saints & devils

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[saintsanddevils]

saints & devils masterlist

I DO NOT CONSENT to copying/republishing/translating/reposting any of my work to different websites or using for any AI generators

🪻= explicit 18+ content

~ Marvel ~

Bob Reynolds / Void

Void & Omen series

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four - NEW POST

Part Five

Part Six

AO3 Link

~ Fourth Wing ~

Aaric Graycastle / Cam Tauri

Never Alone series - childhood best friend!reader

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five🪻

Part Six🪻

Part Seven🪻

AO3 link

Liam Mairi

Unravel Me🪻

Weaver of Fate

Garrick Tavis

Beg For It🪻 - request

Dain Aetos

Star-Crossed series - Xaden’s sister!reader

Part One - request

Part Two

Ridoc Gamlyn

Moth To A Flame🪻

~ Hogwarts ~

Dramione

Grimwood (Asylum AU - on hiatus)

[saintsanddevils]

Void & Omen - pt 4

Bob Reynolds/Void & Fem!Reader

Summary: When you meet Bob, that deadly power inside of you stirs, recognizing something just as equally dark and powerful in him. After all, like calls to like.

Warnings/Tags: Thunderbolts movie spoilers, swearing, angst, soft Void/protective Bob, guns, mentions of blood

Author’s Note: How many times can I make reader pass out/faint? Not enough times, I say. (But really though, I just love the dream sequences with Void, ok?)

Word Count: 5K

Masterlist

Part Three • Part Five

————

The In-Between…

Fog slithers across the moss covered ground. The dark, leaf-less trees stretch high into the grey sky. Their limbs cracked and torn, like shredded pieces of bone.

I walk slowly through the forest, cautious with every step I take. Everything about this place feels oddly… familiar. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I’ve been here before. But every time I try to reach for the memory, it slips through my fingers like water.

A low, guttural growl sounds from behind me. I still, panic coursing through my veins, beating in my blood.

RUN.

The instinct has me sprinting through the trees, diving under branches, jumping over protruding roots. Something behind me beats the earth with its paws, shaking the ground beneath my feet. I can feel it close behind me, it’s breath on my neck—

I slam face-first into a wall of shadow. Like a blanket, it wraps me in its embrace. It’s cooling to the touch, caressing my skin as I’m enveloped in the dark.

“It’s alright,” something purrs against my ear with a deep, familiar voice. “You’re safe now.”

When I turn my head, there’s nothing there. No strange beast, no person. Only darkness.

But this darkness, it’s sentient. I can feel it as if it were a living, breathing thing.

“You saved us,” the voice whispers. “My brave, beautiful, cruel thing.”

I shiver as if the words were whispered upon my skin.

The dark shifts, thickening under my limbs to hold me, cradle me.

“I’ve waited for you, for centuries,” A hand cradles my hip, fingers whisper-soft on my skin. “You’ve been alone for too long. We both have.”

I close my eyes at the words. My skin prickles from the shadowy fingers caressing my hip, my arm, my collarbone.

“Never again,” the voice vows. “Never again will we be apart. I will keep you safe. I will protect you. I will be whatever you want me to be, just let me be yours.”

Those phantom fingers grip my jaw, turning my head. I open my eyes to look into a pair of twin golden flames. Eyes as familiar to me as my own.

“You are mine and I am yours.”

The words ring hauntingly true as they echo into the void. I can barely make out the silhouette of a face as they lean forward, flaming eyes holding me trapped in their gaze.

“I have seen your true face and I am not afraid. How could anyone be afraid of such terrible beauty?” That phantom hand still cradles my face, soft and gentle. “Your pain and ruin is a gift and I will cherish it for eternity.”

I melt into the touch, tears burning my eyes as the darkness holds me closer. “But I’m broken. I’m no one. I’m nothing.”

If the dark could smile, I feel it. “Not to me. You’re everything. I love how broken you are.”

I pause, staring into those haunting eyes. “Are you going to fix me?”

I sense the dark shaking its head, dipping to press cold lips to my forehead. The touch is burning and claiming. “What is there to fix? I prefer you ruined, just like me.”

————

Outside The Vault…

Strong arms shift beneath my limbs, cradling me to something warm and firm. I stir, eyelids fluttering. Whoever is holding me tenses, squeezing tighter before I hear the faint call of my name.

“We’re almost there, hold on.” A familiar voice whispers to me.

Bob.

I groan as my body is shifted to lay on something hard and cold. It’s not as comfortable as being carried in Bob’s arms.

“Stay here.” A familiar feminine voice says. Yelena?

“But—“ A door slams closed.

When my eyes open, I’m staring up at the ceiling of some sort of vehicle. Its engine is loud and roaring as it moves, jostling my sore body. I blink a few times, trying to rise out of the fog I’m still trapped in.

“You’re awake.”

I turn to find Bob sitting across from me on a bench. He’s wearing tactical gear, similar to the soldiers who cornered us in the hallway earlier. I furrow my brows. Why is he wearing that?

When I try to move, I notice the same strange clothes are also on me.

“How—“

Bob is suddenly kneeling down on the floor in front of me. His face is lined with concern as he stares up at me. “Are you alright?”

I stare at him, taking note of any injuries or anything strange with my current state. My head is pounding with a headache and I feel incredibly exhausted. But I don’t feel any pain. Should I? I don’t remember getting hurt or why I even passed out…

The last thing I remember…

Bob hovering over me, his eyes wild and terrified as I collapse in his arms. We were in a dark hallway. Weren’t we waiting for Yelena?

It’s all so fuzzy in my memory now. I can’t quite grasp it.

Once I know I’m okay, I nod.

Bob sighs in relief, reaching out to lay a hand on my knee. Even through the material of my clothes, I can feel the spark of warmth his body sends into mine. It’s electric.

“Yelena said it would be more believable if you blended in with us,” he gestures to the clothes. “We made it seem like we were taking you to a medic.”

I raise a brow. “Who dressed me?”

His cheeks and neck redden. “Oh, yeah it was Yelena and Ava. Don’t worry. I wouldn’t ever undress you while you’re unconscious.” His eyes widen. “I mean, not that I would want to. Only if you were conscious, though. No wait, I mean—“ his face resembles the shade of a tomato and I can’t stop the laughter bubbling up out of me.

“Bob, it’s okay,” I smile across the space between us, reaching out to lay a hand on his. His hand immediately turns over as if on instinct, holding mine.

He stares down at the contact, breathing deep, before meeting my gaze. In the low lighting of the vehicle, his eyes are dark and wide, hopeful and nervous.

“You’ve been alone for too long. We both have.”

The voice from my dream, Bob’s voice, burrows deep in my chest. Burning like a brand. It fills my veins at his touch, pulsing with the need to lean forward. To give in.

As if the car were supporting this, we go over a bump big enough to jostle me forward, sliding my knees around Bob’s waist while he still kneels in front of me. His free hand comes up to my hip, steadying me on instinct.

This close, I can smell the leather and plastic of the tac gear he’s stolen, the undertones of something warm and earthy beneath it. Familiar and calming.

With startling clarity, I realize it smells like home.

We’re close, sharing the same breath as the jostling moves me closer, his hand gripping my waist tighter.

Warmth spreads through my limbs as we both lean forward, two magnets drawn to the other. I bite my lip. His eyes track the movement.

Right. This is right.

The voice in my bones echoes through me as I relax in his grip.

He breathes my name and it almost sounds forbidden and cautious, full of want and curiosity. Our noses touch, slotting perfectly together as we—

Someone slams on the breaks. We’re both thrown sideways, colliding with the floor. I moan, head pounding with a new pain, limbs tangled with Bob’s.

He groans, head falling back. “What now?”

Through the wall separating us from the front seats of the car, we can hear guards speaking with Walker, Yelena, and Ava.

Bob untangles us before helping me back into my seat. Through the wall, I overhear the aggression in one of the guard’s voices. Bob tenses, hearing it as well.

“I have to help them,” he mutters, eyes wild and searching as he looks around the back of the vehicle.

“What?” I whisper-gasp. “The second you go out there, they’ll know something is up. You’ll be killed.”

His eyes lock on the door handles. The moment he reaches for them, my hand shoots out, stopping him.

“Bob—“

His eyes flash gold for a split second. “You don’t think I can do it.”

I startle. “What are you talking about? You’re about to rush out there to god-knows-what is waiting for us. There could be hundreds of guards wanting to kill you.” I squeeze my hand over his with tenderness and concern, even as panic grips my throat. “We need to make a plan if this goes sideways—“

He shakes his head. “This is the plan. I want to help. I don’t want to sit around, waiting for them to figure it out when I don’t have much to offer this team anyway!”

My heart aches at the words. “You offer so much. You’re more than enough.”

He scoffs, looking away. “I didn’t even help you when those guards came for us. You saved us. Not me, you. You’re more than capable, just like them.”

I furrow my brows. I saved him? “I-I don’t remember any of that.“

Bob closes his eyes. “I can protect you, too.”

Goosebumps spread up my limbs. Something inside of me purrs at the words, as if they’ve heard them before. Maybe even expected them.

“We can protect each other,” I insist. ”We just need a back-up plan.”

There’s shouts behind us, outside of the car.

Bob sighs, meeting my eyes again. Without hesitation, he reaches up and cups the back of my head, bringing my forehead to connect with his. He breathes deeply for a moment, and the contact of his skin settles my rattling nerves.

“I will keep you safe,” he whispers. “I will protect you. I will be whatever you want me to be.”

My breath hitches.

A vow. A promise. Something whispered and forgotten by time, but remembered in the bones. Something spoken in dreams.

But there’s one line he doesn’t say. One that my mind conjures for him, from memory and dreams.

Just let me be yours.

Warmth spreads from every bit of skin that touches his. My hand grasped in his. Our foreheads touching. It’s soothing. Reassuring.

Bob shifts and his lips are near my ear as he whispers. “Please, forgive me.”

And Bob is gone.

Along with the car and the guards and the distant shouting and rumbling of engines. Instead, I now sit in a cold, dimly lit room smelling of harsh chemicals, iron, and decaying flesh.

Two men in long lab coats with gangly limbs stare with open concern at the man and woman, sobbing uncontrollably over something on a table. A small lump beneath a white sheet. The more I look at the lump, the more it looks like it resembles…

I jolt back a step, heart pulsing rapidly in my ears like a pounding drum. I know this place. I know these people, these doctors. I’ve been here before.

“Mom,” I whisper as tears fill my eyes, cracking my voice. “Dad.”

I haven’t seen them in years. Not since…

Mom turns to me, her eyes bloodshot. Her mouth curls into a snarl. “Get that thing out of here!”

I stumble back, but its the quiet sob behind me that has me pausing. I whirl around and find a little girl with swollen eyes and tears streaming down her face. It’s me. Nine year old me.

Pain pulses through my chest at the sight as she flinches at her mother’s words. That little girl is in desperate need of a hug, some comfort, even kind words. But none were given to her, not this day, or in the many afterwards.

The little girl stares and stares at the white sheet, at the body beneath, as sobs escape her lips. “I’m sorry, Mommy. I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.”

“Get it out of here! MONSTER!” Mom screams.

Something that was once broken and lost inside of me, now burns with a cold fire that shatters through my nervous system. It aches and cracks and festers as it chills my blood at the sight of such cruelty.

This was the day I lost my parents.

The same day I killed my sister.

“Mommy,” younger me cries out.

Mom turns her head away, wailing as she crumples over the covered body on the table. The sheet lifts slightly to reveal black veins running through the pale skin of the corpse. My sister’s corpse.

Dad shakes his head. “You’ve done enough. Get out.”

Get out.

Monster.

Get out.

Monster.

GET OUT!

The words scream in my head before the room begins to tilt and the fluorescent lights above start to flicker. The light blurs before it sparks out, darkness covering the room. I blink a few times to clear it away.

In the stillness, a strange echo resounds through the dark. I can’t make sense of it. But it feels familiar.

I turn this way and that, trying to find it. When two hands touch my shoulders, I blink and find myself staring up at Yelena.

She yells my name, shaking me by my shoulders.

Tears burn the edge of my eyes as I whip my head around, finding I’m still sitting in the back of the car, but now, the doors are wide open. We’re facing towards a building that must be the Vault we escaped in the distance. Guards march around with guns strapped to their fronts, ready and alert. The sight clears my head.

“Where’s Bob?!” I ask, frantic.

Walker stares at me as if I’ve grown three heads. “We thought you knew where he was.”

Bullets pierce the air, startling everyone as we all turn towards the sound.

“Oh no,” Yelena’s eyes widen at the sight. “Bob helped.”

In front of the Vault, Bob stands in his hospital clothes, barefoot and armed with a machine gun pointed at the sky. He continues firing into the night while every head turns towards him. Including every loaded gun.

“NO!” I scream, bolting out of the car.

Walker stops me with an arm around my middle, holding me firmly as I kick and struggle in his grip.

“BOB STOP!” I scream, but the noise is lost in the chaos.

Men shout in a rush, forming a wall before Bob as he stops shooting. He has a small lopsided smile on his face as he looks out over the sea of armed men.

A new cacophony of bullets ring through the night as every man in that wall aims their guns at Bob. And Bob…

“NO!!” A sob catches in my throat at the sight.

The bullets shred his clothing, ringing off the metal wall behind him. He falls to the ground from the impact.

He’s still. Too still.

And the firing finally stops, leaving heavy silence in its wake.

“We’ve gotta go,” Walker says, dropping his arm from around me. I stagger forward in a daze.

“We can’t just leave him,” Yelena protests.

John scoffs. “He gave us a distraction. We need to use that. Before it’s too late.”

But I’m not listening to them. I barely register their presence as my entire being focuses on Bob. The stillness of his chest. His crumpled limbs. His shredded clothes. The bullets lining the concrete around him.

Something rears its ugly, vengeful head inside of me. It snarls and wakes, shaking my limbs as I stride forward on instinct.

I hear my name being called from behind me, but I’m lost. I’m lost to the rising rage, like a tide in a hurricane. I’m boundless and free-falling to the feeling.

There’s a strange stillness that’s settled over the camp. Everyone holds their breath, watching, waiting. But all they see is a dead man.

That thing inside of me claws its way to the surface, raising my hand out to the men still facing Bob with their guns.

You took what is mine. Now, I will take what is yours.

With a guttural scream, that primal part of me, raging and roaring, unleashes itself.

That power of death and decay shoots from my blackening fingertips, gripping every man in sight by the throat. They stagger, dropping their guns, holding their necks, before falling to the ground. They cough and choke. I feel the congealing of their blood. The veins flowing beneath their skin filling with poison and hate. Blood seeping from their noses and eyes as they fight for oxygen in their lungs.

“Holy shit.” John mutters behind me, but I don’t relent.

My focus is only on Bob. On what they did to him. On what they took from me.

Mine, that voice echoes in my head, only this time, it sounds more like mine than it did before.

The knowledge should scare me, but it only spurs me on. The men not choking on their blood on their knees turn to face me, their guns aimed at my head as they all shout orders at one another in a panic.

“Don’t shoot!” A feminine voice in the crowd yells. “Do not fire!”

But the men are scared and armed, their fear is palpable. They see the monster I’ve become. And they take aim.

Bullets shoot through the night at their new target as that feminine voice screams and shouts to try and stop them.

A rush of wind soars past me and I’m suddenly cradled by a massive body, arms wrapped around my torso. Their grip and smell is startlingly familiar as I’m held to a firm chest. Bullets ring through the air as the person holds me close, shielding me from their onslaught.

When I peer up into their face inches from mine, Bob is staring down at me wide eyed and terrified. His eyes are glowing with that golden fire. And the bullets…they ricochet off of him. Never once piercing his skin. They only shred his clothing, revealing more of his skin and torso.

“CEASE FIRING!” That female voice shouts through a megaphone. “THATS AN ORDER!”

The firing stops immediately.

But Bob doesn’t let go. He tenses around me, arms still encircling me in his warmth. My fingers are still black and my veins pulse with power, but the contact he has with my skin only soothes that frost-bitten cold that has taken over my limbs. Normally I’m trapped in the never-ending cold of my power, in the death and rot. But with his touch, his presence, it recedes. It calms.

And that power seeps back into the marrow of my bones as he holds me close.

My fingers trail over his now naked torso, smoothing over the bumps and ridges of his abdomen. He shivers at my touch.

“You’re alive,” I whisper.

He breathes heavily, staring down at me as if we’re the only two people in the world and not surrounded by guns and soldiers.

“I-“ he swallows, staring at his torn clothing before smiling. “I guess I am.”

I smile back tentatively.

But the moment is shattered when Bob’s eyes glimmer with sudden cold fury, his smile dropping. “They tried to kill you.”

His voice is not his own and it sends a chill through my body.

Without a second thought, he turns around, shielding me behind him. I feel his body trembling, but it’s no longer from fear and panic. It’s pure rage.

There’s a collective gasp at the sight of Bob unharmed. It’s obvious there isn’t a single wound or scratch on him.

The guns are aimed once more. They, too, must see the reflective gold shimmering in his eyes. They must see the tightening of his jaw, the clenching of his fists. The straightening of his shoulders as he glares at them.

Something inside of me purrs at the sight of him holding me, protecting me. Another part of me fights to prove that I can protect myself. But the feeling of Bob’s warmth, his body inches from mine, has me basking in the knowledge that he’s alive.

If only we can find a way out of here, he can stay that way.

“Stand down!” That feminine voice is back.

I scan the crowd for her and find a woman near the back, next to a van. The second our eyes connect, that thing inside of me stirs violently. The hair on the back of my neck rises.

Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.

Her name is whispered in my mind and that thing inside of me growls like a wild animal.

Remembering her name being spoken earlier in the Vault, I know this woman is the reason for all of our problems. Why Yelena, Walker, and Ava were down there. Why Bob and I were down there.

Whoever she is, that woman wanted us all dead. And it sets my teeth on edge. With her watching, I step closer to Bob on instinct, just in case.

Bob must sense my unease as he reaches back to grip my hand in his. His touch steadies my breathing.

“We don’t want to hurt you!” Valentina shouts into the megaphone.

I almost roll my eyes. If they didn’t want to hurt us, they wouldn’t have shot first. And she wouldn’t have left us to be incinerated in the first place.

Bob’s head cocks to the side, as if he’s assessing the situation. As if he, too, doubts Valentina’s reassurance. The guns move with his subtle movement, following him. It makes me anxious seeing that many guns pointed at us.

“Put down your weapons!” Valentina calls to her soldiers, but they hesitate.

That hesitation rings through the silence like a heavy toll of a bell. It’s deafening and damning. It raises the hair on the back of my neck, just as Bob rolls back his shoulders. He stands tall, staring them down, anger and protectiveness rolling off of him in waves.

Something shifts in those seconds of brief hesitation. Something with heavy, gravitational pull as the air pulses with energy. Power seeps from Bob like a living flame, feeding heat into my limbs with him so close. His grip is unyielding and pulls on my hand as he stands tall, rising above me.

A gasp echoes through the stillness. Guns are raised anew as every eye is trained on Bob. And when I look, my eyes widen.

Holy shit, can he fly?

Bob is hovering above the ground, enough for everyone in sight to see.

When Bob looks down, his face is a mirror of my own with complete shock written across it. He looks behind, towards me, golden-blue eyes full of wonder and fear. Of what he can do. Of what he’s become.

What did they do to him?

The thought is fleeting just as the guns are raised and orders are shouted and fear is thick in the air enough to bring Bob startling back to the present. In the blink of an eye, Bob turns, bending to pick me up in his arms just as a ring of gunshots echoes behind us.

“Don’t move,” his lips move against the side of my cheek near my ear as his body blocks the bullets from hitting me, ricocheting off his back. The gold is blazing in his eyes now, taking over the blue in a way that sparks a flicker of dread in my gut, as well as a simmering of excitement through my blood.

“Hold on,” his voice echoes through my mind just as he shoots into the sky.

The breath in my lungs leaves me as I cling to Bob in sheer terror. Wind whips against my hair and skin as he soars through the air. I squirm in his hold, shaking as I try to take deep breaths. Bob holds me tighter in response.

“I won’t let you fall,” he assures me through whatever mind connection we share. “I swear.”

I almost laugh. “Says the guy who didn’t even know he could fly seconds ago.”

Bob’s chest rumbles with laughter as we soar through the clouds. A fine mist of water covers my face, coating my eyelashes as I blink through the moisture. When the roaring wind and the rapid beat of Bob’s heart is all I can hear, I close my eyes.

Don’t look down. Don’t look down. Don’t look down.

The chant is all I can focus on as the wind suddenly dies down and the air is almost… still. As though we’ve stopped.

“Wow,” Bob whispers. “You need to see this.”

I shift, peeking through my eyes to see a sky of unending stars above us. They’re so close I can practically reach out and touch them.

When I lift my head more, my jaw drops. The moon hangs heavy and pure before us, high above the clouds. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

All at once, everything in me, that thing— that living breathing power of death and rot— stills. Everything inside of me is quiet. Peaceful. Empty.

It’s the most normal I’ve felt in… a very long time.

For once, I can breathe.

When I turn to look at Bob, to share in this relief, or even to say thank you for saving my life (again), I stop. My breath catches in my throat.

“Bob?”

His eyes keep closing and opening as if he’s fighting to stay awake, his grip loosening around my body.

“BOB!” I scream as he falls backwards, plunging us in a deep dive through the clouds.

I cling to him, desperate and scared as we hurtle through the sky like a comet to earth. I scream and scream, holding him, not knowing what else to do. Fear pumps through my blood like an omen as the clouds part and I can see the distant, dim lights of the Vault thousands of feet below.

I’m going to die. The thought is loud and final as panic courses through me. If Bob doesn’t wake up…

I close my eyes, reaching deep inside of myself to find whatever it is inside of me that calls to him. That makes me dream of him and feel as if I know him better than I know myself. I reach and reach before finding that thin silver thread, the one that pulses in my minds eye from my ribcage to his. The thing that scares me most of all for what it could possibly mean.

When I reach for it, it’s blinding like starlight. I pull at it, roughly. It jolts and heats beneath my skin, right above my heart, but I continue through the burn.

When it pulls taught in my minds grip, I gasp. Something has answered my desperate call and when I open my eyes, I see who it is. It’s Bob, but I can see it’s also…not. I can feel it in the way his his eyes are open and depthless. Black and all-encompassing. A void.

And suddenly it hits me. As he pulls me close, his arms strong and steady as he turns us, crushing me to his chest, a deep, unending truth sinks inside of me.

Him and I, we are the same. The eyes, the uncontrollable power, the overwhelming need to protect, the endless dread of what we’re capable of. Even the silver tether tying us together, telling me we were always meant to be here. Together.

Like calls to like.

We are the same.

That truth echoes in my head, in my bones, as he wraps his arms protectively over my head, curling my body into him. Protecting me.

“I’m here,” he says, grounding and possessive. “I told you I will never let you go.”

If we weren’t still hurtling towards the ground, I would’ve shivered in his arms.

“Do you trust me?” He asks, his voice deep and gruff in my ear.

I nod without hesitation.

His grip is painful as he nods against me, swift and calculating. “My power is greatly weakened. I can— I can only soften the blow of our impact. But you will live. Know this, you will always be safe. No matter what.”

I cling to him harder, letting his words wash over me with their reassurance. I don’t have time to say anything back. Instead, I press my face into his shirt, kissing the center of his chest before bracing for impact.

His hand cups the back of my head and suddenly, a strange sense of peace washes over me at his touch. It’s warm and familiar, like coming home. I fall into it, my breath catching as my consciousness begins to fade in and out.

“Trust me,” I hear him whisper.

And that touch, it warms and warms until his fingers are the only thing I can feel and I’m falling back into a familiar, waiting darkness that consumes me just as we plunge back to earth.

————

The explosion of dirt and rocks echoes through the ground, up through Valentina’s legs. The crew and soldiers all stare in wide-eyed, slack jawed amazement as debris flies through the air.

Seconds ago, both Bob and Y/N were hurtling through the sky like a star before falling and crashing into the desert.

They have to be dead, Valentina’s logic says.

But her skewed optimism gives her a sliver of hope, remembering what those Project Sentry files contained. How the tests and trials proved that the skin of the surviving subjects was impenetrable. They could withstand anything.

That thought alone, from research and science, has her striding towards Mel with a smile on her face. Even as chaos erupts around her.

Mel stares at her boss as if she’s finally lost it. “Aren’t you the least bit concerned? They could be dead!”

Valentina only rolls her eyes. “Most likely they’re only unconscious with a few bruises. I doubt they’re that easy to kill. Remember what he did? What she did?” She shakes her head, a sense of giddiness rising inside of her. “I love it when everything works out for me.”

Mel doesn’t watch her boss head off to order people to retrieve the two subjects. No, she stares at the crater in the distance, the one created from their impact. What she can’t see, as the dust clears and the rocks fall away, is the body of a man, curled and protective around the body of a woman. Both completely and totally unharmed.

Later, when crews and teams climb inside the hole to gather the two subjects, they’ll find their limbs tangled and their hands intertwined.

When the crew try to pull them apart, the man’s fingers twitch and his eyelids shift. But he remains unconscious. Lost in the safe oblivion he’s created to keep her safe. To keep her within reach. To keep her entirely and only his.

Part Five (coming soon)

————

🪻quick note: I realized I never wrote this, but let’s just act like Yelena, Walker, and Ava left as soon as reader went all “vengeful woman” on everyone when Bob got shot. ok? ok.

————

Taglist: @piston-cup @babybabygrogu @theadharablack @jsprien213 @mysticdelusionengineer @accidentpronedork @qardasngan @groovycass @magnificentmoonpersona @looneylooomis

[saintsanddevils]

not a request but IM GIGGLING SO HARD ik i shouldnt be she killed people but she did it for BOB 😩😩😩😩

we love a woman who protects her man 👏

(& a man who protects his woman👀)

[saintsanddevils]

Void & Omen - pt 3

Bob Reynolds/Void x Fem!Reader

Summary: When you meet Bob, that deadly power inside of you stirs, recognizing something just as equally dark and powerful in him. After all, like calls to like.

Warnings/Tags: Thunderbolts movie spoilers, canon typical violence & swearing, brief mentions of blood, fluff, angst, overprotective & possessive reader (& Bob)

Author’s Note: This is my FAV chapter I’ve written for this series so far! Enjoy!

Word Count: 5K

Masterlist

Part Two • Part Four

————

Arms locked and legs trembling, we barely make it to the closed elevator door hundreds of feet above the ground level. It must’ve been hours of exerting ourselves to get here. Sweat clings to my skin as heaving breaths saw through my lungs. I cling to Bob and Ava as tight as possible as we climb further, back to back.

“I see the door!” John gasps, startling our progress. “We’re almost there!”

Hope soars through us as we gasp out a mutual sigh of relief, until… Silence reigns as realization slices through the air like the blade of a guillotine.

“Now what?” Yelena huffs.

“Maybe one of us should go up first?” Ava suggests, shifting on my left side. Her weight drags me for a second as I shift my legs, stabilizing myself. I cling harder to my right side, to Bob, who also stabilizes himself, pushing his weight into me to keep me centered.

Yelena groans. “Then the other four immediately fall!”

“Ahh, shit,” John hisses.

“Yeah, sorry,” Bob sighs, voice quivering with uncertainty. “I guess I didn’t really think this far ahead.”

I turn my head towards Bob, finding him staring at the wall in front of himself in defeat as John berates him for this idea. My heart sinks at the way his shoulders sag, eyes losing that small bit of innocent, playful light they normally carry.

“Always making things worse,” he whispers under his breath. He says it like a mantra. As if he’s been told this for most of his life and he believes it.

Something protective stirs in my chest.

“Don’t say that,” I tell him, ignoring John’s tirade. “This was a great idea.”

Bob scoffs, shaking his head, but he doesn’t respond. He only stares at the wall, that light continuing to fade in his eyes.

“Maybe if we didn’t have two extra people, this would be much easier—“

I stop John before he can continue. “If you didn’t have Bob & I, you’d never make it this far.”

John scoffs. “Yeah, but at least we wouldn’t have you guys around, being a burden—“

I flinch. Bob tenses.

“Hey, I don’t think I can do this for much longer!” Ava complains loudly.

“Hand me your baton, I can reach it!” John calls to Yelena.

She gasps and they continue to bicker, but my eyes haven’t left Bob. That stirring in my chest hasn’t left and it’s telling me to help him. To be there for him. To protect him.

“Bob—“

Suddenly, he shakes his head, whipping it around frantically.

“Bob?”

“C-cucumber! Cucumber!”

“What the hell is happening?!” Yelena questions.

Bob tosses his head around. “Growing up, someone t-told me that you can stop sneezing if you c-can confuse your brain,” he stutters. “I always just yell cucumber.”

“Okay?”

“I have to sneeze, but if I sneeze, I can lose control and if that happens—“

John groans in annoyance. “This is insane! I can get us all out of here. I just need to go first—“

“No!” I yell, trying to grip tightly to Bob who keeps jostling us with his sharp movements.

“No way!” Ava joins in.

Bob suddenly stills. “Oh no.”

Fear drops in my stomach like a heavy stone. If he loses his grip, we’re all dead.

“Cucumber!” We yell in varied unison. “Cucumber!”

We continue to yell as John shifts, grabbing Yelena’s baton from her back.

“No!” I scream just as his arm whips it back before throwing it towards the closed elevator door.

Our screams echo as we fall like dominos. Bob reaches out to me, as if by instinct, and holds on for dear life as we plummet. Bob jolts from my grip as a thin rope suddenly ties around his ankle, stopping him. I scream before Bob grabs on to my hand, gripping me tightly.

My body slams into the wall of the elevator before stilling, hovering mid-air with Bob’s hand securely around mine. When I look up at him, he smiles sheepishly before finally sneezing.

“What the fuck, Walker!” Yelena screams.

“You’re welcome!” He yells back, helping Ava up through the elevator door.

“You selfish prick!” She spits at him.

“Yeah, well, you’re all safe,” he shrugs. “I made a tactical decision. Secure my own safety, which in turn, ensured all of yours.”

