Authors Note: Sexual activity occurs between two consenting adults in this chapter. Remember this story is rated MA 18+! So if you don't like it – don't read!

Translations will be at the end of the chapter so no one has to jump back and forth with Google translate.


Chapter 21 – Desires

She hadn't been unconscious long. Castiel knew that much when she opened her eyes and found herself cradled against Marcus' chest. He wasn't looking at her and she was surprised to notice that he wasn't running either – he was walking slowly down the narrow hallway, his head turned slightly back the way they had come, his expression showing he was obviously listening hard to what ever was going on in the throne room.

Castiel couldn't hear shouting anymore and wondered just how far Marcus had taken her, starting to breathe in uneven pants as her brain came to fully grasp what had happened.

Without any type of warning, Castiel began to struggle violently in Marcus arms, squirming and using all her strength to try and get down.

But his grip was firm, and her sudden thrashing called his previously occupied attentions back to her.

"Castiel-," He said in alarm, adjusting his hold on her as she made an attempt to scurry up over his shoulder like a startled cat – if she crawled over his shoulder and fell six feet to the ground she would undoubtedly hurt herself. This thought prompted him to tighten his grip on her. His right arm locked around her legs and his left hand reaching up to grab at her belt, yanking her down and swinging her slightly so she was cradled against him again.

Seeming determined not to make this easy for him, she tried twisting around. She needed to get on her feet and go back to the throne room, did he not understand that? Didn't he comprehend what had just happened?

"Castiel stop-," Marcus began, stopping as she got one of her legs free of his grasping arm, calling out for her dad and telling him to let her go. Her knee came up and hit him under the jaw and she let out a brief yelp of pain in response.

This was what had Marcus deciding that all of this was quite enough. She was obviously in no state to be sensible.

"Enough!" Marcus barked at her, his tone deep and a little angry, a double inflection noticeable beneath his voice, "Hold still and be quiet."

It was like a shock ran through her at his words. All at once she stopped moving and Marcus was able to reorient his grip on her. Once she was cradled against his chest again her limbs seemed to lock in her slightly curled position, her teeth snapping together with an audible click as her jaw shut.

Her chest rose and fell in startled breaths, her throat seemingly unable to produce any sound as she stared up at Marcus in alarm.

His expression was still stern as he looked down at her, his eyes hard and flat. His face betraying no emotion as she registered what was happening. Castiel tried very hard to move her legs, to flex her fingers, to twitch her foot… but her body seemed unable to respond to her brain. Her eyes filled with tears that streamed unhindered down her cheeks, angry and hurt as her voice failed her and all that came from her throat was a weak sort of whimper.

"I'm sorry." Marcus said lowly. Before he could open his mouth to say anything else, he tensed, his head snapping to the side to look over his shoulder as he listened to something she couldn't hear, and her locked body seemed to tense with him. She felt herself curl closer into his chest without even consciously planning to.

Marcus swore under his breath, and suddenly he was running. Castiel shut her eyes firmly as the halls began to rush by, trying to ignore the way her stomach turned at the sudden motion.

Within minutes they were back at the doors to their rooms, and Marcus adjusted his grip on her again so that he could support her with one arm and open the door. Once they were inside, he crossed the room swiftly, taking the door at the far back of the room that lead to the small hallway that held their spare bedroom and his private office.

He took her into the bedroom, carrying her over to the large, four-poster king-sized bed against the far wall between two windows to set her down. Her limbs seemed to unlock the moment he let go of her and her teeth no longer seemed welded together. She let out a sharp gasp ignoring her watering eyes as she crawled backward on the bed away from him.

This bedroom was always meant to provide the privacy that the main room didn't, but she and Marcus rarely came in here since people never entered his rooms uninvited – well as long as she didn't count that time Trent barged in. The furnishing in the room was nice, all crème colors and dark red woods with plush carpets and bookshelves lining the left and right walls. The only changes that had been made to this room after she moved in was that the previously white lace curtains had been changed out for blackout curtains that were still light in color but made with an inner lining to block out the light. This change was made because she didn't have a proper sleep schedule and Marcus wanted there to be somewhere for her to go during the day if she wanted to be alone and rest.

Aside from the curtains, the bookshelves had been cleared of all their books at Marcus' insistence just in case she wanted to start her own collection. The bookshelves were still mostly bare. There was only one shelf on the bottom row of the left wall where she had stored books Marcus had gotten for her that was full.

Her back hit the headboard and she stilled, pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, her gaze locked with Marcus as he stood at the foot of the bed.

"Don't do that." She gasped, ignoring the angry tears that were still on her cheeks. "Don't you ever do that-,"

Marcus let out a shaky breath, but his expression was still a stone mask of indifference. "My priority will always be to keep you safe Castiel. I know that you don't like when I use the dominant tone. But if you won't listen to me and insist on putting yourself in harm's way, I can't avoid it."

"He's my father!" She cried, frustrated that he didn't seem to be listening to her. "You can't just keep me away from him! You can't-,"

"You don't know what was happening in that room, Castiel." Marcus interrupted her, his face stern as she glared at him. "Did you not see how frightened Ajmer was when he saw you were still human? Don't you understand why he was so alarmed?"

This question brought her up short and her defensive expression softened into a look of incomprehension.

Marcus sighed, willing himself to loosen his tightened posture and allowing his shoulders to relax, no longer keeping himself drawn up to full height. The softening of his stance seemed to ease some of this mate's tension, and he watched as her shoulders relaxed too and she let go of her legs; naturally responding to his mood and the sudden change of atmosphere.

"Come here." He said gently, allowing a purr to rumble from his chest as he held one hand out to her.

This seemed to break down the defensive walls she had put up, and all traces of hostility left her as she crawled toward him, sitting cross-legged at the foot of the bed and shutting her eyes as he cradled her face in his palm.

"You know that I cannot use the tone to take away your will, Castiel." Marcus said quietly, hoping that by keeping his tone hushed she would be less likely to get worked up. "You know that it only works when there is a significant amount of tension, or danger, involved. It's meant to help vampires handle their newborn mate when they're distressed or simply out of control. It's meant to help us keep our partners safe in dangerous situations where their instincts would normally get the better of them. I promised you months ago when we found out that you respond to this tone even in your human form that I would never abuse this power over you. I could not let you go back to that room. I know he is your father Castiel, but he is in no condition to see you."

"Why?" Her voice was soft, her eyes shut as she leaned her face into his palm, and he ran his free hand through her hair.

"I have yet to hear of how Ajmer managed to get a newborn vampire from America to Italy without a significant amount of carnage to draw our attention, but it was obvious by the way he reacted to you being mortal that he had not prepared his charge to reunite with a still very fragile daughter. Didn't you hear him when he said that someone has to go stop-," He quoted Ajmer's words with such perfection that Castiel's eyes flew open and she started slightly, forgetting that vampires were naturally very good at mimicking the voices of others.

The dawning recognition that came across her face was answer enough for Marcus.

"You couldn't hear what happened after we left the room, but I could. There was a lot of fighting Castiel, someone got torn apart and I think Aro was hurt."

Castiel paled instantly and Marcus regretted telling her that piece of information when her expression became horrified and scared.

"Oh no… Oh no Aro," Castiel tried to get up then, but Marcus laid one firm hand on her shoulder, the hand that was still cradling her face moved to grasp her chin as he made her look at him.

"Shhh. Calm little one. It's fine." He hushed her, feeling as she tried to shake her head but couldn't manage it due to his grip on her.

"No-," Marcus stopped any other words that she had been planning to say with a kiss, completely throwing her off balance and making her lose her train of thought. Without thinking she was kissing him back, drawing herself up onto her knees so he wouldn't have to bend so far, wanting to lose herself in his kiss – wanting to forget all the anxiety and pain and fear that was making her feel sick to her core.

But all to soon Marcus pulled away, taking both of her hands in his own as he took a step back from her, watching her face and seeing how her pupils were dilated in response to him. He realized that she was experiencing mating drives at a very inopportune time.

She was breathing heavily as she sat back on her heels, and Marcus switched to his bond sight very briefly to examine their bond. It was incredibly active, flaring a brighter gold than usual, the smaller strands around the core of their bond moving together, touching and looping around one another in a way that was not foreign to him but was still shocking to see. Her side was pulling against his instantly, her bonds responding to the coaxing of his own in a way that only ever happened when a bond was preparing to solidify.

Jesus Christ. Marcus thought as he pulled himself out of his bond sight, feeling the carnal need to claim his mate – to truly claim her – rising up inside him like a snake preparing to strike.

Not now. The more reasonable voice in his head said. The quiet tone of his subconscious. Later tonight, but not now.

He stepped back from her, letting her hands go and flexing his fingers before locking them together behind his back. Her expression was bewildered as she watched him, and he was sure that she couldn't understand what had happened to make him so tense.

"Stay here." His voice was gruff with emotion, with need as he turned toward the door. He needed to get away from her. "Do not leave this room. I have to go assist my brothers."

"Marcus-," Castiel began, and he heard as she stood from the bed.

"Promise me." He grunted still not turning to her; releasing his hands from behind his back as he reached for the doorknob. "Promise me you'll stay here."

She paused behind him, and though he wasn't looking at her, he could feel in his own chest as her body relaxed; could hear in the air as her heartbeat slowed. He didn't see that her hand was reached out as if to touch him, and that the only reason she hadn't done so was the suddenness of the vision that overtook her.

"Oh!" Castiel gasped in surprise, dropping her hand as she came back to the present. Marcus was still facing the door, but he could smell as the blood rushed to her cheeks when she blushed. She had been about to touch him and had seen what would have happened if she had done so. She understood with complete certainty why Marcus had suddenly begun acting so strange. One moment he was being so gentle with her, and then she had watched as his expression changed into the one of focus he always got when he observed bonds with his gift, obviously reacting to her sudden change in mood when he had kissed her.

It was quiet for a long moment, and Castiel could feel the burning desire seeming to radiate off him. She was sure if she were to look into his eyes now, they would be pitch black.

"I'll stay." she said quietly, walking backwards slowly towards the bed. "Go help Aro."

In the smallest fraction of a second, he was out the door, and Castiel went to sit down at the foot of the bed again feeling slightly dazed. She tried to order her thoughts, doing her best to make sense of her feelings as she sat in silence for who knows how long.

Trying to process what had happened in the throne room and trying to process what had just happened with Marcus, was leaving her very confused. She had felt for a little while now that she and Marcus were balancing on a precipice, their relationship ready and waiting for them to take the final step that would bind them as mates for the rest of their lives. But she was still nervous, and Trent's arrival had taken up so much of her time recently that she and Marcus had been spending more time away from one another than was a good idea.

And judging by his reaction before he left the room – and the fact that she had literally just seen the two of them naked in bed together with Marcus obviously thrusting inside her – only supported her precipice theory.

The bond pulled uncomfortably at her chest, and Castiel wrapped her arms around herself before wincing.

Unexpectedly the door opened, and Castiel looked up to see Trent standing there, his expression troubled as he took in her form curled at the foot of the bed.

"Cas!" He exclaimed, closing the door and crossing the small room in a few absent strides before kneeling on the floor in front of her. "What's going on? One of the guards said that Marcus sent for me to be brought here, and that you were waiting. What happened?"

Castiel only stared at him for a few seconds as she tried to gather her thoughts, pushing her musings about Marcus to the back of her mind. With a sigh she began telling him what he missed, what they had all gotten wrong, and watched as his eyes grew wide and he sat back on the floor with a look of complete shock on his face. He couldn't seem to comprehend what she was saying, not that she blamed him since her brain seemed to refuse to fully grasp what had happened too.

When she was done speaking, the two of them just stared at each other in silence for a long time, neither of them knowing what to say.

Eventually, Trent did ask what was happening in the throne room now, only for Castiel to shake her head and remind him that she couldn't see anything that was happening in the throne room. Anything associating with her father was blind to her.

A long time passed and neither of them spoke. Castiel ended up crawling up the bed and under the covers as her eyes began to feel heavy, her head beginning to pound with the stress of everything. It was dark enough in the room to sleep and that was exactly what she was planning to do.

After about twenty minutes she felt the foot of the bed dip as Trent sat down, before she huffed in annoyance as he stretched out on top of the covers and his foot knocked her in the back of the head.

"Sorry," He mumbled quietly, and Castiel turned on her side facing away from his feet near her pillow. She couldn't tell him that he had to sleep on the floor, and figured that as long as he stayed on top of the covers with his feet toward her head and his head at the foot of the bed there shouldn't be a problem. They had slept like this when they had vacationed together with her dad and stayed in hotels that only had 2 beds.

