Playing For Keeps Ch. 05

For what seemed like an eternity but was probably just a few seconds in reality, everything froze and Aurora was acutely aware of everything around her; Diego softening inside her, the wind rustling outside, the birds chirping annoyingly... But as suddenly as it had come, everything went into fast forward mode and suddenly a wave of shock crashed into her. It was not her own. She felt Diego's shock as sharply as if it were her own.

In answer to his shock, her thoughts went into turmoil. Was he shocked because it was too fast? Because he didn't feel the same way? Because it was just about the sex for him? Had she misread the signs? She was too afraid to look for an answer to anyone of those question so, as if it were a protective instinct, a wall slammed down, cutting off her connection with Diego. It wasn't gone, just blocked.

Aurora heard him gasp and felt him recoil as if he had been punched. When she finally gathered up the strength to turn around and look at him, all she saw was confusion and hurt in those flaming amber eyes.

She didn't try to make sense of it. She kicked open the back door to her Jeep Wrangler and let her wings take air...

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Aurora grunted and rubbed at her temples trying to ease the pounding migraine that had taken up permanent residence in her skull.

"You could just go to him." Aisling suggested for the umpteenth time making Aurora want to bash her head with something.

The demigoddess had flown for the rest of the day, wondering around aimlessly, her thoughts bouncing in her skull. Until she had decided she needed some comfort food and headed for the O'Callaghan Pack house hoping there would be some leftovers from the Barbecue.

She had noticed that Diego had "knocked" at the figurative door between them but when she refused to answer he started pounding, hence the infernal migraine. She could feel wisps of his emotions sliding out between the wall that was starting to crack. Hurt, panic and worry. She groaned.

"I told him I loved him and he was shocked, Ash, not ecstatic or happy or even smug for that matter! He was shocked! You get shocked when something you hadn't expected to happen happens and that isn't a good thing!" Aurora ranted.

"Aurora, that's what happens when you tell someone you love them, dearie. It takes a few seconds for it to register and you ran without even giving him that chance." Stephanie O'Callaghan's voice was a low staccato that resonated with power. The woman was five foot four with graying raven hair that added to her understated grace. Though Aurora was way older than her she always found it wise to heed the Alpha She-wolf's council. Her daughter Aisling was a good listener yet not very good with advice but Aurora loved her nonetheless.

Back to the here and now, all three women sat around the kitchen table as the men yelled profanities at the football game that was on in the living room flat screen.

Aurora slumped in her chair and buried her face in her hands.

"What if that's not it? What if he doesn't feel the same way?" Aurora whispered more to herself than to the two females. It was her biggest fear. She had never been rejected because she had never allowed herself to be put in that position but now that she had things were way complicated. It pissed her off to no end that this male had her falling head over heels for him and she could do nothing to stop him.

"My dear girl, I never thought you were a coward. Plus he's only a cat if the bastard dared to hurt you; you know we'd gut him." Stephanie said this with a warm smile. Aurora imagined this was the expression Hannibal Lecktar had as he talked about his victims but she was grateful to have the wolves behind her. It made her feel safe and cherished.

Aurora nodded. "How am I gonna find him?"

"Your mating bond. Duh." Aisling said.

She nodded again and just as she was about to get up a roar echoed around them. No wolf could have made that sound, wolves howl they don't growl. But she knew exactly from who that roar had come from.

"Guess like he found you instead." She heard Aisling say as her feet carried her out through the spacious living room and out front to the porch.

A sound in between a gasp and a choke escaped her lips at the sight of Diego. If that really was Diego.

"You best be getting outta here, lad. You're clearly outnumbered and me boys are achin' to sink their fangs in a tiger. Ya hear?" Mr. O'Callaghan was saying but she didn't pay the man any mind. Her eyes were glued onto her mate.

His amber eyes had gone completely feral. His fangs were fully extended and dug into his lower lip, making a trail of blood flood from the corners of his lips. His face was set in a grimace that had her glimpsing his cat. His clothes were ripped in some place and barely hanging on to his body. He was trembling so hard she thought he was going to fall from the force of the tremors.

