"Say it, Omega."

"Yours," she breathed, golden eyes finding his. His dark eyes swirled with something that was nearly feral, piercing in a way that shot straight to her core. But Hermione couldn't look away. Strong arms wrapped around her and she held his gaze as he positioned himself at her center and sheathed himself within her in one quick stroke.

Euphoria was all she felt as he rocked against her, his teeth sinking into her flesh and piercing the gland that sat just beneath the skin. She screamed her pleasure as her nails dug into his back, nearly certain that the blinding flash of pain would overpower the burning until it abruptly settled into a gentle warmth as her orgasm washed over her.

His knot grew, locking them together and she felt whole for the first time in her life as his spend emptied into her womb.

It was unlike anything Hermione had ever felt before. There would be time for longer, passion filled couplings later, but this—the way they were joined and the way their scents mingled and became one, was utterly perfect.

And she basked in the glow until her senses returned.

Her mate's face was buried against her shoulder as he held her tightly against him, whispering words so quietly she couldn't understand. They were soft, reverent, and full of something she couldn't comprehend. Desperately, she forced herself into coherence and her nose wrinkled as his scent filled her, until everything tasted bitter and wrong and their bond thrummed discordant with conflict.

Oh.

He hadn't meant to bite her—to mate her.

Couldn't he see? Didn't he understand?

"Severus," she called softly, threading her arms around him to stroke along the curve of his back, her fingertips brushing over the indentations of several scars as they made their way up and down his spine. She would have to ask about those later, the thought of his skin being marred unsettled her, likely as much as her own scars had pained him.

She tried again a moment later when he didn't respond, pulling her fingers through his dark hair.

"Severus."

His lips and tongue soothed the fresh bite between a string of whispered apologies, finally loud enough that she was able to make out the frantic murmurs. His body tensed under her gentle touch, moaning softly against her skin, as his cock spasmed within her, releasing more of his spend with it.

As utterly euphoric as it felt with the way her cunt clenched around his knot, the scent of his grief hanging in the air troubled her. The thrum of the bond between them was everything she'd read about—dreamed about. Even if mating came earlier than she'd ever anticipated, bonding with her mate was something that made her world come alive. It made her happy.

From the moment she'd scented him, she'd known he was hers.

Mating was inevitable.

They were inevitable. Powerless to resist

Did he not realize that?

"Alpha!" Hermione's voice was firm and insistent and Severus' met her gaze, but as soon as his troubled eyes found hers, his gaze drifted towards her cheek.

Impatience and frustration pulled a huff from her lungs and her small hands encircled his stubbled jaw, directing his gaze back to her eyes with a not so gentle tug. She could see the grief in the dark of his pupils with such clarity and he made no effort to hide it from her. The depth of emotion swirling within threatened to rend her heart as her instincts cried out for her to soothe her Alpha.

She pulled his face down to hers and pressed a soft kiss to his mouth. His response was immediate as their mouths melded together and another pulse from his cock sent more of his spend to fill her womb. The small voice in the back of her mind was pleased with the possibility of being bred.

"Mine," she whispered, dark and possessive against his lips.

She felt him relax, if only infinitesimally, and the acrid smell that had pervaded the room began to fade. With a sigh, his forehead pressed against hers and their noses nuzzled together before he carefully rolled them over so she was able to rest on top of him. Her head settled against his chest and she melted into him with each beat of his heart.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione." The deep baritone rumbled through his chest and she thought he might say more, but she would take no more apologies—especially not for something she so desperately wanted.

"I'm not," Hermione pressed her lips against the pale skin of his chest near his heart. "Not even for a moment."

"I took away your choice." It was like he hadn't even heard her as he spoke more tentatively than she'd ever heard him speak before, his voice nearly wavering with each syllable.

"A few hours ago, I never thought I would have this chance, Severus. I saw your body interred in the ground for Merlin's sake."

Hermione felt the rush of breath as it left Severus' body, but she didn't stop speaking. She couldn't stop. She needed to make him see that she accepted him as her mate. The thought of him rejecting their bond was enough to render her catatonic with her own grief. She couldn't allow him to speak those words, to reject her—to reject them, when their chance had nearly been ripped from them.

"And I don't know how you are here now but the one thing I do not regret is that I'm yours. How could I? The moment I scented you, I knew. You must have felt it. Tell me you feel it, Severus."

She pushed up from where she rested on his chest and balanced her weight on her forearm, amber eyes peering down at him in desperation.

Don't reject us, Alpha… please.

The fingers of his right hand threaded through her curls as his left remained splayed over her hip before it skated up to press between the blades of her shoulders. His eyes lingered briefly on the purpling mark surrounding her now punctured mating gland before his gaze settled on her eyes.

"I feel it."

A gentle smile spread over her lips and she shifted forward to kiss him. "A bit terrifying, isn't it? Feeling everything with such clarity?"

