Chapter 207

They had returned to the Forest House after having finished their evening out in the trees, and Elain was thinking longingly of a hot bath and then a soft bed. She had walked back with Lucien, as if in a daze, and she supposed that she probably was in one. Lucien had been quiet too, and Elain slanted look after look at him as they walked. Usually he would have been speaking, but he remained silent, and she wondered if he was thinking about what they had done.

Reaching for him down the bond, Elain frowned as she tried to read the emotion she could feel coming off of him. As he closed the door to their room behind them, her eyes followed him across the room as he headed for the bathroom door.

"Bath, Petal?" he asked, and Elain nodded, lifting one of her own hands to her cheek where she could still feel the gritty texture of the dirt across her cheek. Dirt was also all up her arms, and caked beneath her fingernails, and she knew that she desperately needed a good scrub.

"That sounds perfect." She followed her mate into the bathroom, just watching him as he moved about getting the water running and removing his shirt as he waited for the tub to fill. She could feel an array of thoughts swirling within him and when she had pulled her down dress off and let it fall into a pretty circle on the floor, Elain walked toward Lucien. "Here…" When he stood up, having turned the water off, Elain wrapped her arms around him from behind. He froze and she pressed herself more firmly into his back. "Are you aright, my love?" she asked.

"I am." He said, voice clipped, "… are you?"

It was then she realised what he had been caught on. "I am perfect." She told him, loosening her hold on him just enough for him to turn to look down at her. He bent to press his lips to her forehead, and Elain smiled encouragingly up at him. "I feel wonderful."

"A-alright…" he stepped back into the tub, his hands on Elain, and she moved to follow him, biting back a groan of pleasure at the delightfully hot water.

"This is gorgeous." She breathed, sinking down into the water with him. Lucien's eyes moving over her body in an assessing manner did not escape Elain's notice and she wrapped herself around him once more. His arms snaked around her ever so gently, and Elain lifted her head enough to press her lips to his jaw, and his throat before taking them to his ear. "Thank you." She murmured to him, "For what you did out there…" She knew that he preferred to be gentle with her, and that he wasn't the largest fan of holding her down or at her throat. She knew that he preferred his touches to be soft and loving, and she knew that he had done that entirely because he had known that was what she needed with the Mabon magic moving through her. "I know that is not your favourite…"

"Petal…" Lucien's response was quieter than she had expected, "I told you I would do whatever you wanted me to."

"And I thank you for that." She kissed his throat again, liking the way that his hands froze on her hips from where he had been gently caressing her. "Thank you…"

"I love you." He breathed, and Elain lifted herself into his lap, her hands moving over him as carefully as she could manage.

"I know." She told him, "I can feel that in everything you do and everything you say… in every touch you make on my skin… and every beat of your heart I can hear in my head…" Elain sat back enough to meet Lucien's eyes. "Can you feel how much I love you?"

Lucien nodded just a little then, and Elain leaned in to press her lips to his in a soft kiss. She heard his heart flutter a little more quickly and she smiled into the kiss, before leaning even further into him and resting against him, her chest pressed to his. Breaking the kiss, Elain settled against Lucien, resting her head against his shoulder, and enjoying the way that he had wrapped around her, cradling her as they sat together in the hot water.

By the time they got out of the bath and made their way to their bed, Elain had sorted through most of what she could feel coming from her mate down the bond. He had wanted to give her exactly what she had desired and what he knew that she liked out in the forest, but she could tell that the images of what he had done to her had stuck in his mind. He was afraid that he had hurt her, holding her face-down in the dirt and fucking her so roughly. She had felt a pang of panic from him when he had spotted the fingerprint shaped bruises at her hips as she had climbed out of the tub, and she had tried to quickly hide the similar set on her thighs by grabbing a nearby towel to dry off.

As they had settled in the bed, the covers spread evening across them, Elain slid a little closer to Lucien. She reached out and wrapped an arm around him, half lifting one of her legs over him as she cuddled in nice and close. "Can you feel how much I love you now?" she asked, and he looked down at her, that metallic eye whirring, as he took in her face.

"Yes." He replied, and she smiled at him, stretching up to press a kiss to his lips again.

"What you did out there, I know you did for me." She breathed, her fingers skimming up and down his arm as she looked up at him, "Let me do the same."

"The same?"

"Let me show you that I'm not hurt…" she went on, feeling his reaction to those words, the hope behind it, "Let me show you how much I appreciate you…"

"I'm listening…" Warm hands were on her then, caressing her thigh and sliding around to her lower back. That gentle touch was just as effective as what he had done to her earlier, and Elain knew that she was wet within moments.

"Lucien…" she whispered, and he met her gaze once more. She wanted his memory of this Mabon evening to be pleasing for him, and she didn't want it to be met with any kind of shame or regret or worry that he had hurt her. She wanted him to enjoy it, and she knew how to go about that. "Let me…" one of her hands slid down beneath the blankets and she found him already stiffening. His soft gasp at her touch made Elain smile, and she watched his face as she began to slowly work him, her touch gentle, yet purposeful.

Lucien's breathing had already changed, and Elain smiled more widely at him as she slipped over and into his lap. Everything reaching her down the bond from him now was happy excitement, and blatant desire, and Elain held her mate's eyes as she positioned him and then sank down onto him, taking him deep within her in one fluid and easy movement.

"What… what would you prefer?" she asked, her voice softer than she had intended, but Lucien smiled at her all the same. He had also evidently understood her question, because his hands were suddenly at her hips and he lifted her before bringing her back down onto the bed, her head against the pillows as he settled over her.

"I want to have you." He murmured, lips against hers and he pressed kiss after soft kiss to her lips, "Exactly the way that I desire…"

"I'm all yours." Elain purred, giving a breathy moan then when he began to move so very slowly, yet so very deliberately, inside of her.