weight was heavy on hers and, as she squirmed, it only settled more deeply upon her in reaction until she couldn't move at all, though that didn't mean she didn't try.

 

“Stop that!” he ordered harshly, “unless you want our problem to get worse.”

 

“Wha-?”

 

She immediately stilled. Blood drained from her face then rushed back in a hot flush so quick it made her dizzy. From what little experience she did have, she knew what that bulge pressing against her thigh meant and all she knew about the evil nature of both human and youkai told her that it didn't bode well for her safety.

 

“A-Are you going to rape me?” she managed to choke out. “Because if you are-”

 

“Believe me,” he growled grimly. “It's not going to come to that.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Just what I said, though you may come to wish otherwise.”

 

“What?!” Anger pushed past fear. “How dare you imply that I-”

 

“You're not going to have a choice in the matter. Either way.”

 

Keiko sputtered indignantly.

 

“I asked before. I'll ask once more - What do you know about the mating cycle?”

 

As the silence between them progressed after harshly spoken words had died off, he didn't think she was going to answer. Though this was their first encounter, her constant struggling to get away until he'd pressed his weight further on her to subdue all movement indicated that she was stubborn, perhaps dangerously so considering she knew Kurama. It might have been the urgency in his voice, or even something else, but whatever it was finally granted him the answer he'd been seeking.

 

Which didn't turn out to be very much.

 

“The only thing I know about it,” came her subdued sounding voice, “is what I've read in school books. And those only pertain to the animals in my world. Humans don't have anything like it.”

 

“So you know nothing about the mating cycle among youkai?”

 

“No.”

 

Not good. “Kurama told you nothing at all about it?”

 

“No! He never volunteered and I never had a reason to ask about…that.”

 

Not good at all. There was too much to go into and, since she was human and he'd had little need to pay attention to that aspect of the cycle, even he didn't completely have all the answers. He didn't have much longer; the need that had never gone far away was creeping back upon him. Though there was no rule that stated he had to explain events to her before they happened, perhaps it would make the road ahead of them a bit easier to traverse. He had no particular liking for humans, or anyone for that matter, but he could smell her fear and could relate to the experience of not knowing, of being out of control with…everything.

 

And it was his fault she'd been pulled out of her world and into his.

 

Maybe it was guilt, maybe it was one of the side effects of the cycle. Maybe it was even another force involved. Whatever it was, there was something within him that wanted to give her some understanding of what was to happen, to make it less terrifying. So he gave her the shortest version that he could.

 

“All youkai,” Yomi explained, “must go through a mating cycle at set intervals. The intervals set depend on the breed of youkai one is born into. Mine is set at every three hundred years.”

 

“Three hundred years?!”

 

“Yes. And the start of my mating cycle happens to begin today.”

 

“Start? Forgive me for being rude but…just when does it end?”

 

“After mating.”

 

“Mating as in…?”

 

“Sex,” he stated bluntly, then tensed as she squirmed in a new fruitless effort to get away. “It's no use. If it were a simple matter of releasing you, I would, but I can't. It's beyond either of us now. I can only ask you to bear with it a month at the most-”

 

“A month!”

 

“But as you'll enjoy the experience, I-”

 

“A mon- Wait a minute. Did you just say that I'll enjoy it?!”

 

“Yes.”

 

“You- I can't believe your nerve! How dare you claim that I'll-”

 

“You won't have a choice.”

 

“Jerk! You implied it wouldn't be rape. But you just said that I won't have a choice, that I'll enjoy it! I can't believe-”

 

She gasped as he suddenly pressed harder against her, pressed that harder against her. It wasn't anything new; after all, he'd been pressed against her the entire time. But the surging reaction within her…that had her worried.

 

She felt wet.

 

It wasn't as if she'd never experienced it before, but it had never, ever been with a complete stranger. Horns and extra ears aside, she could admit that he was one of the handsomest males she'd ever seen. But it had always taken more than good looks to keep her interest and it couldn't explain why she felt the way she did now for this unknown youkai who, contrary to her more frightening encounters with the kind, didn't really seem as if he wanted to hurt her.