His steady gaze held hers as his thumb stroked her cheek but the edges of his lips lifted in the smallest of smiles. "Are you certain you're okay with this?" His fingers trailed down to brush the indentation of his teeth on her shoulder and she shuddered, unable to suppress the moan that rolled over her lips.

"I'm certain."

He swallowed and shifted below her, the sudden movement tugging on his knot forcing a groan from both of them. "Tell me when you're from."

She didn't hesitate when she said, "1998." If he were asking, that must mean—

"It's 1981," he said quietly. She could see the turmoil in his eyes and it seared her heart worse than the burning of the fever that accompanied her heat. "And I'm… Did you, did we-"

Hermione settled herself back against his chest, her eyes growing drowsy and lids fluttering closed. "No. Neither of us knew."

HIs arms encircled her as Severus hugged her against his chest, his knot finally beginning to deflate. "I died without knowing you."

"You knew me… but you didn't know I was yours."

Severus didn't know what time it was when he awoke. His sleepy Omega was tucked safely against his side with her head on his chest while one of his arms was curled around her and the other held her hand. Blinking in the darkness of his chambers to force the sleep from his eyes, he breathed deeply. The scent of their quick coupling and something uniquely them filled the room and calmed his mind. It had been years since he'd felt this calm and devoid of anger and it was all because of this tiny Omega wrapped around him.

She was perfect, and she was his. And while he didn't know how she took her tea or whether or not she could craft a proper calming draught, he knew that he had time to learn everything about her.

Learning that she had, in fact, come from the future was jarring, especially since in the future, he was dead. He resolved to ask about examining her memories later to discern exactly how she came to be in his time and how his death had come to pass, but for now he wouldn't worry. She was in heat and now was not the time to delve into her mind looking for secrets and memories about what their future held.

Her presence here must have already changed something.

With careful movements, Severus untangled himself from his mate and slipped out of their bed. He covered her with one of his shirts, surrounding her in his scent, and watched the rise and fall of her chest as she slept so peacefully. It was possible she was even more lovely now with her face soft with sleep and her hair spread wildly over his pillows.

Tearing his gaze away, Severus padded on quiet feet into the living area of his quarters after pulling a flannel robe around himself. A snap of his fingers was all it took to call one of the many house-elves to him. With strict orders for food to be brought to his chambers and a quickly penned letter to Dumbledore, the house elf disapparated as quietly as it had appeared.

He had to tell the Headmaster the reason he would not be teaching his classes for the next several days. Without giving away too many details, the letter indicated he was taking heat leave for the next several days and to, under no circumstances, allow Horace Slughorn to teach his classes.

He would explain everything later once Hermione's heat had finished and they decided how to move forward. With school in session, he knew the Dark Lord would not summon him, but he would need to inform his other master of his newly mated status before too long. It was not a conversation he was looking forward to, but it was needed nonetheless.

Severus placed extra wards on the door to ensure neither he nor his mate would be disturbed, save for the house-elves bringing food, for the next several days.

Hermione felt the familiar sting of panic wash over her when she awoke and Severus was not in their bed. The entirety of her fears of spending her heat alone were brought to the forefront of her mind and her chest fluttered with rapid breaths as panic engulfed her. Even with the sting of being stretched with his knot between her thighs, her mind reminded her it could have all been a dream before the tears began to flow and she pulled his shirt tightly around her.

She forced herself out of the bed, away from the messy sheets and her haphazardly constructed nest full of their combined scents, and opened the door.

Hermione managed to surprise her mate when she flung herself into his arms and her small hands quickly dismantled the knot of his dressing gown. She pressed herself against his bare body when the gown parted. His arms looped around her and tugged her close as he stroked her hair.

The embrace was comforting and wonderful, but it did little to stop the tears that flowed over her cheeks. She sniffled, nuzzing her nose against his collarbone until he leaned forward and allowed her to press her nose against his scent gland, desperately needing the reassurance that her mate was alive and well. When she breathed him in and the scent of them filled all of the spaces within her, Hermione's anxiety cooled to a simmer.

"I thought you were gone."

Long fingers pulled through her tangled curls, gently releasing some of the snarls with patient strokes. "Of course not, little one. I'm here," he assured her. "I'll always be here."

She shook her head against his chest, her mind calling up the images of the funeral she had attended many years into the future—her present. "But what if you're not."

She couldn't even conceive of returning to her own time. Not without him. Not with the fever burning low in her belly calling for her mate, his knot, their pups.

"I'll do everything in my power to ensure that I am." Severus pressed his lips against her temple and Hermione wanted to lose herself in the depths of his voice as her Alpha—the Alpha she never thought she'd see again, held her close. "I promise."

The gentle strokes of the pads of his fingers over her back made her squirm as slick trickled from her center and over her thighs. She purred against his chest and rubbed her thighs together to try and ease the ever-increasing throbbing between her legs.

"Your fever is spiking again."

Hermione's tongue pressed against the scent gland at the base of his neck and her lips formed a perfect ring around it. She laved the swollen gland with her tongue, nipping at it with her teeth and leaving her own mark on her Alpha as she scented him.

