She opened the door almost soundlessly and tip-toed towards the bed. For a moment she debated herself on whether or not she should take her dress off. But she quickly erased those thoughts. Of course she wouldn't take it off. He would not allow her to wear one of his shirts as some sort of night gown and she definitely wasn't gonna lie next to him in her underwear.
Please be asleep, please be asleep, please be asleep… she thought as she slowly pulled away the covers and crawled into bed.
"So you decided to come did ya?" he murmured as he turned over to face her in the shimmery room.
"And you decided to not be asleep" she grumbled when she noticed he was awake.
The idea was silly to begin with. How on earth would she sneak past such a famous predator?
"Careful now little wolf. Remember whose bed you're in and be polite. Besides; why would I be asleep when I'm waiting for such fine company?"
"Because waiting for me tired you out and you are finally willing to cut me some slack?" she asked with a pinch of hope in her voice.
"Nah" he chuckled "Don't fool yourself little wolf"
She lay on her back, her eyes on the ceiling and her arms on top of the sheets, tightly holding them down.
"You gonna sleep in that dress Ylva?" he mused.
She flinched. It was the first time he called her by her real name and she turned around to give him a confused look.
"Yes. Because I have nothing else to sleep in sir"
"So sleep in nothing" he huskily replied as he moved a little closer to her side of the bed. "I don't mind" he winked.
She pursed her lips and secretly prayed he wouldn't force her to take her clothes off.
"I'd rather not sir"
A deep growl rumbled through his chest "You know, I could make you"
She closed her eyes and sighed heavily. Of course he could make her. He had made it quite clear he could make her do whatever he wished her to do. And she was growing quite sick of it. She turned around to face him and looked him straight into his dark grey eyes. Their feral senses enabling them to see each other perfectly in the shimmery room.
"You are waiting for it aren't you?" she asked daringly "Waiting for me to crack…"
Now it got interesting, he thought. He leaned up on one elbow and eyed her curiously. His muscles showed off even more this way. But she would not be distracted this time.
"What makes you say that little wolf?"
His tone was sarcastic. Sardonic even. She narrowed her eyes and it felt as if she pierced right into his soul. If she continued this for a long time, he might actually feel uncomfortable in her presence.
"Because…" she spoke slowly as she leaned forward dangerously "You're a sadist" she almost spat out the words "First you kidnap me, then you hurt me and force me to do whatever you say no matter how… unconventional. You also seem to enjoy insulting and mocking me even though I don't deserve such treatments. One minute we are having a decent conversation and another minute I'm being forced up against a wall with you feeling up on me. You don't necessarily hate me, you don't even dislike me that much. The only reason you treat me this way, is because you can't stand my passivism and you want me to crack. You want me to break down in tears and cry like a little bitch. You want me to fight against you and beg you to let me go? Well, let me tell you this mister Creed: It's never going to happen"
He inhaled sharply and growled internally. He eyed her intensely, semi amused by her reprimand. But he had half a mind to show her what happened to people who talked back the way she just did.
"It will happen little wolf. Just wait and see, I can make anyone crack. Even you"
"There is one big difference between anyone and me sir"
He scoffed "And what's that?"
She lay back on her back and stared at the ceiling with a mysterious smile on her face.
"I have nothing to lose, mister Creed. Nothing"
And with that, she turned around, facing away from him an closing her eyes contently.
He didn't reply. Instead he just stared at her back venomously. It was true. For some strange reason, he did want her to crack. It angered him that she hardly ever fought back. That she just let him push her over and did whatever he told her to do. That she wasn't anything like him. And what angered him most of all was indeed her God forsaken passivism. She was scared, yes. But not scared enough. And when he smelled her, it drove him and his testosterone level fucking nuts. And he could smell how obviously he had the same influence on her. He could smell how her inner wolf wanted to collide with his.
She was so… sugar and spice. So fucking sweet so… disgustingly kindhearted. And most of all: so in control.
The bitch.
"Get me some water" he finally snapped after at least half an hour of thinking about her words.
She sighed, got out of bed and walked to the bathroom where she found a glass and filled it with water. Before she turned to walk back, her eye caught sight of his shirt hanging over the towel rack. Mmmm, she smelled it and it was indeed the shirt she had slept in the night before. She quickly took of her dress, put on the shirt and walked back to the bed with his water. This was a lot more comfortable to sleep in.
He didn't comment on the shirt when she hopped back into the bed and handed him the glass.
"Your water sir" she said ever so sweetly.
