Thank you all sooo much for your amazing support, you guys are the best! =) I'm sorry for updates coming rather slow, I'm neck-deep in preparations for A-levels, but I'm doing my best to keep them coming! =)

xoxo


[mate]

noun

1. husband or wife; spouse.

2. one member of a pair of mated animals.

3. a counterpart.

verb (used with object)

4. to join as a mate or as mates.

5. to bring (animals) together for breeding purposes.

6. to match or marry.

verb (used without object)

7. (of animals) to copulate.

8. (of animals) to pair for the purpose of breeding.

9. to marry.

10. Archaic . to consort; keep company.


"Why me?" Zoe was surprised she still had the strength left in her to speak.

Because you are my bitch, and in heat.

"It just has to be you," Sam replied.

Zoe took that for an answer. A part of her knew that what had happened this night wasn't natural, that there had been something involved that she wasn't able to grasp and that could be explained with neither religion nor simple lust.

The moon's light started to fade and be replaced by the first rays of morning sun when Zoe was finally granted sleep. She pulled the covers tight around her violated, battered body and curled up to the very man who'd taken her virtue and given her sinful luxuriant pleasure all night.

Sam watched her fall asleep, her hazel hair falling around her head like a tainted halo. He listened to her heart beat calm down before he, too, drifted off to sleep.

Zoe didn't awake until late morning. A glance, sight hazy from sleep, told her it was 10:53 a.m.

'Thank Heavens it's Saturday…' Zoe was about to turn around and catch some more sleep when she felt the hammering ache in her lower abdomen, as if she'd… been fucked by a wild animal.

In the merciless light of day, Zoe realized just what she'd done. Crudely awakened by memories of her sinful night of lust, Zoe sat up abruptly and found she was indeed not alone in bed. Sam's arm was lazily draped around her waist and his peaceful face revealed nothing of the beast he'd been at night.

God. Marc.

Sam awoke from the restlessness beside him, and gazed up at Zoe as she ran a hand through her toffee hair despairingly. Sunlight had returned some of his humanity, and he felt regret and guilt at what he'd done to this sweet girl yesterday night. "Zo?"

"Yeah," She said quietly, but without reproach or hate, as he noticed with some surprise.

"You okay?"

"Well, on one hand, I feel awful for…cheating on my fiancée and betraying my faith, not to mention some physical ache due to your, eh, well, imposing qualities, and on the other hand, I feel wonderful and more than satisfied and pleased."

Sam smirked up at her. "Good."

"Which part exactly?" Zoe frowned. If guilt could kill, she'd be dead as a rock right now. Violently she shook her head, "I… oh crap."

"What?" Sam caressed her back, and his touch felt gentle, unlike last night. Zoe found herself arching her back, caving into his touch and falling right back into the sheets beside him. "I've got two hours to get ready and put on a decent poker face before I meet Marc for lunch, and prepare a huge I'm so sorry speech-"

Sam let his hand wander over Zoe's stomach, drawing little circles on it. "Zo. What exactly will it gain you if you tell Marc what happened?"

"How about a clear conscience?"

"And a nasty argument."

Zoe bit her lip. "But I can't lie to him about something like that! I can't lie on principle, about anything! And Marc's not stupid, he'll know exactly I'm hiding something!" Zoe already saw herself calling off the wedding, but in her heart she knew she couldn't do that. She loved Marc, she would marry him.

"Zoe… I'm sorry for…"

Zoe narrowed her eyes at this new tone from Sam, and just when she thought she could be mad at him, he busted out the sympathetic streak. Wasn't that just her luck.

"Look, I'll be gone, but Marc is the one who will stay. Are you really willing to let one night mess up your whole life?"

Zoe averted her eyes. "I just… it doesn't feel right to marry him when I'm not…"

"A virgin?" Sam finished. "Hardly anyone is these days. Marc marries you for yourself, not your faith, so I'm sure he won't mind that tiny clause being scratched." He felt like he had to make amends for robbing Zoe of her virginity, so he pushed her into the arms of her fiancée... and he vowed to leave Zoe right away, to never come back and not disturb her life any more than he already had.

What if she was pregnant with his offspring?

Sam forced himself not to think about that now, to let his morals take over the reins again and kick the werewolf into the back row where it's supposed to belong.

Zoe smiled, having found some solid ground again and no longer freaking out like a witch before the inquisition. "Okay. Would you care to have a late breakfast with me?"

Zoe made a mental note to get herself checked for bipolar disorder. One minute, she wanted nothing but to flee the building like it was on fire, away from Sam, and the next, she couldn't imagine seeing him leave.

