When did I know that she...oh no no. The better question is when did I decide that there was no way I could take her to be my mate. That was sometime just before her seventeenth birthday.

I was a fool, you see. I had managed to misplace my pragmatic evildoer wisdom and was struck over the head with a fit of nobility that rendered me temporarily insane.

Or I just felt guilty. Sofia was far, far too good for me, after all.

I was a mediocre wizard at best, no matter how much better I had become with her presence to stabilize me. I had always been at one with the wolf. The wolf was such a part of me at such a young age of transition that I could flow from one form to the other with barely a thought. I had to extend a bit more effort to become a raven or an otter or a grasshopper, but that kind of internal magic usually came to me easily. I was never very comfortable in my human form, so Changing seemed easy. It was the one thing I could do right, and I was extraordinarily proud of that.

Once my magic had stabilized enough to prove to my father that I could hold my own with external magic, I had earned the family wand, no small thanks to the purple Princess. And with that Wand came the responsibility of the family territory. The Enchancian forest and mountains had been guarded by my family for ten generations. A long line of wolf wizards, respected and obeyed as Guardians. And it became my responsibility.

How had I ever wanted to be King? King was hard work. Guardian was bad enough, but most of the time it seemed that animals were far more reasonable than people, even if I couldn't understand some of the more obscure dialects of squirrel or woodchuck. I have to say running the woods with Goodwin the Great and learning to adjudicate conflict and defending our Forest from everything from beetle blight to spring floods to Fae-mad boars made me appreciate the restful nature of my little Tower workroom a great deal. I was finally let loose to deal with the territory on my own just in time to have Sofia thrust upon me as a kind of apprentice once again by an interfering Guardian Queen from hundreds of years in the past.

I had plans to teach her how to defend herself. How to change her shape. How to ward off the advances of any other changelings, Guardians or no. I had not really planned on training her in the duties my family had taken on far far in the distant past, before Enchancia even existed. But it was exactly what we both needed.

I was better for her presence at my side. And she, she was magnificent. Intelligent and creative and empathetic and heartbreakingly beautiful as she ran by my side through the woods I had grown to love. I began to imagine her running through those woods as a wolf, as my mate. And she was far too young for me to let my mind wander to other things we could do in the depth of hidden glades or hunter's cottages or sparkling crystal caves or in the boughs of the great tree in the center of the deepest part of the forest.

Guilt ate at me. I watched her grow into a woman and the temptation of her was eating me alive. I couldn't take this child as my mate. She was too beautiful, too intelligent and fiery and remarkable. She should have her choice of mates. She should be a real Queen. An Empress. Her mate, in the distant future and far from my jealous eyes, should be every bit as handsome and powerful and just plain good as she was. She could have a pack of Guardian children that would rule a far away kingdom for ten generations. Maybe she could send one here to take over the Enchancian Forest - because I knew that there was no other woman I could ever see myself mating in my very long, very lonely life. I couldn't force myself as her only choice, because having her hatred when she realized what I had done would surely kill my soul and leave me an empty husk.

For a month or two I tried to convince myself that her dominant form would not be a wolf. That she would be a doe like Queen Snow. Or a bobcat. Or a horse. A tiger. A falcon. Anything but a wolf. Surely fate would not be so very cruel to me. I put off teaching her the full Change, because I wanted to keep away the temptation of her Form just a bit longer.

But then came her seventeenth birthday, and her birthday Ball. I'd done a flawless performance, sending a rain of silver fire falling like snow on an enthralled audience, creating illusions of being under the sea, then of dancing among the stars themselves. I'd watched her dance with every prince from the entire Continent, and a few from across the sea. She was officially OUT, and as such subject to the wiles of every royal in the room and many matchmaking diplomats. I'd seethed in a corner, watching her dancing in a dress of cornflower blue sparkling with aquamarines and diamonds. Her eyes were brighter and more brilliant than ever and I'd known I was right. I watched her dance with young handsome prince after young handsome prince and I knew I could not deprive her of a choice.

