Title: Beginning Again At the End
Author: Annymc/Sammymc
Rating: M – Mature Teens and Adults
Summary: Takes place just after the end of the book
Pairing: Vivian/Gabriel
Vivian climbed back in through her bedroom window. She stretched in her girl-skin and luxuriated in the burn of her muscles moving after an entire night spent as a wolf. It had been so long since she was one or the other that she actually felt true appreciation for bother her forms equally.
Picking up her discarded robe she crept down the hall to shower the woods and Gabriel off of her skin. She smiled as delicious warmth moved through her at the thought of her night spent with the leader of her pack.
Gabriel was so different from what she had assumed him to be. She sighed. "Great Moon, I'm actually falling of him," she thought. "It's so different with him, so different from how it was with… Aiden." Vivian felt a ripple go down her back. She was so confused about Aiden.
She hadn't really loved him she supposed, soaping up her hair. She'd liked him, cared about him, and yes she'd wanted to dominate him. But she also wanted to see and feel the gentle boy dominate her as well.
Rinsing her hair Vivian shut off the water, and moved to stand naked in front of the mirror.
"I am still beautiful," she whispered, turning to look at the curve of her neck where Gabriel's bite had claimed her, and then down the line of her back that rose at her buttocks and continued down her long legs. Twisting back around to look at her front, she let her eyes go to the silvery scar on her abdomen. It was the only mark she bore, a silver bullet couldn't NOT leave a scar behind. She touched the silky patch and felt her muscles tighten in response. She'd gotten it from Aiden. Aiden, of all the humans to try and take her life…
She didn't for one moment regret stepping in front of Gabriel. She'd been protecting her mate, she now realized.
Pulling on her pajamas and crawling into her bed, she thought about the coming move. Gabriel would be leaving soon to make final arrangements. Vermont… She squinted at her ceiling, considering this new place and the changes it would be bringing to her life now.
She was Gabriel's would-be-mate. He'd marked her, claimed her, the previous night but he hadn't taken her. She pressed a hand to her healed over scar. Did he think her weak? She felt her muscles tense in her shoulders and legs at the possible affront. She was fine now. How dare he try and protect her again?
When she woke up she would go to him and make sure he knew exactly how fine she was. Exactly how strong she had become. Gabriel was as much hers as she was his. She intended to prove it to him and to all that doubted her place as mate to the leader of the pack, and as queen Bitch.
When Vivian woke hours later, Gabriel was nowhere to be found. A tour of his usual haunts came up empty and a few well placed calls gave her the news that he was off running some mysterious mission and was out of communication until near dinnertime, when he was expected at Bucky's for dinner.
Frustrated, but with no other option, Vivian turned to the tedious task of packing up her room. She had very few possessions from before the Fire in West Virginia that had killed her father. Only a backpack of things she had left in the family car the night before. Her clothes would be easiest to pack, but she wanted to save them for last. She instead turned to the stacks of paintings she had created in the last year. There were dozens of them lining her walls, balanced one atop another, and packed from behind her dresser and bed frame. She didn't know what to do with them all. Keep them? Burn them? Throw them away?
"Shall we hang them all in Vermont?" Gabriel's voice from the doorway made Vivian jump and tense. His presence caused a number of reactions in her. None of them, she was beginning to realize, were all that unpleasant. "The paintings," he continued. He stepped into the room and bent to pick-up one of the larger canvases resting against the foot of her bed. Her mind pictured his long tail swishing in front of her and she felt her face grow hot. He was smirking when he stood up and turned to face her.
"I don't know," she said clearing her throat and choosing to ignore his amused grin.
"They're beautiful, Vivian. They'll make a fine addition to our house," he said patiently.
"Our house?" she asked raising an eyebrow at him and crossing her arms.
"Yes, our house. How do you expect us to be a mated couple without living in the same home?" he asked.
"Are we?" she asked accusingly. He stepped closer, one large hand coming up to sweep her long hair away from the healing wound on the back of her neck.
"Have you forgotten already?" he asked, his voice low and rough. Vivian felt a pulse of pleasure roll down her spine, the ghost of a tail wagging in her lower back.
"You've claimed me, Gabe. But you have not had me. Do you think I'm weak?" she asked. The grin faded from his eyes, his hand, clamped down on the back of her neck, making the bite sting, and her breath catch in her throat.
"Of course not, Vivian! Why would I claim you if I thought you were weak?" he asked. "You are however, still recovering. This is the first day you have been able to change forms freely. I thought it would be best to wait. I had hoped to convince you to come to Vermont with me when I go in a few days. I want your opinion on the property before I sign papers that cannot be unsigned." Vivian felt the tension drain out of her only to be replaced with humiliation. She felt her face heat. Gabriel released her neck.
Gabriel stepped close once again. His arms pulled her close against his body. His scent filled her nose.
"I chose you, Vivian, because you are beautiful, strong, and devoted to the plight of your people. You will make a good queen, and a good mate. I hope to have children with you, to restore the order to the pack that it so desperately needs. I can be that with you at my side. You weren't my choice simply because you won the Bitches Dance. That just made my choice justifiable in the eyes of the pack," he explained. She nodded her understanding.
"When do we leave?" she asked, looking up at him. His smile made her blood heat.
"Four days… Bring the paintings," he said quietly. "The big one would look best hanging over our bed." Vivian grinned and pressed more fully against his side.
"I'll be ready," she promised. His smile grew impossibly wide in response.