In no time at all Trent was snoring, and Castiel fell asleep shortly after, blocking his snores out as if they were white noise and drifting into uneasy dreams.


The door banging open scared the hell out of the two of them.

Castiel sat up quickly, blinking fast as the lights flicked on, not seeing but hearing as Trent fell out of the bed and hit the floor with an unpleasant thud.

A thunderous growling had Trent scrambling off the floor to his feet, backing up rapidly toward the wall next to the window as he saw that the source of the growling was Castiel's very, very angry looking boyfriend coming slowly towards him with his teeth bared.

Marcus stopped when a hand reached out and caught his arm and Trent saw that it was Aro who had stopped him. Caius was standing in the doorway looking much too entertained as two women who Trent knew were Athenadora and Sulpicia – Caius' and Aro's wives as Castiel had once told him – stood behind him looking worried.

"Easy brother." Aro cautioned, not even batting an eye as Marcus turned his furious expression on him. "He was on top of the covers and not anywhere near her-,"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Trent interrupted, raising his hands to his shoulders, palms out. "I wasn't – I was not trying to rub up on your girl or anything-,"

Marcus growled again, and Caius chuckled under his breath, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle as Castiel launched herself out of bed, her head spinning at her sudden rapid motion, and placed herself between Marcus and Trent. She knew that this was a time for evasive action, and pressed herself up against Marcus' front, wrapping both of her arms around his waist and pressing her face into his chest.

Marcus' growl subsided into something gentler, and Castiel felt as he laid one of his hands on the top of her head.

Aro chuckled, and Caius said something that sounded like "Pushover" under his breath in a disappointed tone.

Castiel only pulled back from Marcus when she felt the tension leave his body, and the first thing she did was peek around him at Aro, whose left arm was in a makeshift sling.

Aro saw where she was looking and held a hand up to stop her before she started fretting.

"I'm fine dear. Just an incomplete severance of my arm. I'll be good in a couple of hours. The sling is only to stop me from moving it too much so it heals faster."

"Right…" She mumbled, not completely appeased by his answer but not able to think too deeply over it as Marcus' hands went to her shoulders and she found herself being steered back towards the bed where Marcus made her sit down. Sulpicia and Athenadora followed him, taking seats on either side of her on the right side of the bed where Trent had previously been sleeping.

Trent stayed by the window, not wanting to draw any attention back to himself as Aro and Caius came to stand on either side of Marcus. Everyone's attention was trained on Castiel.

"Well?" Castiel said after a long moment of silence where Aro and Caius shared a look with on another and both of her sisters settled an arm around her. "What happened? Aro, how did you get hurt? And my – my dad…" Her throat seemed to close on her words, panic tightening her chest and constricting her airways.

Her gaze locked with Marcus as everyone seemed to try to think of what to say – where to begin – and she saw him take a deep breath, and felt as calm seemed to bloom in her chest, erasing the fear and making it easier to breathe again. It was times like these that Castiel found herself truly grateful for certain aspects of her bond with Marcus. She was so grateful that even with all this uncertainty and pain that seemed to flow around her on a daily basis that she had Marcus there to take some of that shit off her. He was there to bring her peace in the middle of a storm.

But this was how it was supposed to be, wasn't it? This was what it meant to be mated.

Caius broke the silence, deciding to start with the obvious. "Your father is alive Castiel, but no longer mortal. The shield that has been blocking you for months was him, and after the words we just exchanged with him it became very plain that he has no idea he's shielding. He's very young to this life so it's not that surprising that he's unaware of his talent. He'll need to train it before it becomes something he can bend to his whims."

Caius paused and Castiel stared at him for a long moment, taking it all in as Aro let out a long breath and continued while motioning to his injured arm.

"Ajmer didn't believe you'd still be human. He's heard nothing of the rumors of your relationship with Marcus as he's been so busy over the last few months trying to contain his charge. No word had reached him about our coven having had the shock of the century when Marcus imprinted. So, he just thought that you had been brought here and changed, back in January." Aro pursed his lips, a dark expression crossing his face before he tamed it back into a mask of indifference. "He genuinely believed he had been doing you a favor when he contacted your father."

"A favor?" Castiel's expression was incredulous, her tone high pitched when she spoke thinking of the bloody jacket. "A favor? He admitted it himself that he nearly killed him!"

After she said these words, Castiel realized that her friendship with Ajmer might never recover from this. Going after her father had been so risky and the chance he took with her father's life… it was unforgivable.

"I'm not saying what he did was right, or that I agree with him." Aro said reasonably, though he knew she wasn't implying that he did, "I'm only telling you what I gleaned from his thoughts."

"You still being mortal totally blindsided him. It really was a miracle he was able to get your father into the city at all. The trip to here from America hasn't been smooth. There have been nearly half a dozen incidents that Ajmer had to cover up, but your father's been hostile, impatient, and insistent that he needed to see you… Ajmer had been traveling with him to get here for weeks."

"He was thirsty when he arrived." Caius spoke before Aro could continue, "He and Ajmer were granted access to the temporary lodgings when they made it to Volterra, but your father was banned entry from the castle due to the safety risk he posed to our human staff. Our guard knows a hungry newborn when they see one."

"But if he was banned entry…" Castiel asked, looking from Caius to Aro in turn. "How did he get to the throne room? I thought the entrance to the castle from the lodgings was guarded." She trailed off, horrified when she registered the expressions on both of her brothers' faces.

"Your father is a very impressive fighter." Caius said darkly, "His military training from his human years was nothing if not useful after his transformation. He attacked the two guards blocking him entry when their backs were turned. When he made it to one of the main halls, he told the first guard he saw that he needed to see you immediately."

"And the guard just… took him to the throne room? Even though my dad attacked–," Castiel was very pale. "Are the two guards okay? I can't believe – I can't believe he'd-,"

Sulpicia tightened her arm around Castiel's shoulders as she looked at each of them for reassurance, but no one spoke. Her eyes traveled over to where Trent was still standing by the window looking just as pale and shocked as she did.

"The guard – Sarah – didn't know your father attacked the two guarding the temporary lodgings. And I must admit even as an immortal, the family resemblance between the two of you is shocking." Aro said quietly, but before he could say anything further Trent spoke up.

"But dad isn't like that!" Trent said defensively, though his expression clearly showed his desperation at not wanting to believe what he was hearing. "He wouldn't just attack someone with their back turned. He wouldn't-,"

"He's an angry newborn who's been terrified over the well-being of his daughter for nearly half a year." Aro interrupted, looking from Trent to Castiel, his expression cool, "He absolutely would."

It was quiet for a long time, and during this pause Marcus held his hands out to Castiel, who stood immediately – her sisters' arms dropping from her shoulders – to go to him. He held her against his chest, not saying anything as he stroked her hair, doing his best to maintain his calm for her sake.

"He fights like a demon." Caius laughed once, but the laugh sounded kind of like a scoff and his expression was equal parts annoyed and impressed. "Cut through the guard blocking his path to you like it was nothing at all. Aro had to tackle him to give Marcus enough time to get you out the door."

Castiel's shocked eyes found Aro's as she looked sideways at him, Marcus' hold not releasing even the slightest bit to allow her to turn fully towards him.

"Yes, head on attacks are never ideal, especially with newborns." Aro said wistfully, looking at his injured arm. "It's exactly the type of attack they expect. He had a good grip on my shoulder before we even hit the floor. Felix and Eleazar were able to pull us apart nearly immediately – it's the only reason my arm didn't get ripped completely off."

There was a beat of silence as Castiel considered this. Her father had hurt Aro, and she found that the realization of this hurt her in many ways. She would not have believed her father capable of attacking someone, but he had, and this made her feel a little sick. Not to mention the fact that she didn't like to think of him acting to hurt Aro, who she cared about deeply. The thought alone made her feel incredibly anxious and the fact that Aro had been hurt made her pretty upset.

It was so confusing.

"I have to see him." She whispered, and it was impossible for her family not to note the conviction in her voice.

"No." Marcus said immediately barely giving her time to take a breath, not even considering it.

"Brother…" Aro said lowly, throwing Marcus an apprehensive glance as Sulpicia came to stand by his side, her hand resting lightly against his sling.

Marcus growled at him, but it was a low sound, deep in his chest that didn't imply any anger. It was more so a grumble of annoyance because he knew what Aro was about to say and was fully aware that he was right.

Aro's gaze strayed from Marcus' face down to Castiel; locking eyes with her he sighed.

"Castiel." He said gravely, trying to convey his importance in his tone. "You must understand what you're asking – what you're getting yourself into. Newborns are unstable at even the best of times. Their emotions can change so quickly and become so intense that it's hard for them to think about what's around them. If we do this, this whole meeting can go very sour so quickly you won't even have time to process the change of atmosphere. Seeing you again can turn your father on his head insomuch that he can't be held accountable for his actions."

"There's more than one reason we don't allow newborns to return to their human family after they've been changed." Caius added from over by the door – he had been pacing back and fourth for the last minute, "Secrecy, yes, but also because in the past newly changed vampires have tried to return to their homes after waking up to immorality with no idea what has happened to them. Some have killed their entire families in just one moment of uncontrolled bloodlust, and when they realize what they'd done, they almost always went mad with grief."

Castiel was pale when Caius finished speaking and she looked back to Aro, her expression pleading with him to reassure her that everything would be fine.

But Aro couldn't stand there and lie to her.

"Love… isn't always enough Castiel." Aro said sadly, watching as Marcus' arms tightened around her minutely. "We already know that your father loves you more than anything, his very appearance here as an immortal proves that, but that doesn't mean he's not capable of killing you entirely by accident."

"Of course-," Athenadora interceded, her eyes pitying as she looked at her human sister, standing from her place on the bed, "He won't be able to reach you in time to harm you. We'll make sure of that. But you must be prepared to how he might react to smelling you – to hearing your heart. You might see a side of him you'd never imagine was there…"

This was obvious already to Castiel, and her expression became pained again at the fact that everyone kept bring up that her father had already attacked a handful of guards and Aro himself… her father

"It's just how newborns are." Marcus said gently, knowing where Castiel's thoughts were going and causing her to look back up at him, "It's hard transitioning from mortal to immortal. That's why it takes an average of one to two years for a young vampire to become safe around human beings for short periods of time. Going from a being who almost always thinks before acting, to becoming something with instincts ingrained so deeply that thought isn't necessary… it's not a small life adjustment."

"And I'll be like that, too, one day, won't I?" Castiel asked suddenly, unable to help herself as she listened to her family warn her that her father might act like a bloodthirsty monster the second he entered the same room as her.

It was quiet again for a long, uncomfortable moment.

"You won't be exposed to any human you care about." Caius answered when it became apparent that no one knew what to say, "Newborns can be relational and behave when they are among our kind. It's actually fairly easy for them when there are no distractions like the scent of human blood. I know you're worried that you're going to be an uncontrollable monster because of how we're saying your father might react, but periods of bloodlust are only temporary, and only happen in the presence of humans. Your father was completely rational when Aro and I spoke to him – I mean after Santiago and Eleazar separated them," He paused. "Well… as rational as you can be when you're ten shades of pissed-,"

"Which you would know all about," Athenadora teased, causing Caius' lips to twitch as he tried not to smirk.

This interested Castiel. She hadn't been aware that they had spoken to her dad, she had assumed her dad and Ajmer had been dragged off somewhere once the fighting stopped.

But then again, she had fallen asleep waiting for Marcus to come back after he went to check on the situation. She had lost track of time but all that must have happened hours ago.

"Your father is waiting to see you. We arranged for Heidi to find him something to eat while we came to speak to you." Caius said, leaning against the doorjamb.

Oh. So, it had already been decided she would see her father. That was good.

"I want to see him too." Trent said, coming forward to stand closer to the group of them huddled by the bed, but still smartly staying out of Marcus' reach.

"No." Aro, Caius, and Marcus all said in unison, causing Trent's face to go a little pink with chagrin.

"Why not?" Castiel said sounding slightly indignant on behalf of her friend. Her loyalty really was admiring but they didn't have the time to argue about this.

"Because it's going to be enough trouble to make sure you are adequately protected." Caius said trying to sound reasonable, but his tone came off as irritated. "Having one human in the room will be difficult enough for your father, let alone two."

But what Caius didn't mention was that if they allowed both of them in the room and her father lost his shit again, they would be more concerned about her safety than Trent's… and she probably wouldn't be very thrilled with them if they let Trent get killed because they were more worried about keeping her safe.

Castiel seemed to read this all on his face and she didn't look happy at all.

Before either Aro or Marcus could put their two cents in and side with Caius, Trent held his hands up in defeat.

