"But you don't think that it will really happen. Right?"

It was hard for the Alpha that Fin was, to hear the fear in his mate's voice when she asked the question. He gathered her in his arms again and wished that he didn't have to leave so soon. The alarm would be going off any moment now and he felt like putting his fist through one of the cabin walls.

"No. No, of course not. You aren't pregnant. And we are mates. The Council is reasonable. They're going to see those two facts and they won't separate us." He felt her nod against his chest, but he also was certain he felt her tears as well.

"Shh, shh, shh. Sweetheart. I won't let anything bad happen to us. We just have to get through today. And by tonight I'll have you in my own bed, in my arms, under me, making you come over and over and over again."

Alice managed to laugh at that, which made him smile.

Then came another sound, the one they had both been dreading. He felt her hand curl in place on his chest when the alarm sounded, her face pressing against his skin as if she could prevent what had to happen next.

But instead of slipping away from her, he surprised himself by saying out loud the words that had been going through his head for the past fifteen minutes.

"Allie." She smiled at this. When his sister had called her Allie it had annoyed her. When he came up with the nickname himself she loved it. "You mentioned it earlier but I do like the idea. What if you do mark me? Right now."

"So you really don't think we'd get in trouble with the Council?" She spoke in a whisper as her fingers crept up into his hair, but he could tell by the way she pressed even closer to him that she liked the idea.

"We might. But not the sort of trouble we'd get in if I marked you right now. That would be real trouble. They might not like it if you mark me, but what could they do? Nothing that will be worse than separating us." He saw the worried look intensify in her eyes but continued speaking anyway. "Not that I think that's what's going to happen."

"Okay."

Fin threw his head back and laughed at her answer. It felt so simple and pure in the moment. "Okay?" She nodded at him and then leaned forward, pressing her lips to his.

It took all of five seconds for her to slide on top of him, and less than ten seconds for him to realize how hard it was going to be not to have sex with her before he left the cabin. It didn't help that they both wanted it, and their wolves both wanted it even more, so everyone was on board with the plan, except the Council and her ex who was doing his best to fuck up everything.

Fin did his best to focus on the moment and on the feel of her lips, which began on his and then slowly traveled across the edge of his jaw and down his neck. 

These were not the light, teasing kisses she'd given him earlier. These were deeper, more passionate, and as she kissed her way to the spot she would mark, his hands explored the parts of her that he could reach, still every bit as amazed as he had been before as he took in the absolute perfection of this woman who was straddling him.

Tilting back his chin he gave her access to that vulnerable spot that he knew she was looking for, noticing the way that her ass had brushed against his nearly unbearable hard on at least a half dozen times in the last minute. He wondered if she was purposefully teasing him now, or if she even realized what she was doing.

"Ready?" He'd felt her lips and tongue brush across the spot for at least thirty seconds before he heard her voice, deepened with desire, and felt her teeth gently graze the spot as though she were practicing ahead of actually marking him.

"Do it." He heard her draw in a deep breath, as she gathered her courage, and then came the pain, intense and sharp as her teeth sliced through the sensitive skin of his neck.

Fin had heard about this. The pain first and how it would give way all at once to pleasure. It lasted a little longer than he expected but then he felt it, the overwhelming euphoria that was combined with a pure, unadulterated need for his mate. Her tongue lathed across the wound, helping it heal and close.

Then before he even knew what he was doing he had flipped her over, onto her back and was between her legs, positioning himself to do the only thing that he could think of, the head of his cock nudging at her slick folds.

"Fin." She barely managed to gasp the word, but he felt the way she tilted her hips up towards him, pressing back against his unyielding length to welcome him in. By the Goddess, he knew they were playing a dangerous game, but after being marked by her it was almost impossible to stop and hold back. "Please." She begged, before grabbing him by the back of the neck and crashing her lips into his.

The knock on the door of the room startled them both and he cursed as he pulled away, rolling to the side as he pulled the covers up over the both of them.

