The Reckoning

He pushed forward a couple more inches and I took my bottom lip between my teeth to hide my scream. I knew he would hear it, regardless, but I didn't know if the full out sound would excite his animal—better safe than sorry, as they say.

His breathing was heavy as he strained to be careful with me. "Riley, are you okay?"

I nodded, but we both knew I was lying. My eyes stung from unshed tears; my pussy felt like it was tearing from the size of my lover.

How did I get so lucky to experience the ring of fire twice? I thought petulantly.

"It's not going to do us any good if we stop. I'm going to push forward, okay?"

"O-okay," I sniffled through the tears. "Ow," I wailed as he pushed more of himself into me. "Ow, ow, ow." My chest rose and fell in rapid succession. I heard breathing was one of the keys to passing children, maybe it would help with the loss of my virginity.

"Almost there," he grunted.

"Almost?! No. No," I murmured.

"I'm so sorry, Riley. One last push should do it. You can do it. We got this, remember?"

I nodded, frantically. "Yeah. We got this. Okay."

"Okay." He pushed the rest of his rock hard shaft into me, his head dropping into the space where my neck and shoulder met. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," he whispered again and again.

Once our breathing slowed, he lifted his head and stroked my face and hair. There was a strange expression on his face, but I knew what it meant. It was a look that normal couples would never have to see; an expression filled with fear, lust, longing, and love; but mostly fear. There was a dread of the unknown, apprehension that this would be our first and last encounter...the terror of what was, inevitably, to come. We were powerless to stop the effects of the Curse, but we had to try. We, like other couples, deserved a chance, too.

I wrapped my legs around him; though the feeling was biting, I wanted to have him as close as possible for whatever time we had left. I had to savor all of who he was because I could very well lose him. My dream man.

He said this was meant to happen, and I believed it. Why else would I fall for him so soon and so hard? Why would I meet him in the flesh one morning and give myself to him the same night? Everything about us just...worked. If this was the end I was faced with, then I would go out enjoying myself.

"Sebastian," I muttered, tightening my hold on him.

He groaned. "You're ready?"

"Yes."

"I don't know if I am," he sighed. "This could mean—"

"—Hey. Hey," I interrupted. I settled my gaze on his gold eyes and stroked his face with my hand. "We got this."

He nodded and caressed my hair one last time. "We got this."

With a push of his hips, he rocked himself into me. The movement hurt, but not as much as the initial entrance. Back and forth he rocked, his thrusts gentle. The pain waned with every movement of his hips and soon I met him thrust for thrust. Delicious was the way he filled me, carnal were the praises of his lips as he told me how good I felt...how good I made him feel. I was set to respond until I heard his voice, clear as day, in my head.

I'm so glad you're mine.

"Sebastian?"

Mating bond. It's getting clearer.

I knew what that meant. I held on tighter.

Sebastian's thrusts went harder and faster, his moans turning into deep-chested growls. The animal was surfacing, but I couldn't find it in me to be afraid. I took what time I had left to tell him how good his cock felt buried so deep in me, how glad I was I waited for him. He lowered himself onto his forearms; that's when he stopped making love to me and began fucking.

Growls and snarls ripped through the room as he plowed into me. He pushed my body into the mattress with his pounding of my weeping core. His control waxed thin as he became more animal than man, but I didn't stop hoping. I talked to him through our mating bond.

Sebastian. I know you can hear me because I heard you before. We can win this thing. You don't have to kill me. It doesn't have to be this way. We can be together and we can fight this. We have to b-because I love you.

He stopped stroking his cock in me and met my gaze for the first time since the change. His eyes were all gold, his face hairy and angular and jaw taut. His head cocked to the side and his eyes softened as he peered at me.

I love you, too. He thought before sinking his teeth into my neck.

"Sebastian!" I cried as he started pumping in and out of me again. He used his animal speed to plow into me, I was powerless to stop him. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't have. The act would have been like slapping a reared up bear—unwise.

Despite his animal going feral above me, I felt my orgasm building. The situation I was in was meant to end my life, but I couldn't stop from groaning and trying to fuck him back. His teeth sank deeper into my throat, but I could not lie still. Even as I felt the warm and wetness of blood trickling down my neck and breasts, I could not stop.

