Destinatum Amare Tecum

I nodded rapidly, a quick glance at Remus's pained expression pushing me to continue and keep the crazy lady and her gun pacified.

"Okay," I began, breathing out to try and calm myself. "Look, I know you don't want to hear it, but right now we're Pre-Mated. That means we're connected, not as strongly as we would be if the Bond was complete. But enough to mean that severing it by killing me would drive him to suicide."

Julia gave me a blank look, her eyes taking in what I was saying but clearly not believing it.

"You must have seen it in the paper and on the news right?" I asked, desperately trying to come up with factual stories. "There was that bombing in Chester a few years back. A Kitsune killed herself when that terrorist group shot her Mate in the head. It was huge on the news, don't you remember hearing about it?"

Her frosty look wavered only slightly as she gave me a small nod.

Relieved I was making any kind of progress, I carried on. "If you kill me now, then the Bond between Remus and myself will be severed so severely that it'll drive him to the brink of despair. He'll never feel happiness, love, or pleasure ever again. That's what losing a Mate does to you. Us being Pre-Mated doesn't change that."

Her face began to crumple with distress as the shotgun wobbled in her shaky grip.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" she asked, breathing heavily as she glared venomously at me. "Am I just supposed to step aside and let you take my man? Am I just supposed to let eight years of love and joy be erased, because according to you our love doesn't matter!"

"Do you think I wanted to become Mated this way, to start acting this way?" I asked, anger laced within my tone as I crossed my arms. "Do you really think that I wanted to ruin someone else's relationship because of a Bond that I couldn't even begin to try and fight?"

"Then why didn't you just stay away from him?!" she shouted, anger and disbelief heavy in her voice. "Lillia told all of us that if we just kept our distance for a month that the Bond would break before it could complete. The only one stopping that happy solution is YOU!"

"You say that like I have a choice!" I shouted back, growling lowly. "Yeah sure, the Bond would snap and you'll go back to your happy little life together, maybe. But not me. Oh no, I would be fucking ruined for the rest of my life!"

"What are you talking about?" she asked, beyond confused.

"If our Bond was allowed to snap like that then yes, it wouldn't make us want to kill ourselves," I explained heatedly. "Remus is Human so he would be just fucking dandy, but not me. Oh no, I'm a Monster and we Mate for life. So if this Bond was ever allowed to break like that, I'd...I'd never be able to Mate with anyone ever again."

Julia frowned, lowing the shotgun slightly. "Why not?"

"Because of our special circumstances," I said, chuckling wryly. "We're already connected, the Bond has formed and even if it never completes, it's been created. I can never have another one, we can only connect like this with another once."

I looked at her blank expression and frowned.

"Don't you get it?" I asked. "If I walk away then I lose my Mate and can never find another. But if I stay then you lose Remus and all the times you spent together would be nothing more than a memory."

She sighed but said nothing, rubbing the bridge of her nose gently.

"Those are the choices I have," I finished, flashing her a pained smile. "And that's why I've been chasing him. I can't give him up, I just can't."

"That's just desire though," she said, scowling at me. "It's obsession, not love. What we have is love and trust and a dedication to one another. You can't give him anything like that."

"I can once we embrace," I countered, eyeing her as her hand twitched on the gun.

"Explain," she demanded, pointing it back at me. "Now!"

"Lillia already did, remember?" I said quickly, putting my hands back up. "When two people Bond, they begin to share everything with each other. Emotions, thoughts, memories. That's what she told you and she wasn't lying. We'll be connected so intimately in a way that you and he never could. Understanding each other, what he needs, feels, and desires without so much as needing to be told. It'll be a love that he could never have with another Human. That's what makes Mating so special, it's love at its purest form."

"And you...you hugging him will make this start to happen?" she asked, a tear trailing down her cheek.

I frowned sadly and nodded. "Yes...I'm sorry."

She sniffed and giggled lightly, pointing the gun more firmly in my direction. "Not as sorry as me."

"You don't have to do this!" I cried, tensing my legs as I prepared to try and avoid a bullet.

"If I don't then you'll take him from me!" she screamed, her hands shaking. "I'm sorry you got caught up in this magical bullshit. And I'm sorry that it'll ruin your love life forever. But I'm not sorry enough to sacrifice mine for it. I love that man with all my heart and nobody is going to steal him away from me!"

