Tom stared out into the quiet night, leaning his naked torso against the the wooden railing of the balcony, a cool breeze with the scent of rain on it gently ruffling his hair. He couldn't sleep, again. There was so much to do, so many unspent plans from his last go around but that wasn't what kept him up at night. Excitement was what stood between Riddle and sleep. His days were filled with action, he'd amassed ten more bodies, the children of lost followers, and his plans to reclaim more DeathEaters from the veil with Carrow's spell were underway. Nights were the only time to think. During the long nights he thought about Lilith, his prodigy, his soon to be equal. Lucius had described her as the most powerful witch he'd seen in years but in need of refinement. But to Tom refinement meant opportunity. Most of his soldiers were just mindless drones, they could perform magic well enough and gave him the numbers he needed but no opportunity, they would never be more. His best soldiers had come to him as experts in their crafts and were in no way malleable, which was admirable in its own right. But the very best of his soldiers, the cream of the crop, would be the one with natural talent that they were still unsure enough about that they would be receptive to a mentor. That soldier was Lilith.

Further than that however Riddle wondered what Lilith looked like, if she was desirable as well as powerful. His youthful body brought with it new old desires and needs that he was far too picky to let just anyone sate. Could he meld her to his body just as well as he could his magic? Would her voice sound as enticing moaning his name in his ear as it would casting fiendfyre? Along with his basic needs was the desire for a legacy, a wife and an heir. An heir, an extension of his very self, was just one more way of living on forever. He'd almost become obsessed with the thought of it.

Anticipation and thrill coursing through his veins, Tom strode purposefully from his room and across the hall. He didn't even bother knocking, hell she was lucky he hadn't knocked it down in his haste. Riddle found his most faithful curled up before the fireplace.

"I can wait no longer!" he practically yelled at the serpent, startling her awake.

Nagini hissed in surprise, upper body recoiling almost into the blaze before realizing it wasn't someone attacking her.

"My lord." she said reverently, coiling up to be just slightly shorter than himself. "What can Nagini do for you?"

She would do whatever he desired, in the dark lord Nagini saw not only a kindred spirit but a visionary. There were times, oh so many times, that she wished she had her feminine body still so that she could serve him with that as well.

"Go to Azkaban immediately and tell the men it will be one day. One. They must make certain that the witch is present or there will be hell to pay. Understood?"

"Yesssss my lord, I will go at onssssssse." the obedient serpent bowed her head in respect and disappeared with a shake of her tail.

It was killing Fenrir to be so close to his mate and still be unable to touch and hold her. He felt both justified for what he'd done and remorseful for the hurt it was causing Lilith, he could feel it just as sharply as if it were his own. The wolf in him wanted to lick and comfort Lilith, make amends for his misdeeds but his over-dominant human side balked that as her mate he could do as he pleased.

Over the last several hours he'd watched her trudge along bravely from afar, looking crestfallen and barely having spoken a word, but she was beginning to show her fatigue. He knew Lilith was too prideful to ask for a rest so he'd declared a piss break so she wouldn't have to. He didn't even piss, Fenrir just kept to the shadows as she sat with her back against the side of the tunnel, eyes closed, for a time before he could take it no more. He was aching to be near her and he needed to fix what he'd done before he lost his mate.

"May I sit down?"

The witch opened her eyes, strikingly beautiful even as they pierced him like daggers, and let out a deep breath. Though the wolf had been the one to cast the spell he wasn't the only guilty party, they had all gone along with it. Still, after how Fenrir had vowed to kill anyone that hurt her it almost felt like a betrayal. Lilith still couldn't understand why she'd even entertained the notion that he meant those words anyway, which made it all the more frustrating.

"You can sit but I have nothing to say to you."

It would take a miracle for anything that he could say to make a difference after they'd unceremoniously destroyed her life.

"That's fair." he conceded as he settled himself at her side, not so close as to make her uncomfortable but enough so that he could feel her body heat.

Fenrir took one deep breath and then another, gods it was far more difficult that it should have been. But after so many years of doing whatever he wanted and not apologizing for it once, he found himself lacking the appropriate verbiage. Greyback wasn't a man that swallowed his pride, ever.

"I...I didn't set out to hurt you Lilith." Fenrir began quietly.

He lifted his eyes to see Rabastan glaring at him through the darkness across the way and pulled his lip back in a silent snarl. DeathEater or not, if Lestrange kept sniffing around his mate he was going to find himself in a shallow grave. Lilith ignored him, eyes studying her filthy sneakers. She didn't know why Fenrir was bothering with a fake apology, they'd practically made good their escape, they wouldn't need her anymore.

"I just wanted to, I thought it would be the easiest way to bring you along…" he paused, looking down to his large, calloused hands for assistance. "I didn't want you to get hurt trying to run away from us...me."

"Why didn't you just leave me there?" Lilith growled, forgetting in her anger that she was ignoring him. "You didn't need me. You would have been fine without the tiny pieces of information I gave you."

Fenrir observed her for a long time, steel eyes finally catching and holding Lilith's. Though Lilith tried, she couldn't read his eyes for the life of her. There was so much more depth to the wolf's eyes than she'd ever noticed before and felt helpless to stop herself from being sucked in. In that moment they were widened as if he was nervous, yet so soft on her like he'd found a great prize after a long, desperate search. Animal magnetism, she told herself when goosebumps speckled her body, and nothing more. There was no real soul behind those windows, he was merely trying to manipulate her.

"I couldn't leave you there!" he said plaintively, holding his hands out in a helpless manner.

Greyback sighed in exasperation. Mating, his new arch nemesis, a game of give and take, a dance that took finesse and all sorts of other things that he didn't have. Love was the one thing in life his wolf couldn't intimidate someone into giving him.

"Why not? Are you DeathEaters just not happy unless you're torturing someone? Is that what you need?" Lilith yelled, jumping to her feet, all of the pent up frustration and sadness suddenly bursting from her eyes in a flood of tears.

Everyone was staring now, unease growing along with Lilith's volume. They weren't even out yet, they were right below the enemy...literally.

"Guys…" Dolohov said in a low warning tone.

"No." he replied much more softly than he'd intended, not having even heard Dolohov. "I need you." her blood was coursing through his veins and he wouldn't have had it any other way.

"What?" his mate demanded, nose scrunching up adorably in her confusion. Did he just say…?

"I said…" bloody hell, sweat was beading up on his forehead and under his arms despite the cool air. "I said I need you. You're my mate Lilith."