"Needy girl," Severus teased, his hands slipping down to grasp her waist, thumbs rubbing just beneath the curve of her breasts.

Hermione nose nuzzled beneath his jaw and her fingernails raked over his back forming pink lines beneath the flannel of his parted robe. "Need you, Severus."

His cock grew hard between them and just as her slick left sticky trails over her thighs, so was her stomach dotted with the pre-cum leaking from from the tip. She slipped her hand around him, trailing her fingers over his hip and curled her fingers around his cock. The knot at the base had deflated from their earlier coupling but she could just make out the subtle curve of where it would grow. Her fingers tightened around it and Severus moaned, his face pressing against her curls as he canted his hips forward.

"Fuck."

Hermione drew her hand along his length and over the tip, spreading the lubrication over his cock with the next stroke.

"Such a good girl." Severus' hands slid along Hermione's ribcage to cup her breasts, the thumbs and forefingers of each pinching her nipples until they stood dark and taut. Her head fell backward and her mouth dropped open in a breathy moan as she stroked her hand along his length. With her neck bared to him, Severus pressed reverent kisses to the bruised and bitten mating mark on her shoulder.

A shiver coursed up Hermione's spine with each sweet kiss and lap of his tongue upon her mark while her thumb swiped along the underside of Severus' cock. When she tried to lower herself to her knees, craving the taste of his seed on her tongue, he pulled her back up and locked his eyes upon her own with a stern gaze.

"Later."

"But I want to taste you." Her protest fell on deaf ears as Severus picked Hermione up and hoisted her over his shoulder, one hand holding her steady while the other slipped through the slick gathered between her thighs.

"Put me down!" Hermione laughed and kicked her feet, but her giggles were swiftly turned to sharp gasps and keening moans as one hand came down over her backside. Her feet stilled and her lips pressed a kiss to his back as he carried her back into the bedroom, his palm soothing her reddened backside.

Severus nipped at her hip before tossing her down on the bed, causing a shriek from Hermione when she landed on the soft bedding. The robe covering her mate was dropped to the ground as he grinned feral when he covered her body with his own.

"Only good girls get their Alpha's knots." His fingers teased her folds, dipping just between them but not enough to relieve the ache in her belly that called for him to knot her and fill her with his seed.

"I'll be good!" she promised, smiling up at him with fever burning in her gaze. "Let me be good for you, Alpha."

His lips found her forehead just as his fingers circled her clit. "You're perfect, Hermione."

It was as if fireworks burst behind the lids of her eyes when he slid his fingers inside of her. She felt every sensation as his fingers stroked her inner walls towards the inevitable climax but it was the acceptance and love pouring through their bond that forced her over the edge moments later as he crooned praises against the shell of her ear.

"Beautiful." Severus' hands pressed her thighs wide, opelny admiring her swollen sex, glistening with slick. "I could watch you come for days, my sweet mate."

With her cheeks a bright shade of crimson at his declaration, Hermione moaned as his fingers began to circle her clit once more. Her thighs quaked and her stomach tightened as he pushed her towards another orgasm. Severus pulled whimpers and moans from her throat as he climbed onto the bed, his knees meeting the backs of her thighs as he withdrew his fingers and positioned himself at her entrance.

"Say it again." Hermione's fingers threaded through her hair as her back arched and her hips pressed forward as if to beg for him to sink into her center.

One hand skated along Hermione's curves and teased her breast, caressing the soft skin with whispered touches and light pinches. "My mate."

The entire castle could have fallen into ruin around them and Hermione wouldn't have noticed, she was so transfixed by Severus and how he played her body as if he'd studied it for decades.

When he finally pressed his hips forward and sunk himself into her slick heat, inch by torturous inch, his weight dropped over her and he growled against the shell of her ear when he was fully sheathed inside of her, "Mine."

"Yours."

Severus gathered Hermione in his arms, pressing her whimpering form against his chest as he entered and withdrew from her over and over again. His lips ghosted over her sweat-slicked skin and her fingers threaded into his hair, keeping him close. It was as their first coupling should have been. No matter how the fire burned through Hermione, she placed herself in Severus' hands, trusting him to give her what she needed.

There was no need to beg for more when she was satisfied with each slow, measured stroke of his cock dragging along her walls and thrusting back again.

There was no need to plead for release when he pulled her to the edge and sent her flying with whispered promises of the love that would grow between them.

There was no need to supplicate herself before him because his knot filled her and locked the pair of them in an embrace as old as time itself.

If there was anything that cemented Hermione's belief in their shared destiny it was the unmistakable way in which Severus loved her with each press of his lips to her throat and each sentiment he crooned in her ear. Pretty words echoed the emotions coursing through their bond and the desires of a life together.

She fell asleep with his scent surrounding her, his heartbeat in her ear, and his knot buried within her. It was all that mattered.

There would be time to figure everything else out later.