He seemed different to her now than he had been the other times, his touch decidedly rougher. Aside from his wariness with Angel, Connor had been rather calm during their trip outside the room, but that seemed to have changed now. He tugged on Anne's jeans, snarling in frustration when they refused to come down. Anne pushed him away, kicked off her shoes, and unfastened her jeans before Connor was on her with renewed fervor. He pulled her jeans down the rest of the way and threw them too the floor.
It was only moments before Connor had removed his own clothes and was pushing Anne back against the wall. She wrapped her legs around Connor's hips and held on to his arms tightly, knowing this was going to be anything but slow and gentle.
She was right. Connor drove into her hard and Anne gasped, her grip on him growing tighter. Her head hit the wall steadily in time with Connor's thrusts, but Anne soon wasn't even noticing as her mind hazed over. She moaned and her back arched, pressing her body further into Connor's.
Anne's hair slipped from her shoulders to expose her pale neck, her jugular pulsing. Connor snarled, his head dipping and his teeth taking hold of her flesh, his bite one of ownership, marking her skin. Anne jerked erratically in a mix of pain and pleasure, a sudden orgasm coursing through her.
Connor pulled back with a growl and his arms wrapped around her back as he turned with her and brought her to the bed with him landing on top of her, never once slipping out of her body. The noises Anne made were nearly inhuman, the strength of Connor's thrusts growing even harder now that he had better leverage.
Anne lost track of where she was, who she was. Connor's wild lovemaking set her aflame, drove her over the edge again and again. She screamed until she was hoarse, biting and clawing his skin as she writhed beneath him, giving back as good as she got. Finally, Connor came with a feral roar, jerking inside of her until he collapsed, panting heavily. Anne continued to tremble as she reached up and stroked his sweat-dampened back.
Connor nuzzled his face against her neck before he rolled them over, holding her back tightly against his front. Anne lay still for a while, as her breathing slowly returned to normal. She shifted uncomfortably, her body feeling damp and sticky, and she made a move towards getting up, wanting to wash.
From behind her, Connor growled softly and pulled her back into his embrace. When she tried to slip away again, he bit her shoulder lightly and kept his teeth in place until she settled down.
Anne sighed, deciding she better stay where she was since Connor obviously wasn't going to let her go. She closed her eyes and let the sound of Connor's steady breathing lull her to sleep.
*** *** ***
Anne woke still in Connor's arms, his body wrapped protectively around hers. Or was it possessively? Anne couldn't be sure…
What she was sure about was that she needed a shower. She tried to ease out of Connor's arms only to have him snap awake at her slight movement. He rolled her over, pinning her beneath him. Anne sighed. "I'm just taking a shower, Connor. You don't have to freak out."
Connor frowned, his head cocked to the side, but he didn't move to release her. "God, I wish you could understand me," Anne muttered. "Shower… Running water… Bathing… Any of this ringing any bells?"
Connor continued to stare at her as he kept her firmly in place. Anne groaned. "Oh bloody hell." She wrenched her arm free and pushed lightly on his chest. "Come on, just let me up and you can go with me." She gestured between them before pointing to the bathroom door, nodding towards it. Connor seemed to understand her then, and let her up completely before following her into the bathroom.
He waited as she started the shower, then followed her in. Anne sighed happily as the warm water rushed over her, grateful to be finally getting clean again. Connor watched her hungrily, his darkened gaze trained on her. Her stomach flittered with desire, the look on his face enough to make her melt. But at the same time, Anne was tired and sore, her body both emotionally and physically drained. She knew Connor needed the contact after being alone and abandoned for so long, and she did want him, but she wasn't sure she could handle much more of his feral touch at the moment. She needed space, a little bit of breathing room, even if it was just a meter in front of her.
Anne held out her hand, signaling for Connor to stay back. "I just want to shower, okay?"
A flash of confused hurt went across Connor's features, but he didn't approach her, and Anne took a deep breath before she turned around and grabbed the shampoo. She didn't look at him as she lathered her hair, though she could feel his presence behind her, making a tiny shiver roll up her body. She reached for the soap.
When she was clean, Anne stepped back from the water, gesturing that Connor take her place. He gave her a look she couldn't quite decipher before he bathed himself, keeping his back to her as she had him. Anne bit her lip, her gaze turned down.
She turned off the water when he finished, and they stepped out of the shower together. Anne handed Connor a towel then dried herself off and wrapped her own towel tightly around her. There was a moment of stillness in the room before Connor came up behind her and gently wrapped his arms around her waist but didn't push for anything, keeping his hold loose. Anne relaxed against him, her head falling back on his chest.
Connor reached up and brushed his fingers against her cheek, the gesture belying his tenderness towards her, and Anne felt a lump grow in her throat. She wanted to cry, to sob with all the exhaustion she was feeling, but she held it in, telling herself she had to be strong, for Connor's sake at least. She'd cried enough already.