Yelena is pulled up next, swearing like a sailor as she shoves past him, grabbing her baton from him with a heavy glare.

“Pretty ungrateful, if you ask me.” John huffs.

“What an asshole,” I mutter as Bob pulls himself up, bending to hang on to the rope attached to him. At the same time, he pulls me up with one hand, helping me to reach the same rope he’s hanging on to. I stare up at him as he holds me close, gripping my waist.

“Thanks,” I breathe heavily. “That was some crazy upper-body strength.”

He smiles, red spotting his cheeks. “Uh yeah. It’s nothing.”

I shake my head. “No seriously, thank you. I could’ve died.”

Bob’s face grows serious, his hand tensing around my waist. “I wouldn’t have let you fall.”

Something hums in my chest at that.

“You gonna make it, Bobby?!”

Bob flinches at John’s shout. Sharp annoyance towards the super soldier sparks in my chest at the sight. John pulls us up by the rope before extending his hand to us. A smug grin crosses his lips and I glare up at him before accepting his help.

“You don’t have to be a jerk about it,” I grumble.

He shakes his head, rolling his eyes. “Hey, at least you’re breathing.” He looks over at Bob, who breathes heavily as he pulls himself up to the door. “Looks like you might’ve missed arm, leg, and chest day.”

Bob glares up at him. I see something in his eyes. Something dark and shining as he holds his hand up to John. When they clasp hands, John pulls him the rest of the way.

Something under my skin rises to the surface. Feeling a strange spark of energy in the air, my skin pebbles with goosebumps. I furrow my brows, staring at Bob as he shoves past Walker, making his way over to me. His eyes—

“You alright?” He nods to me.

But his eyes… there’s a strange sheen of gold in them. Like a fire lit from within.

“Are you?” I ask.

He stills, eyes jumping from me to Walker, who’s dangerously close to the edge of the elevator shaft, staring at nothing.

“Yeah, fine. Great.”

I can sense the lie and it stings.

“Bob?” I step closer. “What’s wrong?”

When I reach out to touch him, he steps back. I stare at him, hoping the hurt isn’t written on my face as it pinches my insides.

The action of stepping back from me shouldn’t hurt as much as it does. Memories of my mother, my sister, my friends, all stepping far from me. Fear filling their eyes as they backed away. As if I would hurt them. As if I wanted to hurt them.

My hand falls to my side.

“Walker?” Yelena calls out, drawing my attention.

John stands barely a step away from the edge, his body swaying slightly forward. The hair rises on the back of my neck at the sight. How his body seems suspended in a moment, lost in thought.

Yelena steps forward, reaching out towards him. “Are you crazy?!”

John jumps when Yelena’s hand touches his shoulder. He steps back from the ledge, eyes unfocused as he whirls towards the rest of us.

“What?” John questions, clearly confused.

Yelena shakes her head. “What the hell were you going to do?”

John furrows his brows. “What are you talking about?”

I stare at the ledge, dread filling my stomach at the thought of watching John plummet down the shaft, to his death. How could he not notice what he was doing?

Bob shifts in my peripheral.

Ava rolls her eyes. “Ugh, we don’t have time for this. Can we finally get out of here?”

When we follow her to the only door in the room, she presses a button and it lifts up, revealing a walkway to the outside world. A chill night breeze soars through the open door and the smell of sun-bleached earth fills the air. It reminds me of waking up in the middle of the night when I camped out in the desert years ago.

“Where exactly are we?” I ask.

Yelena shrugs. “Utah.”

We file closer to the door as the sound of marching and harsh voices echo from outside. The five of us lean against the corner of the wall, peering out to see what’s going on.

Large groups of men and women armed in tactical gear and various weapons run around the entrance. They shout and march, readying themselves for some sort of assault.

“Shit,” Ava shakes her head. “This isn’t looking good for us.”

“Fucking Valentina,” Yelena murmurs.

Backing away from the entrance, we gather around, trying to plan a way out of here that doesn’t result in getting shot in the head the second any of us step out of the building.

Bob is twitching and shifting from foot to foot again, nervously. I step closer to him on instinct, forcing myself not to reach out to him. Not since he stepped out of my touch earlier. The sting of it still hurts.

“I’m thinking I might just surrender,” Bob says, drawing everyone’s attention. “They don’t know me, I’m just some random guy.”

The thought of him going out there, alone and vulnerable, has my gut twisting.

John throws his hands in the air in frustration. “So, every man for himself, then.”

Yelena cocks her head to the side. “Who said you’re in charge?”

John, Yelena, and Ava continue to bicker, once again. I shift closer to Bob as they argue.

“You think they won’t hurt you?” I ask.

Bob shrugs. “I’m not who they’re after. I’m no one.”

I bite my lip. “Where would you go once you’re out?”

“If they let me go free,” he forces a nervous laugh. “I don’t know. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the states.”

“Me too.”

Bob turns to look at me, hundreds of questions drifting across his features. I resist the sudden urge to smooth my fingers over his face to reassure him.

Instead of touching him, I give him a glimpse of my past. “After my parents died, I didn’t want to stick around. Everything felt haunted. Once I left, I couldn’t stop running.”

I stare off into the distance, lost in memories of hitchhiking, sleeping on park benches, and doing odd jobs to pay for food and getting me as far from home as possible.

Bob shifts closer, head tilted as his eyes take me in. In this clearer lighting, I can finally make out how his eyes are a deep, dark blue. The color of the night sky right before dawn.

“I was running, too,” he confesses.

I give him a small smile, something secret and shared. “Looks like we’re just two runaways looking for somewhere to go.”

“For somewhere to belong.”

My breath hitches, watching as he steps closer, towering over me.

“Come with me.”

My heart beats rapidly in my throat at his boldness. “What?”

Bob hesitates, breathing in. “I mean, you don’t have to, it’s entirely your choice, after all. I just thought since I feel like I know you and we both went through the same thing with O.X.E., maybe it’s a sign we should stick together? I don’t know. It’s okay if you don’t want to, I get it. Completely. I just—“

“Bob,” I laugh, raising my hand to his mouth, stopping him.

No one has ever been so flustered with kindness towards me. It’s both refreshing and daunting. I feel as though I don’t deserve it.

Maybe you do.

The thought fills me with liquid sunshine.

I let my small smile grow, giving him some reassurance. “If we survive this and we’re somehow able to walk free,” I shrug. “Maybe I will come with you. It’s not like I have anywhere else to go.”

I feel him smile beneath my fingertips and only then do I realize how close we’re standing. How his skin pleasantly burns my own at the contact.

“Earth to the love-birds!” John shouts, clapping his hands together. It startles us badly enough that we jump apart. “Jesus Christ. Any second longer and you’ll be making-out when we’re trying to get the fuck out of here.”

Heat creeps up my chest and neck, filling my cheeks as I look down at my feet. I see Bob’s hands clench tightly at his sides as he stares at Walker.

“We were just talking—“

“Looked like way more than talking,” John scoffs.

Yelena steps forward. “Let’s focus on the task at hand, okay? If we want this to work, we have to do it together.”

Ava suddenly phases out, startling everyone as she disappears from view.

Yelena curses. “We can only hope she’ll grab a car for us to get out of here.”

Walker shakes his head. “That’s a lot to hope for.”

Yelena glares at him before turning to both Bob and I. “Now, let’s get to work.”

————

Gunfire echoes down the dark halls as we run. Yelena put Walker in charge of keeping the guards occupied and taking them out while she turned off the lights. Needless to say, the plan went to shit.

She had both Bob and I trailing after her earlier into the breaker room when we heard the first round of gunfire. She swore colorfully as she tried and failed to turn out the lights. Once she did, it was too late.

Now, we’re running towards the fight.

“Stay here,” she calls behind to us. “You’ll be safe.”

Bob shakes his head. “I can help you.”

She stops, turning to him. “You want to help? Fine, help me by watching over her.”

She nods to me and I startle. “What?”

“Watch over each other while I scout ahead. I don’t need you both getting shot while I’m trying to deal with these men and get us out of here. Alive.”

“But I don’t need—“ Yelena disappears around the corner towards the gunfire before I can finish.

Bob rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, shifting his weight. “Well, guess we just… wait here.”

I sigh, leaning against the wall. “Guess so.”

Silence fills the space between us. Bob begins to pace the longer Yelena is gone. More shouts and gunfire echo down the hall. I flinch at the sound, pressing against the wall and breathing deep. Something stirs under my skin as fear beats like a constant drum in my chest.

Bob must see or sense my distress since he drifts closer, concern etching his features. “W-what’s your favorite color?”

I pause, meeting his gaze. A short laugh escapes me at the randomness of his question. “My favorite color?”

He nods encouragingly.

“I don’t know,” I shake my head. “I’ve never really thought about it.”

Bob’s eyes widen. “You don’t know your favorite color?”

I shrug, thinking. “I mean, I probably don’t have just one favorite. Like I love the way this one tree looked outside my house when I was a kid and how it was always this golden orange. I also love how the sky looks just before the sun rises, a mix of light purples and blues.”

Bob still looks like he’s in shock, but he seems more placated now. “Wow, that’s… Those are some really good ones. I was just going to say blue.”

I laugh hard enough that it echoes off the walls. Bob smiles openly now.

“Favorite movie?” I ask.

“That’s a hard one.”

“I told you it’s hard to pick just one!”

He holds out his hands, as if in surrender. “Okay, yes, you’re right. But if I had to pick one, I’d probably say The Princess Bride.”

I raise my brows. “Really?”

“Hey, it’s a good movie. It’s got action, adventure, comedy, romance,” he counts each one off his fingers to emphasize his point. “It has everything. I’m also just a sucker for a damsel in distress and a happy ending.”

Smiling this much hurts my cheeks as I tilt my head. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for the happily ever after type.”

“Well,” His gaze lowers to the floor. “When you live in a nightmare, you just hope everything will turn out in the end. That all that suffering was worth it.”

His smile has faded, eyes dark and lost.

I pause, studying him. From what I’ve come to know in the last few hours, Bob is sweet, kind, and selfless. Something broken and soft. Something complex from a past of deep hurt.

A part of me sings to that melancholic tune, wanting to step forward and hold him. I hold back, remembering how he stepped out of my touch earlier.

I say softly, “I think it’s a wonderful thing to believe in happy endings. When we get out of here, I hope you find yours.”

Bob meets my eyes and there’s something shared there. It’s familiar and warm.

But then more gunfire sounds down the labyrinthine halls, disturbing the peace of our corner of the world. It sounds closer now.

“What made you choose O.X.E.?” He asks, his voice no longer burdened by the past.

A glimpse at his innocent big eyes and small, curious, trusting smile has me letting down my guard a little more. Allowing for him to continue distracting me.

“It didn’t really feel like a choice. It was more that I was desperate and had no other options.” I shrug. “I’ve been on the run for a long time. I eventually got tired of running.”

Something hollow and desperate claws its way up my throat as memories threaten to overwhelm me, but I try to hold it back. Shoving it down, down, down, far from the surface. There’s a burning in my eyes, but I blink it away.

Bob is suddenly closer and his concern is heavy on my skin as he boldly takes my hand in his. “We’re both just two runaways, yeah?”

I smile sadly at the reminder of my words from earlier. “Two runaways who woke up barefoot in an incinerator with trained killers.”

Bob laughs.

The thing in my chest stirs, warming at the sound of his laughter. It simmers in my veins. When he jostles our clasped hands, I feel a pull in my ribs. Something that tugs and brightens when he smiles down at me. If I squint, I can almost see it, like a shining, silver tether. It glows, flowing from my chest to—

I swiftly close my eyes, breathing deep. I’m just imagining things.

“There’s two down this way!” A shout rings out down the hall, making us both jump.

We turn to find three people in tactical gear heading our way, guns trained on us.

Bob immediately shoves me behind him, hand still tightly gripping mine.

“Don’t move.” A command under his breath. The tone of his voice reminds me eerily of the one from my dream.

“Surrender or we will use force!” The group is closer now and their weapons haven’t lowered.

“H-hey!” Bob calls out. “Uh, we were totally on our way to do just that—“

“Step away from each other and show us your hands, now!”

Bob tenses under my touch. “Sure, if you just lower your guns, that would be great.”

“I said STEP AWAY!”

Their shout makes me flinch. Bob must’ve felt it cause he stops, standing straighter.

“And I said lower your guns.” His voice is low and harsh, again. Cruel and dangerous.

The group move closer and the one shouting orders points their gun right towards Bob’s head.

Mine! That thing inside of me, inside my head, growls.

My hands shake, veins bulging as they start to shift darker and darker. I stare in wide-eyed horror.

No, no, no, no—

I immediately let go of Bob, but he holds my hand captive in his. “Bob,” I whisper, hoping I don’t sound as panicked as I feel. “I need you to let go—“

“STEP AWAY! HANDS UP!”

Bob is trembling under my hand, but he stands tall, unflinching as he stares down the armed men. I would admire his bravery if I weren’t so terrified of hurting him on accident with whatever is stirring beneath my skin.

Yanking my hand forcefully out of Bob’s, I step to the side, in sight of the armed men, hoping the heated situation will cool down now.

It doesn’t.

“GET YOUR HANDS UP!”

“STOP POINTING THAT AT HER!” Bob shouts, startling me bad enough that I look at him instead of the guns aimed at me.

That’s when I see it. The reflective gold lining his dark blue irises, shining brighter with each second.

Mine.

I flinch at the animalistic claiming in my head.

“Whatever happens, don’t move.” Bob’s voice is commanding and dark in my head. All too familiar.

Bob steps forward and all three guns are trained on him. He takes another step.

“STOP OR WE WILL USE FORCE!”

Whatever sleeps under my skin, watching with lazy attention, now is fully awake and gnawing at my bones. My heart beats rapidly against my ribs like a panicked bird in a cage. With each beat, two words pulse through my blood.

Free me. Free me. Free me!

Bob takes another step and the men click the safety off their guns. The sound echoes in my head like an omen and it sparks something inside of me that causes true fear and anger to rise to the surface.

That sound is all I need to hear. The imminent danger hanging in the air like a tight thread about to snap. And something happens.

Within the span of a breath, a heartbeat, I’m changed. Something else takes over. Something primal and hungry. Something cold and deadly. Like a wave washing over my skin, I drown beneath the surface as my body is no longer mine to control.

It’s hers.

My hand raises, skin slowly blackening at the fingertips as my veins bulge and writhe with black coursing through them, like poison. My eyes have shifted from one blink to the next, now dark and depthless voids. With the change, I see the world differently. The men before us, armed and ready to shoot Bob, the center of their chests begin to glow. A small silver light that steadily beats to the cadence of their hearts.

“What the fuck?!”

“Holy shit!”

“STAND DOWN!”

Their voices of panic and surprise don’t phase me as they turn their attention to me. But it’s too late.

I raise my hand higher, like a conductor of an orchestra. I guide the music no one else can hear.

Their gear hides what’s happening to them, but I can see it all nonetheless. The skin beneath their tactical gear begins to tighten, veins bulging as poisonous black slowly spreads up through their blood. They cough and stagger back, blood leaking from their mouths and eyes as they choke on the toxic air lodged in their lungs.

My name whispered from his lips has me stilling, like an animal caught in headlights. I turn my head to him. He staggers back in shock upon seeing my face. I frown at the action.

When one of the soldiers grips their gun and aims it at us, I cock my head at them. It’s strange to watch the last dredges of humanity and fragile hope fight to live. Especially at the end.

I snap my fingers.

And the lights in their chest, that steady glow… It snuffs out like a candle flame.

Their bodies drop to the floor like marionettes, their strings cut.

More.

It’s voice— her voice, rings through my skull.

We need more.

He steps in front of me, eyes wide. I can smell the terror coursing through his blood, but I would never harm him. Never him. Not when I recognize what lies in waiting beneath his skin. How it reflects my own.

“Hey,” he says, voice shaking, as his hands reach out to me, but not touching me. “Come back to me.”

I furrow my brows. My voice is raspy, deep, and hungry as I say, “More.”

Bob’s eyes widen. I step closer, his scent entirely intoxicating and delicious. I’ve been without him for so long, I can’t bear to part from him. Now that I’ve found him. Now that he has found me.

I raise my palm to his chest. He flinches. I press into him, eyes focused on his. On the gold that reflects back. The power rattling inside of him, begging to be released.

I gesture with my head towards the three bodies. “They threatened what is mine. What belongs to me.”

Bob swallows, eyes scanning my features as if he’s searching for something. “You did that for me?”

I nod.

His body trembles under my touch. “C-can, uh, can you, I mean, can Y/N come back now?” I stare at him and he rushes to continue. “I’m safe now. Thanks to you. You-you took care of them.”

“Safe,” I repeat, hesitant.

He nods. “I’m safe. Thank you.”

When I blink, my eyes are back to normal. The ink-black of my veins and tips of my fingers is gone. I rise to the surface, gasping before my knees give out beneath me.

Bob catches me, hands wrapping tightly around my waist. “Hey, hey,” he cautions, voice reassuring. “You’re okay, you’re alright.”

I blink, slowly and heavily, up at him. “W-what? What happened?” I wince, pain pounding a steady beat in my head. “Why do I feel so…”

Exhaustion grips me, weighing down on my limbs heavily as darkness begins to cloud my vision. I hear Bob calling my name but I fall into that dark, allowing it to cradle me like his arms around my body.

The last thing I see are the bodies, lying limp and stiff on the floor. Their mouths agape, skin hollow, bloody, and cracked.

————

Bob hears someone running around the corner. He can sense it’s Yelena before she bursts into the hall, gasping when she sees the bodies on the floor.

“What the hell happened here?!”

Bob doesn’t turn to her. He’s too focused on the woman cradled in his arms. How her breathing has finally settled and her skin is paler than usual.

She killed them to save me.

The thought should scare him. It doesn’t. Not when what lies beneath his skin hums in approval.

Bob shifts his hold on her, heaving her off the floor as he stands, cradling her body to his chest. He finally looks at Yelena, who watches with raised brows.

“It doesn’t matter,” he says. “Let’s get out of here.”

Yelena pauses, staring at Bob before shifting her eyes to Y/N. “Is she alright?”

Bob nods, feeling her steady pulse against the skin of his arms, the slow breaths on his neck. “She’ll be okay.”

He strides past Yelena, not caring what she does or how she stands frozen, looking over the bodies on the floor. His focus is on Y/N.

She saved me. She saved me. She saved me.

The words echo in his head like a mantra. When he woke earlier that day to find himself confused and cornered by strangers in an incinerator, she was the one thing that made sense. Every part of him, every follicle and atom, knew her. Recognized her.

He didn’t know why or how, but he knew her and trusted her. The second he laid eyes on her, something stirred in him. Something claiming and new. It scared him, at first. But now, seeing what she was capable of, what he was capable of, he knows for certain this is something he can’t lose.

He holds her tighter as he turns down the hall. That thing inside of him, stirring in his chest, purring at her touch- it whispers in his blood.

Mine.

————

Valentina sits in the van outside of the Vault watching the monitors with rapt attention. Her hands grip tightly to the leather of the chair as she hovers inches from the screen. Her eyes glued to the last recordings from the dead soldiers body cams.

“Play it again,” she commands.

The tech rewinds it.

Valentina watches, a slow smile inching its way across her lips.

Mel appears at her side, startling at what she sees on the screen. “What is that?”

A young woman stands with her hand stretched out towards the screen, towards the soldiers. Her skin blackened at the fingertips, veins pulsing dark and menacing. But it’s her eyes that have Mel wide eyed and terrified.

Valentina turns to Mel, a gleam in her eye. “Isn’t she stunning?” She nods to the screen. “She is our solution. Maybe even our salvation.”

Mel purses her lips, staring at the screen with hesitancy. “She doesn’t look like a solution, more like a problem.”

Valentina rolls her eyes. “You don’t see the potential for what she can become.”

“A super villain killing hundreds of thousands of people with just the wave of her hand?”

Valentina laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “No, no, no,” she shakes her head. “You’re being too critical, too cryptic. You don’t see her potential.” She turns back to the screen. “She could be so much more.”

Part Four

————

Taglist: @eywas-heir @babybabygrogu @theadharablack @jsprien213 @mysticdelusionengineer @accidentpronedork @qardasngan @groovycass @magnificentmoonpersona

Anyone can be added to the taglist🫶

[saintsanddevils]

Void & Omen - pt 2

Bob Reynolds/Void & Fem!Reader

Summary: When you meet Bob, that deadly power inside of you stirs, recognizing something just as equally dark and powerful in him. After all, like calls to like.

Warnings/Tags: Thunderbolts movie spoilers, canon typical violence & swearing, protective!Bob

Author’s Note: Someone asked how many parts this series will have & so far I’ve planned 5 or 6. This might change.

Word Count: 2K

Masterlist

Part One • Part Three

————

My senses slowly come back to me as pain beats up my spine like a steady drum. I’m bruised and beaten after being thrown from the explosion and my muscles scream at me as I slowly wake.

My ears are ringing and my head aches, but when my fingers begin to twitch, I sense something soft and calloused holding my hand. I slowly open my eyes to find it still curled in Bob’s hand. His grip begins to tighten around mine as he stirs. He must’ve been knocked unconscious too.

His soft features are speckled in ash and dirt as his eyes slowly open. They immediately find me.

Like calls to like.

That thing from my memory—no, my dream, its voice continues to echo in my head. The dream still sticks to me like a second skin, leaving a bitter taste on my tongue.

Bob must sense my distress or notice the anxiety written plainly on my face as his eyebrows furrow, body tensing. His hand unconsciously squeezes mine, as if it were habit.

When he notices, he quickly tears his hand away, as if embarrassed. His cheeks are red as he slowly sits up, looking anywhere but at me.

“Are you alright?” He mutters, shy and concerned.

I groan, limbs stretching before I heave myself into a sitting position. “I’m alive. That counts for something, I guess.”

He nods before finally meeting my eyes. He seems incredibly nervous and cautious as he says, “I’m sorry.“

I furrow my brows. “For what?”

He stares for a moment. His voice lowers to a whisper. “I should’ve tried to catch you.”

I still.

The dream. It’s hazy and fading in my memory, but snippets of darkness and light, of blood and gore, rise in my mind. And a voice, just before I fell into the dark…

“There you are.”

That voice…

Realization dawns on me like a slap to the face. It’s stinging and bruising as I remember that voice. His voice. Whatever that dark shadowy thing was, it sounded eerily like Bob.

I focus on Bob’s hands in his lap. How they were holding mine a few moments ago. How the skin cradled mine gently and how he never let me go, not even after the explosion.

“Catch me?“ I pause, suddenly recalling seeing his face just before I fell into that unending void in my dream. “That was real?” I whisper.

Bob looks shaken. “I-I think so. I don’t know. I don’t know what any of that was. I just remember fragments, but I remember you and how scared you looked and how all I wanted to do was help you.” He pauses, swallowing. “I’m really sorry—“

“Good to see you’re both breathing,” Yelena appears above us, hands smoothing debris and dust off her clothes.

Neither of us acknowledge her. We’re both still staring at each other.

He was really there, in my dream. He saw everything. I didn’t imagine it.

Which means he saw what happened. Little nine year old me, strapped to a table under fluorescent lighting. And he also saw that creature version of me, the one covered in ink-like darkness. And that man…

The man cloaked in shadow, who seemed so familiar. He was the silhouette with Bob’s voice. I faintly remember dreaming of him before, but I can’t recall when. And whatever that shadowy thing was, it was eerily a strange, dark version of Bob.

Yelena’s eyes bounce back between us for a moment. “Uh, sorry, am I interrupting something?”

I shake my head, shoving the uncertainties and possibilities of what just occurred. If Bob was there, that means something happened to him in that trial from O.X.E. as well. And whatever they did to us has tied us together somehow. As if we’re bound by something bigger than being thrown into an incinerator, where they probably hoped we’d be dead and forgotten by now.

When I turn to Yelena and find her hand outstretched to Bob, he hesitates. It’s a brief second of vulnerability, as if he’s not used to touching someone else so freely. The skin of my hands, that were held in his seconds before, burn at the thought.

Why does he touch me without thought, but hesitate with others? Does it have something to do with whatever O.X.E. did to him, to us? Does it explain why I feel this strange pull towards him, as if we’re two gravitating stars on the verge of colliding? Does he feel that too?

My head pounds with questions while all I can do is stare as Bob ignores Yelena’s hand and stands, dusting off his pants.

“Thanks, uh, yeah glad to see everyone made it out. You okay?”

She shrugs. “This is practically a normal Tuesday afternoon for me.”

A smirk threatens to spread across my face as I struggle to my feet. Once I’m standing, my legs start to shake and the room spins. I falter back a step and Bob is suddenly there, hands steadying my arms and waist, eyes insistent and protective.

“I’ve got you,” he says firmly.

It’s grounding and sure and it’s entirely startling. It’s strange, almost foreign, to have someone care about my well-being when it seems all anyone ever wanted in my life was to get as far from me as possible. I’m used to being treated as a plague, something to avoid.

But this… Bob’s arms encircling me, steadying me. It’s comforting and stable.

I choke down that acidic taste of loneliness as I give him a quick nod of appreciation before lowering my arms and stepping away.

God, I’m entirely too touched-starved for my own good.

I can feel Bob’s gaze on me, but I turn to Yelena, who raises a brow at us.

“Do you know each other?” She asks.

Like calls to like.

I still. That thing inside me is stirring like a turbulent wave, rattling my bones, whispering in my head.

“No,” I choke out, ignoring the pressure in my chest.

I sense Bob’s wince as if it were my own.

Yelena stares at me. “Really? It just seems like you’ve known each other for years—“

I shake my head, moving past Bob. He’s still staring at me and I feel it like a brand on my skin. “We should look for a way out of here.”

Yelena pauses, staring at Bob, before turning back to me, nodding. “Ava and Walker are scouting it out.”

I nod, shifting from foot to foot. Bob is still staring.

“Y/N,” he murmurs.

“If you’re done chit-chatting, I found a way out!” John shouts, to my relief.

Yelena stops Bob from following as I walk over to John and Ava. I hear Yelena check in on him, but I ignore them. Whatever that lies between us is too terrifying to comprehend. It’s only been an hour or so with these strangers and I shouldn’t be so comfortable with any of them, especially Bob. Sweet, protective, kind, observant Bob.

I shake my head, shoving it down into the void of my emotions, hoping whatever sings in me when Bob is around will soon go away. I’m not used to other people enjoying my company, let alone liking me. And from the small interactions with Bob, he seems to be both.

I follow Ava into the ripped open elevator shaft and stare up into the never-ending dark above us.

“Well, shit,” I mutter.

Ava shakes her head. “Yeah. Shit.”

We stand there for a moment before we hear John calling out to Yelena and Bob. “Are we done with our little therapy session or do you guys want to stay down here forever?”

When I turn to find Yelena and Bob standing close together, heads bent and her hand on his shoulder, something in me seethes. It’s acidic as it simmers beneath my skin.

Mine, that thing inside of me whispers.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” I mumble to myself, closing my eyes to take deep breaths. I try to still the rotting jealousy spreading through my limbs, taming that power in me that threatens to rise to the surface. Now is not the time for destruction.

“You okay?” Ava asks.

I startle, opening my eyes. “Yeah, just…not a big fan of tight spaces. Just need a second.”

I see her brows pinch together, jaw working as she watches me. Before she can say anything, John, Yelena, and Bob join us in the elevator shaft.

Bob gives me a sheepish look before shuffling next to me. It’s strange how my body reacts when he’s near. Like that thing in my chest hums at his presence, begging me to step closer. Wanting me to touch him.

I clench my fists, keeping my feet planted as we all look up into the dark.

“So,” Yelena sighs. “None of us can fly? We all just punch and shoot?”

I sense Bob shifting from foot to foot.

Walker rolls his shoulders, breathing in and out loudly. “I’ve got this, guys.”

With a running start, he jumps into the air. The leap propels him and he soars upwards, disappearing into the dark.

“Is that… normal?” I ask.

Yelena rolls her eyes. “He’s some downgrade super soldier. Nothing special.”

“Used to be Captain America,” Ava adds. “Not a good one, though.”

Screaming echoes through the air as John’s body begins to descend rapidly towards us. Bob’s hands suddenly grip onto my elbows, pulling me back into his chest as Walker slams into the ground, inches from where I stood. I try and resist leaning into his touch.

Ava laughs at John. “You should do that again.”

John groans, heaving himself from the floor, glaring at Ava. “Can’t you just, I don’t know, walk through the walls and throw us down a rope or something?”

Ava’s smile disappears, annoyance prickling her features. “If I could do that, I wouldn’t be standing here, now would I?” She shakes her head. “The most I can hold it for is about a minute. I could be trapped and crushed inside the mountain before I can get back.”

“Only a minute?” John scoffs.

Ava glares. “Asshole.”

Yelena sighs. “Any other ideas?”

The buzzing under my skin vibrates through me as Bob continues to hold me to him. I can sense every movement of his chest, every twitch of his arms and fingers.

When Yelena catches my eye, I quickly step out of his reach. I can sense Bob’s furrowed brow and concerned eyes. But we have bigger things to worry about, like getting out of this place.

Bob raises his hand tentatively, drawing everyone’s attention. “I think I might have an idea.”

————

“Who the fuck are they?” Valentina Allegra de Fontaine points at the screen.

Video footage of five people breaking the security lock on a door in the O.X.E. Vault fills the screen. Valentina can name three of them, since she was the one who put them there. Yelena Belova, John Walker, and Ava Starr.

But it’s the two others she can’t name. They’re strangers and, right now, she needs to know how the hell they got inside that vault.

Mel Gold shrugs, staring down at the tablet. “No idea, but I’ll find out.”

The limo is silent as Mel’s fingers tap away. The city lights pass by them as the seconds drag on. Valentina clenches her jaw, her teeth creaking as she tries her best not to scream at her assistant. No matter, within seconds, Mel straightens in her seat.

“Oh god,” she whispers. “Do you remember Project Sentry?”

Valentina waves a hand, already brimming with annoyance and impatience. “Of course, but we shut that down along with everything else. All the tests subjects died. It was a dead-end. A failure.”

Mel nods. “Yes, or so we thought.”

