A Bite to Remember

Disclaimer: I still don't own these characters or their universe. BioWare and whomever else I'm supposed to credit for that goes here. And the "plot" was thought up by an anonymous prompter.

Warnings: Rated M for Mature. Contains graphic sexual content. Lemony, smutty, whatever you want to call it.

Author Notes: PLEASE READ THIS! Here's the third one-shot I wrote in response to a prompt over at LiveJournal's Mass Effect Kink Meme.

Okay, so I've seen a shitload of fics where Garrus frikking bites Shepard hard, and she feels nuthing because she's blinded by an orgasm of epic proportions.
Anons, who would not feel this latching onto their shoulder? http :/ i41. tinypic. com/ x4gnbo. png (minus spaces)
So I'd like to see one where Shepard is at least startled, and Garrus feels bad about it. Maybe it's normal bedplay for turians, and he forgot himself. idk. But failsex is win. Just please add some fluff after! Let them work around it.
(Oh, and this is by all means not a rip on those fics, they are very bunk-time inducing, so this is more for the lulz, dear wonderful author!anons)

I'm not a big fan of the biting thing, so I was able to put my own thoughts on the matter and be able to enjoy it. ^_^ I didn't bring up the "allergy" thing in this story if you're looking out for it. I was still working on my own opinions regarding that issue, so I deemed to avoid it unless the prompter specifically asks for it. I've mostly made my decision on how I want to regard it now, so I'll probably start adding it into future Garrus/Shep fics.

COOKIES for those that catch the Star Wars reference. (Otherwise the ending seems rather abrupt. XD )

-o-o-o-

There were only a few hours before the Normandy hit the Omega 4 Relay, and despite the original excuse of easing tension, Jane Shepard and Garrus Vakarian seemed doomed to create more of it for themselves. Standing there by the door and hardly touching, neither were sure of the first move to make.

Should she kiss him? Turians didn't exactly have lips. Should he try to put his mouth against hers like he'd seen humans do with one another? Again, turians didn't have lips.

He could nuzzle his forehead against her like they had sort of started. It might feel weird for her with his carapace not being human flesh. She could lick him, perhaps? That seemed a bit too forward. Maybe that was the point?

Whatever the starting point was, Shepard finally made the initial move to take Garrus's gloved hand and gently lead him further into her cabin, closer to the bed. She gave his civilian attire a glance, and was suddenly overcome with the challenge of how to take it off. Was there a hidden zipper somewhere? Garrus noticed her sudden interest in his clothing, and that look on a turian woman usually said 'take it off, now'. He took it as a queue to reach down and pull the bottom hem of his top up.

"It fits over your head?" Shepard inquired suddenly, staring at his fringe.

"Oh. Here." Garrus turned around and pointed at the back of his neck. "Could you unzip that before I make a fool of myself trying to unsuccessfully get it past my chin?"

Shepard laughed and reached up to pull down the small zipper of the stretchy blue material around his neck. It was only a little awkward as she had to maneuver on her tiptoes around the cowl on his back. She grabbed onto it to pull him down, and she raised an eyebrow when Garrus lightly growled.

"Sorry," he said, still bent back with her weight pulling him towards her. "That's... a rather aggressive gesture."

The neck piece folded open when the zipper was undone, and Shepard used her free hand to feel the leathery skin that was exposed beside the hardened spine plates. She released him and stepped back. "Thought you knew I was an aggressive woman."

Garrus didn't turn to face her while he lifted his top, weaved his arms out, and pulled the thing backward over his fringe. Her comment filled his stomach with anxious knots, and he was afraid that looking at her right then might undo him entirely into throwing her on the bed and having his way with her already. She admitted to aggression, and she had propositioned him first, so she technically had the lead in this by turian standards, but Garrus wasn't sure she realized that he was waiting for her to choose which of them would actually call the shots. "Too much more of that, and I'll have to get all dominant on you."

