A/N; Some fluff and more on Kathryn's past!
As always, thanks to Desna for use of her boys and Nightmare Senshi for the use of our favorite Prickly!
Enjoy, lovelies!
Word Count: 2,383
Cristoff was beside himself with joy and awe as he looked down upon his sleeping mate. She was, in his mind, perfect. Completely and utterly perfect.
She looked so small there, in his bed, her pale pink hair fanned out on the deep blue of his Boscan silk sheets. It was clear that she was incredibly underfed, the gaunt look to her cheeks and the lack of elasticity to her skin telling him all he needed to know to prove that fact even without the use of his magic. The idea of her starving broke his heart, knowing how stubborn she truly was meant that she'd likely done it to herself and he'd learned as such through the bonding that took place when they'd mated.
Also perfect were those wonderful, gorgeous marks that scrawled along her skin, curling up every inch of her pale ivory flesh and leaving only her face, palms, and bottoms of her feet clear. They were significantly darker than they'd been when she'd first been brought to White Sea. Cristoff had smelled how wrong the mix of herbs she'd been smoking were for her, had realized that they were tainted even before handing the bag off to one of their best Green Mages. The mix she now had would help to flush her system better than the rounds of healing Cristoff had been enacting through their time in his apartment.
It was all he could do to sit and watch her as she rested after one of the numerous rounds of sex that helped to cement the bond between them. Her size alone spoke of her origins possibly being near the Stella-Joya border, that lovely fall of cotton candy hair leaning more towards Stella with how fine and lush it was. He'd spent hours running his fingers through those locks, tracing his fingers over each and every one of the fascinating tattoos that covered her body, simply taking in every dip and divot to his mate, finding where she most enjoyed being touched to bring the maximum amount of pleasure to her.
She was sleeping under his magic, at that moment, as per her own request. Cristoff couldn't find himself to tell her 'no' on the whimpered request when she'd awoken them both when she'd had a nightmare. He had simply rubbed her back, purring her into relaxing before enacting his magic upon her so that she would have another hour of peaceful sleep before he would feed her.
Kathryn never told him about the nightmares, and he wouldn't push her for the information. All Cristoff would do is soothe her fears, ensure that she would be watched over while she rested, and that was exactly what he'd done each and every time he'd said he would.
He wasn't an idiot, he knew that the scars that left faint impressions on her skin were from some horrible point in her life. He'd learned it all the moment their souls had been warped together through their mating bond, had seen the horrors that she was too scared to speak about aloud. The nightmares she didn't talk about were well-founded, having been brought to life by what all had been done to her in her lifetime and he respected her more for the fact that she had lived through it all, even if she'd lived something of a half-life the last few years.
The worst of it, the thing that terrified the small woman the most, those dark shadows that crept up on her in her sleep, were not unfounded when Cristoff knew she'd spent the first twelve years of her life after her trip through the Gate with a guild like Phantom Lord. The beatings Kathryn had sustained were forever imprinted in his memory, seeing and feeling the pain that had come with the brutality of her innocence being ripped away from her at the hands of the first person in this time that she'd trusted.
And she had trusted Jose, that was what had hurt her the most.
She'd trusted the man that had found her, alone, scrounging the streets of Oak Town at only six years old. Jose had offered her false hope in giving her a place in his guild as nothing more than a janitor to begin with, wiping tables and cleaning floors. Kathryn had started her life in this time being conditioned to believe that those above her had absolute authority over every aspect of her life at the hands of Phantom Lord's guildmaster and it had destroyed her.
Starting with the first time she'd messed up, simply questioning why she couldn't learn from the older slayer in the guild, Gajeel, just like the other young slayer, Rogue, was. Kathryn had been backhanded so hard that she was now missing a tooth in the back of her mouth, not especially affecting how she ate but giving her speech just the slightest of whistles when she spoke too loudly.
It had only escalated from there, giving her "treats" when she did something right in the form of her element, the only way she had access to the smoke that the slayer needed to survive. What she hadn't known, and Cristoff had only realized by gaining the memories himself, was that she'd been drugged by Jose for most of her time in Phantom Lord. The smoke she'd ingested had been laced with toxins that the Smoke Dragon Slayer could not handle in the same way she could the small amounts of nightshade Cristoff had allowed added into the herbal mix she now smoked.
The smoke had left her dazed, unaware as her body was used in horrific ways by men that shouldn't have even been thinking of, let alone actually doing those heinous acts. It had made Cristoff physically ill to think about it, to think about the young girl she'd been, the young woman she'd become, being used for nothing other than to entertain the disgusting excuse for a guildmaster.
Her start to life explained why she was particularly vicious when they shared pleasures together, why he boasted hundreds of her bites at this point from their activities between the sheets. Why Kathryn needed to feel in control and force him onto his back when he simply wanted to worship her body in ways that he knew she'd never had before.
Watching her shift in her sleep, an idea formed in his mind and Cristoff moved himself to hover over the sleeping woman. He shamelessly used his magic to keep her under, listening intently as her breathing evened out once more into a dream-filled slumber. Brushing her hair out of her face, he pressed a kiss to each of her temples, cupping her cheek with his hand and smiling when she turned her face into his palm, a small smile of her own formed from the contact.