He didn't thank or say anything to her. He quickly gulped the water down and looked her over. Still sitting on the bed in his shirt. His sheets covering her slender legs. He wanted to rip away those sheets…
"You have Jason" he grumbled out of the blue.
"Excuse me?"
"You. Have. Your. Brother" he said ever so slowly "You say you have nothing to lose but you have your brother to take care of"
She smiled sadly at him "No, I don't. He's dying and… well, he used to need me but nowadays he hardly knows I'm around. He doesn't need me mister Creed. I like to fool myself into thinking he does"
"Well what about your career then? You worked and studied for years to be what you are now. Don't you love being a famous pianist?"
"I'm not that famous, I'm just a professional. Nevertheless, I do love it. But it's kinda pathetic if your job is the one thing in this world that you live for"
This conversation was weird. What was he doing? Convincing her that life was worth living just to be able to break her down or something? She had to change the turn of this conversation…
"Okay" she finally concluded in her most serious voice "There might be one other thing in this world that I really cannot live without"
"Tell me" he commanded as he turned to look at her and leaned on his elbow again.
She lay down, covered herself with the sheets and looked at him intensely.
"Okay. I will tell you. But you have to keep it a secret so that no other sadist can blackmail me with it, deal?"
He grinned amusingly at her choice of words "You really enjoy making deals with me, don't you little wolf?"
She raised her eyebrows at him "Do we have a deal or not mister Creed?"
He raised his hands in surrender and laughed "We have a deal"
Her eyes shone every so brightly as she smiled mischievously at him.
"Cheesecake" she whispered "A big fucking cheesecake with cherries and extra cream on the side" she grinned wickedly.
"You're fucking insane" he laughed at her.
"Why?! Cheesecake is the best! You could lock me up in one big ass cheesecake and I would eat my way out in no time"
"Sounds tempting but I have no ideas what a fucking cheesecake is"
"Are you kidding me!? You never had a frikkin' cheesecake? Oh my God… this explains so much" she joked with fake concern "Your life must be terribly empty!"
He laughed and lay back in the pillows "Go to sleep. Crazy wolf"
She chuckled and turned away from him "Remind me to make you a cheesecake someday" she yawned "Can I ask one more favor without you laughing at me?" she asked hesitantly.
"Shoot"
"Can I light the candle so the room isn't too dark? I don't really like the dark to be honest"
He growled internally and wondered for second if he should say 'no'. It was fucking ridiculous to be a grown woman and still afraid of the dark. A grown feral even! But then again… she had been locked up in a dark cell when she was a little feral girl.
"Fine"
"Thank you" she replied as she got up to light the candle next to her.
"Why are you so afraid of being marked by a feral male?"
The question honestly slipped his tongue. It had been on his mind for days though. He imagined it was nice for a frail to have a mate to protect and take care of her. Someone with a rivaling healing factor who didn't age, just like him. Ferals didn't have to be alone. But thanks to frails like this little wolf, they were a dying race.
"Because… feral males are… shit!" she grunted.
"Shit?" he asked mildly offended.
"No wait! I didn't mean that, that was not my answer, I was just cussing because I couldn't find the right word. I mean… I don't know how to explain it. Should I be honest?"
"Yes"
"You won't be offended mister Creed?"
"Permission to speak your mind little wolf, just this once"
She inhaled sharply and looked him straight into the eyes "Feral males are very territorial. And aggressive. And possessive. It's strange that they are so different from females who are so much calmer and more… I dunno. Female I guess. They are just more female. I like to be alone and I fought really hard to stay independent and… free. Everyone wants to be free right?"
"Suppose so" he mumbled.
"Well so do I" she whispered.
"Mmm" he mumbled "Go to sleep"
They both tried to get fall sleep but it came for neither of them. She had her back turned to him and he was staring at the ceiling. For her, everything smelled of him. For him, everything smelled of her. And this way, they managed to drive each other nuts without doing or saying a thing.
"Why did you work for him?" she whispered after some time.
He knew instantly who she was referring to: Stryker. The mutant hating bastard. Of course she was curious why a mutant like Victor Creed would work for a man like Stryker.
"Didn't I tell you to go to sleep little wolf?"
It wasn't a venomous reply. Just a simple statement. Letting her know he did not want to talk about it. And he definitely didn't feel he needed to explain himself to her. The little frail never fought a war in her life, she never saw her buddies die face down in the mud, never seen grown men cry and throw frantic panic attacks due to PTSD after a war. So what did she know about his life and who did she think she was to ask this question? When the opportunity arose, he took it. Simple as that. To get out of that shithole he called 'a military career'.