Shepard laughed at that. "I look forward to it. Just... give me a second. I'd like to look at you, if you don't mind."

Garrus felt his body heat up at the thought of Shepard's eyes roaming over his body. "Only if I get to do the same," he replied.

Shepard gazed at his backside for awhile, marveling at his strong but thin build. She hadn't realized just how reedy those turian arms really were. She reached out her hand to touch his shoulder, grazing it down his arm to his elbow as she walked around him, still looking him over. Garrus watched her with apprehension. Did that glimmer in her eyes mean she was amused? Maybe it was just the lighting. Shepard's hand moved up his arm again, across his shoulder, and down over his chest. She splayed her fingers out on his left chest plate with her right hand, feeling the beat of his heart. She smiled to herself, liking the feel of his heart under her hand; she hadn't been sure if she would be able to feel it through the hard plates covering his skin. Even then, hard wasn't the right word for his plates. Like the carapace on his face, the plates on his back and chest had some give to them. She reminded herself that it wasn't armor in the sense of protecting from collisions and bullets at all.

Garrus removed his gloves tentatively. He knew that Shepard could feel his heart starting to hammer in his chest, the touch of her soft and nimble fingers building a fervent ache in his groin. He stepped towards her, lifting his hand from his side and curiously trailing his fingers down her jawline to her chin. Shepard's eyes closed, and she leaned slightly into the touch. To a turian, it was an act of submission, but to a human, Garrus knew it could mean anything. He drew his thumb to the front of her chin and tilted her head up and back a fraction. Shepard's eyes fluttered open, searching his own for an indication of his intentions. When he leaned forward towards her, Shepard's eyes closed again and she angled her head slightly to the side. Garrus brought his mouth to hers, a chaste touch that he shamefully admitted he wanted try anyway, knowing that kissing probably wouldn't be enjoyable for either of them.

Shepard's hand was still against his chest, and she let Garrus attempt to kiss her. Even the simple act of their mouths touching had her giddy in a way she didn't think possible. When she began to move her lips against his closed mouth, she could feel Garrus accommodating. His mouth wasn't pliant and soft like a human's, but it still moved and slightly puckered with their exploration. She chanced opening her mouth and drawing her tongue across his lower mouth. He murmured something against her lips in surprise before opening his mouth to her. Shepard snaked her hand over the left side of his jaw and to the back of his neck. Garrus mimicked her motions with his own hand, burying it her hair, and with an almost timid touch of his tongue.

They stood pressed together and equally exchanging touches of mouth and tongue and hands for a long while, longer than Garrus had anticipated – humans seemed to really enjoy kissing, and he had to admit that Shepard's eager noises were reasons enough to enjoy this act known mostly to just humans and asari. He moaned into her mouth when her fingers raked over exposed skin near his spine. Shepard stopped kissing his mouth and instead moved her lips over his mandibles, over his jaw, and down his neck. The combination of lips, tongue, and teeth grazing his skin was intoxicating. Clearly, Shepard had the upper hand here.

Shepard could feel Garrus's talons scraping against her scalp while she nibbled along the turian's warm skin. She trusted that Garrus wouldn't actually scratch her with those talons; besides, she remembered a conversation during a meal once that he admitted to keeping his talons dull. She reveled in the appreciative grunts from Garrus when she sucked on particularly sensitive areas. She smiled and kissed his neck with a short peck before drawing herself away.

Shepard looked at Garrus while she unhooked the officer's jacket she had on, letting it fall off her shoulders. It was almost a wordless invitation, and Garrus was reaching for the bottom of her black undershirt, pulling the fabric up and over her head. He paused to note the way some of her fine hairs tried to follow the shirt and stuck out before he nuzzled his forehead to hers, pulling her body to him. He ran his fingers, palms, and talons over her shoulders and down the curve of her back, eliciting a delighted gasp from Shepard.