 

He shifted again and her body involuntarily rolled towards his. She shuddered pleasurably at the contact even as her thoughts were tainted with panic at the uncontrollable actions of her body.

 

Why was this happening?!

 

“Pheromones,” was the reply, and it was only then that Keiko realized that she'd spoken her thought aloud.

 

She shook her head. Pheromones?

 

As if in answer to her this time unspoken thought, came the response, “All youkai possess them, some release small quantities constantly. But during the mating cycle, the normal amount of the pheromones secreted exponentially increases to lessen potential injuries with combative mates by ensuring that both partners take pleasure in the act, whether either wants to or not.”

 

A cold feeling iced over her as his meaning sank in. “No!”

 

“I'm sorry,” he said heavily before his lips skimmed over hers. “But I don't have a choice in the matter either.”

 

His mouth settled over hers and the low buzzing hum in her blood that had taken root since his body had thrown itself over hers suddenly roared to vibrant life. Her senses were overtaken by him - his scent, his taste, his touch, the hard press of his flesh against hers.

 

Somewhere amidst the chaos of it all, Keiko was vaguely aware that he had shifted while his mouth engaged hers and he was no longer pinning her into place. She could move now and she did.

 

But not to get away.

 

Her arms wound around him of their own accord, following urgings that weren't hers but commanded by a nameless beast that seemed to be devouring everything she was and centering it all on the male who became the entire focus of her world. Her hands fisted in the material of the strange robes he wore, twisting and clawing at the cloth until it draped lopsidedly from his limbs. While part of her was abhorred by her uncharacteristically wanton behavior, the other part absolutely reveled in the reward of finally feeling the muscled flesh of his back skimming under her palms, feeling the scrape of his skin beneath her nails as they raked down.

 

Yomi groaned at the sensation, body arching into hers in reaction. Never had he dreamed that giving into the instincts driven by his mating cycle would be so wonderful. Once the haze of lust had been lifted after mating, perhaps he would regret it. But with the addicting rush of sensations flooding through him, that event was too far away for him to think about. For him, there was only the now and the woman he had beneath him.

 

Wanting more, reveling in the textures of female that he'd denied himself for so long, his mouth skimmed from hers over smooth skin and down to the hollow of her neck. He could practically feel the vibrations of violently beating pulse in the air, felt it against his lips, heard the thumping pumping sound of blood and smelled it beneath fragile layers of skin. Unable to resist, he laved the tempting spot with his tongue, enjoying the way she shuddered and arched her neck in response as if pleading for more.

 

Yomi was all too happy to oblige.

 

He shrugged out of the clothes dangling loosely from his frame and then turned his attention to returning the favor. The clothes she wore were odd but he didn't take the time to ask her how they fastened. He heard popping and tearing as he divested her of her garments, but cared for nothing but the feminine flesh that was bared to his hands.

 

And his tongue.

 

She tasted sweet. He liked it.

 

He scraped his teeth roughly over the roundness of her breast, giving the nipple that crowned it a sharp nip. She jerked against him with a tiny mewl and he liked that too. In fact, as he breathed in her sweet spiciness and the scent of her seemed to permeate his system, he was enjoying all of her reactions to his ministrations. Perhaps it was because of the cycle or maybe it was just her. But she was amazingly responsive to his every touch and, despite his lack of control over the situation, it made him feel overwhelmingly powerful and male.

 

With a pleased rumble vibrating in his chest, his hands alternately smoothed and kneaded a path over her flesh. Lustful instinct guided him to the place that was calling to him the most and it wasn't long before the source of her slickest heat met the flat of his palm. He curled his hand inward, cupping that feminine mound, and heard her give out a low sharp cry as her hips rolled into him, her legs parting and shifting to tangle over his instinctively.

 

She was flaming hot to the touch.

