Blue Moon Goddess

Scars and Mate Bonds

~Niklaus POV~

To anyone else her seductive pout would have hidden the underlying defensive tone in her voice, but I saw straight through that. I simply didn't understand though. Why was she so against letting me see her scars? Was she afraid they would repulse me? That was the absolute furthest thing from my mind. "Willow, I want to see them to know how many times that you needed my protection and I wasn't there. I swear to you that I will spend the rest of my life keeping you safe and ensuring that you're happy. I will make the rest of your life as beautiful as the first eighteen years should have been, but I need to see what this.... pack did to you." I practically spat the word pack with the disgust that I felt for those people. They were not a pack, they were rogues as far as I was concerned and if they ever hurt her again that's exactly what they would be.

Her stubborn stance relaxed slightly and I almost groaned when she tore her unusual gaze from me to turn, but it quickly morphed into a snarl. I thought I had felt fury when I saw the scar on her chest, but the jagged ridges on her otherwise flawless back was enough to turn my vision red with rage. This mutilation had to be done to my mate intentionally or it would have healed almost without a trace. This knowledge had my wolf gnashing his teeth with bloodlust and myself longing for more of this pack's blood. The scar started on her left shoulder blade and led a jagged path all the way across to her left buttcheek before it wrapped around her hip. She had obviously thought that I would think less for it, but the harsh lavender wound only added to her beauty because she had survived something meant to break her and come out even stronger.

After several more minutes spent memorizing the trauma Blue Forest had inflicted on her, I gripped her delicate shoulders and turned her to face me. She kept her gaze averted as though terrified of what she may see, but I needed her to look at me before I lost my sanity so I tipped her chin up until she made eye contact. My breath caught where her miraculous orbs met my own, one the color of liquid swirling mercury and the other a brilliant amethyst jewel shot through with amber. I had never seen a single other being even close to comparable to her beauty and I thanked the goddess for blessing me with this ethereal creature. "You, my mate, are the most breath taking creature that I have ever had the pleasure of feasting my eyes on."

Her golden-red cheeks flushed crimson, but I was thankful that she didn't look away and instead she stretched out her hand. Her fingers brushed gently down my face while she stared up at me with something akin to awe and she stepped closer until her breasts brushed my chest. Her mismatched eyes turned to molten amber as the scent of her arousal filled the air and Atlas clawed within the barriers of my mind for control. "You're unlike anyone that I've ever met in all my years and I want to push you away because of all the horrid cards life dealt me... I just can't seem to do it though."

Atlas roared at the mere mention of her trying to leave us and I would have reacted the same had I heard even an ounce of seriousness in her voice. She meant it when she told me that she wanted to push me away, but I could also sense that she was giving into the mate bond and she no longer wanted to be apart from me. So long as she was giving into the bond, I knew that I could make her realize she wanted to stay and then I could keep her safe. Always. No one would ever dare hurt her again. "Then stop thinking so much, trust your instincts and let me in. I've been searching for you for the past decade and there are absolutely no lengths that I would not go to in order to keep you safe and in my life. If you have ever trusted anything in your life, trust that."

I could sense the calculation in her eyes as she studied me, trying to discern my intentions and her ruby lips slowly curved into a smile. My whole world snapped into focus at the sight, then centered around the gorgeous vixen in my grasp and I knew that I was a goner. For the price of a single smile from my mate, there was nothing in the world that I would not do for her. "So you want to mark me, Nik?" she whispered huskily.

My c**k throbbed with the combination of her husky soprano, the lust filled question itself and the use of a nickname that no one else had ever dared to use on me. Atlas howled at me, roaring to mark our mate and cement the bond. Goddess, this tiny minx with her perfect hourglass figure, flaxen locks and wonderfully mysterious eyes was going to be the death of me. I wanted her more than anything I had wanted in my entire life, even more than I had wanted to become Alpha. This woman was all that we had wanted for as long as I could remember. "I want to mark you more than I want to continue breathing, Willow." I loved the way her name felt in my mouth, as though it had been made for my lips alone and I silently cursed all of the years that it had taken me to find her.

