Falk Clan Tales - Chapter 11: Chapter 11

They arrived at her home in record time. She stepped onto the solid ground on wobbly feet. Fred knew she was grinning like a fool, but she didn’t care. Her eyes widened with wonder as he stood before her, allowing her to look her fill.
“You’re beautiful, Callius,” Fred couldn’t help herself. He was remarkable. Probably the most amazing thing she had ever seen.
She reached out a hand tentatively. She didn’t know whether she should touch him or not. He lowered his head and winked at her with one golden eye. The small gesture her the courage she needed to reach out and touch him. She ran her fingertips over the large rectangular scales that protected his chest. His heartbeat was strong and steady beneath her palm.
He leaned his serpentine head down and licked her hand where it rested with a long, black tongue. She felt the pounding beneath his scales increase. Fred couldn’t believe her eyes. A soft ethereal light began to glow under her palm.
It was bluish-gold and it travelled up her arm slowly. It pulsed once at the rose-like mark on her neck then continued to where her own heartbeat inside her. Heat and energy filled her. Callius, she felt him inside of her. Love. Mine. Her Wolf howled inside her mind’s eye. Fred staggered as an intense array of emotions flowed into her mind and body.
Something was happening to her, something strange and magical. She was awestruck. She opened her eyes, and the world was slightly askew. She was seeing through her Wolf eyes, even though the moon was weeks away.
She blinked and her gaze returned to normal. Callius stood before her, again as a man. Still remarkable. She felt his smoldering gaze reach her very soul.
“That was-” Fred couldn’t find the words. Her mind raced with questions. Was this love? Was this a matebond? Whatever it was, it left her breathless. A second later and the dragon was gone, replaced by the man. He was just as striking in his black clothes, with his dark hair, and glowing golden eyes.
“That was what?” White smoke streamed from his mouth as he spoke to her.
“This is insane,” chills raced up and down her spine as she tried to get control over her body, “I want you so badly. With every single piece of me, even my Wolf is howling in my mind closer than she’s ever been without the full moon.”
“I know, my Dragon senses her and calls out. He has found his mate in her. Just as I have found mine, in you.”
“But it’s so fast-”
“A lifetime can be lived in a single moment. I’ve lived for nigh on six centuries and I swear I’ve never felt alive until I met you.”
“Callius, I-”
“I want to go inside with you, Winifred,” he stepped closer to her, almost close enough to touch, but not quite, “I can feel your desire, my love. It’s making me ache with need. Let me love you. Let me show you how it will be between the two of us. Will you make me wait much longer?”
“I want to. I really do, but I’m afraid.”
“I swear on my life I would never harm a single hair on your beautiful head.”
“No, not afraid that you’ll hurt me, but, what if I’m not enough for you?”
“You are my everything, Winifred, my all. Es meus. In aeternum.”
Every nerve ending in her body stood on edge. She stepped closer to him, her body swaying with the movement. Callius. He reached a handout and brushed back a wisp of hair from her face.
The touch was light and so full of feeling it made her head spin. He exhaled slowly and his smoky scent floated into her nostrils. Fred willingly breathed him in. Mmm. Applewood and cinnamon whiskey.
“Can I have you?” He tugged her gently to him, allowing her to feel the heat of his body without being overly possessive.
He brushed her forehead with soft, warm lips. Fred closed her eyes and held her breath. Desire was one thing, but tenderness, well that was something else entirely. She answered his question before, but she felt he deserved to hear it again.
“Yes, Callius, oh yes, you can have me.”
“Thank the Gods,” he seemed to whisper to no one in particular.
He trailed kisses down her face until he finally reached her lips. Fred swore she felt the world itself turning. In and out, round and round, gravity and momentum all that held her in place. Her heart thudded in her chest as entire galaxies of feelings seemed to be created and destroyed in the seconds they were connected.
He was like the tide sweeping her away in this all-consuming wave of need and passion. Callius. His name played over and over again in her mind as she wound herself around him. Arms and legs and entwined, Fred held on to him and kissed him back with everything she had. She felt herself fall deeper and deeper under his spell with every stroke of his masterful tongue.
Nothing had ever felt so right. She reached up and held his face right where she wanted him. A small smile played at his lips then vanished while their kiss grew from sweet flirtation to intense desire. Grrr. Mine. Fred gasped for air as he broke their kiss.
“I hear your Wolf howling. She cries out for me to claim you, for our bond to be sealed, don’t you hear her? Can’t you feel how right this is?”
“It’s so strange, Callius. I can hear her, in a muffled sort of way. The moon is too far though, I shouldn’t be able to hear her at all.”
