A/N: After reading the fic "Chants and Mirrors" by Eternalshiva then seeing Greendelle's amazing artwork based on that story I was blown away. That story and the artwork created, was all about mirrors and reflections. I had an image/idea for another Cullen fic that would not leave me alone and invaded my dreams. My fic is based more on light and shadows. So I have tried to put pen to paper in a manner of speaking. This is my first ever attempt at fan fiction, so any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. This Cullen fic is rather steamy (is there any other kind?) Sorry if this is not your cup of tea but, you have been warned.
Claiming His Mate
One early afternoon the kiss on the battlements became something deeper, something more urgent. Hands began to caress, bodies pressed closer together and Cullen's lips became more demanding. This was not a quick stolen moment found between the demands of the day. It suddenly evolved into a driving force that was compelling and impossible to resist.
"My Lady." He whispered possessively against her lips.
Cullen gently took control of her head to tilt it back, giving him better access to the underside of her jaw. The skin there was smooth and the scent of her called to him. Cullen placed small bites that he then soothed away with more kisses. Moving lower he spread open mouthed kisses to her neck, took in a deep breath to fill his lungs and savor the scent of her. He growled like a predator when he felt her heart begin beating faster under his lips.
"Cullen…? Oh Maker." Evelyn lifted her hands to run them through his thick golden waves. Lightly scratching her nails on his scalp before tugging on his hair to cradle him closer to her body. "That feels so…. I want to.. Yes.. Please."
He growled with anticipation. Just the vision of her naked before him, chased all other thoughts from his mind.
In the past it was his unrelenting hunger for lyrium that was all consuming. Now it's his love for her, his need for her that was his new addiction. He moved his lips higher up her neck, then to her ear and nipped at the earlobe. His hands were demanding as they slid over her body, gripped her rounded butt to bring her closer to the bulge growing in his breeches. They both gasped at the contact and Cullen whispered in a husky, commanding voice. "Bed.. Now."
Evelyn took his hand and started walking backward toward his office door. Looking down at her Cullen noticed that a few buttons on her tunic had come undone. When they arrived at the door Evelyn reached behind her to open it. As she moved another button popped open, and he was mesmerized by the top curve of her breasts and smooth pale skin revealed to his eager gaze. When he heard a small chuckle, Cullen looked up to her face and saw a sexy knowing grin, his eyes sparkled with amusement as he mirrored her smile with a small smirk of his own. They stepped inside and Cullen turned to close the door.
"Ah, Commander, glad I caught you. I have a report here that needs your..."
Another deep, menacing, growl rumbled from Cullen's chest toward the unfortunate recruit. The young man looked up with panic to see a murderous expression on his commanders face. He paled and the parchment in his hand began to shake.
"You again! I do not wish to be disturbed." The Inquisitor's hands and arms encircled Cullen from behind as she pulled him out of the doorway and deeper into the room. " In fact, I am unavailable for the rest of the day." Evelyn giggled when Cullen slammed the door on the blushing red faced recruit.
Cullen took a few minutes to close the latch, and then lock both of the doors leading into his office. " There that should give us some privacy now."
He turned, but found the room empty. Looking at the ladder, he saw his lovers lower legs and feet disappear up the last few rungs leading to his bedroom loft. His blood rushed lower and he felt his breaches grow tighter as his body swelled with expectation. Ripping off his gauntlets he carelessly threw them down to the floor and quickly strode across the room to the ladder and began to climb.
As he reached the top of the loft, her back was turned away from him. In the fading afternoon light, he saw only her silhouette, but with a single hushed word of command all the candles throughout the room sprang to life and a ball of flame exploded into existence. She held it in front of her, taking a moment to hypnotically watch the flames dance and shimmer in the palm of her hand. So much potential for destruction was held there, and her other hand, with its soft green glow, paradoxically held the potential to save the world. His beautiful mage, with so much power and so much responsibility was breathtaking. It still overwhelmed him that the two of them, a Templar and a Mage, could find love and an equal partnership together.
With a flick of her wrist the fire was thrown onto the wood in the fireplace, where it roared to life warming the room and bathing it in golden light. Cullen removed his heavy cloak and hastily tossed it next to his lion shaped helm on a table near the hearth. Next the buckles and fastenings removed the chest plate of his armor. It quickly fell to the floor with a hollow thud. Cullen steped closer to wrap his strong arms around her in a crushing embrace. With is armor discarded, there was only a thin layer of fabric between them. He ran his hands possessively over her body, over her hips, up her slim waist and up to gently cup her breasts, squeezzing them gently and stroking his thums over her nipples. He felt them harden and peak as she hummed her approval. He loved how they fit perfectly in his large hands, how sensetive she was to his touch. She slowly rubbed her bottom against the large buldge tenting the front of his breeches. Cullen rocked back against her as he became more aroused by the feeling of her soft feminine curves against him.
