NEEDS

He just stopped himself from stumbling back at the sight as she looked up, her eyes wide. She shook her head, tears in her eyes. 'No,' she whispered as she stood up. She stepped back, pressing herself against the wall, hoping so desperately that it would devour her. 'No.'

'Sepharina–'

'Please, no,' she said, white mist floating around her. Oh God, he saw me, he saw me do it, she thought. She could see the horror in his wide eyes, see it in the way his body tensed, ready to flee.

He stepped forward and she slid to the side, trying to keep her distance. 'Go, Logan,' she pleaded.

'Why?' he asked, taking another step forward, his heart sinking as she sidled away again. 'Why should I go?'

'You can't tell me that you're not afraid,' she said.

'You just ran off to face him alone. Of course I was afraid.'

She swiped at a tear, not meeting the gaze she could feel on her skin. 'You know what I'm talking about, Logan, I can see it in your eyes,' she said. 'You just saw me kill a man.'

'He wasn't a man. He was a monster,' he spat, angry with himself. He should have walked straight over to her and pulled her into his arms. Instead, he'd hesitated, and his stupid mistake had cost him. She would run and he would lose the best darnn thing that had happened to him for as long as he could remember.

'You don't believe that.'

'You're wrong,' he said, darting forward. He put a hand on either side of her face, leaning close even as she cringed away. 'I do believe that, and I'm not scared of you. I know that you do this, that you do it to fight for the people who can't, just like the woman that he would have killed tonight, probably where he is lying right now.'

'That doesn't mean a thing.'

'But it does,' he argued, his voice almost a growl, 'because even though you don't accept yourself, I accept you. The strength and courage that you view as flaws are just a couple of the reasons as to why I love you.'

Her eyes snapped to his, the tears glowing from the mist. 'Logan…'

He placed a finger against her lips, pressing gently to keep her quiet. 'What you do is just another facet of your life, one that makes you who you are, and I will always love you for who you are, Sepharina.'

He grasped the back of her neck, bring her lips to his, pouring ever ounce of love into a kiss filled with such raw emotion that Sepharina felt the little box inside her fly open, his strong embrace defeating all of the fight she had left. She melted into his arms, feeling tears roll down her cheeks, though they were no longer from pain or sadness.

'Take me home,' she whispered against his lips, her fingers entwined in his hair in a desperate bid to hold him close. 'Please, Logan.'

As much as he tried not to, his eyes still darted to the side, resting on the body of Manipuler for a moment.

'No one will ever know, Logan. One of the benefits of being an assassin is that I don't leave a trace of evidence and I've been presumed dead since Clara's death. When they find the body, they'll assume that it was some drug deal gone bad, and they'll file it away,' she said. 'So please, let's just grab my gear and get out of here.'

He nodded, pulling her along beside him. They scooped up her coat and she pulled it on, carrying her heels as they walked to his motorbike hand in hand in silence, the trip back to his apartment the same until – much to their displeasure – Logan's phone rang, Gambit's number flashing on the display.

'It's taken care of,' he said as he answered.

'Are you sure?'

He glanced to Sepharina. 'Very.'

'Do you want me to head back to the apartment then?'

Logan cleared his throat, lowering his voice. 'Actually, I was wondering if you could get a hotel tonight…'

'Oh,' Gambit said after a moment of confused silence. 'Ah, yeah. I can do that.'

'Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow.'

He snapped the device shut, dropping it onto the table top beside the door as he shed his jacket. He stopped behind Sepharina, carefully pulling her coat from her shoulders. He draped it over the back of a chair before drawing her close, burying his head in her neck. He took a breath, the scent of her skin comforting somehow. 'I thought that I might lose you tonight,' he said. 'I was afraid that I wouldn't get the chance to tell you that I love you.'

She entwined his fingers with hers, drawing them tighter around her waist. 'I love you too, Logan.'

He turned her slowly, trailing the backs of his fingers down her cheek before he claimed her lips, feeling her body meld to his. He wrapped his arms around her, hoping that he would never have let her go, desperate to hold her close forever. He lifted her, her legs instantly wrapping around his waist as he carried her to the bedroom.

He pulled back, his breath harsh. 'I need to be inside you, Sepharina,' he said. 'I need to make love to you.'

