Are you ready? We're gonna hit warp speed.
(-)
"So, you and Mr. Pritkin aren't dating?" Jesse asked the next time I took all the kids to the drawing room.
I'd been suspicious when he hadn't even started doodling with the rest of the kids, instead sticking with me when we got inside. Not to mention he hadn't stopped giving Pritkin and I curious and wary looks when he saw us together.
"No. And I thought that was between us."
"It is," he said, eyes sliding to the kids on the other side of the room. They were occupied, not minding us in the least.
"Why bring it up then?" I asked, because I had a bad feeling.
"Because I saw you," he blurted out.
"What do you mean?" I asked, fighting a growing dread.
If Jesse's skin was lighter, it would be bright red, because he looked incredibly embarrassed and wouldn't meet my eyes as he said, "Um, I wanted to see Mr. Pritkin's reactions to our drawings. So I waited until you were inside and watched."
It took a second, but then I was blushing. "How long did you watch?"
"Um, until you teleported out," he said, eyes firmly on his shoes.
He'd seen Pritkin grab my ass and me grind against him. Damn it. "About what you saw…"
"I didn't tell anybody," Jesse assured me. "It seemed like he had problems with it. Sorta like us."
I felt sick with dread. "With what?"
"Well, he isn't human, right? He said he couldn't control himself around you, and at the end, his eyes…they weren't normal."
My heart raced at the same time my blood went cold. "Jesse, whatever you saw stays between us. It's incredibly important that you don't tell anyone what you heard. Pritkin isn't…look, people can't know he's different, not like that."
"Okay, you don't have to look at me like that!" Jesse said, tone sullen. "I haven't told anybody, and I won't tell anybody. You can trust me."
"Believe me, I know." It was the only thing that made this situation less than a total disaster. Jesse was good at keeping secrets, and he protected his family. Since Pritkin was a Misfit, Jesse would protect his secret. "If I didn't think I could trust you, we'd be having an entirely different conversation right now."
Jesse looked wary. "Would you hurt me?"
I sighed. "Not you. But it would be bad. Normally, I'd call it a deadly secret. But we're family, right?"
That got me an earnest nod with a little smile. "He's even more of a Misfit than he seems." Then he considered me. "But that's why you can't date, right?"
"Yes," I said, another sigh escaping me. I had been distracting myself from yesterday's events so I wouldn't get depressed.
"But it isn't because it bothers you," Jesse said, and there was no question, just a statement.
"No. I love Pritkin for exactly who and what he is." Whoops, I hadn't meant to use that L-word.
"He must feel pretty lucky to have you. A lot of people would be grossed out."
I frowned, a little bit offended. "There's nothing gross about Pritkin."
Jesse looked firmly in the opposite direction as he said, "I don't know, that…stuff…with a guy who isn't human…"
It occurred to me that Jesse was at the age where he was teetering between finding sex gross and finding it enthralling. He was old enough that enthralling would have been my guess. "Let's not talk about 'that stuff', okay?"
And it was also bad that he'd connected Pritkin's non-humanity to sex. On the plus-side, he wasn't thinking that the sex was because of the type of non-human he was. But as he got older and learned more about our world, he would probably put things together. Jesse wasn't stupid, he just had more to learn. Pritkin wouldn't be happy to hear this.
The boy nodded earnestly. "I don't want to."
When an awkward silence grew between us, I said, "The corner there is looking pretty cold. I bet it could use some doodle-fire."
He grinned. "Yeah." Then a darker look crossed his face. "If some war mages show up in the fire, is that bad?"
Given what I understood about those places the children had been trapped in, not at all. "I understand if some stupidly wander into the flames. They aren't smart about making enemies. And it's just a doodle, right?"
Grin restored, he said, "Yeah. Thanks, Cassie."
When he was gone, I was left with my thoughts, mainly that I wasn't going to enjoy telling Pritkin about this.''
(-)
"So, I have some bad news," I said. I had shifted into Pritkin's room that afternoon to find Jeannie occupying my usual place on the bed. Pritkin was next to her, reading a picture book about…Greek myths, it looked like.
They looked up at me, both frowning, but for different reasons. Jeannie was annoyed that I was interrupting her time with Pritkin, and he was concerned about what my news was. He glanced down at the girl and asked, "Is it bad enough that it can't wait?"
"It can wait," I said. "Go on." Because, like so many newer aspects to Pritkin, this was damn endearing.
