Mine

Briar echoed his sentiments about how amazing their lovemaking as newlyweds had been, bringing about a wide, proud grin across Artorias' face coupled with a suggestive chuckle beneath his heavy breaths. Oh, he'd known exactly how much Briar had enjoyed their passion as well by the reactions and noises he'd been able to coax from her. This night would live on forever in his memories, ones he would be certain to return to long after the moment had passed. To Art, this was the truly defining moment when he and Briar had bound themselves together as husband and wife, mates for life physically, emotionally, and spiritually. They had both given the other all of themselves and found nothing but true love in the hearts and souls of their partner. This was the start of the rest of their forever, and already Artorias couldn't wait to spend eternity with his beloved Briar.

While the husband and wife pair snuggled and shared affections between one another in their state of stupefied bliss, he lamented the task they had ahead of them, but Briar, ever the glass-half-full type, found the silver lining of keeping one another up until dawn. The sultry grin on the lips of his mate left little doubt what was on her mind to keep them occupied, a look that Artorias was all too keen to return with a sly grin of his own, half-lidded amber eyes smoldering with the endless desire he felt for the new Carpathian queen. Art chuckled low under his breath, the sound rumbling in his chest while his lips met Briar's halfway, kissing her back just as softly. His paw stroking over her back slid and shifted to trail calloused paw pads gingerly over the curves of Briar's side, roaming from her shapely hip up to just beneath her shoulder and then heading back down again, making a slow circuit with his petting while he savored the way Briar had draped herself over him during their snuggling.

As easy as it would have been for the two newlyweds to fall right back into their love and lust for one another (not to mention how eager he was to do just that), another idea came to Artorias' mind. Giving Briar another soft, loving kiss, the Aegis glanced up from his bride to look across the room to the table where all their wedding gifts had been laid out after the reception. Turning a naughty grin down to his mate, Artorias asked in a husky whisper, "How about we make use of some of our gifts tonight?" With another quick press of his lips to Briar's, Artorias leisurely untangled himself from his beautiful bride and climbed over the mattress to slide off their bed, his legs a little wobbly at first from the body-quaking sex they'd just enjoyed, but he managed to saunter his way over to the present-laden table without too much sway in his steps.

"Let's see... We've got those body oils your brother gave us. I wouldn't mind giving you a thorough rubdown." Artorias cast a lecherous grin at Briar from over his shoulder, then returned to perusing their gifts. "Looks like someone was kind enough to leave us some cannabis too if you feel like adding high to our current buzz." Speaking of buzz, Artorias was still somewhere in between the realms of tipsy and drunk, feeling real good, but definitely needing another drink to keep the good feeling going. Glancing up at the shelves of liquors and fine wines he kept in their chambers for the perfect selection, his eyes fell upon the stash he'd received from Sparrow in exchange for Artisan's freedom. His eyes lit up with delight, reaching up to snatch down a bottle of moonshine and the other dark liquor in each paw. "I think now's the perfect time to enjoy some of the drink we won off the pirates! What're you feeling, moonshine or this... rum-bourbon blend stuff?" That was when he glimpsed the jar of cryptic black sand that Sparrow had given him along with everything else—including the secret surprise hidden within.

Raising a curious brow, the Aegis set the jars of alcohol down on the table, then reached back up to pull the jar of dirt down, shifting it back and forth in his paws and watching the way the sand moved. "I forgot all about this...!" he remarked with a light laugh. He turned to show the jar to Briar with a playful, almost puppy-like grin. "Sparrow gave me this during our exchange for Artisan after the raid. The liquors and this... jar of sand. She said there was some kind of special surprise inside." He shook the jar vigorously, listening to the sand shift about, but whatever contents were hidden within gave no clues to its identity. Turning mischievous eyes and a wolfish grin up to Briar, Artorias rapped his claws against the top. "Should we open it and see what's inside?"

"Artorias & Briar Carpathius"