She carefully turned around to face him and at the same time he turned on his elbow to meet her impelling gaze. For a little while they just stared at each other. Her eyes not backing down this time.
"I don't mean to judge. It's a mere question out of curiosity" she explained.
He pursed his lips and thought about it for a little while.
"Because…" he slowly started to explain his story to her "I am good at fighting and killing. Always have been. I've fought countless wars which is very boring when you can't die. An opportunity came along and it paid well. So I took it"
"Alone or together with your brother?"
"With Jimmy. We were always together, ever since we were little cubs"
This made her very curious… "How old are you exactly mister Creed?"
He chuckled "Almost 200 years old little wolf"
"Wow" she gasped "That's old"
He chuckled and nodded "Guess so"
"Do you regret working for Stryker? I mean; Back then, when you found out what he was working on?"
She lowered her eyes a bit and started playing with her nails. Slightly uncomfortable with looking at him the entire time even though this was a decent conversation, for a change.
He scoffed loudly "No I don't regret a thing. It paid well. But if I'd known he was busy destroying mutants I probably woulda killed him. There's other ways of making money for people like me. But I was blind sighted on getting the adamantium"
She bit her lip in order to prevent asking him what he meant with people like him. Not sure if she wanted to know the answer.
"You wanted… to be like the Wolverine? Like your brother?" she asked in shock.
"Jimmy and me… we've always been a little… competitive like that"
"Mmmm, so it could've been you both dying on a lab table then. You should be glad you didn't let Stryker impale your body with that crap. It was very foolish of the Wolverine to do that. My father's a fucking psycho. He used to test all kinds of crap on mutants. Never sure if it would work out or not. Of course he didn't give a shit cuz it were 'just mutants' to him"
He grinned, canines flashing at her "So why didn't you ever kill the bastard little wolf? Why do you need the big Sabre to do the job for you?" he asked slightly mockingly.
She smiled a little and eyed his face.
Handsome face.
"For the same reason you are helping the brother who once abandoned you. Because we continue to hope that these people change and will treat us different than they once did. We hope they will start treating us better someday. But they never do so the joke is on us"
"Pfff" he scoffed "When Jimmy wakes up and he aint on his fucking knees thanking me, I'll cut his goddamn head off"
She chuckled "No you won't"
"You don't know me well enough little wolf. You don't know what I'm capable off"
"You're right. I don't know you very well sir. But I believe we have one very bad habit in common"
"And what's that?"
She bit her lip "We accept the love we think we deserve"
He looked away from her and at the ceiling again. In his eyes, they had a lot more in common than that. But yes, definitely that also.
She lay back in the pillows also, staring at the same ceiling as him. She bit her lip… He seemed to be in a pretty good mood and she didn't want to change that but she did have one more question.
"I have one more question and then I'll stop bothering you" she finally stated.
"You're not bothering me. You think I invite a frail to my bed and expect her to keep her trap shut? I'm not that stupid"
She chuckled. Great, now even his sexism was amusing to her… She must have hit her head somewhere, and hard. It was tempting to comment on the 'invite'. Since it had been anything but. She had no choice: she was to sleep in his bed if she was to sleep at all.
"Although I can think of a few other things to do with that cute lil' mouth of yours. And it doesn't include talking" he replied as he moved a little more towards her.
"Why don't you want anyone to call you Sabretooth? Why do you dislike your mutant name?" she quickly changed the topic to the matter she actually wanted to address.
He lay back and sighed. "That name doesn't suit me very well anymore. Besides, as leader of the Brotherhood, people should either call me 'sir' or 'mister Creed'. It shows my authority around here"
She nodded and figured there were more reasons behind it but it wouldn't be wise to bug him right now.
The corner of his mouth twitched into a grin "Was that all little wolf? Can you now, for crying out loud, shut the fuck up and go to sleep?"
She smiled a little "Yes mister Creed" she whispered as she turned away from him again.
After a few minutes, she turned her head towards him.
"You're not naked under there right?" she asked out of nowhere.
He grinned wickedly "Why not move away the sheets and find out"
"No thanks, I'm quite alright" she quickly answered.
"You sure? Or just scared you'll find something you like?"
"Good night sir" she mumbled as she moved to the far side of the bed.
AN: Just a little more patience for the real lemons. I'm working on those. Don't hate on me.