He kissed her again, using his tongue more freely this time. Her hands roamed over his chest and shoulders while their tongues danced. She paused for a moment to bend her arms behind her, a motion that had Garrus furrowing his brow plates in confusion. Confused - until the fabric hiding her breasts loosened, one strap slipping over her shoulder. Garrus used his hands on either side of her arms to let the straps fall the rest of the way, revealing the swelled flesh beneath.

Garrus had seen pictures of naked women. He had known that human breasts were different than turian breasts, but he was still amazed to see them right in front of him. He dropped to his knees so that his eye-level was closer to them, and Shepard stepped back in surprise. "Ah, sorry," he said, looking up at her. "I just – can I...?"

"Oh." Shepard smiled down, aware of his gaze darting between her chest and her face. "Sure."

Shepard stepped forward again, and Garrus nuzzled his forehead and nose against the inside of one of her breasts. They weren't as large as some of the tits he had seen on the women in the pictures and vids, but it wasn't something that displeased him at all – they were Shepard's breasts. There were things in the vids - he was trying to remember – things that the women had liked. He squeezed one breast and teased his thumb over her nipple while turning his head to lick at the other. Garrus heard Shepard hum above him, and he squeezed a little harder, talons gently creasing the side of her breast. He used his mouth to nibble her nipple, and he earned a gasp of approval for his efforts. She was touching his fringe, and he moaned quietly into her skin.

Still mouthing and licking at her breasts, he let his hands travel over Shepard's body. He ran them up and down her back, over her hips and squeezing her buttocks. Shepard gave him a giggle, and his groin swelled at the sound. The Commander always seemed to give off a confident yet masculine facade in her military dealings that bordered into her everyday life; something like a giggle from her mouth was such a... girlish thing for Garrus to hear from Shepard, and he found it incredibly arousing. He unzipped the front of her pants, his attentions to her chest distracting her from retreat. His hands dipped into the back of her loosened pants and cupped her bare buttocks.

That Shepard noticed, and her breath hitched at the unexpected advance. She took in a deep breath, looking down at the turian eyes that were filled with delight. She snorted at him, but smiled. "You could have asked."

"This was faster," he replied. As if to prove his point, he hooked his thumbs into her pants and underwear and slid them down her thighs. "I want to look at you already." Garrus licked just below her breast, nipped at her toned stomach.

"Let me," Shepard started, pushing him away. She was close enough to the bed and sat on it abruptly. "My shoes. Let me get them off."

Garrus laughed and watched as she did so. He stood and was there to tug on her pants when her shoes were off though, and they laughed at her black panties still hanging on an ankle.

Shepard sat still to let Garrus look her over, the turian admiring her soft flesh. She looked so vulnerable out of her armor despite the clearly toned body of a soldier. With a sly smile, Shepard reached forward to pull off Garrus's pants. The human didn't have much luck since the top band was hooked over his protruding hips. He chuckled at her attempt before sitting beside her to remove his boots. Garrus kicked them off to be assaulted by Shepard's hands pushing him to lay down on the bed. Her fingers deftly slid down the zipper she found at the front of his pants, pushed the fabric out of the way, and maneuvered past his underwear to take his now hardened erection in her hand. He gasped at her sudden, but not unwelcome intrusion.

Shepard's eyes widened at the feel of Garrus's organ in her hand. The size of it mildly startled her, but she was more surprised at the slick liquid coating it. As she moved her palm further down the shaft and back up, she realized that he was completely covered with the fluid. Fascinated, she knew she'd have to ask about it later. Natural lubrication? Shepard gently raked her fingernails over his shaft to the tip.

