It wasn’t uncommon for Evela to find herself tossing and turning throughout the night. One of the downsides of the beast blood was the restlessness that accompanied it, even during nighttime hours; it could probably all be chalked down to the simple fact that werewolves had more energy than those not afflicted, and that transformations seemed stronger under the moonlight than they were during the day—especially if the twin moons were full. She probably should have been used it to by now, and she was, to an extent, but it didn’t make the restless nights any easier.
Part of her considered wandering the castle simply to find something to do with this excess energy; the darkened halls and its vampire residence didn’t unnerve her the way they used to the first few times she stayed here. But another part didn’t want to leave the warmth of her bed or her husband’s side even as he slept. She studied him as he slumbered, memorizing the features of his face she was almost certain were branded into her mind, anyway: the high, defined cheekbones, the curve of his lips, the shape of his jaw and the red trimmed beard that grew over it. Her fingers traced over that damnably handsome jaw, then down his throat and to his chest, where they drew indiscernible patterns and symbols. She almost let her hands skim lower…but she refrained, if only because she figured it would be rude of her to make her restless night his as well. For a vampire, he kept strange hours.
But watching her husband’s sleeping form only sated her for so long; lying still only made her more restless, and she found herself rolling onto her back to stare at the ceiling, and then onto her side again facing away from him a few moments after that…and then deciding Rowan was a much more pleasant visage to focus her gaze on than the rest of the room and turned back to nestle against his side. She continued to shift a little here and there, trying not to move too abruptly or bump against him too much as she tried to find a position that might entice her into sleep. All effort to keep from disturbing him was in vain, apparently, as he turned towards her with the sleepy, slow movements of someone who had just been roused from sleep. The decent part of her mind mentally cursed herself for waking her husband when he probably had things to do in court come morning…but it would be a lie to say she wasn’t a little happy now that he was awake.
“Nothing. Can’t sleep,” came her murmured answer to his question, followed by a tired sigh. She lifted her head until her lips found his throat, pressing a gentle kiss there. “Did I wake you?”
“Well, aye, I suppose you did,” rejoined Rowan, smiling drowsily. His speech was deep and slightly amused. “It wouldn’t be the first time, dearest. Even in sleep, you run.”
Ah, but he wasn’t angry. Far from it.
Rowan’s head dipped until her mouth was claimed. The warmness in her lips brought forth a contented sigh in him. Tender heat, a kindling in the castle atmosphere ruled by the frigidness of the cold north sea, and death. Gods, Eve was a gift.
He broke away from the kiss as gently as the sun left its embrace of the mountains at dawn – that slowly – and his lips anchored at her jawline.
“You know I don’t mind,” he said, peppering kiss after kiss up along the spot and down again, in no certain hurry. “What a fool Lord I would be, to complain of a bonnie Lady wolf in my bed.”
His hand, the one that’d settled at her spine, slipped to descend until stopping right above the small crease crowning her cheeks. His thumb pad dared to rub back and forth, there, and even slid to momentarily occupy the topmost space in between.
“Fret not, mo chridhe. I can think of a way to send you after the prey that eludes you in your dreams,” he assured her, his body shifting closer.