Her Fire

20 ~ Sl@sh and burn

Utterly inebriated with desire, and with the intent to facilitate his entry, she moves her hips to encourage his fingers to cross the boundary, protected by a flimsy piece of cloth, subtly granting him permission to explore her private territory.

But instead, David sighs and pulls his hand away, making her want to growl in frustration. She reaches for his hand, determined to continue what they started, but he would not move a muscle.

"What are you doing!?" She hisses, starting to get annoyed.

He shakes his head. "Being the responsible one."

"Are you kidding me!?" She tries to get off his lap, feeling unwanted, but his hands hold her hips firmly in place.

“Believe me, I’m not rejecting your advances, far from it.” He tells her softly. “I’m only concerned...wondering if you truly are a willing and eager participant in this…or if your senses are merely clouded by the mate bond. I just don’t want you to regret it later...”

She pushes him away in a surge of rebellion. “What does it matter, David!? It’s not like we’re marking each other or confirming the mate bond! It’s just s€x, for crying out loud! I’m not a virgin, I’d done it before and it’s not the end of the world! You scratch an itch and you move on!”

“Not with you and me.” He says firmly. “It will never be just that for us, Deirdre.”

That riles her up again. “Well, that’s all that you - or anyone else for that matter - are getting from me, so take it or leave it!” She snaps. “And mind you, I will not offer it again!”

Without hesitation, David reaches for her shirt which is dangling over the headrest of the passenger seat and quietly hands it to her. A silent request for her to get dressed.

With an angry huff, Deirdre grabs the shirt and immediately scrambles back to her seat, unsure if she should be feeling offended or grateful. She finds her bra on the dashboard and grits her teeth as she puts it back on. Furious at him...and annoyed with herself.

Because he was right. She did get overwhelmed by the intoxicating effects of the mate bond. She’d stopped thinking clearly the moment their lips met, perhaps even before that.

David starts the car again as soon as she has put her shirt back on, driving back to where they deviated from the main road, to continue their journey.

“How could you be so calm all the time!?” Deirdre asks after she has calmed down a little, staring at the passing scenery that she doesn’t really see and will probably never remember. “Sometimes it’s like you’re so… distant… so unfeeling, it’s infuriating!” She turns to glare at him, still smarting from an unfulfilled yearning so she can't help lashing out.

Her lips still feel bruised and warm from their kiss, the taste of him lingering. The whole car is saturated with his signature scent, mixed with hers, of course, and the scent of their desire. Even her folds are still damp from almost being touched.

It didn’t happen but the rest of her has been stimulated and has reacted accordingly.

David chuckles but there is no humor in it, so she thinks it’s more like a nervous reaction. “Unfeeling? Believe me, it’s the exact opposite.” He glances down pointedly, and Deirdre follows the movement of his eyes. Sure enough, he is sporting a very obvious ere.cti0n and she feels a little bit mollified.

He is not unaffected, after all.

“Well, you only have yourself to blame. I could have taken care of that.” She grumbles.

“Yes, but you would have regretted it afterwards and I don’t want you to feel like I’ve taken advantage of you. It’s better this way,” he sighs. "I'm mad at myself too and Flint is cursing me something foul but… I need you to trust me, so..."

Deirdre mutters something under her breath.

David sighs. “This… calm… is just a façade, Deirdre. A mask I have learned to don since childhood so no one would see the storm inside me. I didn’t want them to worry. But the truth is, I suffer from panic attacks due to severe anxieties… Sometimes it becomes too much for me to handle, too overwhelming, and Flint takes over…to protect me. Other times, it’s the other way around and I stand guard while he recuperates. We protect each other.”

Deirdre frowns, forgetting her thwarted feelings. “What does that even mean!? You talk as if you’re being assaulted or something.”

He nods. “Sometimes it feels like it… but it is more like a cold shadow that creeps in when I’m least expecting it.”

She stares at him with a skeptical expression. “What do you mean?”

“It’s rather difficult to explain.”

“It’s a long ride, isn’t it?” She reminds him with a raised eyebrow. “Why don’t you try me?”

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

Long ago, at the dawn of creation, there lived a great warrior, favored by Time. This warrior was an ancient creature of a time long gone. His name and kind have already been forgotten and never appeared in history, for he existed eons before the era of those who might have been interested in remembering. When the warrior reached the pinnacle of his youth, strength, and power, Time bestowed upon him the extraordinary gift of eternal youth and immunity to sickness, setting him apart from all other creatures devoid of such a rare blessing. Because this warrior was also good and admired by many, they boasted about his legendary prowess, claiming no one would ever be able to defeat him… and this irked the god of Chaos, who plotted the great warrior's downfall. At first, it frustrated him to see that the great warrior was, indeed, magnificent, incredibly strong, and virtuous. Truly worthy of Time's blessings. But then he found a possible ‘weakness’ in the seemingly flawless hero. He was alone. Feigning concern, Chaos decided that it should not be like that anymore. And so he gifted the great warrior with a “friend”...

Melancholy.

Melancholy was bewitching, seductive, and irresistible, despite the air of sadness that she carried with her. And perhaps even because of that deceptive, vulnerable state, which triggered his protective instincts, she easily made her conquest. And sooner than even Chaos had anticipated, the great warrior had fallen in love.But Time soon found out about Chaos's mischief and ordered him to take the demoness away, for she feared whatever sinister plans Chaos had in mind.

Alas, it was too late, and the great warrior, fearing the separation from his beloved, had embraced her wholeheartedly, merging his soul with hers, so they would always be together, as one.

Chaos, knowing he had proven his point and finally managed to corrupt Time's most favored creation, made himself scarce and hid away from her wrath. With regret, Time watched helplessly while the great warrior faded away with grief, as slowly, painfully, Melancholy betrayed the Great Warrior by corrupting him from within, weakening him until he was nothing but a shadow of his former glorious self and Time had no choice but to call upon the mystic phoenix to destroy him before he completely fell into utter disgrace.

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

Sky god Ouranos turns to Time who is staring at the lake’s surface with a forlorn look.

“You revived the Great Warrior? And he is Deirdre’s new mate!?” He asks with an incredulous voice. “How did you manage such a thing? The destructive fire of the mystic phoenix is absolute—unless you found another worthy sacrifice...”

Time sighs. “Legend says he has been destroyed. That isn’t necessarily true.”

“You mean…?”

“I couldn’t do it.” Time admits in a whisper, her fondness for the Great Warrior still evident in her tone. It is bittersweet, like listening to a mother speak of her most favored child, even though it should not be so. “It would have been such a waste… I couldn’t let it happen.” She takes a deep breath. “So instead, I put him into a deep slumber…and entrusted him to Lady Yuki…”

He gasps. “The Frost Spirit!? You mean to tell me that all these years, the Great Warrior had been in deep freeze?”

“...in the hopes that one day, he would be strong enough to redeem his honor… and reclaim his will.”

Ouranos starts laughing almost hysterically. “You paired the Great Warrior with Deirdre? Do you understand what you have done!? Melancholy is only eating him from the inside. Deirdre is going to chew him alive and swallow him whole!”

“Or…” Time glances at him shrewdly. “She could be his salvation. I consider it some sort of agricultural burning, to prepare the fields for the next growing season and to rid the land of weeds, pests and diseases that may affect the next crop. Sl@sh and burn.”