She shifts the tablet back to her boss. Valentina’s eyes slowly begin to widen as she stares down at the screen. Her fingers latch onto it, zooming through pages and pages of research and records and case studies for Project Sentry. She pauses on research results for both Robert Reynolds and Y/N Y/L/N.

Valentina stops on a picture of the young woman. It was taken the day she arrived at the O.X.E. facility in Malaysia. Her eyes were sunken in, bones protruding from her face and collarbone. She was malnourished and sickly. She looked lost and forgotten. The perfect subject.

Below the picture, the doctors and scientists listed everything she described to them about her condition. How she hoped they could rid her of what she could do.

Scientists experimented on her, needing to know what they were dealing with. Included in the file was a video of that experiment.

“Holy shit,” Valentina whispers under her breath.

She replays it, over and over again, eyes widening as a slow, creeping smile spreads across her face.

“What is it?”

Valentina looks up at Mel from the tablet. Her smile is downright lethal as she says, “We need to get to the Vault. Immediately.”

Part Three

————

Taglist: @eywas-heir @babybabygrogu @theadharablack @jsprien213 @mysticdelusionengineer

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[saintsanddevils]

Void & Omen

Bob Reynolds/Void x Fem!Reader

Summary: When you meet Bob, that deadly power inside of you stirs, recognizing something just as equally dark and powerful in him. After all, like calls to like.

Warnings/Tags: Thunderbolts movie spoilers, no use of Y/N, blood & gore, dark thoughts, soulmates, canon typical violence & swearing (series will contain eventual smut)

Author’s Note: Reader’s powers are inspired by “The Bonds That Tie” book series by J Bree.

Word Count: 5K

Also posted on AO3

Masterlist

Part Two • Part Three • Part Four

————

A Few Weeks Ago…

There is something wrong with me. There always has been. Something that sleeps beneath my skin, waiting, watching. It slithers and coils around me, settling in my ribs as I breathe. It raises its head when it senses the rising tension around me, ready to strike. But I can’t let it.

If I do, we’re all dead.

That’s why I’m here, strapped to a hospital bed in the middle of Malaysia, as far from home as I can get. The bindings around my wrists and ankles are tight enough to hurt, but it helps to keep the cloying fear at bay. The pain grounds me, reminding me why I’m here. Why I chose to be here.

The doctors and scientists run around me with clipboards and beeping monitors. They observe and report. They whisper and nod. I’m just something living and breathing before them, something expendable.

Maybe I always was.

You’re a murderer. You deserve worse.

I flinch, my wrists twisting against the bindings. These thoughts… They’ve been growing steadily darker and louder ever since…

I swallow. Breathing in and out, slowly, remembering what my shitty therapist from childhood used to instruct me to do when panic surged through me like a tidal wave I was drowning in.

I can’t let that happen, not here. I don’t want to hurt anyone. Not when they’re going to help me.

A familiar doctor catches my attention as she approaches my bed. Her smile and cadence reassuring. “It seems the results on your charts align with what we’re looking for. Everything is good to go. Are you ready to proceed?”

Nerves rumble in my gut through my veins, but I shove it far from my expression as I try to give her as much of a confident smile as I can. “Yes.”

She must see something in my face that has her smile wavering. She casts a quick look at the other doctors before stepping forward, leaning down to my eye level. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. It’s completely voluntary. You can opt out whenever you want, but after this, you won’t be able to say no. It’s no longer a trial period. This is the real thing. Something you can’t escape.”

Escape.

The word echoes in my mind like a familiar tune I’ve grown accustomed to all my life. Something I’ve heard, like a lullaby that reverberates through my skin and settles in my bones. I’ve been running for so long, escaping is all I know how to do.

But for once, I don’t want to escape.

I give her a firm nod, determination settling my nerves. “I’m sure. Trust me.”

She stares a moment longer before nodding, squeezing my hand before turning to the other doctors and speaking with them.

While they surround me, poking and prodding my skin with various needles, hooking me to machines, I’m reminded of lab rats. How they’re used for experiments to see if drugs would be harmful or helpful for the human body. I feel like a lab rat with the attention and cold distance they put between me and their research.

The poster I saw on the street last week for this trial was ominous and off-putting, but it didn’t stop hope from budding like a small seed growing in my sternum. It bloomed the moment I stepped into the building, volunteering for this medical research study on the human body.

After speaking with many different doctors, it seemed they could… help me. Fix me. Make me whole again.

For years, I’ve felt this hole in my chest where blood, muscle, and tissue should be. Instead, it’s something rotten and coiling, full of regret, devastation, and grief. It’s planted there ever since my sister died touching my skin after pulling my hair and calling me names. It grew and grew, poisoning me when fear controlled those around me. It was palpable, tasting bitter on the tongue. My parents feared me the most. Maybe that’s why their deaths sent me fleeing in the night, afraid and lost. Hoping to escape what I’ve become.

The doctors say whatever is inside of me can be cured. That this curse will no longer plague me.

As the anesthesia hits and my consciousness fades, that hope rings through me with a song so unfamiliar and poetic, I fall into the dark with open arms.

————

The In-Between…

The dark welcomes me, enveloping me as if we were old friends. I drift and dream.

And with dreams, come nightmares.

“What have you done?!” The words echo from a woman who looks so familiar, I can’t quite grasp exactly who she is.

A small body lies broken and lifeless before me, their eyes vacant and hollow, dripping black as if their tears are made of ink. Their skin glassy, as if they were a broken doll.

The woman continues to scream at me and when I stare back, she pales, stepping away from me. “What are you…”

I try to comfort her, stop her, help her, but she shoves away from me.

“This is your fault! You’re a monster!”

The dream morphs and fades, but the echo of the word “monster” rings through the dark. It’s only when the dream leaves that I realize the woman is my dead mother.

A new dream surfaces, this one just as suffocating. I’m trapped in a glass box. Sharp, needle-thin knives poking into my skin with every movement I make. Blood coats every inch of me, dripping from my skin. My eyes sting and my breaths come sharp and ragged. Voices echo outside of the box. I can barely make out the shapes of doctors and scientists and strange familiar faces all staring down at me.

“She deserves this.” One says, loud enough that it makes me flinch.

“Witch,” another spits.

“Murderer.”

“Monster.”

The term is so familiar, it doesn’t hurt as it should, but the knives ensure it does. They move, slowly, deliberately, sinking further into my skin. I scream and scream, but each word, every curse they hurl at me, it makes the blades cut deeper.

“She’d be better off dead.”

Tears fall fast down my cheeks, but it doesn’t stop the blinding pain from the sharp knives shredding me apart. Blood flowing down my limbs and pooling at my feet. Outside the box, they laugh and mock.

Please, I plead into the void. Please end this.

Please.

Something shifts. The hairs on my arms raise and there’s a strange sense of awareness. Like there’s something… other here.

Like I’m not alone.

“STOP.”

The dream-induced voices still at the command. When I look up from the puddle of blood at my feet, they’re gone. Shadows and dust in their wake.

When the pain disappears, so does the glass box and the blinding white room. Instead, raging wind caresses the stinging of my limbs. And when I glance down, the blood is gone. My arms and legs don’t sting or hurt. It’s all… gone.

In this new dream, I’m standing atop a cliff overlooking a restless sea.

This… This feels far more real than any dream before. Even before the blinding pain, this feels more solid. As if I’m actually here. The cold wind, sharp and unrelenting against my exposed skin. The clouds hanging heavily above with the smell of fresh rain in the air. It feels very real.

Too real.

“There you are.” A voice, deep and ominous, catches on the breeze.

I turn to find the dark silhouette of a man standing a few feet away. I can’t see any of his features, but it doesn’t matter. Something deep in my being tells me I know him. It pulls at my center, between my ribs, and I follow this feeling until I’m standing before him, staring up into a face dark and encased entirely in shadow. But his eyes… like living embers, they pierce into me. As if he, too, knows me. Feels as I do.

“I’ve been looking for you.”

I feel myself smile at the stranger’s words. As if his presence brings comfort where I was lost in chaos only moments before.

“You feel so…” I trail off, lost in the piercing ember of his gaze.

“Familiar?” If he could smile, I hear it in his voice.

I nod.

He steps closer, his hand raising to smooth back a strand of hair from my face. The touch is startlingly cold. But what’s frightening is how real it feels. Skin on skin. Fingertip to cheekbone.

This isn’t a dream. Or, at least, not a normal dream.

As if reading my thoughts or the emotions flitting across my features, he cups my cheek boldly. The touch feels so natural, I lean into it. His skin settling whatever rages deep within my chest.

“We are bound, you and I,” his words are whispered, soft and claiming. “Two souls meant to be intertwined for eternity. You were never meant to be alone. You will never be alone. Not while I exist.”

I close my eyes. Tears burning up my throat, threatening to fall. All I’ve ever been is alone. Entirely alone. I’m so sick of it.

“This isn’t real,” I whisper back.

His other hand is there, firm against my other cheek. He holds me, caresses me, like something precious. Like something whole. Like something worthy of affection.

“It’s not real, you’re right,” he says. “But soon enough, it will be.”

I furrow my brows. “What do you mean?”

His fingers reach to smooth the skin.

“I will find you, outside of this dream, this… in-between. And when I do,” he steps closer, forehead touching mine. “I will never let you go.”

The promise settles in my bones with a certainty I hope to hold on to.

“You’ll find me?” The hope is clear and whisper thin in my voice.

He nods against me, lips close to mine. “In every life, in every universe. Always.”

————

Present Day…

I wake in a panic. Lungs bursting as my eyes open to find I’m locked inside something that resembles a casket with a glass lid. It’s too dark to see clearly as my fingers flatten against the plexiglass, stifling anxiety clawing at my skin. Beads of sweat coat me like oil as I push and push at the glass.

Get out get out get out—

With one last shove, the lid is thrown open and crisp air hits me. I breathe deep as I crawl out of the strange crate, falling to the hard floor. Nausea rips through me and I’m hurling everything in my gut onto the floor.

There’s noise and voices around me, farther away, but I don’t care. My entire body is slumped and aching on the concrete floor. When I finally gain my senses and feel more present, I scan my surroundings. Various crates and boxes pile high around the strange casket I was lying in. The outline of my body is still there and monitors beep and sound as I try to stand. My legs are shaky, breaths coming rapidly, but I’m here. I’m… alive.

Why is that such a shock?

I stare down at the casket, trying to recall how I got there. The last thing I remember…

I remember lying on a table, talking to scientists and doctors about my condition. About the trial they would put me through. I remember strange dreams… but as I reach for them, they fade from my grasp. Typical.

“I-I-I’m Bob,” a voice sounds from farther in the room, but it’s so familiar, I still. “I told you, I’m, uh… Yeah, Bob.”

“Jesus Christ, stop saying Bob.” Another voice huffs in annoyance.

On shaking legs and bare feet, I creep around a stack of crates to find a group of strange-looking people. Three of them are dress heavily in gear and armor, guns pointed at a man in hospital garb, similar to my own. His dark wavy hair hangs in his face, framing pale features as he holds his hands up in surrender. His hands shake and his voice trembles as he stands there, watching as the three others bicker.

Something is frighteningly familiar about this man. Maybe that’s why I step forward without thought. When my feet move a gun shell on the floor, it alerts the others to my presence.

Guns whip around and are pointing at me within seconds.

“What the hell?” A tall man with a shield and mask shakes his head. “How many of these guys are in here?”

The short blonde woman near him points her gun at my head. “Who are you?”

I furrow my brows, raising my hands in surrender like the other guy. “Who are you? I just woke up in this place and I barely understand what’s going on.”

She slightly lowers her gun, most likely sensing I’m not truly a threat. Before she can answer, the other woman, this one with dark hair, strides forward. “I’m not sure what’s happening here, but you’re all exhausting, and my job is done.”

She tries to move away towards the large doors, but the blonde raises her gun at her. “Well, see my job is to keep an eye on you. So no, you’re not going to go anywhere, anymore.”

While they bicker and threaten, I lower my hands and glance over at the other guy— Bob, if I heard him correctly earlier. He’s staring at me with furrowed brows and pinched lips. When our eyes meet, something inside of me, that thing that coils beneath my skin, stirs.

How do I know him?

“Okay,” the blonde’s voice catches my attention as she points her gun away, raising her hands. “It’s clear we have all worked for Valentina in some sort of shadow ops capacity.”

Who the hell is Valentina?

I look back at Bob and he’s still staring at me, lost and confused. When I catch his eye, he looks swiftly away, fingers twitching as he shifts from foot to foot. Something in me wants to step forward and smooth the confusion from his face, reassuring him. That scares me more than the guns and weapons still being pointed in this room.

“Yeah, so?” The masked guy speaks up with obvious annoyance.

“So, all of this stuff is O.X.E.’s secrets. But, so are we.”

I look around at the crates. Secrets… O.X.E. was the name of the company I trialed with. I didn’t think much of it at the time, just hopeful that someone could help me. Maybe even save me.

I catch sight of another open casket not far from the doors, but this one isn’t mine. My eyes flit to Bob again, to the matching patient clothes I also wear. He looks just as disoriented and cautious as I do. Did he do the trial as well? What did he want? To become something more?

He’s no longer looking at me, but I can sense he’s still very much aware of me. Every breath I take. Just as I am of him. Instead, he watches the armed group come to a steady realization.

The dark haired woman nods her head. “Which makes us liabilities that no one would miss.”

“Well, speak for yourself.” The masked man, who’s really starting to annoy me, scoffs.

“Don’t you see? We are the evidence and this is the shredder,” the blonde emphasizes. “She wants us gone.”

They continue to argue, but it seems they won’t kill each other anymore. At least, for now.

As they talk and bicker, something inside of me shifts. The air begins to smell of sulfur, the temperature slowly rising. It’s subtle enough that normal human senses can’t tell the difference, but it’s enough to make me still, assessing. I glance around, noticing the large vats in the ceiling above us. They’re big enough to take up the entire roof.

Just as I realize what we’re standing in, it dawns on me. That thing inside of me, the thing I’ve felt beneath my skin, in my ribs, in my head— it’s still there.

They… I swallow, panic creeping up my spine at an alarming rate. They didn’t cure me.

The blood drains from my face as I step back, bumping into a crate. The group stills at the sound, whirling to me with various alert expressions.

“What’s going on with her?” The dark haired woman questions.

And suddenly, that thing in my chest, in my head, in my skin, it talks to me.

Her name is Ava Starr.

I almost fall backwards at the sound. I stare wide eyed at the woman. At Ava.

“Okay, you’re really starting to freak me out.”

My head swivels to the masked man and the voice is back. John Walker, former Captain America.

My chest begins to vibrate with heaving breaths. The room feels entirely too small and an incessant pounding continues in my ears. I grip at my chest, wondering if I rip at my skin and muscle, tearing at the bone, I can finally take whatever is inside of me, out.

“Breathe.”

The word echoes in my head, but it’s not my own. Not the same voice that was speaking before. No, this one is deeper, masculine.

My eyes catch on Bob again. Only this time, he’s staring at me with a level, sure gaze. Something steady and sure. Something grounding.

That thing inside me stills. It breathes at the command. It releases the tension in my muscles, the shaking in my limbs. It steadies me.

Whatever beast or monster hidden beneath my skin is tamed by that voice. And it’s curious and awake, vibrating in my chest like a living thing.

I ignore the feeling, hoping it goes away as I tear my gaze from him. Hoping this strange feeling of wanting to be closer to him will dissipate.

The blonde with the heavy accent raises a brow at me. “You alright?”

Yelena Belova, former Red Room assassin.

“We need to get out of here,” I whisper, but it’s loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

The masked guy, John, shakes his head. “Yeah, no shit.”

“No,” I shake my head. “Can’t you feel it? The temperature is rising. It’s getting hotter in here.”

The group looks around before seeing the open vats above us.

“I think we’re in an incinerator,” Ava confirms.

“They’re going to burn us,” Yelena nods. “Destroy the evidence.”

“How would you know?” John calls out, clearly annoyed.

She gives him a bland look. “Why else would she send us here to kill each other? We’re obviously everything Valentina doesn’t want tied to her. We’re expendable.”

Dread pools in my stomach at the notion. Burning alive is not how I envisioned how I would die.

“Well,” Ava sighs. “I’m not sticking around to burn.”

In seconds, Ava is gone. Disappearing entirely as if she were a ghost.

Suddenly, blaring alarms ring through the room. I curl into myself, holding my hands over my ears. The sound rattles whatever is in me and the veins in my arms catch my attention. They shift from their normal blue to a deep navy to black before shifting back to normal again. It’s constant as the alarm rings and pulses against my skin.

I stare in horror. What the hell?

When the alarm finally stops, I glance up to find Bob is closer to me. His dark eyes are on me, on my arms, and I notice a strange gleam in his eyes that flashes before sputtering out like a dying fire.

“Are you okay?” He asks.

I stare a moment longer, wondering if I imagined the flaring ring of light in his eyes. I slowly nod. “I’m fine.”

He stays assessing me, as if… as if he’s ensuring I really am alright. As if he truly cares.

Ava is now shaking and holding her own ears in front of the still-sealed door. She pants before turning to the rest of us.

“Thanks for that,” John huffs. “Looks like none of us are leaving.”

Just as he says that, the lights flicker and new light casts the room in dark crimson. The air begins to fill with the smell of sulfur and ash. A clock begins to tick in the room. Red numbers next to one of the doors starts to count down. And it’s going incredibly fast.

John sighs. “Okay, fine, it’s an incinerator.”

“Oh boy,” Bob huffs, staring up at the ceiling. “That is no way to go.”

“How would you like to die today, Bob?”

Yelena shakes her head. “We’ll need to find a way out. Look around, we have to find some sort of panel or something to open the doors.”

Bob holds a hand out to me, gesturing to help me up from my crouched position.

“Thanks,” I murmur as I reach to take his hand.

The second our skin touches, my eyes dilate and the hair on my arms raise, goosebumps spreading up my limbs. A spark of vibrating energy pulses between us. Something living and tangible. It stirs whatever lies dormant inside of me.

Like calls to like, it whispers.

Bob searches my eyes, his are just as dilated and wide. His lips part, an exhale escaping him as he stares.

“Why do I feel like I know you?” He whispers.

I hesitate, but the confession slips from me like water through fingers. “You feel it too?”

He nods, his hand tightening around mine. “It’s strange. I don’t think we’ve ever met, but,” his eyes scan my face and it feels as if he were softly touching every part he’s looking at. “I feel like I’ve known you for a very long time.”

My breath catches.

And then, he smiles, nervous and small, a huff of laughter escaping him.

“What?”

He shakes his head. “It’s funny, every part of me tells me I know you, but I don’t even know your name.”

A small smile spreads on my lips. I whisper my name and the sound must resonate something in him cause he whispers it back, tentative and gentle. Almost reverent.

“And you’re Bob,” I smile wider. I nod to the clothes he’s wearing. “Looks like we both were looking for something more in our lives and didn’t expect this to happen instead.”

His smile freezes, eyes hardening before he swallows. “What makes you think that?”

I hesitate again, but this time, I willingly let him see that vulnerability. “I was looking for something more, too.”

He stares at me, questions flitting across his gaze.

“I found something!”

We both turn, our hands drifting apart and the live-wire energy dissipating as we find Yelena and Ava trying to open a panel on the side of one of the doors. When we make our way over, John punches the wires with his shield and Ava disappears again, shifting through the metal door.

The seconds begin to count down and the heat rises in the room. Fire and smoke start to sputter from the vats above. Unconsciously, I back into something solid behind me. Bob. His shoulder bumps into mine and his sturdy presence at my back is reassuring, calming the rising panic of being trapped in a room waiting to burn us all alive.

The clock flares in our peripheral, counting down, down, down, and the door still hasn’t opened.

“She’s coming back, right?” John’s question is full of broken hope.

My hands start to tremble, fear coursing through my veins. I can’t die here. I don’t want to die.

The thought must’ve been said aloud because Bob’s hand is sliding into mine, squeezing.

“You’re not going to die.” That voice, his voice, says in my mind. “I won’t let you.”

That pulsing energy between our skin continues at the touch. It’s comforting in this moment, even as the ticking of the countdown echoes through the room.

00:05

Bob steps closer, his torso encasing my back as the fire begins to burn brighter in the vats above.

00:04

I feel him tense, readying himself. His hand tightening in mine.

00:03

When I turn my face to look up at him, his eyes are already on me.

At least I won’t be alone.

00:02

The door screeches open, startling all of us. Ava stands before the control panel, gesturing for us to run.

Bob grips my hand tighter in his as we bolt. He pulls me with him while we run through the doorway, following after the others. I grip him tighter, ensuring we never let go.

When the incinerator fully ignites, torching everything in its wake, the pressure and velocity of the raging fire throws us all off our feet, flying forward. Rocks and stone crash above as my body slams into a wall harshly, bones and neck cracking against stone before I slump to the ground. Consciousness fades in and out, my head and body pounding with sharp bolts of pain. Just as the dark claims me, the last thing I feel is Bob’s calloused hand still cradling my own.

————

The In-Between…

I wake to the sound of screaming. The room is blinding white, fluorescent lights flickering above. It smells of antiseptic and something metallic. When the light dissipates, I see someone lying on a table, their small body convulsing. Their hair whips around as their restrained limbs and skin pulse with creeping black veins.

Realization dawns on me as I step closer.

It’s… it’s me. But I’m… much younger.

I remember this. I was nine when my power came into being. When it consumed me like a poison and sprang out of me like a disease.

Tears flow down her small cheeks as she struggles, a piece of cloth tied in her mouth to try and keep her screams quiet. I try to run forward, to help her, free her, but I’m frozen in place, my feet stuck to the floor. Something is keeping me from her.

In the corner of the room, a shadow bleeds from the white walls. It’s darkness dripping like ink as it spreads along the floor and tile. It stretches, like a hand, across the floor until it reaches younger me. She stills for a moment, before her eyes roll back into her head, veins bulging. I stare in horror as those veins begin to darken before black pulses along her skin to the beat of her heart.

I try to step away, to leave, but my legs won’t let me. I’m stuck in place, forced to watch.

From the shadows, something bleeds into the room, rising from it as if it were a doorway. They’re covered in the darkness, but it’s thick like ink or oil, dripping from their hair and skin. When the figure moves, I’m struck with the familiarity of their movement.

When their eyes meet mine, I shrink back. Their eyes are glowing chips of onyx, a black void as they stare back at me. But it’s not their eyes or features dripping in the black liquid, it’s the familiarity of their face and body. I’d know them anywhere.

Because it’s me.

I stare at myself with abject horror as they cock their head to the side, assessing me as if I were prey.

When my younger self convulses again on the table, it catches the creature’s attention— my attention. That thing that is-me-but-isn’t-me slithers forward, hovering over younger us. And that’s when I see it. The fading light emanating from the little girl’s chest. It’s faint, but brilliant. I see my other self hone in on that light.

“Stop!” I shout.

The other me stills, it’s slimy gaze meeting mine. “You cannot stop what is inevitable.”

I shake my head. “This isn’t real.”

It smiles and it’s something I’ve never seen on my own face. Something feral and hungry. “What makes you think it’s not?”

Younger me’s skin is ashen now, her dark veins bulging.

“What are you doing to her?” I try to step forward, but I’m held back, again.

The other me shrugs. “What you were born to become.”

The smell of rot and decay fill the air as the creature’s fingers trail a path up her small arm. Wherever it touches, the skin dies, withering. Nausea rises in my gut as younger me tries to twist away from her, but it’s no use. The light in her chest sputters. And when her eyes meet mine from across the room, I watch as a tear falls to the floor, her mouth gasping through uneven breaths.

“Stop!” I scream. “Stop you’re hurting her!”

The other me, the creature, tsks. “Always trying to be the hero.” It looks at me again and this time, it’s something final and knowing, like an omen. “You’ll never be the hero. You’re the one they all fear. What they’ll always fear. All you can do is embrace it.”

Her hand punches through the little girl’s chest and blood sprays the table and wall. Her scream reverberates off the walls as the monstrous version of me tears the light from her chest.

When its hand rises from the bone and muscle, blood drips down the pale skin, mixing with the strange dark liquid already coating its limbs. And in the creature’s hand, something shines bright and brilliant, like a diamond. It glitters and the light it casts feels almost sacred.

And the little girl is still. Eerily still.

“No,” I choke out, hands shaking. “No, this is wrong. This isn’t how any of this happened.”

Those pitless eyes stare into the brilliant light with awe and raw hunger. “It does not matter. It’s what you are made for. Just like him.”

I still. “Who?”

It turns their head to me, those depthless eyes void of any emotion. “Like calls to like.”

Something emerges from the darkness behind the other me. It’s form tall and imposing, a silhouette of a man. His eyes glow with a strange ember, the only light in his body made of shadow.

This time, when I step back, my feet are freed from whatever force that kept me prisoner. I’m able to back away slowly as the shadowed man tilts his head to the side, watching me.

“There you are.”

That voice…

The walls start to fracture and shake, groans echoing as the room begins to stir. The lights flicker above and everything starts to vibrate beneath my feet. The brilliant light still cradled in the hands of the dark version of me begins to sputter until it’s dim and fading. The other me takes one last look at me, scrambling against the wall, before opening her mouth and swallowing the light whole.

I tear my gaze away, only to immediately find Bob standing there, eyes wide and terrified as he stares back. I open my mouth to question him, but the room continues to crack and shake violently. The floor heaves and gives and a fissure opens beneath me, hurtling me into a swirling dark void below.

The last thing I hear is Bob screaming my name before the darkness swallows me whole.

Part Two

[saintsanddevils]

hello! i am currently writing something very inspired by your “unwravel me” fic — i intend to tag you for credit of the idea if i post it (though i did put my own spin on it, it’s a very different concept/story from yours), and i also want to bring more recognition to your writing because it’s amazing but wanted to make sure you were comfortable with being tagged!

This is so considerate & thoughtful! I’m so very happy my work inspired you, as all art should. Unravel Me is truly my star child, I love it so much. I’d be honored to be tagged & recognized, thank you.

Can’t wait to read your story!🤍

[saintsanddevils]

Never Alone - pt 7

Aaric Graycastle x Fem!Reader

Summary: Aaric is finally discharged from the healer’s quadrant.

Warnings: ‼️18+ (MDNI) explicit content‼️, graphic smut, swearing, tons of smutty fluff, HEA

Author’s Note: For now, I’m leaving the story to end here. I think it’s a good end, but I can see the potential for possibly more in the future. I don’t want to have any burnout with writing Fourth Wing fic, so I’ll let this end here.

Word Count: 4.4K

Masterlist

Part Six

————

There’s a strange feeling of weightlessness as I wake the next morning. I sleep through my alarm, but my body needs it. After waking, I was practically dead asleep, especially after all last night entailed.

Heat rises to my cheeks at the memory of Aaric’s desperate sighs and moans echoing down our bond, the way he imagined us in bed together. The way his skin would feel against mine. It was intoxicating to dream of.

Giddiness bubbles under my skin, keeping me afloat as I glide through my room, dressing for the day. I’m far too wrapped up in my head to notice when someone knocks on my door. Frowning, I stop braiding my hair and walk over to it.

When I open my door, it’s as if my mind conjures him. After a long week of not seeing him in person, there he is.

Aaric stands there, holding the sides of the door frame with both hands, eyes burning as our gazes connect. His clothes have been thrown on haphazardly, almost as if he were in a rush. I’ve never seen him so disheveled. Normally, he’s put together, like the prince he is, clothes never wrinkled and not one hair out of place.

He smiles, cautiously, before it spreads, wide and carefree, as he stands there. I smile back, butterflies rising in my gut at the anticipation of finally touching him after all this time. At finally seeing him after so long.

A small voice in my head, the one that keeps me from bolting into his arms, wonders if he’ll even do anything. If he’ll kiss me, hold me, or just stand there, staring at me. If he’ll continue our friendship like normal and excuse last night’s… whatever it was.

The doubt makes my stomach churn. It’s hard to let go of the routine of hiding my feelings when that’s all I’ve known for years. Even with all his flirtations and reassuring presence in my mind this last week, this is real life. He’s now in front of me and I can look him in the eye. If I wanted to, I could touch him. And that has me pausing.

“Hi,” Aaric says, breathless, as if he ran here. Maybe he did.

The thought leaves me lightheaded.

“Hi,” I choke out. “Did you, uh, I mean, were you discharged today?”

Smooth. I mentally chastise myself for being so awkward. Good grief, it’s just Aaric.

He nods, eyes casting down the hall quickly as voices echo off the stone walls. “Yeah the healers informed me when I woke up. I would’ve let you know,” he pauses, swallows as red begins tainting the skin of his neck. “But I was in a bit of a rush.”

I raise a brow. “Have somewhere to be?”

Those green eyes, like chips of emerald, meet mine again. Only this time, they heavily slide down my face like a caress until they land on my lips. “Yeah. You could say that.”

I shiver at the want in his voice. It reminds me so much of last night. It’s reassuring to know it wasn’t a fever dream, that it actually happened.

He takes a hesitant step forward, eyes on me as he enters my room.

“Are you, uh,” I swallow, incredibly aware of how close he is to me. Towering over me. Crowding me into my room. “Are you feeling better?”

“Hmm,” he hums, kicking the door closed with his foot, never turning away from me.

I continue to walk backwards until he backs me against my armoire. I grip the wood as his face dips close to mine, his hand rising to rest on the door, near my head.

“Much better,” his hooded green eyes clash with mine. “Now that I’m here with you.”

Warm, rushing heat rises up my neck to my cheeks. “Oh yeah?”

His eyes lock on to my lips again, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. “Yeah.”

The memory of his lips on mine from our shared dream last night rises to my mind unbidden. The way he moaned my name, clung to me as if I’d disappear. It was intoxicating.

My tongue slides across my bottom lip at the memory. Would it be just as intoxicating in real life?

Aaric’s attention is fully on my tongue, my now wet lips. His gaze is heavy with repressed want as he pushes forward, wood groaning under his fist.

When I bite my lip in anticipation, he stills.

“Fuck this.”

The words echo in the room as he surges towards me, backing me fully against the wood as his mouth crashes to mine.

