She sat up slowly and then she just kind of watched him get dressed for a while before she said anything in response. “Why are you getting dressed?”
The metal stopped winding itself around his arms mid-movement as he looked back at her. “It…seemed like the thing to do?”
“Do you like to create more work for pregnant women to do?” Aura smirked, but she knew that with the coming Fulness, they could both stand to linger on a metal bed for a while longer.
“It’s not…generally a hobby of mine, if that’s what you’re asking.” He said cautiously, obviously confused by the question.
Aura got up slowly and walked over to him before she kissed him passionately. After a moment, her kisses trailed from his lips down the side of his neck. “One of the only good things about having a girlfriend that is already knocked up is that the Fulness isn’t dangerous anymore.”
He’d thought of that himself, and he returned the kisses to her own neck, as he ran the steel around his fingers over her waist. “Had a lot of pregnant girlfriends, have you?”
“A couple. Think you can compete?” Aura volleyed right back, still smirking.
“You know, I think I can. It’s a game I’ve been told I’m fairly good at.” He kissed down to her shoulder and held her tightly against his body. “Though I think I look forward to finding out your opinion on the subject.”
Aura kissed him several more times and pulled him along with her back to the bed where she shoved him down on his back and grinned as she stood at the edge of the bed. “It takes some work to get a good opinion from me.”
“I’m used to work.” He pulled her a little violently back onto the sheet of metal and looked down at her for a moment with a wholly different expression on his face than she’d seen thus far, searching her eyes seriously on account of the distance she had kept between them so far. Still, his emotions weren’t hard to read as he leaned down onto the bed and kissed her back into the steel. “Are you sure about this?”
Aura kissed him passionately and then nodded as she looked into his eyes. He kept telling her that he would be around for the rest of their lives, and she needed to believe it. She needed to believe him. He was a good man, good wolf, good everything. They could be great together. “Just don’t put any more puppies inside. I’m running out of room as it is.”
“I think you’re past that being a danger. For now, anyway.” And he leaned down and kissed her, gently for once, but it only lasted a moment before the wildness that defined Ziem took over again. The bed became a smoothed, flat sheet beneath their bodies, on which he intended to do with her as he had wanted to do for more than a decade.
After several hours of behaving more like rabbits than wolves, they laid awkwardly on a twisted sheet of metal that used to be a comfortable bed. They were both breathing heavily and covered in sweat, but the world felt like a better place for both of them than it had in a long time. She was still holding on to him as though it was life or death, but she was smirking at the scratch marks they had both acquired, scattered all over their bodies.
“You know…” he looked over his shoulder at the marks on his back with a grin. “I can see why you got those for tattoos. That way they just blend in with the rest.”
Aura giggled and kissed him several more times. “I can’t help myself. That was incredible.”
“You sure that’s not just the hormones talking?” He was out of breath, though, and he knew it was mostly because she was one of the few wolves he’d ever been with, and the only one he’d been with anywhere even close to the Fulness. He’d always known she was stronger than he was, but actually feeling that power running through her for himself was something else entirely. He was out of his league with her and not afraid to admit it, but he was trying hard to act like it wasn’t as completely obvious as it was.
She hugged him tighter, moaning softly against his skin. If she was being completely honest, it wasn’t like being with Nick, but that didn’t matter. Nick was out there enjoying his time with his new Heartborn girlfriend. Aura needed to move on from the past, and she could create a future with Ziem. “I’m sure it’s not the hormones. It’s you.”
That did wonders for his temporarily-unstable ego, and he relaxed a little more with her, if that was possible under the circumstances. “You know, a smarter man would actually be a little scared of what tonight’s going to be like, if that’s you when the moon’s not up.”
Aura grinned and growled against his lips as she kissed him once more. “Scared? Why be scared? It’ll be fun.”
“That’s definitely one word for it.” He was honestly a little scared, but he didn’t let her see that as he kissed her. Ziem made sure she knew that he had no intentions of going anywhere, or of letting her go anywhere, for at least the next three nights.
* * * * *
When the sun set that night, Nick was still walking the fences with some of