It was later in the day now, and she knew her parents were probably awake. She wanted to see them, to feel the comfort and reassurance she knew she'd get just from being with them. Connor had been okay when they'd gone downstairs earlier. Anne decided to take the chance that he would be again.
She led him back into the bedroom, gathering her clothes and gesturing to his, indicating that he should put them back on. He didn't argue with her. Instead he kept his head down as he dressed, the look on his face one that made Anne's heart hurt. She went over to him once they were clothed again and put her hand against his cheek to guide him to look at her face. "Hey," she said softly, offering him a tender smile. "I'm not upset with you, sweetheart. I'm just tired, is all. I'm not rejecting you." Anne knew he couldn't understand the words, but she hoped her tone would at least allow him to get the gist of them.
Connor turned his face into her hand and kissed her palm, and Anne hoped that meant he understood. "We're going to go downstairs, okay?" she said softly, pulling back but taking his hand as she did. She led him towards the door, grateful when he didn't fight her as they went into the hallway. He stayed calm as they headed towards the lobby, his hand still gripping hers, but no signs of panic from him.
It wasn't until they got down the stairs that all hell broke loose.
It happened so quickly that Anne barely had time to blink, never mind process the blur of events. A blue-skinned demon dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, khaki cargo pants, and a brown leather jacket screamed and threw his clawed hands up in defense as Connor lunged at him. Angel moved then, grabbing Connor and struggling to keep him restrained as the blue demon yelled loudly about how this was no way to treat a paying client. Connor snarled and fought against the hold Angel had on his arms and Anne ran to them and tried to pull Connor away from his father.
"I let him go, and he kills Roy over there," Angel said, nodding to the blue demon.
"Who the hell is Roy, and why is he here?" Anne snapped back.
"Hey! I'm legit!" Roy cried in outrage. "I've got some problems with vamp squatters—I thought maybe the good people here at Angel Investigations could help, since I've heard that's what they do…"
"And we will," Angel said back to Roy. "We've just got a few problems of our own at the moment." Connor tried again to pull back from Angel, only to have Angel tighten his grip, making Connor wince in pain.
"Stop it!" Anne yelled. "You're hurting him, dammit!"
"He can deal with it," Angel barked at her.
Anne reacted. She reached past Connor and slapped Angel hard in the face. Stunned, Angel dropped his hold on his son. Connor stumbled, and Anne reached for his arm and pulled him back to her. "It's okay, baby," she said soothingly. "It's okay."
Connor glanced between Anne and Roy, and then growled at the demon as he backed up towards the stairs, pushing Anne to move with him.
Roy held up his hands. "Don't worry, buddy. I'm not gonna touch your mate there. She's all yours…"
Connor snarled once more for good measure before he picked Anne up, and carried her up the stairs back to their room, slamming the door behind them. Anne sighed as he dumped her back on the bed then began to pace the room, the jumble of emotions he was feeling clear on his face.
"Come here, sweetheart," Anne said softly, sitting up. Connor stopped and turned to her, his eyes searching hers. "It's all right. Come on." She patted the spot beside her on the bed.
Connor came to her and sat beside her like she'd indicated. Anne ran her hand down his arm, frowning as she saw a bruise there from where Angel had been restraining him. On the one hand, she understood why Angel had needed to hold Connor back, but on the other hand… Anne had seen no regret or even concern in the vampire's eyes when she'd pointed out that he was hurting his son. And his words…he'll deal with it… They'd held no remorse either.
Anne remembered only a few days earlier, back when Connor had still been himself, and he'd made a comment about how his father seemed to never miss a chance to "smack him around." She wondered how often Angel fought with Connor, how often he responded to whatever tensions lay between the two of them through violence. Anne had no doubt that Connor could hold his own, but still… What sort of love was that to show your child, under any circumstances?
"I'm sorry about all of that," Anne said, feeling the need to apologize even if she knew she wouldn't be understood. "I wouldn't have taken us down there if I'd know."
Connor didn't understand her, but he could see she was upset. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her so her head rested against his shoulder as he stroked her hair.
"I wish this was all a bad dream," Anne said with a sigh. "I wish I could just wake up and be back home in London, with none of this ever having happened." She looked up at Connor. "Only I'd still want you."
Connor tilted her chin up and kissed her softly. They were safe in here. There were too many people outside of this room, too many dangers to his mate. He needed to keep her safe, keep her away from whatever else sort of trouble could be beyond this place. He nudged her back down to the bed and curled up behind her once they were lying down.
Anne turned in his arms and kissed his shoulder before she decided she'd close her eyes for a little bit, try to stave off the headache that seemed to be forming after the drama downstairs. Maybe whatever sort of idea Cordelia was researching to get Connor back to the way he used to be would work and she'd have the man she'd known with her again soon. She just needed to make it until then…
She held on to that thought as she fell back into sleep.
*** *** ***