"You'll be arrested!"

"For self-defence?" she asked, giggling madly as she waved her phone at me. "You climbed up the house and broke in through the window. The house has cameras you know, my phone is connected to them and they clearly show you breaking in."

Her face grew hard as a tear then two trickled down her cheeks. "But there aren't any cameras in this room. So all they'll see is the recording of you stalking in here. And of course I had to defend me and my boyfriend so I shot you. A clear cut case of self defence and the best bit is that you made the lie so easy to believe by actually breaking in!"

"They'll hear you saying this!" I cried.

"Nope!" she refuted, shaking her head. "They have no audio. Why do you think I came here of all places? It's in the middle of nowhere with fields so big they'll never be able to find your body!"

A shiver raced down my spine as I quickly realized just how well I'd been set up. The clear empty path, the open window, all of it giving me the impression that coming in and saving Remus would be quick and easy.

"You played me," I muttered, swallowing as she put her finger on the trigger. "You planned everything here."

"It wasn't hard," she scoffed, smiling and crying simultaneously. "You're just an animal after all."

I dove to the side as the gun went off, agony rippling through me as the slug grazed my thigh. I ignored the pain and swiped at the draw before yanking a pillow and throwing it at Julia. She yelped and fired the gun again, blowing the pillow into feathers and torn fabric.

I took the momentary distraction to rush her and smacked the gun out of her hands, knocking her to the floor before stabbing the syringe into her and injecting the liquid into her bloodstream.

"NO!" she shrieked, sobbing and screaming as she tried to push me off of her. "Get off me, GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" I grit my teeth as she repeatedly hit my bleeding thigh.

"Not so nice to be drugged without permission is it!" I said, growling angrily at her.

The look she gave me sent shivers down my spine. I'd never been looked at with so much anguish before.

"I had to drug him, I had no choice, please don't take him from me!" she begged, sobbing uncontrollably. "He's my bubby, don't take him, please don't take him!"

Her voice began to peter out as her eyes became unfocused and glassy. "Don't...please...please...my bubby...please don't..."

Eventually she stopped struggling and passed out, giving me the opportunity to finally get off her and look at my bleeding thigh.

'It's not too bad, just a nasty graze. If I had been slower then I'd likely have lost the leg.'

Shotguns weren't exactly known to tickle you after all.

Gingerly, I stood up and looked down at the unconscious woman with pity. I could still hear her pleading, her begging, her screams for me not to take her bubby.

'I'm going to have nightmares about this for years,' I mused, sighing sadly before I looked at my unconscious Mate-to-be and hobbled over quickly.

Gently, I reached over and touched his face, sighing happily as the pleasurable endorphins began to flood through me, dulling the throbbing pain in my thigh.

'Ohh...this feels wonderful.'

No matter how wonderful it felt, I wouldn't be able to connect with him while he was drugged up. The light glow of my sweatband was helping our Bond tell me as much.

I looked down at the many torn pieces of fabric on the floor and carefully picked one up before tying it tightly around my thigh. I growled at the pain but forced myself to ignore it as I grabbed the handcuffs and broke them one by one. It wasn't an easy feat to do and normally I wouldn't be able to, but at the moment I was running on adrenaline and a desperate desire to get Remus as far away from the crazy lady as possible.

"There," I said, breathing heavily as I tossed the last of the broken metal to the floor. "Now to get you out of here."

Pausing for a moment, I went back to Julia and rummaged in her pocket until I found her keys and pulled them out.

'Driving with him in the car will be much safer than my bike. I'll call a retrieval company to bring it back later.'

I also took her phone and smiled when it opened without asking for a passcode. A few minutes later and I'd managed to delete the footage and disconnect it from the cameras before putting it pack in her pocket.

'I feel so scummy right about now,' I mused, easily realizing how criminal my actions were. 'They might not get involved with Mating Bonds but I doubt the police will have the same opinion on breaking and entering.'

I gave her one last look. 'And assault too I guess.'

I shook my head and quickly staggered my way back to the bed. Grunting with effort, I picked Remus up and began to slowly limp my way out of the room and eventually the house itself.

