Valentine’s Night, Ch. 7

**A/N: For this chapter I suggest a few tissues, beverage of your choice (I’d go with a LIIT), popcorn or other salty snack, some donuts, and…some alone time afterward if I did my ‘job’ well…  Now, this is a slowly building ride, and if the first part of this chapter seems a bit “meandering”, that’s because it is.  Mostly from Eric’s POV with a tiny bit of Sookie thrown in – enjoy (Eric did…)!  Unbeta’d as usual, all the many mistakes are mine, I own nothing, bla bla bla.**

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Eric watched Sookie’s eyelids flutter as he slowly stroked his fingertip up and down her bare arm where it rested atop the cover. When he had risen half an hour earlier, for a split second he had been surprised to find himself in the Cubby, but then his senses were immediately inundated with very pleasant information.

His nose was assaulted by the scent of the fairy hybrid lightly napping with her delicious ass tucked into his quickening erection. Her scent was even sweeter than the last time he’d held her so closely – possibly because she had taken his blood the evening before – and it was having the usual effect. The silk of her skin and hair moving along his bare chest and arms in minute time with her breathing was not helping him to maintain his equilibrium.

Her slow, steady breaths and heartbeats played as music to his evolved hearing, with the rush and thrum of her precious blood through her veins a mesmerizing, mouth-watering temptation.

The sight of the Cubby greeted him with its intended sense of safety. He looked around its tiny confines, examining it in more detail than he had in the early morning hours. Then his only concern had been to bring his mostly asleep fairy to ground with him as quickly as possible – the memory of falling into his dayrest with her safely in his arms having taunted him blissfully for more years than he cared to recount.

In the dark of the morning before the blistering sun could rise, and after the motion-activated lights had finally shut off, Eric had simply lain on the soft mattress and held his Sookie as close as would be comfortable for her. He had protectively curled his longer, larger frame around hers, and listened intently as she fell quickly into a deep, healing sleep.

The bond, however, was more active than ever. For well over an hour he had tracked the emotional reactions she had to whatever her dreams had contained, and he reveled in the privilege of being able to do so. Any time her dream flights had caused the slightest sense of dismay or discomfort, he very happily sent dose upon dose of comfort, protection, or peace her way until her brow would unfurrow and her breathing would calm once more.

Upon waking this late afternoon he realized that he was still happily basking in the knowledge that she had willingly chosen to rebond with him, that he now had the right to provide her with comfort, protection, and peace whenever she needed it.

Still shocked that the bond had not only reformed so quickly but that it seemed stronger now than ever before, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the beloved sensation of feeling his wife-in-heart so alive within him. He exhaled long and slow as he savored the feeling…there was nothing like it. There was nothing like knowing that the one he loved most was safe and secure and in his arms right where she belonged.

He had missed that feeling more than he could describe, and was adamant that it never be lost again, no matter what. With a smirk, he realized that it might not be up to either of them now, anyway – the bond somehow seemed more… deeply rooted, more… permanent that it had in the past.

He gazed down once again at her sleeping form and knew there was only one step left; he needed to claim her fully for her to truly be his in every way.

There was no doubt in his mind that he was already hers, he thought wryly. He vaguely remembered awakening somewhat earlier in the day, and recalled being inordinately terrified that she was leaving him, but he couldn’t understand exactly what had caused that unaccustomed dread.

He quickly tried to smother any niggling doubts that she truly would leave him, that she would revert to her old ways and flee from the ‘stifling confines’ – to her way of thinking – of protection, love, and peace as had been her way in times gone by.

Refocusing his thoughts, he considered that perhaps it was the newly reformed ties demanding that they remain physically close, that maybe a true consummation of their bond would help ease its hold over them and mitigate some of the remaining doubts as it did so?

He grinned wickedly – it wasn’t like he would mind consummating this newest, and forever, bond…

During the previous weeks, he had certainly wanted to bed his Sookie – quite thoroughly and most often. Many times he had come perilously close to losing his world-renowned control and had seriously contemplated ‘consecrating’ many of the furnishings in the palace…but alas, he’d held himself back.

For once in his beleaguered existence, he had been determined to exercise control, practice his patience, and win the fairy the not so old-fashioned way. He knew he had to win back her trust, and that pushing for a physical relationship was not the way to go…no matter how much her aroused scent called to him.