"Alright, I get it." His eyes flashed to Castiel; whose expression was sympathetic. "Go see Dad, Cas. Let me know how it goes."


Castiel was having the strangest sense of déjà vu as she stood by Marcus' chair in the throne room. Kemar and Renata were in front of her watching as Marcus conversed with Chelsea who stood by his side a few feet in front of them. Afton stood to her right gripping her elbow and studiously ignoring the half a dozen other guards who stood behind her and to her left.

Sulpicia and Athenadora stood behind their husbands' thrones, each encircled by their own guards as Aro and Caius sat in tense silence in their seats.

Looking around the room, Castiel's anxiety only seemed to mount as she saw how jittery the dark cloaked figures of the elite guard were in their readiness to defend against the incoming threat.

Her father.

Alec came up on her left, the nameless guards around her moving naturally out of his way as he came to stand beside her. She could tell by the set of his mouth that Alec was apprehensive too, but she knew it wasn't quite for the same reason as everyone else' anxiety.

All the other guards were only apprehensive about the possibility of a physical attack, but Alec was not only concerned about that. He was also concerned about the fact that he would have to resort to hand to hand combat if her father got close; something he wasn't at all used to.

Alec's gift, Renata's gift, Aro's gift – all of their talents were nulled by her father's shield. Even she was in the dark now, unable to see the immediate future at all.

She scowled, hating feeling useless and blind but she knew she wasn't the only one feeling this way. Even Renata's little shoulders were tensed.

Castiel knew Renata was still clinging to some small hope that she might be able to divert her father and that perhaps her shield worked differently enough that she could redirect his attack… but the chance of that was slim and they all knew it. This was why Kemar was intended to be the second line of defense if her father managed to get past Marcus.

She shuddered at the thought. There was no way her father would get past Marcus. If he made any move to hurt her, whether it was intentional or not, Marcus wouldn't hold anything back. It would make no difference that he was her father if her life was in danger.

Afton's grip on her elbow was reassuring though, because even though she couldn't see it and be positive, Castiel knew that the nature of Afton's gift was different from most other shields. He would still be able to make her invisible and hide her scent, which would be key in protecting her if…

If her dad tried to kill her.

Her thoughts turned incredibly morose, and she felt more than a little discomfort as the bond binding her to Marcus hummed between them – tugging on her end.

She winced, choking back the small sound of pain that tried to bubble up her throat. Looking past Renata and to Marcus, she saw that he was turned towards her, watching her as the bond strain between them sharpened and she let out a small gasp of pain that she was hopeless to stop.

"Easy baby, it's all right." Marcus said quietly to her, ignoring the looks of the guards around them as they looked between the two of them.

"It hurts." She breathed, wincing again.

Marcus expression gentled, his eyes portraying his grief for her and her pain, wishing he could take her back to their rooms and help her, but knowing he couldn't at the time.

It didn't help that they were about to put her into a situation that could become very dangerous for her. It didn't help that she was showing signs through their bond that she was ready to mate. And it didn't help that she was surrounded by unfamiliar males that obviously made her feel more than a little uncomfortable by the way her shoulders had set since the moment they all came to stand around her.

Marcus knew exactly how to help her, and it really fucking irritated him that he just had to stand here and let her be in pain. He hoped that they could keep this whole meeting mercifully short so he could take care of her.

For the smallest fraction of a second Marcus thought about how inappropriate the timing for all of this was. He was about to meet the father of his imprint, who had undoubtedly spent months worrying about his daughter and was probably imagining some of the worst horrors imaginable occurring to her, and he and his brothers were about to reassure the man that they hadn't done anything to her.

And here he was, waiting for the moment Bryon Rodgers would be assured all was well and leave, so that he could take the man's daughter back to his rooms and deflower her before marking her as his mate.

He let out one low snort of laughter at his own audacity – the sound only being heard by those closest to him and earning him a look from Aro that obviously showed his brother was concerned for his sanity.

No one was able to comment on the sound though, because less than a second later there was a knock at the double doors – a warning from the guards escorting Castiel's father that they were about to enter.

Most of the immortals in the room held their breath as Bryon Rodgers entered slowly, flanked on either side by Santiago and Felix, dwarfed by the guard's huge statures even though he was nearly six feet tall himself. Only the ancients kept their cool, giving no indication that this situation was stressful to them. They looked as relaxed and composed as they usually did during trials.

Castiel felt like her throat had swollen up, her breath catching in her throat as she saw her father for the first time since the day she had gone missing.

Scarlet eyes brighter than any she was used to found hers as her father heard her breath catch, and there was a very long pause as the two stared at one another, each drinking in the details of the other.

Her dad… still looked like her dad, Castiel thought, well for the most part at least. He was just as tall and broad shouldered as she remembered, still incredibly fit for a man in his late forties. But his features were sharper now, more angular and perfect than they were before. His eyes were no longer blue, and his red hair seemed to be thicker and richer in color.

He was white as a sheet, his new nearly indestructible skin smooth and unmarked. He was wearing a flannel shirt and jeans, the sleeves pushed up to his elbows showing his bare forearms and Castiel was shocked to notice the lack of the tattoo on the left forearm that he had had since before she was born. He used to have the seal of the US Marine Core tattooed there and he got it touched up every few years. But of course, it would be gone now… Marcus had told her tattoos and scars were all wiped away during the transformation.

As Castiel looked at him, registering every detail of his new face, Bryon Rodgers stared back at his daughter, taking in her image with new, stronger eyes.

Human memories were out of focus in comparison to vampire ones because their eyesight was so much less sharp when they were mortal. But he had clung to the memories of his daughter so hard during the three burning days of agony he had endured during his change; he had been sure there was no detail about her he could forget.

But he had forgotten some things, and these new eyes took her in with a level of scrutiny that far surpassed what he would have been capable of in his human life.

She looked… healthy.

It stunned him enough that he found it nearly impossible to move. All of the terrible images his mind had conjured of what his daughter would have looked like when he saw her again – because he had always been sure he would see her again, even before Ajmer had reached out to him – did not match what he was seeing now. He had imagined her sickly, thin, bruised, beaten... and after meeting Ajmer he had imagined her cold and pale with features that had been chiseled to perfection by the change into an immortal.

But there she stood across the room, and though his view of her was slightly blocked by the handful of vampires filling the space between them, there was no deny that she looked… fine.

She was well groomed, well dressed, she looked to be the same weight she had been when he had last seen her. Her skin was unblemished, and she was even wearing glasses – glasses! He remembered how many arguments he had had with her since she had first been given prescription lenses in high school and how it was enough of a challenge to get her to agree to wear them whenever she rode her motorcycle, let alone to wear them all the time.

"Dad?" Castiel said softly. It was low enough that he wouldn't have been able to hear her if he was still human, but he was able to understand her clear as day with his new ears. And hearing her voice, hearing her say dad again was nearly enough to bring him to his knees. He felt choked up and his eyes felt the uncomfortable burn as they tried to create the tears they were incapable of producing.

He longed to say something back, but he didn't dare to breathe.

Aro watched Bryon's emotions play across his face as he took in Castiel's appearance, registering that she was not only mortal but completely unharmed as well. Aro saw how his jaw twitched as he longed to say something in response to Castiel's acknowledgement but thought better of it. It didn't escape the notice of even one vampire in the room that he was not breathing.

"Now you see what we were telling you before Mr. Rodgers." Aro said calmly, standing slowly to avoid alarming the newborn in front of him, "Your daughter has come to no harm at our hands."

Castiel felt Alec shift next to her and registered the meaning of his sudden discomfort. Aro wasn't exactly lying because no one in this room had harmed her. If he was speaking in terms of himself, Caius, and Marcus – which was probable since her dad was likely to be suspicious of the ancient rulers who had ordered her capture in the first place – he also wasn't lying then either. Jane's attack really wasn't something that had to be brought up.

Bryon's eyes flicked to Aro's as he spoke, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to focus. The urge to breathe was at the forefront of his spacious mind and he couldn't deny the fact that part of him; the monstrous part of him that he sometimes found himself hard pressed to disconnect himself from, was all too aware of the wet thudding of Castiel's heart and the pulse of heat that came from her with each steady beat.

But he did have a little bit of air stored up from his last deep breath before he entered the room, so he could manage a few words.

His eyes refocused on the blue gaze of his daughter, and a million different things he had longed to say to her over the last months where he had been unsure if he would ever see her again came to his lips. But he didn't have enough air for all of them, so he only focused on the most important ones.

"If I had known," He focused all his mind on not inhaling, trying to ignore how his daughters face pinched at the sound of his new, smoother voice, "If I had known about any of this… what you had gotten yourself into… I would have tried to protect you."

He was out of air and it disappointed him, because he had also wanted to tell her that he loved her. Why couldn't he have had just one more breath to tell her so?

"I know." Castiel's voice broke and he watched her swallow, blinking quickly to avoid tearing up.

"You've more than shown your desire to protect her," Aro spoke, and his voice was far from unkind as both Castiel and her father turned to look at him, "The very fact that you are here and one of us now proves that."

Bryon swallowed – he needed to speak. Drawing up all the years of discipline he had learned in the military he locked his body in place, standing erect while fisting his hands at his side, he took a deep breath.

Fuck.

Part of him had hoped that since his daughter was nearly 20 feet away that her scent would not be so strong, but that was a foolish thing to believe. Fire exploded in his throat and his mouth began to fill with venom. The scent along with the wet thudding of her heart was enough to nearly drive him mad with thirst. He was too young to this life to notice any difference in her scent from any of the other humans he had fed on while Ajmer led him to Volterra. All he knew was that she smelt wonderful and the call of her blood was like a siren's song, promising him relief from his terrible thirst if only he were to quench it…

He growled once low in his chest and jerked one step back barely registering the two hulking guards on either side of him each grabbing one of his upper arms.

He shook his head hard, trying to dispel the thought of his thirst. This was his daughter.

The blonde-haired ruler was standing by the time Bryon looked back at the dais, ignoring the two guards holding him still. He didn't resent being restrained, not in this case at least. Not when it was because they were trying to protect something that was so dear to him. His eyes traveled over to the last king to the left of Aro, the one with the brown hair that was tied back, easily the largest of the three and the one closest to his daughter.

This big one was tensed for a fight, that much was obvious, and he seemed to be at the head of the group meant to protect his little girl.

Aro and the blonde rulers' expressions were just as blank as the brown haired one's, but somehow the two of them looked less composed to him… less sure of themselves.

This man's surety and the way he held himself made Bryon think back to his time as a sniper in the Marines, and to some of the missions he carried out with the Navy SEALs and Arm Green Berets when he was in active duty before Castiel was born. He reminded Bryon of the times he fought side by side with the more elite of his brothers-in-arms in the military.

"I was under the impression that Castiel would be one of us as well." Bryon's voice was gruffer now as he tried to ignore his raging thirst. "I was told she'd been changed more or less days after you took her from our home."

The accusation was clear in her father's voice, and Castiel felt her face get hot, suddenly anxious as to how Aro would respond and doing her absolute best not to look towards her mate.

"That was an assumption your creator wrongly expressed as fact." Aro replied smoothly, ignoring the implication of kidnapping. They had already explained to Bryon Rodgers earlier that Castiel had been arrested for breaching their law and offered a place in the Volturi rather than automatically sentencing her to execution. He wasn't about to bother explaining it again. "We're aware that he told you this was the only way you'd be able to see her again. While that is correct, I implore you to take everything your creator told you about our coven with a grain of salt."

Aro's expression darkened minutely, which Castiel noticed. What had Ajmer said to her dad about the Volturi?

"Why is she still human if you claim you brought her here to join your coven? Are you saying Ajmer was lying when he said you offered her the option of joining because she would be a talented guard?" He was out of air again, so he just glared at Aro as he waited for a response.

"She's still mortal by her own desires. She wished to be a little older and to have time to prepare before her change, and we granted that wish." Aro answered calmly, lying out of his ass but still sounding completely believable. She and Aro had never discussed timing before her change. All the reasons for her continued mortality boiled down to Marcus, and his desire to bond with her completely and conquer her fears of swimming before they were ingrained in her forever.

But she was sure Aro was recalling the private conversation she had had with Marcus at the start of their relationship, discussing that she'd like to be about 25 before she was changed since that was apparently around the age that the human brain stopped developing… Not to mention it would make her closer to Marcus' physical age, which overall he was unsure of but believed he had been changed in his very late twenties or early thirties. She didn't think Marcus was up for letting her remain human for four more years, maybe one or two, but it wasn't something they had discussed just yet. Perhaps because at the time Marcus hadn't been sure how long it would take to court her.

Castiel nearly blanched as she thought about what her father would say when he found out about Marcus, and she sincerely hoped he didn't know Marcus' actual age.

