Charisma felt his arms wrap around her body tight and then he flashed them out of the alleyway, she clung to him even when he let go, raising her head so their eyes could meet. She made her hands let go of his shirt so they could slide up and take off the band that held his hair up, she pulled it free and threw it over his shoulder, not taking into account where they were or who they were with.

Her eyes never left Fury, all she wanted to see nothing but Fury.

Her fingers slid into the blond strands, her nails gently teasing his scalp, she filled her hands with his hair for a moment, relishing the texture and smell then moved to massage his temples. She pressed her lips to his throat and felt a rumble vibrate against them as he spoke.

"Sit there," Charisma looked up, he had his eyes closed but his hands gripped her upper arms and pushed her away from him towards a moss covered log. She sat and he stared, she shifted uncomfortably, he began pacing. Charisma looked around at the glade they were in, the grass and boulders awash with moonlight.

"Where are we?"

"no where, somewhere. Don't worry your safe."

"I don't doubt that."

"Well, you should," Fury snapped, "You don't know me or what I am capable of. And I don't trust you. Not a good combination, lady."

"Don't call me that!" Charisma snapped back, she didn't like him putting distance between them mental or physical. Fury stopped his pacing and gave her a slightly amused look. "You know my name, and you'll bloody well use it!"

Fury smirked at the fire in her eyes, she stuck her nose in the air and turned from him slightly. A silence sprang up between them, she refusing to talk and he not wanting to break the silence so he could continue to study her.

She was all delicate grace, Fury thought, surprised by the melting in his heart region, the feeling of rightness and completeness was there now that she was. He didn't want that feeling to end just yet, but he by no means trusted her.

"So," he said finally, "what are you?"

Charisma pursed her lips, not entirely sure what to say to him. Her family would simultaneously have a cow if she told him the whole truth, but she supposed she could give him a diluted version.

"I'm, well … you see, I'm," Charisma made several stuttering noises and waved her hands as if trying to push her meaning into his head. "And, yeah, so, well, what I am is difficult to erm, err, well explain -"

"Will you just tell me!" Fury snapped and Charisma's voice cut off immediately, she daintily cleared her throat and took a deep breath.

"Well, I'm," before the stutters started again she spat it out in a rush. "I'm a goddess."

"A goddess," Fury said it slowly as if he were tasting it on his tongue, testing it. He stared at her for a moment. Nope, that was one thing he was pretty sure she wasn't going to say.

"Yes," her voice was brittle and brisk as if she were readying herself for attack, Fury raised his eyebrows and thought of another way around broaching this conversation.

"Are you sure?"

Her nostrils flared in anger and she made a noise in her throat that seemed part scream and part snort, Fury quickly held his hands up in a gesture of surrender, Charisma folded her arms and turned away from him.

"Ok well if you're a goddess, which pantheon are you from if you please?"

He saw her open her mouth to speak then shut it firmly. He cleared his throat pointedly and she gave him an icy look, with a sigh that made her shoulders sag, she held her hand to her side, offering him a seat on her log.

"This isn't difficult to explain but you may want to sit down."

Fury suppressed a groan, that couldn't be good, not that mixing with gods was any good period. Fury sat and she turned to face him so that their knees brushed, he noted that she was a very touchy person. She reached a finger out to trace a pattern over his knee, it was soothing and relaxing and he had to put all his effort into being irritated at and suspicious of her.

"I don't belong to any pantheon that you will ever have heard of," she began in a voice that suited a lecture in a classroom, it sounded a bit like a stern school matron and on the heels of that thought came one of canes and sexy teachers outfits. Yeah, he was definitely sick in the head. Fury ran his hands over his face and then looked at her through the gaps in his fingers, she had stopped and was watching him with an eyebrow raised.

"Am I boring you?" Her tone was sharp. Again the image of whips … down boy. He shook his head and motioned for her to continue.

"Well, as I said you won't have heard of my pantheon, we are from one called the Veritinician's, in your language in means 'the ancients ones'. We're… we are from another dimension. An alternate universe."

Fury watched the finger on his knee and gently grasped it, taking her whole hand in his he turned it over so he could stare at her palm.

"Why are you here?" His voice was low and searching, it made her heart clench for some reason.

"Our world is dying." That was basically the truth.

"How?"

Charisma smiled sadly. "Its time for things to end in that world." That was a lie.

"Then why aren't you dying with it?" Suspicion was second nature for him and no matter how much her pretty face tugged at his heart he could not ignore his nature. Charisma reached up to place her hand against his cheek, Fury closed his eyes and turned his face to nuzzle her.

"Because I don't want to die yet," Fury opened his eyes at the overwhelming sadness in her voice, it made him want to gather her in to his arms and hold her tight. "I haven't really lived yet. I want to live, Fury."