Ahhh, he sank into the memory, the scent of his aroused fairy, no matter how supposedly ‘hybrid’, was deliciously enticing. He adjusted himself as his cock hardened against her sweet ass, but didn’t break from his memories until his fangs descended with a loud click. He held himself as still as only a vampire could for a long moment, and was rewarded with Sookie’s continued slumber. He was determined to let her sleep as long as she could;  well, as long as his body could allow it.  He strained ruthlessly until his fangs were finally resheathed.

The memory of her being so sick – and those horrible welts on her skin from the allergy – caused him to quell a low, rumbling growl.

He tipped his nose into the hair at the top of her head and inhaled deeply…and smiled at the scent of strawberry shampoo. At some point during the day she must have showered, and judging by the slightly stale scent of sweetened grains and apple, she must have brought food down to eat, as well. He then caught the scent of wet cotton, and his heart swelled when his eyes spied the towel drying on the ladder rung. She must have not only brought food down with her, but apparently she had also finished her bathing routine down here as well, just so she could remain close to his side.

With another inhalation he delved back into his memories of the past couple of weeks. Many times he had been hard pressed to halt their more passionate kisses before things had progressed to their natural conclusion, and he knew that Sookie was beginning to wonder why he was purposefully keeping them from consummating their reunion. If she had voiced her questions, he would gladly have explained his reasoning, but thus far she hadn’t.

As if on auto-pilot, he raised his free hand and lightly stroked a fingertip down her bare arm and back up again. He admired the very thin straps on what appeared and smelled to be a new nightgown. It was white… with small red flowers spaced far apart – at least, from what he could see of it. It put him in mind of that dress she was wearing the first time he saw her, and he knew their waiting was over…the throbbing in his fangs simply confirmed it.

Her conscious and resolute decision to reform their bond was the last step that needed to be taken before they could progress in their relationship. As of this night, all bets were off. His hardened cock rejoiced in agreement.

While he lightly stroked her arm, he also let a small sampling of his lust leak through their bond, and was very pleased at the slowly rising blush on her cheeks. A minute later he allowed his fingertip to explore the top of her bare shoulder and grinned devilishly when goosebumps appeared. A bit more lust seeping through the bond had her snuggling her ass into his hips – for which his hard cock thanked him profusely.

Very quickly the small room was saturated with the scent of an aroused fairy. It was much stronger than he remembered, and Eric’s mood fell sharply. Obviously her transition from ‘more human’ to ‘more fae’ had occurred during his absence, and he mourned the loss of that time. He hated that he had missed those days, those hours and weeks and…years. All that time had been wasted, and for no good reason.

He hated that he hadn’t been there when she gained her new powers. He might not have been much help, but he could certainly have encouraged her, and watched over her as she did what she had to do. He bowed his head and dropped a kiss to her shoulder in an apology he had no reason to make.

“Eric?” Sookie’s sleepy voice brought his head up, and he found himself staring into her warm, worried gaze. He loosened his hold when it became obvious that she was trying to turn to face him, and once she settled in, he softly brushed her hair from her face.

“What’s wrong? I felt your mood fall…,” her voice, husky with sleep, trailed off as she placed a hand on his hard chest.  He was hurting over something, and she didn’t like that one bit.

“I missed so much,” he whispered, toying with a stray tress of her long hair with a slightly trembling hand. At her questioning expression, he continued. “Your magic… when you came into your new magic, I wasn’t here to help you with it. I wasn’t around to help you with your divorce or with the fairy maturation process you told me about, nothing. I wasn’t… there, and I missed it all. I’m so sorry.”

He bowed his head and moved her hand to his lips.

“Eric, it’s not your fault. And besides,” she said with a small laugh, “you didn’t miss anything big, I promise.” She raised his head to meet his sad blue gaze. “Remember? There wasn’t any big bang, no lights exploded…much, nothing really big at all happened. It was mostly a gradual process that was sometimes a bit messy.”

She edged closer to him as both settled face to face on the same pillow. “I wish you’d been there, though. I wish…,” she trailed off for a moment, her gaze glancing off into the distance with a memory or a thought that Eric would have given blood to know. Finally, she met his curious blue eyes again, and said firmly, “But I have you now, right?”

She quirked her brow as if daring him to disagree, and all his somewhat cooled ardor returned full force and then some. He loved when Fairy Sookie came out to play.

In a flash he tossed the covers off her and drew his lingering gaze down her short cotton nightgown. Much to his delight, it was currently bunched up around the tops of her thighs, and the pink color of her thong showed through the thin cotton just enough to catch his vampire-strength notice.