Lightning shoots through my veins at the contact, his lips firm and desperate against mine. I melt into his touch, a strange sense of rightness settling heavily on my skin at the contact. As if we’re two halves of a whole, we slide together perfectly, his fingers tangling in my hair as mine wrap around his neck. As if we’ve done this a thousand times before.

I sigh his name into his mouth. He groans mine as he presses closer, free hand gripping my waist. He kisses me roughly, my lips just as demanding as his. We collide, again and again, not stopping as desire spreads like a fire, licking up our limbs, consuming us entirely.

When we finally part, breathing heavily, a laugh rises from my throat.

Aaric raises a brow, smirking. “Something funny?”

I shake my head, grasping on to him, sliding my hands over his shoulders and neck. Ensuring this is real. “I can’t believe that finally happened.”

Aaric’s smirk is all male ego as he bends forward and bites my bottom lip, making me squeak at the contact. “Did I live up to your imagination?”

I roll my eyes, a deeper blush coloring my cheeks as he continues to pepper my jaw with slow, wanting kisses. “Maybe.”

He hums against my skin, tongue gliding across my lips teasingly before kissing me again. “Liar.”

“I don’t need to inflate your already huge ego,” I taunt against his lips.

He huffs a laugh. “Always the one to humble me.”

“You’re in desperate need of it, Prince.”

Our eyes lock, and his smirk widens until he’s grinning like a fool. The sight of his carefree smile, those green eyes dark with desire, sparks something warm and light in my chest. It fills up every crevice, like a flame sparking from a match. My veins burn with that light, the familiarity in which he touches me. As if we’ve done this since the beginning. As if we’ve always been together.

My eyes sting at the idea and I can’t help my smile. It mirrors his own, as though we’ve always mirrored one another. Two halves of one whole.

My fingers slide from his shoulder to grip his hand in mine. He grips mine just as tightly, as if reassuring himself this is real.

I squeeze back.

This is real.

“Do you trust me?” He whispers, even though it’s only us in the room.

I don’t hesitate. “Always.”

His smile is soft now, hands firm and steady as they grip my waist. “Can you do something for me?”

I nod, entirely focused on the way his Adam’s apple bobs while he swallows, his tongue wetting his lips as mine did before. Gods, he’s gorgeous.

He bends forward, mouth hovering near my ear as he whispers, “I’ve waited too long to kiss you, I’m not waiting any longer to fuck you.”

I startle at the sharpness of his words, but his body cages me against the armoire, holding me firmly to him. My core tightens at the force of his mouth nipping at my ear lobe.

“Will you be good for me?”

The words are desperate, formed around a moan as his hands slide my shirt up to feel the heat of my skin. I melt under the feel of his callouses, rough and grounding against me.

I nod in response, unable to speak as his lips move from my ear to my neck, kissing, licking, and biting their way to my throat. Gods, that feels so good. He feels so good.

As if reading my mind, he tightens his hold on my hips, digging his fingers in my skin as he slides his mouth down my throat. Taunting. Teasing. He laps at my skin, moving down, down, down until he nips at my collarbone. I shiver at the contact as his fingers slide my shirt up, up, up.

“May I?” His voice rough and whispered against my skin.

I nod again.

He tsks, his teeth striking out at my collarbone once more. “I need to hear you say it. Use your words.”

I clench my knees together, desperate to keep myself from fully losing my senses at his touch. I’m already wavering on the edge of insanity with him so close, kissing me so freely.

“Yes,” I choke out, uncaring if I sound breathless and wanting. “Touch me. Please, Cam.”

His real name on my tongue sparks something in him. I feel it in the loosening of his shoulders, the way his breathing increases, arms shaking as they slide along my skin. He pulls my shirt off within seconds, arms encircling me as he surges forward and kisses my lips once more. It’s rough and messy, uncontrolled and full of pent up desire. This is Aaric, Cam, not holding back.

I moan into his mouth, shivering as his hands pull my bra slowly down my skin, exposing my breasts. His fingers replace the cloth, firmly grasping, squeezing and kneading them. I jolt at the contact, kissing him anew at the sensation.

Gods, his hands. They’re huge against my breasts, fully engulfing them in his palms. He pulls from my lips, a sound of annoyance escaping me at the loss of contact, before his mouth replaces one of his hands.

Gods, his mouth.

When I look down, I find him staring up at me, smirking into my skin as he pulls gently at my nipple with his teeth. My body automatically arches into his. He switches to the other breast, lapping at it as he moans into my skin.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispers.

My breath hitches at the compliment, biting my lip as he tugs on my nipple once more. With a flick of his wrist, my bra disappears and I’m entirely his. I’m so far gone to the sensation of his fingers and lips and teeth, I don’t notice his hands hooking beneath the waistband of my pants until he’s tugging them down to my ankles. I quickly step out of them, fully aware the only thing keeping me from being fully exposed to Aaric is my flimsy silk underwear.

He must sense my slowly rising awareness as he immediately pulls back and shucks off his shirt, exposing the entirety of his muscled chest to me. I stare at him in awe, not hesitant to trace my fingers over every line and crevice. Scars decorate his skin, proud markers of his time here at Basgiath. The dark blue mark of his dragon inks the side of his hip, claws and wings crawling up his abdomen on his right side. I trace the clubtail of Molvic to the edge of his waistband. Aaric shivers at my touch, goosebumps trailing in my wake.

When I glance up, he’s watching me with hooded eyes, heavy with obvious desire.

“If you keep touching me, this will be over sooner than you think.”

I raise a brow, my fingers taunting the edge of his waistband, pulling and tugging. “Has it been a while?”

The question sobers him immediately, his hands cupping my jaw as he looks deeply into my eyes, unwavering. “I haven’t been with a woman in years.” My breath hitches at the confession. “Do you want to know why?”

Cautiously, I nod slowly, unable to help myself by leaning into his touch.

His breath is shaky as he leans his forehead against mine. “The second I knew how I felt about you, I never touched another woman like that again.”

Warmth blossoms in my core as it climbs up my spine, sending goosebumps down my skin as I stare up at him.

“And how do you feel about me?” I whisper.

He stills, chest caught on a breath as he stares down at me, eyes locking as if he’s trying to puzzle whether or not to reveal his last secret. A part of me hopes it’s the same as mine.

Gripping his palm in mine, I squeeze his hand, hoping it reassures him that I’m with him, now and always, no matter what we become. That our friendship will live on.

And maybe that’s true love. Loving someone so much, enduring a relationship that goes beyond romance and affection. Something lasting and true. A bond solidified over years and years, strong and sure. The one thing you can rely on until your last breath.

I give him a smile that reflects all of this and it’s as if something snaps in him. A cord or tether holding him back all these years. It visibly falls away as he encircles me. The skin of his chest brushes mine and it’s all I need to melt in his arms. Something pleasant and comforting spreading through my limbs at the contact.

His eyes hold mine captive as he bends to whisper, “For so long, I’ve hidden this, kept how I’ve felt locked away for only me to know,” he swallows while I squeeze his hand. “All I’ve ever known for so long is how I can’t breathe or think without knowing you. Without knowing you’re in my life, as a friend or something else, one way or another. And maybe I’m insane or just codependent on you,” I huff a laugh, making him smile wide. “But I can’t imagine a single day where I haven’t been in love with you.”

The confession startles me, a gasp falling from my lips. I almost lose my balance if it weren’t for his firm grip on my jaw, holding me to him.

“You-“ I swallow, limbs shaking at the implication of his words. “You love me?”

He pecks my lips, light and casual, as if we do it often. As if it’s habit. “I do. Gods, I love you so fucking much.”

I pull back, staring into his eyes to see him fully. The honesty in his gaze has me throwing down every wall I’ve used to protect myself for years. To keep myself from being hurt by his unrequited affection. But now…

I smile, shaking my head. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

His smile is full of egotistical mischief. “You never asked.”

I laugh at that, carefree and light as if I’m not fully here. As if I’m watching all of this from afar and it’s all a dream.

His grip on my jaw helps ground me to the moment.

He loves me.

Aaric Graycastle loves me.

My best friend, Cam Tauri, has been in love with me for years.

The thought has me surging forward and capturing his lips with my own. I don’t hold back, showing him exactly how much his words mean to me. How much I’ve been secretly wanting to hear them for years.

He clings to me just as fiercely, returning my kiss with fervor. I wind my legs around his waist, with the help of his strong arms, and hoist myself high to reach his mouth better. I can feel so much of his skin this way, its heady and intoxicating. Making me lightheaded and reckless. I want so many things and for the first time, I can actually do them, say them. It’s thrilling.

Aaric presses me into the wood of the armoire, making it groan under our combined weight. His grip is unrelenting, holding me tightly as my arms wrap around his neck, pulling him closer.

Tongues intertwining, the wood beneath my skin disappears as he grips my thighs, holding me as he carries me across the room. To the bed.

The sighing sound of sheets on skin has me relaxing in his arms, in the way he hovers above me. How his lips haven’t left mine as he kisses me into the mattress. I arch into him, wanting and wanting, but he pushes me back.

I huff in annoyance, breaking the kiss to find him smirking down at me.

“Impatient?” He teases.

“You have no idea,” I mumble, my fingers trailing form his neck to his broad shoulders, tracing the muscles and scars. He shivers under my touch before giving me another brief kiss.

“Not yet, love,” he pulls back. “Let me have my fun first.”

I playfully pout, ignoring the humming under my skin at the implication of his words. “Will it be fun for me too?”

“Care to find out?”

His eyes sparkle in the dim morning light as he kisses the center of my chest, right above my heart. Something warm trickles in my gut like sap, filling me with every touch and kiss as he makes his way down my breasts, stomach, before stopping at my hip bones. Just above the edge of my underwear.

My breath hitches as his fingers tease the material. Pulling. Tugging. Just as I did with his pants earlier.

When I squirm under his hold, his laugh vibrates against my legs as he pulls my knees up, framing his face.

The pulse of my heart beats wildly in my ears as he lowers his head to my underwear, pulling it down my skin with his teeth. My eyes widen at the sight. He smirks at my reaction before tossing the underwear over his shoulder the second it slips from my ankles.

With me entirely exposed, I almost succumb to the reaction to close my knees, to hide, to keep this from going further. But the firm grip of his calloused hands steadies my knees. He caresses my skin, holding my gaze as he waits. As he watches the rapid rise and fall of my chest before it’s a rhythm that’s steady and sure. Something that’s not nervous or frightened of crossing the line.

Aaric squeezes my knee once. Twice. I smile at the gesture, knowing it’s him making sure I know I’m in charge. I set the pace.

With his eyes still on me, I breathe slowly before letting my knees part farther, dropping them to expose all of me to him.

His eyes don’t leave mine until I nod, giving him a small smile. When he sees I’m ready, he trails his burning gaze down my body till they rest where the air is warm and sharp against the apex of my thighs. I can see his eyes dilate, how he tracks how wet I am, ready for him. And he hasn’t even touched me yet.

“Fuck,” he whispers, and I shiver at the depth of his voice.

His fingers slide down from my knees to my thighs, caressing, as his lips kiss my inner thigh. Higher. And higher. Another. Until his lips are breathing in the scent of me. He breathes deep, before dipping a long, thick finger inside of me.

I jolt at the sensation. It spikes pleasure up my spine as I grip the sheets. He’s slow, careful as he watches his finger move in me, toying with me. He soon allows another. And another. Until I’m stretched and full but wanting more. Desperate for that friction only he can grant me.

He watches me with those dilated eyes, careful and precise, as if he’s memorizing every second of this.

“That’s it, baby,” he whispers.

I moan, jutting my hips to prove I need more. More. More. More.

Please.

The word echoes from my mind to Aaric’s, the door between our minds wide open.

“Since you said please,” he smirks.

He curls his fingers inside of me, making me arch off the bed, before he bends down and licks up my slit. The sensation causes me to jump from his touch, but his hands are there, gripping my legs tightly around his face as he begins to devour me like a man starved. His eyes are on me as I look down at him. Those eyes foreign yet familiar with their desire and need.

His tongue dives deep, curling and twisting inside of me. My eyes roll back as his thumb begins to smooth slow circles over my clit.

“Fuck,” I whisper to the morning air, my fingers clawing at his hair.

He moans as I pull at the strands, encouraging his pace as he begins to set a rhythm that beats in my blood. I feel that warmth spark into a fire in my gut, rising like a raging inferno as it builds and builds.

“Cam-“ I gasp, my skin pebbling, fingers twisting in his hair as I feel myself close to falling off the edge. “Cam, I’m gonna-“

His tongue swipes at me once more before he pulls back slightly, breathless and crazed. “Come, my love. Come all over me.”

With a pinch of his fingers on my clit and the sucking of his mouth on my core, his tongue diving deep and unrelenting, I shatter. Stars burst from behind my eyelids as I squeezing and pulse around his tongue and fingers. I feel myself floating high above us, his skin the only thing anchoring me to this moment.

When I finally come down, breathless and panting, Aaric gently kisses my inner thigh before rising. He shucks off his pants without any preamble. Before I can miss his skin, he’s there, hovering above me, caging me against the bed. He coos and kisses my jaw, ensuring I’m alright.

“You still with me?”

I nod, smiling lazily up at him before he kisses me, slow and methodic.

“I’ve wanted to do that for so long,” he says between kisses. “I’ve imagined how you’d taste, how you’d react.”

I laugh, my fingers cupping his jaw as he smiles down at me. “And how did I do?”

“Perfect, as always,” he winks. “But I’m not done with you yet.”

“Really?” I tease, trying to control how breathless and sated I feel, even as warmth begins to pool in my gut once more.

He settles himself between my legs, something heavy, thick, and hard teasing my entrance. I shiver at the anticipation. At the idea of finally being claimed by him.

He must hear my thoughts as he wraps an arm under my neck, pillowing me as he wraps another arm around my thigh, hoisting it over his waits.

“You’ll need to hold tight, love,” he whispers, my skin pebbling at the words. “I’m not going to be gentle.”

I squeeze his waist with my thighs, the tip of his erection sliding into me for a moment that causes us both to gasp and shudder.

Gripping him closer, I whisper, “I don’t want you to be gentle.”

With his eyes on mine, he slides fully inside of me, stretching me till his hips hit my pelvis. I hold a breath at the sensation. My back arching into his torso. He holds me firmly, eyes never leaving mine as he begins to thrust. It’s slow, but it’s deep and penetrating. It’s something that beats to the rhythm of our blood, our hearts. A song only we can hear. I follow his rhythm, my hips meeting his in a symphony that echoes through the room.

I moan around his tongue. He groans with his teeth biting my bottom lip. He picks up the pace, the slow, steady depth beginning to rise like a crescendo. It’s now rough, agonizingly pleasant. What was a fire before, this feeling in my core is the rushing of water. It’s a storm building, rising and rising with every smack and jolt of his hips against mine. With every jagged breath and rhythmic moan. It rises and rises until his fingers play with my clit and I’m squeezing him harder with my thighs. I’m pulling with my teeth and gasping into his mouth, wanting all of him.

I love you, I whisper into the void of our minds. His pace is relentless now, as if the words spur him on.

I love you.

Thrust.

I love you.

Thrust.

“I love you.”

Spoken aloud, the words force a groan from him, his mouth crashing to mine in a hurried, hungry fervor. It’s enough to send us both tumbling into the rising storm building inside of us.

Like a wave, my orgasm crashes over me, jolting and relentless as I pulse around him. He isn’t far behind me, his spine arching as his body shakes before finally releasing all that tension. Warmth fills my core at the sensation as I continue to pulse and twitch beneath his touch. He breathes heavily above me, his groans slowly turning to a gasping rhythm, trying to catch his breath.

There’s a stillness that settles between us. Soft and pure. Something familiar and reassuring. It reverberates against my skin, echoing in my bones, filling my heart.

With our foreheads touching, I slide my hand through his, gripping tightly. Our matching scarred palms connecting. A promise from long ago echoing in our bones as our breaths and heartbeats sync together.

He loves me.

And I love him.

The thought is intoxicating and I feel drunk on it as we breathe together.

“This is real, right?” Aaric asks, shattering the quiet.

I smile, pouring all my love and light into the mental bond between us. “It’s real.”

His smile is beaming as he kisses me once more. Only this time, it’s gentle and steady, like the pulse in my veins. It’s full of hope for what tomorrow will bring for us.

Our clasped hands are a reminder. The scar we share, of a memory long past, where two young kids who wished and wanted more than anything. That scar beats against my skin, a promise and a binding truth. We were always meant to be together. Always meant to be here, fighting and breathing alongside one another. Meant to fall and catch each other.

This love was inevitable. I smile at the thought and return his kiss with one of my own. Something binding and promising. Something that can survive this war and anything else that lies ahead. Together.

————

🪻Thank you for reading!🪻

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[saintsanddevils]

Star-Crossed

Dain Aetos x Riorson!Reader

Request: “If you’re open to requests still, would you be willing to write a Dain Aetos story? Maybe the reader can be the sister of Xaden? I would like to read a Dain story where he gets his happy ending :)”

Summary: Dain is the bane of your existence. At least, you keep telling yourself that.

Warnings: first person pov, swearing, blood, injury (series will contain eventual smut)

Word Count: 2.8K

Posted on AO3

Masterlist • Part Two

————

The moment I met him, I knew. We were never meant to be. Loving him, wanting him, would become a curse.

And eventually, it did.

————

“Four more laps, Riorson. Make it count this time.”

I grit my teeth, resisting the urge to run down the field and punch my squad leader in the jaw. The image of him staggering back and possibly falling on his ass has a smirk spreading across my face.

“Are you enjoying this? Fine. Six laps.”

The smile disappears.

Dain Aetos is the bane of my existence. Ever since I crossed the parapet months ago, he’s ensured my life is hell. Early morning drills. Late night chore assignments. Anything to keep me occupied and cursing his name.

With my entire squad watching me with hesitation and interest, possibly wondering if I’ll finally disobey him, I run. My life may be hell with Dain ordering me around, but it’s better to lay low than have any unwanted attention. It’s what I have to do as Fen Riorson’s daughter. As Xaden Riorson’s little sister. There are enough eyes on me already. Waiting for me to make a mistake, to fail.

For my father, for Xaden, I can’t fail.

Just the thought makes the relic on my left arm burn. I pump harder, ignoring Dain’s heavy gaze on my back as I make another lap. And another. And another.

By the time I reach the fifth lap, my lungs fill with jagged, sharp air, pain racketing up my chest. I can easily run six laps on a normal day, but after training all morning for the impending gauntlet, my body is near its breaking point.

When I stagger near Dain to end my fifth lap and begin my sixth, I finally make eye contact with him. His jaw is clenched and brows dipped low. Dark eyes tracking the wobble in my legs, the strain in my breath. He could almost pass as…concerned. I almost stumble at the thought.

“What the fuck is going on here?!”

Every head swivels towards that deep, familiar voice. When my eyes follow, I lose my footing, tripping over my feet. My body hurtles through the air, slamming face first into the dirt. Something cracks at the impact and pain bursts from my nose.

Fuck.

Feet pound behind me, hands grasping at my body before they begin to turn me over. I find Dain crouched in front of me, dark eyes narrowed on the blood gushing down my face. He lifts my head off the ground with a firm hand, eyes quickly assessing every part of me.

“Get a healer!” He shouts over his shoulder.

I try to shove him off of me, but the attempt is half-hearted when the movement makes the pain worse. A groan rises from my throat. “I don’t need a healer.”

Dain narrows his eyes. “Bleeding profusely in the dirt definitely calls for a healer, Riorson.”

“And whose fault is that, Aetos?”

His jaw clenches. Just as he opens his mouth to respond, my brother stands above him. Like the shadows he wields, he towers over us, a dark fire lit within the depth of his irises.

Xaden Riorson is furious and his attention focuses on Dain’s hand on my abdomen, the other propping my neck up. “Get your fucking hands off of my sister.”

Dain stiffens. For a moment, his eyes meet mine. There’s something in his face that has my brows furrowing, the pain ebbing for just a moment as I focus on him. Either I have a concussion or Dain looks almost apologetic. Maybe even regretful. But the moment is gone. The second Dain let’s go of me, Xaden is there. My brother’s arms curl beneath me as he hoists me into his arms.

“I can walk just fine,” I grit through my teeth. “Put me down.”

Xaden ignores me, standing straight with me still cradled like a baby in his arms. Annoyance prickles under my skin when I catch sight of my squad members watching me with rapt attention. This is just embarrassing being carried from the field by my brother. I struggle in his hold, but Xaden doesn’t let go. The overprotective bastard.

When I glare up at him, ignoring the pain shooting through my head, I find him mirroring my glare, but it’s directed at Dain. “This training session is over. Everyone is dismissed,” he narrows his eyes. “Aetos, you’re going to report to me about what the fuck you were doing after I take her to the healer’s quadrant.”

“I’m fine,” I grit through my teeth. “Put me down.”

Xaden continues to ignore me. I wince, hissing through my teeth when he jostles me in his arms, a new wave of pain shooting up from my ankle. Great. A broken nose and possibly a sprained ankle.

I catch Dain raising a brow at me as if to say, You’re obviously not fine.

When the squad heads inside Basgiath, Xaden is hot on their heels with me in his arms, shoving past Dain.

I struggle once again, embarrassment heating my cheeks when we enter the school. “I can get there myself-“

“No, you can’t.” Xaden’s hold tightens on me. “Now shut up and let me help you.”

“I don’t need your help. I was doing just fine before you showed up.”

Xaden finally meets my eye. “You looked like you were about to pass out when I showed up.” He shakes his head. “Fucking Aetos.”

I catch sight of him at the end of the hall behind us. His body tense as he tracks Xaden and me. When our eyes meet, something sparks in me. Something I wish I didn’t feel while in my brother’s arms.

Dain’s concern and his obvious regret rise to the forefront of my mind. My gut twists at the way he looked at me, the way he ran to me, helped me.

“It’s not his fault.” The words fall from my mouth unbidden.

Xaden stiffens. “Of course it’s his fault. He’s punishing you because you’re my sister. Because of who our father is.”

The statement rings true. It always brings me focus and clarity in how people view me here. I’m to be feared and watched. Everyone calculates my next move, hoping I fail or prove everyone right. That I’m the daughter of a dead revolutionary who will follow in his footsteps and bring anarchy and chaos to our world.

Dain must hate me. I’ve spent months under his rigorous training and been the one to take his brunt orders head on. I get singled out constantly. I’m punished more often than not. So it should be reasonable to think he hates me or even holds a grudge against me because of my blood and my family.

But the look in his eyes as he held me, assessed my injuries, has me pausing. Has me seeking him out yet again over Xaden’s shoulder. He’s still watching and when our eyes meet once again, he turns and disappears down the hall.

Does he hate me?

I shake my head, shoving the thought far, far away. Dain Aetos has been the bane of my existence for months, and I’ve made sure I’ve been the bane of his. It’s only fair.

I cling to Xaden, allowing the exhaustion of my afternoon catch up to me. Once we reach the healer’s, Xaden stays close. He holds my hand when they set my nose back into place. He rubs my back when they wrap my ankle, confirming it’s only a sprain. And when they give me pain meds, Xaden is reluctant in leaving me. The healer’s reassure him I’ll be fine after some rest and my injuries should be gone by morning after they do a few sessions on me. Their magic touch already has the swelling and aching going down.

I’m blissfully content with my pain meds and wrapped ankle when he finally gets up to leave. He bends to kiss my forehead, the memory of our father doing the same every night before bed has my gut twisting. A sense of longing forcing my hands to wrap around Xaden’s torso, squeezing him till he can’t breathe.

After the execution of our father, the king of Navarre, along with his generals and counselors, wanted to put an end to the rebellion from ever rising again. So, they separated my brother and I. It was cruel and lonely growing up apart. For years, we were never able to see one another. Never able to write any letters.

The moment I stepped off the parapet, there he was. Grinning with tears in his eyes, Xaden ran to me. I bolted into his arms, sobbing into his chest as we collided. I hadn’t seen my brother in years and we finally, finally, were able to be together.

Ever since I came to Basgiath, he’s been by my side, ensuring I’m well-taken care of. He’s been overprotective and hovering like a mother hen. As much as it can be annoying, I know what life is like without him and I don’t want to ever experience it again.

So, I grip him tightly. Thankful I have him here and now.

“Thanks,” I whisper. “Even if you’re being an overprotective asshole.”

He crushes me against him. “I’ll always be your asshole.”

I laugh, shoving him away as he messes with my hair. When I stick my tongue out at him, he flips me off before disappearing down the hall.

I lay back in the healer’s bed, letting the pounding in my head lull me to sleep. Just before I succumb to it, Dain’s concerned dark eyes come crawling back to my mind. The way his features softened when our eyes met. The way he bent over me, protecting me with his body caging me to the ground. I try to ignore the spark of heat that spread through my limbs at the feel of his skin on my neck. The callouses on his fingers cradling me close as he watched me.

Even now, the image of his clenched jaw, his regret, the burning apology in his eyes, has me curling my fingers into my palms.

Now that I’m alone, I can admit… I liked seeing Dain Aetos this way. I liked the way his skin felt on mine, like a balm to the pain. Even before I tumbled, I enjoyed the attention he gave me while I ran. How his eyes burned into my back, as hot and heavy as the sun on my skin. The way his eyes tracked every movement of my stretching limbs during warm-ups earlier this morning.

I lie to myself, but it’s been like this for months. How his eyes find mine every time I enter a room. How his fingers linger on my skin when maneuvering my arms the way they should be for training in the gym. How his commanding voice, full of demand and promise, sends a shiver down my spine.

When I’m alone, I can recall every dip and curve of his face. The strength in his arms, the broadness of his shoulders. The way his lips form my name, sending a spark through my veins.

It’s only when I’m alone, in the sanctity of the dark, I can admit…

I like Dain Aetos. More than I should.

————

After being discharged and sent back to the first year dormitories the following morning, I quickly change into training gear. It’s loose enough to give me no resistance when on the mat.

The dorm is empty as I rewrap my ankle. There’s not bruising or swelling since my last healing session this morning, but it’s best to keep it wrapped since it’s still sensitive. Once it’s secure, I head towards the door, checking myself in the mirror as I go to asses my nose. The bruising has gone down, as well as any inflammation, thanks to those heavenly healers hands. It almost looks normal.

As I braid back my hair, a knock sounds at the door. I furrow my brows. Xaden said he’d meet me in the gym soon, to practice before my next challenge.

When I swing open the door, the air catches in my throat.

Dain stands there, his dark curls a mess, almost like he kept running his hands through it all morning. I notice a tray of food in his hands, his fingers clutching it with. White knuckled grip as if someone will rip it from his hands at any second. I catch him scanning me from head to toe, checking my nose and ankle. It sparks something in my gut but I try to keep the warmth at bay as he stands a few steps away.

“Uh, hi,” he blinks at me, eyes wide as if he didn’t expect to see me.

“Are you looking for someone else?” I ask. “I think everybody went down for breakfast already.”

He quickly shakes his head. “No, I was looking for you. I, uh, heard you were discharged this morning. And…”

I raise a brow, watching as his eyes narrow on my nose. “And?”

“I just wanted to make sure you were alright. After yesterday.” Dain shakes his head, staring down at the tray in his hands. “I also thought you wouldn’t have enough time to head down to the dining hall.”

I still. He climbed all those stairs just to check in on me? Bring me some breakfast?

My heart beats erratically in my ears as he holds out the tray to me.

“You brought me…breakfast?” My voice is tinted with hints of confusion and awe.

Dain must sense it cause he stiffens, his cheeks reddening in the dim light of the hall. I don’t think I’ve ever seen strait-laced, dedicated, commanding Dain look so flustered. “Yeah, I did,” he pauses. “I mean, unless the healers already fed you. In that case I can just-“

I rip the tray from his hands, staring down at it. Upon closer inspection, everything on the tray looks delicious. And it all…looks exactly like something I’d pick out for myself for breakfast. He even added the right amount of granola and honey to my oatmeal. Even the tea wafting up from the mug smells suspiciously similar to the blend I use every day.

Warmth spreads through my limbs, rising to my cheeks as I stare up at Dain. He knows how I take my tea. He noticed what I eat for breakfast.

“Why are you doing this?”

Dain’s face tightens at my tone. “Yesterday was my fault. I shouldn’t have made you do extra laps.”

“You were just doing your duty, as my squad leader.” I insist, hoping my mentioning his authority and ranking over me stills the erratic way my heart is beating in my chest. It doesn’t.

Dain shakes his head. “I abused my power and I was wrong for doing that. I’m sorry for what happened to you.”

I was wrong.

I’m sorry.

The words echo between us. If I wasn’t holding on to the tray, I’m not sure I’d be able to stop myself from stepping closer. From touching him. From trying to rid the worry lines between his brows and across his mouth. My fingers twitch, wanting to do just that.

“Dain,” I choke out, cheeks flaming. “This is… I’m…” I swallow, trying to catch myself and feeling incredibly stupid for treating him like shit all these months. “Thank you.”

He dips his head, trying to hide the smile tipping the corners of his mouth, but I still catch it. I relish in the way his face changes by the subtle movement. He no longer looks so serious and demanding. With that small smile, he’s boyish and attractive.

I can’t help but smile back, feeling a swell of triumph in seeing this side of him.

In this moment, I realize something. Crimson is the color of rubies and sapphires, precious and bold. The color of blood, rising from a fresh wound or upon heated cheeks. The color of a beating heart, racing with every pulse to a rhythm that flows between time.

Crimson is the color of Dain’s relic, inked upon the skin that peaks out beneath his collar. The color of his dragon, Cath. The color staining his cheeks and neck as he stares down at me. It’s the color beating in the air around us, flowing and pulling us together like a tether. It could be seen as fate or destiny, maybe even luck.

But this is the moment that I realize that Dain Aetos is the color of my veins, the red on my cheeks, the breath in my lungs, and the beat of my heart.

And it terrifies the shit out of me.

Part Two

[saintsanddevils]

Never Alone - pt 6

Aaric Graycastle x Fem!Reader

Summary: After confessing to wanting to kiss reader, Aaric is stuck in the healer’s quadrant.