But she found me. Dragged me out of the corner and insisted I dance with her, and it had been magical. The rest of the room disappeared as I held her in my arms, resisting the urge to pull her closer, to smell the silk of her hair or kiss the soft sweet pink of her lips. Selfishness rose thick and heady in my soul, far more comfortable than the unnatural nobility, and I whispered to her to meet me in the forest after the ball.

True, it was not the night of the full moon - but she would not need the moon and the strong instincts the moon brought to the fore. I had every confidence that her first Change would be beautiful, and she did not disappoint me. She never had, I doubt she ever will. Sofia is a force of nature.

It was well past midnight when she came to me, not in the ball gown that had made her look the Queen she should be, but in simple linen trousers and a loose shift. She was even more lovely to me this way - a way few others ever saw her. This way she was Sofia - and almost mine. The possessive, selfish part of me that had risen ascendent wanted to make her mine, and I knew I could have had her by the look in those wide blue eyes, eyes that shown silver in the light of a gibbous moon. She looked at me like I had set that moon in the sky and that she wanted me to take her there, to show her all the pleasures that could be had under its soft white glow in the dark bliss of the night. I remember just how hard it was to draw back from that edge, to resist taking away her childhood, her choices. I remember how many nights following I regretted my idiotic nobility.

"It is time now for you to find your true form, Princess." That 'Princess' was very important. It was a wall that helped me remember who and what she was that I was not.

"Sofia," she answered impertinently. "Or do you wish for me to return to calling you Mister Cee-drick?" She grinned at me and I muttered something under my breath that it might just help me remember that she was a child.

Alas, her hearing was becoming every bit as acute as my own, and she grew intent and serious. "But I'm not a child anymore, Master."

"Cedric. Call me Cedric then." It was less tempting than having her call me Master, which was far too darkly alluring.

"Cedric. I'm not a child. And I do want to discover my form. You've never let me see you Change. I saw Princess Snow and it looked painful."

"Queen. Queen Snow by then. She was no doubt in the middle of the Dwarven wars, if she was prancing about in that form. She never learned to shift until long after she was married to her second husband, King Kaland. I doubt she was very elegant at the Change if she came into her power so late."

Her eyes grew round. "What! Her second husband? They never…I never…."

"History is a dirtier business than the teachers at Royal Prep would have had you believe, Sofia. You are welcome to look into my history books whenever you wish. I assure you they are more complete. And yes, some Guardians do not know what they are until they have considerable more life experience under their belt that you. Even I am still young to be as I am - I'm thirty three, but I could live to be five hundred. My father thinks I'm little more than a child myself."

Her brow grew furrowed, as her quick mind spun. "Five hundred. Five centuries. Could I, will I…my family?"

I nodded, watching the emotions flash across her face. "You have so much magic in you, you will likely outlive all your family. Guardians often feel very alone."

"But your father and mother, they are partners, and you have your sister. You might…" she blushed becomingly, and I wondered at the time what she had been meaning to say. I wonder what I would have done then if I hadn't been too stupid to realize that she was about to say that I would have a wife. That I might have her as a wife.

"You do realize that my sister is in her nineties? And she didn't even inherit the ability to Change. She is only a carrier. Her magic makes her age slowly, and your magic is extraordinary. You will age slowly, whether you can change or not."

He enjoyed watching her mouth drop open in shock. "So you see why seventeen is very young. And you, Sofia, are very rare in being ready so young, and…being able to change at all. Females…women who can change are rare, especially those who change into a…into a…well, we shall see, won't we." I let my voice trail away and for some reason Sofia had a blush staining her cheeks.

Part of me was still clinging to the half-hope, half-fear that my Sofia would be something else. Not a wolf. Not compatible. Wolves mate for life after all.

I stood up tall, charged with a solemn responsibility. She should have family for this - whoever her father was, he'd left her completely unprepared. Sofia fairly vibrated with energy and excitement in front of me, and I had to restrain myself not to smile. My voice lowered, intoning the words my father had spoken when I was very young. "Watch me, Guardian. Watch me and see what you can understand."