 

The wet, heated proof of her desire sparked his own. It was there, smeared across his hand, an unmistakable sign that though the foreplay had been little, she was more than ready. Possessed by something more powerful than either of them, his senses inundated by her form writhing beneath him in obvious needy demand, one hand moved unbidden to the fastening of his pants. A quick motion and then it was undone as the material bunched around his thighs.

 

With a low growl, he shifted into position, forcing her splayed legs further apart to make room for his intrusion. He gave one last squeeze to her wet heat, earning him a pleading moan with the action, and replaced his hand with that aching part of him that yearned for her most.

 

As for Keiko, she found the heat coursing through her almost unbearable. It seemed to keep on swelling and swelling inside of her until she felt so full of it that she'd burst from her skin. As if she'd grabbed the wrong end of a frayed electrical wire, constant shocks were shot through her system with everything he was doing to her and it left all her nerve endings sparking with sensation. It might have been crazy, but everything he did seemed designed to drive her higher and higher to some unknown place that she had little knowledge of, but seemed to be calling out for her all the same.

 

The firm press of his lips against her flesh, the smooth muscled harness of his body rubbing over hers, the rough kneading of his hands, the black silkiness of his hair streaming over her skin in multiple caresses, and even the odd smooth-roughness of his frontal horns rasping against in time to whenever he kissed…all of it combined together to thrust her into a zone of pleasure she never dreamed she'd reach.

 

The intense longing that cried out for him was sharp and deep, beyond any words. The most she could manage were mewls and whimpers that plead for more. The biting need tearing at her made her want to pull him over her, to drown in him and have him do the same in her. It was as if a switch had been flipped somewhere deep inside her and she couldn't help but react to his every movement, find every motion he made strangely appealing and intoxicating.

 

And arousing.

 

Then he fitted his body to hers and she felt the press of something more intrusive than the mere palm of his hand wedge itself at the entrance to her body, nudging at the heated wetness he had brought forth. It sent a shockwave tearing through her, had her instinctively opening to invite him further in even as something else inside her opened up with the revelation that -

 

Her body was overheated with neediness in a way it had never been, even with Yusuke. It was wild, out of control, over powering.

 

And completely terrifying.

 

It's what jerked her back from the edge with the cold realization of just exactly what it was that was about to happen. Even as the fire burning inside her shrieked in screeching protest at her actions, even though she felt as if the conflict was ripping her apart with the pain of it, for that moment there was another part of her whose scream was even worse.

 

“Stop!” she cried frantically, almost sobbingly, even as her body canted itself towards his with a will of its own. “Please, stop!”

 

“I can't,” he growled, though his movements hesitated. “I can't.”

 

“Even if I told you I'm still a virgin?”

 

It was an embarrassing admission to make to someone she didn't know, but nothing about this encounter was without the humiliating emotion and she was desperate. Her heart and mind were completely against this, but the need clawing at her even now was shamefully more overpowering. She couldn't depend on herself to stop this, not with her body betraying her at every turn. She could only call on someone else to put an end to this insanity.

 

And, for a moment, when he froze above her, she thought she'd succeeded.

 

“I'm sorry,” he told her, strain and sincerity evident in his voice. “I never meant to involve someone like you.”

 

Keiko believed him. “Then you'll let me go?”

 

He shook his head, breath rasping harshly as his body shook alarmingly with the strain of holding back. Even that concession was almost too much.

 

“But why?!” she cried desperately. Tears welled and streamed as, even now, her flesh clamored for his, opening for him no matter how her mind raged against it. She could only scream aloud what her body didn't, “I don't want this!”

 

“I know…and I don't want this either.”

 

“Then why don't you stop?” she choked tearfully.

 

“I can't,” he growled again, just as the last of his control shattered.

 

And then he plunged in.

