Author Note: *cackles evilly*
You are the finest, loveliest, tenderest, and most beautiful person I have ever know – and even that is an understatement.
–F. Scott Fitzgerald
Kagome twitched in the wolf prince's arms, still very asleep since their journey back from the well and apparently dreaming. Briefly he wondered what she was dreaming about.
Upon his return, he had signaled to the others in the den to keep the noise down with a finger to his lips. She was asleep and after the eventful day she had, he planned to do everything in his power to let her rest.
Kouga wasn't stupid. He knew what Kagome was giving up. Not seeing her home again or her family. He just didn't see any way around it. Mated couples struggled enough as it was being separated when the male left for runs or to ward off enemies. Kouga had lived long enough to witness mated spouse's quickly lose their minds with the loss of the other. They were yet to be mated, but it was only a matter of time.
Doing his best not to jostle the woman in his arms, Kouga tossed her bag in the corner, slid down the wall of his private den and released the breath he had been holding. The den was dark except for a torch hanging on the wall giving the room a little light.
"Kou-ga."
His neck nearly snapped at attention to the breathy moan that had escaped the rosy lips of his beloved, her body writhing beneath him and the scent of her faint arousal in the air.
Kouga bared a single fang, smirking into the shadows of his den. Oh, he knew exactly what she was dreaming about.
For a human, Kagome sure was exhibiting some of the exact behaviors of a woman about to be mated. He had half a mind to wake her up then. Mulling the decision over in his head, his desire to protect her and her rest won out. That didn't mean that he couldn't… encourage her fantasies while she slept. She was dreaming about him after all.
Using the lightest of touches, Kouga brushed his fingers across the side of her face. Just as he predicted, Kagome leaned her cheek into his warm hand. Then he ran his thumb over her bottom lip and she sighed. He had to remind himself that she was in fact asleep when she whimpered his name again, wriggling in his arms.
Yes, she was acting very much like a soon-to-be mate.
Lost in thought, he felt his woman's fingers against his cheek and looked down to find her eyes open.
Not asleep.
Definitely not asleep anymore.
"Kouga?"
The girl roused blearily, uncertain what had pulled her from sleep. She had been having very pleasant dreams about him and was feeling a little heated. She sat up, but Kouga didn't unlock his arms around her. He wasn't ready to let go just yet.
"You fell asleep." His voice was hoarse.
"I'm here? I almost thought for a moment I had fallen asleep in my bed at home," Kagome said, he noted, a bit sadly.
"Are you unhappy with your decision, Kagome?" Kouga inhaled the heady scent of her arousal still lingering in the air. He strummed his fingers across her hip and he was rewarded with her biting down on her lip.
Kagome shook her head. "No. I… I want to be here with you." She sighed. "I'm just going to miss my brother and grandpa. I didn't get to see them before I left."
Standing in the dimly lit room, Kagome searched blindly for her things and tried to clear the fog in her head from the very real dream she had just had. She tripped, but sooner than she had faltered, Kouga's hands were around her waist righting her.
His growl hummed low in her ear. "Careful, you're previous cargo," he said huskily and Kagome was suddenly very aware of how close he was standing behind her. Her skin buzzed with the physical contact and the feel of warm, wet lips on her throat.
This was very reminiscent of the dream she just had.
"You mean your precious cargo?" she asked, a bit sarcastically. What had gotten into her to make her act so flirtatious?
Kouga growled low in agreement, his hands sliding from her waist down to her hips possessively and squeezing. He inhaled the breathy whimper that left her mouth.
"I like the sound of that." He squeezed her hips again, earning another gasp. It was adorable that she was putting so much effort into being quiet. "Mine."
"I had a feeling you would," Kagome replied, her voice sultry. God, Kagome, shut up!
Kouga pushed them against the flat of the cold den wall, his hands at either side of her head. He leaned in, his nose nuzzling her neck at her pulse point, which was thrumming erratically.
"Been dreaming about me?" he whispered knowingly.
Kagome gasped.
How could he… did I?
Oh no, I definitely blabbed in my sleep again.
"Saying my name in your sleep was my first clue," he purred in her ear, answering her questions before they were asked.
Kagome blushed, thankful she wasn't facing him.
His clawed fingers brushed her hair over one shoulder as he continued his assault on her neck. Kagome couldn't help the moan that slipped between her lips, or the way her backside pressed against his front. He growled at the sensation the friction caused and the peak of her arousal in the air.
Roughly, he turned her over, her back smacking hard against the wall of the den. Without missing but a second, his lips covered hers as he rolled his hips against hers. She felt him hard against her. Her hands ran up his chest until they locked around his neck.
Sensing her need for air, Kouga released her lips and cotniued kissing down her neck.
"Kouga, before we – before we do this, I have some questions."
His tongue ran over the sensitive skin of her pulse point on her throat and Kagome shivered as he said, "Yes baby?" Her eyes rolled back in her head, almost forgetting how to speak. Calling her baby in that voice with his tongue doing that.
Currently, one of his hands was in her hair, the other locked around her hip, holding her against the wall.
