Anala gently ran her finger along a dark pink lip. She moved it along a prominent jaw, covered in a slight shadow. She pressed her hand against his face, brushed her thumb beneath his eye, touched feather soft hair. All the while deep crimson orbs stared down at her. Emmett sat against the headboard and Anala was sitting between his long legs, facing him. She pressed her hand flat against his broad chest. He hadn't changed, not physically. His chestnut curls still called to be caressed. His massive body crafted by Gods, pale and powerfully built. He still had the dimples that added a heart-warming innocence to his otherwise intimidating presence. Only his eyes had shifted from the honey tone she had always known to a deep scarlet. But Emmett was different, she could see it in the depths. The chest under her hand didn't move. He was so warm. Much warmer than she could ever remember him normally being. If she didn't know better she'd think he were running a persistent fever. He had come into his power beautifully, his energy burning brightly and radiating underneath her hand, making his solid vampire flesh heat. Emmett's large hand landed over her own and Anala raised her gaze from his hand to his eyes.

She broke the silence, the question quiet. "Emmett, did you try to kill yourself?"

He pulled her hand back and linked their fingers, thumb stroking her skin slowly. "No, not really. I thought about it," he shook his head. "Every day I thought about it, how easy it'd be, how quickly I could finally end it. I even set a few fires but I couldn't bring myself to walk into them. I kept thinking how disappointed you'd be, how it would make your death meaningless if I did."

Anala looked down, face heating as the urge to weep surfaced, tears pooling in her eyes. Emmett tilted her head up, brushing away the stray tears. "Don't cry, please, I can't see you so sad anymore." His voice was soft, sincere.

"I just—I can't even think about you . . ." she took a breath, the image of Emmett walking into a pyre, eyes void of life as he burned, at the forefront in her mind's eye. She looked to their joined hands. "You aren't allowed to kill yourself." Anala glared up at him, blinking back more tears. "No matter what, okay?"

He nodded. "Okay," he whispered. He ran his free hand along her arm, pushing the hair there behind her shoulder.

"Is . . . is that why you avoided me? I mean, aside from the obvious reasons, because you didn't want me to know?"

He frowned, hand falling away. "Anala the day you died, the man you loved died with you. I've killed a lot of people, easily, I didn't regret it, I'm not even sure I do. I didn't think I'd see you again and when I realized you were alive—"he shook his head. "You've seen enough monsters, I didn't want to expose you to another but I couldn't hide it. The evidence is literally in my eyes. Honestly, I'm not completely sure I'm good for you, but I can't stay away."

"I killed two men the night I attacked Javan."

Emmett looked at her in surprise.

"I don't know what city I was in but they saw me and I got pulled into this building. One ripped my shirt and was holding a knife to my throat." He tensed and she continued. "He had done this before. He was too familiar with the process, too comfortable grabbing me off the street. The other was having doubts. I didn't care. I killed them both, my power lashed out and a fog fell over me. I ripped them apart Emmett. Rowan washed so much blood off of me. . ." she shook off the memory of feeling slick blood between her fingers. Of hearing horrified screams of agony and feeling her lips stretch into a grin. "I don't regret what I did. Does that make me a monster? Does it make you hate me?"

"No, of course not. Those fucks deserved it."

"But they were human lives, I had no right to take them."

"It's not the same!"

"How?" She asked him. "The situations may be different but at the core of it I wanted to kill them, enjoyed it. Does it make you think differently of me?"

Emmett sighed. "No. No, never."

"Then you are no monster. I'm not saying it was moral or that it doesn't matter but you are a vampire with a predatory nature and knowing you, I'd bet a lot of bad individuals are no longer terrorizing people."

He snorted. "You make it seem like I'm some sort of comic hero."

Anala tucked their joined hands to her chest. "Em, I love you. No matter what you may think of your actions, no matter what color your eyes may be, that will never change. We are imperfect beings, and I love all of you. I'm not here to judge you, I already know what kind of man you are. You aren't a monster Emmett. I've seen the monsters and while you can be completely terrifying I know you're—"

"A teddy bear?" he interjected wryly.

She smiled as his lips turned up at her. She kissed his fingers. "A teddy bear."

It was quiet for a long interval.

"Why didn't you tell me, Anala?" his low, husky voice was pained and it made Anala's heart hurt. "Why did you just give up like that? I can't understand . . . didn't you think I'd fight for you?"

Anala looked to the marks on his chest. "No. I knew you would."

He leaned forward, cupping her face and making her look at him. "Then why?"

"I wasn't going to take the chance of risking your life in a futile battle for my life."

He growled. "Anala—"

"I know what you think, that fate was irrelevant in my decision." She turned, lifting her hair. His fingers brushed the back of her neck.

"What is that?"