Garrus groaned and pushed himself up to roll Shepard underneath him. Her hands were still down his pants, and she continued her ministrations. Garrus headily sighed and buried his muzzle into the crook of her shoulder. This wasn't exactly what he had thought she would go for, and he wanted to touch her in return, but it was so hard to concentrate with her nimble fingers slowly pumping his erection. He moaned her name, mentally berating himself for not taking control of the situation. Wait? Who was supposed to be leading? Did he really give a fuck with that amazing hand touching his cock? And she was giggling again, touching his fringe with her other hand. His mandibles twitched, and she laughed quietly, saying that it tickled. By the spirits, he wanted this, but he wanted her writhing beneath him, making pleasurable sounds as he filled her.

Garrus growled before he opened his mouth and bit down into her shoulder, teeth easily breaking through skin. Shepard cried out with the sudden shearing pain, grunting with confusion when she realized that Garrus's mouth was latched over her right shoulder. The turian noticed Shepard's none-to-pleasurable noise and released her to receive a fist to his right cheek. He threw himself back and promptly tumbled over the edge of the bed.

"What the hell, Garrus?" Shepard shouted, grabbing her throbbing shoulder with the opposite hand.

Garrus collected himself on the floor, standing upright. His eyes widened and his brow plates lifted when he looked at Shepard sitting on the bed. "Shepard! I'm sorry, I-"

Shepard pulled her hand away from her shoulder to find it covered in a ghastly amount of her blood. "Shit!" She grabbed the sheet from the bed and quickly wrapped it around her naked form like a gown, clasping it to her shoulder as a make-shift pressure dressing. She rushed past Garrus to her desk, pulled out some medical supplies, and threw them on the counter in the bathroom.

Shepard looked at herself in the mirror to see her blood-covered shoulder and her paling complexion. She turned on the water to rinse away the blood with a rag. It looked far worse at that first moment since her hand had rubbed the blood around when she had grabbed it earlier. Blood was still oozing from the small holes by her collarbone and from the holes in her back when she leaned over to see. Eight holes in all – four in the front, and four in the back. Shepard grimaced and lathered medigel over her shoulder; the gel soothed the pain and staunched the bleeding.

She had to leave the bathroom to get the bandage that she wanted – the others she had were too big or too small. Garrus looked up at her with only his arms in his shirt. "Shepard." His voice wavered, and his action of dressing was momentarily forgotten. "Are you alright?"

"What are you doing?" she asked him accusingly.

"I was – I was getting dressed. Leaving. I thought that - Shit, Shepard, I'm sorry." Garrus fumbled for words, an explanation.

Shepard leveled him with a pointed finger at the bed. "You sit your turian ass down and stay there." She returned to the bathroom without looking to see if he followed her order. She used the mirror to place the bandage over her shoulder so that all eight holes were covered. Shepard shuddered. All eight – this certainly wasn't any two-holed vampire bite.

Garrus sat up in the bed when she walked back into the room, fully dressed except for the gloves he had been reaching for. She still had the sheet wrapped around her, one corner tucked in at the top. The turian couldn't help but think what a regal look it gave her – soft and feminine with the white color (red splotches excluding) and thin fabric that nearly showed the curves hidden beneath.

Shepard crossed her arms in front of her as she stood in front of Garrus. "I may not have done that much research, but I don't recall any warnings about turians biting." She raised an eyebrow at him.

Garrus looked down at the floor, at her small human toes peaking out from the sheet. "We don't. I mean, not normally. Ah, shit, Shepard. If I would have known I'd do something like this, I'd have told you." He rested his elbow on his knee and dropped his head into his open palm.

"Not normally?" Shepard inquired. "You had no idea that you would sink your teeth into me?"

"No. It only ever happened once." Garrus lifted his head, brow plates furrowed. "Father brought a female for me to meet while I was on leave from training. We hit it off. I really liked her, Shepard. Thought there could be a future for us. After months of courting, I totally blew it by biting her while we were intimate for the first time. Blew it like I did now."

"Just the once?" Shepard asked. "Not with that tiebreaker you told me about?"

Garrus shook his head. "No, only the one female. I've... had a few partners -" He stopped, a memory surfacing, and he groaned. "Even when one of them asked me to do it, I didn't. All I could remember was that time with Corrina, and I left before things could get any further."