“My, my, Miss Stackhouse,” he drawled teasingly as he tugged on the white nightgown decorated with the red flowers, “this looks somewhat familiar.”

At her husky laugh of acknowledgement, his face softened in appreciation, and in memory. “It reminded me of the dress I was wearing the night I met you.”

Eric slowly traced one long finger over a red floral design on her hip, then swallowed hard as he looked away. After clearing his throat, he turned to face her again, and tried once again to lighten the moment. “And the panties,” he said huskily, then paused to quickly flip up the skirt of her nightgown over her hip to peep lasciviously at her underwear, “thongs, by the looks of things, are they also a memory from that night?”

Playing along even though her own eyes suddenly held unshed tears from memories long past, Sookie laughed. “No, the butt floss is new and, for the record, you can destroy the darn things all you want.”

Although Eric laughed obligingly, his gaze still held a tinge of sadness. “They are not to your satisfaction?” His firm lips seemed to capture her interest, for which he was enormously grateful.

Having had over a millennia to become accustomed to dealing with loss, misery, and the risk of hope, he knew the surfeit of emotions that had accumulated during their recent divorce and separation would simply take time to bubble to the surface and fade, but… But sometimes hope and reunion carried their own forms of torment and trepidation, and required their own soothing balms. Sometimes the combined hope and threat of joy and success were every bit as stressful as despair and loss.

Sensing his turmoil through both the bond and the look in his eyes still showing remembered grief and hesitant hope, instead of answering Sookie raised her hand and softly drew her fingertips across one blond brow, then drifted down his cheek to slowly, lightly, trace the outline of his lips.

Eric closed his eyes in bliss as his pretty blonde fairy traced his brow, and fought to keep his fangs contained as she slowly traced his lips, but when her fingers wandered down to stroke his throat, his fangs descended with an audible click at her warm, teasing touch. Unbeknownst to her, they had snicked down so quickly that he had nicked his inner lip. He welcomed the small pain as it helped control other reactions.

The love, comfort, and assurance bombarding him through their bond was indeed a soothing balm to his old, old soul, and he willingly accepted now what he would have considered an insult to his male pride even three years ago. However, since he had started getting to actually know his Sookie, he reverently welcomed the precious gift she now seemed so willing to give.

He had quickly come to realize that, at her core, she was still as generous as he had ever wished, but that she had grown up and away from the flighty tendencies of her past. Where she once would have fled from any sort of emotionally complicated or difficult situation, these nights he knew she would stand her ground and fight to solve whatever the problem might be. She was stronger now, sadly tougher, but much more realistic than she used to be. While he hated the necessity and the cause of her growth, he was deeply appreciative of the warmth and generosity that remained in her heart. He sighed into her warming, seductive caress.

Sensing that her touch, as well as the feelings she was trying to send through the bond, were helping to fade the pain away, she continued the soothingly arousing tour of his body. Most aspects of their renewed bond were still an enigma to her, but she really hoped that he could feel the strength and love she was actively trying to send him.

She examined the muscular contours of his hard chest as if she had never before seen such beauty, and loved how smooth and silky his skin felt under her fingertips as she followed the hills and valleys that defined his pecs and nipples.

At his sudden hiss of pleasure, she paused to admire with the pads of her fingers the hardened crests of his nipples before circling the dark skin surrounding them, paying homage to both in like torment, before venturing slowly down his well-defined abdomen.

Eyes still closed as he reveled in the attention, Eric rolled over onto his back and tossed the remaining covers to the floor, revealing his midnight blue, highly tented silk boxers to Sookie’s eager gaze. After all, he wanted his former and future lover to be able to admire him properly…

This sweetly sensual time between them had been far too long in coming to waste on furious passion, and he only hoped he could hold out long enough for her to experience this same deliciously fiery anticipation.

He ached to bury himself in her warm, moist depths…oh, how he ached… He had been with no one since ending his marital incarceration. Granted, in his frustration, anger and despair he had fucked and fed from many, many a willing volunteer during that time, and almost snorted when he recalled the now headless queen’s bombastic irritation when it was his Sookie’s name he had called out during his last forced breeding with the morally incompetent twit… However, since he had regained his freedom, he had chosen to remain celibate as he waited to reclaim his once and future wife.

What happened between himself and his hand during a shower, however, was no one’s business. He was just glad that he had thought to have his bathroom soundproofed for the numerous times he mentally relived a particular shower he had once shared with his Sookie.