So as I settled into the chair, he finished telling her about Cronus, the Titans, Zeus, and the birth of the gods. It seemed a little gruesome for a child, but, considering the kind of things I saw and heard at Tony's growing up, it really wasn't so bad.
Pritkin closed the book and got an immediate pout as he said, "We'll have to read more next time."
"You said we could do Hercules!" she protested, glaring at me.
The mage looked between us and picked Jeannie up so he could get out, setting her down standing by the bed. That really made her mad. "No! You said!"
That got a stern look from him, and he said, "Jeannie, something has come up. We can read Hercules next time, but right now you need to go home."
She looked between the two of us, fuming. Nearly strangling Bert, she glared at me and said, "I hate you!" before stomping out and slamming the door behind her.
"Jeannie!" he shouted as it slammed.
With a soft exhale of amusement, I said, "That went well."
"What has gotten into her?" he asked.
I sometimes forgot, however highly perceptive and intelligent Pritkin normally was, when it came to personal relationships with normal people, he was often clueless and blind. "She was jealous," I said. "I show up and you drop everything and ask her to leave. I'd be upset too."
"But to say that…I thought she liked you." He still sounded at a loss.
"She likes me less when you like me more," I said. "And she's a little kid. They throw tantrums and say things they don't mean when they don't get their way. She'll get over it."
He sighed. "I doubt that is going to make your bad news easier to take. What is it?"
I paused, hesitant, but then said, "Uh, Jesse knows you aren't human."
Pritkin's face got paler as his eyes widened. "What?!"
"He wanted to see your reaction to their doodles, so he was watching from the hallway. There was obviously enough going on to distract you so you didn't hear him, but he saw the whole thing, right up until I left. And he saw your eyes."
There was clear panic in Pritkin's expression, and I hugged him, hearing his heart thundering beneath my ear as he breathed fast enough I was worried he'd start hyperventilating. "It's okay," I said softly. "He doesn't know everything, and if any of the kids can keep it secret, it's him. You're family, Pritkin. He'll protect you."
And Pritkin was grasping me like he needed my support to stay standing. His heart was a little calmer, but he still hadn't said anything. I moved to place a kiss on his cheek, hoping to nudge him into speaking. "Come on, relax for me," I said, hands stroking up and down his back. It was strange that the usual thrum wasn't happening, but maybe we both needed to be receptive to it or something. Because right now, he was locked up, not receptive to anything.
It was strange that he was like this, but he'd told me that exposure had been his greatest fear for most of his life. And someone knowing, someone not me, but also someone he couldn't kill or otherwise silence, was terrifying. He couldn't do anything to Jesse; he was a kid. So Pritkin felt helpless. And I was the one person he could trust to see that.
I knew one thing that would get his attention. My lips brushed against his neck before I nibbled on his collar bone. At the same time, I slid a hand down and against him, gently squeezing him and relishing the instant response as he gasped and hardened under my touch. A hand wrapped around my wrist, keeping me from doing anything else. And the thrum was there, but it was already the more intense version, the one that happened when we were both aroused.
When I looked up, green eyes were blazing at me with a warning look. "There you are," I said. "Worried I'd lost you there."
"So you do that?" he asked, attempting and failing to look annoyed and disapproving.
"It worked," I said, licking a line up his neck, loving the shudder it got me.
"Stop playing, Cassie." His voice was tight, and all his muscles were tense as well as he attempted to keep from turning this into more.
I pulled away and settled myself on the chair. "Like my dress?" I might have been planning on this anyway as a pick-me-up for us both after the bad news. I was wearing a little black sleeveless dress that barely went down far enough to cover my shorts and had a keyhole cutout in the shape of a heart over my breasts, giving a generous view of my cleavage. "I wore it just for you." It was true; I'd changed into it before I shifted down here. I wasn't going to see anyone else looking like this. I certainly hadn't planned for Jeannie to see me wearing it.
Eyes wide, he sat down on the bed, palming himself through his jeans as he examined me up and down. "It's…very nice."
I smirked. "Aren't you going to show me how much you like it?" It didn't take more than that to get him shedding his clothes. And, again, I liked the feeling of power, that I was desirable enough to make him act like this. Of course, if I'd been dealing with the half-incubus rather than the half-human, this would just make me even more desirable to dominate and pleasure.
He arranged himself to sit facing me, slowly stroking, looking expectant. I realized after a second that he was waiting for me to start as well. I lifted my dress and slid my hand down in to tease my clit. I gasped at the first contact and shuddered a little before slowly circling it.
