He felt her eyes on him, searching his face, her fingers buried in the cloth of her coat as she wrung her hands. An air of nervousness was about her, though he could not place the reason. At least she seemed ready to finally speak to him, after an entire week of avoiding him at all costs. He had given her time, and that much had paid off as she looked at him now with shy intensity.

"Anna?" his voice was far gentler than he thought it had the capacity to be, shocking even himself with his use of her given name. "Is there something wrong?"

Ever since he had rescued her from Rodyle's grasp it had been this way. Gone was the headstrong woman he had come to care so very deeply for, replaced by someone skittish and shy. He cursed himself for that, blamed himself for her brokenness. If only he could have saved her …

"I have something important to tell you," resolve flashed across her face and she took a step forward, untangling her hands from her coat to look him in the eye; Kratos found he could not look away, though he may have liked to.

"Yes?" he prompted, acutely aware of all her movements, even as she took a half step toward him and her expression became pleading, as if begging him to understand her without her having to speak the words.

But he could not. Kratos could not read her. Most of his observations about people, though accurate, were based on the patterns of their behavior, and so he lost his edge when it came to intimate situations like this one, where she was asking him to gauge her mood and discern the specific reasons behind it.

"I …" She paused and took a deep breath, and for but a moment her eyes darted away before she turned to him again, all doubt cast from her, for it was written in the set of her shoulders and the gleam in her green eyes. "I'm in love with you."

He froze and then blinked, the words flying through him, over him, but not connecting with him. They seemed remote and impossible, like a distant dream that made his heart ache with a sort of longing. How ironic that he had been expecting her to hate him, and yet now …

"Excuse me?" The words came from his mouth and he could feel himself furrow his brow in confusion, watching Anna carefully as she boldly walked up to him, placing her hand against his chest and trailing it downward, toward his abdomen.

The feeling of her fingers ghosting across his body forced him to repress a shiver.

"I'm in love with you, Kratos. I have been for some time, since before Rodyle took me, even, I just … I haven't been sure how to say it, or if my feelings would even be returned, so I …"

His eyes focused on her fingers, which still lay against his stomach, spread wide, fingers that he had to pretend he did not want laced in his hair, tugging his head closer in hasty demand for a kiss.

"I just realized that there's this huge reality hanging over my head that I could die at any moment." Those words were like a slap to the face, a reminder of every risk he'd ever taken with her and how it had endangered her very existence. She was mortal, and by the gods …

By the gods, he had almost lost her.

"I don't want to waste any more time, so I had to tell you, even if you can't –"

She took a shuddering breath and began to withdraw her hand, but he grabbed it, reflexively pulling her into his chest, an arm fastening about her waist before he realized what he was doing. Staring down at her, he realized that his own heart was hammering in his ears, his throat constricted with words unspoken. Frozen, he could only stare at her, the woman in his arms, releasing her hand to trail his fingers over her cheek bone, her jaw, her lips …

Words were lost to him as he stared at her, replaced by a sudden and mighty need, a need so powerful he could not deny himself any longer.

He loved her.

To admit it to himself was liberating, though it made him feel somehow weak, his pulse rising from far more than the mere presence of this woman, who commanded utter control over his heart and did not yet know it. To lose her would kill him, he thought with a shudder, to lose this presence, the woman who was staring up at him now with a confused expression on her face, her hands resting limply against his chest.

He could not lose her and he could not live with the regret of never showing her how he felt.

Pushing her backwards until her calves hit the bed, he bent down low to claim her lips in a kiss, reveling in her touch when she kissed him back, her lips parting in a sigh as she toppled onto the bed. Kratos followed, not pausing as his lips moved to her jaw, supporting his weight on one arm while the other stroked her side.

"Kratos –" She began, but when he pulled away to look at her, whatever she had been about to say fell silent and she reached up to begin to unbutton his shirt.

Apparently he had done something right.

Wasting no more time, Kratos claimed her lips again, returning the favor when he pushed her back against the headboard so she sat and swiftly pulled her coat off from over her head. Shivering as his shirt fell from his shoulders and her hands began to stroke his chest tenderly, he braced himself against the headboard with one hand and began to pull her shirt up with the other, fastening his lips to her neck, sucking and biting.