And she wanted to love, and be loved. She let out a sigh and her hand fell from his face, it was too much to hope for that he could ever understand.

"What do you want of me?"

There was always a catch. Fury hadn't gone through life with his eyes closed, he knew that nothing in this world came for free, no good deed goes unpunished, everything had a catch. And it was the most precious beautiful things in the world, Fury thought looking at Charisma, that made you pay the highest price.

"I don't want to take anything from you, Fury," Charisma sighed as if tired, "I just -"

"What?" He wanted her to finish that sentence, desperately.

"I want you. No frills and pretences. Just you."

His heart lifted but still it sounded to good to be true. "Me? What have I to give -"

His words were cut off when she simply moved forward and laid her lips over his own, Fury moaned and giving in to stupidity he dragged her forward. They both tumbled off the log and on to the grass, Fury pulled back to stare at her, her smile was blatant invitation, not something he would have expected from one who looked so shy.

"I always said I would come back to you, wolf-boy."

Charisma noted with relief there was no dark suspicion clouding his beautiful eyes, no twisted frown on his kissable lips, just a searching look as his gaze roamed her face.

"I've dreamed of you," Fury murmured, leaning down to kiss her hair that fanned out over the lush green like spun gold. "Every night your there, after nightmares and bad thoughts, your there chasing away my demons."

Charisma's throat tightened and in response she clutched him closer to her, her hands clinging to his shoulders. "I dreamed of you to. I longed to come back and see you."

Fury wasn't sure if he should be angry or shocked, he wasn't sure which emotion suited this situation; but he pushed aside rationality and reason, logic and practicality had no place when after a life of simply existing, you felt like you were finally living. Down -in-the-gut- happy was something a person rarely felt, perhaps he should savour it, one of Ash's favourite sayings was 'carpe diem' or 'seize the day'; Fury's response to all this had been that good things never lasted as long as twenty four hours so what was the point? Now he understood the dark-hunter, damn it, he understood him well.

Charisma was not sure what to make of the expression masking his face so she chose to ignore it, she wanted him and more then that she wanted him to want her. She wasn't from this world, this dimension, everything she once thought she knew had been turned on its head but it seemed as if fate was pushing her in Fury's direction, showing him to be her only constant and anchor in a whirlwind of confusion.

She could feel the hard length of him pressed firmly, intimately between her thighs, his broad chest pressing down on her breasts, she felt the evidence of his desire and it caused white hot fire to burn through her blood stream. She hissed as Fury's lips buried against her throat, he began to move against her, grind against her in a primitive dance that wrapped them both up in lightening and storm. She wanted to scream out, even with clothes between them the power of their mating could and would shatter her before its completion.

Fury gasped, never had foreplay or sex done this to him before. It was almost too much feeling, his skin was painful where it was so sensitive, he knew he should stop; he knew without a doubt that if he didn't he would wake and find a burning symbol on his palm, tying him to a Goddess.

He'd think about it later, he thought as he trailed his lips down her throat to the swell of her breast and lightly, very lightly, bit down on the milky skin, relishing Charisma's moan.

He laughed and sat back on his heel in between her thighs, he lifted a finger to trace the hem of her black hot pants that had drove him crazy when she had danced, he hooked his fingers in the waistband and lowered them, drawing them down her long legs with aching slowness.

"Your so beautiful," he whispered almost to himself and Charisma just smiled at him, that alone set his heart pounding anew.

"So are you," she replied, then arched her back as he bent down and nipped at her ankle.

Who knew there was such an erogenous zone? He did it again enjoying her unabashed reaction to him, Fury raised his head and looked up at the same time Charisma did and they laughed together, her eyes alight with such joy, he could not muster any resistance against her.

Fury moved up her body at the same leisurely pace, he had never been able to take time like this with a lover. All his lovers were demanding, he was there to please them and his needs became second place, a she-wolf fought her lover, forcing him to pin her down while he pleased her. They would fight for domination and he found it was exhausting in the worse way, without any of the added benefits of sex.

Perhaps it was all those years he had spent as a human that had caused him to look with distaste at the mating rituals of the wolves, were-hunters generally shifted into human form for sex, finding it more pleasurable, however in no less animalistic. There was no care taken, no savouring of the partners body as he found himself doing with Charisma's, and by doing so he found her most sensitive areas. The areas that made her gasp, moan and arch her back pleading for more.

Fury kissed, licked and nibbled up her leg until he could tease the valley between her thigh and her hot centre, then he striped away her lacy panties with his teeth; Charisma let out a gasping laugh and trailed her hands down to bury in his hair. He moved further up, enjoying his exploration of her body, like a predator he slid himself over her to look down into her precious face.