Those wild eyes locked onto her and she knew it was Diego the tiger that was in charge. She took a hesitant step back and he leapt for her.

Faster than her eyes could track, five wolves had leapt to intercept him.

Snarls and growls ripped through the silence of the clearing as fur flew and flashes of fangs and claws came and went. The moment Diego roared, all the other sounds were rendered futile. The wall that was blocking their bond crumbled as she saw the four foot high tiger and she was assaulted by the wrath of his emotions. Wave after wave of potent emotions slammed into her, leaving her breathless.

"Enough!" she yelled, loosening the tight leash she usually had on her powers. Her voice echoed around them.

The wolves slowly leapt away from the tiger but not before they snarled warnings at him. In the next few seconds, the wolves cleared out and only her and her tiger remained in the clearing.

Aurora walked the few feet that remained between them and knelt infront of her mate. A sound of pure agony ripped out of the beautiful animal tearing into her very soul.

Hot tears pooled in her eyes and fell down her cheeks and she buried her face into the tiger's neck. Saying "sorry, sorry, sorry" as if it were a mantra that would make everything okay. She rocked back and forth using her arms that were locked around the tiger's neck like an anchor holding her to earth. By the time she finally managed to differentiate which feelings were hers and which were his and managed to deal with the miasma of emotions, it was a man's arms that held her to his warm naked body.

She still wouldn't pull away from his neck. She was too afraid to see the hurt or worse, contempt in his eyes. She had after all deserved it. Even when he tried to pry her away she refused, holding on for dear life. She. Would. Not. Let. Him. Go.

"Enough of this. You need to trust me." Although the words were hard, his voice was soft.

She yielded and reluctantly loosened her grip and sat back with her ass on her heels and her wings fanning out on the grass.

She only then realized as she looked at the blurry green of the grass that she was still crying.

"Look at me." He said softly. It was hard to paste together the feral man on the brink of losing it and this one who was all softness and compassion.

Aurora slowly raised her eyes to his, her heart beating hard against her ribcage. She wanted to tell him how sorry she was, she wanted to beg her forgiveness but as she looked into her mate's eyes it seemed as if there was nothing to say. She felt his love for her, felt how strong it was. It shined with a golden pulsing light between their souls. She reveled in it. She wanted to sing, she wanted to rub herself all over him.

"You will never leave me again." though the words were that of an order, they came out as a plea.

"Never." She promised and plastered her mouth to his with a hungry moan. Their kiss was a heated one that burned all the to her cunt and judging from his rock hard that poked at her pelvis, it burned all the way to his cock too.

"Get on all fours." He growled and bit her earlobe making her gasp.

"But the wolves-"

"They will not come out or look. Now do as I say." She heard the underlying threat in his voice and decided not to test him. She complied, submitting to her mate because she knew he needed this. Needed reassurance that everything was alright between them. Fuck if she didn't need it as well.

Aurora was already wet for him so when he plunged his rock hard cock into her cunt, she was already prepared. But it didn't stop her from crying out at the sensation of being so full. His dick pistoned in and out of her, hitting her g-spot every time. Her breath huffed out of her every time his body slammed into hers.

She gasped as his claws dug into her hips but welcomed the pain of his marking. She felt her mate's body leaning into hers, his muscled chest rubbing against her wings making them flutter excitedly.

Her cunt clenched around Diego's dick like a vise, desperate to hold him inside her and never let go. Her climax rose within her making her pant like a wanton slut. Which at that instant she was. Aurora was so caught up in a world that was made up of only her and Diego and the swirling waves of ecstasy that encased them.

"Cum for me, angel." He ordered his voice more animal than man.

She came and he joined a split second later he joined her, shooting spurts after spurts of hot cum inside her womb. Aurora moaned, groaned, and begged for more. More of him because goddess, help her but she couldn't have enough of him. If she could crawl up underneath his skin and live there she would, creepy as that sounded...

************************

It had taken considerable effort to think logically and not rip everyone's throat out. After he'd fucked his mate he'd calmed down some but then the wolves had come out and he had lost it all over again. It was more the fact that they had all run to her, worried as if he would actually hurt Aurora that had pissed him off more than anything.