"I love the dress," he said, "but I've been distracted by imagining you naked on my bed."
"Oh?" I asked. Pritkin was trying to go slow and take his time, so I tried to do the same, wondering how long it would last before we lost control.
"You're spread out and ready, just waiting for me to start," he said.
"Hell yeah, I am," I said, meeting his gaze with a challenge. "What do you plan to do with me?"
"Last time, I believe I mentioned how I've been craving your taste." He shuddered. "Feeding aside, I'm starving for you. And this time I'll be greedy, just licking and sucking to my content, not stopping until you give me the taste I need."
Oh, fuck, that sounded amazing. It hardly qualified as greedy. And, yep, my fingers were busy now, no moderation. His hand was stroking faster too. We both enjoyed this too much to draw it out. If we could have sex, it might be a different story. But this was just fine at whatever pace it happened at.
"But I'm not stopping," he said, eyes blazing and holding me captive as our gazes locked across the room. "I'll keep going, tongue working you until you cum again for me. And again. Cassie, I won't stop until I have every drop I can wring from you, and you won't be able to speak, your brain just blanked out with bliss."
I was short of breath and sooo close… "What will you do then?" I asked, shaking as my fingers got frantic.
"You'd be so sensitive and vulnerable after letting me take so much," he said, the slightest look of guilt at even fantasizing about taking too much from me. "I'll hold you as you come down, keep you secure until you're yourself again. I'll take care of you."
It seemed an oddly non-sexual thing to trigger an orgasm, but I cried out and came, pleasure rushing through me. I wanted that so badly. The mind-breaking pleasure, the loving care. And I swore I felt an echo of our sexual thrum as Pritkin came, eyes still locked on mine as his usual curse escaped him.
How good would it feel to cum while touching him, that reverberation of pleasure between us? Oh, I was glad we'd figured out a way to get this much, but I'd never stop wanting more. And if I felt this needy about it, how on earth was Pritkin managing?
Asking him and focusing on that would get us nowhere. And now that we had both relaxed, the unpleasant conversation we'd put off was doable. "I really don't think Jesse will be a problem, Pritkin. It'll be okay."
That sobered him up from the afterglow, and I felt a bit guilty. He sighed and said, "I think I should talk with him anyway."
"Don't scare him," I said. "I already implied that we'd kill someone who knew this if it wasn't him."
Pritkin frowned at me, and if he hadn't just cum, I knew it would be a full scowl. "I'm not a monster."
Hearing him say that so defensively drew a little smile from me. "Never, Pritkin. You're never a monster. But if you talk to him, keep it positive. Reinforce that you're on the same side. Jesse is a good kid, and if you're part of the family, he'll want to protect you. Until you showed up, he was kind of the man of the house for the Misfits."
Now he looked stunned. "I'm not…I'm just…"
There was no end to Pritkin's attractiveness, with so many new facets emerging these days. "You're protecting and providing for them. You stepped up when no one expected you to. If that isn't what you think the man of the house does, I'm confused." Of course, the real man of the house was Tami, had been for years, but Jesse had taken on another leadership role. And now Pritkin was in the mix as well. I would say I was, but I wasn't the leader-type. Or at least I hadn't been. The revelation during Rosier's attack that people were looking to me for answers was somewhat terrifying, since I usually didn't have a clue what I was doing.
He just stared at me. I wanted to kiss him. "Just be nice. It will be okay."
(-)
When Tami showed up at my suite wanting to talk, I was nervous about Marco. But she wasn't stupid; she knew how good vampire hearing was. If she was willing to talk about something up here, it wasn't something that sensitive.
We still took the conversation out on the balcony for the illusion of privacy. Tami only waited until the doors closed behind us to say, "Mr. Pritkin just came to take Jesse for a talk." She sighed, looking chagrined as she said, "It's obvious that Jesse likes you, Cassie, but I'm pretty sure he thinks you're a cool older sister, although now that he's getting older, I can't be sure-"
She cut off when she looked at my face. I imagine "flabbergasted" wasn't an unreasonable term for my expression, because that's how I felt. It had never occurred to me that Jesse might be thinking anything like that. "Cool older sister" is what I was going for with the kids, so I just thought it was working.
