He woke to the sound of birds – apparently fighting over a good spot or food because they sounded loud and angry - from the outside. The air was cool, the windows cracked open, and through the not completely closed curtains Nick saw heavy morning fog clinging to the trees.

A quick glance at the bedside table told him that it was just about eight a.m. Someone moved at his side and he heard a soft grunt, then the welcome weight of an arm across his waist was removed. Renard rolled onto his back and Nick pushed himself up, gazing down at the other man.

Still bruised, still showing so many signs of his fights, but so much more relaxed than the night before.

"Good morning."

Sean smiled, the slow, satisfied smile he always wore when he was immensely pleased with himself. He wrapped a hand around Nick's neck and pulled him down into a kiss.

"Good morning."

Nick answered the kiss and allowed Sean to pull him closer. Renard started to caress the firm muscles under the warm skin, playing along Nick's sides, careful of the bruises and still sensitive ribs, and down the buttocks. Massaging his mate gently, he kissed his lips, his chin, the corners of his mouth.

Nick let himself fall into the kiss, the contact, savoring every moment. He still had this weird sensation that it had been so much longer than the true passage of time. The psychic connection between them was calm and quiet, no longer the ready-to-snap wire that had strained against his control yesterday.

"Going to your place?" Nick asked.

"No."

He felt surprise wash over him. So far he had figured that after last night they would move to the regnant's own territory where Sean felt more in control. What he got over the bond was nothing but contentment; no spikes of tension that he wasn't in his own apartment.

"This is home," Renard whispered into his ear, placing a kiss underneath his lobe.

Nick's shiver was both from the words, as well as from the teasing contact.

Home.

It was home.

Their home.

Not just Nick's territory with Renard as a part of it. The connection to this place ran deep, he sensed through the link. Not in words, just in muted emotions, if they were emotions at all.

"You are," Sean added.

Gray eyes widened and Nick felt himself caught off guard. Renard smiled lazily, fingers still caressing underneath Nick's t-shirt.

"Shower?" the Grimm finally offered, the only think he could think of.

"That sounds very tempting," came the playful purr. "Let me think about it..."

Renard buried his fingers in the dark strands and pulled his mouth up to meet his lips. Nick answered the kiss, hungry for more, hungry for this man.

"Convinced," Sean whispered when they parted.

Nick grinned and slid off the taller man. He suppressed a shudder as he gazed into the burning eyes, as he saw the fire that roared deep inside the powerful wesen his mate was.

"Then follow me."

Renard didn't have to be invited twice.

x X XX xx X XX

The first time was fast. Down and dirty, both men too wired to last long. It left Nick wanting more. It had Renard look down at him with a desire that burned everything else to shreds. The regnant had peeked through, but aside from the sharper features and the eyes, nothing much had changed.

x X XX xx X XX

The second time was slower.

Sean whispered his name, filled with longing, and something fluttered through Nick. Something strong and powerful. He followed the curve of the ribs to the flat stomach, soothing the fluttering muscles and caressing the strong thighs, enjoying the smooth, warm skin. He tenderly licked over the strong erection and he listened to each whisper of pleasure.

When Renard finally slid home into the tight, warm channel it was after a lengthy preparation that had Nick begging for him. This time they were looking at each other and gazing into the dilated, gray eyes, seeing the arousal and lust in there, Sean pushed in deep, murmuring his mate's name.

Nick pushed back, wanting more, and Renard leaned forward, capturing the flushed lips, kissing him deeply.

He drew it out, made it slow, enjoyed each response he got from a very responsive Grimm. When he finally sped up, nearing his second climax, Nick drew him down into a searing kiss that ended when he cried out his release. He was wrapped into strong arms, collapsing onto his mate and Nick whispered his name like it was a caress. Sean closed his eyes, enjoying the embrace, the closeness, the peace, and he listened to Nick's heart quiet down, just like his own.

A hand stroked over his back. "Sean?"

A whisper-breath, gentle and tender and filled with emotions.

He couldn't answer, just kissed the younger man, let his emotions poor out. The intensity of what he felt was still going strong, his need to claim this man for him overwhelming. Nick's expression told Renard that his mate was very much aware of it.

Very much.

x X XX xx X XX

And the third time had Sean spill into Nick's mouth as the Grimm sucked him off and pushed two fingers into him.

This time the wesen was almost past the last barriers.

x X XX xx X XX

They lay together afterwards, Nick playing over the warm skin, listening to the soft breaths. The façade was back and in a way he mourned the loss of the fascinating creature the regnant was when seen in his full glory. Nick wondered if it was a new kink of him. Sean as his true self, fucking his brains out.

Damn.

He smiled, relaxed and completely sated despite the slivers of arousal. It wasn't like they couldn't have more fun later now that his mate was home.

Home.

Their home.

It was still on replay in his head, the simple words, the more complicated emotions.

The apartment was a residence, the house was home.

In a way it touched something deeper than the sex ever could. It cemented what they were, what they had, what they meant together.

Nick smiled.

Home.