Bryon didn't like how Aro avoided answering him fully, only responding to his first question like any other well practiced politician trying to avoid a sensitive subject.

He needed to inhale again, and when he did it was no easier to control himself than it was after his first breath. Castiel's scent wasn't easier to manage even though he was prepared for it.

The big guard on his left tightened his hold on him even further when he growled again, and Bryon felt as small cracks ran up his arm as pain shot through it. But the pain helped him focus, and that was a good thing.

"And what of her joining your guard?" He kept his question short so he'd still have enough air to speak again.

Aro's expression seemed to soften slightly, something that surprised Bryon enough that he found himself second guessing Ajmer's words about the Volturi before Aro even responded. "She isn't a guard, nor is she going to become one. She's too gentle for it."

This surprised her father. Castiel could tell that much by his expression. Hearing Aro talk about her in that tone – that tone that clearly displayed his fondness and care for her – was obviously throwing him for a loop.

"Then she can leave with Ajmer and myself, can't she?"

Castiel stilled and she felt the ripple of tension go through the guards around her, feeling as Afton shifted his weight beside her and Renata tensed.

Marcus and Kemar did not move at all, though Marcus' chin did go up stubbornly at the implication that her father believed Castiel would just be allowed to leave with him; to just walk out of his life forever.

"No." It was Caius who responded first, "You aren't in any condition to leave here with your sire, let alone your human daughter. Not to mention it would be a breach of our laws to allow her to leave our supervision."

Bryon's look was scathing as he turned to look at Caius, knowing that he was referencing to the difficulties Ajmer had trying to get him to Volterra. "Obviously I wasn't referring to now."

He wasn't stupid enough to kid himself with the belief that Castiel would remain human forever. He knew that it was just chance that she was still human now. But that didn't change the fact that one day she wouldn't be and once she was no longer mortal there was no reason she shouldn't be allowed to leave with him.

An unwelcome thought did come to mind though. If she had only been spared due to her psychic gift… if she had only been given the option to live because she would have made a talented guard then why was she still alive even though Aro had just said that she would not become a guard? He could tell that the raven-haired leader was fond of his little girl, he had yet to meet anyone who wasn't fond of her once they got to know her, but was fondness really all it took to save her life?

There was something else going on here he just knew it.

"Maybe. But we're discussing something that won't happen for another few years at least." Aro said, drawing both Caius' and Bryon's attention to him and therefore breaking up their glaring contest. "We don't allow our newborns to leave Volterra until they are no longer considered newborns and are under control… and even then, it won't be our decision to make."

"Whose decision is it then if not yours? Are you not our leaders?" Bryon's voice had a bit of an arrogant edge to it as he looked each ancient in the eyes.

"Hers." Aro inclined his head towards Castiel, who felt the blank shock on her face at his words. She was sure she had gone incredibly pale and it took all her focus not to glance at Marcus.

Was Aro serious? Was he really implying that she would be allowed to leave if she wanted to once she was immortal?

And then she remembered a conversation she had with Aro back in that first week or so of being here, right after Marcus told her that he had imprinted on her.

Aro had said back then that if things had been different, if she had been changed and made a guard and it really wasn't the life for her, she would have been allowed to leave. No one was forced to be a Volturi guard. Any guard could quit at any time… but it was such an honor to be part of the guard, to be part of maintaining peace – not to mention the benefits were great – that it was rare for a vampire to leave.

Yes, he was serious. But he couldn't really believe that she'd leave Marcus, could he? Her chest hurt at the very though of it, and she felt the bond yank very, very hard at her core.

She let out a shuddering breath as she contained the sound of pain that had threatened to fight its way out, doing her best to school her expression back into one of indifference.

She could feel her father's eyes on her as she stared at the back of Kemar's head and tried to ignore her pain.

Bryon took another breath because he needed to if he was going to continue to speak and felt as his control snapped as heat coursed down his throat.

A snarl louder than any he had made this far ripped from his chest, and before he could move to act he was on his stomach on the ground, his arms being held behind his back with one hand by the large guard that had been to his left – who was using his free hand to press his face into the ground. The other hulking vampire that had been to his right, the Spanish one, had one of his knees planted firmly on the back of his left thigh as if he were preparing to snap Bryon's femur if he dared to move.

He wondered how much damage that would do. How quickly would he heal from a snapped femur? It only took minutes to fully reattach a limb, but what about if a bone was broken inside of that limb? Of course, after being reattached it could take hours or days to be completely back to normal – he knew this because he had removed one of Ajmer's arms once in a fit of temper. Was it the same idea for bones?

His thoughts were going off on a tangent, but this was a good thing. It distracted him from the thirst that had consumed him so fully for a moment that the guards holding him had been forced to subdue him. He strained to look up from the floor, the guard pressing his cheek more firmly down when he felt him try to lift his head, and caught a glimpse of the mass of guards that had been surrounding his daughter moving toward the door at the back of the room.

Within a moment she was gone, the sound of her heart becoming fainter and fainter as she was led away from the council room, and Bryon felt sick to his very core at the realization of what he had been about to do.

And for the first time he felt that perhaps the Volturi could be trusted. If the life of one human girl could matter to them so much… they certainly couldn't be all bad.


Castiel was on Marcus' bed, curled into a ball with her head between her knees and rocking herself back and forth. She felt sick. Sick as if something deep in her was becoming rotten and ripping her apart from the inside. Kemar and Afton had brought her back here and Afton was currently outside on the balcony standing guard while Kemar guarded the door to the room. Marcus hadn't come back with them – he had stayed in the throne room when her father…

When her father tried to attack her.

There had been so much she wanted to say, but that whole confrontation didn't go anything like how she had planned. It was just a lot of dancing around the point, avoiding telling her father the truth of what her life here was like and trying to reassure him that she wasn't a slave or anything.

And she still couldn't see anything that was happening in the throne room. She didn't know when Marcus was coming back, or what they had done to her dad after Felix and Santiago had him on the ground.

She knew he was still alive because he was still blocking her, but she couldn't pretend she wasn't worried sick. Trying to attack her was a crime because she was mated to Marcus and a future queen-

Castiel cringed at the thought, withdrawing her head from between her knees and shaking it to refocus herself.

She slid off the bed and onto her feet, and in seconds found herself grabbing desperately for the footboard as pain lanced through her chest and had her head began spinning as the bond ripped at her center.

She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath to steady herself. She wanted Marcus. She wanted him to come back and hold her and make all of this shit go away.

For a while now she had wanted… she had thought more than once recently of asking Marcus… of telling him that she was ready and that she wanted to consummate their bond. It seemed that knowing but not acting on her desires was the wrong thing to do because the bond was hurting like hell right now.

Wincing, Castiel straightened up fully and headed across the room to the bathroom. Once inside she stripped out of her clothes and went directly to the shower, setting the water to hot and climbing in once the glass started to steam up. She would have preferred a bath, but at the moment she didn't have the patience to wait for the tub to fill up.

The hot water helped relax her. It loosened the stiff muscles of her back and helped her calm her breathing which she hadn't even noticed had began to become erratic. Her razor was on one of the shelves in the shower, and figuring it probably wasn't a bad idea to shave well… everything, Castiel lathered up her armpits and the lower half of her body with her body wash and began shaving.

Once she was done, she began to feel truly nervous, trying not to think about what she was going to ask Marcus when she saw him.

And was it appropriate to ask? Was she supposed to just walk up to him and say hey, can we have sex now? She had absolutely no practice in seduction. She had no idea how she was supposed to do this.

Castiel cursed under her breath before vigorously washing her hair and then her face; quickly climbing out of the shower and wrapping herself in a towel.

She didn't waste a lot of time in the bathroom after that. She had towel dried her hair to the best of her ability, so it only felt a little damp because she didn't feel up for blow drying it and brushed her teeth until her gums hurt.

Now she was standing naked in Marcus' closet. She didn't come in here a lot since she had no need to and found herself daunted by her task of finding a t-shirt of his to wear in the midst of all his suits and good shirts and pants. There where built in drawers at the back of the closet – the overall set up being very similar to hers – and she only had to open a few of them before she found a drawer full of plain t-shirts in nearly every neutral color. There were also jeans here and she assumed these clothes were meant for if Marcus planned to go out and was to remain as indiscreet as possible.

Castiel couldn't help picturing Marcus in jeans as she pulled one of his light, heather-gray t-shirts over her head.

Wearing only his t-shirt she wandered back out into the main room, where she stopped in the center of the floor staring over at the bed in its nook in the wall.

Did she want to do this here? What if someone barged in like Trent had that one time?

With that thought in mind she made a bee-line for the door towards the back of the room, stepping into the little hall and going into the spare and much more private bedroom she and Trent had been in when her family had come in to talk to her about her dad.

It was dark in the room, and she didn't bother to turn on the light and just felt her way to the bed, stubbing her toe against the footboard and cursing loudly when she did so. Jesus why did she always have to do that?

Once the pain in her foot subsided and she stopped hopping on the spot she climbed onto the bed, hiding under the covers and burying her face in one of the pillows as she waited for Marcus to return and find her.

Castiel didn't know how long she waited for him. It sure felt like a long time, but that was probably only because the bond had resolved to just being a steady uncomfortable ache in her chest by the time Marcus opened the door to the bedroom.

She rolled onto her back and sat up, the comforter pooling around her waist as she looked towards where Marcus was silhouetted in the doorway. It was silent for a long moment before Marcus entered the room and Castiel felt her heartbeat pick up as he came towards her.

The first thing he did was turn on the lamp on the side table, bathing the room in warm yellow light and making it so she could see again, and the sight of him standing over her next to the bed made her feel incredibly small. That was probably just because she was nervous though.

He didn't say anything, and his eyes were obsidian as he reached over to her and gently ran his fingertips across her cheek and took in her attire as he did so.

"Why are you sleeping in here? I want you in my bed." He said softly, tipping her chin up with one finger to look her fully in the face.

Castiel felt her blush as it spread across her cheeks, and it was hard to tell since his eyes were so dark, but she was nearly sure his pupils dilated in response.

"This is technically your bed too." God her voice was so breathy. That was going to be embarrassing.

She cleared her throat.

"Marcus I…" She trailed off, unsure how to do this and feeling more and more nervous by the second. She fisted her hands in the blankets to hide the fact that they were trembling.

Marcus noticed. She saw his eyes flash down to her hands before resting back on her face. He took a seat on the edge of the bed and his hand went from tilting her chin to cupping the side of her face.

He was pleased when she leaned into his touch, shutting her eyes in an obvious display of contentment. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, and when Castiel opened her eyes again she seemed more resolved; less frightened than she had been when he came in. He assumed her nerves were due to her desire to know what had happened with her father since she was probably very upset after they subdued him and likely wanted to talk about what would happen now.

But she surprised him.

He had spent at least 15 minutes before he came back to his rooms preparing himself to be alone with her; carefully controlling his emotions and fighting back the urge to complete their mating knowing that the first time they slept together had to be her choice entirely. He had assumed that she would be upset and need comforting. Of course he had planned to touch her if only to satisfy the bond but he was not at all prepared for what she did next.

Castiel all but hurled herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his with enough urgency that their teeth bumped together for a brief second. He felt her pounding heart against his chest, her soft breasts pressing against him as he took control of the kiss – which was an automatic response – and threaded his fingers through her hair securing her face to his.

One of her hands moved down, feeling the hard muscles of his back as the other grabbed the hand that he had placed on her waist and moved it down past the hem of her – his – shirt.

When his hand snaked under the shirt to grasp her hip in order to pull her astride him, he realized as he felt only smooth skin that she wasn't wearing anything under it.

Marcus growled, and Castiel squeaked in surprise as she suddenly ended up on her back above the covers, her mate hovering over her and every line of his body pressed against hers before he settled himself between her legs. His kisses became rougher and his teeth gently nipped at her soft lower lip before he began kissing across her jaw and down her neck, the arm that wasn't supporting his weight moving up so he could grab a fistful of her hair to pull her head to the side and expose her neck to him.

She was breathing heavily as his lips found the spot near the base of her throat that always made her squirm, and the room was filled with her pants and soft moans while he sucked and nipped at the area – undoubtedly leaving a hickey but she didn't care all that much at the moment.

When he was done, he released her hair, supporting himself on both of his arms so he could look down at her and admire his work. He was breathing just as heavily as she was and Castiel found it hard not to be distracted by his perfect mouth as his tongue slowly licked his lower lip.

She longed to feel more of his skin, and she didn't break eye contact with him as she reached up to begin unbuttoning his shirt – pleased her hands weren't shaking as she did so.