Once I had him safe and secure in the front seat of his car, I climbed in the driver's seat and took a moment to rest.

"Okay," I breathed the word out, sighing as I gave Remus's hand a soft squeeze. "We're gonna get out of here and hopefully back to my place before that sedative wears off."

I was doubtful I'd make it before he woke up, we were a few hundred miles away after all. But I was hopeful and sometimes that's all you need to keep going.

"Let's get outta here puppy," I muttered, turning on the ignition and beginning the long drive home.

...

...

...

Remus POV

'Something smells...nice...'

My head felt unbelievably fuzzy as I managed to crack open an eye, only to close it as a bright light caused my head to pound unforgivingly.

A brief flash of memory, an image, a sound, the sound of Julia apologizing as she drugged me yet again, the briefest glance of something metallic before she handcuffed my drowsy body to a bed.

It was the last thing I could remember before I'd passed out again.

"Jesus Christ," I mumbled, rubbing my head gently. "What did she inject me with?"

"A sedative," a voice answered, an echo-like quality to it as my vision swam. "A strong one too by the look of it. You look awful sweetie."

Blinking in confusion, I forced myself to sit up against the...bed?

Lucy's smiling face greeted me a few moments later.

"Lucy?" I questioned, rubbing my head again. "H-How are you here? I couldn't...what's going on?"

She moved closer but didn't touch me, choosing instead to adjust her dressing gown.

"Well at least you're wearing clothes this time," I muttered, ignoring her smirk. "How much time do you think we have before Julia drugs me again?"

"She won't drug you again," Lucy said, fiddling with the bedsheet. "She's not here."

"What do you..." I looked at her...as in really looked at her. "Wait are you...?"

"Here?" Lucy asked, grinning at me. "You tell me, take a sniff."

I blinked at the bizarre request but did it anyway.

'Holy fuck...'

The smell was like all of my favourite scents bundled up into one. I could smell chocolate, grass, sex and so many more, too many.

It was overwhelming!

But if I could smell that then that must've meant that she was really there. Which could only mean that she'd...that she'd...

"You caught up to me then?" I asked, knowing the answer but needing to hear it.

She nodded, her expression strangely blank as she stared at me. "Yeah. You were at some farm and I saved you from...well, from her."

"You saved me from Julia?"

Lucy nodded again, frowning at me. "She was drugging you into a stupor without your permission. Don't you remember her doing it?"

"Yeah," I confirmed, shuddering at the very fresh sensation of Julia jamming a needle into my arm. "Wasn't particularly pleasant. Where is she?"

Lucy looked away for a moment before answering. "Still at the farm I think."

"What?"

She looked at me and gave me an awkward shrug. "She kind of tried to kill me when I got there so I gave her a taste of her own medicine, literally." She pointed at the marks on my arm.

Ignoring them for a moment, I forced myself to take in what she just told me.

"She tried to kill you?" I asked, disbelief heavy in my tone.

"With a shotgun, yeah," she replied, lifting her dressing gown up and showing me her bandaged thigh. "Almost blew my leg off but I manged to knock it out of her hands."

I simply sat there, mouth slightly agape as I took her words in.

'Julia shot her...'

"Julia would never shoot anyone though," I muttered, still not able to believe it. "She cries when she steps on a bug for Christ's sake."

Lucy shrugged. "Well she was pretty desperate to get rid of me. I wasn't there to hand out cookies after all."

"And she's just been...left there?" I asked.

"I don't think she would've been amicable to getting in the car with us."

Well I guessed so long as she hadn't been hurt then it didn't really matter.

'Didn't really matter...why doesn't it matter, she matters right?'

I narrowed my eyes in concentration, trying to remember just how lovely she was, how much I cared for her, how much I loved...how much I...how much...

"My love for Julia is...disappearing," I whispered. "But I don't...it's not bothering me. This Bond is erasing it, shouldn't it be bothering me?"

"Probably," Lucy said, her face sad. "But that's not how the Bond works. It doesn't care about anyone else, only us. Any other kind of romantic love will...well, vanish."

I looked back at her and found myself...unable to think of anything to say.

What was there to say?

"This Bond is a fucking mess," I bemoaned, rubbing my head wearily. "I wish it'd never happened."