And he really would have to do laundry tomorrow.

x X XX xx X XX x X XX xx X XX x X XX xx X XX x X XX xx X XX x X XX xx X XX x X XX xx X XX x X XX xx X XX x X XX xx X XX x X XX xx X XX x X XX xx X XX x X XX xx X XX

The talk came.

Not in bed, lying close to one another, sharing caresses and kisses.

Not while sitting close and enjoying the sensation of another hard body next to him.

Not over breakfast and a lot of coffee.

It was an almost formal setting in the living room of Nick's house. Sean had showered and shaved and dressed – and not left for his own place. Nick, equally cleaned up and dressed, had taken a seat on the couch, his mate across from him.

And they talked.

"How is Mireille?" Nick asked. It wasn't really the first question on his mind, but an important one to ask of his mate nevertheless.

"I believe you already talked to her."

"I want to know from you."

"She is fine. She was injured, but nothing we couldn't handle."

"So what happened?"

It sounded casual, but it was anything but that.

Renard closed his eyes for a second, then his features were suddenly a bit more distant, like reliving another life.

"Matters had gotten intense lately. Politically as well as personally. The Families were far from happy about my rise into power. More power than before anyway," he added with a cold smile. "You completed me in so many ways, brought with you alliances they had never anticipated, and suddenly I wasn't simply a Guardian with a Grimm mate any more. I was a danger."

Nick was silent, not interrupting.

"Then your mother came into the picture. A second Grimm in my Protectorate and I let her live. She killed and I let her live. She left Portland and I didn't send an assassin after her. She went and proclaimed her loyalty to me, a second Grimm under my command. It hit them like a nuclear strike. What Kelly Burkhardt did and said undermined their efforts of consolidation, drove doubt into the minds of possible allies, and fractured treaties already in place. It's unheard of that a Grimm would voluntarily ally with a regnant unless bound. I couldn't be her partner; I was already yours."

Nick felt his mind race. His mother had disappeared to who knew where and Sean had told him that she had openly sided with the Guardian of Portland.

"It started with little things happening in my Protectorate. Then Mireille called, told me she had noticed changes in London, too. It was a surprise since she is simply my sister, not an ally or a mate. The Families should be aware that sibling or family bonds among regnants aren't what they are used to."

Nick smiled lop-sidedly. He had noticed right from the start. Siblings weren't really close, nor had Sean ever talked to his parents or mentioned them a lot to Nick. Once a regnant was of age or had his own territory, family bonds were cut. They were fiercely protective and territorial, which suited them as Guardians, so even close family like that was seen as opposition or even an enemy. Nick had done his best to at least maintain a good relationship with Mireille since Maurice was a true ass.

And in a way it had brought Sean and Mireille closer than their biological programming would have.

Maybe that had endangered Mireille now.

Sean shook his head. "Not your fault, Nick." Nick opened his mouth to protest, but the other man held up a hand. "It wasn't. The Families used what they could to get me to either fall or bend to their will. I decided I would do what was necessary to show them I never would. Mireille agreed that we would play along with their schemes, draw them out into the open and then strike."

"That's why you left your Protectorate."

The Guardian nodded, features more tense than before. Leaving Portland like that, without securing his territory, had been an inconceivable action to begin with and Nick would never had believed it possible, but Sean had done it out of necessity. He knew his mate had been away from his city before; he couldn't always claim personal business or work. Sean wasn't bound to Portland or the area. He simply made sure that his absence wouldn't result in a wave of unsavory elements taking advantage.

No one actually would dare.

But this time it had been sudden, unexplained, and leaving a young Grimm to uphold the peace, so to speak. A Grimm who happened to be pursued by assassins.

"I had to, Nick. I couldn't tell you because your knowledge might have shown. I couldn't risk it. I apologize," he said formally.

"I should say I'd kick your ass if you ever do it again, but it's not like you can promise me that, right?"

The green eyes shadowed.

Nick hated politics.

"It had to be done. I had to make them believe I would go to England to find my missing sister, though a regnant wouldn't react to such news, even if she had been kidnapped and held for ransom. It was a game we played and it played out well."

"So Mireille let herself get caught?"

"She played victim and let them think she was weak."

"And you pretended to care?"

"Yes." Renard grimaced. "I do care. I don't have to play that. No one in our family normally would have gone after the attackers. I let them believe that you influenced me, made me weak. And the plan worked."

"The mauvais dentes and the nuckelavee were part of the plan?"

There was an almost guilty expression in Renard's face. "I didn't think they would send assassins of that breed."

"Well, they did."

"And you took care of them."

The pride was unmistakable. As was the hunger briefly flashing through the green depths. Nick knew that the Guardian was so closely connected to the Grimm that evidence of his battle prowess and his strength echoed back and truly turned Renard on. Right now the pride was the strongest emotion, the fierce knowledge that the mate was strong and capable and able to handle himself.

Nick smiled a little. "I took care of them with some help in the end."

"If I had known, I wouldn't have left."

"You would have left because otherwise something even worse would have come this way," the Grimm corrected him levelly.

Renard sighed and shook his head. "Maybe."