Shepard sat on the bed beside him, close but not touching. "Does... biting hold any significance for you?"

Garrus gazed at her, sighing. "No, not that I know of. I've never done it since. Figured I got caught up in the mood with some freak ancient act."

"Freak ancient act?"

"It's..." Garrus paused, and his mandibles flattened against his mouth in terse thought. "Biting your mate isn't something that turians do anymore. It's not common practice."

"But you used to."

"Centuries ago," Garrus said. "Mates would bite one another during intercourse to leave their mark on the other. Some sort of ritualistic seal for their bonding. Obviously, it's frowned upon nowadays. Archaic and barbaric. I've heard stories of some turians doing it anyway. It's rather pointless since no one else can see the mark, and marriage vows are far less painful."

Shepard leaned towards Garrus, tilting her head to look up at him curiously. "This bonding ritual have anything to do with you biting me and that other female?"

"What?" Garrus stared at her. "No, I just lost control of the situation and made a complete ass of myself. Ritualistic intentions weren't anywhere in my thought process. Shepard, I wanted you so much, and some twisted part of me wanted to dominate you... and make you mine." Garrus looked away from her, his expression almost bashful.

Shepard smirked. "Not that I'm condoning your biting habits, but I think I understand."

Garrus returned to staring at her, dumbfounded. "You understand? I bit you, caused you pain, made you bleed, and you... understand?"

"Maybe it was a dominance thing. Maybe it was an old ritual that you unconsciously acted on." Shepard touched his arm, trailing her hand up to his shoulder. "Whatever it is, we can work through this."

"You're a strange woman, Shepard," Garrus said, closing his eyes and leaning into her hand when it reached his jaw. "I can't begin to tell you how awful I feel for hurting you, and you sound as if you want to forgive me for it."

"I do forgive you, Garrus." She placed a kiss under his right eye.

Garrus sat back, startled, his eyes opening at the touch of her lips against him. "Shepard. But I-"

Shepard raised her hand. "Please, Garrus. I've forgiven others for worse offenses." She smiled. "You didn't seem to nick anything vital and thanks to some Cerberus upgrades, it'll heal in no time. I don't suggest you chomping on me at whim though, but if I'm reading into anything, I might like what your action implied."

"Implied?" Garrus clenched his teeth, swallowing. "What are you seeing that I'm not?"

"I'm not telling you," Shepard said with a coy expression, "until you get naked again."

"What?"

"You heard me." Shepard pushed him away. "Strip."

Garrus grunted at her, Shepard's voice inflecting a tone that clearly came off as a command. "You may understand, but I think you're crazy, Commander," he said while unzipping and pulling off his shirt for a second time that night. "You still-" But he was interrupted by her body suddenly pressed against his chest, her mouth kissing his neck. Then he moaned when her teeth pressed into the crook of his shoulder, not hard enough to break skin, but more than just a light nibble from earlier. The knowledge of hurting Shepard earlier had caused his member to soften and retreat behind plates, but Shepard's renewed ministrations had it hardening and reappearing beneath his pants now.

Shepard pulled back from Garrus when he growled, a sound she was trying to decipher as a warning or as playful. "Too bad my teeth aren't sharp enough to return the favor," she said, unwrapping the sheet from her chest and laying it behind her. "I... don't want this to become a habit."

Garrus stood, looking down at her, at her nude body, at the bandage on her shoulder. "Shepard, I swear to you, I'm not... I'm not into the giving and receiving pain thing that I've heard of from humans -"

"S and M?" Shepard leaned back with her arms supporting her. "I didn't say you were. But you liked it when I tried to bite you back, didn't you?"

Garrus huffed, and he looked worried. "No one's ever bitten me before. Turain, er, coupling can be rather... rough, but it's not as if it's like that all the time, Shepard. I may have enjoyed that on some primal level, but I don't ask that you do it again."