I am pleased to say that my sense of drama served me well this time. Change like this never made me nervous like performing silly spells in front of an audience. Change was magic at its most essential.

I'm likely overly proud of this, my one great talent. So much of my magic could be uncontrolled or clumsy, at least before Sofia. But in this I excelled. Becoming a wolf was as simple as breathing. A raven was more of a challenge, and goddess help me if I ever tried turning himself into a sea creature again - that was a horrid mistake. But a wolf…oh, the wolf was home, sitting at Mother's feet, Father nodding at him in approval for this one great accomplishment, the reason I and not my sister had been given rights to the territory of Enchancia.

It was almost a relief to let go of my human shape, letting it fall away as the shape of my wolf rose in my mind, comfortable yet still thrilling. Magic flowed within me, warm and golden, and in moments I was looking up at Sofia through the eyes of a wolf. She panted softly, a stunned look in her eyes, the pink in her cheeks reminding me far too much of arousal in a very different setting.

"That was so beautiful, Cedric. Can I really…"

I nodded my head, cocking it slightly to the side and yipping once in encouragement. She bit her lip again and looked down at her body nervously. "Where…where do my clothes go, how do I…what can I."

I chuffed softly and in another moment where she watched me wide-eyed I rose before her a man again, smiling sardonically in the face of her worry. I gestured to my own shirt and breeches. I'd left off my shoes and necktie and all the other paraphernalia of polite society in the bushes, ready to reclaim them in their proper places with a twitch of my wand when needed. But no wand was needed to Change.

"Calm down, Sofia. You already know how to do this. It's in your blood. It sings to you every night. Your clothes will take care of themselves."

She nodded softly. "Show me again."

"I'll do better than that." I held out my hands to her, and for a heart-stopping moment I couldn't believe my audacity. To share this with her was the most intimate, most personal thing possible. Would I be altering her form? Fulfilling my own wishes over hers? But she didn't let me change my mind, she took my hands and grinned at me, rolling her shoulders and standing straight and tall, and with the next breath, we let go together.

The sensation - how can I possibly describe it? Her magic almost caressed mine. The essence of her was closer to me than anyone had ever been. We Changed together, forming and reshaping, and when I was again the wolf, I was looking into blue eyes made silver by the moon. A wolf's eyes. Sofia was a lusus naturae, and a wolf, just as I was. She danced away from me, unsteady on four feet but ecstatic. She leapt and twirled, yipping excitedly like a puppy at play.

She was a rich red brown, with patches of a grey-white that looked almost lavender in the moonlight on her feet and at her throat, forming a patch that looked remarkable like her Amulet. Which had disappeared within her, just as clothes were want to do - how fascinating. It truly was part of her. Why I had ever imagined I could take it from her - I was a fool.

She was perfectly shaped, elegant and yet sturdy. She was slightly smaller than me, but I knew in my heart she would be able to keep up with me, no matter what pace I set off running into the woods.

And run we did. That night was pure joy, and the memories of it were such that I thought they could sustain me through a long and lonely life.

I thought that I had given her power over her magic, and with a few more lessons in how to combine her Form with the skills she knew as an apprentice sorcerer, she would be able to protect herself against those who would try to mate her by force. I would be giving her back her choice, even if that would take her away from me. Another year perhaps, two if I was lucky, and then she would no doubt find someone whom she could love.

But I had forgotten about the Heat.

There were so few Guides available to me that spoke of female werewolves. Those Guides I'd read in my Father's study had been the life stories of male wolves mated to typical humans, or other species of Guardians. Father had told me of the phenomenon in female wolves, but I had forgotten it, knowing with the certainty of a disaffected youth that I would never find such a mate, so the information was useless drivel. So I had not prepared Sofia. And I had not prepared myself.

Truly - is this really necessary? This level of honesty is going to get this narrative in very hot water very soon. I do hope you wait a few generations before distributing these things. If I managed to blunder through, I would hope others could as well.