"I hope you'll allow me to do that to you when you've finished," Charisma said working her hands under his shirt and over his broad shoulders, she tugged the shirt up over his head and bit her lip at the sight of his chest. All tanned flesh, dusted with gold hair and so many scars , Charisma leant up and kissed the one on his shoulder, Fury felt his throat grow tight and busied himself with ripping away the thin barrier between his mouth and her breasts. He lavished the small handfuls with great attention and barely took notice of his needs until they were to great to be denied. Fury pulled back to look in to Charisma's eyes while he pulled her knees further apart, his eyes darkened with passion and Charisma nodded her acceptance of him, raising her hips in invitation. As she did so she vanished his jeans with mere thought, not wanting their skin to separate for a second.

Fury eased himself into her and gasped at how tight she was, he bit his lip and pushed further only to feel her tense and close her eyes as if waiting for something. Then it hit him.

She was a virgin!

It humbled him as much as it shocked him and Fury became still, preparing for the cut of cold air as he pulled out of her.

Charisma bit her lip, concerned by his sudden stillness and silence, he dropped his head on to her shoulder and took deep measured breaths. She slid her hands down to cup his ass and pull him nearer but he stiffened more and shook his head.

"Why didn't you tell me you were a virgin?" he asked quietly, Charisma's heart picked up a few beats faster and it was all she could hear, drowning out birdsong and her own voice.

"I didn't think you would be with me if you knew the truth," she murmured, tears of humiliation filled her eyes and she turned her head and fixed them on a small rock as she willed them away. She heard Fury huff out a laugh and closed her eyes when she felt his lips skim over her cheek and down to the corner of her mouth to tease it open for the invasion of his tongue.

His kiss brought her back to the highest level of need and had her raising her hips to meet his once more, she had never been with a man like this. Never wanted to. A woman of her race could technically have a relationship sexual and emotional with a man who was not her mate and vice versa, however there would always be the chance that they would meet their mate in the future and the attraction between them would always be too much to be denied. There would be pain all around. Her sisters had had relationships with the mortal men of their realm and other Gods but had refused to take it any further then physical, Charisma hadn't wanted anyone to touch her heart or her body other then her mate and she always felt that the first man she kissed was in someway a betrayal of her mate. Though she would never have admitted it if asked. It was merely her preference to remain celibate until she found 'the one'.

Fury took hold of Charisma's hand and twisted his fingers with hers, he was so happy, he felt as if he were already tied to her, like she was made to fit him, her body created to accept his. And she had waited, and then she had chose and he had been who she wished to give her body to, she didn't fight him, she didn't hurt him, her beautiful face masked no selfish or cruel intentions.

"I'll be so gentle with you, love," he whispered huskily before he eased back in to her and when the tip of him met her barrier he paused for a moment, his body breaking out in a sweat from the restraint, he longed to plunge and to bury himself in her body hard and fast and make her his. But what she had freely given he would never mistreat or abuse, so he waited still until he felt the nod of her head beside his and heard a ragged whisper of, "please, now Fury", before he thrust into her and felt her wince and became still once more.

She gasped at the pain and it almost brought tears to Fury's eyes, he hated hurting her, he leaned down to erase the pain with his tongue , his kiss soothing and gentle and like none he'd ever given or received. He felt close to her, though it was crazy to think so, he felt as if he'd known her a lifetime and loved her much longer; but that was a secret that was not yet ready to be told.

"Only for a moment, baby, just a moment," he whispered in her ear before he licked it and he felt her moan when he began to slowly slide his body in and out of hers. Charisma bit her bottom lip, she never knew things could feel this way and here she was surrounded by nature and being loved so thoroughly by her wolf; it was fate. Pleasure quickly replaced pain and before she knew it she was crying out under the navy sky, while the world came away at its seams. It was like blue fire, riding lightening, for both of them it swept them past a simple act of sex and was more like a baptism in fire. Was this how everyone felt about their mate? Fury wondered before coming back to earth.

Fury lay beside her and worried over her silence, she had her back to him and he had been running his hand over it for the past five minutes; what should he say to her? And worse of all he knew them to be mated, even though the mark had yet to burn into his palm, would she feel betrayed that he had taken her and not told her how she would be tied to him?

Charisma rolled over on to her back and smiled at him through the eyes of a woman well pleased, he smirked back unable to suppress a feeling of complete male satisfaction.

"That was wonderful," she said, stretching and purring, never had her body felt so relaxed and limber, so used, she blushed slightly at the thought but grinned all the same. "You are an amazing lover, Fury."

"I won't remind you that you've never had any to compare me to so I'll just thank you," Fury said amused and pleased, he leaned down and run his lips over her shoulder delighted when she moaned, that was proof enough that her body was still as sensitive as his own.

"You can thank me better then that."

Fury laughed and kissed her thoroughly, lingering over her, savouring the taste. He stared into her eyes, that were looking sleepy and pleased at the moment, he sighed.