He suddenly arched up into her touch as her fingertips wandered with slow-burning detail past his navel and began twisting and twirling through what she called his “happy trail”. To his thrilled dismay, she immediately stopped touching him, and he would never admit to the slight whimper that escaped his lips.

Just as he was about to reach for her, he felt her shift and groaned at the warmth of her touch on his…feet? He lifted his head and opened his eyes to see her kneeling between his feet, and blinked as she started fondling his arches. When she pressed her thumbs into the sensitive skin, he couldn’t help but purr his pleasure as he leaned his head back on the pillow.

As Sookie proceeded to give him the best foot massage he could ever remember, he began plotting his next moves even as he groaned and purred into her touch. If he concentrated too strongly on the strokes of her hands, he would flip her over and… A quick check of their bond told him that she was enjoying this slow and steady joining just as much as he was, so he allowed his thoughts to wander on to his next moves.

She had told him one evening that she hadn’t been sexually involved with anyone since a while even before her divorce, which meant she would be very tight…even tighter than she’d been their first times together, and so he would have to go slow and ready her properly or risk hurting her with his above-average size.

When she approached his knees after having drifted her fingertips through the light hairs on his calves, he clawed his hands into the sheet and mattress to keep from pulling her up, rolling over, and covering her…even though it would be so easy…just reach out, grab her shoulders and twist while he…

Sookie trailed her fingertips up the insides of his thighs and he hissed as he feared he would cum that very second.

With a sharp growl he gave into his need, and in the blink of an eye he hauled her up and rolled them over so that she landed softly beneath his cool, hard body.

Although her lips had parted in surprise at the sudden movement, her eyes danced with a humor that was gladly returned in Eric’s own hot blue gaze.  He stared down at her for a long moment, then, with a clear smile of his own, he lowered his head to place a chaste kiss to her forehead before rubbing his cheek along her temple. He continued his scent-marking journey down her own cheek until he reached the curve of her jaw under her ear. He paused to strongly inhale her enhanced fairy scent a few times then flicked his tongue lightly, teasingly, along her throat until he came to her collarbones. Sookie jumped lightly at the small series of firm nips he placed with his blunt teeth, then moaned softly as he very adeptly soothed her skin with soft, suctioning kisses.

Now that he knew he had her full attention focused where he wanted it, Eric balanced his weight on one elbow as he moved onto his side.

“Do you have more of these,” he asked as he indicated her nightgown.

Her eyes had closed, but at his words she sought his gaze, and when she looked up into his face, his gut clenched at the love, acceptance, and humor he saw reflected back at him.

“Oh, yes,” she breathed, the husky timbre of her voice going straight to his balls. “When I found this nightgown I made sure to stock up.”

“Good,” he growled, his own voice deepened with need.

With one fingertip, he ripped the gown open from neckline to hem and parted the material to admire with burning blue eyes the sight of her firm breasts bouncing in sudden freedom. After a long, appreciative look at the bounty revealed, he tore his gaze away to watch his raised hand as he swept his fingertips down her face, and smiled softly at her look of surprise.

Eric knew she had expected him to immediately ‘attack’ her breasts and nipples with cool hands and hot kisses, and he would, but…later. Now was the time for slow and intense, for reconnecting with love and sweetness, with passion blended with reverence.

He leisurely traced from her brow to her temple, then down the curve of her cheek to her other jaw, then lightly down the side of her neck. His fangs throbbed as his fingers hovered scant millimeters above the tempting pulse of her delicious life-force, but he forced himself to concentrate as he once again focused on her sensitive collarbones.

Finally he smoothed the pads of his fingers down the valley between her soft, firm breasts, his eyes automatically focusing on the slightly paler mounds. His fingers slowly circled around, teasing her sensitive skin with feather light patterns before he took the weight of one heavy breast into his hand. As he tested its weight in his palm, he flicked his thumb back and forth across the hardened peak.

Sensing through the bond and through her sharp gasps the unexpectedly strong burst of pleasure she felt at his actions (as well as an odd sense of surprise), he continued, eventually bringing his forefinger up to gently pinch, tweak, and roll her nipple in varying degrees of delicious torment.   An idea crossed his mind, and with a smirk he lowered his head and quickly sucked her nipple into his greedy mouth.

As he worked that nipple, sucking on it, rolling it between his lips then laving it with his tongue, he took her other nipple between his thumb and forefinger and began rolling, tweaking, and pinching it in counterpoint to the one in his mouth.

