Jen nodded. “Better choice of words.”

Cynthia packed up her stuff and turned to go. Just before she opened the door, she turned back and looked at Jen, avoiding Decebel’s gaze. “Just in case you were wondering, it is alright for you to be intimate.”

Jen grinned. “Are you telling me I can get it on like Donkey Kong?”

Cynthia let out a chuckle. “Hmmm, maybe not like Donkey Kong. Why don’t you stick to Curious George just to be on the safe side?” With that, she opened the door and closed it quietly behind her.

The smile faded from Jen’s face as soon as Cynthia was gone. She couldn’t look at her mate. The thin thread by which she had been hanging was about to snap and she knew that he had been through enough already. She bit her lip in attempt to hold herself together and turned her head away from him.

“Jennifer,” Decebel reached over and gently pulled her chin, so that she was looking directly at him.

“Baby, talk to me.”

“How did you survive so long?” She asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean in the In-Between,” he flinched, as she spoke of the hell he had been in. “How did you survive watching all of those things for so long?”

“I just kept telling myself that it wasn’t real.” He stretched out beside her and propped up his head on one elbow.

“I tried to tell myself that. I tried Dec, but it felt…” Jen closed her mouth against the bile that she felt rising.

“Shh, baby, it wasn’t real, none of that happened.” Decebel rested his hand on the small swell of her stomach. “This is real,” he told her as he gently rubbed her, “my touch, our love, our baby, all of this is real.”

Jen was nodding, though the tears had begun to fall. Decebel reached over and pulled her into his arms. “I’ve got you baby. I’m not letting go.”

Decebel struggled to keep his rage contained as he felt the strongest woman he had ever met, fall apart in his arms. He didn’t try to get her to talk. He didn’t ask her how he could help, he just held her, and if that was all she ever wanted from him ever again, it would be enough.

“Not for me it wouldn’t,” Jen told, him through their bond. “Make me forget Dec.”

Decebel pulled back so that he could look into her blue eyes.

“It’s too soon Jennifer, give yourself time.” He gently brushed her hair from her face and kissed her forehead.

“Have I ever let you get away with telling me what I needed?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “I’m telling you that I need you. I keep seeing and feeling those faces, those hands,” Jen let out a choked sob as she stared up into his amber eyes. “Don’t make me beg.”

Decebel sucked in a breath as he saw the fear in her eyes. Fear that he would reject her, fear that he would be disgusted by her, fear that he would no longer want her.

Decebel growled at her as he leaned down. His lips caressed her face gently until they hovered just above hers. “You never have to beg. I’m yours and I will always give you what you need. What do you need baby?” His lips brushed against hers as he spoke. “Tell me what you need Jennifer and it’s yours.”

Jen trembled as she felt his hand slip under her shirt. He stroked her abdomen and then trailed his fingers up the side of her body tracing her markings.

“You,” she breathed out, softly.

He pulled back to take his shirt off and grinned at her when her eyes widened.

“Does that mean I still do it for you?”

Jen smiled through the tears as she nodded. Decebel helped her remove her shirt and then pulled her body tight against his. He kissed her deeply and growled when she ran her fingers through his thick, dark hair.
“I love you Jennifer,” he told her over and over as his hands roamed and his lips followed. “You are mine. Every inch of you, every strand of hair, every soft moan, every beat of your heart, belongs to me.”

Jen’s heart swelled with love as she listened to his words and then felt the truth behind them with every kiss and touch.

“Baby, open your eyes.”

Jen opened them to see him hovering over her. He kissed her cheeks, her nose, and across her jaw before kissing her softly on the lips.

“Keep your eyes open,” he whispered. “I want you to see who is with you, and who is touching you, who is loving you.”

“Okay,” she told him, softly. And she did. And, they were still open long into the night when he lay beside her watching his fingers as they traveled up and down the markings that ran from her hip to under her arm.

“Are you okay?” Jen asked him.

He looked up from his hand to meet her eyes. “As long as you’re with me, I’m okay. Are you? Did I hurt you?” He laid his hand across her abdomen as he asked.

Jen shook her head. “You didn’t hurt me.” She placed her hand over his, loving the warmth she felt from his skin. Her eyes felt heavy though she tried to hold them open.

Decebel chuckled. “You can close them now, beautiful.”

Jen growled at him.

“Don’t go starting something you can’t finish,” he teased.

Jen felt something inside her loosen at his teasing. It was right. They had grieved, they had held each other, made love, and now they just needed to be together, doing what they did best.

“Crap, for a minute there with all the tender loving and what not, I forgot that I was mated to a perv.” Her eyes sparkled with laughter.

“Oh, we can’t have you forgetting something so important.” He grabbed at her playfully. “Come here and let me remind you.”

Laughter filled their room, where once tears had been, as Jen let Decebel heal her heart over and over. Bit by bit he reminded her who he was, and who she was to him.

Q

Fane closed their door and turned the lock. After finally getting her to invite his touch, he helped Jacque undress and into the shower as silent tears slid from her eyes. He had tried to get her to lie down, but she kept insisting that she needed to get clean, that she felt dirty. So, he helped her shower and then dried her off and carried her to their bed. He climbed in next her, pulled the covers up over them, and enveloped her in his arms.

Jacque wrapped her body around Fane’s, seeking the heat from his body, needing to feel all of his skin against all of hers. She didn’t realize that she had been whimpering until Fane started speaking to her softly. He smoothly transitioned from English to Romanian and back again, as he attempted to soothe her.