Shepard smiled up at him. "We'll call it a draw then. Now," she said and pointed at his hips. "You still need to remove those."

Garrus fidgeted for a moment before Shepard gave him a commanding look, and he stripped out of his pants and underwear as if his life depended on him being naked right that second. Shepard explored his lower body with her eyes, taking in the strong but lean shape of his legs and his protruding hips... and that protruding erection. It wasn't so much different than a human's except in color and a slightly larger size. Garrus's skin was mostly a grayish brown, and his organ was that same tone only with a blue tint – must be that blue blood. Shepard had seen human men of this size before, but never in person, and certainly not one that she had to put inside of her. The notion was a little daunting, but the human body could adapt to some of the most amazing things...

Shepard motioned Garrus to the bed with her hands, scooting herself towards her pillows so that her legs were no longer dangling over the edge. Garrus followed her, crawling on the bed until they were both sitting in the middle of the bed. Neither of them said anything, only reached out to touch one another. Taloned fingers in hair. Fingers dancing over scalp and fringe. Mouths and tongues moving and swirling. It was moments of just feeling, and they shuddered together at the excitement that simply touching could bring.

Shepard leaned her weight into Garrus's chest, pushing him to lay down on his back. The turian complied, and he kept his hands buried in her hair to let her fall back with him. Shepard moved her legs, and Garrus found her straddling him. He gasped into her mouth before she withdrew to sit up, her weight on her knees. Garrus gazed at her from this new angle. Her chest seemed more pronounced, and her hair falling around her face looked... sexy.

"Garrus," Shepard said while trailing a finger down his chest.

"Hmm?" He replied quietly, almost lost in just watching her. Garrus put his hands on her thighs.

Shepard shifted her body, grabbing Garrus's erection from between her legs, and guided him into her. Garrus grunted from the effort of not plowing himself fully into her, the woman slowly and teasingly easing the weight off her knees as he filled her inch by inch. Shepard watched him the whole time, her heart beating faster, and she worried at her bottom lip in concentration to avoid dropping herself onto him in one smooth motion. Already slick with that turian substance, his organ slipped into her with ease.

They headily sighed at the feel of being connected, her being stretched and filled, him being enveloped by wet and constricting warmth. Shepard closed her eyes and rolled her hips, placing one of her hands on Garrus's chest to steady herself; Garrus gasped and tightened his grip on her hips. Shepard moaned when Garrus pushed into the bed, away from her, only to push back up and deeper into her.

"Not yet," Shepard warned him quietly. She leaned her weight into the hand on his chest. "You have to wait your turn."

Garrus gave her a turian frown, but he tried to relax back into the bed.

"At least you know how to follow good commands," Shepard said with a pleased smile.

Garrus lifted one of his hands to graze up her ribs and over her breast. "Only yours... Jane."

Shepard rewarded the turian by raising herself up and drawing all but the tip of his member out of her, and then she quickly dropped herself, and he slid back in. She did that a few times more, alternating between slow and quick while Garrus tried to be still below her. Shepard's hand pushed his chest again when he started to sit up, dissuading him from the motion. Right, this was her show until she said otherwise. And that only made him want to grab her to him more. This rhythm of up and down and sometimes circling was an intoxicating rush.

Shepard's breath hitched with each piercing stab of Garrus's organ, trying to keep up a steady rhythm. She was a soldier, but it seemed all those battles were finally catching up to drain her of her strength. Garrus noticed her vigor waning but dared not move until she gave the word.

"Garrus," Shepard gasped, leaning over to kiss mouth.

"Yes, Jane?" Garrus rumbled with pleasure and ran his talons gently over her back and shoulders.

Shepard moaned against his mandible when Garrus discreetly pushed in and out of her in slow motions. "I – I want..."