 

Keiko screamed. It was high-pitched and loud but it wasn't from pain. Her body was already too far-gone for that as the breaking of the last protective barrier to her innocence merely served to pile on top of the pleasure that filled her to bursting with sensations so myriad and intense that it was already almost at pain. Whatever protesting thoughts she'd had prior were splintered away and the thrusting youkai caught up in the mating haze drove in and drove in deep and she didn't think there'd be an end.

 

But then there was. He sank in until their bodies crashed together with nowhere else to go at the same time that he sank his teeth in the flesh of her neck, biting down with a force vicious enough to draw blood.

 

Skin broke and Keiko screamed again.

 

The cries that echoed high through the forest resembled nothing human. But nothing about the flaming sensations coursing through her did as pain and pleasure tore over her in a confused mix while bright lights exploded over her eyes and her body shook and trembled under and around him. Caught up in the violent whirlwind sweeping through her and leaving behind a shuddering mass, she was only vaguely aware that he might be doing the same. So strong was the force, and so long, that it seemed the meaning of time had no beginning and no end.

 

But all things had an end, eventually.

 

The fire that crackled between them slowly died down, subdued but not completely gone, never that. And Yomi shifted his weight slightly, raising himself from where he'd ungentlemanly collapsed on top of her while wondering what an exhaustedly panting human female's reaction would be to what had just occurred. It was unfortunate, but he didn't have long to wait.

 

She burst into tears.

 

Alarmed, Yomi drew back a little, at a loss for what to do next. He'd had virtually no experience in dealing with such moods from females, or anyone for that matter. He was more used to others reacting with the intent to kill, not this emotional display. Even his son reacted with more seemingly hate-filled responses instead of this…heartbreak.

 

And that bothered him.

 

He didn't know why, but it bothered him.

 

“I'm such an idiot,” he heard her whisper harshly through hiccupping sobs. “H-How could I do this?”

 

That, at least, he had an answer to, even if it wasn't all that comforting. “You couldn't help it.” The gentleness in his voice amazed him and he wondered if she noticed. “No one can once he, or she, is caught in the grips of it.”

 

A choked laugh that could never be called humorous was his only response.

 

And she kept laughing.

 

It was a disturbing reaction and he tried opening his senses to her, feel anything that might give him an idea of what to do with her in this situation. However, aside from thinking that humans were dirty and weak, he didn't have enough knowledge of them to know what it was that he needed to look for. As she continued to laugh that sobbing choked sound, he worried that the experience had broken her mind.

 

But surely the mating call would never have brought him someone that weak?

 

Then he gasped as a surge of heat streaked through him while muscles seemed to clench around him in reaction where he was still buried within her. He could feel the pull of need again, even as her body went very, very still beneath him.

 

And the laughing had stopped.

 

“W-What was that?”

 

He might have laughed himself at her naïve question if she hadn't sounded so scared. But he restrained himself and merely replied, “The same thing that brought you here.”

 

“N-No! I can't!”

 

“You don't have a choice,” he told her again.

 

He shifted inside her, couldn't help himself, and heard her hiss. It could have been a hiss of anger, but that didn't mean she didn't still enjoy the friction of sliding flesh rubbing against each other, not if the way her body clenched around him like a wet velvet fist was any indication.

 

He didn't know what she was thinking and, with the need creeping through him again, he didn't much care. He just wanted to satisfy the hungry craving that kept clawing at him, a voracious monster that allowed him no respite.

 

And, from her reaction, he thought that she probably felt the same way.

 

“Ungh.” She moaned as he moved again. “How long did you say this lasts again?”

 

“A month.”

 

“Oh, God!”

 

She could only groan helplessly as the heat surged again and reason was burned away in the fire suddenly roaring through her blood, drowning out everything else. Thinking of nothing, feeling only his body as it began pounding into hers in desperate searching thrusts, she unconsciously threw her arms around her new lover as she let go and gave in. And as the two reluctant mates entwined moved to a primal beat heard by none but them, all the while…

 

Bright light twinkled off a sparkling diamond ring on her hand.

 

And, not too far away, yellow roses wilted in the sun.

 

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the end ?