Chapter 108 - Artem - Marked
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Artem
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I woke to the beautiful scent of a midnight breeze in a field of lavender. It was the best scent in the world, at least to me. I wanted to smile. I wanted to pull the source of that scent close to my chest and hold her tight while we both drifted back to sleep. But I couldn't bring myself to do any of that.
Last time, Star had woken up before me. She had screamed at the memory of what had happened the night before. That morning had nearly shattered my soul. I didn't think I could ever forgive myself, or that Star would ever forgive me.
Thankfully though, she had forgiven me. She had overcome everything that had happened to her while she had been forced to wear that horrid talisman. And because of that we had come together again last night.
What made this time more special was that Star had initiated the encounter. She had asked me to take her and she had kissed me first. I hoped that this morning would wind up better than the last time.
I cracked my eyes open and saw Star's beautiful, smiling face before me. She looked so lovely, so sweet, so innocent. The amount of innocence that I could see in her face actually made me feel ashamed for what had happened the night before. Dammit, I was going to corrupt my beautiful Star.
'Oh well,' I thought to myself. 'We could do this together. I would corrupt her while she tried to save my soul. It would be fun anyway.'
After those thoughts of future naughty times played through my mind Star started to wake up. I saw her stirring and beginning to stretch.
"Mmm." She grunted and moaned a little as she felt the muscles in her body shift. I wonder if she was sore after what I had done to her?
Finally Star opened her eyes. After a second the sleep began to fade and she was able to focus on me once again.
"Good morning." She grinned happily. Thank the Goddess she didn't regret it this time.
"Good morning." I smiled back then followed that by kissing the tip of her nose. "How are you feeling? Did I hurt you?" I had thought that I had gotten too rough at the end of everything.
"Artem." She rolled her eyes as she brought her right hand up to rest on my left cheek. We were laying on our sides facing each other as we shared one pillow. It didn't matter that there were several other pillows on the large bed, we were pressed close to each other.
"That doesn't answer my question." I informed her, still wanting to know if she was sore.
"No, you didn't hurt me. I enjoyed it, all of it." She was blushing now but that didn't make her stop talking. And I admit, hearing her say that made both me and my wolf growl softly with satisfaction.
"Really?" She didn't know how much I had feared when she woke up this morning.
"Yes, really. Stop worrying." She giggled. "We got some stuff to figure out now, don't we?"
"We do?" I was confused by her words.
"Didn't you ask me to move into your room? Or did I dream that?" She blushed like she had messed something up.
"No, I did. I did ask that." I was smiling like a loon now and I fucking knew it. This morning had turned out to be the best morning of my entire life.
"Do you really want me to share a room with you?" She looked so uncertain right now. "I never really thought about something like that before."
"Honey, you have no idea how happy it would make me to wake up to this beautiful sight every day." She smiled but she also blushed even darker when she heard those words.
"Is that all that will change between us?" She batted her eyes a few times in an innocent yet seductive look. "Will anything else be different?"
"We will sleep in the same bed, we will wake up and fall asleep together. Is there more that you want?"
"Well, I was hoping there might be more of, you know-." She didn't finish her sentence as she turned to press her face against the pillow and my arm that was blocking half of the soft fluffy barrier she was seeking.
"Oh, you mean will we 'sleep' together? More of what happened last night?" She nodded her head but didn't say anything or even look at me, she just kept her face buried. "That is a given. Anytime you want I will be there and ready for you." I kissed her temple as she still hid her face from me.
"Really?" She finally looked at me with a smile on her face.
"Yup. We can have sex in the bed." I kissed her forehead after saying those words. "Sex on the couch." Next I kissed her cheek. "Sex in the bathtub." Now I kissed her nose. "We can have all the sex you want wherever you want." I kissed her lips.
I had meant for the kiss to be sweet and chaste but my control wasn't there for that. Instead, I slid my hand to the nape of her neck and angled me for a deep, passionate kiss. Our tongues were tangling together and I was pushing myself up onto my arm so I could brace myself above her.
The kiss was just getting good when there was a knock on the door. I had been too wrapped up in my morning dessert to notice Chay's scent getting closer to the door. "I hope you two are decent enough for me to bring your breakfast in there for you?" I heard laughter in Chay's voice as she spoke.
I had hired four people to work the house for me. One upside was that I didn't need to cook for everyone anymore, though I would cook for Star anytime she asked. A drawback, Chay and others would bring my meals to me if I was not at the table when the meal was served.
"Do not open that door yet." I yelled at her.
"Yeah, I figured as much." Chay was still laughing.
When I turned to look at Star I saw the redness in her face was at an all time high.
"It's ok, sweetheart, just get dressed and then we will have breakfast together." She nodded but didn't say anything. I turned and began looking for the clothes that I had thrown off in a hurry the night before. Star on the other hand ran for her dresser and closet so she could get something new to wear.
When she was coming out of the bathroom, fully dressed, I was walking toward the door to open it.
"Took you long enough." Chay snapped at me when the door was opened.
"We hurried as quickly as we could." I snapped back at her, still holding my shirt in my hand as I glared at her.
"Hmm." I saw a curiosity that I didn't understand enter Chay's eyes before she started toward the table and where Star was sitting.
Chay sat the tray down and looked intently at Star who was looking nervous.
"I'm proud of you." Chay's voice was soft and not at all condescending. "And I am happy for my brother. He got what he wanted."
"What are you talking about?" I shouted at her which made Star jump and Chay laugh.
"Don't act like I'm not right." She leaned forward and pushed Star's long hair to the side. "You marked Star without having to wait for the pack to assemble. Weren't you grumbling about that tradition just last week?"
"What?" I started toward the table, closing the distance with long strides. "How did you know I marked her before you had even seen it for yourself?" I was worried now that my sister was some sort of mind reader.
"I saw your mark first." She had a hint of laughter in her voice again.
"Huh?" I was definitely very confused by her words.
"I take it you haven't looked in the mirror yet." She turned to look at me. "But you have a mark right here." Chay reached up and touched the spot where Star had bitten me last night.
"Are you serious?" I was floored. "I didn't know men could get marks." I was walking toward the dresser now, and toward the mirror that was sitting above it.
When I looked at my reflection I saw that Chay had indeed been telling the truth. There was a mark right there. It was the outline of a wolf's paw with a star and a crescent moon inside of it. It represented the two of us, Astraia and Artem, the star and the moon.
"I'm sorry." Star sounded upset. "I didn't mean to."
"Star." I turned to smile at her before I raced to her side. I picked her up from the chair and held her close to me while I planted my lips against hers. "Don't apologize. This means that you are special. You marked me, it's not something that men can usually say. I am happy about this, don't worry at all because you didn't do anything wrong."
"Really?" She asked me as she looked into my eyes.
"Yes."
I pushed her hair aside to look at her mark then. It was identical to mine and right where I had bitten her. I leaned forward and kissed the mark with glee.
"Ugh, can you wait to do that when I am not around?" Chay pretended to be disgusted.
"Can you leave right now then?" I asked her with a slight amount of annoyance.
"Fine, I will come back to talk to Star when you're not here, you big perv." She rolled her eyes then left the room.
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