not maybe, definitely

"You have no idea.” No, Maverick truly had no idea just how unique and special Venom was, but he had a feeling he was well on his way to learning firsthand. He'd seen wolves with mutations before in rare instances, but Venom was the first he had met to have so many unique attributes to her physiology. Cat claws, quills, a serpent's tongue... perhaps more that he just hadn't encountered yet? She was this rare and beautiful creature, one of a kind in the world, and handling her above or below him had been a life changing treat. Maverick had had a number of lovers in the past—none more than short flings wherever he chose to hang his hat for the time—but his experience with Venom had been something so much more. There had been sexual gratification on both ends, yes, but even in the wake of their passion, cuddling in repose in the aftermath of their mating, it felt different. Mad enjoyed the company of lovely ladies. He'd bedded a number and could remember none of their names. They'd been good lays for the time, but after each one, he'd simply felt complacent. It was like having a snack when you were ravenous, or scratching an itch that always came back—it took the edge off a need, but it never truly satisfied. That's why it had been so easy for him to love and leave, to pack up and move on with his life without any regrets.

Venom was breaking that convention in him. Gazing down into glistening sunset eyes, Maverick didn't just feel complacent. He felt satisfied. He felt happy. Looking at the girly smile on Venom's lips while she kissed his nose and looked up at him as if he were the most important wolf in the world to her made him feel manly, masculine, and powerful. It was a primal feeling that he quite enjoyed and worried it could become addictive to him. He could have no idea the invasion he'd led on Venom's heart, mind, and soul—had no inkling of just how thoroughly he'd conquered the Ashen Empress. To him, this was all fun and games. The possibility of anything more serious forming between them felt as radical as the sun reaching its peak at midnight. Their lifestyles were oil and water. Venom could never want a man like him for anything more than a fix of her particular brand of painkiller, but he didn't mind. He quite liked being her painkiller if it meant he got to bury himself within her like that and see all those cute faces she made when he was inside her. He'd be whatever she needed him to be—no matter how temporary it may be.

Yet even as he considered their short-lived affair, Venom took him by surprise by claiming that maybe she did want to get to know him. A curious brow quirked over a skeptical turquoise eye. She claimed his decree that she should always be happy was a bold assertion, and that just made him feel bad for her all over again. Happiness shouldn't have been a bold assertion for anyone—it should have been a given. He knew that hadn't been the case for Venom, however. She had lived through turmoil and heartbreak and become so used to it that she just repressed it down along with all her other emotions and thoughts. But Venom surprised him yet again by playfully asking if he would stay around to make sure she remained happy. Maverick didn't know how to respond at first. Was she fucking with him right now? Was she playing a prank or teasing him? Sure, desperate women had begged him to stay with them before, but never had an alpha asked him to stay. Yet in her voice was a thinly veiled fear—a fear that he would say no and leave. Really, that's what he should do, right? Cut ties, continue on about his life, just as he always did. It was easier that way.

...But what if he didn't want to keep running? What if he didn't want a sad and easy existence anymore? Just as he had offered Venom an escape to another life, she was offering him the same, but with stability and consistency. After scrutinizing her expression for a moment to try and deign whether she was being serious or not, Maverick asked, "You don't really mean that, do you?" If she was fucking with him right now, then she was getting him good and he wasn't even aware! "You actually want me to stay? Me? The guy who flaunted your borders and gave you hell." He paused for a moment to let his words sink in and for her to answer him when another question came to his mind, making him smirk a little at the alphess still draped across him, her languid body oh so alluring and unable to keep his eyes off of her shape. "Does this mean you want me to be one of your subjects? Does Ashen have a 'sex slave' rank, or are you just making an exception for me?"

"Maverick"