“The Curse of Natalis, yes, I have heard of it.”
“It’s been so long. I am not sure there are any living Werewolves who remember what it was like before he cursed us to live separately from our Wolves. Only to become one during the full moon.”
“I am sorry, I cannot imagine being apart from my Dragon.”
“Thank you, but it is not your fault.”
“I cannot change the past, but I can promise to be here for you, Winifred, from now until the eternity,” he trailed kisses down her throat and neck.
Fred trembled under his careful ministrations, and he was so very careful. He didn’t rush or overwhelm her with his obvious skill. He was patient. Kissing and stroking, teasing her senses. He held her loosely as if he was waiting for her to wrap her mind around the idea that she was his.
My mate. My only. Together we are stronger, better. Mine. Fred’s snow-white Wolf seemed to whisper in her mind. All the things she was feeling. Every doubt suddenly vanished under the strength of her emotions. The diamond rose on her neck tingled with each passing moment, as if it too felt their bond growing stronger with every passing second.
Fred knew that she should step back, calculate all the possibilities. Wait, don’t rush, you’ve been burned before. But logic and reason had no place in her mind right then. She moaned as his lips found a sensitive spot just below her earlobe.
He kissed and licked and nibbled. Anticipating her every desire. It was like he knew her better than she knew herself. In a span of just a few hours. Fred’s heart pounded. A sudden panic filled her.
He was doing things to her mind and body she was not ready for. Maybe she would never be ready. Maybe she was meant to be alone. How could she trust herself after Josh?
Then she saw her Wolf in her mind’s eyes. She was strong. She ran on instinct and faith. Fred’s heart pounded as that fierce strength filled her. I am here.
“Did you do this? Why can I hear her?” Tears escaped Fred’s eyes.
“My sweet Fred, it is the strength of our bond that brings you closer to her.”
“I’m sorry I’m always emotional when I talk about my Wolf out of time with the Full Moon. It’s hard on all Werewolves to be separated from their other selves, and I get that, but for me, well it’s worse.”
“How do you mean?”
“Um, well some find the separation too difficult to carry on with their lives.”
“Hush. Don’t speak like that. I will do everything I can to help you, Winifred.”
“No, not me, but my brother,” her thoughts momentarily turned dark, and Callius stopped kissing her immediately.
He turned her face up as he held her in his arms and traced a line from her temple to her chin. His gold eyes stared at her as if she were something precious to behold. Fred wondered if anyone had ever looked at her like that before.
“I am so sorry, my love. I can’t imagine being separated from my Dragon even for an instant and the hurt that I would suffer if one of my brothers were slain, I cannot fathom. Your pain is understandable, but still, I would do anything to stop it.”
“It’s not something I enjoy discussing, but it’s a fact of life for me and so many others.”
“Then it is a fact that I vow to change.”
Fred believed him. The depth of his sincerity and the verity of his vow touched her in a way she hadn’t expected. A deep rumbling sound vibrated in his chest as he kissed her lips, sealing his promise.
Could he really be her mate? She wanted to believe it, she wanted to belong to someone. But what if he was wrong? What if he changed his mind?
“There is a rumor about a young girl, a Wolf, who’s trying to break the curse. But it seems like a fairytale,” Fred kept talking, trying to break the spell he was weaving with his kisses.
“Ah, you mean like Werewolves and Dragons,” Callius smiled against her neck.
“I guess,” she grinned.
“Well, we are very real, Winifred. This is very real. I am yours, completely, as you are mine.”
One moment she was standing in his arms, the next he lifted her right off the ground. Fred gasped as he pressed her against his body. All her doubts vanished. All she could do was feel. Hunger, desire, passion.
Fred lived for so long with loneliness as her constant companion. Ever since her brother took his own life. She attempted to fill the gap with shallow relationships like the one she had with Josh, but who was she kidding? How could Josh ever really know her?
He couldn’t. Not like this. The short hours she spent with Callius were more honest than the months she’d been with Josh. She saw that now.
“I need you, my love. Let us seal our bond completely,” his whispered plea tickled the hair at the base of her neck.
Fred’s head fell back as he kissed her throat. She didn’t want to think, she only wanted to feel, but a decision needed to be made. Had she really let her own insecurities blind her to Josh’s faults? She didn’t love him. She couldn’t have. Not when her heart was pounding the way it was inside of her chest while Callius’ arms held her.
Sure, Josh took off. He made her feel insecure. Unsure if she could trust herself. He left her broke. But not broken. She was far from it. She felt alive for the first time in her life.
She looked at the face of the man, the Dragon, who wanted to claim her as his mate, for always.
“I need you too, Callius. Come with me.”