We ran together through our Forest every few nights for nearly a year. She had duties and obligations, and so did I, otherwise I would have run with her every night and every day, hoarding my time with her like the greedy miser I am. The hours spent with her were challenging, brilliant, and so very full of temptation. She learned to fight with tooth and claw, and she learned to use her wand, even as a wolf. Teaching her the tricks of how I managed to keep my wand stuck to my belly with magic while leaping through brush was hilarious and sometimes titillating. She was beautiful as a wolf, and so very lovely as a woman. But I managed to keep my paws, and my hands, to myself. I rarely let her hug me, and I resisted touching her as much as possible, fearing that I would lose myself at any time and pull her to me and kiss her, touch her, take her - take her choices away.

I began to realize that I still had a thread of hope. The looks she sometimes gave me - what looked like heat in her eyes. It may have been a childish infatuation with a man who paid her attention, but I hoped that it was more. It wasn't enough to have her, possess her. I wanted her to choose me. I wanted her to understand who and what she was and what she could be - and then to still choose me.

But then the Heat came and I thought I had lost that chance.

She was a month shy of eighteen - and I was still trying desperately to convince myself that she was a child. Despite the three suitors that had come to call on her and whom she had rejected, she was still far younger than I. She still needed time and experience and…her body apparently thought differently. Her heart and mind - I was not certain.

The moon was beautiful and singing a sweet night song on the warm summer air as I waited her at the edge of our Forest. For it was ours, and would ever be - even if she left to go across the world. I smelled her scent before I saw her approach. I was already in wolf form, far more comfortable in the light of the full moon than my human guise - but she was still human, and clearly something was wrong. I shifted quickly, and she staggered toward me, relief clear on her face before she fairly threw herself in my arms.

She smelled - by all the gods she smelled incredible - the full, lush flavor of her a cloud perfuming the air with pure temptation. I made the mistake of inhaling deeply, and it was as though I completely lost my sanity. My lips were on hers before I could think, my hands clutching her hips, pulling her toward mine. There was no way she could have failed to notice the hard proof of my sudden arousal trapped between our bodies. But her arms curled around my neck, clutching me to her with the same kind of mindless desperation. She arched her body into mine and let out a sound of pure need than was more wolf than human and a responded, growling into our kiss as I softly bit her bottom lip before sucking it into my mouth then thrusting my tongue into her mouth.

She was inexperienced but a very faster learner, and our tongues and lips and teeth meshed in a beautiful if fierce dance. Any experience I had gained over the years of my life was pushed aside all too quickly, as my hands began to trail over her body, one hand cupping her arse and the other cupping the warmth of her heavy breast through the fabric of her nightgown while she moaned in approval to my every touch. It was then I realized she wasn't wearing her usual tight trousers and thick linen shirt for our Forest visits - no, she was barely dressed, her thin lawn night gown sheer enough for me to tear with my bare human hands. It was at that thought, that I could tear the clothes from her body and have her naked under the glorious moon and be inside her in moments - that thought shocked me into a brief cold sanity.

"Sofia! Sofia I'm sorry. I…I don't know what I was thinking." I pulled away from her, though it was painful to do so.

She didn't run from me screaming. No, instead she whimpered pitifully and stepped toward me, closing the distance between us and pressing her body against mine, as though she too was in pain and I was her medicine. She stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips to mine, her hands plunging into my hair to hold me to her as she kissed me breathless once again. Using all of my strength of will, I captured her wrists and pulled her hands away, leaning away and then staring into her hooded eyes. Her pupils were huge - her blue eyes almost black. Her skin was flushed rosy and her breath came in quick hard pants. And her scent - gods, I held my breath to try and regain the use of my brain.

"Sofia, you need to speak to me Sofia. Have you eaten anything any of your suitors gave you? Candies or punch or biscuits? Anything?"

"No suitors today." She spoke, her voice low and husky. "No one bothering me, sniffing at me, wanting me to bear their heirs and look pretty on their arm." She pressed forward again, this time burying her head in the crook of my neck and inhaling, letting out a soft growl of happiness with whatever she found in my scent. "They are all useless. They aren't you."