He was so intently focused on the task of disrobing her that he didn't notice when one of her hands reached out to brush against his growing arousal, when sent his thoughts reeling and spiraling away from him, replaced with urgency. Without any thought, he pushed her down into the pillows, pinning both of her arms above her head with one massive hand, and lifted her legs up to pull her trousers off with one effortless movement.

Kissing behind her ear, his mouth made its way to her breasts, where he gladly kept his face, reveling in the scent of her, in the way her body had taken on the soft sheen of lovemaking, even as he ran his tongue over the tip of one of her hardening nipples. Her moans reached his ears, sounding so sweet that they egged him on, her voice growing louder when he rubbed the fingers of his free hand against her, feeling how wet she had become even through her last remaining clothing. And all he could think was to have himself encased in that heat, to move within her and feel her convulse about him, slick and wet and inviting.

The need was palpable then. He could taste it, feel it wrap itself about him like a blanket of desire that made his skin drip with sweat. Her face alone, contorted into an erotic expression, was enough to set him on edge as he pulled back to remove his pants and undergarments at once, lowering his body to press it against hers.

Arms released, they snaked around his neck as he ground against her, waves of pleasure shooting through him with each gyration of their hips, their moans and cries harmonizing. Kratos found himself not caring how loud they were, completely consumed by her … Or he soon would be.

Running his thumbs across her thighs until they reached her hips, he hooked them through the sides of her panties and began to slowly pull them down, his eyes never leaving her body, watching her muscular legs quiver with anticipation. Throat growing tight again, he made his way back to her, spreading her legs and staring into her eyes before pressing his tip against her entrance.

Her eyes widened and her hands dug into his back as he sunk into her, his own breathing growing ragged as he felt her take him in inch by inch, wet and hot, surrounding every sensitive bit of him. Moaning, he touched their foreheads together before sealing their lips in a desperate kiss, desiring every inch of her.

Their lips parted long enough for Anna to rasp his name, prompting him to move, responding with a moan of his own, his eyes drawn to the way her breasts bounced as they rocked with movement. Oh gods it was –

His thoughts were scrambled and he found coherent thought slowly drained from him with each movement he made replaced with nothing but Anna.

Anna …

Anna …

Anna.

"Anna!"

He hadn't even realized he'd been saying it out loud until the pleasure began to mount to an unbearable level and he looked into her eyes, feeling a sudden possessiveness of this woman, a closeness that he could neither phrase nor fathom.

"Anna!" he cried again, his body burning with white-hot pleasure, slick with sweat.

Her name was his prayer, the only truth he would ever need.

As long as she was here with him, nothing was impossible.

"Kratos!" She cried back and he touched their foreheads together again, moving faster, harder, as her fingers strained against his back, his wings bursting forth as her body arched and her insides quivered about him, driving him to an explosive end.

His release sent crashing and cataclysmic pleasure through every fiber of his being, making him feel as if he had become a part of her on a cellular level, destroying all boundaries between them for a single moment before it was over and they were separate people again.

He collapsed, a sudden lead weight as her orgasm shook her, her arms holding him tightly to her body as she shivered and shook in the aftermath.

"Kratos …" she said again, her voice a sigh, trembling with pleasure and contentment.

It made his heart swell to hear that, even as he pulled himself from her, reaching for the blanket at the foot of her unmade bed, drawing it about them and pulling her into his arms, too tired to do anything else. He stroked her hair, nuzzling her neck softly, his chest welling with love and adoration, a desire to keep her safe no matter what.

"Anna …" he muttered, stroking her sweat dampened hair with one hand. "Anna, I love you."

He heard her laugh a single, shuddering laugh and imagined tears of happiness glittering in her eyes as she embraced him back. "Don't worry, angel," she whispered into his ear, "I knew you loved me before you did."

And as fatigue overcame the afterglow and he allowed himself to drift off to sleep, he felt hope and contentment fill every corner of his decrepit heart for the first time in many millennia.