I really hoped that was the impression, because if not, him seeing Pritkin and I like that had just become mega-uber awkward and inappropriate. But I wasn't mentioning that to Tami. "That isn't it," I said. "I mean, I never thought about that, and I don't think Pritkin has either. It's just that with him becoming a Misfit and…pitching in, he wants to make sure that Jesse doesn't feel sidelined. Jesse's kind of been the man of the house for the Misfits, after you, of course, so Pritkin wanted to make sure that didn't change. Sort of a man-to-man pep talk." I was so glad I'd outlined those points for Pritkin as well.
Tami looked surprised. "He thought that much about it?"
There was no holding back a smile. "I pointed it out and suggested it, and he agreed." Since the actual main point of that conversation was to make sure Jesse kept quiet about Pritkin's secret, it was time to change topics. "I've been meaning to ask: why did you trust Pritkin so quickly? Paranoia is our protocol, so I was surprised that a war mage so easily won your trust."
Now she gave me a somewhat sly smile. "Well, I've never seen a war mage treat the children the way he does. He killed other war mages to protect them from being locked up. And…you trust him so completely. When we met, you were already paranoid, and I fostered that instinct in you. If you trusted him like that, it was because he deserved it."
And I laughed a little. "You'd be ashamed of me, then."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. The first thing he did when we met, after saving my life in two separate incidents, was try very hard to kill me. He almost succeeded. There was even a grenade involved."
Tami burst out laughing. "Why doesn't that surprise me?" When she calmed a little, she asked, "Why did he try to kill you?"
"He mistook me for a demon. Because he hates demons so much, he was the Circle's best demon-hunter before he split with them and, especially back then, it's no stretch to say he lived for his job."
"Until you gave him other reasons," Tami said pointedly.
I shook my head slightly, back to the windows. Marco could still hear everything, and Pritkin and I as a couple was a topic I didn't want getting back to Mircea. "Yeah, he has a hell of a lot more interesting fight on his hands than just demons now that he hangs out with me. For a warrior like Pritkin, it's the kind of challenge he can relish."
"Well, I just wanted to make sure the talk with Jesse wasn't about…that. I might be wrong, but I thought…anyway."
It was more uncertain than Tami usually sounded, but I supposed this was awkward all around. Talking about your teenage son maybe having a crush on your friend in her twenties? Yeah, this wasn't anything anyone wanted to talk about.
Smiling, I said, "It will be fine. Pritkin just wants to clear the air. And he's not the most…socially astute person, so if I didn't make the connection, I'm sure he hasn't either."
(-)
When I shifted into his room that night, Pritkin was reading at the table. He looked relaxed, so I assumed the conversation with Jesse had gone well. There was an amused smile on his face, however, as he said, "So Jesse clearly likes you."
I groaned and flopped onto his bed lying back and staring at the ceiling rather than that smug expression. "Tami thought so too. Did he tell you that?"
"No, but his unwillingness to meet my gaze and nervous tics anytime we talked about you made it pretty clear." I could hear his amusement.
"It isn't funny," I said, voice sullen.
"Neither is Jeannie throwing a tantrum because I won't read to her, but you found it entertaining."
I sat up and glared at him. "That's an almost-six-year-old who wants to monopolize your attention. I have an almost-fifteen-year-old's interest. In terms of awkward, they don't compare."
"He's a good kid," Pritkin said. "Despite that interest, he seemed adamant that you and I belong together. Especially since you aren't…repelled by the fact that I'm not human." There was a pointedness to his words and his gaze, eyes not blazing, but definitely heated.
And, oh crap, I'd used the wrong L-word when I was talking to Jesse. I mean, it wasn't anything Pritkin didn't know, not really, but we'd both been trying not to say it, since a relationship between us was impossible if we wanted to keep him from going to Hell.
But was it impossible? We'd graduated to mutual masturbation with a room's worth of space between us, where at first if either of us got aroused, I had to leave or risk him losing control. And then there was that thrum, that feeling between us that told me us touching, us being together was natural and right. There was something here, something we could have. And I wanted it.
"What is that thrum?" I asked. By now, I was pretty sure he had a theory, if not flat-out knew what it was.
His eyes got very wide, and he looked like he was suddenly trapped. "It's, um, not anything I've encountered before."
Pritkin knew. He knew and he didn't want to tell me. "Neither was the color of my letters, but you figured that out." When he looked away, clearly thinking up some evasive tactic, I said, "You know. Spill it."