Warnings: ‼️18+ MDNI content‼️, eventual smut, swearing, fluff, Aaric flirting

Author’s Note: sorry this took so long to post! I’ve rewritten this too many times until I thought it was the best way to move forward in the story.

Word Count: 4.1K

Part Five | Part Seven

Masterlist

————

Sweet Temptation

Reader POV

“I’m sorry, but we’ve been informed by our superiors that you’re not allowed inside while Cadet Graycastle is recovering.”

“What?” I gape at the healer. “Are you serious?”

She doesn’t even bat a lash. “Those are our orders.”

She immediately dismisses me, looking over the charts in front of her, even while I still stand before the healer’s desk, mouth hung open like a fish gasping on dry land.

“Looks like the princeling will be missing out on kissing you after all.”

If I could bitch-slap a dragon, I probably would. If I wasn’t guaranteed to be eaten or burned to ashes right after doing it.

Go set fire to a goat or something.

Kesi’s hearty chuckle leaves goosebumps down my spine as her familiar, warm presence dissipates from my mind.

Now that I don’t have an audience to this humiliation of trying to see my best friend in the healer’s quadrant, I poke my head around the desk to steal a glance inside. I catch a glimpse of beds and sheets, but no sight of Aaric’s bed as the healer steps in front of me, blocking the door.

I roll my eyes before trudging away down the hall, throwing my shields down and cracking open the doorway to Aaric’s mind.

The healer from last night banned me from seeing you.

I can sense Aaric startling at my voice in his mind, but he relaxes before his familiar presence settles on me. As if he’s standing next to me. It comforts the simmering annoyance starting to rise inside of me.

“Sorry about that,” Aaric says. “It’s my fault for… getting carried away last night.”

A deep flush rises to my cheeks at the memory, warming me from head to toe. The way his fingers traced my skin. How his boldness left me breathless and wanting. It was entirely impossible getting any sleep last night when I could still feel the ghost of his hands on me.

Gods, the way he looked at me last night. I replay the obvious desire in his emerald eyes over and over again in my mind. The way it emboldened me, filling me with confidence and sudden realization.

Aaric has wanted me for as long as I’ve wanted him.

That thought alone has comforted all my doubts and worries. It encourages me, lighting a fire that’s been kindling inside of me for years, waiting to set ablaze. And now, I’m practically skipping with that warmth filling my bones.

Aaric’s presence, still lingering in my mind, caresses me as if I’m standing before him, just like last night.

“I wish she never interrupted us.”

I shiver at his confession, biting down on a smile as I make my way to the dining hall.

Why’s that? I taunt. What would you have done if she hadn’t shown up?

Aaric chuckles, the sound reverberating down my skin, making my stomach flutter. “I’d have stopped wasting so much time. I’ve wasted enough as it is.”

Wasted what?

“Kissing you every damn second I’m with you.”

I gasp at the way his voice deepens. The rough exhale of his words as if he’s speaking in my ear, standing close behind me. I have to stop and lean against a stone wall to compose myself.

“That’s the problem though,” he whispers, stroking my mind with a voice as soft as silk. “Once I kiss you, I don’t think I’ll ever stop. I don’t think I’d ever want to.”

I bite my lip. Sounds like a good problem to me.

Aaric chuckles again. I close my eyes, imagining him standing before me, leaning in and caging me against the wall. His arms flexing, eyes holding me captive as they dip to my lips. His face inches from mine as he leans forward.

Aaric groans. “You’re torturing me on purpose, aren’t you?”

I laugh, uncaring if I seem slightly insane for laughing at something no one else can hear. At least the hall I’m standing in is empty.

Guess we’ll have to see how patient you can be while you recover.

I send him a mental image of me climbing on top of him, like I wanted to last night, straddling his hips while he lay on his bed. My fingers pulling his hair as I guide his face to mine, lips open to breathe him in. The way I would’ve leaned in, lips barely touching his. My hips moving to grind atop his obvious erection.

Aaric makes a sound that resembles choking. “Fuck.”

I smile, feeling triumphant and giddy.

“Did you really have to make this more difficult?”

I shrug as if he can see me. It’s what you get for getting me in trouble with the healers.

“Me?!”

It’s entirely your fault for seducing me.

I can feel Aaric gaping, and I can’t help but laugh once more. Guess I’ll see you in a few days. Don’t miss me too much.

I imagine blowing him a kiss.

I can picture him shaking his head as Aaric snickers. “You’re going to be the death of me, aren’t you?”

Oh, definitely.

I leave him one last image. The memory of his fingers on my skin. His breath on my neck. And the idea of what could have been. Me, surging forward and claiming his lips with mine, moaning into his mouth.

Aaric’s groan leaves me smiling as I make my way down the hall with a skip in my step.

—————

Days later, as Battle Brief comes to a close, Aaric slides into my mind with a desperate sound. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”

A rush of heat rises up my skin as I squirm in my seat next to Sloane. She casts me a look, but I firmly ignore her, slouching slightly in my chair as the lecture ends.

“If we’re being honest,” he whispers, his voice heavy and distracting with desire. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since we were fifteen.”

I can’t help my small smile at the confession. Me too.

As if he’s sitting next to me, I feel him smile.

“Remember when we went ice skating on the lake a few years ago? And when you started to slip, I caught you before you hit the ice?”

The memory rises to the front of my mind quickly. How his gloved hand felt in mine, assuring me with his strength as he guided us across the ice. His smile was brilliant in the late evening sun. Frost nipped at our cheeks as he surveyed my steps. When a rock in the ice made me falter, tripping forward, he was there. His arms encircled me, as if on instinct, and held me close as we fell. I landed on top of him, our bodies skidding on the ice as Aaric stared at me wide-eyed and concerned. I laughed at my clumsiness while I lay on him. He joined me, laughing and crinkling the skin of his eyes, but there was something sparking in his. Something heavy settling on us as our noses brushed accidentally. His hands had tightened on my waist. And just as my eyes stared down at his lips, we were separating. Moving away from each other as we tried to stand to continue skating. He didn’t touch me after that, keeping his distance the rest of the day.

I shiver at the memory. Yes. I remember.

“That was the first time I wanted to kiss you.”

The confession leaves me breathless.

“I wanted to kiss you so badly that day. The thought haunted me every day since. I haven’t stopped wanting to.”

His words leave me aching, wanting for him to hold me close, assuring me with his presence. That this is real. That’s it not in my head.

Because of his confession, I can’t help but reveal my own as I gather my things while we’re dismissed from class.

When you surprised me for my birthday with rosewood bookcases carved with vines and flowers, filled to the brim with new, wonderful books, I wanted to kiss you like mad.

I smile at the memory, allowing it to fill me with warmth at the sight of Aaric’s shy, hopeful smile.

We were so young, and his face was starting to thin and harden into the man he is now. He was also starting to tower over me, having had a growth spurt during the winter months. His hair was shaggy, due for a haircut, but his eyes remained the same even now. Constant and heavy with determination and a yearning for something more. They were joyous and uncertain that day years ago, but the second I flung myself at him, hugging him till he couldn’t breathe, all of his nerves vanished as he hugged me back.

I can sense Aaric smiling with me, his presence like bathing in sunlight as he crowds my mind.

“Who can blame you?” He teases. “I’m a great gift-giver.”

I roll my eyes, shoving through the crowd of cadets as I head to the dormitories, waving goodbye to Sloane.

Aaric’s tone softens. “I remember the way you looked at me. It was different than it was before.” He pauses. “I thought I was going insane. I thought, after all these years, it was just me who felt this way.”

Fluttering stirs in my stomach. It’s still hard to comprehend how he’s felt the same way as I have for just as long. How we’ve been constantly pushing and pulling at each other like stars stuck in orbit.

“I miss you,” he whispers.

That familiar ache fills me as I stand before my door, closing my eyes.

I miss you, too.

Silence envelops us, but it’s comforting and familiar. He lingers in my mind as I enter my room, depositing my books on the desk. When I turn to the bed, I flop down on the mattress, sighing into the sheets. I feel Aaric pull away, as if distracted or talking to someone on his end of our mind connection. I silently appreciate the stillness since I’m still reeling from the fact that my best friend, the one I’ve yearned to be something more with for years, missed me. And not in the friendly missing way. He wants me.

It’s been days of his small flirtations and constant mental check-ins while he’s been healing, and it’s been kind of nice just having this space from physically being near him. Not that I wouldn’t want to be with him, but the time apart has given me clarity. This isn’t fleeting. This desire he has to kiss me? It’s something he’s wanted for years. It still shocks me, but he’s remained the same. My same Cam.

I startle. He’s not mine.

At least, not yet.

The thought has me burying my head in my pillow to fight the butterflies climbing up through my gut.

“This is embarrassing,” Kesi huffs.

I groan into the bed. For the love of the gods, leave me be. Stop being nosey.

I can almost picture her rolling those big, slitted eyes of hers in response. I’m grateful Aaric isn’t still here, or Kesi would just embarrass me for the fun of it.

Huffing a sigh, I try to force Kesi out, but she stays. Like the annoying, big, infernal green gossip she is.

“Careful, or someone may end up dumped in a ravine next time they ride me,” she taunts.

Now I roll my eyes before saying aloud, “Oh, be my guest! Throw me from your back! It’s not as if you have to worry about killing yourself, your mate, and his rider as a result of my death.”

Her lumbering presence sharpens in my mind, crowding me. “Do not throw your frustration like a blade at me when it is clearly meant for someone else.”

I bristle at that. I don’t know what you mean.

Silence weighs heavily before she finally responds. “It seems this frustration is a result of you needing to mate. Desperately.”

I startle, almost falling off my bed as my eyes fly open wide. “What?!”

I can practically feel her shaking her head at my mortal stupidity. “It is perfectly natural to feel this way. You are a human woman, and he is a human man. Is that not what humans, like all animals, do when strong emotions arise—“

I close my eyes, cringing. “Please stop talking.”

“—wanting to mate is not seen as an embarrassment—“

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

I shove at Kesi’s door in my mind, trying with every fiber of my being to kick her out of my head.

“—shall I tell Molvic to join us in this conversation to further enlighten you?”

“NO!” Gods, please no.

“Am I interrupting something?” Aaric’s voice is full of amusement as his presence wavers at the edge of my mind.

“No!” I yell as Kesi bellows “Yes!” at the same time.

Aaric chuckles, the sound spreading goosebumps down my spine. I shiver at the sensation.

“You are proving my point.”

I choke back a frustrated scream at Kesi, but her door in my mental palace library immediately slams closed, leaving me reeling and annoyed.

Fucking nosey dragon.

Aaric laughs anew, making the corners of my mouth curve slightly. “I’m relieved to know she’s just as obnoxious about you and me as Molvic is.”

I fully smile at that. Of course Kesi’s mate is just as bad as her.

“Is this a good time to fill me in on today’s lectures?”

I sigh in relief at the change of topic. Bless him.

Definitely.

For the next few hours, as I lie in bed with my notebooks open on my lap, I reiterate everything Aaric missed in Battle Brief, Kaori’s class on dragons and signets, and history. We started doing this at my insistence a few days ago so he wouldn’t fall behind while he was recovering. It’s proven worth it when he’s already missed so much.

Although we’ve had this quiet tension simmering between us since he confessed to wanting to kiss me, it’s refreshing to have this sense of normalcy when we get to discuss classes and homework. It’s almost as if we’re back at the palace, where we discussed our tutoring sessions over lunch or while relaxing in the garden, lying in the grass, side by side.

The familiarity helps soften the longing inside of me. Helps clear the questions and lectures Kesi has given me over and over again about being with Aaric.

I don’t want to pressure this fragile state we’re in. Whatever it is that lays between us now. We’ll always remain friends, but now we’re floating in the in-between. Not entirely friendship, but a desire for more.

As Aaric laughs at my description of Ridoc Gamlyn being yelled at during lunch by two third years who found out he was simultaneously dating them both at the same time, I bask in the warmth of him. At the normalcy of just being around one another, even in our minds. The connection has been a lifeline over these few days. I’ve never felt more grateful to be stuck with a mated pair of dragons with him by my side. I wouldn’t call it fate, but it sure resembles something similar as my soul sings every time Aaric flirts or laughs with me. As his mind caresses my own.

It’s as if all this waiting and yearning and hoping has been rewarded somehow. Even if he currently lays injured in the healers quadrant and we can only communicate through our mind link, I wouldn’t want it any other way.

————

Aaric POV

“That’s it, baby,” Aaric murmurs into her skin. “You’re taking me so well.”

She moans, hips gyrating against his as he pumps deeper inside than before.

“Fuck, I knew you’d be this tight,” he groans, head falling into the crook of her neck.

“Cam.” She shudders, back arching. “Cam.”

She keeps whispering his name, making him lightheaded. He’s so close.

“Gods, I’ve wanted this, wanted you for so long.”

He catches her smiling at that, her eyes twinkling in the moonlight. “Show me.”

Aaric’s smile is all male ego as he raises his head and kisses her. The way her tongue feels against his, her nails digging into the skin of his back, it feels entirely intoxicating and real and—

Real.

Aaric pulls back, brows furrowed. When her eyes meet his in that half-lidded, lust-filled way, he reaches a hand to her jaw, feeling the warmth of her skin. It’s soft and firm and she smells of lilac and citrus and it feels—

Real.

It feels real.

“Cam?” she asks, brows raised.

Aaric stares for a moment. “Is this real? Are you really here?”

Her eyes widen and, as if by uttering the words and ruining everything, the dream shatters.

Aaric wakes gasping in his bed in the healer’s quadrant. Breaths sawing through his lungs as he tries and fails to calm down. He grips the sheets beneath him, trying to sort out his mind.

She was there. In his dream. She was really there this time. At least, it felt like she was actually there.

He opens his mind, checking the door to Y/N’s mind. It’s wide open. And she’s also awake and aware, startled just as he is.

Y/N? He calls down their connection.

“Yes?” Her answer is small and nervous.

Fuck.

Did… Did you see—

“Yeah, I saw. I was somehow… there.”

He swallows as embarrassment floods his body at the idea of her being present in his sex dream. Gods, he hasn’t even kissed her yet and she now knows he dreams of her that way.

I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean for you to—

She laughs, nervously, but it relaxes the muscles in his body all the same. “What? You didn’t mean to have a sex dream about me and have me actually be there?”

He pinches his eyes closed, feeling tremendously like an idiotic asshole in this moment. He’s slightly shocked Molvic isn’t here to witness it.

“It’s not your fault, Cam,” she whispers, probably sensing his panic. “It’s also nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s perfectly normal.”

Her voice raised slightly on that last sentence, making Aaric sigh.

“Is that,” she hesitates, pausing for a moment, before she continues. “Is this your first time dreaming about me that way?”

Aaric stills. He could lie. He could avoid all of this easily. Make it seem like a mistake or an accident or some mishap. This new avenue of their relationship feels fragile and he doesn’t want to screw it up. Especially not with his horny dreams of fucking her senseless.

But Aaric could never lie to her.

No, he swallows. I’ve had these dreams for years.

Silence reigns heavily on their connection. It rattles against Aaric’s nerves. He doesn’t know whether to run out of the healer’s quadrant and seek her out to explain in person, or jump out of the window and run off with Molvic to avoid this altogether.

“Really?” Her voice is soft and tender, gentle in his mind. An anchor in the raging storm of his thoughts.

Yes.

He can sense her smiling, causing his heart to beat faster as her presence continues to linger, heavily this time, in his mind.

“Well then,” she says, soft as silk. “It’s only fair that I confess that I’ve had similar dreams about you for years, too.”

Aaric’s heart stops before picking up at a raucous, roaring beat. His smile is all-consuming.

You dream about me?

She laughs. “If it’s not obvious already, I’ve had these strong feelings for you for years.”

Aaric can’t tell if it’s because of the safety of their mind connection that she confesses easily. He doesn’t mind one bit.

Strong feelings, huh?

He can practically feel her roll her eyes. “Don’t ruin the moment.”

Aaric laughs, but quickly stops as it echoes through the cavernous room. He casts a glance at the night healer’s office in the far corner, but he can see she’s asleep on her desk. The other patients were discharged earlier that day, leaving him to be the only one in the room. For the first time in days, he’s alone.

I can’t help it if I enjoy hearing you tell me how much you like me, he teases.

She scoffs. “I’ve always liked you.”

You know what I mean, his tone deepens and a pleased smile spreads across his face when he feels her shiver at the sound.

“I really liked your dream,” she confesses.

Aaric raises a brow at her boldness.

So did I. As if he can’t help himself, he traces a mental finger down their connection. It’s too bad it ended so soon.

Her breath hitches. “How would it have ended?”

Aaric smirks, an idea sparking in his mind. Let me show you.

Aaric closes his eyes. He pictures them in his bed, Sienna’s hair a halo around her head on his pillow. His hips rutting deep inside of her as he continues to thrust, in and out. Over and over again. He goes deeper, feeling how tight she is, or rather, how he imagines her to be.

Her moans would echo off the walls, her fingers tight in his hair as she pulls him closer. He lets her do what she wants to him. Anything she needs. He’s a slave to her will. All while he reaches down and smooths a thumb over her clit, watching in rapture as she closes her eyes and trembles beneath him.

Aaric senses her presence in his mind flickering with desire that entirely mirrors his own. His veins burn with it. Feeling entirely too bold and incredibly full of want, he reaches down into his briefs, gripping his hard erection. He slides his skin up and down, gripping and pulling. Imagining her. Wanting her. He sends the sensation down the mental bond between them. She startles at the image, but he can feel her moan in his mind as she witnesses him jerking himself off.

Touch yourself, he whispers, voice heavy with barely controlled lust.

“What makes you think I haven’t been?” Her voice, sultry and deep, makes a stifled groan escape his lips.

The sensation she sends of her fingers diving deep into her core, her thumb caressing her clit as he would’ve in the dream, drives him mad. He wants her so fucking badly. He wants to be deep inside of her, making her scream his name.

He pumps faster, following the rhythm of her fingers as he continues to keep their mind link open to the sensation. He feels her breaths heaving, her pulse echoing down the bond. His own matches hers.

Aaric moans her name, hand gripping himself tight enough to mimic what he needs from her. What he wants so desperately. She pinches her clit, filling herself with her fingers as she begins to shatter and break in their connection.

“I’m-I’m gonna—“

She releases a shout as she comes all over her fingers, ensuring he witnesses every second of it. How her back bends, her head thrown back as her mouth drops open. It’s torturous and everything he needs to send himself over the edge. Stars burst behind his eyelids as he finally finds release. It burns down his skin, echoing in his bones until he can finally catch his breath. His skin prickles and sweat clings to him as he slowly comes back into his body, entirely aware of the warmth now covering his hand and torso.

Holy shit. Did that really just happen?

Sienna laughs, her voice shaky with exhaustion. “Yes. It did.”

Aaric laughs too, elated and nervous and entirely exhausted.

That was…

“Perfect," she whispers.

Aaric scoffs. I hope I can do better in real life if that’s what you consider perfect.

He can feel her smirk as she says, “Guess you’ll have a point to prove.”

Aaric shivers in anticipation. I look forward to it.

Before she can close their connection, Aaric caresses her mind with his own, ensuring she knows how much this meant to him. That it wasn’t fleeting lust or pent-up desire that led him to this point. That she means everything to him. He fills their bond with the warmth of his affection for her.

Go to sleep, Y/N. You need to rest.

She basks in his warmth, coiling up to it before sending him her own. This brightens every dark corner of his soul, lighting up his nervous system as he smiles in the feel of her.

“Goodnight, Cam. Sweet dreams.”

Aaric chuckles at her cheekiness before the connection is closed off. Once he cleans himself up as quietly as possible and lies back in bed, he allows the echo of her warmth to settle him into deep, dreamless sleep.

————

Taglist: @bookishnerd1132 @abysshaven @annthepenguin @lynnieluvsu @louzello @jinx108 @lustrz-anna @worldsanna @wolfbc97 @kelpyreads @lveegsoi @iambored24601 @bookishcait @marrass @serena-capella @benz12313 @-thatgirloverthere- @tenshis-cake @http-peachie @littlemissmelodie @lagrandeoursee @homeslices @angelastra8 @mad-katsuki @5sospenguinqueen @demirunner @bucky-thorin-winchester @giimeenaaa @gamarancianne @xxhospital-for-soulsxx @justyouraveragekleemain @emoravenwolf @fourth-wing-stories @maybemaleksentmeasakindness @doodlebugg16-blog @glaciuswduo @plants-w0rld

[saintsanddevils]

Weaver of Fate

Liam Mairi x Fem!Reader

Summary: No matter how long it’s been, every part of you mourns Liam. You can’t let him go. With the help of your signet, you rewrite his fate. But at what cost?

Warnings: angst, grief, mentions of death & blood, eventual happy ending

Author’s Note: I think this can be seen as an alternate universe to my “Unravel Me” fic

Word Count: 2.8K

Posted on AO3

Masterlist

Fog envelops my steps as I walk across charred earth. The chill of the night clings to my cloak. It’s quiet, a stillness settling over the field where hours earlier, it was complete chaos.

Sulfur and ash still fill the air of Athebyne. Rot and the coppery smell of blood cling to me as I force myself to not look at the destroyed city. Sharp memories from hours ago hit me like a tidal wave. The roaring of dragons. The palpable panic coursing through our squad as Xaden barked orders. Violet’s lightning cracking across the sky. Cloaked Venin swarming the city. The screams of Athebyne’s citizens.

The echo of their cries is still here, haunting every step I take as I turn away from the city. I’m not here for Athebyne. I don’t wish to relive what will surely bring me nightmares for years to come. No. I stay as far from the city as I can.

Instead, I go to the last place I wish to be.

The earth here is stained in crimson, scorched by dragon fire. A strange sense of dreadful awareness fills me as I stare at the ground.

This is where Liam Mairi died.

Where I watched him choke on his last breaths, clinging to the red scales of his dragon, Deigh, before death finally came for him. Seconds away from entering the afterlife and he still had a smile rivaling the brightness of the sun.

That’s who Liam was. He was the light of a new dawn, the feel of fresh dew on grass, the racing of a pulse. He was the embodiment of life.

How cruel to die so young, fight a war he never should be apart of. He was the best of us. He is the best of us.

Flashes of stolen kisses in corridors, hands clasped tightly, and whispered affections plague my mind.

“We’ll be together again, in the next life.”

I flinch at the memory of his breath on my lips. His hands losing their grip on me as his eyes dimmed, his soul fading.

“I wish we had more time.” I choked through my sobs, clinging to him, begging every god who could hear me to let him stay.

Liam had only given me a soft smile. The sort of smile he only reserved for those early mornings when we awoke in one another’s arms. It was full of something so hopeful and soothing, it stabbed my gut like a jagged knife to see it when he lay dying.

“Death cannot stop me from seeing you again,” he gave me a swift, soft kiss. It burned my lips. “I will always love you.”

The burning behind my eyes is unavoidable now as tears stream down my cheeks, dripping to the dirt stained by his blood. My eyes are swollen from hours of crying and I’m shocked to find I still have tears to spare.

I don’t have time to cry. I only have a few hours to get this right.

Kneeling to the ground, I lay my hands atop the bloodied soil, closing my eyes. Breathing deep and slow, I open the door to the power lying in wait beneath my skin.

I’ve never done this before. It’s new and desperate of me, but I have to try.

Hope clings to me like a second skin as I breathe, in and out, concentrating on the feel of the earth beneath my skin.

My signet is healing, but something crawls beneath my skin that is not of this world. Every time I heal and mend, the power hungers for something more. I feared, for a long time, this was something pulling me to become Venin. Something that takes and takes, wreaking havoc and stealing life. But it only occurred to me after Liam’s death that it wasn’t anything like that. It wasn’t a hunger for power, but a sense of not reaching my full potential. Like having a set of keys and a locked door before me. I only need to find which key will open the door.

Taking a vial from my pocket, I don’t look as I coat my hands in the substance within. It feels grainy and powdery. I know without looking it’s dark, coating and staining the skin of my palms.

It’s the ashes of Liam’s body.

After his death, his body was brought back to Tyrrendor after the battle and stacked upon a pyre. He was burned, as is custom, and I can still feel the cloying smell of burned flesh choking the air. I had stood there for hours until the flames were mere cinders and his body was nothing but ash.

Every second since his death, I’ve become a ghost. There’s a pain that lingers, hanging between my ribs, that sharpens and intensifies with every breath. The idea of continuing this life without him tortures me. After all the love he’s given me. Every smile, every touch, it was all stolen by time.

I don’t know what made me do it. Something clicked inside of me as I watched the flames of his pyre. An instinct I trusted immediately as a plan slowly began to form. When Xaden finally left my side and I was left alone, I bolted forward, grasping an empty vial from my jacket and filling it to the brim with his ashes.

That was an hour ago.

Now, I’m holding on to every instinct I’ve been following since his death. Concentrating on the ash coating my hands, I pour everything, every ounce of my power, into the earth. I’ve always imagined my healing signet to be a tapestry of golden threads, weaving the body to mend at my will. Now, I see traces of withered, dead strands in my minds-eye, lying in wait as the golden threads of my power reach for them.

Pain pricks up my spine as my power extends, those golden threads stretching as far as they can. My pulse beats heavily in my blood, breaths heaving from my lungs as I push myself to the limit. Burnout isn’t an option.

Like the snap of broken rope, I’m untethered, my power sparking from my fingertips as I fall to the ground, heaving. Gasping breaths, I finally open my eyes, staring at the blood-stained dirt beneath my splayed fingers.

It didn’t work.

I try again. The dirt caking under my fingernails as I dig deep. I pour myself into my power, straining to catch anything that will reach back.

Nothing.

I shake my hands out, flexing the muscles and tendons, and do it again.

Nothing.

It’s not fucking working.

Rage slowly rises, burning like acid in my stomach as I let every frustration, every ounce of bitterness, consume me.

A scream escapes my lips. And another. Until I’m left screaming and heaving in the dirt.

I scream and scream and scream.

It’s hoarse and echoes through the valley. I sense my dragon’s distress, but I block them out. I need to stay focused.

I can’t let Liam go. I won’t let him go. Never again will he be separated from me. In this life or any other.

This time, once my voice lets the last of my frustration die in my throat, making it rough and hard to swallow, I close my eyes and picture Liam. Every dip and curve of his face. Every freckle, mole, scar, and dimple. Muscles lining his arms, his relic tattoo stark against the skin of his arm and collarbone. The way his hair gilded the sky in the afternoon sun. His infectious laugh. How his teasing and flirting were intoxicating and thrilling. His attention a drug as his crystal blue eyes would trace me, holding me captive.

Warmth seeps into my bones as I grip the dirt, desperately. I cling to every memory I have of him. Every trace of life within him, pulling him back to me, like an anchor.

The memory of his smile, so carefree and brilliant. The way he lit up the darkest parts of me with every tilt of his lips, his eyes glittering with mischief. I always felt privileged to be able to see him smile at me so freely. It was always there for the taking and he gave them to me without ever holding back.

The memory of his hands clasping my hips for the first time, adjusting my stance on the mat during training. How a blush rose to both our cheeks when our eyes met. His flirtatious smile consuming his face, brightening the world with it.

The memory of the first time he cornered me in the hall, longing and desperation clinging to him as he confessed how much he wanted me. How much he needed me in his life as more than a friend. I remember returning his affections with a soft kiss that had him easily confessing how much he loved me. My laugh echoed in the hall before his own joined mine.

Every memory of his lips against mine, soft and searching, insistent and desperate, strong and sure. Even our last kiss, the morning before we left for Athebyne, where he kissed every inch of my skin until I was blushing and swollen with them. His tongue tracing my collarbone before whispering sweet nothings into my skin, sending goosebumps down my body.

The feel of his hand in mine is the last memory that keeps me centered and focus. The way his palm slid against mine, fitting entirely too well to not call it fate. To not call what lay between us a form of love so true and destined, it felt like breathing.

“Death cannot stop me from seeing you again. I will always love you.”

And just like that, I breathe. I breathe long and slow, letting my memories consume me, carry me, guide me.

With every memory, every brush of his presence in my minds-eye, the glittering golden threads of my power slowly begin weave together. I’m so lost in the depths of my mind, clinging to the lingering imprints of Liam, that I don’t notice the spark.

I open my eyes, gasping as I see light shining from beneath my palms. It’s a wondrous sight, something I can’t look away from. And I feel…. I feel the soul of the earth, the roots far below, responding to my touch as something beats beneath my skin. A steady rhythm.

Almost like a heartbeat.

I’m doing it. I’m doing it!

I can’t help but inflate with hope, smiling at the strangeness of my power as it buries further and further until I feel every rock and blade of grass around me.

A sudden flare of blinding light, chaotic and bright, breaks across the field from beneath my palms, stealing the last of my energy, before I fall to the dirt like a puppet cut from their strings, darkness clouding my vision.

The last thing I sense, before I let the darkness wash over me, is a slow heartbeat and a firm chest beneath my hands.

———

I wake to the sound of my name. It’s desperate and unsure, breathless and hopeful. Rough, shaking hands hold me, arms firm around my body as those hands cradle my face. My eyes blink slowly until I’m staring up at a predawn sky, the night and stars disappearing as the sun slowly rises in the distance.

It takes a moment for me to remember someone is holding me. That I’m not alone.

I jolt when my eyes lock on blue ones.

“Liam?” I choke, voice hoarse.

He smiles, tears in his eyes as he stares down at me, holding me closer. “It’s me.”

My hands shoot out, tentatively touching his cheek, his nose, his jaw. He closes his eyes at my touch, leaning into it. My heart soars as I feel his skin, warm and full of life. The smell of him washes over me, so familiar I breathe it in greedily. I leap from his hold, wanting to get closer to it, to him. I wrap my arms around his neck, grasping on to him as a sob tears from my chest. Liam holds me just as tight, arms banding around me, as if reassuring me that he’s really here. Maybe even reassuring himself.

“How?” He whispers against my hair.

I shake my head, never leaving the comfort of his chest as I bury myself in him.

“I couldn’t do it,” I whisper. “I couldn’t let you go. I knew I could bring you back, so… I did.”

