Chapter 15


Today she took Zoe to the butterfly garden and even though she expected Victor to change his mind, he still came along.

And to be honest, it had been a good day. Zoe and her energetic spirit were a welcome distraction from what was going on between the two adult ferals.

Rae had to admit; it was nice that Victor tagged along. It was obvious Zoe really enjoyed his presence and attention. Since a couple of weeks Rae had witnessed that Victor showed real interest in his daughter and their attachment had grown. They even spent time together without Rae being around. She was relieved because of it. And not just because it enabled her to do an art project or work on her books.

Of course as soon as Zoe wasn't in line of sight, Victor had taken advantage by pestering and teasing Rae. But nothing too unbearable. Just touches here and there, whispers into her ear, standing a little too close.

When they came home, they had dinner and of course Zoe had an early bed time. So at some point she was forced to be alone with him again. Quite an early point.

"I expect you to be in my room 8 o' clock sharp" he told her in a demanding way before he got up and left the living room.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Why did this man think he could just order her around? And is that what will happen if they ever become mates?

Fine, she finally told herself, for now she would bear it. For Zoe, but also because she made a deal with him for three nights and she shouldn't let him get under her skin all the time. It was just three nights and then he would've had his fun and she would've proven to him that she could resist him and that there's no such thing as a feral bond.

When she enters his bedroom, she realizes that she's never actually been here before.

He eyes her up and down as she closes the door behind her. She's nervous, he can smell it and he likes it.

He smirks. She's wearing shorts and a tank top. Probably what she will sleep in too.

"Pretty sure I said 8 o 'clock frail, not 2 past 8".

She rolls her eyes and steps forward into his room "Is that really how you wanna start our first night together Victor? By being a jerk to me?".

She knows she's hitting a nerve by verbalizing how it's their first night together.

He's sitting behind a large desk with some paperwork and a laptop.

He decides to ignore her comment "Sit on the bed" he tells her "I'm just finishing up here".

She knows he's only doing it to make her wait and with that, make a point.

"I'm not gonna sit on the bed".

"No?" He cocks a brow "So you're just gonna stand there the entire night?".

She looks around his large but almost empty room. He has a point. There's basically two places to sit: the bed, or the desk chair that he's already occupying.

His room is way larger than hers, but not nearly as decorated. Apparently he doesn't care for that. There is a king sized bed, several build in closets, and an enormous wooden desk to work at.

Which is strange, because he already has a study. She's been in there a couple of times. It looks like one of those grand old fashioned English kind of studies. Everything seemed to be made out of dark oak. Decorated with art, loads of old books and even a whiskey bottle with glasses. She goes in there quite often to borrow a book from him. It made her wonder if he decorated the room himself and if he read the books. She never thought of Creed as a reader. Then again, if you're over 200 years old you're bound to pick up some literature here and there.

His bedroom isn't anything like the study. It's spacious but very empty. And then there's another door. She guesses there's an en-suite bathroom behind it. He seems the type.

The wall opposing the bed seems to be some kind of huge tv-screen. Cinema-style. That's how big is.

She hesitantly walks over to the bed and picks up the remote from the night stand.

"Will it disturb you if I watch something?" she asks him as she sits herself down on his bed, leaning back into the pillows.

"Do what you want" he answers without looking up from his laptop.

She flips through the channels and decides on the movie Ready Player One. She saw it once and loves it.

It's only just started but Rae finds it difficult to focus. She wonders why she's even here if he just wanted to work instead of spend time with her.

And then she wonders why on earth she gives a crap about him not spending time with her.

After a few minutes she hops off the bed and walks towards his desk.

He smirks. He knew it would get under her skin that he'd make her wait for him. He just didn't expect it to happen this fast. He looks at his watch: two whole minutes.

"What is it that you do?" she wonders as she stand in front of his desk "For work I mean".

He closes his laptop, leans back in his chair and focuses his preying eyes on her.

"Haven't you already decided what I do Kitten?" he replies "I murder people, remember?".

"Victor" her voice is slow but steady "I'm not going to apologize for saying that. We both know it's true. I just wonder what else you do. When you're not murdering people".

He looks at her intently.

"I own two companies and some real estate. But most of the work that comes with it, I've delegated to the people who work for me. And I play around with shares a little".

Their lives are very different. She's not interested in making money. She's not interested in a bullshit job that doesn't contribute to making society a better place. Bankers, investors, insurance companies, real estate agents, et cetera... She genuinely believes the world would be a better place without bullshit jobs like that.

"We are very different" she finally replies.

He gets up from the chair, walks around the desk and reaches for her hair "No we're not" he answers in a dark voice as he carefully places a few strands of hair behind her ear.

He moves even closer, bringing his face down as he reaches around her waist to lift her a little. His lips touch hers and she instantly stands on her toes to answer his kiss.

"You're feverish" he tells her when he breaks the kiss. His hand lingers on her face, his thumbs slowly caressing her lower lip "Get in the bed".

She's a little hesitant. He takes off his shirt as he walks over to the bed.

He settles himself against the head board, right in the middle of the bed.

"Come here frail" he commands her in a dark voice "We have a deal remember".