"Yeah?" Alice was the one to find her voice and call out to whoever was on the other side of the door.

"Did he already leave, Hon? Because he probably should if he hasn't." Alice leaned back against the pillow and pressed the palms of her hands against her eyes.

"Not yet but we're up. You can go back to sleep. We'll make sure he's out in a few minutes. Thank you Kate. For everything."

"No problem. I'll see you in a couple hours. Try to get some rest for tomorrow. Both of you." They both listened as Kate's footsteps retreated back down the hall, but neither moved for a few seconds.

"You should probably-" Alice's voice trailed off. The last thing she actually wanted was for him to go. Her core ached for him and she knew he felt the same. But she also knew that him leaving wasn't actually the last thing in the world that she wanted. Because she thought she might die of mortification if he lost his pack because they couldn't refrain from having sex for one night.

"I know." She could hear in his voice that he didn't want to. After a few long moments of silence he rolled away from her and sat up with his back turned to her before standing and searching the room for his clothing. She lay back and stared at the darkened ceiling, listening to the sounds of his clothes rustling in the darkness as he dressed.

"I'm glad. That you marked me." His voice was lower even than it usually was and she could hear the undercurrent of need that rippled through it.

"Me too." She rolled over onto her side so that she could see him. He was already dressed. He bent and pulled on his shoes before walking over and bending down to kiss her.

"I'm going to go before I do anything that either one of us regrets. I don't want to make you look bad in front of the Council and obviously I'm having a hard time controlling myself around you. I guess I didn't think of that aspect of being marked." He cupped her cheek in one hand and she realized that the pull between them, which had already been stronger than anything she'd felt in her life, was now intoxicating and irresistible.

Being marked made mated pairs want to complete the bond. The pull was nearly irresistible. She wondered briefly if it would grow the longer they fought it.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"Wouldn't miss it for anything." He kissed her again, lightly on the forehead, knowing anything else would make it impossible to leave, before forcing himself to stand and quickly leaving the room.

Alice watched him until the door had closed and then she listened as she heard his voice outside as he spoke with the guards out front. She wondered what they were saying and what they thought about how long he had been in there. Would anyone notice her mark on his neck? If they did, would they say anything about it?

Gossip could spread like wildfire through a pack. Alice knew that almost better than anyone. She had been the target of vicious gossip more than once since her parents' deaths. She hadn't cared what the pack had to say about her yesterday, Hell, she'd even hoped they would gossip about her when she had strutted into the banquet reeking of sex, but she knew that the next day before the Council, the things that the pack might have to say could very much matter.

Now all she could do was close her eyes and hope that sleep would come. No matter what happened she needed to be rested. If they won she wanted to have energy to go home with her mate and celebrate the new life that they were beginning together. And if they lost... she tried to push the thought out of her mind. She couldn't afford to dwell on it.

If they lost, the most important thing that she had to do was make the Council understand the danger that she would be in if she had to stay, unguarded with Alpha Cadman. Twenty-four hours earlier she had felt safe sleeping beside him, in the home that they shared. But all of that had changed in the past day.

She felt like an unwilling passenger as her mind paged through the memories of not just the last year, but of her entire life. Had the monster he had revealed always lurked beneath the surface, ready to come out at any time, or had the stress of not having an heir and losing the Luna that he had planned on using to make his own, brought it bubbling to the surface? A few moments of uneasiness came to mind, but she couldn't tell if they were genuine causes for concern or if they were given a new light by the knowledge that she now had.

Finally she closed her eyes and forced herself to begin reciting poems they'd learned back in grammar school to try to lull her mind to sleep. Sometime after four she finally let go of her troubled thoughts and managed to slip into a deep and blessedly dreamless slumber, knowing that morning would come all too soon. 

A/N- I hope you are enjoying this story! If you are I'd love it if you'd comment and click that little star button to vote for it.

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