No, really, that sounded healthily balanced.

"Should I ask what exactly happened here last night or not?" Zoe was surprised she found the courage to bring up that sensitive topic.

"You might not like the answer," Sam replied grimly. He was aware he'd had God knew how many one-night stands during his soulless year, and that being wolfed was hardly any different in its essence than lacking a soul; but never had he hurt such a sweet, innocent girl and endangered her life in sleeping with her. Now that his mind cleared again, he knew he might as well have killed her last night… or at the very least turned her.

"Coffee black?" Zoe found herself agreeing to Sam's answer, and it sent tingling shivers down her spine.

"Yes, please. Need any help?"

Zoe turned her head to Sam in surprise. Gallantry was the last thing she expected from him. "No, thanks, I've got it. So, um, Sam, how… I mean, what next?"

"I'll leave and never bother you again."

"First of all, you didn't bother me. And second…" Zoe Heart, shut the hell up, "… I mean, I could stay at the campus for a couple of nights and you could, you know, stay here until you've figured it all out. Where you're going next and all."

Werewolf Sam smiled devilishly. His female has completely fallen prey to him, knowingly or not.

Moral Sam said: "No, Zo, I couldn't possibly ask that of you…"

"You didn't ask," She smiled sweetly, "I offered."

"Can your conscience come to terms with that?"

"Well, I'll be staying at the campus with my roommate, so it's not like I'd, well, you know. I won't say 'repeat mistakes' because I didn't see, or rather feel, it as one, or three, or however often it was. So, um, you're welcome to stay until you know where you're headed next."


Zoe arrived ten minutes late, which she blamed on traffic and not on losing track of time as she sat over breakfast with Sam. "Hey, Marc, I'm so sorry for running late-"

"It's okay, sweetheart, it's only ten minutes. I'd wait longer than that for you."

Zoe thought she must choke from the kindness and trust blinking from his brown eyes and remembered just in time to smile sweetly and say: "I wouldn't want you to wait on my account."

"Ain't I already?" Marc asked with a grin and waved for the waiter.

Zoe nearly bit her tongue off. 'You're waiting in vain, Marc, I threw away everything to a guy I met just last night… and who happens to still be in my apartment.'

"So, darling, what are your plans for today?"

"Well, I gotta talk to the florist for the wedding," Zoe started, "Then I'm going to afternoon mass, and head back to the college to cram for the exams on Tuesday. What are you going to do?"

"I suppose I'll see you at mass, and after that I'll be off to work."

"On a Saturday?"

Marc smiled warmly. "Bills don't pay themselves, darling. How's your mother, by the way?"

"Oh, lots better, thanks. Doctors said she'll be up and around in a couple of days, her twisted ankle's healing well and the pneumonia is as good as gone."

"Our prayers have been heard then."

Zoe gulped down the lump in her throat, not able to bear the thought of God's all seeing eyes on her, and hearing everything... "Yes, indeed." She pressed a hand to her still aching lower abdomen and wondered if she would ever be able to look Marc and God in the eye. Not to mention her mirror image.


Zoe showed up half an hour early for 5 p.m. mass and darted right off to the confessional. "I've come to confess."

"God forgives those who confess. What is it that you have done, child?"

Zoe almost sobbed. "I've lied, betrayed the ones I love and… I lusted." So much for talking something off your shoulders making you feel better; if anything, speaking it out loud made her feel about a thousand and three times worse.

"Do you regret your sins?"

"Yes, father, I do. With all my heart. I wish I could turn it all back."

"Well, well, calm down. We aren't perfect, but God loves us with all our mistakes. God will forgive you, child. You're granted salvation. Do not to let it happen again."

"I won't, not ever. Thank you, father," Zoe choked and fled into the nave before anyone could witness her coming from confession.

She sank to her knees and fell into prayer until the church filled and mass began. Even then she did not stop her silent pleas to God to forgive her her missteps.

"Zoe, are you okay?" Marc sat down beside her, and naturally, his presence led to Zoe feeling anything but okay.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just want to thank Him for helping Mom through this difficult time."

Congratulations, Zoe, you just earned yourself right another confession.


'I should leave,' It occurred to Sam, not for the first time, though it lacked enthusiasm as much as the previous times it had shot through his mind. The sheets on the bed still smelled of Zoe, of her intoxicating, intriguing scent that made possessiveness well up in him with such fervour it washed him clean of any approaches of humanity.