Garrus continued his gentle thrusting below her. He put one hand in her hair against her ear. "Just ask, and I will give you everything." Garrus nuzzled his forehead against hers and whispered, "Jane, my everything."

"I want you, Garrus," Shepard quietly replied.

Garrus rolled together with Shepard to the side so that he was above her, laying between her thighs, and still connected with her. He shifted so that he could put his weight on his legs and adjusted her hips up to meet his. Shepard was prepared for Garrus to screw her with wild abandon, but she wasn't at all disappointed when he only rocked leisurely against her. She could feel his organ filling her with each agonizing thrust, and she didn't stifle the gasps slipping from her mouth.

But maybe she wasn't prepared for his gentle attitude after all when she suddenly felt hot tears trailing down the side of her face. She tried to cover her eyes with her arm flung over them, but Garrus pulled her arm away. He leaned over her, licking them away. He smiled at her with his eyes, searching her face. Garrus's motions were calculatedly tender, and Shepard took in a shaky breath, bewildered. He put her arm down by her head, moving his hand to touch her breast and ribs. The turian placed his free hand at the back of Shepard's knee and pushed her right leg forward towards her stomach. Garrus quickened his pace and could see his organ thrusting in and out of Shepard.

Shepard openly moaned and grunted beneath Garrus in time with his thrusts, motions not so gentle anymore. She hooked her left leg over his hips and did some pushing back of her own, driving him deliciously deeper. Garrus groaned at the feel of her walls stretching and clamping in impossible waves around him.

"Faster," Shepard whispered.

Garrus thought he had imagined her quiet plea, so lost in non-concentration. But he pushed her right leg further towards her and grabbed her left thigh when he heard her say it again. Kneeling in such a way with Shepard's body seemingly awkwardly angled, Garrus pumped into her with quicker and harder pumps. The noises that Shepard started making while she grabbed onto her pillow behind her head definitely didn't sound like she was in an awkward position.

"Shit, Jane," Garrus hissed, trying to avoid gripping her legs too hard and scratching her during their sudden movements. "You had better finish before I -"

He was interrupted by Shepard's suddenly high-pitched squeal – a noise he didn't think the Commander was capable of. "There. Oh God, Garrus, don't stop." Shepard had her hands on the headrest behind her, pushing herself away from it and into Garrus.

Garrus wasn't entirely sure what angle had pleased her to shout out and wantonly push against him, but he thrust down and into her with precision that took a damnable amount of effort. A few pumps and Shepard threw her head back, nearly keening into her elbow. Garrus growled in excitement, continuing his efforts to draw out more pleasurable noises from his woman. Yes, my woman. My mate.

Shepard's mouth hung open as she gasped for air, eyebrows pinched. "Garrus, more," she moaned, unable to relay what exactly she wanted from him. "I'm -"

Spirits did he want to believe that she was close. She wanted more, and he wasn't about to break her or himself by trying to go faster, deeper, harder. No, there were other ways... Garrus let go of her right leg and put his hand to that nub of flesh at the top of her folds that he had been wanting to touch since he had learned what it was days ago.

"Ah!" A groan and a hiss was Shepard's response as her walls clamped around him again. Shepard kept one hand against the headrest, and she grabbed her leg that Garrus had been holding to keep it positioned away from him. Her body tightened with the touch of Garrus's fingers on her clit. Garrus rubbed, flicked, and pinched it at random intervals, evoking more incoherent cries from Shepard.

Pressure built in Shepard's body until the dam of coiling heat finally broke, and she threw her head back, fisting her hand in her pillow and the other gripping her leg tighter. The heady dizziness washed over her with force, and she moaned loudly.

Garrus grunted above her at the sudden contracting and squeezing happening around his organ. He slowed his thrusting to ride out her orgasm as he bent down to caress the side of her face with his mandible. The bandage near her shoulder loomed in front of him, and he closed his eyes to the physical reminder of what he'd done to her. The soft whisper of his name and Shepard's hands running down his scalp sent him over the edge. Garrus clenched his mouth, groaning as his own orgasm brimmed over and trickled through his body. He shuddered and gasped against Shepard's neck.