Her eyes once more flashed to liquid amber, a color I noted occured whenever her wolf was near the surface and she took another step closer. That single movement pressed the entirety of her naked body flush with mine and she lifted up on the tips of her toes. Her breath now mere centimeters from where she would place her mark. Her breath whispered across the sensitive skin and it took every ounce of my self control not to lay her on the cavern floor and mark her instantaneously. Suddenly, she wrapped her delicate arms around my neck and dragged my lips to her's. The contact sent electricity sizzling through my body, making my arms lock around her instinctively and a growl rumble in my chest. Just as suddenly as it had all happened, she pulled away from me and locked her eyes on mine. "Then give in to your own desires. Mark me, Nik."

I searched the depths of her mercurial gaze, noting her earnestness in the demand and my hand slowly skated up her arms to frame her beloved face. I brought her lips to mine, molding mine against them in a slow possession, allowing her to feel the love that I already carried for her. That single kiss was a vow to protect her for as long as I lived and I was immortal. She moaned into the kiss and gently nibbled on my lower lip, eliciting a lust filled growl that echoed in the cavern. "Oh, I plan on doing so much more than simply marking you, little wolf. I plan on showing you just how much bliss there is to be found in this life, but I want our first time together to be something special. I want to show you how it always should have been for you and I want to take the time to get to know you before I take you to my bed."

I thought the declaration would make my abused mate happy and instead I watched her flinch like I had physically struck her before she straightened with determination. "I'm not leaving this cave until you mark me. I can sense that you want to do it so just do as you already desire, Niklaus Corvinus."

I didn't know what was driving this desire in her, but I could clearly see that she needed this and there was no possible way that I could deny her. I wrapped one hand around the base of her neck while the other kneaded the sensitive skin where her hips and pelvis connected, drawing out a s****l purr. I started nibbling just below her left ear, trailing to the junction where her neck and shoulder connected and felt my canines lengthen. I gently pressed my teeth to her soft skin, earning a rewarding moan and smiled to myself an instant before I sank my teeth in and implanted my mark. She let out a brief yelp of discomfort which morphed into another moan as my fingers danced across her clit and tipped her head to the side, allowing me better access to her perfect neck.

I am sure that she had been unaware, but marking gave immense pleasure and I thoroughly planned on giving her an inkling of the bliss I could show her. I wanted nothing more than to block out some miniscule portion of the torture she had been forced to endure and replace it with a small shard of joy. I intended to continue replacing pieces of evil until there was only peace and happiness left and I had all of eternity to do exactly that. My canines sank deeper into her flesh for a moment before I released her and licked the wound, sealing my mark permanently into place. She was truly mine forever now and I would die before I ever let her go.

I could smell her arousal wafting in the air all around us and began kissing a trail down her stomach, never easing my fingers against her core. She arched her back into my touches, little mewling sounds falling from my little mate's lips and I had to fight the urge to mate her right there on the spot. This wasn't about me, it was about her, but I needed assurance that she was with me in this moment. "Don't get quiet on me now, little wolf. I want to hear you scream my name, Willow," I said gruffly before burying my face in her perfect p***y. I pressed my tongue into her core, lightly dragging my teeth across her sensitive nub and was immediately rewarded with my name ricocheting off the cave walls. I delved my tongue deeper, increasing my tempo when I felt her near the edge and in seconds her sweet nectar coated my tongue almost making me follow her over the edge.

She was still quaking with the after shocks of her orgasm when she reached out and dragged me up her body to meet her eyes. "Mine," she breathed, sinking her canines in. I was momentarily blinded by the force of my orgasm as it ripped through me with a fury I had never before experienced. Her fingers sifted through the hair that fell past my shoulders, her body still grinding against my own. The nails of her free hand dug into my back, surely leaving marks and I was more than happy to bear them. When my body finally came down from it's euphoria induced high, she released her hold on my throat and licked it, sealing her own mark into place. "You're mine, Nik, and I will kill anyone who tries to take you from me. I refuse to lose you."