Sookie raised her hands to clutch his head to her breast, moaning, twisting, moving her legs restlessly as she instinctively arched her body. Sensing how very, surprisingly, near she was to her climax, he gladly increased the pressure and pace of his ministrations, and with a series of building whimpers and a sudden loud cry, she came.

After he released her nipples from his mouth and hand, he held himself as still has he could to keep from rushing their upcoming joining. Finally feeling, and hoping, that he was once more fully in control of his need, for a minute he concentrated solely on the sound of her panting as she descended from her climax.

Resting his weight on his elbows, he brought himself up to face her.

“Wow,” she gasped lamely with a trembling grin, and he could feel how very surprised she was to have cum solely from his nipple manipulations. He, too, was somewhat surprised, even though it was as he had expected. An interesting development indeed…

He quirked a smug brow.

“What can I say? I’ve really missed you,” she said a slight shrug, then added more seriously as she raised her hands to his shoulders, “I’ve missed you so much.”

“As I have you,” he replied gently, then leaned down to kiss her softly, slowly, letting the fire build once again in her lovely body.

As his tongue plunged and teased in forewarning of actions to come, she drew her nails down, up, then back down his back the way she remembered that he liked and teased his sensitive fangs with her tongue. He purred louder in response, and she grasped his silk-covered, world class ass in her palms to pull him more firmly into her heat, and encouraged the resulting instinctual thrusting of his hips in reply.

As the kiss continued with occasional pauses so she could catch her run-away breath, she eventually felt him shift a bit, then heard the straps on her ruined gown snap, and felt the remaining fabric being swept aside.

He drew back up to rest on his knees braced on each side of her hips as he looked down to survey the exposed beauty of her body, and noticed with both gladness and a tinge of sorrow yet another change in his Sookie.

Whereas before she would have automatically attempted to cover herself in shyness, now she simply remained as she was, arms spread to the side, and allowed him to look his fill.

Eventually she raised her hand and brushed the side of her finger down the enormous bulge testing the fabric of his boxers below his waist.

“Nice boxers,” she said with a Fairy Sookie grin. “I think they’d look better on the floor, though, don’t you?”

In a flurry of activity, not only were the midnight blue silk boxers no longer in existence, but removed, too, were her annoying pink thongs.

She looked to the side of the bed to see him standing there swinging the broken thongs between two fingers…and his gracious plenty bobbing freely with a mind of its own. She was…mesmerized.

“You have more of these,” he asked with a playful gleam in his eyes – he knew exactly where her lowered gaze had settled.

“Unfortunately,” she chirped with a blushing grin a few moments later when she finally managed to drag her eyes away from his massive cock. Had it always been so big?

“Good, I look forward to ripping them from your delectable pus…” he began with a cocky grin only to be interrupted just as he had known she would. It was reassuring to know that in some ways his Sookie would never change.

“Eric!” With a bright pink blush she hurriedly interrupted him.

With a seductive laugh, he dropped the pink material and moved to kneel between her feet at the foot of the bed. He rubbed his large palms over her feet and ankles, then up her calves until he reached her knees.   He hooked his hands under her knees to bend her legs up and spread them as far apart as her comfort would allow.

He sat back, purring, and gazed at the lush embodiment of his best night dreams, of his fantasies and his addiction personified, his own personal wonderland. And wonder of all wonders, his sweet fairy let him.

Mouth watering and fangs aching in anticipation of lapping the fae-flavored nectar from her body directly into his own, he stared in mesmerized fascination at her glistening center lightly sprinkled with well-trimmed blonde hair, and grinned with glee before ducking his head.

Eric allowed himself one lengthy, lapping taste, then with a low, rumbling growl he leaned forward to brace his weight on one arm before her intoxicating fairy scent truly overwhelmed his intentions. He captured her heavy-lidded gaze with his own then slowly inserted one long finger into her warmth.

Slowly he pumped that one finger in and out, over and over, while maintaining eye contact as best she could until she began writhing once again. He then inserted a second finger and began stretching her as he continued pumping. He was determined to prepare her for highly engorged cock, and added a scissoring motion to his lucky, wet fingers.

When she began mewling and moving restlessly on the bed, hands gripping the sheets and legs slowly flailing, he raised his thumb to her clit and began rubbing it in time with the thrusts of his fingers.