Their bodies went lax together, Garrus still laying above her and trying not to put too much weight on her, as their climaxes ebbed. Shepard continued stroking his scalp and fringe distractedly. Garrus pushed himself up to look down at her before returning to nuzzle against her cheek and neck.

Shepard chuckled lightly, trying to unhook her left leg from Garrus's hip. "Seems I don't want to let you go."

Garrus returned her chuckle. "I could stay like this all night if we didn't have a Collector base to infiltrate soon." He pulled out of her with an intake of breath when she moved her leg. Garrus laid down beside Shepard so that she had to roll onto her left side to face him. He touched his hand lightly on her shoulder, hovering over the bandage hiding his despicable bite marks. His mandibles twitched in a turian frown. "I'm sorry, Jane," he said quietly, almost to himself.

"Hey," Shepard cooed, grabbing his hands and kissing the underside of his fingers. "I'm glad we did this. I just hope we both survive the next battle for a repeat performance without the biting ritual." She smiled.

"But it wasn't a ritual, Shepard," Garrus said tersely.

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "I liked it better when you were using my first name."

Garrus looked down and slightly away from her. "I didn't want to overstep any boundaries..."

"And biting me wasn't overstepping?" She asked with a laugh at his incredulous expression. "Garrus, you can call me whatever your heart desires."

Garrus looked at her, wide-eyed. "My heart... desires many things." He sighed and avoided his desire to touch her again.

"Does it..." Shepard struggled with the question that had been filling her mind since they had started their tryst. Does it desire me? was the easier question to ask at that moment than asking outright how he felt about her. She mentally berated herself for wanting to ask though; it seemed like a hypocritical question if she herself didn't have a solid answer if he asked it of her. "What do you desire, Garrus?" she asked instead, trying to keep his gaze.

"I will do anything for you, Sh- Jane, but I do not wish to burden you-"

"With what?" Shepard sat up and curled her legs under her. "You'll have sex with me, force your turian bonding on me, follow me around the goddamned universe to take care of problems that most others don't want to believe even exist, and yet you can't burden me with your own feelings?"

Garrus rolled onto his back, gazing up at the stars out the window above Shepard's bed. "We might die tonight." He took in a deep breath with his eyes closed before he looked up at her. "It might not even matter in a few hours. I know that you're more than my Commander to me, and I want to be by your side always, if you will let me."

Shepard nodded, leaning down to kiss his forehead. "You're welcome to stay by my side as long as want." She gazed at him thoughtfully and added, "I know you're dying of curiosity and want to ask what I think of the whole biting implications. It probably has more to do with that unconscious and primal desire to claim someone more than you want to admit." The human smiled with her lips. "I don't mind if you want to claim me."

Garrus pushed himself up and sat quietly for awhile before her. His expression flitted different emotions of embarrassed, thoughtful, and confused before it settled on realization.

Shepard watched him quietly in return before she said, "I'm sorry that I cannot give you my heart right now. I do care for you, Garrus, and I want this to work. Although this mark will heal," she touched the bandage on her shoulder, "I know it was there, and you know it was there. It's proof of our bond between just the two of us. There's only one thing that you can do to-"

Garrus touched his forehead to hers, stopping her words. "I'm sorry that you had to figure it out in such a painful way. But I understand what you're trying to get at. My feelings for the other female I bit so long ago..." He was quiet again, closing his eyes. "I love you, Jane."

Shepard smiled, kissing his scarred mandible. "I know."

-o-o-o-

End! Eh, eh? What did you think? Reviews are sustaining food! Seriously, I'll take any of your thoughts; I love responding to all my reviewers if even just to thank you for letting me know that you read it. See any typos/errors? Let me know! They drive me nuts, and I'll edit the story to fix them.