"And the trail you left for me to find, the names and other information you had Adalind so conveniently put together, was nothing but a bluff, right?"

There was a slight widening of eyes, then the pride doubled.

"Detective," Nick only said with a humorless smirk. "I got the shield not simply because of my looks."

Renard chuckled. "You sure didn't."

"Hank and I ran the names. None of them gave us a clue. Even internationally."

Renard raised one eyebrow at that. Nick shrugged.

"Hank has friends in places."

"I see."

"So you left the documents with Adalind, knowing I had no chance of figuring out what they were."

"To keep you from following me," Sean finished the sentence softly.

Nick scowled.

"You had to stay in Portland, Nick. It was important."

"There would have been an easier way, you know? Talking. Just saying: Nick, stay in Portland."

"Would you have listened?"

"If I had been told the truth, yes."

Renard's scowl matched his. Nick knew they were running around in circles again, but the whole matter gnawed at him, made him feel like his mate didn't trust him as fully as he claimed he did. Sean had played a game, hoping that the outcome would be as it had been in the end, but he couldn't have known. One wrong calculation in his theoretical math and everything might have gone to hell.

"Who did you kill?" Nick asked bluntly. "And how many?"

"No one whose name would mean anything to you. Enough to make a point."

"Or start a war?"

Sean smiled coldly, showing a little fang. Right now his control was still only theoretical and Nick knew that Captain Sean Renard would take a few more private days. He had to calm down, reassert his armor and shields, or he would risk losing control of his wesen side in public.

Not a good idea on the best of days.

"They wouldn't want to tangle with me after that."

"Politically."

"At all."

"Who was behind it?"

"His name is Anton Krung."

"Is or was?"

"He's still alive."

"But missing a limb or two?"

Sean chuckled. "I don't have to touch my opponent to cripple him, Grimm. I took care of his network and showed those siding with him or thinking about it that a Guardian is not to be trifled with. Krung is part of the Families and he has been consolidating powers, trying to force their hand against me. The Families might be a lot of things, but they aren't stupid enough to risk a war with my kind. Touch one of us and there will be retaliation. And an assassination of me and my mate would bring them down."

Nick digested that.

"They are trying to rise back to their old power and I'm in their way. Because my way isn't the old way, Nick. It never was and never will be. Your way isn't the way of your ancestors either. We are dangerous to them and I showed them that we aren't defenseless. Your victory over both a mauvais dentes and a nuckelavee will get around, will warn off others." Renard leaned forward. "You already sent your warnings in blood before we bonded. Now you only remade your point. Mireille and I did the rest."

"And Maurice?"

Nick's head was reeling and he really wished he could have a drink right now.

"He came out with a few ruffled feathers." Sean quirked a smile. "But he's powerful. Don't let his attitude lead you astray. He's just as deadly as any of us."

"Oh, I never doubted that."

"The blood on our hands has been warning enough."

"How many heads did you send?"

Sean chuckled. "Enough. Some of them still attached to their bodies. Among them Royals. Like I said, we made our point."

Nick rubbed a hand over his face. He knew he couldn't look at this from a cop's perspective, or even a human's. This was a Grimm's world and this was his life, his involvement in matters that would have been pure fantasy not too long ago.

Renard was suddenly there, right next to him, reflecting a lot of his true self through his still human features. His expression was fierce and filled with emotions that spoke of protectiveness and need and hunger and so much more. So many softer emotions, so many…

Nick surged forward and kissed him, hard and hungry and needy, a dam bursting inside him that had been holding back more than he had thought possible. The Grimm came forward with him, taking what he had claimed as his, what he would defend just like Renard had defended him and his Protectorate.

There was a surprised noise from his mate, then the other man got with the program and a deep rumble told Nick that he might not be walking quite normally tomorrow.

x X XX xx X XX

He should be so right.

x X XX xx X XX

Sean moved slowly, withdrawing a bit, then pushing in again. He set an almost agonizingly slow rhythm and Nick easily fell into it. He panted, pushing his hips at him every time he went in deep. His body was tumbling toward release at an incredible pace.

Looking at Sean's face he knew his mate was solely fixed on him. His sexual tension was only now finding release and he wouldn't be able to last. His moves became deeper, harder, and Nick gasped softly, pleasure coursing through him like liquid fire.

And then he exploded. It was the most violent orgasm he had ever had and he heard a hoarse cry from Sean as he came as well, sinking fully developed fangs into his already sore shoulder, but Nick couldn't feel any pain.

Just pleasure.

Intense and more than just physical. The psychic link sang with it, deeper than ever, pushing past natural barriers and into their very souls.

The regnant moved a few more times, then almost collapsed on top of the Grimm, breathing hard, skin covered with sweat. He licked at the barely bleeding wound, tasting his mate's blood, and Nick felt his pleasure, that animalistic, raw pleasure of the Grimm's blood as his to taste.

x X XX xx X XX

"I love you," Sean whispered into his ear, voice ragged. "I love you, Nick."

x X XX xx X XX

And damn, it had been hot.

x X XX xx X XX

tbc...