Goddess, I wanted my mate so desperately it hurt, but she needed me emotionally, not physically right now and I vehemently wanted to be her safe haven. She had been through so much in her short life and I needed her to know that I would always be her safe place to land. I rolled onto my back, dragging her onto my chest in the process and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead, the taste of her skin calming both Atlas and myself. "I've finally found you after years of searching, modicum lupus, and nothing will ever tear you from me. I may have been sanctioned by the Elders, but when Eric admitted what he had done to you, what he's allowed others to do to you-" I stopped, needing a few moments to reign Atlas in and keep him from leaving a bloody trail of death and c*****e through the center of this packhouse. It was several minutes before I was able to get him in hand and speak again. "I had to kill him. He didn't deserve to breathe after what he had done to you. I only wish that I had made him suffer because he died much to quickly after what he had done to you."

Her eyes softened, years making the silver and lavender orbs swim and I panicked, thinking I had somehow upset her. f**k. I had never been good with women, but none of them had ever meant a damn thing to me either. This beautiful minx that I was blessed to call my mate meant more to me than all of the stars in all of the galaxies and I had somehow f****d up and made my precious mate cry. I knew that she had sensed my mounting anxiety when she let out a melodic chuckle and kissed me passionately, her tongue dominating my own in the sexiest display of possession that I had ever before experienced. This little wolf goddess drove Atlas and me absolutely wild and brought out every feral protective instinct we had. "I know it's much too soon to say this, but I can see why the goddess paired us together and I believe I'm already falling in love with you.

"I've always known when people were telling the truth and you want to protect me more than anyone, including my own parents, ever have. I want to push you away because that's the only reason I've been able to survive this long. I never let anyone close enough to damage more than my skin. When I try to push you away, because something will inevitably happen that tried to make me push you away, I need you to remember this one thing.... I trust you with my life, meaningless as it's been to this point and I love you, Nik."

Atlas howled jubilantly and if the racket had not been going on withing my own head, it surely would have caused me to go deaf. I felt that same merriment myself, my heart racing to the point that it felt it would burst and I knew that I could die right then a happy man knowing my mate loved me. The woman that I had spent every second obsessing over since I was three and Atlas spoke to me of the mate the moon goddess had created for no one but me had just admitted to loving me. What else could I do except profess the depths of my own emotions for her? "Atlas told me about the mate that was destined for us and I was utterly hooked from that very second. Had I been able, I would have started searching the instant he told me, but I was only three and I had to wait until I was sixteen to have enough alpha power to survive leaving the pack for extended periods of time. I've been enthralled by your magic my whole life, so of course I love you, Willow Parthenopaeus."

Her gorgeous eyes flipped to amber filtered through pure sunlight before returning to their unusual dual coloring. Her soft hands smoothed down the stubble on my cheeks, then sank into the raven locks streaked through with sun bleached gold that fell past my shoulders and pulled me against her roughly. She molded her lips to mine voraciously, nibbling on my bottom lip and whispered against my mouth sensually when she finally brought herself to speak. "I shouldn't, but I love you too. With the entirety of my being."

Normally I would have been hurt by the fact that she said she shouldn't love me, but I was aware of her past and it wasn't based off of a fear of me. I knew that what she really meant was that I had passed through her walls faster than anyone had been able to and she did not quite understand how I had been able to do so. It was obvious to me no one in this horrid pack had ever bothered to explain the undeniable pull of the mate bond and she was fighting against it. At least I knew her reservations were not against me, otherwise she would not have felt compelled to mark me and admit that she loved me. I felt the unbearable urge to show her that her life would be different with me, but I needed the two of us to leave the cave in order for me to do so and I didn't want to rush her. I needed to get her to come back to the packhouse with me of her own accord. "Let me show you just how different things will be now, modicum lupus. Come back to the packhouse with me and see who I am as an Alpha, how different things here are going to be."

She nibbled on her full bottom lip adorably, obviously thinking my offer through thoroughly and hesitantly nodded after several moments. "I don't want to, but I also can't put it off forever so I might as well get this over with." That was all she said before gracefully gaining her feet and donning the shirt and yoga pants that she had fled from me in earlier. The clothes were pitifully threadbare and faded and far too big for her under nourished frame, but they did absolutely nothing to hide her beauty from me. I could not wait to take my mate back home, get her healthy and spend the rest of our lives together.