My heart soared for a brief glorious moment, and I was in love with her and the wondrously sarcastic tone of her words and the feel of her young, lush but lithe body pressed against mine - sweet and warm and so very willing. But it could still be a potion or spell or something. It seemed too good to be true.

"But you haven't eaten anything odd? Anything…"

Her head whipped back and her eyes snapped up to mine, hot and impatient. "No Cedric, I haven't been hungry at all today. I have barely eaten anything but tea and toast, and the tea was from Bailiwick. I haven't had any potions, I am not ensorcelled and I am not insane. But I ache, I ache so badly. I want…I don't really know what I want, but I want you!"

Her speech trailed off on a pained moan, and her knees suddenly failed her. I caught her just before she ended up failing, and slowed her descent to the grass. She was writhing, tears in her eyes as she looked up at me. "Please, I ache, make it stop!"

Her hand drifted across her stomach and rubbed over her mons, pressing in against her labia as her head thrashed back and forth. "Nothing works, nothing." Her scent bloomed in the air, and he could see her wetness sealing into the fabric she pressed through. She was aroused. Painfully, utterly aroused.

The Heat. I'd forgotten about the Heat. Female Guardians in several forms experienced it, and wolves most of all. It was mysterious and the topic of dormitory whispers at Hexley Hall - but I had no idea what I was in for. It seemed impossible at the time - she was so young, and she was supposed to be already mated, or ready to fully mate at the time of onset. There was no way she was ready for this. She'd never shown the degree of interest in me that I would've thought necessary for this terrible need. So I stared down at her, dumbstruck, every bit the bumbling fool I had been when she first walked into my tower at the age of eight.

Her muscles tightened, and she began to shake before curling up in a ball and whimpering again, the sound heartbreaking. She gasped for breath. "Please...I know you don't…but I…please…" Her eyes opened wide, still black with arousal but now glassy with tears.

Instinct took over, and I was grateful for it. No complex emotional turmoil, no guilt. I cradled her in my arms and stood easily, then ran full bore into the woods, her shuddering body held tight against my chest.

There was no place in this Forest I didn't know. It was more my home than any dwelling I'd ever lived in, though no one in the Castle had any idea of that - and most wouldn't have thought me uninterested in nature whatsoever. But I knew every nook and cranny. And the ancient hunter's cottage had served as a hiding place for me since I was a child. I'd come here to brood in peace. I'd made it more comfortable over the years - the leaky roof was fixed, they was wood for the fire, some simple chairs, a few supplies for a simple meal and tea, and a new feather tick on the rope strung bed.

This was not the first time I'd taken Sofia to this place, but I'd never thought this place would be used for such activities. But it was safe and secluded and the wolf in me wanted a den right now - and this was where I ran.

I closed the door behind me with a heavy thud, and I swept a hand toward the fireplace with a negligent wave. The fireplace flickered over Sofia's face, making her look even more beautiful than the bright light of the moon outside. She looked up at me with a mixture of so many emotions - pain and lust and confusion and more than anything, raw need.

I placed her on the bed with great care, and let myself stare down at her, the hard peaks of her nipples straining through the thin fabric of her gown, the dark curls covering her slick, wet sex, and the desire in her eyes - raw and more naked than any mere skin could ever be.

I took that all in and I stood, shaking with the effort of tearing myself away from her. And then grabbed on tightly to my wand and I performed a spell from ancient times - one that every wizard taught his children, but never thought they would have to use.

"Auferte animalis."

I howled with the pain of it. On this of all nights, suppressing my own animal nature with this ruthless efficiency was unmitigated torture. In the distant past, my ancestors had developed the spell when on the run from the inquisition of sorcerers who did not have the power of the Guardians. It concealed and banished any contact with our animal selves, and made us, for a night, simply human. So I truly felt half a man when I came back to full consciousness, Sofia curled around me, crying and shivering and begging me to wake.

"Please Cedric - I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry. I didn't mean, I'd take it back….please don't…."