Sighing, he said, "It isn't…I mean, I'm not…"
Seriously? "Pritkin, are we both cursed or terminally ill or something? Come on, it can't be that bad. This is me you're talking to." Because we'd established that he could share things he was uncomfortable telling people with me. We'd established that I valued his trust and enjoyed being special to him. What could be so bad that he couldn't tell me? Maybe if I could just defuse some of his tension… "This is magic, so I'm not equipped to play twenty questions, but is it bigger than an enchanted bread box?"
And he laughed, to my delight. Then he shook his head. "I had wondered, but I didn't want to say anything because I wasn't sure. But it's been growing for a while now. Metaphysical bonds don't just snap into place, at least most don't, especially organic ones. I mean, you know how this feels…"
"It feels right. Like this is how things should be," I said quietly, moving across the room to touch his bare arm. That thrum between us was so welcome and comforting. "Is that what you feel too?"
"In a way I've never thought possible. And, by all accounts, it should be impossible for me." His right hand slid against my cheek, gently holding me, and the feeling ramped up a few notches.
"What is it?" I asked.
"A Synchronization Bond. It isn't common knowledge in the magical community, since two people sharing the same wavelength is rare, and those two finding each other is even more so."
"Why didn't we know right away?" I asked, nuzzling into his hand. He stood up and got closer to me.
"The geis was confusing and repressing your natural energies. You were bound to someone else artificially. And after…even if it's the same wavelength, we needed time to become attuned, to let the bond grow." That hand slid to hold the back of my neck, leaving just a thumb to stroke my cheek. If we could never stop touching, I'd be happy.
"What does it mean? Besides that this feels amazing?" I asked.
I liked how Pritkin suddenly went pink. "Um…we share things between us, aided by our common frequency. Like energy and…look, I'm not like Mircea. I don't think I own you or can claim you against your will, or-"
Sudden understanding dawned on me. "Are you saying we're incubus married?"
He was bright red now, and I loved it; he was adorable when he was embarrassed. "That's, um, one way to put it. For creatures that feed on energy, such a bond is sacred. Demons with any honor or common sense won't touch you, at least not to feed. And any who can distinguish between types of energy will be able to tell that you're bound to a powerful incubus. If they can tell that it's only half, they'll know exactly who they'll be dealing with if they hurt you." The possessive, protective growl to the last part sent a little thrill through me. I loved Pritkin for everything he was, including a predator.
Uncertain what to say, I just put my hand over his on my neck. Of course, before I could decide to speak, he got nervous. "I don't require anything from you," he said. "Like I said, I'm not Mircea. I'm not going to force you to do anything with the bond. But it's there, so you're protected. I mean-"
"Are you stupid?" I blurted out. He didn't have more than a split-second to look hurt before I said, "Of course I want this! Want you! What do you think I've been specifically not saying and instead showing this whole time?!"
"So you aren't mad?" he asked.
I wanted to shake him. "Why would I be mad? You aren't Mircea; you didn't do this. You just told me that this happened because we belong together." And even if we could never be together physically, I was saying it. "I love you. I'm not interested in a life without you in it. So this is great news."
Suddenly his lips pressed against mine for a brief moment before I was engulfed in a tight embrace. I realized he was shaking slightly as he said, "I love you, Cassie. This is more than I ever dreamed of having."
Hugging back, I smiled, the thrum nearly a vibration at this point. And I was suddenly too hot, that vibration targeting a certain part of me that already had my muscles drawing tight. Pritkin was suddenly hard against me, the sharp inhale nearly a gasp. And I hardly had a second to spare a thought that this was dangerous before I cried out, pleasure rushing through me as I held him tight. I could feel all that muscle turn to steel as he thrust against me.
As we both trembled in the aftermath, me secretly reveling in the fact that all that muscle was so slack against me, he said, "Fuck." I liked hearing him say that; he only said it when it involved an orgasm.
"What just happened?" I asked.
"I mentioned we share things. I think that was our mutual frustrations of other things we can't share getting an outlet."
I grinned and pulled away enough to meet calm green eyes. "So you're saying we have the best possible way of hugging?"
He smiled at that, and it was so sweet and sincere that it choked me up a little bit. "I suppose so. I…I really can't tell you how good that felt. You…I can't."
Since he'd just had an orgasm, I felt safe in sliding my hand down his front, cupping him and feeling the wet spot that had formed. "Messy, though."
A gasp preceded him hardening under my touch. Right, a half-incubus would have ridiculous stamina and a non-existent refractory period. His hand pulling mine away was gentle though. "Careful."