As if Sebastian were still in control he lifted himself from me, not taking his teeth out of my neck, and snaked a hand between us to toy with my clit. In seconds I was falling over the edge. I cried out my pleasure and I immediately regretted it. Sebastian let out the loudest, fiercest growl I'd ever heard from him and his teeth impaled me even deeper than before. His hot, sticky seed flooded my insides and he continued to pump in and out of me as I felt that tell-tale tug on my neck.

I didn't kick, I didn't scream, I just let death take me.

Part Five: Epilogue

"Riley."

"No," I muttered. "I want to go back. Send me back." There was no way I could be in heaven and have my core aching so bad. I had to be in hell.

"You're not in hell, Riley."

"Sebastian!" I popped up, causing my head to swim.

His hands held my shoulders so I wouldn't fall over. "Slowly there, love. You lost a lot of blood and you're still out of it."

"I'm alive?" I placed my hands on my neck, then my face. I felt alive; there was no gaping hole in my neck like in times past. I opened my eyes for the first time and was met with Sebastian's obscenely blue orbs. "We did it?"

He nodded, his face full of elation. "I told you, we got this."

I sat up, this time my head did not spin. "What's this?" I asked, picking at the sweater that clothed the top half of my body.

"I bathed and dressed you. I figured you'd want to see your roommate. She's been calling nonstop since this morning."

"What time is it?

He checked his watch. "Around six."

"Six?! At night? I slept for that long?"

"Well, love, you lost so much blood and we were in bed for quite some time. Come," he held his hand out for me to take, "we'll get some dinner and go to your apartment."

I did not hesitate in taking his hand, I did not hesitate in taking him into my arms, either. I hugged him tightly, and he returned the embrace with ferocity of his own. "We did it. I knew we could," I whispered.

"I wasn't so sure. When you came that last time, I thought that was it."

"I hoped it wasn't. Even when I accepted death, I hoped you would find a way not to tear my throat out."

"It was you. Your voice stayed in my head as I was tugging. I wanted to take a chunk out of you, but even more than that, I wanted to have you wake up next to me in the morning. I wanted the chance to have you in my bed without the fear of you dying or me becoming a rabid monster. The prospect of the future outweighed the bloodlust of the animal, and now...here we are," he grinned.

"Here we are," I smiled back.

~

The next few months were hectic.

Abby and I graduated from college. I had to meet the rest of the Shifters and recount the entire process of the Reckoning—even the sex. They wanted to know how we did it so they could try to put our practices into work to save their race. I introduced my family to Sebastian and they liked him about as much as they believed in my dreams; they especially had a cow when I told them how we met. I wasn't going to lie about who I was anymore. They could not accept me and Sebastian, so with a heavy heart, I told them goodbye. I also gave my shrink a long gaze at my middle finger before ending his useless sessions.

I moved into Sebastian's house and a few months later and Abby moved out of our old apartment in favor of Mark's place. They were getting along quite well and I anticipated a call any day with the news that they were engaged.

Much had changed, but all was well.

Do you regret any of it? Do you like this new life? Sebastian asked through our bond. We took a run together in the woods—him in his full animal form, and me in my human form. I could not make the full transition until my canines grew long enough to engage in a blood exchange with Sebastian. His blood would mingle with mine and we would be bonded, then I would receive immortality.

"I only regret not knowing you sooner," I said, stroking his fur. I loved the texture of his multi-hued fur. He reminded me of a dark colored wolf, but with the face of a bear; but his gait was purely feline in nature. "If the dreams came sooner, maybe I would have been more receptive to you in the beginning. You wouldn't have had to waste time trying to convince me you were real."

It wasn't that long. I've seen girls still not believe all this even after the Reckoning. Your mind was tightened then...probably due to your parents' intervention about your dreams, but once you believed, your mind soared. I've never met anyone with a consciousness quite like yours, Riley.

"Good. It will keep you interested in me after we've been together for eight hundred years," I laughed.

"I would be interested in you after eight million years, love."

I looked up at the sound of his voice. He had changed into his human form and stood in front of me, gloriously naked. My body instantly heated and my pussy ached, making room for his cock. I'd never get used to the sight of him naked, even after all the months we had been together.

I licked my lips. "You promise?"

"We got this."

I smiled, knowing that was the truth.