Night fell outside, and with the moon on the rise, Sam's lust was, too. There was no point denying he was wolfing out, and though it had seemed like a good idea that Zoe hadn't told him where on campus she was staying, it would ultimately not make a difference. He would find her anywhere.

He should have asked her to tie him down before she left, and only come back after the hazardous days around full moon were over… Along with his hunger for Zoe, Sam felt a different, more lethal kind of hunger arise: Hearts. Bloody murder was on his mind as much as reproducing.

The key turned in the lock. Sam whirled around to see Zoe stand there, helpless as well as determined.

"Zo. You shouldn't have come back." Sam hissed, glad the dim light was enough to hide his transformed features.

"I know," She breathed. "But I had to. I sat in church, I listened to the sermon, I was surrounded by people praying to God all around me, I heard the priest preach morals, everything that I believe in… and all I could think about was being back here, with you."

Sam slammed the door shut and roughly pushed Zoe against it, snarling: "You have no idea what it means being with me."

"I know I don't. I'd be lying if I said I chose to come here despite that, because it wasn't rational decision-making leading me back here to you… I just knew, I felt that I couldn't be without you tonight."

Sam made no, or if, only little, attempt of hiding his ferocious strength and ravenous hunger. Zoe had known every step of the way here that she was making a horrible mistake, again, but she hadn't stopped. The price she would have to pay were more bruises, adding to the complex pattern of blue, green, purple and yellow spots scattered all over her; arms, hips, thighs. Thankfully no place where they'd be visible to anyone else but herself.

"Fuck, you're hot," Sam growled, and only he knew that he wasn't referring to Zoe's looks but rather her state of fertility.

Zoe tossed her bag into the corner and used what little space Sam gave her to open one button after the other on her blouse. Her eyes stayed transfixed on Sam's face, waiting for any kind of reaction… and suppressed a cry when his eyes turned animalish – well, she thought to have seen it, must be a trick of light.

Breathlessly, mercifully not knowing what exactly she was doing here or why, Zoe slipped the sleeves off her shoulders. Detaching her back from the door, she pressed her breasts against Sam's chest and unsnapped her bra, letting it take the same exit as her shirt.

Had Sam been given the super-strength of vampires, he'd have snapped the door to pieces with his iron grip on it, trying not to grab Zoe and slam her to the ground humping her raw. His hunger for hearts disappeared, leaving one thing on his mind only: Mate with Zoe.

His female stripped out of her jeans, her body shaking adoringly with apprehension and embarrassment at being naked in front of him as well as her own forwardness. Damn those perfect round breasts, that spotless white skin…

Sam growled ferally, crushed Zoe back against the door and sprang his rock-hard cock free of the obstructing jeans. Zoe clung to his shoulders for support, whimpered when he forced her legs apart: "Wait, Sam, please. Not up against the-"

Zoe wondered where the gentle man she'd talked to at breakfast this morning had gone to as Sam bruisingly dug his fingers into her thigh, putting her leg around his waist as to have easier access to her wet entrance. Damn herself for being aroused by this…beast.

The buttons of Sam's shirt rubbed painfully against her naked skin as he pounded into her harshly, utterly ignoring her pleas to go easier on her, to just take her to the bed… and much like yesterday night, Zoe's protests only lasted up to the point when pleasure took hold.

She wrapped her other leg around his waist, drawing him deeper into her. The friction caused by naked skin against cloth aroused her about nearly as much as skin on skin. Realizing she didn't have to worry about support – Sam's well-flexed muscles assured her he took care of that for her – Zoe dared to let her hands wander. She raked her nails down Sam's smooth back, pulling further down to her, moaning when his tongue found hers.

"Ah!" Zoe cried when her back slammed the wall especially hard, but the pain was drowned by that sweet pleasure approaching. "Sam, I'm… so close. Fuck." Zoe was beyond the point of bothering about cursing, "Harder."

"Careful you don't regret that," Sam just growled, and complied readily. Even without her encouragement he'd have roughened his thrusts, driven to the point of complete insanity – or rather wolfishness – by her fucking alluring scent and that goddamned luscious body. Sam refrained from biting her neck in the last second as he came inside of her, pumping his tainted seed into her.

Zoe threw her head back as her muscles clenched uncontrollably and with the last aftershocks of her orgasm, guilt returned.

She was the one who had started it this time.

Following the rough fuck up against the door, Zoe could finally persuade Sam to have the next round in bed. Her body was in no constitution to do anything but lie down, and it made her almost glad to be banged by an obvious Alpha male, seeing as it didn't ask for much participation of the active kind of her.