She had maintained his beloved eye contact until that point, but when the fiery pleasure of his thumb working her clit flooded her body, she threw her head back on the pillow with a strangled moan, and he took that opportunity to lower his gaze and watch as his fingers and thumb worked her.

His large hand was now coated in her beloved juices and his two long, muscular fingers were easily pumping in and out of her body. When he sensed that she was nearing her pleasure once again, he replaced his thumb with his mouth and began licking that small, hard bundles of nerves.

Her cries of bliss were growing louder, and when he sucked her clit into his mouth and tightened his lips around it, she started chanting his name. When he rolled his lips and sucked on her nub as he quickened the forceful thrusts of his fingers, she came hard with a series of screams that he was sure might have included his name…her words were so slurred he wasn’t sure.

Without giving her time to recover, and without giving himself a chance to savor being able to bring her to such a satisfying climax, he quickly covered her body with his own. He placed the pre-cum covered head of his hard cock at her still-quivering opening and, with one smooth movement, he very slowly thrust his entire length inside her wet warmth, and stilled.

Needlessly panting with the force needed to keep from fucking her senseless that very second, he placed his other hand beside her to bear his weight, and gazed down into her face still blissful and rosy.

Feeling the same need for intimate connection, Sookie slowly opened her eyes and met his bared, honest gaze, and smiled sweetly up at her Viking. She raised her hands to cup his face, and stroked her thumbs under his eyes as she relished feeling his large, rock-hard length buried so deeply inside her.

The enormity of this evening’s events suddenly washed over him, and he paused to savor the almost unbearable reality of being inside his Sookie, of having her warm and willing beneath him, of being able to cover her with his body and know that she was safe, that she was whole, and that she was his.

His.

“Say it,” he whispered suddenly, his voice ragged, his searing blue gaze burning into her soul. “Please,” he whispered even more quietly, fervently. “Say it.”

Hot sweet tears filling her eyes, she gave her beloved vampire his dearest gift.

“I am yours, Eric. I am yours,” she repeated as the hot tears fell, her own voice slightly husky, “as you are mine.”

With her final words a jolt shuddered through Eric’s hard body, and then he began moving, slowly at first, giving her body the chance to adjust to his invasion, then quickly he began moving more forcefully, his thrusts still slow but more powerful, over and over again.

Finally he rebraced himself on his elbows, his hands now grasping her shoulders, and began thrusting faster, his body taking over as if it were determined to make up for all that time foolishly lost, all that love…

He threw his head back, his fangs fully distended, his nose filled with fairy intoxication, his hips pumping and swiveling in turn, his back welcoming Sookie’s nails as she hung on as best she could.

His inner beast loudly rejoiced in finally, truly, claiming his beloved, and reveled in how her body, so tight and warm and silky, welcomed him so deeply…how her heat and love and light were now solely his for as long as she would have him.

When he felt her small heels digging into the backs of his thighs, he increased the speed and force of his thrusts, determined to once again bring her over before he, himself, fell from that sublime edge, but try as he might, he couldn’t halt his quick, measured thrusts into the warmth of her willing body.

She drew his head down, causing him to arch his back so as to not interrupt his thrusts, and bared her neck. Without warning he came from that act in long bursts so blissful they were almost painful.

Then, in between one thrust and the next, he moved into a seated position against the headboard, and lifted Sookie up and down on his still hardened cock. The change in position caused his length to hit that perfect place deep inside her, and her movements became more frantic as her moans and mewlings became louder.

Eric sliced the side of his neck with his fingernail, and lowered her lips to his now freely-bleeding wound, and licked and sucked on her neck before sinking his fangs. The instant her blood reached his tongue, he felt her cum, and again without warning, his balls tightened.

This time he came with his Sookie, and as he did, sharp, bright white and yellow lights came forth from their merged bodies. The ethereal light encompassed the two who were now one in a strange, protective warmth, and prolonged their pleasures merged through the bond for unearthly long moments until they collapsed into a blissful, satisfied heap on the old bed in the Cubby.

Hours or minutes later, he was never quite certain which, King Northman found his voice.

“That is how it should have been our first time together,” he whispered with a kiss to her forehead.  “You are mine…as I am yours.”

A barely-detectable murmur of agreement was the only response from the fairy hybrid now sleeping – safe, happy and content – in his arms.

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**A/N: I have an epilogue in mind if you want it, but (as usual) there are no guarantees on timing.  I have loved your amazing reviews for this little story, and will treasure both them and your support.  I just hope I did Eric, and Sookie, justice.  Thank you for reading!**

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