She turned in his arms to look up at his devastatingly handsome face bathed by the flickering firelight. "I have you all to myself for the rest of the day, huh?"
Evelyn purred as she lightly traced her fingers along the scar on his upper lip. She kissed those lips, then gently nibbled at the scar. "Hmm… how delicious."
"The rest of the day and all through the night My Lady. I'm not letting you go until I've had my fill of you."
Lips kiss with passion, hands touch with urgency, and voices murmur words of love as they moved closer to the bed. Their clothes were taken off with compelling desperation and thrown haphazardly around the room, or left to lie where they fell on the floor. They tumbled together onto the bed, naked skin slid along naked skin, limbs entwine and cling as bodies press and came together with gratifying sighs and moans.
The first time was heated and quick. She was on top and rode him ferociously, like a desire demon of the fade, taking his breath away, as the two of them raced toward a heart pounding conclusion. Their bodies colliding together with an urgency that was helpless to deny.
The second time was slow and deliberate. He covered her body with his, as he moved inside of her with the single minded purpose. To prolong their pleasure, and torture them both by trying to see who could hold out longer before giving in to their climax. Evelyn cherished the freedom to let her hands roam over him. She savored the difference between the contrast of their bodies, hard muscles verses soft curves. She loved the exhilaration of his sword calloused hands smoothing over her body,when he pulled their bodies as close as he could together. She craved the movement, the delicious friction, the feeling of his large body straining over hers. She savored the sounds they made together with their sighs and moans of pleasure. Every hot kiss, each slow slide of their bodies joining together was intoxication.
After that they fell into a deep and dreamless sleep. Only to have Cullen wake her a few hours later, with his hands and mouth, roaming everywhere on her body making her wet and ready for him again. This time she was on her hands and knees and he is poised behind her slowly sliding himself home again.
"You feel so good. Makers breath." His voice was a chant on the skin of her neck, while his body plunges in and out of hers. "Evelyn…My Lady…my Evelyn."
Cullen thrust himself as deep as he could with each word and his voice changed, became deeper, darker and more possessive. His mouth wandered over her back and shoulders, kissing, licking, as he fell forward to cover her with his body and begin a steady vigorous rhythm.
When Evelyn opened her eyes, she was startled and shocked for a moment. There on the wall was the shadow of a lion shifting and fluctuating in front of her. The shadow of the huge predator was so realistic that for a split second her mind is caught between fight or flight. Her pulse raced as adrenaline flooded through her body. Turning her head thinking to warn Cullen, her eyes fell upon his cloak and lion helm so carelessly thrown over a table earlier in the evening. The firelight coming from the opposite side of the room has caused a lion's shadow to be cast on the wall.
Evelyn looked over her shoulder into his face and his expression held such a look of desperation. She was struck by a blinding epiphany.
"It's him…all of it…it's him."
The man whose body was joined with hers, the cloak and helm that was the mantel of his responsibilities, and the huge shadow of the lion that was the symbol of his character and a reflection of his soul.
Cullen gently ran one hand through her hair to turn her head and angle her lips to his for a slow demanding kiss. He stopped moving above her, his body stilled inside of her, and a small sound of protest fell from her lips. Just like the shadow of the big cat on the wall, he rubbed the side of his face along hers, she felt the stubble of his beard rasp against her soft skin.
He hovered his lips above her ear, "Say it, Evelyn," his voice was a husky and low murmur, "say you're mine."
He was still rock hard inside of her, but frustratingly immobile while he waits for her to answer him. The only sound in the room was of their ragged breathing and the crackling of the fire.
"Say it." He demanded with a small thrust deeper and Evelyn moaned helplessly. "Tell me you're mine."
"Oh Maker, Cullen." Evelyn threw her head back and groaned. "Yes!"
His hands on her hips held her firmly, keeping her still "Again…Say it again."
"Yes." She tried to roll her hips, and ease the ache created by his stillness.
He started slowly sliding out of her body, and didn't stop with his demands for more. "Tell me…Promise me. You're mine."
"Yes, Cullen. Oh Maker help me! Only for you."
He still held her hips motionless in his hands, with his legs between hers, he spread them farther apart, then shifted her hips slightly for a deeper penetration. He gripped her hips tightly and slowly, inch by exquisite inch, seated his hard length inside of her slick heat. He withdrew just as slowly the long length of him torturing her with his hardness. He began to move with long, leisurely strokes that plunged his shaft in over and over.
When they were together like this he could forget the life or death decisions they had to face outside of this room, the memories of the horrors he lived through in his past, just feel alive and grounded, to finally silence his demons and find peace with her.