"If you had told me, I would have been more careful with you," he said, running his big rough palm over her bare hip, "I would have made sure you were well pleasured."

Charisma threw her head back and laughed before rolling on her side and propped her head up on her elbow to study him.

"You know I was pleasured. And if it worries you so much you can make it up to me," she gave him a sirens look and he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Were-hunters were not tired by sex as human men were, if anything it invigorated them, one round in the sheets or on the grass, Fury thought plucking at a blade, was definitely not enough. Already his body was full and aching to be back inside her but he knew she would be sore and would not be able to take it again without there being pain. So he refrained from getting himself to worked up.

Charisma watched him and knew why he was holding back and though she was thankful for his thoughtfulness and it warmed her heart she didn't want him to be disappointed, shifting closer she took him in her hand and began a slow sensual massage. Fury closed his eyes against the rush of pleasure and taking a deep steadying breath managed to pull her hands away from him. He opened his eyes to see the hurt look on her face and it cut at him, he quickly pulled her closer to him, kissing the frown from her mouth.

"You confuse me," Charisma said when he pulled back and Fury sighed, he looked so sad and lost that she wanted to cry for him.

"Charisma, I confuse myself. I need to tell you something .." Fury sat up and pulled his jeans back on, he turned to see Charisma sit up also, her expression weary but turning more towards sad. He didn't want to see such a look on her face and even more he didn't want to see her sad expression turn to hatred of him as he told her what he had carelessly done.

"Well, spit it out then," she said casually reaching for her clothes, Fury winced at the undercurrent of anger in her voice. He raked his hands through his hair and then looked at her, seeing her tousled hair and bright eyes, her skin flushed from their play; his heart ached terribly.

"I've tied you to me," there he got the first bit out, Charisma cocked her head and then shrugged, Fury growled.

"I don't know how much you know about were-hunters which is what I am -"

"I know everything about were-hunters. I know you were made by a king who wanted to save his Apollite sons and magically spliced their DNA and made them into were-hunters. One had a human heart the other an animal heart, the fates ordered them to be killed as they were an abomination, no offence," she added quickly and Fury merely twirled his finger, gesturing for her to carry on. He realised his mouth was open and closed it while she continued.

"And he said no so they were cursed to kill each other, the two races have been at war ever since."

Fury clucked his tongue and raised an eyebrow at her, she blushed and shrugged. "Do you know that the fates chose our mates for us?"

"Yes."

"Do you know we have to have sex with our mate before we know?"

"Yes." Damn it, does nothing shock this woman!

"I have it on good authority that my mate will be someone I've met before. So it could very well be you."

"It better be me!" She snapped and Fury was momentarily stunned, he shook his head and unable to think of anything to say, and doubled up in hysterical laughter.

Charisma rolled her eyes and waited for him to stop, he was perfect she thought as her eyes roamed his body she got a tickle in her abdomen when she saw the muscles of his stomach spasm with laughter. She watched him straighten, and he stared at her with such intensity that it made her grow warm, in her nakedness she was unable to shield her body's reaction; his eyes became more heated and he pulled her into his arms. Lifting her palm up he held it and waited, Charisma moved closer and her breasts pressed flat against chest.

"Charisma?"

"Hmm?"

"What are you goddess of exactly?"

She smiled at that and wriggled against him, he groaned and smiled.

"Guess."

"Hmm," he pretended to think, "of wild, uncontrollable sex?"

She laughed, "you would think that. I am nature, I am the huntress, I am the wild."

Fury felt a shiver play down his spine at the deep power he heard in her voice. How could a goddess possibly want him? How could he measure up to what she wanted? How could he be what she needed? Fury had met the Greek gods and goddesses over the years, each may have been different and some had even been quite benevolent, still they all possessed a streak of selfishness and sense of their own power and importance. Was Charisma the same?

Charisma took little notice of the magnificent sunrise that was about to be born, it surrounded them in glorious soft gold and the morning air chilled their bare bodies, but Charisma could only see Fury, could only feel passion and pride for her 'mate', finally after so long she was allowed to love him. Fury held his hand up and set his palm beside hers and as the top curve of the sun burst over a dark horizon their palms burned in unison.

Fury absorbed the pain, didn't blink, or wince or hiss, he watched as the identical symmetrical symbols appeared on their palms, it was over as quick as it had began. Fury let happiness blossom in him, even if it only lasted for a little while, he bent his head and kissed Charisma's palm and looked up into her eyes, they were damp and full of tender emotions.

"Does this mean I belong to you now?" She whispered, closing her marked palm over his, Fury answered her the best way he could think of.

His lips crushed against hers and devoured her, while he wrapped her in his arms and lifted her from the floor, twirling her in the dawn.