She looks at him for a few seconds. She's cold and sitting in between his legs, resting against him, is awfully tempting right now. And he's right, they did have a deal so what else did she expect from this arrangement?

Rae walks over to the bed, never breaking eye contact with him. He smirks when she gets into the bed, turns around and settles against him. Her back against his large chest, almost curled up against him. She's shivering a little so he pulls the covers over her.

"Were you watching this?" he asks her.

She feels his breath down her neck. His smell is already intoxicating enough, sitting against him like this is almost too much. But it feels just so nice to sit here like this.

"Yeah I was going to" she replies, trying to focus on the movie "Do you wanna watch it with me?".

"Sure. What is it?".

"It's sci-fi. But there are a lot of pop culture classics in it. I like it".

They watch the movie. But his scent, his shirtless body and his hand stroking her arm are all extremely distracting.

They're nice distractions though. She has to admit, it feels wonderful to just sit with him like this. It's almost a peaceful setting, if you forget how this deal came to pass. They're not arguing or mouthing off to each other. They're just sitting there, enjoying each others company and closeness. His arms are wrapped around her in a caring way she didn't expect him to be capable off.

Sometimes she moves a little, or he does. And in those moment they are even more aware of each others presence. Not that it could be ignored. He plays around with her hair, his fingers softly trailing paths down her neck and onto her arms. Sometimes he even presses his nose against the back of her head as he sharply inhales her scents.

She smiles when he does that.

"What is it that you do when you go away on business trips?" she asks after about 30 minutes of movie watching.

He smirks "Why? Ya miss me?".

She chuckles at his reply, a genuine laugh as she turns her head a little to make eye contact "I'm just curious Victor".

"That's when I do some stuff for S.H.I.E.L.D." he explains "But only on a freelance basis. I'm not under their contract or anything".

His arm snakes around her, pressing her even more tightly against him as he inhales her scents once more. Her one hand is resting on his leg, the other is slowly trailing paths up and down his other legs.

"You know" she muses "Sometimes Zoe wakes up ad crawls into bed with me. What if she wakes up now and finds me gone? How am I gonna explain that?".

"If I hear or sense her wake up, I will let you know".

"You're senses are that good?" she wonders.

"I'm class 5" he explains "And she's my cub, so I'm extra sensitive to her sounds and movements. That's how it works with ferals. Same goes for you because you're my mate".

She scoffs out a small laugh "You just had to bring that up didn't you?".

"Just the way things are".

"Does the mark enable you to sense me even better?".

"Yes it does. Are ya gonna give me that crap about how you have free will and make your own choices again?".

"Not right away" she replies as she lets her head rest against him "That can wait until after the movie".

Somewhere near the end of the movie however, she drifted off a little.

Victor looks down at her small form, curled up against him and completely peaceful. He wonders how this all works. Of course he has known for months that she's his mate and that he wants her this way. But he never experienced such an insanely strong connection to anyone. Or just a connection to anyone. So for him, it's new also.

On a surface level she was right about how they were very different. But he knows that if anything, he needs a mate who can put up with his mood swings, who manages to sooth him and who stands up for herself instead of letting him boss her around. He likes it when she talks back instead of cowering in fear, it challenges him but eventually makes him think. He also needs someone who's smart, witty and loyal to him and his cub. And Rae has all that. So he didn't agree with her statement that they weren't a good fit. He might not know shit about romantic connections, but he knows it all comes down to the right personalities finding each other. And apart from the feral mate-thing, which was already good enough reason for him, he also saw in them two personalities that matched pretty fucking well. Because she definitely needed someone who would from time to time protect her from her own naivety and point out her prejudice. Someone who could offer a steady home with stability, loyalty and boundaries, but still with enough tension to keep things interesting for her restless and free spirit.

According to him, this feral match wasn't as illogical as Rae said it was. She just needed to accept it.

"Get some sleep Kitten" he quietly tells er "You'll feel better tomorrow".

Rae groggily wakes at the sound of his voice and they move around in the bed.

She lays down under the covers and he instantly pulls her against his chest. Her inner feral purrs as she is now wide awake again. She has to admit that she likes this. The feel of his hard body, his arms wrapped around her, inhaling his scents every time she breaths.

Rae slowly snakes her arm around him as her head rests against his chest, listening to the steady beating of his heart.

She never imagined this is how it would go. She always imagined that one day she might meet someone, they would get to know each other and then start dating before they called it a relationship at some point. But this seems to be that in reverse.

"Zoe really liked it that you came with us today" she eventually breaks the peaceful silence between them.

"Hmm" he replies "And did you?".

She moved her head to look at him. For a moment she's tempted to lie or just remain quiet.

But why not just tell him the truth?

"I really liked it too" she murmurs just before she places her soft lips on his.


AN: a little bit of a filler, I know. I just can't really imagine them bonding without ever having some decent conversations tbh. Even though of course the bond is more of an emotional /instinctive thing, they both have rational sides and Rae is kind of a thinker. She wants to know stuff and get to know him before making up her mind ;-)

So this was all loving and fun. But of course we need some more drama and anger now :-P Also; sorry about postponing "them doing it". Just hang in there, we're almost there... just a tiny bit more drama and anger... It needs to makes sense and be perfect... almost there...