Anne had just started to drift back to sleep in Connor's arms when there was a sharp knock at the door. She identified the scent easily and she sighed heavily, knowing her chances of making their early morning visitor take a hint and scamper off were slim. She sat up, picking Connor's sweatpants from the night before up off the floor and handing them to him. "Here, put these on."
Connor looked at her questioningly, but when Anne got of the bed and quickly dressed herself, he understood and did what she asked.
Another harsh rap on the door, and Anne grumbled. She had enough to deal with without throwing this in the mix. She took a deep breath, willing her nerves to calm, before going to the door and opening it. "What the hell do you want, Laura?"
Laura glared at Anne, her arms crossed squarely over her chest. "My husband."
"Well, that's just too sodding bad. Go away."
"You have no right to keep me from him," Laura replied. "Whatever sort of sick relationship you have going on with Connor, he's still my husband, which makes him my responsibility—not yours."
Anne snorted. "You honestly think you could be of any help to him right now? You're completely clueless, Laura. He's been in a hell dimension. He's going to need someone with him all the time, keeping him calm and making sure he's taken care of. I seriously doubt you're up to that challenge."
"I could very easily get Connor constant care—someplace with people much more qualified for it than you."
Anne sucked in a breath when she realized what Laura was implying. "No. No. You're not doing that to him. He needs to be with people who care about him, who can give him the affection he needs, not in some institution!"
"He's clearly lost his mind!" Laura yelled back. "It's true I don't understand what happened to him, but I can certainly see what he's become. He needs professional help, not a teenager playing nursemaid. And how long until you get bored of all this, hmm? How long until none of this seems fun to you anymore and you abandon him to go back to hanging out with people your age?"
"Fun? You think this is fun for me? You think I enjoy looking at the man I love and seeing how broken he is? Are you completely daft? This isn't a game to me, Laura. I know exactly how serious this is. And yeah, if I had my choice, it probably wouldn't be what I'd want to be doing. But I'm not going to turn my back on Connor, and I'm certainly not going to let you lock him away. Do you know what they'd do to him? They'd shut him up in a cold, sterile room and they'd keep him sedated. They'd probably label him violent because trying to drag him in there in the first place would make him lash out, and who knows how much damage he'd do before they knocked him out and strapped him down. You'd be sending him right back to hell."
Laura raised her chin. "I wouldn't send him someplace like that. I'd make sure he had the best care until he's able to come home."
Anne met Laura's eyes defiantly. "His home is with me."
At that, Laura sucked in a breath. "Now you listen to me, little girl. I've tried to explain things to you, but you're apparently as stubborn as you are stupid. You don't know what Connor needs, and I doubt anyone else around here does either—especially that monster he calls a father. So you get out of my way and let me take my husband somewhere where he can be cared for."
Anne didn't back down at all. "No."
"Fine. Be difficult about it." Laura stepped forward, grabbing Anne and pushing her out of the way. No sooner had she done so, then did Connor leap forward, having been watching the conversation between the two women from the sidelines. He didn't understand what they were saying, but he could sense the hostility between the two and knew that the blonde woman was possibly a threat to his mate. Apparently, he'd been right.
Connor pinned Laura to the ground, snarling as he did. He raised his fist, ready to strike her, when he heard Anne yell.
"Connor! No!"
He froze, his mate's tone making it clear that she wasn't happy with him. She ran over to him, grabbing him by his arm and pulling him back to his feet. Connor looked at her, his brow creasing in confusion. Anne took his hand, caressing the back of it with her thumb. "I'm okay."
Laura stood up, shaking as she did. "He…he's never…"
"You don't know what he needs, Laura," Anne said, keeping her tone steady, afraid if she yelled it would set Connor off again. "I'm the only person who can handle Connor right now. In the state he's in, he's a danger to everyone else, especially if I'm not around."
"Why you?" Laura asked, backing up slightly from Anne and Connor. "What makes you so special?"
"I'm his mate."
"His what?" Laura frowned in confusion for a moment before her lip curled in disgust. "This is some sort of demon thing, isn't it?"
"In a manner of speaking, yes."
"So you're what, some kind of demon whore who's taken it upon yourself to turn my husband back into an animal?"
"Get out."
"You can't order me around," Laura snapped.
"I said get out, and I meant it," Anne replied, her eyes narrowing to ice blue slits.
"Is this what you wanted?" Laura asked, gesturing towards Connor. "A beast instead of a man?"
Her control snapped and Anne advanced on Laura, pinning her against the wall with her arm against the blonde woman's neck. "Don't you ever talk about him that way. You have no idea what Connor is, I don't care how long you were married to him. Is that what you told him? If he didn't do things your way, he wasn't a man? Is that what you thought of him?"
From behind her, Anne heard Connor growl low in his throat, and she turned, seeing his eyes trained on Laura, ready to pounce again at a moment's notice. Reluctantly, Anne stepped back, letting Laura go, relaxing herself slightly to keep Connor from attacking. "You don't belong here, Laura. Connor isn't yours," Anne said, grinding out her words through clenched teeth.
Laura glanced between Anne and Connor for a moment before she stood taller, brushing herself off. Much to Anne's relief, she said nothing, only turned and walked from the room.
Anne let out a deep breath, closing the door behind Laura before leaning forward against it, fighting tears again. A moment later, she felt Connor against her back, his arms going around her waist as he nuzzled her shoulder. She rested back against him, allowing herself a moment just to enjoy his embrace.