'I need you too,' she breathed. 'And I'm not about to break my promise.'

He smirked, sitting on the end of the bed. He tugged on the hem of the lycra shirt, stripping it from her body in one smooth motion, revealing her creamy skin, the moonlight filtering through the window making her glow. He shed his shirt in the next moment, pressing his body against hers just to feel the heat of her skin, the reassurance that she was really there, that she really was his.

She ran her hands over his back, his ribs, his chest, any bare flesh that she could touch before she slid her hands to the front of his jeans. She unclipped his belt, pulling it through the loops before she dropped it to the ground, her fingers instantly returning to undo the top button, the zip sliding down with ease just a second later. She dipped her hand beneath the band without the interference of boxers, her fingers wrapping tight around his shaft. He moaned against her lips, his hips bucking as she stroked him, her other hand pushing him onto his back.

He looked up as her hand disappeared, watching as she stripped her pants, the lycra falling to the floor in a heap. He kicked off his own jeans with difficulty, shuffling back on the bed, his thoughts occupied as she stripped that tiny black g-string.

She straddled him again and he sat up, kissing her until her breath came in sharp pants, his hands trailing up her thighs in a light caress before he slid a finger between her delicate folds, a gasp escaping her lips as he stroked her deep inside. He rolled his thumb over her clitoris and felt her knees shake against his hips, her body arching towards him.

'I have to have more of you, Logan,' she said, gripping his wrist to still his hand. 'I have to have all of you.' She pushed on his chest, easing him back on the bed, her fingers trailing over his abdomen, watching as his muscles flexed beneath her touch. She grasped his shaft again and he shivered, his hands moving over her thighs as she rose to her knees.

He moaned as she guided him inside, the head of his shaft slipping into her tight sex, her heat surrounding him as she took him further into her body, her hands coming to rest on his chest again. He grasped her hips as he bucked higher, forcing her to take him deeper, his shaft completely enveloped. Her fingernails ripped over his ribs as she rose, moving just an inch before she dropped back down, becoming used to his width again, used to the way he filled her so completely. She could feel him throb and twitch inside her as she ground her hips, rising higher each time, the sensations intoxicating.

She moved hard and fast, her eyes swirling with white, the air around them beginning to turn to a slow whirlwind, caressing her skin. He growled as her fingernails etched lines in his chest that welled with blood, healing a moment later, his skin tingling.

'Yes Sepharina,' he breathed, arching to meet her body, his hands moving over her creamy skin, over her ribs, feeling her shiver as he brushed his thumbs over the sides of her breasts. He massaged her plump curves, his fingernails grazing over her nipples, her moans vibrating through his body as if they had come from his lips, as if he were feeling her pleasure as well as his own.

She could feel heat burning inside her, coursing through her veins right to her centre, coiling just like the mist into a hot spot that was driving her to the edge of insanity, the feeling so intense that it was almost painful. And the intensity only grew with every thrust, his body so strong beneath hers, driving her closer and closer to her climax.

'Seph…I don't know how much longer I can hold on,' Logan breathed, clutching her hips.

She gasped, his thrusts as quick as his breath. 'I know, Logan, I'm so close.'

'Not close enough.' He rolled, his weight on his arms as he angled his hips, pinning her beneath him as he drove into her, grinding hard against her with every thrust, her moans louder and louder with each desperate movement. He was so close, his control holding on by a thread, his cock so hard that it was painful, but he wasn't going to allow himself to tip into sweet oblivion without her.

Her eyes locked with his, the white shining as the fire exploding within her. His cry matched hers as she tightened around him, her body shaking as she came, milking his seed from his body with every clench of her sex. Her nails dug into his hips, holding on for dear life as he continued to thrust even as he shuddered with the effort, every ounce of his strength spent.

He gripped her thigh, taking her with him as he collapsed to the side, still buried deep inside her. He kissed her neck, his hand trailing over her cheek as he moved to her lips, feeling her quick breath against his skin. He brushed her hair from her eyes, watching as the white dispersed to reveal that beautiful pale blue.

She smiled. 'Ridden hard, as promised,' she laughed.

'Don't think that I'm done with you yet,' he said, kissing her again, her heart thumping hard and fast against her ribs, as he leant his forehead against hers, sighing as she tightened her arm around him. 'You're never going to be alone again.'