Liam pulls away, his fingers tilting my chin up to meet his eyes. It’s still dark, but the small traces of dawn light his eyes a calming blue that reminds me of the sea in sunlight. Glittering and beautiful. It’s so familiar, the ache in my chest slowly ebbs.

“You brought me back?” His whisper is uncertain, but his face tells me everything. It’s as familiar as my own. The way his eyes hold traces of hope and longing.

I smile brilliantly up at him. “Death can’t keep us apart.”

A breath escapes parted lips before he surges forward. His lips find mine and nothing about this kiss is soft. It’s desperate, like clinging to life with bare hands, trying to keep oneself from leaving this world and on to the next with every breath. It’s aching, like the hollow in my chest that is slowly knitting itself together with every brush of his skin, every breath he takes. It’s consuming, like the love that surges between us, real and everlasting. Something so unbreakable, even death can’t stop us from being together once more.

That thought alone has the tears stream anew down my cheeks as I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer, opening my mouth to let his tongue remind me what it feels like to live. To love. To cherish.

I climb atop him, something desperate clawing its way beneath my skin, as I cling to him, hands grasping at his hair. He’s just as rough, just as searching and overcome with this need to feel alive. His rough, calloused hands dive beneath my shirt, touching my skin. I moan at the feel of him, his skin so familiar, it’s imbedded into my own.

The slide of his skin against mine, his hands inching up my spine, makes me shiver. He pulls me even closer, lips now tracing my jaw, nipping my throat, sucking the skin of my collarbone. He groans as my breaths come out raggedly. His hands now pressing into me, forming bruises. It grounds me.

He’s here. He’s actually here.

With my hands in his hair, I pull him back to my lips, kissing him with abandon. Reminding me this is real.

When his hands slide down my skin, I moan once more at the feel of his callouses. Gods, I need him. I need-

He pulls his skin away from me and I grunt in frustration.

He laughs against my lips, before kissing me anew, this one sweeter, gentler. The racing of our heartbeats echoes between us as we slowly come up for air.

When he gives me another slow, burning, lingering kiss, he smiles against me. “Whatever you did, however you did it, thank you.”

I shake my head. “You don’t need to thank—“

“I do.” His grip tightens, holding me closer still. “How can I not? You brought me back. It’s a gift to be in your arms again. To be breathing.” He shakes his head before touching his forehead to mine, closing his eyes and breathing deep. “I’ll never stop being grateful. I don’t deserve you.”

I soften, my hands tracing his jaw as I lean in, kissing him once more. “We deserve each other.”

With his hand clasped in mine, everything is as it should be. The beat of his heart beneath my palm is the calm in the storm, reassuring me I will never be alone. Never again.

Sunlight breaks through the clouds ahead and if sparkles across the morning dew. I can’t help the hope rising inside of me at the sight. A new dawn, a new beginning. Together.

I close my eyes, basking in the sun, holding Liam close. Its warmth is similar to his touch. All-consuming, reassuring, and constant. A beacon in the darkness.

For the first time, I take a long, deep breath, knowing this is not our end. With him by my side, I can face anything.

Nothing will keep us apart now. Not the Venin. Not the looming war ahead. Not even death.

Not even when my eyes open, blinking in the sunlight, and traces of red, the color of blood and sacrifice, glimmer in the depths of my irises.

Unravel Me

[saintsanddevils]

I’ve been silently stalking your page and reading your fourth wing stories and I absolutely love them! I haven’t written anything on here for over a year but you’re writing makes me want to start again! I haven’t ever written anything for fourth wing but I really want to I’m just not sure if it’ll be any good😭

Just wanted to send some love your way ❤️

I feel that love, thank you! And GO FOR IT! If you feel inspired to write some Fourth Wing fic, jump on that train. I feel honored to know I’ve helped your motivation in some way & hope to read whatever you write🤍

Don’t be afraid if you think your writing isn’t good enough. Only ask yourself if you enjoy it, not if your audience will like it. If you’re proud of what you’ve created, that’s what matters. Just have fun with it! That’s what fanfic is all about-- writing & reading about something you love & enjoy!

[saintsanddevils]

Missing ur writing will there be a next part to the aaric story 🤭

Yes!! Part Six is taking a while since life is currently getting in the way. But I promise to upload it soon!

I’m also writing three one-shots at the same time so, we’ll see what’s done first. But Aaric’s story is still my priority.

🪻Thanks for your patience🪻

[saintsanddevils]

Unravel Me

Liam Mairi x Fem!Reader

Summary: Grief is your constant companion as you struggle to come to terms with losing Liam. You can’t handle the memories, so you ask Imogen to take them away.

Warnings: ‼️18+ (MDNI) explicit content‼️, smut, grief, death, blood, some violence, angst, ALL HURT/no comfort, first person reader pov

Author’s Note: This is probably my fav story I’ve written so far! Liam is my favorite of all of the Fourth Wing men & I’ve been dying to write this for so long. - also, every person who has checked in on me about burnout, thank you, you’re incredibly kind & I appreciate all the love!!

Word Count: 8.6K

AO3 link

Masterlist

• • • •

The stone archway is the only thing keeping me from collapsing to the ground. I lay my back against it, trying to keep myself standing. Breaths saw through my lungs in jagged, sharp inhales. A knife cutting through me from the inside out.

Storm clouds form in the sky above, ominous in the setting sun. The smell of wet stone and soil fills the air as I try to still my racing heart.

It’s been one month.

One month.

Four weeks.

Thirty days.

Seven hundred and twenty-two hours and counting since Liam has been gone.

Knees shaking, I close my eyes, breathing deeply. But the breaths come quicker and faster. The image of Liam’s broken, bloody face surfacing unbidden. The way his blue eyes frosted over before closing, his skin cracked and pale as he slumped against Deigh’s red scales.

Rough, uneven breaths escape me. Thunder rumbles the ground beneath my feet, the summer air chilled by the cool of rain. Each breath clouds around me as I stand beneath an arch, facing the open courtyard.

The very courtyard where I first met Liam.

I remember the way his eyes lit with a teasing gleam when they first met mine. He was playful, flirtatious, but his eyes captured me. Like crystal glass, filled with murky seawater shining in the sunlight. I’d never seen such a blue.

The memory stings, sharp and insistent with its presence. Since his death, I’ve been left with nothing but every memory I have of him. Each one imprinted upon me, unique and shining. How he smiled, fully and entirely intoxicating, when I entered the room. The way his skin glided against mine between sheets. The feel of his calloused hand gripping my own. His lips coasting mine, teasing, before claiming them for his own, stealing the breath in my lungs.

Every day since his death has been my own personal hell. Waking up, alone, forms a hollow ache within my chest that grows with every second. I never want to leave my bed.

For the first week, everyone grieved alongside me. But we’re in the middle of a war. We can’t waste any time.

Only the pestering of my squad mates and the force behind my dragon’s insistent encouragement force me out of my room now. Although they try to hide it, they’re concerned for me. I act like I can’t feel their penetrating gazes, but it’s suffocating.

Every day is suffocating.

Distantly, I hear someone call my name. With my eyes closed, I can pretend I’m not here. I can pretend he’s alive. I can pretend I will find him standing before me, smiling, when I open my eyes. That he’ll tell me I worry too much and he’ll kiss the rain from my cheeks and lips.

When I open my eyes, it’s not him standing there. It’s Imogen.

Concern lines her face as she stares at me. “I’m so sorry. I can’t.”

Tears burn my eyes as the rain begins to fall harder. Overcome by a heaviness crushing my ribs, my knees start to shake. I can’t tell if I’m holding on to the wall or if it’s the one keeping me up.

“Please,” I beg, voice cracking. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t wake up tomorrow with this pain,” I grip my chest, swallowing the grief threatening to choke me. “It’s like a living, breathing thing inside of me. It’s poisoning me. I…I can’t do it anymore.”

Sobs escape from my lips, gasping and heaving. I must sound like a tortured animal as I collapse to the ground, cracking my knees against the stone. The pain grounds me as I slump against the wall.

This pressure on my chest, the one that settled there as I watched Liam limp towards Deigh a month ago, is stifling me. It’s growing more and more, crushing my lungs, severing my breaths as I cling to the stone beneath my fingers.

I completely forget Imogen until she’s stepping towards me. She watches the tears fall from my eyes, shared sorrow evident in her posture. She, too, knew Liam well. They all did. It wasn’t just me who lost him.

But she knows what he was to me. What I was to him.

I don’t know what convinces her. Maybe it’s the tears. Maybe it’s my pathetic whimpers. Or maybe it’s the hollow look in my eyes as grief consumes me. All I know is she’s staring at me with concern and hesitant understanding. And I cling to that like a lifeline.

“Okay,” her voice sobers me from my tears.

A shaky breath. Another.

“Really?” My whisper is broken in the space between us.

She nods slowly. “I’ll do it. But you have to know what you’re asking me to do.”

I nod back, aware of her hands as they clench and unclench at her sides.

The idea came to me last week when a cadet mocked Violet about losing her “guard dog”. Violet flinched and, suddenly, there he was. Xaden was a feral, untamed thing as he hurled himself at the cadet.

It should’ve been me. I should’ve hurt that dumbass cadet. I wish it had been me as I watched Xaden deliver blow after blow on the cadet before being thrown back by Garrick. My knees and hands were shaking as I watched him be crowded against the wall, restrained as the injured cadet ran down the hall like a fucking coward.

Grief is something that’s different for everyone. I think the only person who knew an ounce of what I felt was Xaden. He lost not only a friend but a brother. He loved him.

And as I stood there, staring as Violet calmed Xaden, I had known this grief would pass for him. It would haunt him forever, but it would scar over. He would heal because he had Violet. He had Garrick and Imogen and Bodhi.

I had Liam.

A steadiness settles in me as I meet her gaze. “I know what I’m asking.”

She closes her eyes, briefly, as if debating if this is worth the risk, before raising her hands towards me.

“You need to stay perfectly still,” she instructs, kneeling before me. “I’m not going to lie to you. This will hurt like hell, but the pain won’t last long. It should fade, along with the memories you want me to erase.”

I nod as trepidation and nerves slowly creep up my spine, causing my hands to shake. I clench them, steeling myself. Forcing determination to settle on my shoulders.

Imogen settles herself before me, waiting for my signal before touching the skin of my temples. The pink of her hair is darker in the low lighting, thunder gradually fading in the distance as rain continues to fall.

“Are you sure?” She asks, voice hesitant.

A flash of Liam’s smile has my gut twisting. Liam used to say that love was something he never thought would happen to him. That love was a fairytale.

After almost a year of being together, he whispered with shaky breaths, “I’ve never loved someone like I love you. You’re the other half of something I didn’t know was missing. Something so tied within me, I feel you always.”

I’d gripped him tightly, clinging to him as I kissed his collarbone, neck, all the way up to his jaw. “I feel you, too.”

He shook his head, lips brushing my ear. “Don’t you think it’s terrifying that at any moment, it could be gone? I could lose you?”

I’d given him reassurances. False promises.

I didn’t know I’d lose him so soon. I didn’t know loving him would become a curse.

Wanting something I can’t ever have again will kill me. I can’t do it anymore.

“Yes,” I answer Imogen. “I’m sure.”

She hesitates, only for a moment, before closing her eyes. I close my own, letting the rain wash my doubts away.

Pressure builds behind my eyes, steady and gradual at her fingertips. I can feel her presence in my mind.

“Start from your most recent memory,” she says. “And slowly go further and further until you reach the oldest one.”

I pause, my heart racing frantically in my chest as I immediately recall the last time I saw Liam.

“No!” I scream, but it’s too late.

Deigh slumps to the ground, motionless.

Blood drips from my hands as I run towards Liam, whose eyes meet mine in wide panic. I watch him stagger forward, limping, before collapsing to the dirt.

I’m there, holding him up as his body begins to slump. Xaden appears, helping me, but I barely glance at him. My entire focus is on Liam’s shallow breathing.

“Take me to him,” he whispers roughly, chest rising and falling jaggedly.

We help bring Liam to Deigh. My shaking hands cling to him as we settle him against the red scales of his dragon. Xaden lingers beside me as we both kneel before Liam, whose gaze is fixed on his friend.

“You’re the brother I’ve always wanted,” he smiles. “Don’t forget where you came from. Who you are, and who you’ll become.”

Tears well in Xaden’s eyes as he nods.

I feel like I’m intruding on a moment between them, but I can’t bring myself to leave Liam’s side.

“I-“ he swallows, gaze fixated on Violet behind us. “I hope I did enough-“

“You did,” Xaden smiles, tears now falling down his cheeks. “You did everything you could and more.”

Liam nods, tears in his own eyes. Xaden leans forward to hold him, one last time.

Liam mumbles something to him I can’t hear before Xaden backs away, back towards Violet. I catch Xaden looking at me, guilt written across his features, but I don’t acknowledge it. I can’t waste any second we have left.

Liam finally, finally, meets my gaze. His jaw clenches as he watches the tears streaming down my skin. His fingers reach up, wiping them away. I lean into his hand on instinct, forcing myself to memorize the way his calloused skin feels against mine.

“I don’t know how to say goodbye,” I whisper.

Liam’s smile doesn’t reach his eyes. “Then don’t.”

He pulls me forward, kissing me with his last breaths. I don’t hesitate. I kiss him with every fiber of my being, knowing I won’t have this for much longer. The feel of his lips will stay with me until I, too, meet Malek at the end of this life. Where I hope he waits for me.

When we part, I lean my forehead against his, breaths sawing through me like a serrated knife’s edge.

“I-I can’t lose you,” I gasp.

His skin is pale, almost gray-tinted, as his fingers softly touch my cheek. “You won’t lose me forever. I’ll see you again.”

A sob escapes my lips before I kiss him again. “I love you. Always.”

Liam’s smile is full of sorrow as he kisses me back. “I’ll love you beyond my last breath,” he whispers against my lips.

His fingers suddenly caress the back of my head, tilting my face to look up at him. There’s a severity in his eyes as he stares down at me. “Every moment we have had is something I’ll cherish long after I’m gone. I’ve never felt so lucky,” he kisses the tip of my nose, the top of my cheeks. “Whatever becomes of me, my soul,” a tear falls from his eye as his gaze holds me captive. “I’ll always be with you.”

I turn my head to kiss the palm of his hand. “I’ll always need you.”

“Not always,” he shakes his head. “I need you to promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“Live,” his smile is beaming as blood trickles down the side of his head from an open cut, staining his blonde hair. “Live and forget me.”

“But-“

“I want you to grow old, live a full life. Fight to live beyond whatever this war will bring.”

I shake my head. “How am I supposed to forget you? You’re all I have.”

“No, I’m not. You have so much to live for, don’t let me stand in the way of something greater ahead of you.” I try to refute, but Liam silences me with another kiss. “You’re the one thing in my life that’s made all of this worth it. For that, I’m grateful for the time I was given with you.”

A whimper escapes me and Liam holds me, breathing me in.

“I kept my promise.” He kisses me once, twice.

In the space between us, we breathe together. I hold my hand to his chest, feeling the rise and fall. One long, deep, shaky breath, a whisper of my name, and he stills.

Silence crowds around me, choking the air as I weep into the skin of his neck, holding him close. A scream builds in my throat as his body grows cold beneath me. Rage rises like a tidal wave within me, numbing the pain.

They’ll pay. Every last Venin will die for this. For what they took from me.

I’m covered in sweat, blood, and dried tears by the time the sun sets and the Venin are defeated in Athebyne. For now.

Flames reach towards the sky, flickering and grasping for the stars. I grip my sword, Liam’s sword, tightly in my hand. Blood trickles down my skin across the blade as I stare into the fire.

Liam’s body burns atop the pyre. Ashes scatter in the breeze as everyone stands to watch. We all lived, and it sickens me. We survived, and Liam, the best of us, didn’t.

Bitterness settles next to the grief. It burns like acid in my gut. The last thing I remember is Violet’s hand gripping my own in comfort.

“You’re not alone,” she whispers.

But I am. I’m entirely alone.

The memory is ripped from my grasp, leaving me gasping, heaving, as the ache in my chest burns.

Before I can steady myself, I’m thrown into another.

Arms wrap around my torso, pulling me close to a firm chest as dim light filters through the arched windows.

“Good morning to you, too,” I whisper, groggily.

A breathy chuckle against my spine has my skin prickling. “Morning, love.”

I bask in the warmth of his arms, the feel of his muscles flexing against my skin as he kisses my shoulder. He hums, continuing kissing up my shoulder to my neck, shifting my hair to kiss up my jaw. I shiver, as his fingers trail down my torso to my hips, pulling the hem of my nightdress up my thighs.

“Liam,” I breathe.

I feel him smile against my ear as he nips at it. “Yes, love? Need something?”

His fingers trail up my thighs, leaving goosebumps in their wake. When his calloused hand reaches the edge of my underwear, Liam’s lips caress my bottom lip.

I whisper against him, “I need you.”

“Whatever you want, I’ll give you,” he smirks before his lips collide with mine.

He kisses me with a lazy, unhurried pace. As if we have all the time in the world.

I shift in his arms, gaining better access to his mouth as I tangle my tongue with his. My fingers dive through his hair as his own slip beneath the lace of my underwear. His skin is warm and rough against me as the tips of his fingers glide across where I want him most.

“Already wet for me, darling?” He growls into my mouth.

I moan as his fingers sink inside me, pumping agonizingly slow. He continues to tease and caress as I melt in his arms. When his thumb rubs smooth circles around my clit, heat begins to prickle at the base of my core. I’m already climbing to my peak, heaving and gasping breaths as he pumps his long, thick fingers in and out, gaining speed the more I moan his name.

“You’re intoxicating,” he groans as he bites my lip. “I fucking love waking up to you like this. Soaked and ready for me.”

A gasp falls from my lips just before he pinches my clit. Light flashes beneath my lids as I cry out, fire blazing up my body as I fall into the rhythm of his fingers. I pulse and squeeze around him as my hands grip onto him tightly. When I come down from my climax, a pounding on the door has me jolting.

“Don’t make me break this fucking door down!” I hear Xaden’s voice yell.

Liam groans, slumping against me. “Shit.”

The bed shifts as he rolls off the bed, covering me with the blankets before throwing open the door.

“What?”

There’s a pause before I hear Xaden’s low chuckle. “Sorry to disrupt your morning, but we have to leave.”

Liam’s shoulders tense. “Now? What happened?”

People are running in the hall, shouts echoing off the walls that force me to sit up, staring in confusion at the chaos.

“Get dressed,” Xaden commands, all amusement gone.

“What’s going on?” Liam asks again.

I can see Xaden’s jaw clench as he stares at his foster brother. “They’re calling us down to the flight field. War Games.”

Liam’s grip on the doorframe whitens his knuckles. “How many minutes do we have?”

Xaden hesitates. “Less than ten, but you need-“

“We’ll meet you on the field.” Liam slams the door shut.

When he turns to me, his eyes are blazing like blue fire. He stalks forward, standing at the edge of our bed. His hands shoot out and drag me to the edge, making me squeal. His fingers tear the lace from me, leaving me bare before him before forcing my legs open. He’s kneeling as I sit up, watching him as he leans forward to lick up my slit in one swift, precise movement. I groan, head falling back as I buck against his unyielding grip.

“But we have to go,” I gasp when he does it once more.

His voice is rough and gravelly as his lips caress my heat. “Guess I have to make every second count.”

The memory fades, like the burning of paper. Ashes scattering in my mind as pain radiates up my spine, throbbing at my temples. I bite my lip to keep myself from screaming as the pressure builds.

My head pounds as I’m thrown further, another memory crashing over me.

“Fuck, baby, that’s it,” Liam groans against my ear, pumping deep into me. “You’re taking me so well.”

I whine, shifting my hips to meet him with every thrust. He hits inside of me deliciously, stars dancing across my vision as his hands hold my waist, pressing me into the sheets.

An urgency fills us as we stop pacing ourselves and chase that fire slowly burning beneath our skin. It races in our blood as our skin slicks with sweat, breaths gasping.

Liam shifts his hips upward on the next thrust, making me moan into his collarbone.

“Gods, do that again.”

Liam smirks, blue eyes glittering when they meet mine. “As you wish.”

The memory warps, lost to time, as I’m thrown further, again and again, into one memory after another and another.

The mat presses against my cheek as Liam holds me down. I can tell he’s holding back since his weight isn’t entirely crushing me.

That’s a mistake he’ll surely regret.

I twist my legs, elbowing him in the face as I throw my weight onto him. He rolls, falling to the mat as I climb atop him, my elbow pressing into his throat to cut off his air supply. My legs hold his arms down to keep him from moving.

He struggles for a moment, but the shining pride in his eyes is what causes butterflies to flutter in my stomach.

“I love it when you throw me around,” he chokes out. I raise my elbow slightly to lessen the pressure on his throat.

I chuckle, leaning forward until we’re inches apart. “You like it when I make you do what I want?”

He smiles. “Keep looking at me like that and I’ll beg for it.”

Paper crumples in his hand, frustration steeling his jaw as he throws it at the wall.

“Stop,” I say, reaching for his clenched fingers. “Stop blaming yourself. It won’t do anything good.”

His hard eyes meet mine, immediately softening. “I don’t know what to do,” his voice is broken, hushed. “I wish I could find her, hide her, take her as far from this as possible.” He shakes his head, closing his eyes. “Sloane doesn’t deserve this life.”

Bringing my hand to his cheek, I force him to open his eyes. “You can’t change the future just as you can’t change the past,” I give him a small smile. “She’ll be okay, Liam. She’ll have us.”

Liam’s gaze holds mine as he breathes deeply. We sit there, suspended in time, as he grips me with shaking hands. I know he’s fighting tears as much as he’s fighting the urge to throw a punch at the wall. But with me here, he slowly begins to calm.

When he grabs my hand laying on his cheek, he kisses it. “I guess I should be grateful she’ll finally meet you.”

I smile at the idea. “I hope she likes me.”

He grips me tighter. “She’ll love you. Besides,” he leans forward, inches from me. “She’ll have to since she’ll be putting up with you for a very, very long time.”

I raise a teasing brow. “How long will that be for?”

“If it’s up to me,” he breathes against my lips. “For the rest of our lives.”

The sunset flickers across the horizon over the distant mountains, casting the room in a dim, fading gold light. It refracts off Liam’s eyes, making the blue iridescent, as he smiles against my lips.

“Will you stay?”

I smile back, nipping his bottom lip. “Always.”

“I-I don’t want to wake up alone anymore.” He hesitates, swallowing. “Move in here with me. Share my bed and steal my blankets. Get dressed with me every morning. I don’t want to waste a moment without you next to me. Make this room both of ours.”

Tears gather in my eyes as warmth fills me, settling in my chest.

I kiss him recklessly, leaving us both breathless as I whisper, “Gods, I love you.”

He laughs, shaking his head. “You have no idea.”

Two cadets with fowl breath and malice in their eyes crowd around me. My heart beats wildly in my throat as I back away. Their hands sharp and insistent as they push me to the corner of the hall. Their hands locked on my wrists to keep me from running.

“Get. Your. Fucking. Hands. Off. Her.”

The words cut through the air like a knife laced with venom. It startles the men, who bolt upright to turn and see who spoke.

Liam’s face is a mask of fury as he strides down the hall. The second our gazes collide, he unleashes himself on them. He throws a punch at one of their faces, knocking them against the wall. The other, he tackles into the brick, cracking the back of the cadet’s skull. He groans as Liam throws punch after punch, blood spraying, before throwing the man to the ground. The other cadet is there, stumbling forward and hurling himself at Liam.

I scream when I see the flash of a dagger. Liam catches it within seconds. Being the best of our year has its benefits as he twists the blade out of the cadet’s grip and stabs it to the hilt into his arm. The cadet’s eyes widen, blood trickling from his mouth as he screams, falling to the ground.

The other cadet bleeds next to him, panting.

“What the fuck?” He groans.

Liam stands, blood soaking his clenched fists at his sides as he stares them down. “You touched her, tried to hurt her, you even scared her.” He shakes his head. “You don’t get to live after that.”

The cadet Liam punched over and over again is now trying to crawl away, but it’s too late. Liam is there, hauling him to his feet and holding him against the wall by his throat.

“Liam,” I whisper, fear rattling my voice.

He stops. Everything stops as he lets go of the cadet and turns to me. He’s there, holding me as he quickly examines every inch of exposed skin.

“Yes, love? Did they hurt you?”

I shake my head. “No, I’m f-fine,” I step closer to him, cradling his bleeding hands in mine. “Just please get me out of here.”

He nods, not even sparing them a second glance as he whisks me out of the corridor. We walk quickly until we’re outside in a courtyard. Under a stone arch he stops, pressing me against the wall as he holds me close.

“You looked so afraid,” he whispers in my hair. “I-I couldn’t handle it. Did-“ he hesitates. “Did I scare you?”

“You could never scare me,” I hold him tighter as the lingering fear begins to fade. A warmth settling in me from his close proximity. A sense of rightness at the feel of his arms around me.

He pulls back, looking me over once more. “If those fuckers laid a finger on you-“

I smile softly. “You stopped them before it got worse. I’m alright.”

He nods, forehead touching mine in defeat as his shoulders sag, releasing all the pent-up tension inside of him. “If I wasn’t there, if things were worse, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you. Who I’d become.”

I burrow into him, letting his warmth chase every horrible thought away. “But you didn’t lose me. You won’t.”

Liam shakes his head. “I need you to promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“Promise me you’ll fight. You’ll fight till your last breath to stay alive, to see the next day. I can’t-“ he swallows. “I couldn’t live knowing I could’ve saved you. But I can’t always be there.”

“You don’t need to be, but I’m grateful you were there today,” I press closer. “I promise to fight and not give up.”

He nods, satisfied. Silence envelops us as the night breeze whistles through the courtyard.

The moon shines on his blue eyes, making them almost silver as he says, “And I promise to fight for you, too. To love you and keep you safe. Till my last breath. You can hold me to that.”

Music floats through the air as Liam holds me close, hands intertwining as he guides me to an alcove covered in shadows. I stifle a laugh as we race through the corridor. We ignore the shouting taunts from Ridoc and Sawyer down the hall as they head back to the party.

Once we’re out of earshot and covered by the dark, Liam presses me against the stone of the alcove. He doesn’t waste a second. His lips are on mine, holding me captive. He’s insistent and intoxicating as he consumes me with just a kiss. He smells of liquor and desire, making me feel lightheaded.

His rough fingers drag the fabric of my dress up as his lips begin to trail down my jaw, neck, and chest. Before I can protest, he’s kneeling, throwing the fabric up to expose my legs to the cool night air.

“Liam!” I whisper-shout. “Someone will see!”

Liam raises a brow. “Then you better keep quiet.”

He grips the back of my leg, tossing it over his shoulder as he disappears beneath my dress. His breath is hot against my skin as he licks up my inner thighs.

I bite back a squeal as he moves my underwear out of the way, fingers toying with my skin.

“Don’t worry, baby, I’ve got you.”

“Liam-“ I’m cut off by the feel of his mouth kissing my heat. His tongue diving deep inside me, causing me to throw a hand over my mouth, stifling a moan. My knees begin to buckle but he holds me in his firm grip, keeping me standing as he continues to twist his tongue deep inside, feasting on me.

I’m delirious with want as he continues to eat me out, thumb caressing my clit lazily. Pleasure spreads up my body, curling around my spine. My hips rock against him, pressure building and building before-

“Liam,” I gasp against my hand as my climax hits me, hard and fast. His fingers and tongue prolong my pulsing as I come all over his mouth. It feels like an eternity before my body gives out, sliding against the stone.

“Gods, I love the way you say my name,” he groans against me. “Especially when I fuck you.”

Liam stands, shifting his hands as I hear the sound of a buckle. Before I can calm my racing heart, he grips my thighs and holds up my legs to wrap firmly around his waist. I obey and immediately suck in a breath. The head of his cock is poised at my soaked entrance.

He suddenly leans forward, surprising me with a kiss on the tip of my nose. My heart swells before he finds my lips, kissing me. It’s consuming, claiming. Leaving me breathless and wanting.

“I love you so much, baby,” he says before pushing into me, stretching me. We moan together, breaths intermixing, as he bottoms out.

Using the wall as leverage, Liam adjusts me so my hips are at the perfect angle, his hands holding my ass firmly before he begins to thrust. My nails dig into his shirt as he hits me just right. This angle allows him to sink deeper and deeper, causing gasps to fall from my lips like whispered secrets.

He stops the sound with his mouth on my own, swallowing my moans. I taste myself on his lips and tongue. It’s incredibly erotic and fills me with immense pleasure as he thrusts harder and harder. I bounce against the stone, clinging to him for dear life as he begins chasing his own pleasure. I’m already climbing with him, breaths sawing through my lungs as I feel myself chasing another orgasm.

“That’s it, baby,” he coos. “You’re incredible.” He hisses as his cock hits me just right. My inner walls fluttering around him as he pumps faster. “Fuck, that feels-“

He groans just as his hips piston into me, wild and untamed as he releases inside of me. I’m right there with him. Like a flower bursting open in the sun, warmth burns through my body at the sensation. I don’t even care if anyone hears us anymore, I’m moaning his name loud enough to echo off the walls as I gyrate against him.

When we both finally come down, we’re twitching and panting, giving one another tired, lazy smiles. Liam towers above me, breathing heavily as he kisses my forehead, my temple, the corner of my mouth.

“Gods, you’re insatiable.”

I laugh before wiggling in his arms, causing his still-hard cock to sink further into me. He moans at the sensation.

“Another round?”

He laughs with me. “You don’t have to ask me twice,” his hands are firm on my wrists as he holds them above my head, trapping them against the cool stone. “As you wish.”

The stars are bright above the flight field as Liam and I lay back in the grass. It prickles the skin of my hands as a breeze flutters over us. The distant sounds of crickets and a nearby river fill the quiet. Both of our dragons lie close by, their sulfuric breathing filling the silence. We’re far away enough from them to feel as though we’re entirely alone.

Liam’s arm is close to mine as we lay, looking up at the constellations.

“What did Ridoc say to you earlier when we were leaving the gym?” I ask quietly. “You seemed annoyed.”