Cristoff watched her for another moment before tracing his hand down her jaw to her throat, brushing his fingers along his mating mark that stood out starkly between her scrawling tattoos. Just seeing that mark there, touching it and knowing that it was real and that she was truly his mate, had his dragon purring in delight deep within his soul.
It was times like that that made him jealous of his brother Kaleb's ability to see into the minds of others, made Cristoff wish he could see what his little mate was dreaming of as his fingers brushed over her hardened nipples and her lips parted on a soft sigh. He reveled in the small sounds she made as he dipped his head to trace his tongue over the mark on her neck as he'd done with his fingers, following the same path down her throat and leaving a trail of moisture along her skin.
She smelled like the smoke that ruled her magic, dark and heady. It was a scent that Cristoff was beginning to adore. He loved that scent in his bed, combining in a lovely way with his own mint scent to create a smell that pleased his dragon to no end.
His teeth scraped across her nipple as his hands worked to bring more and more sounds from her plump lips. The spot on her hip, just below the edge of her ribs that were no longer as prevalent as they'd been that first time they'd coupled. Just the right amount of pressure from his thumb, circling the tip of the tattoo he knew lay there had her mewling like a kitten, the shuddering breath pushing out the smallest of smoke clouds that told him she was completely compliant to his ministrations to her body.
When Cristoff's hand drifted further down to touch the smattering of soft pink curls between her legs, he was pleased to find that she was already wet and waiting for his touch. Kathryn twitched slightly with a soft moan as his finger slipped into her. The sound alone encouraged Cristoff as he scraped his fangs across her nipple, his thumb moving to circle her clit and bringing a more rasping moan from the smaller slayer.
He removed his fingers when he noticed how much her breathing had picked up, how her heart rate increased as her body seemed to light up at his touch. He shifted his weight, tugging the sheet aside as he separated her thighs with his own, raising himself up above her more surely.
Cristoff took a moment to take in the sight of his mate's naked, aroused body beneath him. Her skin smelled of the sweat that gave her skin that flushed appearance that he loved to see. It was he who had caused that slightly peachy tone to her skin, he had caused her breathing to be as uneven as it was, and he was the one that was going to make sure that she knew just how he could make her feel these things each and every time they were together, that he would do that for the rest of their lives.
He released the spell from her, allowing her eyes to flutter open as he slipped into her. His lips captured her gasp, holding her to his chest as he rocked into her, filling her completely as he moved slowly above her in a tempo that was lead by his feelings alone. He was determined to keep the pace slow, pushing calm over their bond to keep the little pinkette nearly lax in his hold, something he hadn't done the numerous times before over the last three days of their time together.
He wanted her to know what it would be like for him to be in charge without dominating her the way he knew she feared. It didn't bother Cristoff for Kathryn to be as rough as she was, he actually wanted her to keep true to herself as much as possible and, if that required him allowing her to bite and claw him like she seemed to enjoy, he would take the hits and, honestly, bear the marks as a badge of honor. They proved that he gave his mate pleasure and had his dragon purring when he felt the sting of the wounds on his skin.
As it was, Cristoff saw the look in her liquid silver eyes when she realized what he was doing. He continued to roll his hips into hers as her moans filled the air, their eyes locked as tears blurred across her gaze. Keeping his lips on hers kept him steady, feeling her responding to the kiss told him that she understood and accepted what he was doing.
It was when Kathryn's legs wrapped around his waist that Cristoff knew he won, that he'd gotten through to her. Her fingers tangled in his hair as he dipped his head to kiss and lick at her neck, her moans sounding in his ear as he continued to push into her. The wetness of her tears told him that she'd been moved by his commitment to having her enjoy his touch, having her trust that he wouldn't hurt her in any way that would abuse her trust in him.
After she whimpered out her release, Cristoff rolled so that she was sprawled on top of him. Uncaring for the fact that he hadn't finished as he stroked her back calmly, bringing her down from her pleasure-high as her muscles quivered beneath his touch. A purr rumbled in his chest, soothing his mate as her tears pooled on his chest beneath her face.
"Why?"
The question broke his heart, made Cristoff shift her enough so that he could brush her hair from her face and peer into her silver eyes. "Because, you need to know that I'm not going to abuse your trust the way he did."
He didn't have to say who the unspoken "he" was in that situation, he saw the understanding clear in Kathryn's eyes as she sniffled softly. His purr still rumbled, his dragon pushing it through to soothe their mate in the emotional moment. It was all he could do to keep rubbing soft circles on her back as his other hand came up to cup her face and brush his thumb along her cheek as she watched him carefully in the pale morning light that had begun to glint through the sheer curtains beside the bed.
It seemed Kathryn found what she wanted to in his gaze as she smiled at him, shifting so that her nose was against the mating mark on his neck as she nuzzled against him. He wrapped his arms around her, holding the small woman to his chest as her own purrs rung out to join his, his eyes closing in the moment of peace between them.
He knew that she wasn't completely fine, yet, that her mind was still at odds with what she was beginning to feel in her heart, but, it was a start. Cristoff planned to keep his promise, to show her that she could trust him with every part of her without the fear that he would abuse that trust as others had before him. He would show his little mate that they could love each other and that, as long as he was around, she would never be alone again.