"Me too," she admitted, causing me to snap my head up and look at her in disbelief. "At least not like this. What, do you really think I wanted to become Mated like this? Do you really think I wanted to ruin a relationship?"

"You sure as fuck weren't trying not to," I said, remembering her temptations all too well. "Every time you visited me you were practically all over me."

"Are you going to tell me that I didn't feel good pressed against you like that?"

"That's not the point here. You didn't have to do any of it, not like that."

She smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "I didn't want to do it that way, but it was the way our Bond told me would wear you down. Between choosing to ignore it and be lonely for the rest of my life, or accept it and obtain love and happiness unlike any I've ever felt before...it wasn't a hard choice to make."

"Because you'd never be able to Mate again," I said, frowning slightly. "Hang on, how did I know that?"

"Because I know it," she explained, smiling softly. "We're in close proximity now so my thoughts and memories are likely filtering over to you."

I blinked before groaning and rubbing my head. "This is so stupid."

"Maybe so," she admitted, chuckling. "How do you feel?"

"Lightheaded," I replied. "Strangely enough, exhausted too."

"Well you weren't actually sleeping, you were drugged into unconsciousness. I'm not a doctor but I don't think they're the same thing."

I shrugged but said nothing, merely looking at her.

"You know I kind of thought this Bond would have us all over each other," I admitted, quirking an eyebrow at her.

She grinned and shuffled closer, barely out of arms reach.

"I haven't tried anything with you yet," she said. "Not much point until the sedative is out of your system. We can't Bond properly until it is. That's why you're not feeling that urge you had before when Lillia was explaining everything."

I swallowed. "So when it's out of my system..."

"You'll find it a bit more difficult to keep your hands off me," she answered, giving me a sultry smile. "Personally, I cannot wait. And according to our Bond, it won't be much longer."

"You keep saying that, but I can't hear our Bond at all."

"That's because you're not listening to it," she said, smirking. "Try it. Close your eyes and just...listen."

Not exactly having anything more pressing to do, I closed my eyes and said nothing as I listened for...well, something.

And just as I was about to tell her that nothing was there...I heard it.

It was a whisper in the breeze, a rain drop in the ocean. Infinite and powerful, loud and yet quiet, there and yet...not there.

"Hold her close, smell her scent, let her hold you, let her smell you, accept her love, accept your bond. His love for the false one is fading...fading...fading, the drug is fading...fading...fading. Soon all will be Mated and loved, you will be Mated and loved."

I let loose a shuddering breath as the sheer power of this...this voice, this connection was finally able to flow through me unhindered. It was only in the moment that I allowed it to do so did I understand just why Lucy hadn't tried to fight against it.

Why she'd chased me across the country and tried so hard to convince me that being Mated with her would eclipse anything I'd ever felt before.

Because it was true.

Two warm hands cupped my face as I opened my eyes and stared into two lightly glowing silver orbs.

"Do you understand now?" she asked gently. "What I was trying to tell you earlier about our kind of love?"

"It's...intense."

She smiled. "And it hasn't even begun yet. Once that sedative wears off...well, you'll feel it as soon as I do."

Smiling warmly at me, she nuzzled in close and wrapped her arms around my back. I couldn't even try to stop myself from doing the same, burying my face into her neck and just breathing her in.

"You smell so good," she mumbled, her chest rumbling as she began to let loose a low, pleasant growl. "You smell like mine."

I knew what she meant. Just holding her, feeling her warm body against mine, smelling her scent. It was all screaming to the sky that she was totally, completely and irrevocably mine.

And then we heard it.

"Mate...become Mated..."

It came as a low whisper, as if trying to tell us a secret. Whatever it was didn't matter to me however, nor her.

It began as a burning desire at first, low embers in the wind. To hold her tighter, to remove her dressing gown, to taste her skin.

Lucy was panting as she looked at me, her eyes becoming wilder, more feral. A low growl began to rumble from her throat, a growl and a moan all in one. Feminine and wild, restrained and free.

"I...I..." The word, the letter, the uttering left her lips in a breathless gasp as she begun to grind herself against me. "I wanna...I wanna take you...wanna mate you...wanna fuck you..."