Rather than address my indiscretion, I said, "You said this should be impossible for you. Why?
We were still holding each other, and he squeezed me close. "Incubi are the one creature that has never had this type of bond form. Mainly because, while they could feed on others, they wouldn't want to, and one person sustaining a single incubus wouldn't work, long term."
"You aren't an incubus," I said. "You're half-incubus. And half-human with a dash of Fae. I'm a demigoddess. This makes perfect sense. We make perfect sense."
And it occurred to me that he'd said something of interest earlier. "You said that we share things like energy…what did you mean by that?"
I could hear his heart speed up under my ear. "It means that despite the fact that we have very different types and sources of energy, the similar wavelength means our individual energies belong to both of us."
He was excited, I could hear it in his tone, a sort of restrained eagerness. And I thought I knew why: "So if my energy is your energy, it isn't taking anything in that isn't already yours. And if my energy is yours, you can't feed on yourself, right?"
There was a sharp intake of breath as his heart started hammering. "That was something I considered as well. It…I might be able to…" He let out a small noise that could either have been a whimper or a growl. And the thrum dying away meant he wasn't feeling amorous and tender. "I would need to do some tests first. This isn't…I can't risk…"
I kissed his cheek as he started shaking slightly. Pritkin was afraid to go back to Hell. Of course he was, but this would be willingly risking his freedom. "If you aren't comfortable with this, we won't do it," I said softly. I pressed another kiss to his neck and added, "You never have anything to prove to me. You don't have to always be strong with me." When he held me tighter, I said, "I love you, Pritkin. You're the partner I'll do anything to keep for the rest of my life."
Surprisingly, I got a chuckle, enjoying the thrum coming back to life. When I pulled away to meet his gaze, he was smiling. "Incubus married, huh?"
That had me grinning. "Do you have a better term for it?"
"Well, given that incubi don't have this, yes. If this is a marriage, it's a marriage of essences. Of…souls."
And I couldn't hold back a laugh as I said, "Soulmates? Really?" When he frowned at me, I sobered slightly. "Sorry, but…everyone uses that term so liberally that the idea that it's actually a metaphysical phenomenon is kind of funny. Never thought I'd call anyone my soulmate."
"Mate is the more common phrasing. Probably because of all the hype around 'soulmates' and everything." He kissed my forehead. "It sounds a bit more primal, but I certainly don't mind the term if you don't."
A shiver went through me, a thrill at the idea that this was real, that he was mine. "My Mate. Yeah, I like that." It was getting me excited, and I felt his arousal stirring as that vibration flowed between us. That sudden rush of pleasure as my clit got that intense stimulation didn't leave me more than a few seconds, but I used them to wrap one leg around him, pressing myself hard against him as we both came.
"Fuck, yes!" he said, hands on my ass and pressing me even harder on him as our hips rolled together and we rode out the pleasure.
I was shaking hard, and if he wasn't still holding my ass, I might be on the floor. "That's amazing. If we can't have sex, that isn't too bad."
"Too easy," Pritkin said, although everything about his posture and expression said: sated. He slid an arm behind me so he could let my ass go. I wouldn't have complained if he kept his hands there longer. As he held me close to keep me standing, he said, "I want to give you more than instant pleasure. I want to thoroughly satisfy you, make you forget everything else."
"If we can ever manage that, you won't find me objecting. But if we can't, I'm happy with whatever we have." And both his pants and my shorts were wet. After a couple of those sudden, intense orgasms, I was a little surprised I wasn't dripping. "We should clean up; this will get gross fast."
Slowly releasing me, making sure I could stand, he said, "Agreed." He put a finger under my chin to tilt my head so our eyes met. "But, Cassie? There's nothing I won't do for you. So I'll start thinking up some tests for our energies. And maybe just test my control."
"Sounds like fun," I said, smiling. "I love you, Pritkin." I loved saying it.
The soft smile I got in return made my heart flutter a little. "I love you, Cassie."
(-)
So much mush. I love it, and I hope you do too. Also hope you enjoy the reason they've been having all these good and fun vibes between them.
I'd love to hear what you think of this; feedback is very reassuring, and I haven't really had any, so it would be awesome if you could review. But, as always, that is your choice. And I'm not going to be a dick and hold chapters hostage for reviews; it drives me nuts when a fic I'm enjoying stops suddenly for that reason.