Of course before there could be any throat ripping going on, Aurora had snapped her fingers and him and the four wolves that attacked him were floating in the air.

"I will not stand for this bullshit. You will not act like brainless morons on my account. Is that clear?" she had demanded and both he and the wolves had been forced to submit.

Back to the present they were in a borrowed truck from the wolves. One look from Aurora had kept him from saying anything about borrowing from dogs.

She stared out the window as he drove. She was quiet, pensive but he felt her calmness so he didn't worry much. No like when she had flown away and slammed that godforsaken wall between them. God, he'd never been so scared. Scared of losing her. It didn't matter if they had only known each other for a few days, they belonged together. She completed him and when she ran away because she had thought he was rejecting her, it tore him to pieces. Fuck... what if he hadn't found her? What if she had rejected him? His cat would have taken over and Diego the man would no longer exist for she was the only thing that held him down to reality, keeping both man and cat in check.

Diego felt her hand grasp his. He turned to look at her and found her silver eyes glowing in the dark with their own ethereal light. Warmth and loved filled them as she looked at and the turmoil that had been rising in him calmed and dissipated.

"I'm sorry." She said. Such simple words, yet they were suffused with sincerity, it touched him.

He squeezed her hand to reassure her. "I know, angel. I know."

"Why do you call me angel?" she asked suddenly. "Is it 'cuz of the wings?" she gestured to her wings that were cramped against the seat.

He chuckled. "No. I call you angel because that's what you are to me. You're my angel, you're my guardian angel."

Aurora smiled at him. "Angels aren't the nicest bunch. Always going on about smiting people."

He frowned. "You know angels? They're real?"

"Yeah. You get to meet all types when you live at my mom's court."

"Why did you leave?"

She took so long in answering that he thought she wouldn't answer when she said "I ran away actually. I didn't have the guts to tell my parents I was leaving so when I finally grew strong enough to teleport between realms, I did it and I came here."

"Why? Was your family that bad?" he asked yearning to know more about his mate's past.

"No, it's nothing like that. I love them and they love me. They're eccentric and borderline alcoholics but they're not the reason I ran away. It was because I didn't want to take responsibility for anything but myself. It seems childish, I know, but when you're daughter to the first vampire and a goddess, there are certain things that are expected of you. And I didn't want to spend my life in a designated post, like the rest of my family. I wanted to make my own choices and I have never regretted that."

Diego nodded. "I suppose sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do."

"Yeah but that's not to say that you might lose the things you left behind." Her voice held a sad not he didn't like.

"What did you lose?" he made himself ask.

She breathed in hard and turned to him before answering. "I lost my best friend. Chiron and I grew up together, we were the best of friends and when I p and left without telling him... We talk and all but he has never truly forgiven me."

"I'm sorry." He felt her pain at the loss and wished he could offer her anything but apologetic words.

Aurora smiled at him. "It's not your fault. I made up with the rest of my family a while back so everything turned out good. Now, I would know of your family."

"My father died when I was a cub so I never really knew him. My mother was Pride Alpha and raised all five of us until I became strong enough to be Alpha."

"Five of you?"

"Me and my four sisters. Eva, Ruth, Jennifer and Nadia."

Her eyebrows shot up. "And they're all women. Oh joy. They'll eat me alive, won't they?"

Diego laughed as his mate's uneasiness seeped through their bond. He had to admit his baby sisters were quite scary at times but they'd love Aurora. They couldn't not love her. She was amazing.

"They'll love you. Don't you have any siblings?"

"Three brothers. Well half brothers. Thanatos, Death. Hypnos, Sleep. And Charon, Ferryman of the Underworld."

He opened his mouth to say something, anything but no words would come out. What did you say to that?

By the time they had gotten to the city it was past midnight.

"Where we going?" his mate asked.

"My apartment."

"Why? My flat is just around the corner-"

"Because I'm going to punish you and the implements I need are in my apartment."

Diego studied her. She gulped and before her emotions swirled out of control she managed to calm herself. Aurora slowly nodded and raised her silver eyes to meet his.