"The mark of the Oracle." She turned back to him. "I was born to it. This sacred mark ties me to . . . more or less, everything. The power in the cosmos, the Goddess. The afterlife. The things I see happen. They are not predictions or possible futures, as it is with Alice. I have access to anything from the shifts in an individual life to the unavoidable truths, the events that can alter the course of time itself. I was given a great power, but it also comes with a price, and I have to trust in that power. If I had to die I was not taking you with me, nor Nolan or your family. Either I died or became something Nolan would have to kill." She reached out and took his face in her hands, looking at him pleadingly. "I know how that must have made you feel, I could never take that pain away, but you would have died, and I couldn't accept that. You went through enough because of me, I wasn't going to forfeit the life of the man I love."

Anala was suddenly on her back, Emmett's huge form looming over her as he grasped her chin. His piercing crimson eyes blazed. "You are my mate," he said. "Mine. You are not a burden and I couldn't give two shits about what you saw. I'm sorry, I know you're trying to explain it to me but all I know is that you were suffering and I failed to protect you and it cost me the one thing I couldn't go on without. My job is to keep you safe and my life means fucking nothing without you. "

His words were angry but his eyes were soft. She smiled gently and curled her hands around his strong arms. "I had to at least try."

It had been nearly two years. Two dark years of blood and death and intervals of complete insanity. After countless of people and absolute denial, the miserable hollow void had been filled. He had come home, and she had been everything he had been impulsively searching for. Anala was tearing down his turbulent emotions and soothing the jagged wounds little by little. It was still hesitant and tender but it felt unbelievably better. The agitated, rabid thing his demon had become was finally pacified. Emmett stared down into eyes the brightest of greens. The image of her mark, the pale, thin scars that formed the inconspicuous yet beautiful symbol on the back of her neck came to mind. The Oracle. He would not pretend to understand it completely, and he knew they would probably never fully agree on her adamancy that she was supposed to die, but they would be okay. He felt that with every fiber of his being.

All of his fantasies had been vastly inadequate. None of his thoughts could ever compare, could even begin to measure up to having her corporally there. Emmett trailed his eyes over her lovely face. The cheekbones he had brushed his thumbs against, the full, plump lips that tasted like honeyed sin. He looked at her graceful neck and delicate collarbones. Her pulse had raced under his touch, his lips, as he had held her against him and he finally, finally, had her again. Everything consisted of Anala. Her scent was everywhere, her midnight locks fell around him like a curtain and her soft skin was flush against his own. Fire erupted beneath his flesh as molten heat touched his cock. He had wanted to ask if she was alright, if he was hurting her, but the heat that encased him had left him unable to speak. The tight ring of muscle had molded around him, hot and wet and the heartbeat he knew instinctively was thunderous in his ears.

The world could have ended and Emmett would have never noticed.

"What are you thinking about?" He looked at her eyes before looking to her ample breasts. He cupped one in his palm and trailed his thumb over a dusky nipple, feeling it pebble under his touch.

"You."

Emmett followed the flat expanse of her belly, the dip of her bellybutton, the curves of her full hips and smooth thighs. He leaned in to take her nipple in his mouth and fingers gripped his hair as a moan came from above him. The monster was pleased at the sound. He nipped it lightly and she arched into his mouth.

"You have to stop," Anala breathed. Stop? Had she seen herself lately? How could he possibly stop? Why would he want to? He ran his tongue along her flesh and her fingers tightened. "Em!"

Emmett pressed open-mouthed kisses on her throat. "Why?"

Her small hands were warm on his chest. "I need you to be sure this is what you want."

He trailed his hand down her side, moving to lie between her warm thighs. "This is what I want."

Anala shifted and he looked at her. Her dark brows drew together a bit and her full lips turned down slightly, her frown greatly resembling a seductive pout. "Humor me then, at least until tomorrow. Emmett I can't promise you won't suffer through anymore heartache. There are always risks, and I want you to be sure you want this, not for me but for you. You can still have a relatively normal eternity."

Emmett sat up and sighed, sweeping her hair from her face. "Alright, love. Tomorrow."

He stood and started pulling on his jeans and shoes. The urge to return to the bed was great but Anala wouldn't let this go, she still believed he would back out, as if he could. But he would indulge her this, if only to prove his determination to have her. Emmett wanted to fix the rift he had created, if this helped show her he was serious then he would do it. He sought out his shirt and pulled it on. Anala stood and her thick dark hair tumbled around her in sexy, mussed waves. It had grown since her return, formerly ending at her lower back and now brushing her hips. Emmett gathered her curvaceous little body against him and took possession of her mouth. Anala moaned against his lips and clutched his shirt. He groaned. The teasing minx tempted him to stay yet insisted he go. His hands gripped the round globes of her ass and deepened the kiss and then his arms were suddenly empty. Emmett could hear her lustful pants from behind the bathroom door and he smiled to himself.

Tomorrow, Anala.