I've learned to live with these fatal gifts
and still you're mine
Perhaps that is what had drawn them together. The matching wildness in their souls. The way in which they both skirted the fringes of society, never quite daring to let their true selves loose on the world. The feral beast within him had recognized that same, untamed quality in her. Recognized the kindred spirit wrapped so neatly in the perfectly beautiful exterior (she could never be boring to him. Could never be the kind of plain she was so determined to believe herself).
He would laugh if he knew she thought him worthy of a queen. There is nothing deserving of royalty within him. Nothing that spoke of power or a desire for such things. Beneath the trappings of the beast, he is still just a plain boy who had once been terrified of the world.
But he couldn’t bring himself to question her love. Not now. Not anymore. For so long he had feared she might realize her mistake. Might suddenly see him for who he truly is and push him away with horror. Now though, with their children sleeping in the depths of the woods they had made their home, he had truly begun to believe in this reality. Had finally begun to accept that she is truly his. Forever.
He would never tire of hearing her say it though. Would never find more satisfaction than listening to her declarations of love and belonging. An indisputable affirmation that she belongs only to him.
It’s barbaric, in a way. But Ether had never claimed to be civilized.
The ways her breathy voice whispers across his skin and catches in her throat sends an impossible thrill of delight through him. Stirring a hunger and alighting a possessiveness that never seems to linger too far from the surface. Those few simple words are all it takes to drive any polite thought from his head. He can feel the way her pulse kicks beneath his lips, the tempo of her heart picking up, telling him unequivocally just how much such thoughts affect her as well.
A low, pleased growl rumbles almost unconsciously in throat as his glowing yellow eyes leap up to meet her soft brown gaze. Instinctively he presses closer, features lighting with an undeniable hunger. He says nothing in response. He doesn’t need to. His body says everything as he crowds closer, using his bulk to press her deeper into the shadows. To draw her away until he can shroud them with privacy.
Until he need not worry what noise they might make once they forget themselves.