Connor released her, taking her hand and tugging her over towards the bed. He sat down on the edge before pulling her into his lap, pushing her head down so it was resting on his chest. His arms were tight around her, and he whispered soft sounds against her hair that made no sense to Anne save for the fact that they were obviously meant to comfort her.
Anne didn't think Connor remembered who Laura was, and she doubted he understood what their argument had been about. But he did know she was upset, and he wanted to comfort her.
After a few moments, Anne looked up, meeting his eyes before leaning in to kiss him. Connor responded almost immediately, a low growl sounding in his throat as he deepened the kiss. Anne turned so she was straddling his hips, facing him now, and ran her hands down his chest. She wondered how many scars would mark his pale skin if his wounds didn't heal so quickly.
Anne could feel how her kisses were arousing Connor and wasn't at all surprised when he turned and lowered her down to the bed, pressing his body against her. She knew this was what Laura would never understand, this passion so deep that rules and logic no longer applied. She would have pitied the other woman had her coldness not hurt Connor the way Anne knew it had. Connor was like her, wild inside, and she knew that being forced to repress that—to be told it should be a source of shame—would wound to the core.
Connor wasn't weighed down by shame of his more animalistic side now. Forced to live merely to survive for years, he'd pushed away the domesticated front he'd put up as Laura's husband, giving in to the parts of him he'd feared before. The scales had tipped the other way, but they were still without balance.
Connor pulled his head up, growling in frustration as he began to fumble with the buttons on Anne's jeans. Anne took his hands, squeezing them gently before undoing the buttons herself, shimming out of her jeans to give Connor access to her again. "Guess you'd probably rather I just stayed naked all the time, hmm?" she said softly, cupping his cheek with her hand.
Connor's response was to tug at the bottom of her shirt, managing to pull it over her head. He stopped at her bra, glancing at the garment quizzically for a moment before looking at Anne's face and arching an eyebrow. She giggled as she reached behind her, unhooking the clasp one-handed and pulling it off her arms before tossing it to the floor.
His hands went to her breasts then, kneading them gently at first, then harder as Anne began to moan. His thumbs raked over the hard pebbles of her nipples, and she arched into the touch, her legs winding around his hips. Connor leaned in, kissing and licking his way down her neck until he reached its junction with her shoulder and bit down hard, pulling blood into his mouth. Anne gasped in pained pleasure, her leg moving up so she could push his sweats down with her feet, forcing them off his legs until all she could feel was his skin against hers.
Connor ground himself against her, licking the shallow wounds he'd brought to her neck. Anne slipped her hand between their bodies, grasping his erection and stroking it hard. Connor thrust into her hand, groaning in pleasure until Anne guided him to her entrance and he pushed forward with a gasp.
Anne held on to Connor tightly as he took her roughly, the bed creaking. She worried for a moment that they might break it, but then Connor shifted his hips slightly, changing his angle, and her focus quickly narrowed, her mouth falling open with a silent cry. He moved quickly, plunging inside her over and over, and Anne moved with him, rapidly soaring towards her peak. Suddenly Connor leaned down, taking her earlobe in his teeth and nipping it once before whispering her name, his voice rough with need.
It was that one sound that pushed her over, the knowledge that he still knew her, wanted her. Soon, Connor was coming, too, biting her again over the mark he'd made earlier as he did.
Anne cradled his body as the aftershocks coursed through them both, his softening cock still nestled in her folds. Connor lapped at the wound on her neck before settling his head against her breasts, Anne's hands coming up to comb her fingers through his hair.
Anne couldn't stop her thoughts from drifting back to that morning's confrontation with Laura and how she'd wanted to take Connor away, put him in a place where no one loved him. How could someone be so cruel to a man they'd sworn to love, honor, and cherish? Anne could never dream of doing something like that to him, even if they never found a way to bring him back to what he'd been before Vortairesh. She knew the path ahead was difficult, but Connor was her mate. Nothing could touch that, nothing could destroy that.
Connor glanced up at her, his expression soft, and a lump formed in her throat. She stroked his cheek with her thumb, smiling at him as she did. "Hey there, handsome," she said, her words almost a whisper. Connor pressed a kiss against her breastbone in response, then pushed up, rolling them over so she was resting in his arms.
They lay quietly for a long while, Anne tracing lazy patterns against his skin. The silence was broken when Connor's stomach rumbled, and Anne pushed herself up on her elbow. "Food…I didn't even think about that last night. I have no idea how long it's been since you've eaten or even what the last thing you ate was. I'm sorry… I'll…I'll go find you something now, okay?" She started to get out of the bed when Connor grabbed her arm, shaking his head.
"I'm just going downstairs. I'll be back." Anne pulled on her arm, but Connor didn't let go. She frowned, wondering how he'd respond to being around other people right now. He seemed calm enough at the moment, but that had changed in an instant with Laura, and she didn't know how he'd handle going downstairs. But then again, leaving him on his own might be worse, since for all she knew, he could panic.
"Come with me then," she said, using her free hand to pull on his other arm to let him know to get up. "We'll stay together."
Connor sat up and released her arm, understanding her meaning. Anne dressed herself before finding jeans and a shirt for him, helping him put them on, followed by socks and shoes. Once they were both ready, she took his hand, leading him downstairs for whatever awaited them.
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