He watched her face as she worked, only moving to assist her in removing the garment when it was completely unbuttoned. A shiver ran down his spine as her fingertips lightly grazed his chest, stopping just above his belt, his erection obviously straining against his pants. Before she could undo it one of his hands stopped her.

"Castiel…" He voice was gruff as he tried to think of what to say. He didn't want her to feel as if he were rejecting her but if she removed his pants, he didn't think he would be able to control himself. He wanted her so badly that it was almost painful, and it was a shock when she suddenly shushed him.

"No. I want to." She breathed, letting out a shaky breath. "I want to. I'm yours – please Marcus."

She was silenced as his lips covered hers, feeling heat course through her veins as he groaned. His hands found the hem of the shirt and he began tugging it up, his lips only leaving hers when he paused to pull the shirt off up over her head.

He sat back on his heels, his eyes roaming across her beautiful body as she lay bare with her legs spread beneath him. Her usually pale skin had a rosy flush as she breathed. Her pupils dilated with desire as he committed this moment to memory. She had shaved for him, and he couldn't help the growl that rumbled out of him as he thought of all the things he longed to do to her.

When Marcus' body came back down to cover hers, his bare chest cooling her heated skin where they were touching, he began to kiss his way down her neck and across her collarbone before traveling to her breast, his nose gently tracing around the nipple before he caught it in his mouth, eliciting a long moan from her as his hand came up to massage her other breast.

He gently pinched her nipple, provoking a gasp from her before he switched the attentions of his mouth to the other breast. It was hard to form a coherent thought as he touched her like this, and she trembled as she felt his hand skim down her body to her recently shaved sex, softly running his nail along the sensitive flesh of the recently shaved area and causing her to cry out.

"I like that you did this." He purred. His black eyes fixed on hers as he released her and stopped the ministrations of his tongue on her breasts. "It makes everything much more sensitive this way."

Her legs trembled at his words, her arousal peaking as he watched her, his thumb gently stroking across the bundle of nerves and causing her to cry out again.

"What do you want me to do to you, baby?" His voice was deep and full of carnal promises as he waited for her response, his lips turning up at the corners as she blushed, chagrin coloring her cheeks.

"I want you to touch me." She breathed, imploring him with her eyes. But he wanted to hear her. He wanted to please her and to be thoroughly sure that this was everything she desired it to be. He wanted to assume nothing.

"Where?" His tone was teasing as he grinned at her, patronizing her and somehow only making her more aroused.

She didn't speak; she just tilted her hips up at him in response her expression pleading. And as much as he enjoyed getting her flustered, he didn't want to make her too frustrated. They would work on getting her to vocalize her desires another time.

He slid down the bed until his head was between her legs, his hand wrapping around the back of one of her knees and pulling her towards him, moving her legs so they were positioned over his shoulders.

He didn't give her any time to prepare or any forewarning before his mouth was on her. She let out a sound that was half a moan, and half some garbled version of his name as his tongue gently stroked across her clitoris once, twice, before gently sucking on the little bundle of nerves and causing her hips to lift off the bed as her back arched.

"Oh Marcus – Marcus fuck!" She panted, her legs trembling as he began flicking his tongue quickly over her at a speed a normal man would not have been capable of. He knew she was getting close. He could feel how wet she was as his fingers came to lightly pull apart her folds, one digit slowly pressing inside her and earning him a satisfied groan from his perfect girl.

That's it baby, he thought, delighting in the sounds of her moans and her attempts at his name.

Carefully, slowly, he pressed a second finger inside her, fucking her gently with them as she built towards her release. The feeling of his fingers thrusting inside her and stretching her was almost more than she could handle, and it was only when he curled his fingers against the spot inside her that made her brain go fuzzy that she cried out as she orgasmed.

Marcus continued to flick his tongue over her swollen clitoris, drawing out her orgasm as he gently withdrew his fingers from inside her, one hand still holding her hips while the other went and unbuckled his belt.

Castiel lay panting as she tried to regain her bearings, listening to the rustle of fabric as Marcus divested himself of the rest of his clothing, her eyes locking with his as he moved to lay over her again – his body gloriously bare and his cock erect and ready as he positioned himself between her legs.

Anxiety gripped her, her body tensing as she felt the impossibly broad head of him against her opening. He didn't try to push inside her right away. Sensing her fear, he kissed her softly, purring in the way he always did to calm her.

"Relax piccola. I will not hurt you." He breathed, his right hand finding the back of her thigh and hitching her leg over his hip. She felt more vulnerable now because in this position there was no way she could block his entrance to her body.

She was tense, and her fear was obvious in her eyes.

Marcus kissed her softly again before resting his forehead against hers. "This will not hurt my sweet girl. I promise."

And then he started to ease himself inside her, one inch at a time. He gently thrust himself forward, pausing to allow her a second to adjust to him before easing back until he was almost completely out of her.

Her body was protesting at the too large intrusion inside of her, the sting as her body stretched to accommodate him as he pressed himself further inside her was disconcerting. The discomfort was high, and it was taking to long. He was only halfway inside her when she felt as if he had reached a part of her body that was tighter than the rest, trying to prohibit him entry.

The bond between them seemed to flare. It had not been agonizing to her even once since Marcus had come back into the room, but now it was active. It was anticipating their joining and the completion of their bond.

And fuck did it hurt.

"Oh, please Marcus just do it!" She cried. A feeling of desperation she wasn't sure was entirely her own showing plainly in her voice.

His mouth molded against hers, his tongue pushing passed her lips as he claimed her mouth. He gave three deep strokes, managing to get the rest of his length inside her, his pelvis becoming flush with hers and his balls nestled against her ass as he bottomed out.

She let out a sound that was half a gasp of relief and pleasure against his mouth but was also a yelp of pain as the head of his cock pressed against her cervix.

But there was no time to dwell on that. The world seemed to tilt on its axis as her eyes locked with his, and Marcus let out a word that sounded like a prayer as the bond between them clicked and solidified, joining them as one.

"Finalmente," He breathed, his forehead resting against hers as he held still for a long moment, allowing her body time to adjust to him before beginning to move.

He made love to her unhurriedly, gently thrusting in and out of her and listening to her soft groans as the discomfort of their first joining ebbed and she was able to focus more on her pleasure. Her legs moved to lock around his hips, tilting her pelvis and narrowing her channel so she felt every small movement of him inside of her.

She was so warm and tight. She was gripping him like a fist, and she was so wet he felt as if her body was trying to seal him inside her. It felt so fucking good.

He picked up the pace, moving inside her at a faster speed, thrusting deeper and harder. He was pleased when she moaned loudly at one particularly deep thrust, the head of his cock dragging against her g-spot, her cry signaling to him to keep this pace and this angle as he took her.

He continued to pound into her, his movements sure and even as he buried himself inside her repeatedly, quickly driving her to her release. He gently ran his thumb across her clitoris, knowing the soreness of their first joining might make it hard for her to finish with penetration alone. He never slowed even as she clamped around him and cried out his name, tears springing to her eyes at the overstimulation of her body. He began kissing her face, his rhythm becoming disjointed as he found his own release, spilling himself inside her as he buried his face in her hair.

"I love you."


Castiel didn't think she had ever been so sore in her life. Her sex and her thighs were screaming in pain by the time she stood from the bed, shaking her head to dispel the fog of sleep that still had hold of her after her brief nap. The door to the bedroom was open, and she followed the sound of Marcus' voice down the hall to the right – away from the main room and toward the door to his private study.

This door was ajar as well, and Castiel saw Marcus standing bare chested by the large windows at the back of the room, his phone pressed to his ear.

His private office held the same theme as his bedroom. Crammed bookshelves took up the entirety of the left and right walls, a huge desk with piles upon piles of paper and a sleek silver desktop computer was positioned by the windows where he was standing. Two soft armchairs faced the desk, and an unlit fireplace behind them at the wall where she came in. There was a billiards table in here too, as well as a small fridge and cabinet situated in a far corner that Castiel knew held Marcus' supply of alcohol though she had never seen him drink.

The warm glow of the setting sun bathed the room in amber light, Marcus skin throwing the same fragments of color they always did when he was in the light as she paused in the doorway. She had completely lost track of what time it was – let alone what day. Everything had been going so crazy in the last… 48 hours?

Marcus turned from the window when he heard her pause, and she noticed that his expression was unhappy as he listened to whatever the person on the other end of the phone was telling him, before his expression gentled at the sight of her standing naked in the doorway with one arm crossed over her chest to cup her left ribcage. It was a nervous habit she had now that she seemed to have a hard time breaking out of.

He said something in a language she didn't recognize to the person on the other end – her face pinched as she thought about the fact that the only reason people in the castle spoke English was because she was here – before crossing the room to her and drawing the phone away from his ear, ending the call and stowing it in his back pocket.

He took her face in his hands tilting her head up to look at him as his thumbs stroked across her cheeks.

"How are you feeling?" He asked quietly, watching her face for discomfort as she fidgeted.

"Sore. Is everything okay?"

The concern in her voice was obvious. He wouldn't have left her to wake up alone to take a call if it wasn't something of the utmost importance.

He shook his head. "It's nothing we have to worry about right now. I was trying not to wake you up… the call was only supposed to take a minute." He was trying to apologize for leaving her, she knew this, but it wasn't necessary.

Placing her hands over his she drew them away from her face before gently twining her fingers with his.

"Shower with me?" She asked and Marcus nodded with a small smile, leading the way down the hall and to the bathroom.

When they got to the shower it became obvious that Marcus hadn't bothered cleaning himself up or dressing fully when he took the phone call because all he had on were his pants which he quickly divested himself off once the shower was running, and Castiel noticed that there was blood on him.

One look down at herself and Castiel knew where the blood had come from – the evidence of her lost virginity was there in a small smear on her thigh as well as on his skin.

Marcus noticed her scrutiny and drew her attention back to him by taking her hand and guiding her into the shower before him.

"Come. Let's get you cleaned up."


She was curled up in a ball on the couch in the main room, a blanket wrapped around her as Marcus took the tray of her recently finished meal to the door so that one of the guards could dispose of it. The TV was playing some sitcom she wasn't really interested in but was trying to pay attention to anyway. She was feeling really distracted for some strange reason, and she found it really hard to keep her eyes from flicking over to Marcus every few seconds.

Though the bond between them had finally solidified, Castiel felt incredibly keyed up. She was twitchy and nervous whenever Marcus walked away from her and she felt all the hairs on her arms stand up as she heard Kemar's voice from over by the door.

"There's a problem down on level six. One of the guards on the maintenance team apparently caught another guard having relations with his girlfriend. I was informed hardly a minute ago. A few others went down to break up the fight and they're waiting for you or one of your brothers to sort things out."

Castiel's head perked up and she found herself standing as Marcus turned back to look at her, his expression unsure as Kemar watched the two of them from his position just outside the room.

"Will you be okay if I go?" Marcus asked. He was aware of how jumpy she was, and she couldn't help but notice how his eyes watched the air around her, undoubtedly observing their bond.

"I think so." She mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest before settling back down on the couch – trying to ignore his concerned expression.

Marcus said something to her guard that sounded like "Sit with her", before he disappeared down the corridor.

Kemar entered the room, watching her with calculating eyes as he came to sit in the furthest armchair away from her.

His scrutiny might have irritated her if she hadn't become so abruptly distracted by the sudden harsh pulling at her chest. An urge to get up and follow Marcus came over her so strongly that she found herself standing again, moving towards the door at a hurried pace.

"Whoa now, slow down little bird." Kemar blocked her path halfway across the room holding his hands out as if to stop her. "Wait here until he gets back."

She stared at him, and Kemar became alarmed when he realized that her pupils were blown wide, her iris hardly visible as she took labored breaths as if she had just run a marathon. He knew she was not having a vision and that this was a sign of mating drives and bond strain, though he had never experienced it himself.

But it didn't make sense. He knew the two of them had just solidified their mating, as he could smell it on the two of them, so why was she acting like this?

The answer became clear almost immediately. Her wild curly red hair was down so he hadn't noticed it right away, but now that he was actively looking, he could see the problem plain as day.

Marcus hadn't marked her.

You didn't have to mark your mate after the first time you lay together, but it was stupid not to. Marking your partner was the second and most crucial step in finalizing a mating bond. If it wasn't done right away, the partners would have a very hard time being away from one another until it was done.

And Castiel was not only the youngest, but she was also the more delicate of the two. Kemar was sure the bond was hurting like a bitch right about now.

"Easy…" He drawled, taking a hesitant step toward her as she began to shake. "He'll be right back-,"

And then her nose started to bleed.

Fuck.

Kemar was out the door and in the hall in less than a second. His voice rose loud enough that he was sure most of the castle had heard him.