She looked so vulnerable in that moment he almost reconsidered punishing her. Almost. But then he realized that they both needed this. They had agreed to a Dom/sub relationship when it came to sex and leaving him like she had was not a transgression he would let slip without severe punishment. He was glad to see that she so easily submitted to him, like she had in that clearing. What made it even more precious was the fact that she was way more powerful than him, yet she yielded to him.

Diego pulled up in front of the loft that he'd purchased a few years ago but rarely stayed in. Pride business kept him busy enough that he scarcely had time for himself. Nevertheless he had bought this place as a hideout and a haven for his BDSM fetishes. He had never actually brought a woman here because, in all honesty there had never been a woman who he had been able to trust to that degree.

He got out of the truck and went to help Aurora climb out of the truck. She smiled at him nervously as she took the hand he offered. She didn't bother putting up the glamour seeing as how there was no one on the streets at this time. He preferred her like this. Ho loved seeing the tattoos and the wings that added to her uniqueness.

Diego opened the loft and led her inside. He gave her arm a soft tug to stop her from going in further. She turned to him questioningly.

"Once we go upstairs, your punishment will begin and I won't stop until it's done no matter how much you beg. Is that clear, angel?"

She bit her lips and when her eyes met there was complete trust etched in their silvery depths. "Yes, Sir."

Diego took her upstairs. She gave a small gasp as she saw his "implements". The whole place looked like something out of BDSM fantasy. And it was. It was his fantasy and he couldn't imagine anybody besides his mate to share it with. He pulled her back when she would explore.

"Whenever we're here you will not cover your body from me."

"Yes, Sir." She whispered and slid out of the dress.

This time he let her walk about the place. She traced the wood lines on the St. Andrews Cross that sat in the middle of the spacious place. She then went to look at the assortment of canes and whips that hung from hooks on the wall.

"Are you going to use these on me?"

"There is no point in whipping you. You heal too fast for the effects to really take place. I'd use them when we play but not for punishment." He had walked closer as he talked so he was now at her back, his cock poking at her ass. "For punishment, I'll use something with a lasting effect, angel."

"Like what, Sir?"

"Come with me."

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When Diego showed her what he meant to punish her wit, Aurora could only stare wide eyed. Anticipation and fear warred within her as she looked at the two fucking machines that were hooked up to what looked like an examination table. She had never needed to see a gynecologist and had never planned to but she had seen porn flicks that used them as an accessory and she had to admit she found it highly arousing. The two fucking machines, one right below the stirrups with a slim yet long dildo pointing upwards. The other machine had a dildo, a little smaller than her arm in size, pointed sideways. It wasn't rocket science to figure out what it was for but she had a hard time imagining this as a punishment.

Her cunt was already dripping as she imagined being fucked by those machines, her nipples grew painfully erect and she couldn't stop her fingers from trailing up and tweaking them.

Diego slapped at her hand and she immediately down to her sides.

"I don't recall giving you permission to touch yourself."

"You haven't, Sir." She said meekly, lowering her eyes in submission.

"Get on that table." He ordered and she complied immediately not wanting to anger her mate.

Aurora hopped on to the examination table and lay back, squirming for a few moments to get her wings positioned comfortably. Her mate lifted her legs and put them on the stirrups, opening her wide. The cool air sweeping against her dripping, throbbing cunt made her shiver with need.

"I'm going to restrain you but you could break out of the bonds if you chose." He said as he secured leather bonds around her thighs, her lower abdomen, her breast and her hands above her head. She tested the bonds and found them to be string but if she could burn them off if she chose. But even if she couldn't she trusted her mate. He wouldn't hurt her.

Diego came to stand in between her widely spread legs. He looked down at her body, his amber eyes blazing in hunger. She relished in this sincerest form of flattery. His fingers played over her body, she wanted to squirm but her bonds prevented her from doing so.

She whimpered when his fingers played with her throbbing pussy.

"I'm going to fuck your ass, angel. If you cum while I do so, I'll make you wear a chastity belt for the next few days. After I fuck your ass, whether you cum or not, I'll let the fucking machines have your holes for an hour."