Liam’s breath hitches, his chest stilling. I feel his arm tense as he tries to slowly breathe out, almost like he’s calming himself.

“He, uh, just wanted to know about something.”

That piques my interest. I raise a brow. “About?”

Liam is quiet for a moment. “He wanted to know if you were single.”

“Oh.”

The silence is suddenly suffocating. The presence of our dragons makes this feel incredibly awkward, as if we have an audience. I can feel the weight of my dragon peering at us, like the gossip she is. I ignore her.

I don’t turn to look at Liam as I bite my lower lip. It’s been months of this constant flirtation. Months of tension that’s been building and building but I can’t tell if he’s just incredibly friendly with everyone or actually wanting a relationship with me. It’s driving me crazy.

Liam’s the type of guy who anyone can love and I hate how I’m one of them. How I’ve completely fallen for someone who probably only views me as nothing more than a friend.

A shaky exhale escapes me as I try and compose myself. “What did you say?”

Liam scoffs. “I told him to go ahead and ask you out.”

I startle, eyes wide and heart beating out of my chest as I turn to look over at him only to find he’s already staring at me. There’s a gleam of satisfaction in his eye as he watches my reaction.

Anger rises, sudden and quick. “Did you just say that to see what I’d do?!”

Liam shrugs before winking. “Just making sure you’re not interested in him.”

The anger dies as quick as it arrived. But my heart continues to pound, nerves sparking in my gut. “Why?”

Liam is suddenly leaning close, breath fanning over my face. He smells of mint, earth, and something so familiar, I ache to be closer to him. “I told him to go fuck himself. That you’re mine and he’d end up with a broken nose on that pretty-boy face of his as soon as he even spoke to you.”

My breath catches in my throat, a squeak escaping my lips. Liam’s mouth twitches at the sound.

“Who said I’m yours?” I whisper, unsure and entirely too hopeful for my own good.

Liam’s smile is beaming and brilliant. “You were mine the second you punched Jack in the throat after parapet.”

A laugh bursts out of me, startling the quiet of the night. Liam joins in, but his gaze is heavy and insistent on me.

“He deserved it,” I huff.

“He did,” Liam’s smile is contagious as his fingers move a piece of hair behind my ear, lingering next to my cheek. “But I also knew when you told me I’m just another big asshole at Basgiath,” he winks.

I roll my eyes playfully. “You came on too strong from the second you met me.”

He shrugs. “Didn’t want anyone to steal you away from me before I got the chance to sweep you off your feet.”

I raise a brow. “And did you?”

He lays his hand against my cheek, no more hesitating. “Depends on if you’re truly mine or not.”

I lean into him, eyes closing. “I’ve been yours for a long time, Liam.”

The nighttime breeze wraps us tighter together as he leans in and kisses me. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt his lips on mine and it sends a spark of fire down my body, lighting every nerve like a firework. I’m electrified, lighting up the night sky as he kisses me like something fragile and precious. Something worth having.

“I love you,” I whisper against his lips.

He startles, pushing himself away before he’s suddenly hovering above me. A smile that rivals the brightness of the stars shines on me as he leans down, our noses touching.

“You love me?”

I nod, my nerves fluttering as he reaches out to caress my cheek. I’ve never seen him so soft, so gentle. No one would believe how trusting, caring, and loving he can be. But only I see it. Only with me does he let down his walls.

He’s kissing me again, but this time, he’s no longer holding back. He’s not gentle as he bites my bottom lip, sucking it between his teeth. I moan as his tongue surges into my mouth, claiming me. I’m lost to the feel of him as his hands tangle in my hair, pulling my head back to gain access to my throat.

Against my skin, he whispers. “Gods, I’ve been wanting to hear you say that for so long.” He licks a strip of my skin, biting my pulse, before sucking my clavicle. “Fuck, I love you so damn much, I’ve been going insane with wanting you.”

My breath hitches as his fingers trail beneath my leathers, finding the skin of my hip. He presses me into the grass as he finds his way back to my lips. Kissing me once more.

Time seems to hold its breath as we kiss under the stars, uncaring of what the next day may bring. All we have is this moment, clinging to one another and sighing with relief. I’ve never felt so happy in my entire life as Liam looks down on me with such adoration.

When he suddenly sits back on his knees, I pout up at him. He shakes his head, laughing as he holds his hand out.

“Come with me.”

He pulls me up with him off the grass and starts racing towards the school.

“Where are we going?” I huff, trying to keep up.

Liam’s grip is unwavering as he turns back to look at me. “We only have a few hours till sunrise and I need all the time I can get to show you just how much I love you,” he winks.

Warmth rises up my neck to my cheeks, making him smile wider as he pulls me after him towards Basgiath.

“Is something going on between you and Liam?” Violet asks.

I startle, choking on my drink. Rhiannon snickers as she pats my back, helping me. Once I can breathe, my eyes betray me. I automatically find Liam across the dining hall, talking with Xaden and Garrick. His face is tight with tension and concern as his hands clench beside his plate. When his eyes meet mine, as if he can sense me, the tension is immediately gone. He softens. A smile playing on his mouth as he nods to me, saying good morning.

I nod back, warmth filling my gut before I avoid Violet’s inquisitive stare and go back to eating. “Nothing’s going on.”

Rhiannon snorts. “Sure. And nothing is going on with Violet and Xaden.”

Violet stiffens next to me. “There’s nothing-“

Rhiannon holds up a hand, stopping her. “Don’t fight it, Violet. It’s way too obvious.”

Violet glares at her best friend, causing me to laugh. I catch Liam glancing at us from the sound.

“It’s just as obvious with you two,” Rhiannon presses.

I prickle at their interrogation. “What do you want me to say? We’re just friends.”

Violet shakes her head. “Friends don’t look at each other the way he looks at you.”

I stare at her, brows pinched. “What do you mean?”

Violet glances at Xaden’s table and smiles. “Like that.”

I whip my gaze back to Liam to find him staring. He doesn’t look away when I meet his blue eyes. There’s an underlying intensity in his stare, something heavy and wanting. It leaves me breathless and trapped, wanting more than anything for us to be alone. To finally tell him how I feel. To see if maybe, just maybe, the lingering stares and touches and late-night talks are more than just friendship.

I break away first, staring down at the broccoli on my plate with sorrow climbing its way up my sternum. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Violet throws her hands in the air, clearly exasperated. “Gods, can’t you guys just shut up and make-out already!”

Her voice echoes around the table and I freeze. Closing my eyes, I hope he didn’t just hear her. I hope to every god that can hear me that he isn’t the one whose chair screeched against the floor. That it’s not his booted feet coming towards our table.

“Ladies,” Liam’s deep octave vibrates against my already rattled nerves.

“Oh fuck,” I mumble. I open my eyes to find Liam hovering above me, leaning his hands on the table.

“Morning, gorgeous,” he winks.

I fight the blush rising to my cheeks by curving my nails into my palms. The pain is sharp and helps clear my head.

“Morning,” my voice catches, sounding winded. “Did, uh, you need something?”

I catch Rhiannon smiling at the exchange in my peripheral.

Liam’s hand reaches back to wrap around his neck, showing off the rippling muscles in his bicep as he shrugs. “I was about to head to Battle Brief and wanted to see if you would join me. I mean, since you’re already heading there anyway.”

I nod, butterflies threatening to rise from my gut and fall out of my mouth as I clench my fists beneath the table. His stupid biceps are all I can focus on as his bright blue eyes burn into me.

FOCUS!

I smile. “Yeah, sure,” I turn to Violet and Rhiannon, who are smiling so big and taunting, I want to throw them off the bench. “Are you guys done? Want to head over with us?”

Violet shakes her head. “Oh no, don’t wait up for us. As a matter of fact, I think you’re looking a little chilly though,” she raises a concerned brow. “Do you need my coat or-“

Liam is draping his jacket over my shoulders before she can finish her sentence. I’m startled and staring as his cheeks redden from the attention.

“Ok, we’ll see you guys there,” he holds a hand out to me, waiting.

I turn back to Violet to see a satisfied gleam in her eyes. I glare.

Rhiannon chokes on a laugh as I take his hand, quickly making our way out of the dining hall.

We shove our way through the crowded halls, Liam close by my side as I hold on to his jacket. It’s warm and smells so much like him that I try and resist burrowing my nose into it. Would he think it’s weird if I keep it?

I shrug out of it, not trusting myself or this sudden burst of kleptomania to keep from me stealing it. “Here, I’m not super cold. It’s okay.”

Liam stops me, shoving it back onto my shoulders. “No, I want you to. Besides,” he winks. “You look good in it.”

I hide my blush as we make our way through the crowd once more.

It’s only when we’re at the door to Battle Brief that I realize I’m still holding his hand and he never let go.

Like knotted string, Imogen unravels my mind. Every knot a memory. She pulls and yanks until I’m fraying at the edges. Pain shoots through my veins, burning me from the inside out. A scream slowly builds in my throat as the pain increases to an all-consuming fire.

Just as the pain rises, it falls, like a cresting wave crashing against the shore. And a strange numbing sensation takes over.

A strange hollow throbbing begins to pulse inside of my head. As if something, or many things, are missing. I can’t place it and as soon as I try to recall what’s gone, it whisks away like a leaf in the breeze.

Imogen’s hands are steady on me as another memory, this one golden and bright, surfaces.

“I could show you a thing or two with those pretty long legs of yours wrapped around my-“

A crunching sound echoes in the courtyard as my fist collides with Jack Barlowe’s nose. His head whips back, harsh and startling. I keep my stance, watching and waiting as he whips back around, fury lighting his eyes.

“You fucking bitch!”

My hand shoots out again, this time slamming into his larynx, cutting off the sound in his throat. He chokes, staggering backwards. He falls to the ground, heaving.

The son of a bitch deserves it for pinching my ass and asking me to meet him in the dorms tonight like I’m some sort of whore. I roll my eyes and walk away from him, ignoring the stares that follow in my wake. I didn’t survive the fucking parapet to be groped and manipulated by some jackass.

“Excuse me?”

I whip around, ready to take on another asshole when I hesitate. My eyes widen at the sight of the man before me. He’s incredibly tall and broad. Muscles line his arms, rippling across his skin as if he’s a statue at a gallery. He towers over me with an impish grin on his face. His golden blonde hair a beacon in the sunlight. My heart races in my ears as I stare up at his incredible handsome face.

“You’re in the Fourth Wing, right?” His voice is deep, hypnotic. I could lose myself to the rhythm of it.

I nod, dumbly. “Flame Section.”

He smiles and I feel a strange sense of gravity slipping from beneath my feet at the sight. Gods, he’s beautiful.

But beautiful men often tend to be assholes. Like Jack.

“Me too,” he shrugs. “What’s your name, gorgeous?”

My hackles rise at the compliment. “Why?”

He puts his hands up, showing he’s not a threat. “Hey, I’m just curious. I wanted to know the woman who beat the shit out the biggest asshole at Basgiath.”

I roll my eyes. “All men are assholes here. He just happens to be one of them.”

He cocks his head, leaning forward with a twinkle in his eye. “Am I one of them?”

I step close, glaring up at him. “Most likely, given how you seem to entirely depend on your good looks and charm to get you through your time here. Just like any asshole.”

“You think I’m good looking?” His smirk is intoxicating. “And charming?”

I shake my head. “And apparently brainless.”

He leans closer. “I’ll be whatever you want me to be as long as you keep talking to me.”

My heart gets caught in my throat as I try and swallow. He watches the movement with sharp, knowing eyes. That smirk stretching wider.

“What if I don’t ever speak to you again?”

“You want me to beg, is that it?” His voice is as soft as velvet and it slithers over my skin. “Should I get on my knees for you?”

The image of him on his knees, looking up at me through his lashes, has me jolting away from him. He laughs, which rings through the air like a forgotten melody I only just remembered. It’s frightening how familiar he feels to me.

Annoyance prickles my skin as he continues to laugh at my expense. “You’re just another pompous ass who gets off at the idea of taunting me.”

He shakes his head, his smile never wavering. “Oh gods, you’re entirely wrong. Trust me.” He raises a hand, holding it out to me. “How about we start over, yeah? I’m Liam Mairi and I promise I’m not an asshole. Or,” he shrugs. “Not as big of an asshole as Jack is, at least.”

I can’t help my smile at the words. My annoyance simmers, but something inside of me knows he won’t be like Jack at all. I’ve always been good at reading people and Liam seems like he might actually be the opposite of what I thought he was.

I whisper my name back at him in greeting before reaching out and shanking his hand.

Something golden, like a thread, weaves between us as our skin touches for the first time. Intertwining around the space between our rib cages that has me gasping. It’s familiar, yet frightening. It’s something fragile, but I know it’ll somehow be something glorious. If I let myself curl into it. If I trust it. Trust him.

As I appraise Liam Mairi, I know, deep in the marrow of my bones, that I can trust him. That maybe, just maybe, he’ll become something more. He might be my everything. If I let him.

And that’s the most terrifying thing of all.

As if I’m rising out of water, after drowning for so long and seeking oxygen, I surface from the memories. They fade away with the tide, blinking from existence, as I feel my breath steady me.

Blinking my eyes open, I find Imogen moving back from me. With a quirk of my brow, I stare up at her eyes now brimming with unshed tears.

Why is she crying?

“Imogen?” My voice cracks, roughly, as if I’ve been screaming for hours.

Glancing around, we’re sitting on the stone ground of the courtyard. An arch protects us from the rain. The clouds are dark and ominous above, but I don’t remember coming out here. Weren’t we just having dinner in the dining hall?

Furrowing my brows, I purse my lips. How did we end up here?

“I’m sorry,” she whispers.

I whirl to look at Imogen. “What for?”

That’s when I notice the skin of my cheeks are damp. Touching them, I quickly wipe them with my sleeve. Must’ve been from the rain.

“Can we go back inside? It’s cold.”

Imogen is still staring at me as she helps me from the ground. My muscles ache and pinch as if I were sitting for a long time. Strange.

I stretch my limbs and stare up at the dark clouds. “Hopefully we didn’t miss dinner.”

The last thing I remember was heading to the dining hall with Violet. How did I get here without her?

Imogen is silent as she watches me.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

She hesitates. “Nothing. Let’s go back-“

“There you are!”

We both turn to find Violet and Xaden heading towards us. Concern is painted across their faces as they approach.

“Are you alright?” Violet asks, stepping towards me.

I tilt my head. “Yeah, I’m fine, why?”

Imogen flinches in my peripheral, catching Xaden’s eye. He narrows his gaze on her as Violet continues to fret over me.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve been there for you. I don’t want you to feel like you’re alone in this. You never will be.”

I furrow my brows, staring at her. “What are you talking about, Vi? Weren’t we heading to dinner?”

She freezes. Suddenly the quiet is stifling as everyone shifts their focus to Imogen.

“What did you do?” Violet asks, her voice piercing.

Imogen stares at the ground, her eyes brimming with tears again. She doesn’t respond.

Xaden’s dark eyes are heavy on me as he steps closer. He whispers my name like I’m a startled animal and it sets my nerves on edge.

Why is everyone being so cryptic and dramatic?

Violet is the one who steps in front of him, taking my hands in hers. “Do you know who Liam Mairi is?”

At the sound of the name, something strange happens. An echo of something deep inside of me leaves me aching and wanting. I search for what it is that has me feeling this way, but I’m left empty. As if a part of me is missing. As if I’ve been cut up and left to figure out how to pull myself back together again. All I can feel are the ashes of something that used to be there and I can’t understand what it was.

“Who’s Liam?”

Weaver of Fate

[saintsanddevils]

Never Alone - pt 5

Aaric Graycastle x Fem!Reader

Summary: Tension runs high with you and Aaric having to deal with mated dragons.

Warnings: ‼️18+ (MDNI) explicit content‼️, slight smut👀, angst, reader is in denial, Aaric is suffering, slow burn is finally burning

Word Count: 5.8K

Part Four | Part Six

Masterlist

————

-Bound-

(Aaric POV)

“Cam,” she moans against the skin of his collarbone.

Aaric thrusts forward, bottoming out inside of her. He throws his head back in rapture. She’s tight, so tight. It feels incredible. He needs more.

“Hold on, love.”

He pulls out only to slam back into her. She gasps, clawing at his back.

“Please,” she cries out as he does it again. And again. And again.

Aaric bends forward, nipping at her ear as he whispers, “Please, what? Tell me what to do, Y/N. I’ll do anything you want.”

Her breath hitches, as he pumps faster and faster, feeling how soaked she’s getting with each thrust.

His fingers find her clit, circling and teasing as her breaths pick up speed. He feels her racing pulse against his lips as he kisses down her sweat-slicked skin.

“Keep doing that,” she pants, her voice hoarse. “Keep touching me.”

Aaric smirks against her neck. “Anything for you, love.”

When he syncs his fingers with his thrusts, he feels her pussy beginning to tighten around his cock. He closes his eyes at the glorious feel of her coming close to the edge. With the mounting pressure at the base of his spine, he can tell he’s almost there, reaching his peak.

“Cam,” she gasps and moans, her eyes fluttering to meet his. Something shines in her eyes as she stares up at him.

A flood of adoration fills him as he gazes down at her. She’s so beautiful. And right now, she’s all his.

“Cam, I love—“

A loud crash has Aaric shooting up from his bed, panting. The darkness of his room greets him as his pulse races loudly in his ears. He looks around in a panic before he sees he’s entirely alone.

Y/N isn’t here.

It was a dream.

“Fuck,” Aaric groans, throwing himself back onto the mattress. His pillows had fallen off the bed while he tossed and turned. One of them colliding with the clock next to his bedside, causing it to crash to the floor.

Frustration and guilt gnaw at him as the dream still clings to his thoughts. The way she moaned and sighed his name. Her cheeks flushed. Her skin as soft as he imagines it to be.

The straining of his cock in his briefs has him shifting, adjusting to make it less uncomfortable. But the dream won’t let him go so easily. He’s incredibly hard, almost to the point of pain. He knows this will be a problem later on if he doesn’t deal with it soon.

Glancing at the darkened windows, he knows he has plenty of time before he’s expected to get up.

The whisper of Y/N’s moans echoes in his mind like a siren call as he slides his hand into his briefs. Gripping himself, he focuses on the dream, trying to imagine it’s real. The way her back arched. How her mouth gaped and widened. Her pupils dilating as he circled her clit. Her nipples turning into sharp peaks in the soft lighting of his dream.

Aaric groans, his hand sliding up and down his shaft, remembering how real it felt to be inside of her. How she fluttered around him, tightening and releasing him just so.

It’s agonizing remembering the dream so vividly and not feeling her this very moment. Not being able to kiss the skin of her collarbone before finding his way to her breasts. Sucking, licking, biting. His imagination of her body and what he would do to please her has run wild for so long, his hunger for her has become ravenous.

Aaric’s movements become frantic, chasing that high as a bead of precum spills from his tip. Her name chants in his mind as he imagines the feel of her lips against his. Would she be soft, like her skin? Or rough and passionate from wanting him for so long? He knows he’d take his time. He’d memorize every curve, dip, and valley of her body. Every sound she makes when she—

Her name flows from his lips like a prayer as he spills onto the sheets. Moans fill his room as he finishes.

When his cock softens and the throbbing dissipates, an ache settles in his chest. The familiar taste of guilt floods him as he slowly comes back to the present.

This isn’t the first time this has happened. And deep in his bones, he knows it won’t be the last. His body and mind both yearn for her. Being close to her, staying friends, it’s not enough for him.

Frustration racks up his spine as he shifts to stand, tearing the sheets from his bed as he goes. He’s folding the linens when that familiar, deep rumbling presence enters his mind.

Oh fuck. Not now.

“Will this be a common occurrence that will wake me from my slumber?” Molvic grumbles, his voice full of obvious annoyance. “I would prefer not to be present during such private…mortal weaknesses.”

Aaric winces, embarrassment flooding him. I didn’t mean to wake you—

“I know. That is obvious, Princeling.”

Aaric takes deep breaths as he throws the dirty sheets into a basket before grabbing new ones and making his bed.

As much as Aaric hopes he’ll sever their connection, Molvic stays.

“Your frustration with your mate is exhausting. If you wish to be with her, be with her. This is trivial.”

Aaric tenses. Like I’ve said before, she’s not my mate.

A pause. “Your emotions tell me otherwise.”

That doesn’t mean she’s my mate.

It’s as if he can feel the dragon roll his eyes while he quickly dresses into his loose training gear. There’s no way he’ll be able to sleep after that dream. Especially not after Molvic’s chastising.

If he can’t get any sleep, he’s going to take this time to burn off the excess energy in his body to forget everything that just happened.

If Molvic will even let him.

“Human mates are strange. You never communicate. It’s truly unnecessary.” A deep sigh rattles through his mind. “You make this more difficult for yourself.”

Irritation begins to bloom inside of Aaric as he bends to tie his boots. She is my friend, Molvic. Nothing more.

“Then move on.”

Aaric freezes, his laces gripped tightly in his fingers. A flash of her smile, her laughter, chokes him. He recalls the many times he watched her over the pages of a book while she thought he was busy reading. The way the sunlight would catch her skin, gilding her. How her eyes would sparkle as she absorbed whatever story she was consumed by. Her cheeks flushing as she bit her lip to stifle a laugh.

The ache in his chest is consuming now. An emptiness hollowing him at the thought of never being able to love her.

Because Aaric does. He loves her. He loves her with every breath of his lungs. Every fiber of his being, every beat of his heart, yearns for her to be his.

He’s never known when he fell for her, only that it was gradual and permanent. Something that settled in him like knowing the sky is blue and that she’s the epitome of love.

Aaric has always loved her and he always will.

With a sigh of defeat, he confesses, I can’t move on. I don’t think I ever will.

“Then stop denying yourself.” What sounds like a yawn fills his head as Molvic’s voice begins to slowly fade. “It only burdens you.”

Aaric stares at the wood of his door, his hand gripping the brass handle. This morning wasn’t the only time he’s thought of her in his bed, under his skin. The dreams have gotten worse since she forgave him for being overprotective months ago. Having her here, so close to him, makes it all the more painful to keep his feelings at bay.

So, he dreams. He hopes. He imagines what life would be like if they were together. If they weren’t thrown into the middle of a war. If they lived at the end of all this.

If she was mine.

It’s an intoxicating thought, but he can’t help himself. If she were his, he’d never let her go.

————

(Reader POV)

Where the hell is she?

My legs ache from pacing back and forth in the quadrant’s library. Violet is thirty minutes late, and I feel like I’m going to go crazy if she doesn’t show up any second.

Dim, morning light filters through the tall, arched windows, casting hazy shadows across the stone floor. The windows overlook the valley below Basgiath, where two weeks ago, I was fighting for my life to bond with a dragon. The branches are full of golden and red-hued leaves. This morning is beautiful, peaceful. Especially since a sudden frost settled over the valley during the night. It coats the windows, causing me to shiver, my skin prickling.

The beauty rivals my tempestuous emotions. It’s been over two weeks since Kesi and I bonded. The bond itself warms my being, but it’s the mating bond that has me pacing.

Two weeks ago, while everyone who bonded a dragon was celebrating after Threshing, I stole away to find Violet. Once I tracked her down, I found her talking with Rhiannon.

“Hey Vi,” I slipped into their conversation, not even caring I’d interrupted. “I need to talk to you.”

Concern etched itself across her features as she turned to me. “Is everything alright?” She lowered her voice, whispering, “Is it something to do with Aaric?”

“Yes and no,” I winced.

Understanding had lit her eyes as she turned to Rhiannon. “I promise I’ll find you later, okay?”

My squad leader nodded before disappearing down the hall.

Once she was out of sight, Violet stepped closer. “Did he find out how you feel about him? How you’re in lo—“

“No!” I rushed, terror striking me. “No, he doesn’t…” I breathed deeply as I tried to calm my racing heart. “It’s not about that.”

Violet’s brows furrowed as she shook her head. “I’m sorry for assuming. I just thought after all this time—“

“Our dragons are mates.”

Violet’s jaw dropped as silence encased our corner of the empty hall. Distantly, I could hear music and voices still celebrating.

”Holy shit,” Violet stared at me. “Mates?”

I nodded. “I need to know what to expect, Vi. I’ve heard it can be…difficult.”

Violet winced. “It can be, at least parts of it.” She sighed. “I can tell you what to expect, but I’m worried—“

Xaden Riorson appeared over her shoulder. As if sensing him, Violet turned around, her features softening.

“Excuse me,” Xaden spoke to me, but his eyes were on Violet. “But Violet, I need you to see this,” his face was grave as he quickly took Violet by the hand, guiding her down the hall.

She had turned back to me, an apology in her eyes as she followed. It wasn’t until later that she sent me a letter informing me she wanted to talk as soon as possible. Alone.

Well, the time finally came. It took weeks, but now, I’ll get my answers. If Violet ever shows up.

As if I summoned her with my thoughts, she appears, rounding the side of a bookcase.

“Y/N,” Violet rushes to hug me, slightly out of breath. “I’m sorry, life’s been so busy lately. I wanted to talk to you as soon as possible.”

Relief washes over me from the sight of her. I quickly motion for her to sit down at a table with me. “I get it, you’re a second year. You have better things to do than worry about a first-year problem.”

She shakes her head. “No, I’m happy to help. Especially when it comes to this.”

Violet throws her pack on the table, taking out a leather-bound tome that’s definitely from the archives.

“I grabbed this to help you with anything you don’t understand. It helped me a lot last year when I found out about Tairn and Sgaeyl.” She places the tome on the table before turning to me. “Have you talked to Kesi about it?”

A rumbling huff sounds in my mind, announcing Kesi’s presence.

“You need not worry about this.”

I clench my hands into fists. Nothing you’ve said has been reassuring.

“Molvic is my mate. This should not be a problem for you.”

Deflating, I soften my tone. It’s not a problem. I just want to understand how this affects me and Aaric. No one has told me what to expect.

“I have told you all I can.”

Ignoring her, I nod to Violet. “She’s not told me enough to reassure me.”

Violet grips my hand, her fingers soft and familiar. I smile at the gesture, missing having my friend around more often.

“I get it, trust me,” she huffs a laugh. Squeezing my hand, her hazel eyes meet mine. “First thing you need to know, the bond you have with Kesi? It now extends to Molvic and Aaric. You can communicate with them like you can communicate with Kesi. It’s…strange, at first,” a blush rises to her cheeks that has me raising a brow. “But you’ll adjust to it. You can easily shut them out the more you learn to shield.”

I nod, remembering all the lessons over the last two weeks on shielding. Picturing the library in the palace has helped me visualize my bond with Kesi. It’s the one place I’ve felt completely at home and comfortable, with Aaric at my side. The image of the marble pillars, towering white bookcases, the painted fresco of the gods and dragons decorating the ceiling, rows and rows of rare tomes— it settles the roaring thoughts of my racing mind.

I sit there, closing my eyes, and search my palace library, finding a solid door near Kesi’s. Hers is encased in light, warming me to the bone when I touch its surface. While this one is cold and burning, a blue haze covers the surface when I near it. This is definitely Molvic’s connection to me. I hope I never have to use it.

When I search my library again, I find another door. This one, unlike the dragon’s doors with obvious traces of imposing power, is simple, familiar. Its wooden frame is carved with images of a cabin and lake. It’s the one place Aaric and I would escape to during the winter to be away from court. This is definitely Aaric’s connection to me.

I open my eyes, finding Violet watching me with that scribe-like curiosity. “So, I can communicate with Aaric? Mind to mind?”

Violet nods. “It’s honestly more helpful than you think, but he won’t always be in your head.”

The thought of him even being there briefly has me slightly panicking. What if he sees or hears something he shouldn’t?

An even worse thought comes to me. What if he hears my unfiltered thoughts about my feelings for him? Would he hear every dirty thought I have when I watch him shirtless on the mat? How his straining, sweat-slicked muscles have me clenching my legs together, imagining him holding me down in his bed? Or how I wake most mornings, aching to be in his arms, wanting him inside of me?

A blush rises to my cheeks. Gods, this is awful.

“You’re being dramatic.”

I ignore Kesi, moving on. “Okay, so I can talk to him and Molvic. Got it. Is there anything else I should know or be aware of?”

Violet’s blush reaches up her neck, causing alarm to rise inside of me.

“Well, it can get…complicated,” she winces. “I mean, when Kesi and Molvic are together, it can lead you and Aaric to become…overwhelmed.”

I furrow my brows. “Overwhelmed?”

She slowly nods before scooting closer to whisper, “I know you care for him, but however you feel strongly for Cam, it’ll be incredibly heightened when Kesi and Molvic can’t shut you out during their own heightened emotions.”

I blanch. “You mean when they mate, I’ll want to jump Aaric’s bones?”

Violet squeezes my hand again, trying to reassure me. “I’ve known you for too long to lie to you. It’s going to be really hard to hide how you feel from him. I’m doing this to warn you of what will come.”

Truly, I appreciate what she’s doing. She went through it herself with Xaden, and now look at them, they’re inseparable and incredibly in love. I can picture them having a future together with how happy he makes her.

“Thanks, Vi,” I squeeze her hand. “You’d think after all these years, I’d let go of my feelings for him and move on,” I laugh bitterly.

Violet shakes her head. “Maybe this is a sign that you should tell him. Your dragons being mates feels like this was meant to be. Maybe it’ll work out.”

“And if I lose his friendship and he pushes me away? What then?” I stare out the frosted windows, an ache creeping up my limbs and burrowing in my chest. “I’d rather he be my friend than ruin anything between us.”

Burning fills my eyes as the overwhelming sense of loss fills me. If I can’t have Aaric for my own, I still want him in my life. No matter how much it hurts.

“Thanks for your help,” I try to smile, but the aching in my chest is hollowing me out. I’ll start crying if I don’t get out of here soon enough.

Violet stops me as I try to get up. “One more thing,” her face is gravely serious as she meets my eye. The soft encouragement from before is gone. “Did Kesi happen to tell you the consequences of a mating bond with two bonded riders?”

I slowly shake my head no.

She closes her eyes before breathing deeply. “I’m not going to sugarcoat this, but you and Aaric are bound now.”