"MASTER MARCUS!"

He didn't elaborate any further. It wasn't necessary. He was sure Marcus would come at his call and he flung himself back into the room.

Castiel was sitting cross-legged on the floor, one hand cupping her face and hiding her mouth and nose. A steady drip of blood leaked through her fingers towards her lap where her free hand was cupped to catch some of the excess.

She was bleeding a hell of a lot, and her frightened eyes found his as she whimpered.

"It's okay little bird." Kemar said reassuringly, falling to his knees in front of her and pulling his t-shirt off over his head, folding it into a small square as he pried her bloody hand away from her face and pressed the fabric to it.

Castiel immediately cringed back from him. He knew that she didn't like the scent of his shirt or the bareness of his chest – any newly mated female wouldn't respond well to this situation – but it didn't stop his slight huff of annoyance. Grabbing the back of her neck with his free hand he held her head still, enabling him to pinch her nose shut through the fabric of his shirt as he waited for Marcus to return.

It didn't take long. Only thirty seconds passed before Marcus barged into the room, Aro hot on his heels.

The two ancients stilled for half a second, taking in the sight of the two of them on the floor and registering Castiel's bloody hands before they converged around them, Marcus coming up behind his mate and lifting her off the floor – his hand pushing Kemar's out of the way to keep the fabric pressed against her face – before he disappeared with her into the bathroom.

Aro held out a hand to help him up from the floor. It wasn't necessary, but it was a gesture of goodwill to do so and a way for Aro to read his thoughts to take in what had just happened from his point of view.

Aro shook his head once Kemar was on his feet and released his hand. There really wasn't anything to say about the situation and there was nothing Aro needed to ask. Marcus surely had a handle on it now and the two of them walked back towards the door, Kemar intending to find himself a clean shirt and then resume his post.

But of course, it wasn't going to be that easy.

Heavy, hurried footsteps entered the corridor and Kemar and Aro both turned to see Castiel's friend Trent rushing toward them. The boy must have been near enough to hear when Kemar had yelled for Marcus and was undoubtedly concerned that it had something to do with his friend.

Trent stopped in front of the two of them looking through the open door into Master Marcus' rooms. "Castiel… is she alright?"

His concern really was admirable, and Aro gave Kemar a look that very clearly said, "You handle this", before he left to control the situation on level six.

"She's fine." He answered shortly, ignoring how the boy's eyes roamed curiously over his bare chest before flicking back to the room.

"What was that yelling about?"

"That's of no concern to you." Kemar folded his arms across his chest.

Trent glared at him and Kemar noticed when his eyes widened in what could only be horror as he looked at his folded arms. One glance down showed Kemar what had caught the boy's attention.

Some of Castiel's blood was smeared along the back of his hand.

Trent made to shove past him then, shouting Castiel's name into the empty room. He was sure the blood was hers as she was the only human Kemar spent time around. What had he done to her?

Kemar grabbed him then, putting him in a headlock he was unable to get out of and swinging him back to face the hallway, grabbing the knob to the door with his free hand and pulling it shut behind him.


Marcus set her on the edge of the tub, guiding her hand to her face and telling her to hold it there to replace his as he went over to the shower and turned it on before flashing back to her side. Her hands were sticky with her blood, and she took deep breaths through her mouth as Marcus pulled the soiled shirt away from her face. She was sure her mouth and chin were covered in blood – the nosebleed had been really bad – but she was also sure that her nose had stopped dripping.

Placing the hand that wasn't holding the ruined shirt under her chin Marcus tilted her head back so he could look at her nose.

"It looks like it stopped." He said quietly, placing the shirt on the ledge next to her and extending a hand out to help her stand.

Marcus' hands immediately went to the bottom of her shirt when she was standing, coaxing it up over her head before dropping it to the floor and slipping one finger in the waistband of her grey sweatpants and tugging her towards him. She bumped into his chest as his other hand came to twist in her hair.

"I'm so sorry piccola… I didn't plan on separating from you. If I had known it would have been so bad I wouldn't have gone."

"Why was it so bad?" She mumbled wiping under her nose with the back of her hand and feeling the drying blood there, examining the small spread it left on the back of her hand. "I thought we were fine now. How can the bond feel perfect one moment and then hurt so badly…"?

"It's because I haven't marked you baby."

Castiel's stomach seemed to do a flip at his words, and her startled eyes flashed up to his. Right. She remembered Marcus telling her that he wanted to mark her the first time they slept together, but that he would avoid doing it since he didn't want to add that fear to the list of things she was afraid of experiencing her first time in bed with a man.

But now he stood in front of her radiating power as he looked down at her, his eyes darkening with carnal promises, her breathing shallow and the now sore muscles of her lower body clenching in response to that look.

Marcus sniffed and then growled low in his chest, obviously scenting her arousal before he bent slightly, hooking his fingers in her pants and underwear and tugging them down her legs. She stepped out of them, turning when he made a rotating motion with his finger and his hands found the clasp of her bra, unhooking it and letting it fall to the floor to join the rest of her clothes.

Grabbing a fistful of her hair he tugged her against him again, her back bumping into his front as his free hand moved down to cup her sex, his form bending over her slightly as his fingers teased her sore opening.

"Oh sei così pronto. We're going to rectify this situation right now, aren't we my little mate?" Marcus purred in her ear before letting her go and nudging her toward the shower, removing his own clothes and freeing his erection as she turned to face him just outside the steamed up doors, her nipples hard in her anticipation and her expression wanton.

Suddenly, he heard Castiel's name in the form of a shout coming from the main room. He turned his head automatically at the sound, his mate mimicking him though it was unlikely that she heard what was said – the shout was probably unintelligible to her.

God, why did that boy always have to interrupt?

"Ignore it." His voice was firm as Castiel's eyes flashed back to him, and he was pleased to see that she was too caught up in the moment to fight him on this.

He led her into the shower for the second time in only a few hours, and the first thing he did was grab her face wash off one of the shelves before lathering it between his hands and drawing her towards him, gently rubbing the blood off her face with his fingers.

She giggled and fussed slightly as he did this, and it was incredibly endearing to entice this girlish reaction from her. After her face was clean, he used what was left of the lather in his hands to wash the blood from her palms. And once that was taken care of, he took his chance to press her up against the shower wall, lifting her with his hands and gripping her soft ass as her legs came to wrap around his waist.

He rocked against her, sliding his cock along the length of her clenching slit at he kissed her hard, catching her soft moans in his mouth each time the head of his cock stroked over her clitoris. She had already been wet for him outside of the shower, and he knew that there was no doubt she was ready for him now as he began to press his way inside her, marveling at how much deeper it felt this way and groaning at the feeling of her hot body clenching around him.

"Oh, mia bella ragazza sei così stretta." He moaned, drawing out of her almost completely before thrusting back into her with unbridled passion. She squeaked and let out a small whimper, and he had to remind himself that he had only had her the first time hours ago. She was undoubtedly still sore.

He hushed her, supporting her with one arm between his body and the wall and letting his other hand travel to the front of her sex, his thumb gently brushing against the small bundle of nerves there.

Only when she was sighing with pleasure did he start to move again. He was not gentle as he thrusted in and out of her, guiding her swiftly to an early release as he felt her walls quiver around him. He took what he wanted from her body and didn't slow even as her first, and second, orgasm rippled through her. The sound of wet skin against wet skin echoing in the shower filled the room as he basked in the pleasure her body gave him, feeling as his balls tightened the nearer he got to his release.

He was almost there when Castiel cried out a third time, her blunt teeth latching onto his shoulder as she tried to muffle her cries as her body gripped him. He snarled a feral snarl at the feeling, his hand leaving her clitoris to fist in her hair, yanking her teeth off him and baring the place on her neck that he loved to mark. He swallowed back the venom that had pooled in his mouth, feeling his cock twitch as he poured his release into her and sunk his teeth into her neck.


"It hurts." Castiel whined, pouting as Marcus set her on the counter next to the sink, his hand covering the spot on her neck that he had just bitten and his skin providing some cooling relief as he reached down in the cabinet under the sink for a first aid kit, hushing her as he did so.

He retrieved the white plastic container, placing it next to her leg and opening it one handed, quickly finding the instant start chemical ice pack and smacking it against the counter, activating it and setting it in place on her neck.

It got cold really fast, and she was relieved when Marcus crossed the room to grab his shirt off the floor and brought it over to her so that he could wrap the icepack in it.

"Hold that there for a couple of minutes." He ordered in a no-nonsense tone of voice before he went back to their clothes, gathering them up and setting them on the ledge of the tub before grabbing two towels for them. He wrapped his around his waist as he came back to her before stopping in front of her and beginning to dry her legs with the other one.

Castiel reached for the towel to help him as he moved to dry her stomach, but the small growl that came from him caused her to sigh and allow him to do it himself. His expression was so relaxed as he dried her body before moving to cover her head and lightly rub her hair that Castiel couldn't help but think that taking care of her like this must be therapeutic for him. She always knew that imprinting made it so he longed to provide for and take care of her even more so than most other vampires and their mates, but she hadn't considered just how much it would please him to do so.

"How does the bond feel now?" Marcus asked quietly when he was done, gently taking the ice pack from her hand and setting it on the counter. On his end the bond felt absolutely fine. It was utterly at peace whenever he looked at it; strong and bright it still pulsed like a living thing but there was no yanking or coaxing of his bonds to her or vice versa. Even though it looked like any normal, healthy, fully fledged mating bond he wanted to be sure that she was alright.

She took a deep breath as if to check if there would be tightness in her chest, and when she adjusted her seat on the counter she winced, but he knew that this was not because of the bond.

He wanted to apologize for her soreness but figured he would be called out on the lie due to the shit-eating grin that had spread across his face when she blushed and looked up at him.

"The bond is fine… but this-," She whispered motioning to her neck, "Stings a lot."

The double crescent mark of his teeth stood out against the skin of her neck – not only because it had already scarred over in the same marble like tissue of vampire skin and was therefor raised and much paler than her usual skin tone – but also because the area around the mark had bruised a dark purple when he bit her. This wasn't all that surprising to him though because it was to be expected that such a delicate area would bruise.

The stinging was likely due to the small amount of venom that was in the saliva he had used to seal the bite when he had laved his tongue over it in the shower.

"It will stop stinging in a few hours I think, but you should make sure to take some Advil to help with the soreness for the next few days. You can't feel it now but I'm sure your neck is going to be very stiff later."

Castiel looked at his face for a long moment studying his expression. Her lips turned up at the corners as her eyes softened.

"This pleases you, doesn't it?" She asked quietly motioning to her neck again.

His face became completely unguarded and tender at her question, and he gently pressed his lips to her forehead before responding.

"Of course it does. The most beautiful creature in the world just let me claim her as my mate and bonded with me for life. How could I not be the happiest man alive right now?"

Castiel threw her arms around him and melted against his chest, hugging her body as close to his as possible as he stood between her legs, stroking her hair and telling her how much he loved her.


"You are, honestly, the biggest pain in my ass brother." Caius said from where he was lounging across Aro's sofa, glaring at his raven-haired brother as he scribbled away in a thick journal. Sulpicia and Athenadora were over at one of Aro's bookcases, pulling down book after book and skimming through them as they looked for something before hastily putting them back.

Castiel and Marcus was sitting together in the loveseat, Castiel on Marcus' lap as he played with her hair, watching his siblings with thinly veiled amusement.

"Don't listen to him, Aro." Athenadora said, bringing one of the books over to where Aro was sitting at his desk and laying it open next to the journal as he wrote. "He's only mad because he believes you cock-blocked him when you called us here. But I wasn't going to sleep with him anyway."

Aro chuckled once, glancing at the book she had brought over before flipping through the pages as he searched for something he was obviously planning to reference in his journal.

"What?" Caius asked incredulously, sitting up and ignoring Castiel's amused look as she glanced between the two of them. "Why not?"

"Because I still haven't forgiven you for tearing my favorite skirt yesterday." Dora sniffed, joining Sulpicia back at the bookshelf and missing Caius' jaw-dropped expression.

"I'll buy you a new skirt!"

"No, you won't." Sulpicia replied, "I had that custom made for her 2 years ago and the designer has since passed away."

"Regardless." Aro cut into the conversation before Caius could reply, not looking up from his journal, "I know Caius couldn't possibly mean what he said since I know from his mind that he firmly believes Castiel is the biggest pain in his ass-,"

"Hey!" Castiel protested before laughing, unable to help herself at Caius' expression as her sisters and mate joined in. The teasing was all light-hearted and superficial so there was no reason for Castiel to take offense by it. It really wasn't a secret that she and Caius grated on each other's' nerves a lot, but that was only because their personalities were so different. It didn't mean they loved each other any less.