I raised a finger to her lips and stopped her disjointed diatribe and her eyes opened wide. She had been terrified, shaken out of the influence of the Heat, but as soon as I touched her kiss swollen lips, I could see her pupils enlarge once again, and desire once again cloud her mind. Her fingers curled into the muscles of my shoulders and with her animal strength and pulled me up into the bed with her, my aching body laying full atop her firm, supple curves. The scent of her surrounded me, though it was a pale shadow of its former allure with my nose only that of a human. She was still the most beautiful creature I had ever seen, but I hoped that with the mind of only a man, I could find the strength to resist the siren call of her need and do what was best for her.

"I'm fine, Princess. I'm just fine."

At the sound of my voice she whimpered again, arching her hips up into mine and I couldn't stop my body from bucking into hers, my hard cock eager to find a home between her thighs. I rolled off of her, fighting her now much greater strength to rest on my side, beside her body. At the time I didn't wonder why her reaction to me would be just as strong even though I had banished my animal side. I simply thought she was desperately aroused and out of her head, so she would want anyone who could give her relief.

She whined piteously with any distance between us, but I silenced her by taking her right nipple into my mouth through the fabric of her gown – denying myself the pleasure of the pure taste of her skin without the barrier. She cried out in pleasure, moaning in delight as I sucked and the nibbled softly at the too-tight bud. Her hips undulated, searching, and wanting to give her the relief she craved I pulled up gently on the yards of fabric of her gown, until I could slip one hand under the hem and against the soft skin of her thigh. She stilled suddenly, almost preternaturally motionless as my fingers moved farther and farther up her thigh until I touched the soft but slick curls at her center.

I let go of her nipple and she moaned in protest, her fingers sliding into my hair and trying to pull me back to her breast. I looked up at her face, willing her to understand me. "I'm going to try and help you, Princess..."

"Sofia!" she bit out, full of impatience and need.

I couldn't help but smile, "Sofia. I'm going to try and help you." Please, don't hate me afterward, I thought but couldn't say.

My fingers slipped into her parts labia and swirled around the nub of her clit, and her hips bucked up and she let out a little scream. That was quite the reaction for what was only just the beginning. My other arm moved to press across her hips, keeping her down so that I could bring her the pleasure she needed without harming her or letting her harm herself. I should have pressed tight, quick circles around her clit, just as the books I'd read told me to do, but the slick silk of her folds begged for my exploration. Before I realized what I was doing I had moved a single finger deep into her channel, feeling her muscle clench about me as her chest moved in quick pants against my ear where my face pressed against her breasts and I could hear her heart beat thud like a hummingbird.

She felt like heaven, and though I tried not to imagine that slick heat gripping my cock, it was impossible not to let the thought burst upon my mind. I locked it away as fast as I could and ignore the demands of my cock, moving my hips away from her legs and back as far as I could without falling off the damned bed. I moved my fingers away from her quim and stroked her clit, gauging her reaction as I tried different pressure, different angles. The sorcerer in me watched in detached pleasure as I played her body, experimenting like I was creating a new potion – a little bit of circling, a little bit more pressure, less pressure, a little faster – and she was shaking, crying in ecstasy and I was beyond thrilled. The detachment shattered and I was filled with glee – I had made this woman, my woman, cry out in pleasure. I'd made her come, my fingers were damp with the proof of her ultimate delight. And without my mind interceding to stop my human instinct, I took my hand away from her folds and plunged my fingers into my mouth, tasting her essence and luxuriating in the sweet musky flavor of her.

Perhaps she had been sated, the Heat dulled sufficiently by that one orgasm. That was until I'd stupidly shoved my fingers into my mouth and let my eyes roll up in my head at the delicious taste. Cedric the Sensationally Stupid.

She growled at me, pulling me up the bed and kissing me hard enough to draw blood. She was a feral thing, one hand pulling open my shirt, the other, yanking at the ties of my breeches, and I felt her hot hand grip my cock through the fabric of my drawers. I yelped like a boy, pulling away from her and curling up in a ball, trying to calm my racing heart and the hot, greedy thing coiled inside of me that wanted to take everything she was offering.