“Bound?”

Her hazel eyes open, burning into mine. “If somehow, someway, he dies, then you die. If you die,” she swallows. “He dies, too.”

“Y/N!”

I shoot out of my chair, stumbling to my feet at the sound of Kesi’s ringing shout.

“Hey, you alright?” Violet reaches out, but my head is pounding hard, heart beating rapidly. I feel a surge of panic crash through me, and it’s startling.

What’s wrong?

“Get to the gymnasium. Now.”

The gym? What?

Did something—

“Your foolish prince is trying to get himself killed.”

————

I burst through the gym doors, breaths sawing through me from running down the many flights of stairs to get here. A crowd is gathered around the mats, sounds of yelling filling the cavernous hall. Violet sticks close behind me as I shove my way forward.

“If he dies, you die. If you die, he dies.”

Violet’s words vibrate through me as I move through the crowd.

Please be alive, please be alive, please—

When we finally reach the front, my stomach drops. Aaric is lying on the mat looking half dead. Blood drips down his face from a cut on his forehead. Sweat soaks his shirt as he stumbles to his feet.

Swaying, he stares down his opponent. I’ve never seen this guy before, but he’s huge. Larger than Aaric, and he looks incredibly pissed off. His knuckles are cracked and bleeding, his lip swollen as bruising lines his jaw.

But Aaric looks far worse. It’s this fact that has me panicking. Aaric’s losing this fight. He doesn’t lose unless he wants to.

“AARIC!”

My shout is lost in the commotion of the crowd as Aaric bounces on his toes, swinging at the other man. He easily evades it before punching Aaric in the stomach. The prince stumbles before spitting blood on the mat. His smile is all bloody teeth as he lunges forward.

Dain comes into view, his face pale as he watches with everyone else.

I run to him, panic lacing my voice as I shout, “Do something!”

Dain shakes his head. “I tried. I really did. He only tried to fight me, but I wouldn’t do it.” He turns his head and I can see slight bruising lining his cheekbone.

“Something’s very wrong,” I whisper, mostly to myself.

Dain nods. “He’s either drunk or super pissed off.”

I shake my head. No, Aaric isn’t like that. He’s logical, first and foremost. Everything he does is within reason. He’s calculated and cautious. He would never do this to bring attention to himself. He’s been trying to lay low for months.

So, what set him off?

My gaze returns to Aaric, who’s caught around his middle and thrown to the mat. His opponent straddles him and begins punching his face. Aaric doesn’t even protect himself. He just lays there…almost like he wants it to happen.

If he won’t end it, I will.

I clench my fists, grinding my teeth as I surge forward. Dain’s arm shoots out to grab me, but I step out of his reach.

Running onto the mat, I use all my strength as I collide with the brute on top of Aaric. The momentum throws him off of Aaric’s bruised and bleeding body, crashing to the mat with me on top of him. He looks up, stunned. When his eyes narrow, I roll off of him and stand with my feet apart and fists raised.

I hear Aaric cough my name, but I don’t turn around.

“He’s done,” I say, my voice lethal and cold. “You should be done, too.”

The guy hacks a wad of spit onto the mat inches from my boots. “He’s done when I say he’s done.”

Fury courses through my veins like a cold fire, an icy pull to kill, eliminate, and protect pulling me under. But I don’t give in. I can tell this is part of Kesi’s emotions bleeding into my own. But I tap into it, using it as a weapon.

“This is how this is going to go,” I growl. “You’re going to let me take him to a healer. And you’re going to stay the fuck away from him. Got it?”

His eyes furrow as he appraises me from head to toe. “I don’t need to take orders from his girlfriend.”

“I’m not asking.”

A strange surge of control comes over me. I’m highly aware of every part of my body, every movement of my chest as my breathing slows. I stare down at him, standing in front of Aaric.

It feels like lightning courses through my veins as I command, “Leave. Now.”

Without a second thought, he pulls himself to his feet, glancing at Aaric before turning around and forcing his way through the crowd.

The burning in my body fades just as soon as it arrives. My energy is draining as a pounding headache replaces that surge of calculated fury. I try to shake it off, turning to Aaric. He’s coughing and wheezing as I fall to my knees.

“Cam?” I whisper, my hand lightly touching his bruising cheek.

He turns into the touch, eyes closed as a groan escapes him. “Y/N?” His skin feels feverish and sticky as he moans into my hand, “I missed you.”

He’s delirious, that’s for certain, but his words set off butterflies in my stomach, warmth spreading through me. My eyes burn as I survey his swollen, bleeding face.

Violet is there, kneeling beside me. “We need to get him to a healer.”

I nod as Dain begins shouting to get everyone else to leave. He’s suddenly beside us, kneeling to pick up Aaric.

“Can you walk?” He asks.

Aaric’s head rolls as he looks up at him, blood dripping from his mouth onto the mat. “Oh hi, Dain.”

Dain swears under his breath before standing with Aaric. “I think he has a bad concussion.”

Aaric’s head swerves and finds me, a smile breaking out across his face. “Hey there, gorgeous.”

I would’ve laughed if his eyes didn’t immediately close after speaking. Dain slaps him across the face. It jolts him awake, his swollen eyes wide with alarm.

“What the fuck?!”

Dain huffs as he carries him from the gym. “You need to stay awake, you bastard, or I’m dropping you down the stairs. Gods, you’re heavy.”

Aaric glares at him before his eyes meet mine over Dain’s shoulder. Blood drips down the side of his head as he stares at me. I reach out and smooth back his hair before it gets more blood in it.

“You fucking idiot,” I whisper as tears threaten to fall. “We’re taking you to the healers. If you didn’t break anything, I’m breaking your jaw later for this.”

Aaric coughs a laugh before groaning as his body shifts in Dain’s arms once we’re in the hall.

“Don’t let my father find out,” he hisses to Dain.

He scoffs. “Wouldn’t dream of it, Cam.”

————

(Aaric POV)

When Aaric wakes, he finds Y/N sitting next to his bed, biting her lip as she grips his hand. Sheets tuck him into the bed as the sun sets, streaming fractures of light across the room through the arched windows.

A headache pounds against his head as he slowly shifts. On instinct, he tightens his fingers around hers, causing her to jump in her seat.

Her eyes whip to his, wide and tear-stained. “You’re awake.”

It must’ve been hours since Dain dragged Aaric into the healer’s room. Halfway up the stairs, he practically threw the prince to the stone before making him walk. Sienna had yelled at Dain for being a prick and at Aaric for being a moron for getting himself into this mess. They both hooked themselves beneath his shoulders and helped carry him the rest of the way up the stairs.

He barely remembers any of it. Only the feel of stiff sheets beneath him and the smell of something acidic and medicinal before blacking out.

“Hi,” he rasps, voice scratchy from disuse. Sharp pain lingers around his ribs, making him wince. “How long was I out?”

Y/N tightens her grip on his hand. “Almost ten hours, give or take?”

He huffs a laugh before immediately coughing. She’s there with water in her hands, helping him drink. The cool liquid wakes him further, clearing his mind.

“Fuck,” he winces as he tries to shift in bed to sit up. “Everything hurts.”

She rolls her eyes. “I wonder why.”

He scowls at the ceiling before attempting to raise himself again, breathing heavily from the movement.

“Stop that or you’ll make everything worse,” she scolds him, moving to stand.

Aaric rolls his eyes. “I’m fine. There’s enough drugs in my system to keep the pain at bay,” he hisses as sharp pain hits him again in the ribs. “Or at least I think so.”

She glowers down at him. “You’re such an idiot. What were you thinking earlier? Were you trying to get yourself killed?”

He tenses. That morning, after he tried to run off all the pent-up energy and desire he felt upon waking earlier, guilt still gnawed at him. He couldn’t believe how horrible of a friend he was for imagining her like that. She didn’t want that. She deserved better than that from such a close friend.

His head was so caught up in this that while he was swinging at a punching bag, he felt someone approach him from behind. They tried to taunt him, test him, get him riled up. Without thinking, with frustration rising inside of him, he turned and threw a punch at the guy. It quickly turned out to be a mistake, but when he got caught up in a fight with the brutish cadet, it felt liberating. Something he could control. And as each punch landed on his body, he knew he deserved it. He allowed it to happen.

Jaw clenched, Aaric doesn’t say anything as his best friend continues to fume. What can he say to her? “Hey, I’m sick and tired of being your friend and it’s slowly eating me alive?”

No. He couldn’t say that.

“Look,” Y/N sighs. “I know you. I know how you fight and what happened earlier was you punishing yourself for something.”

His fists clench, eyes trying not to meet hers as he feels her sympathetic gaze.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

“What happened earlier is not nothing. You had broken ribs and a shattered cheekbone. Not even to mention your concussion! It took hours for them to heal you, and I never left, so don’t you get to say it’s nothing when it obviously wasn’t.”

Her voice breaks as she speaks, and Aaric finally looks at her. Tears brim her eyes. Fear and worry lining her features. His heart softens and aches at the sight.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “You’re right. It wasn’t nothing.” He sighs. “I…I was frustrated and angry. He just happened to be there. I needed to blow off some steam. That’s all.”

She doesn’t buy it, he can tell, but her shoulders loosen. “I’m getting real sick of these suicidal heroic tendencies of yours.”

He snorts. “Yeah, me too.”

This cracks her. She smiles gently. Aaric smiles back, only for his head to sting, causing him to wince.

She surges forward. “Shit, your stitches.”

She picks up a cloth lying on the bedside table before moving towards him. Her fingers are gentle, careful, as she smooths the cloth over his forehead. She’s close enough to breathe in the scent of her. Aaric can’t resist. He closes his eyes, breathing deeply. Lilac and citrus.

Memories of home rise to the forefront of his mind. Laughter ringing out over a pan of burned muffins. Shared smiles as his older brother, Halden, stomps off to sulk. Fingers tangled together as both Y/N and himself ready to jump into a pond brimming with water lilies and cattails.

Nostalgia grips him by the throat, and he tries to swallow it down. Everything about her, all that she is, is home for him.

Looking up at her, watching as she concentrates on her task, he feels a wave of affection crash over him.

Later, he’ll blame the drugs flowing through his system, numbing his usual restraint. But for now, he allows his hands to slide across her waist, pulling her closer.

Her breath catches, hand freezing on his forehead as her eyes meet his. He sees a question in her gaze, and something lighter. Something that must be reflected in his own as his fingers slowly pull up the material of her shirt. Just enough for his fingers to settle upon her skin, thumbs caressing her waist in slow circles.

Her pupils dilate as she holds his stare, breath increasing. He can feel her pulse through her skin, racing as fast as his own as he stares up at her through his lashes.

“Is this okay?” His voice is husky, full of need.

She swallows, his eyes tracking the movement, suddenly enraptured by the exposed skin of her neck.

“Y-yes,” she stammers. “It’s okay.”

He leans closer, her lips inches from his as he breathes her in. His fingers move to wrap around her back, caressing the base of her spine as he continues to draw slow, methodical circles into her skin.

“Is this?”

She nods, her eyes fluttering as his fingers softly trace the curves of her skin. Cloth forgotten, she allows it to fall to the bed, her hands tangling in his waves. The way she softly pulls on his hair has a moan rising from his mouth. The movement causes their lower lips to brush, lightning coursing through his veins at the sensation. A gasp falls from her mouth at the contact, her fingers pulling him closer.

“Cam,” she breathes, her voice full of want.

Flashes to this morning, to how he woke without her in his bed, makes him ache to take her there now. To show her exactly what he’s wanted to do to her for years.

Fuck, I want to kiss you so badly.

Y/N freezes. Her eyes widening before she pulls back from him. He starts to tug her back to him, not wanting to let her go, when she stops him with a hand on his bare chest.

“I heard you.”

Aaric furrows his brows, his entire being focused on the shape of her lips. “What?”

“Aaric,” she insists. She forces him to look at her, and her eyes soften for a moment. She sighs before closing her eyes, as if she’s concentrating.

“I want to kiss you, too.”

Her voice suddenly rings loud and clear in his head, startling him. His jaw hangs open as he stares.

Holy shit.

She smirks. “Violet told me about how the mating bond connects us. And I think because of your…lowered inhibitions,” her eyes sparkle as she leans closer. “Your shields let me in, allowing me to hear your thoughts just now.”

Well, fuck.

Y/N laughs, the sound lighting every nerve in his body. “It’s freaky, right?”

Aaric shakes his head. “What if I like hearing your voice in my head?”

She bites her lip, a flush rising to her cheeks. Gods, he wants her. He wants to kiss the hell out of that mouth, taste every bit of her. He wants to take his time before he moves his lips down her neck, taunting her, as he opens the buttons on her shirt, exposing her skin—

“Graycastle,” a voice startles them both, forcing Y/N to spring away from him. They both turn to find an aged healer standing there with a firm expression. “This is not the time or place for such fraternizing. Please refrain yourselves as you are not the only ones in the room.”

Aaric’s pulse races in his ears as he turns back to his best friend, whose face is bright red, eyes bulging as she stares at the floor, her mouth pinched to keep herself from smiling. He can’t help his own from spreading across his face. A strange giddiness fills him as her eyes slowly meet his.

She wants to kiss me.

The thought emboldens him, even as the healer shoos Y/N away from his cot. He catches her stare as she leaves.

Will you be back?

She tucks a piece of hair behind her ears before giving him a small smile at the doorway. “Is this a stupid question, or are you still concussed?”

Aaric’s smile is still wide even after Y/N disappears. Long after the healer checks his bandages and leaves. When the lights go out for curfew, he notices the lingering scent of her, clinging to the air around him. Lilac and citrus.

Just as he succumbs to sleep, he swears he overhears Molvic grumble in his mind. One word. “Finally.”

Part Six

————

Taglist: @bookishnerd1132 @abysshaven @annthepenguin @lynnieluvsu @louzello @jinx108 @lustrz-anna @worldsanna @wolfbc97 @kelpyreads @lveegsoi @iambored24601 @bookishcait @marrass @serena-capella @benz12313 @-thatgirloverthere- @tenshis-cake @http-peachie @littlemissmelodie @lagrandeourse

[saintsanddevils]

hello there I love your stories so much would you be interested in doing a Garrick smut !!

Beg For It

Garrick Tavis x Girlfriend!Reader

Summary: When Garrick comes back after being gone for so long, you don’t waste any time.

Warnings: ‼️18+ (MDNI) explicit content‼️ graphic smut, a whole lot of fluff, inappropriate use of Garrick’s signet (minor Onyx Storm spoiler)

Author’s Note: The way I stopped everything to write this. I was excited about it haha

Word Count: 3.3K

Posted on AO3

Masterlist

————

A knock at the door has me glancing at the clock on the mantel.

Who would be up at this hour?

Anxiety hits me, wondering if Venin have crossed the border or breached the wards of Tyrrendor. But if that was so, wouldn’t the bells be ringing? People stampeding in the hall? Dragons roaring in the distance?

I slowly get to my feet, grabbing a robe to cover the white lace nightdress that reaches to the tops of my thighs. If someone is here with a missive or I’m needed in battle, I’m definitely screwed in this outfit.

If it’s not anything life-threatening or imminent, I’ll be so pissed. Whoever is at the door is interrupting my only time to relax while at Riorson house. I’ve been re-reading Garrick’s latest letters by the fireplace.

A hollow ache burrows in my heart. It’s been five weeks since I’ve seen him. Over a month since I’ve held him in my arms, kissed him, or felt his curls beneath my fingers. Every day without him has been eating me alive.

The last time I saw him, he was rushing onto the flight field with me on his heels. Xaden had already taken to the skies after a long goodbye with Violet. Now, Garrick was expected to go with him, as always. I’d resent Xaden if I didn’t trust him with my life. Or, in this case, Garrick’s life. It’s because of this that I know he’ll bring Garrick back to me.

Rushing towards Chradh, Garrick had caught sight of Xaden overhead before whirling to me. He crashed into me, gravity pulling us together as he kissed the life out of me. His grip was hard and desperate before slowly loosening, caressing me. When his forehead met mine, I knew I wouldn’t see him for a very long time.

“You know I love you?” he whispered.

I nodded, tears choking me as he kissed me one last time.

Another knock at the door, this one more desperate, brings me out of my memories. I huff in annoyance before throwing open the door.

I immediately freeze.

“Garrick?” My whisper is full of uncertainty.

On the threshold, just beyond reach of the wards placed on the room, a man tall enough to tower over me with fair skin, dark curls, and heartbreaking hazel eyes grips the doorframe.

Garrick Tavis.

Heart pounding, I stare in open shock, wondering if this is a dream. Maybe I fell asleep by the fire and I’ll wake up soon to find that he’s not actually here.

Garrick’s eyes burn into me as he whispers my name like a prayer that’s been answered. The way he’s looking at me… It’s as if I’m air and he’s drowning, dying to reach for me with his last breath. It’s intoxicating to behold.

This feels entirely too real to be a dream.

His nostrils flare as he takes in my attire. His gaze scorching my skin as he scans me, slowly, methodically. Memorizing me.

“Well, fuck me,” he mutters. “If this is how you greet me after a month, I should leave more often.”

No way in hell is this a dream.

I bolt forward, gripping his leathers by the collar to pull him through the wards— pulling him into our room.

Copying Xaden months ago, Garrick ensured when he was gone, I’d be safe in our room. Even he couldn’t get in without my permission. It was part of his many backup plans and safety precautions when it came to me.

“You’re the only important person in my life,” he had whispered against my skin many months ago after setting up the wards. “I have to keep you safe. Promise me you’ll be safe?”

And I’ve been keeping that promise. Every day, hoping he’ll come home to me and stay longer between each time he’s allowed leave back to Riorson house.

And like every time before, he’s back.

Once Garrick is through the wards and standing before me, we collide.

Lips and teeth crash together, tongues intertwining as Garrick wraps around me, holding me tight. I grip him just as hard as I kiss him. His lips, gods, his lips are everything. I’ve missed him far too much to waste any time.

He’s taller than me, being dubbed “the Big One” by Violet. I remember fully agreeing with her when she told me. The top of my head can barely reach his shoulders. So while he towers over me, I use my height to my advantage and touch every inch of his torso, ensuring he’s actually here. His broad shoulders. The edges of the mark on his skin seen above his leathers. His dark curls. Even the tan marks of his flight goggles.

Garrick breaks from the kiss first. When our eyes meet, we both smile wide and carefree. At the same time, we tear off his flight jacket, revealing his well-built frame covered in a tight shirt that outlines his rippling muscles.

Gods, I missed him.

He rips the robe from my shoulders, tossing it over his shoulder as he dives back in to kiss me. His hands gripping my waist as my fingers hold on to his biceps.

The feel of him sends electric shockwaves up my nerves. Everything is entirely familiar, but different. More than a month away from one another feels like an eternity as I reach to grip the back of his head, bringing him closer as his teeth bite my bottom lip.

I moan into his mouth, sliding my free hand beneath his shirt. Skating my fingertips across his abdomen till I get to the rim of his pants, Garrick sucks in a breath. I toy with the button, pulling until it gives.

Slowly, I slip my hands beneath his pants, skimming his briefs before my fingers meet warm, veiny skin. Garrick pants against me, my pulse racing alongside his as my hand grips his cock.

“Fuck,” he moans.

I leisurely take my time sliding my skin over his— teasing, taunting. Garrick’s hands shake as they move from my waist down to my hips, pulling me closer. When I get to the head of his cock, my mouth waters at the feel of precum already dripping from the tip. With my thumb, I smooth it over the skin, pumping my hand once, twice, another before he grabs my wrist, stopping me.

“Baby, I’ve waited too long to have you,” his voice rough with desperation. “I’ll come if you keep doing that.”

I smirk. “Maybe I want you to.”

He huffs a laugh. “I know you’d love that, but I’ve had enough lonely nights to last me for the last five weeks.” He suddenly moves me backwards until my back hits the wall. “I need you.”

He bends forward, kissing my forehead, before tracing his lips to my temple. I exhale when his lips move to my cheek, stopping to smirk into my skin.

“I’ve missed you so much,” I confess, breathing in the smell of him.

Garrick’s mouth glides across my jaw before hovering over my swollen lips. “I missed you too, love.”

Warmth spreads through my limbs like I’m soaking in the sun. He kisses me briefly, before moving his mouth to my jaw. Breath hitching when his teeth prick at my pulse before his tongue slides along my collarbone.

“This dress,” he breathes, making the exposed flesh of my skin pebble. “Gods, you’ll be the death of me.”

His teeth latch to the top of the lace, pulling the fabric downward until my breast is fully exposed. The air is cool against my heated skin as Garrick takes the opportunity to slip his tongue over my nipple. He sucks, long, deep, and hard before pulling gently with his teeth, making me gasp.

My head falls back, hitting the wall as I close my eyes, lost to the feel of his lips and teeth. His hand yanks the rest of the material down, a ripping sound filling the silence of the room.

“I’ll buy you twenty more pairs of this exact dress, I promise.”

I laugh at the breathless sound of his voice, smiling towards the ceiling as he begins to nip at my other breast. The lace dress falls from my shoulders, pooling at my feet.

In only my matching lace panties, I feel Garrick still against me. I look down to find he’s now kneeling, his face inches from my underwear, gazing up at me through his lashes.

“They were a set,” I wink.

Garrick’s pupils are wide as he looks down at the lace. “Fuck, I love you and your shopping habits so much.”

A belly laugh escapes me, causing Garrick to join in as he nuzzles my abdomen before tracing his fingers over the garment.

He whispers my name, like a siren call, and I meet those lust-filled hazel eyes as he places a gentle kiss on my stomach.

This is love. We’ve had plenty of dark days, but it’s these quiet moments, the ones where we can find the light in the dark, that matter the most. Every laugh, caress, and smile he gives me is a gift. I’ve never felt more adored and cherished than in his arms.

And right now? With his face inches from where I need him desperately, I know he’ll always come back to me, no matter how far he travels or how long he’s gone.

I’m his home as much as he is mine.

Garrick’s gaze softens. “I know,” he whispers, kissing my skin once more.

Tears fill my eyes, but I don’t let them fall. I want to cherish this with him, for as long as I can.

His rough fingers slide beneath the lace, pulling my underwear completely off, leaving me exposed before him. A shiver echoes up my spine as his hands grip the backs of my thighs.

“I’ve been as patient as I can be, baby. But now,” his fingers reach down to my ankles. “Be a good girl and put your legs over my shoulders. I need to taste you on my tongue.”

I practically choke as he helps lift me to sit on his shoulders, my pussy inches from his face.

“That’s perfect,” he praises, making my cheeks flush. His eyes sparkle as he stares at my core, no doubt seeing the glistening wetness trailing down my thighs.

“Now, ride my face.”

I obey his command as he lifts me further and sits me on his waiting mouth. His lips part, and I feel his tongue lick me in one long strip. Pleasure racks up my spine, my fingers flying to his hair to grip onto something. With his hands holding my legs and pressing me against the wall, he dives in like a man starved. Licking and sucking. Nipping and teasing. Stars fill my vision as my core begins to tighten.

“Garrick,” I moan, mg fingers pulling his curls. “Baby, I’m—“

He doesn’t stop. If anything, he keeps going with fervor. One of his hands leaves my thigh to slide up my leg to my pussy. Just as his lips tease my clit, his fingers replace them. Pressing down and squeezing, a tickling sensation begins in the pit of my stomach, growing bigger and bigger as my walls tighten around his tongue.

“I need your fingers,” I gasp. “Please.”

Garrick obliges. Two long, thick fingers slide inside me, making me pant at the pressure. His fingers and tongue work in tandem. Another squeeze, lick, and press of his fingers, and I’m already climbing higher and higher until—

“Garrick!” I cry out.

I can feel him smirk against me as I continue to shatter. Waves of ecstasy wash over me as I scream his name again and again, riding out my orgasm until I’m left feeling boneless. My head swims as Garrick gently moves my legs back to the floor.

I stare down at him, lungs still heaving breaths as I catch sight of his mouth glistening with my slick. His dimple curves just as his tongue swipes across his lips. My knees shake at the sight, but his hands are there, securing around my body as he hoists me against him.

With his hands around my torso and legs, he holds me firmly before winking down at me. He takes a step and in the next breath, we’re across the room, on the bed.

I giggle. “Using your signet to seduce me, Tavis?”

Garrick’s smirk widens as he lays me down on the mattress, his arms caressing my skin as he lets me settle into the comforter.

“I don’t need magic to seduce you,” he raises a brow. “You’re mine already.”

Reaching to touch his cheek, smoothing my thumb across his dimple, I give him a soft smile. “I’ll always be yours.”

He’s kissing me just as the words float in the air, blending with the moonlight. The dark enfolds us as he slips off his trousers and briefs, caging me with his naked body.

With one bruising kiss, I part my legs, feeling him settle between them. I glance between our bodies, a moan escaping me at the sight of his long, hard cock.

I missed this as much as I missed him.

The head of his dick lazily coats in my wetness, taunting and teasing. I writhe beneath his hulking body.

“You better get inside me right now, Garrick, or-“

He pushes into me, bottoming out in one long, heavy thrust.

“Fuck,” he groans into my mouth as my back arches, eyes rolling back at the pressure. I’m so full, it’s toeing the line between pleasure and pain. It’s everything.

“You’re doing so good, baby,” he hushes against my skin as I whimper.

He still doesn’t move. I need him to move.

I shift my hips, forcing some sort of friction. He stills me with a large hand, encasing most of my hip with its width.

Lips meet my ear, breath tickling my hair. His voice is deep and rough with want as he whispers, “Will you beg for it?”

I nod, gasping and writhing. The inner muscles of my core clench, tightening over and over again around his unmoving cock.

Garrick kisses the skin beneath my ear before sitting up. While still sheathed within me, he towers over me, sitting back on his haunches. He brings my knees up the bed, bending them so I’m straddling his hips. He presses himself forward, angling his dick to be even deeper inside of me.

Holy shit, this angle.

“I don’t hear you begging.”

A whimper escapes me as I claw at his hands on my hips. “Please, Garrick, please!”

He smirks, that damn dimple shining down on me. A firm, calloused hand glides up my body until he gathers both of my straining hands. He holds them above my head, grasping my wrists together in one large palm, pressing them into the sheets. My back arches into the angle, sliding him even closer, further inside of me.

“Do you trust me, baby?”

I nod over and over again, still straining against his hold. The heat rising inside of me is unbearable, the need to feel his cock pump and thrust against my walls is all I can think about.

Garrick stares at me from above, his gaze hooded as he watches me pant. He tightens his hold on my wrists as his free hand grabs the top of my knee and pulls it to the side, before doing the same to the other. I obey, making them stay in the position he wants them.

As I stretch my knees outward, my eyes widen. With my knees bent at this angle, my pussy locks around Garrick’s cock, exposing my clit to the air. All the while, he watches in fascination, completely enraptured.

With a flick of his wrist, sharp, cool air touches my clit. It startles me, making me want to clamp my legs shut on instinct.

As I try to do just that, Garrick holds firm, staring at my exposed clit. “Let me take care of you. It’s okay, I’m just….experimenting.”

He meets my eyes with a wink before twisting his hand in the air to make the breeze choppier. Almost in a vibrating motion. Warmth and pressure build slowly as the vibrating keeps going, stimulating my clit in a way I’ve never experienced.

Just as it intensifies, Garrick begins to thrust inside of me. Thank fuck. My head snaps back, a cry falling from my lips.

“There you go, baby,” he pumps faster, deeper. “You take me so well.”

Sweat builds at my temple just as his hand releases my hips, allowing me to meet him with every thrust. We moan together as pressure builds, the air he’s still bending around my clit is now flowing faster.

“Garrick,” I whine, my voice full of warning.

He nods, smiling. “I know, I’m right behind you.”

The air vibrating against my clit suddenly disappears. His fingers slip down from my caged hands, releasing them, to touch my clit, keeping me stimulated.

He thrusts, using my knees as leverage to pull me into him roughly. I grip the sheets, holding on as I feel myself cresting that wave once more.

“Come for me, love.”

I shatter with a cry, my voice straining as it echoes. My walls pulse and flutter, again and again, as his cock pounds into me. He soon follows with a roar, bending down so his lips find mine, groaning into my mouth as he fills me.

The entire time he spills inside of me, he whispers, “I love you, I love you, I love you,” over and over again.

I’m drunk off the feeling of him when we finally both come down from our highs. Gasping for breath, Garrick falls on top of me, spent. I laugh beneath him, shoving him playfully.

“I can’t breathe!”

He groans. “Gods, I missed fucking you.”

I kiss his sweaty temple, warmth filling my chest as he gives short, simple kisses to my collarbone.

“Just that?” I tease.

“Don’t even joke.” He rolls his eyes, shaking his head before rolling off of me, lying back on our bed.

He drags me with him, cradling me in the nook of his arms. His bare chest against the skin of my cheek brings so many memories of the past few years, it floods me with nostalgia.

How we met on the mat at Basgiath our first year, his mouth and eyebrow bleeding as he let me beat him into the mat. When he later brought me a bag of ice to help the bruise on my ribs, I knew I was a goner. His stupid dimple melted me as he showed me how to forget the pain by telling bad jokes and obviously flirting with me. It worked. And now, I can’t imagine not ever being his.

A sense of rightness settles within my chest. Garrick is finally home, after so long apart. He’s alive and he’s here with me.

“I’m happy you’re back,” I whisper against his skin.

I feel him kiss the top of my head as his hand strokes my arm. “You’re my home. I’ll always come back to you.”

Warm, comfortable silence settles over the room as we memorize one another’s breaths. Reveling in the feel of our heartbeats. Being here, together, is all we’ll ever need.

For the rest of the night, into forever, I’m his, and he’s mine.

[saintsanddevils]

I love your Aaric story so much there’s literally no aaric fics thank you for your service I’m so excited for the next parts 🫢

I’m just doing my part🫡

I truly appreciate all the love this series has been given, so far! Thank you to every single person who’s taken the time to read it.

I love Aaric so much & this was truly me being self-indulgent in finally writing for him (& the other Fourth Wing men).

Never Alone series - Aaric Graycastle x childhood best friend!reader