Aro had called the family together in his office to discuss and document what had happened when Castiel had gotten the nosebleed after Marcus had left her to sort out the fight among the couple of guards on level six. And while it made her feel a little bit like a science experiment, Castiel could still understand why her siblings found the physical effects of a mating bond's strain on the human body to be interesting. That's what Aro was currently writing about in the journal. The notebook he was working in was composed of everything the vampire race knew about imprinting among their kind, and now a very decent portion of it was being filled up with information about hers and Marcus' relationship.

Castiel also didn't begrudge all the rather embarrassing questions of her sisters or the note taking in any way because she knew that if they had all this documented and there was another case of human to vampire imprinting one day, that the information could all be vitally useful in helping the new couple.

Marcus was all but brimming with male pride and looked incredibly satisfied since the moment he set foot into the office with her and Caius apparently could no longer refrain from making a comment about Marcus getting laid.

"At least you finally let him get some." Caius said to her, theatrically throwing his head back with a groan, "You have no idea how bad he needed to get laid. I swear I wanted to make a PowerPoint to show you that just said Castiel… Please… We beg you. Just give him some pussy bro… we can't stand this sexually suppressed asshole anymore."

Everyone in the office roared with laughter, Marcus wrapping both of his arms around Castiel as she laughed so hard no sound escaped her. He would have probably thrown something at Caius in retaliation if he didn't find the comment as hilarious as everyone else did.

The office eventually fell calm again; all its inhabitants completely relaxed with one another. This only changed when Castiel suddenly tense in Marcus' arms, her heartbeat slowing enough to draw everyone's attention to her.

Her pupils were wide, and she was staring forward, not noticing when Marcus placed his hand under her chin to tilt her head up so he could look at her face.

He didn't seem concerned at all though. He had long since gotten used to how she froze up when she got visions. He merely focused her gaze so her attention would be on him when she came out of it.

A minute or so later Castiel's head gave a little shake, her eyes returning to normal as she came back to the present.

Before anyone could ask what she saw, and before Aro could stand to come over to her, her gaze flicked from Marcus' face to his.

"Phone for you."

Right on cue, Aro's phone started to buzz in his pocket. Castiel mouthed the name Carlisle Cullen at him as he rooted around in his jacket pocket for the phone. He nodded and gave her a thumbs up in acknowledgment before standing and pacing to the other side of the room, answering the call with a quiet greeting in Italian.

Sulpicia and Athenadora seemed to tire of their research as Aro talked over by the window, and Athenadora produced a chess set from one of the lower bookshelves and set the board up on Aro's newly vacated desk. As her sisters started quietly playing their game, Castiel began rubbing her temples, working to look around the current hole in her vision so she could get a rough outline of what would be happening in the coming weeks and precisely when the Cullen's would arrive.

Caius was watching her as she did this, and interrupted her concentration by saying, "Well it's a good thing at least that you won't have to try so hard to see around your father in a couple of days. Just watching you is giving me a headache."

Castiel stared at him, her mouth dropping open in shock and hardly registering as Aro left the room, still on the phone – probably so their conversation wouldn't be overheard on the other end of the line.

"What do you mean?"

Caius' eyebrows both rose in surprise, his red eyes flicking to Marcus in confusion, "You didn't tell her?"

Marcus didn't acknowledge the accusatory look she shot him, but his response was explanation enough, "We've been a little busy, Caius."

Caius smirked, and Castiel felt her face heat up in response. But rather than taking the mickey out of her as he obviously wanted to if the expression on his face was anything to go by, he explained his previous statement.

"After what happened in the council room-," Caius said, watching the brief ripple of pain that crossed her face before she tamed her expression, "We had to pass a vote for the best course of action to take with your father. He's a newborn and Ajmer has already proven himself to be an incompetent teacher – so it's our responsibility to make sure your father is taught control. He can't stay here, due to the conflict of interest presented with him being a blood relation of one of the inner family, and because of the threat he poses to your safety."

"It's been decided that he'll be sent to Denali with Eleazar. Eleazar has a coven large enough to handle a newborn, notwithstanding the fact that his coven-mate Kate has a talent that could be very useful in controlling him if anything were to happen. He'll be able to help teach your father how to control and use his gift. He wasn't aware he was a shield until after we removed you from the room and he understands now that's he's blocking you and he wants to learn."

"To Denali?" Castiel reiterated, trying to ignore the stab of feeling that went through her at the though of her father leaving… she had only just gotten him back. "When – h-how?"

"Tomorrow evening." Marcus answered, his lips brushing her temple in an effort to calm her. "They'll be taking our jet as close as they can get to Eleazar's home, and fortunately the home is remote enough that no humans will stumble into the area accidentally. Plus, it will probably be good for him to be integrated into an environment where there is some semblance of a normal life he can cling to. A stable environment is important to have when a newborn is created."

"But if he goes to Denali…" Castiel said quietly, noticing out of the corner of her eye that both of her sisters were tuned into the conversation now and watching her with concern. "He'll become a vegetarian right?"

Caius and Marcus shared a look. Neither of them had expected this question.

"No." Caius said abruptly, not wanting her to get any ideas. He worried that she might even now be considering that she may want to try the animal blood diet when she was changed which would not be allowed. They couldn't let her to be weaker than the average vampire because she wanted to follow a diet that could not truly sustain her. Plus, they wouldn't permit her be in the constant state of thirst that was always the case with vegetarian vampires since animal blood couldn't sate them. "He'll still be following his natural diet. Eleazar will arrange for him to be fed whether that means bringing a human to him or making sure bagged blood is provided for a short period. After he passes his newborn phase, of course, it will be his choice if he wishes to stay in Denali and try the animal blood diet or to travel."

Caius snorted, his face showing his disdain for the idea of drinking animal blood when he finished.

Castiel couldn't think of what to say, but she was spared having to answer by Aro's return.

Everyone looked to Aro, who was no longer on the phone as he crossed to sit on the opposite end of the sofa from Caius.

"How did the call go Aro?" Athenadora asked, scowling as she moved her knight and Sulpicia quickly took it with her queen. She had been distracted when Aro entered and hadn't though of where she was placing her piece.

"Fine. Carlisle called to request meeting with us about the newborn army that may be threatening his family." Aro rolled his eyes, because honestly if there was a newborn army terrorizing Seattle and steadily heading towards Forks it should be obvious the target was them. Not to mention that they had a seer of their own and therefore should have known a while back that danger was coming. Alice wasn't as reliable as Castiel but that still didn't mean it shouldn't be obvious from the get-go that the army was created by the vengeful mate of the tracker the Cullen's had destroyed.

"I didn't give him any indication we are already aware of this situation or the fact that we know when his coven arrives that they'll ask us to take Isabella under our protection until the problem is sorted out. I just sent half a dozen guard to get a layout of the area and to send back a brief outline of what we're looking at." Aro's eyes flickered to Castiel then, as if he had just thought of something.

"Castiel…" Aro began, ignoring the sharp look Marcus was throwing him from just over her head, clearly aware of what he was about to ask. "I'll understand if you can't, but do you think you can try to keep watch on the newborn army in Seattle until we go to sort the situation out?"

He understood this was stressful for her. He understood that asking her to watch newborns terrorizing a city would really put a strain on her mental health, but this was so important. She and Marcus were bonded now so surely, he could help her handle the strain. But he still wasn't going to force her to watch the newborns if it would be too much for her.

And as he expected, Castiel's expression went from slightly worried to resolute and determined, her eyes hardening as she nodded at him.

Figuring she had better get started soon rather than later, Castiel leaned back in Marcus' arms and slipped into her visions, missing the tender gazes of her family and not feeling as Marcus arms wrapped around her protectively, his chin settling on top of her head.

Their beautiful, brave girl. The fates truly had gifted them when they placed her on this earth and bonded her to Marcus.


"How about this one?" Athenadora asked, holding a dark grey cable knit sweater up for Castiel to view while Sulpicia rummaged around the drawers of her dresser.

They were sitting in Castiel's closet/changing room and going through every article of clothing one at a time, holding them up for Castiel to view and vote on whether she would wear it or not. She might have been in Volterra for months, but Castiel had never taken the time to go through all the clothes her sisters had ordered for her at the beginning. Sulpicia was organizing a clothes donation and trying to restock the guest lodgings with Athenadora's help when she remembered that they'd never gone through Castiel's closet with her.

One thing Castiel was truly grateful for was that her sisters never got upset or offended when she said she couldn't picture herself wearing something or didn't like the style of another thing. They just shrugged and threw it on the chair with the steadily growing pile of brand-new clothes going for donation. They hadn't obligated her to wear anything they had bought for her, and whatever wasn't to her tastes was discarded without a fuss.

"Oh, I haven't seen that one before! Would have been nice to know I had that when the weather was cooler." Castiel thought out loud. She was sitting on the floor organizing shoes. She took each pair out of their boxes before breaking the boxes down and lining the shoes along the floor under the dress rack by type and color.

Tossing a pair of skyscraper heals with silver straps into the donate pile – she really couldn't see herself ever wearing them – she picked up a pair of shiny black heels with rounded toes and red bottoms and gazed at them enviously. She wished she'd realized she had these sooner. They'd look good with nearly any of her dresses and she smirked thinking of Marcus face if she wore one of her black dresses that came only to mid thigh with these heels.

"So, I'll take that as a we're keeping it," Dora smiled, hanging it back up on the rack. She was done with the sweaters now and moved closer to Castiel to go over the dresses. The first one she pulled out was a yellow and white checker pattern, cute for summer but definitely not her thing.

"If it was any other color but yellow, I'd say yes., Castiel said, making a face from her place on the floor before reaching for another box of shoes. "Yellow does not go with my skin color or hair color. It makes me look like a corpse."

Dora nodded her understanding at this and took the dress off the hanger before lobbing it across the changing room and onto the donate pile.

"So, I'll assume you won't wear this?" Sulpicia asked.

She was sitting on the floor now at the back of the closet with the bottom drawer of her dresser open. Castiel saw she was holding up a very thin piece of material that it took her a second to notice was lingerie.

It was a sheer yellow teddy style lingerie with little purple and pink flowers embroidered onto it. It still had the tags on it.

For some reason the subject matter didn't embarrass her – it was different when she was with her sisters. Come to think of it she wasn't as mortified as she thought she would have or should have been by all of Caius' comments in the office earlier. Who would have thought that finally losing her virginity would prove to make her a lot less embarrassed about the whole idea of sex?

"Definitely not." Castiel answered. It was nice but it was yellow.

"What size is that, Sully?" Athenadora asked glancing thoughtfully at the scrap of material as she pulled another dress out for Castiel to view.

"Extra Small."

"Won't fit me then. I was hoping it was a small." She sighed, hanging the dress back up when Castiel said she liked it.

And onto the pile to be sent to the guest lodgings it went. You really couldn't donate lingerie even new with tags, but they were sure some immortal would want it.

"You haven't worn any of these yet." Sulpicia stated as she began pulling the piles of lingerie out of the bottom drawer. It was probably the most lace and mesh Castiel had ever seen at one time. It seemed her sisters had ordered her something of every color and style they could think of.

"Well, I haven't really had much reason to until… you know." She mumbled defensively, watching as Sulpicia prepared her scissors to remove tags of whichever ones she wanted to keep. The underwear were the only things her sisters had left the tags on when they stocked her closet – probably to reassure her that they were in fact new when she still had yet to meet them and no one to ask to double check.

Athenadora stopped showing her dresses and sat to watch as Sulpicia held up item after item for Castiel to judge. For the most part Castiel said she liked them though she really couldn't picture herself in any of them and wasn't sure if she'd ever be brave enough to wear them.

Dora seemed to be able to read her mind; or maybe it was just her expression. "Don't overthink it, Cassy." She said with a reassuring smile when Castiel looked over at her, "Try some of them on later. You'd be amazed at what a self-esteem booster wearing lingerie is. Just wait/ You'll see you're a total babe and embrace your inner freak."

Unable to help it, Castiel snorted with laughter.

Sulpicia laughed too and held a lacy purple piece up for Castiel to see.

"Ugh no." Castiel said once she contained her laughter, though she was still grinning, "I don't have the boobs for that."

Sulpicia looked at the tag, "How about you Dora? It's a small."

Athenadora surprised Castiel by snorting the same way she had a moment before. "I don't have the tits for that either, Sully. You're the only one with big boobs here."

"Itty bitty titty committee chair holder here!" Castiel joked as Sulpicia tossed the garment aside and Athenadora gave her a sassy wink.

"You might be a chair holder but I'm the founder."