He was so rough and Kagome found she really enjoyed that.
Questions, you had questions, Kagome.
"You won't…" She felt stupid just asking. "It won't hurt when we… when you take me?"
Kouga shook his head, his nose brushing her throat in response. "Ill make love to you until the sun comes up."
God, I'm a goner, Kagome thought, squirming beneath him. All night? Wolf demon could go all night? Figures.
Kagome's fangs bared at the want on her face. "Maybe longer. Who knows how long it will take us to be satisfied once I've marked you."
Mark me? Kagome's belly turned with fear. "M-marking me?"
"Mm-hmm." Kouga's lips trailed from her throat down to her collarbone, pushing the fabric of her shirt out of the way to continue his kisses down her body. The skin revealed to him wasn't enough and he soon grew frustrated with her odd human clothing.
"Remove this or I'm going to tear it off," he growled, nipping gently at her skin.
Kagome hurriedly removed her shirt and tossed it to the side, trying desperately to concentrate on her questions, while Kouga continued to roam his hands and lips over her newly exposed skin.
Something about marking…
"Does marking hurt?"
His hand roughly spanned across the front of her waist, up then back down, followed by his hoarse reply of, "No."
"W-where do you do it?"
Kagome gasped as he nipped the shell of her ear with his teeth.
He smirked against the almost vibrating pulse at her throat. "Here." His fingers graced the top of her shoulder. "Here." He trailed down over her the bared flesh of her breast. "Or here but," his fingers glided down over her stomach until it swept over the extra soft skin of her inner thigh. "I'd prefer to mark you right here."
Right now.
Oh how he wanted her.
Kagome could hardly focus with his hands where they were. She had to redirect him elsewhere, so she gently took his hands and placed them upon her waist. His hands moved up and down over the sides of her waist, raising the flesh into goosebumps there.
He leaned in, not kissing her and Kagome practically sighed with relief. "Scared, kitten?"
Kagome thought about it.
She was crossing a very dangerous line with her wolf demon, who was just that, a demon. What if he became out of control like she had always feared with Inuyasha? What if they made love and he accidentally tore her in half?
Was she afraid? She closed her eyes, taking a break from the visual feast before her.
A little.
"Will you lose control?" she asked, her voice smaller than ever.
She opened her eyes again at the touch of his fingers across her face, her eyelids, her nose, her lips.
Kouga's eyebrows were knitted together in confusion. "Lose control? How do you mean?"
Kagome felt like crying. "The part of you that's a demon. Will you lose control and – "
"Hurt you?" he finished for her, catching her meaning. "Kagome, I am one hundred percent demon. There is no splitting of souls between human and demon. Inuyasha was a hanyou. I am not." And for once Kouga wasn't saying it to one up a dead man, but to make a point.
"If I lose control at all, it will be in the throes of passion, not with my demon," he continued with hooded eyes, making Kagome look down in embarrassment. His fingers coaxed her chin upward and he dusted feather light kisses on her face.
"With every ounce of my soul, I promise to protect you, to take care of you, and to make certain you are happy. I would never hurt you." He placed a final kiss on her lips. "Put those silly fears of yours to rest."
Kagome nodded, the tears receding. Of course, Kouga would never be able to hurt her. Of course. But it was still nice to be confirmed.
"So this whole mating thing," Kagome blinked away tears, finally able to think more clearly. "We do that and what? I'm yours forever?"
Kouga nodded. He seemed to have calmed down and Kagome was thankful for the break from his ravishing hands and lips on her skin. She knew she probably had bruises on her hips to look forward to, at the very least.
"We have something like that back home," Kagome said thoughtfully. Marriage. "I would be your wife and you would be called my husband. There's usually a ceremony involved with lots of family and friends." Kouga placed a lingering kiss on her throat and Kagome's pulse raced again. "This won't be like that, I'm assuming."
"There's no ceremony," Kouga confirmed.
"So, wolves just pick their mate and that's it? For life?" Kagome said.
Her wolf demon had begun another trail of kisses down her throat and was currently working on her collarbone.
"It's more than that," Kouga murmured, pushing her bra strap over one shoulder. "It's instinct. It's… undeniable. Once you see them, there is nothing you wouldn't do to make them yours.
"I meant it when I said that I would spend my whole existence ripping through the universe searching for you, if you hadn't returned from the well. The bond is that strong. Stronger."
"And your instincts told you that I was your mate when I was 15?" Kouga didn't answer, only slipped her other bra strap off her shoulder, kissing her shoulder.
"So it's instinct and when you've selected a mate, it means that no other man can claim me, right?"
Kouga's hands began their possessive roaming over her bared flesh again. "If another man challenged me for you after I've mated you, I would have to kill him."
Kagome shook her head. "They wouldn't dare, but…"
She had to slow this down, way down.
"Kouga, can you give me the night to think about all of this?" It was a lot to take in.
He placed a final kiss on her cheek. "Yes, but I'm not letting you out of my arms or out of my sight."
End notes: Yes, Kagome was dreaming and I promise you won't be disappointed the next chapter.