I wanted her hand, her mouth around my cock. I wanted her legs splayed wide as my hips rocked between them, my cock driving deeper and deeper as I planted my seed inside of her ripe body, her cries of my name ringing to the heavens as she shook with the pleasure I alone could give her.

I couldn't. I loved her. I couldn't plant my child in her – force her to be mine for a very long lifetime.

She was whimpering again, tears in her eyes and I moved down the bed, climbing between her knees and moving the hem of her gown up to her waist. She made pleased sounds, her hands sliding into my hair as my head dipped between her thighs. She tried to pull me higher, but I couldn't risk it. I couldn't kiss her, press my body fully against hers. I was only human, after all.

I looked for the first time at the beauty of her woman's flower it the light of the fire I'd created, and my heart clenched. The slick red of her folds, the throbbing bid of her clit – no amount of reading could have prepared me for the sight and smell of her. She was delicious to me as a human – as a wolf I would have had no control at all. I would have gobbled her down without mercy and then fucked her throughout the night and the next day until neither of us could walk and the King's guards were sent out to find us and execute me.

She squirmed beneath me, her hips rolling, her need as bright and sharp as before I'd given her that first orgasm. If it took all night, I would please her, every way I could without taking away her choices. I tried to ignore the voices that reminded me just how much I was enjoying giving her pleasure, and how perhaps if I pleased her well enough her choice might just be the obvious one – me. But I wasn't as good or noble a man as Sofia wanted me to be, and those voices were very very seductive.

My tongue touched her clit and you would've thought lightning had struck my Princess.

"Cedric!" she screamed, her tone clearly one of delight. The corners of my lips curled up in as evil a smile as I could manage with my tongue stroking over the sweet nub of the woman I wanted more than anything. I spent the next minutes learning everything I could about her every reaction. The sounds she made as I sucked her clit into my mouth, the taste of her as I thrust my tongue into her channel, the sweet pain as her finger pulled with a Guardian's strength at my hair as her hips arched and she screamed my name again, this time as she shook with climax.

I started again, sucking her clit as she squeaked in half want, half pained overstimulation. I swirled the tip of my tongue over her clit, writing her name and mine in runes, in Latin, in Sanskrit and Aramaic. I was branding her in my own mind, claiming her in the only way I would let myself. Then I swiped the broad flat of my tongue over her from her entrance to her clit and she shrieked, curling into a ball around my head and panting out my name over and over again, "Cedric...Cedric...I love you..."

I had been pressing my hips into the mattress, my cock painful and searching for the friction I had ruthlessly denied it, but at the sound of those words I lost any control and my hips rocked into the mattress hard and pleasure rocked through me, my cock erupting with the strongest orgasm I could ever recall, stars in purple and white flashing across my darkened vision. When I recovered, I pulled away from where my face was buried in her folds and looked up into her face, but her eyes were closed, exhaustion overtaking her with a sudden ferocity. She had collapsed back on the bed, her muscles lax, her face finally peacefully.

I stood on shaky legs, my half undone breeches sticky with my seed. I stared down at the debauched vision of sated beauty before me with tears in my eyes. I had helped her, I know. But I had given away the last piece of my heart to her. I was completely hers for the rest of my long lonely life. Even if she hadn't meant the words she whispered in the throes of the pleasure I'd given her, I would cherish them forever. But I wouldn't hold her to them. Perhaps she hadn't know what she said. In the morning, she would have have most likely forgotten. The Heat was an altered state, after all.

I smoothed her gown back over her hips, letting her have what little modesty the gown provided (really, what was her mother thinking, letting a maiden have such a tempting garment?) I reclaimed my wand from the floor where it had dropped, and put it back into the small pocket of reality that I kept up my sleeve. Then I bent to pick her up once again.

Back through my Forest, and then a simple noseeum spell to pass across the Castle grounds and into her rooms. I laid her on her bed, passing a hand over her cheek and she nuzzled my palm. "Cedric..." she whispered. So tempting.

I fled, like the coward I am.