They were all laughing again, and this time it took a good few minutes for them to calm down. Once they were calm Sulpicia went right back to holding up more lingerie, and it was near the end that she held up a black lacey one piece.

"How about this one? It's crotch-less." Sulpicia said wiggling her eyebrows Castiel who looked shocked at the concept.

"Uh sure, but I really can't see myself wearing that anytime soon."

Sulpicia looked thoughtful at this as she cut the tags up before holding it at arms length to look at again. "Probably a good idea since you've only recently embraced your sexuality. You only want to wear something like this when you really want to get railed-,"

That did it. Castiel sputtered and blushed as Athenadora fell to the floor clutching her stomach as she laughed.


It took nearly three more hours to go through all the items in her closet one by one, and it was only after Athenadora and Sulpicia left with their arms full of clothes for the last time – it had taken 3 trips to move all the donate piles out of the closet – that Castiel was able to relax. She sat on the couch and watched TV with Afton for an hour until Marcus came back from the trials holding a large box. Afton went to stand in the hall while Marcus went over to the desk by the wall and set down the box he was carrying. Castiel was watching him curiously when he looked over at her, smiling and motioning for her to come.

She crossed the room without hesitation, and her apprehension changed to shock when Marcus pulled out a MacBook and a cellphone and held them out to her.

"What?" Castiel said, holding her hands out to take the items without thinking.

"They're for you." Marcus laughed, his smile kind. "I told you we'd get you a phone, and it was Aro who suggested the laptop. It's the same type as the one you had in Ivy Peak, and the phone is a Google phone. Our numbers are already programmed into the phone as well as the Elite guards' personal numbers, and the computer has been set up with an email account for you as well as a Skype account.

At the mention of Skype, Castiel understood the point of the computer and Marcus could tell by her expression that she had gotten it too.

"Eleazar will make sure your dad has access to a computer in Denali. We figured it would be a good way for you two to keep in touch. Through a computer screen there should be no problem with his focus around you. Eleazar will call you to try and schedule a few nights a week for you and your father to talk."

Castiel set the items down on the desk so she could hug him, hiding her face against his chest so he couldn't see the way it was twisted in emotion at the feelings these gifts had invoked in her. But she was his imprint, so of course he could feel exactly what she felt even if she hid her face.

He hugged her back and stroked her hair, purring until she composed herself and pulled back. She hadn't cried – this was a relief. She was really tired of being the emotional mess she felt like over the past few months.

But the computer and phone weren't all Marcus had in the box; as was obvious by the size of it before he had reached in to retrieve what was left.

She recognized the tattered, deep purple backpack immediately.

Castiel was seated on the floor the next minute, pulling the contents of the bag out and setting them around her on the ground as Marcus stood above her, leaning against the desk and watching.

Her missing sweatpants and shirt, her sketchbooks, her bear, an old textbook of hers with all of their family photos pressed flat and stored safely between the pages, her wallet, an EpiPen (expired by now), and various other small trinkets from her room at home. In the front pocket of the bag where pens and things that should be stored, there was a bottle of Advil and a little brown cardboard box that looked as if it was supposed to hold jewelry. She knew what was inside it before she opened it.

It was a flash drive that had all their family photos stored on it digitally, and the home videos from when she was a child saved on it as well. It had been a father's day gift to her dad two years ago… it took her hours to convert all those taps from VCR to digital and to scan all of the photos.

Castiel sat for a long time holding the little box and staring at the flash drive in it until Marcus crouched in front of her. His expression was sympathetic when she looked at him

"I guess we see where all of the missing photos went." She mumbled, looking over at where the textbook was lying with the photos pressed between its pages.

Marcus hummed his agreement before taking the box out of her hand and putting the lid back on before he pulled her to him, sitting back so she was in his lap. She tucked her head under his chin as his arms wrapped around her.

"Your father took only the items that were the most essential to him when he felt he was visiting your home for the last time – that and any items he felt you might have wanted."

Castiel opened her mouth to say something, exactly what she wasn't entirely sure, when she was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Marcus' brow furrowed and he stood, lifting her with him and setting her on her feet.

He went to answer the door, and Castiel bent to pick up the items off the floor. She heard when the door opened and listened as both Kemar and Afton explained something that was almost too rushed for her to understand.

Almost.

Castiel bolted upright, dropping the last of her items hastily on the desk before rushing over to Marcus, grabbing his sleeve before he could exit to stand in the hall.

It was clear by his face when he saw her expression that he understood that she had heard.

Her father had found out about her relationship with Marcus.

"Stay here." She breathed, feeling her heart began to pick up speed as Kemar and Afton watched her.

"Dearest." Marcus said soothingly, reaching to pry her fingers from his sleeve before smoothing them out between his hands. "It's nothing. Don't fret – I'll go handle it."

Castiel knew what he meant; she had heard Afton say that her father was currently in the throne room waiting to speak to him. She knew that Aro and Caius as well as her sister were all there already, too – most likely trying to defuse the situation though she couldn't be sure because she couldn't see them.

And now Marcus' future was blind to her too, and that split second in which she tried to check but saw nothing was enough to make her so afraid she thought she would be physically ill.

It meant that she would not be able to convince him not to go, and that made her feel defeated.

"No." She was trembling, and Marcus hands came to hold her upper arms.

"My sweet girl… don't fret so. Nothing bad is going to happen. I know what you are worried for, but we are not going to fight. We knew this would happen eventually and while we might not have expected it so soon it does not mean that we're unprepared to handle this."

"But-,"

"You. Are. My. Mate." Marcus said, stressing each word as his hands switched to holding her face. "And whether your father approves of it or not it changes nothing. I will go calm him down."

Marcus leaned forward and kissed her forehead before releasing her face and turning to her guards.

"Both of you are to stay with her until I get back."


Bryon Rodgers was standing impatiently in the center of the throne room, his hands balled into fists at his side and his jaw twitching as he tried to think of all of the things he would say the moment the fucker who felt he had some claim to his daughter entered the room.

The other ancients were all standing on the dais, the back haired one – Aro – and the blonde one – Caius – standing in front of each of their thrones with women who were obviously their wives at their sides. They had already tried to defend the last leader who he knew was called Marcus, feeding him bullshit about how it wasn't what he thought it was and how he couldn't possibly understand the bond between them.

He knew how vampires found their mate. He knew it was almost instinctual to know when you saw them. But his little girl wasn't a vampire and he wasn't about to swallow any of the crap they were trying to feed him about the man who was taking advantage of his daughter. It gave a whole new meaning to how Marcus had placed himself as the first line of defense when they had brought Castiel to see him earlier, and he didn't like it one bit.

The door behind the thrones opened, and the vampire in question entered. He was wearing dark blue suit pants, shiny black shoes and a matching belt. He didn't have a suit jacket on; only a white button up shirt with the sleeves folded back past his elbows the chain of his Volturi crest tucked under the collar.

His hair was pulled back out of his face, and his features appeared sharper and more masculine this way – showing he was a man and not a boy… and much too physically mature for his daughter.

Bryon heard the rustle along the wall as the guards watching tensed, and he watched as Marcus held up one hand to steady them, descending the dais at a leisurely pace and stopping only a few feet away from him.

The fucker was big. Big, like the two guards who had been holding him to stop him from attacking his daughter earlier. It was obvious by the way he stood that he was a fighter and that he was confident of his ability to fight and fight well. Bryon couldn't help but tense in response.

The room was so quiet as no one dared to breath, waiting to see who would make the first move. The guard fully expected there to be a fight, and while the ancients hoped there wouldn't be… they still couldn't be completely sure it wasn't inevitable.

Bryon could tell by the set of Marcus' face that the rumors he had heard were true. It didn't seem to be much of a secret since he didn't really have to do all that much poking around. The guards who were stationed at the entrance to the castle were not secretive about Castiel and Marcus' relationship. Apparently, it was all but common knowledge in the vampire world. He could tell that Marcus was not here to deny any of what he had heard.

"You stay away from her." His voice was low and cold, bordering no argument at all.

One of Marcus' perfect brows raised, "No."

It was a flat answer, and somehow the word held more conviction than what he had just demanded.

"No?" He growled, unable to contain the sound as hot anger seemed to ripple down his spine.

"No." Marcus repeated, giving no further explanation or excuses. He obviously felt he did not need to explain himself to him.

"The hell you won't!" He snarled, baring his teeth at the older vampire. "You're too old for her."

Marcus' expression became amused, but the amusement was only so deep. He made a derisive sound in his throat. "She's an adult. She makes her own decisions."

Bryon stepped towards him. They were nearly chest-to-chest, but Marcus didn't back down. It pissed him off even more that the king was taller than him by a few inches. "I know the story you've fed her, and you should be disgusted with yourself taking advantage of a little girl."

This did it. Marcus cool composure seemed to break, and he bared his teeth back at him, snarling just as loudly as he had a moment before.

"She might be your daughter but she's not a little girl," He snapped, "And I haven't fed her anything. What you've heard is nothing but the truth."

Marcus wished he had kept his temper back, but he couldn't just stand there while Castiel's father implied that he had forced himself on her, or that he had been manipulating her. It didn't sit well with him at all.

"Perhaps-," Aro began, his tone placating as Marcus had ever heard, moving to take a step forward. Marcus held a hand up to him palm out – signaling to his brother to stay out of it as he and his mate's father stared each other down, their faces hardly a foot apart.

"She's human!" Bryon snarled, as if this was hard evidence to prove that what Marcus was saying was a lie.

"We find our mates in mortals a good quarter of the time. And she's more to me than even a mate." Marcus spat.

"What's that supposed to mean?" His voice held the same amount of hostility as Marcus'. He could feel venom pooling in his mouth and the urge to fight, to rip and tear boiling just under the surface of his body. He didn't care what they did to him as long as he got to take this fucker down with him.

"She's my imprint." Marcus breathing was harsh, but it was clear he was trying to calm himself down. "She's more to me than you can ever begin to understand. There are very few on this earth who could understand how I feel about her, and you aren't one of them."

Bryon wasn't sure if this king was trying to sweet talk him by saying he cared more deeply for his daughter than anyone else in the world could – and the look on his face made the fucker really convincing too – but he wouldn't let himself be swayed.

"This is not the life for her." He snarled, motioning around the room with his free arm and still refusing to break eye contact. "You think I don't know what you guys do? What your role is in our world? Judge, jury and executioners… I've heard about the covens you fight in wars, and those you've decimated for crimes. I know my daughter, and this is not the future she would ever endeavor for herself."

"We know she isn't a warrior; we've told you as much. She is family and we will protect her." Marcus snapped. Bryon was acting just as most new immortals did when they learned of his coven. He was acting like he knew everything when in fact he knew nothing.

"Protect her!?" Bryon boomed, a sarcastic laugh forcing its way up his throat, "Protect her like you protected your wife!?"

Shocked gasps ran around the room, and a ripple of emotion unlike any Bryon had ever seen before passed over the king's face. Shock, anger, and incredible pain were obvious on his face in the half-second they took to cross it.

And all at once Bryon Rodgers knew he had gone to far. He remembered being a rookie in the Marines and talking back, and smarting off, and getting his ass kicked, on more than one occasion until he got his shit together and became a better man.

Pain exploded on the left side of his face as Marcus punched him, full force, and he staggered back – a shocked grunt coming from his lungs as he felt the painful cracks form and splinter out along his face and neck.

It was silent aside from the heavy pants of himself and Marcus, now separated by nearly ten feet. He hadn't realized immediately just how far that punch had sent him backwards.

The expression on the other man's face was enough that Bryon truly felt terrible for what he had said. If anyone had ever implied that what had happened to his wife… that the loss of her sanity and her subsequent efforts to drown their daughter had been his fault… he couldn't imagine how he would feel. He had believed it to be true long enough that he fully understood the emotions on Marcus' face.

Marcus face hardened into an unreadable mask, but the hatred he now felt towards him was obvious in his eyes.

Bryon was quite sure the man would never forgive him for what he had just said.

"I suggest…" Aro's voice broke the silence, and Bryon saw in the quick glance he sent over to the raven-haired king that there was quiet fury behind his eyes. "That we don't tell Castiel about this."

Both Marcus and Castiel's father nodded their agreement before the brown-haired king turned and jumped the few stairs on the dais, sweeping to the door and exiting; slamming it shut behind him.


Translations:

Piccola – Little one

Finalmente – Finally

Oh sei così pronto – Oh you are so ready

Oh mia bella ragazza sei così stretta – Oh my beautiful girl you are so tight.

Sorry. I just had to include Skype in here for the nostalgia lol

Revised January 25th, 2021

(54 Pages, 23, 868 Words)