Evelyn dropped her head forward and moaned with satisfaction. Her muscles tightened around him, locking down, gripping him in time with each thrust. His body reacted, a scorching heat flooded him, like the rush of lyrium running through his veins. She made him forget everything, the demands of the Inquisition, the danger the world was facing as it was falling apart, and the gut wrenching hunger for lyrium that rode him day and night. There was only Evelyn with her love, and her body, that surrounded him in mind numbing pleasure. He sometimes thought he could not endure.
Her breathing shifted into soft pants and moans that were coming closer together and more urgent. Cullen quicken his pace, driving her closer to the edge, everything in him gathered and centered, waiting for her to join him in the fall. Her body clutched and grasped his with her ever tightening muscles, squeezing his cock each time he sank himself to the hilt. She gripped the sheets for leverage, tossed her head back, and pushed back against each thrust in a wild bid to meet his desire. To force him to finish and take him the way he was taking her.
Pure need rode him now, like a thousand demons of the fade were controlling his actions. He could feel a pressure building under his skin, streaking through his body, down his thighs, up into his belly to settle in his cock that was buried deep inside her. Like the reflection of the lion's shadow displayed on the wall, a deep low, menacing growl rumbled in his chest, it was a sound so animalistic it shocked even him. He fell forward on his hands and knees above her again, dropped his mouth to the side of her neck and bit down hard enough to leave a mark behind. In his mind, one thought was inescapable.
"My Evelyn, stay with me forever."
As she raised her head the shadow of the lion was still there, while she also felt the sting of the bite on her neck Cullen left behind. All that pleasure coursing through her now held that wonderful bittersweet tinge of pain. A sharp, electrifying sensation that took her breath away and pushed her over the edge. It made her feel branded by the man behind her and claimed by the shadow of his soul. She was consumed. Completely and utterly consumed.
Cullen felt a shiver move through her body and knew she was close. "Now, Evelyn, for me. Come for me, and take me with you." His breathless voice was a desperate command in her ear. Her entire body shuddered again and he felt her lock down on him like a vise. Pulsing and gripping, milking him as jet after jet of his seed exploded from his body into hers. Her body kept contracting around him with aftershocks while he rocked against hers, and she matched him shudder for shudder. He loved this moment between them, when their hearts were still racing, their breathing ragged and quick, as they took the slow sweet slide back to stillness.
They sank down lazily into the tangled sheets while their bodies were still joined together. Cullen was a warm, heavy weight on her back and his breath ghosted over her face and neck. Eventually he softened and slid from her body and Evelyn felt his weight shift off of her. Cullen still held her close as he wrapped his arm around her to spoon next her on the bed. Evelyn hummed with contentment when she felt his lips gently place a kiss on her neck.
"Oh Maker forgive me!" Cullen shouted, then jumped out of bed and began to frantically start searching through the room. "I'm so sorry Evelyn. Let me look for.… I think I have an elfroot potion here somewhere."
"Cullen? What is it? What's wrong?" She turned over to watch him as he picked up his breaches and begin to go through the pockets.
"Your neck Evelyn!" He gestured at a spot on his own neck. "Why didn't you tell me I hurt you? If I can find a healing potion I think it's early enough that if you take it there shouldn't be a mark left behind."
Evelyn raised her hand and touch the tender spot on her neck. At last she finally understood what was making her lover so upset. " I don't want a healing potion." He looked at her in confusion. "I hope it leaves a mark behind." She held out her hand to him and with a tender voice said, "Cullen love, come back to bed."
He joined her again on the bed, laying down beside her as she covered them both in warm blankets.
"Do you see this?" She lifted up her left hand, called forth the magic hidden just under the skin, and held it in front of them both. "This is a mark that I wear. It's something I never wanted or had a choice before it was given to me."
She took his large hand in hers and gently placed it on the bruise that was starting to form on her neck. "But this is a mark I cherish and one I hope to keep for as long as I can."
Cullen's breath came out in a rush when the meaning of her words hit home. He laced his fingers with hers and raised their joined hands to look at the glowing mark in the center of her left hand. She was a Mage he was a Templar, she was The Inquisitor, she was The Herald of Andraste, she was the one person who had the power to save the world, she was all of these things and more simply because of the mark on her hand. But none of that mattered to him, as he turned the glowing palm away from him and brought the back of her hand to his lips.
He dropped a kiss to the third finger, then whispered to her, "Marry me Evelyn. Wear my ring here. Be my wife. Let me give you a mark that will not ever disappear, something for the whole world to see?"
He turned his head to look at her face. Tears shimmered in her eyes and began to fall. He held his breath as he waited for her reply. In answer she pulled their joined hands to her face, turning them so that she too could kiss the third finger of his left hand, just as he had kissed hers. Then simply said one word.
"Yes."