Mariah's eyes fluttered open, consciousness slowly seeping back in just before dawn, the sky still an inky black outside the den's entrance. She lay still for a moment, letting the lingering haze of cannabis gradually dissipate from her mind. While not as restful as natural sleep, it had become her only respite. One she was grateful for. Caedes lay beside her, his steady breathing the only sound in the cozy space.

She rolled onto her side and studied his face in the dim light, tracing the angles of his muzzle with her gaze. Her mind was blissfully empty, the cannabis having worked its magic yet again. No demonic visitations from Moros, no sleep paralysis rendering her helpless to his violations. Just a dreamless void. Mariah watched as his chest rose and fell with the slow, even breaths of deep sleep, his features relaxed and peaceful. A pang of envy pierced her heart.

Mariah reached out a paw and delicately brushed it over Caedes' ear, then down along his jaw. A surge of affection welled up inside her, and a different kind of heat kindled deep in her belly. She needed to feel something good, something real to chase away the lingering unease. Shifting closer, she nuzzled into the thick fur of Caedes' neck, breathing in his familiar earthy scent.

"Mariah Mendacium"

Caedes stirred, his ear flicking under her touch. Jaw clenching as her fingers traced down, the sensation of her muzzle pressing into his neck causing a low rumble from his throat. His breathing remained steady for a moment longer before his eyes snapped open, bright forest green slicing through the dim light to stare at her. He didn’t move, not immediately, but his gaze locked on Mariah with an intensity that bordered on feral. There was no sluggishness in him, no groggy transition from sleep to wakefulness—he was simply awake, sharply so.

“You are restless.” he murmured, his voice low, that of a deep baritone. She had gotten more sleep ever since his discovery of a temporary solution, but still—it wasn’t enough. “Again.”

Caedes shifted, rolling onto his side to face her, his massive frame enveloping her smaller one. His paw raised, claws brushing against her cheek with careful tenderness and barely restrained tension. The motion was as much a gesture of possession as it was affection.

"speaking"

Mariah's breath caught in her throat at Caedes' touch, electric and tender all at once. She leaned into his paw, silver eyes fluttering closed for a heartbeat. "I slept," she whispered, voice still rough with sleep and the lingering effects of the herb. "Didn't dream. It's just..." She trailed off, grasping for the words to articulate the gnawing emptiness inside her. The need.

Eyes opening again, Mariah tilted her muzzle up to meet Caedes' intense gaze. In the green depths, she thought she could see understanding. A shiver rippled through her. Mariah pressed herself against Caedes, the heat of his body seeping into her bones, chasing away the chill that always seemed to linger no matter how many furs she piled on the bed. "I need..." She swallowed hard, the words sticking in her throat. "I need to feel something real." Her voice wavered, threaded with a vulnerable desperation that at some point along the way became a sin to show.

"Mariah Mendacium"

Caedes' eyes darkened intensely, emeralds shifting between understanding and something inherently primal. His paw froze against her intricately marked cheek, the rough pads unmoving as he searched her gaze; restraint waning as her words made her desire clear. She had a way of beckoning from him the best and worst, he inwardly mused. The vulnerability in her tone was not foreign to him—it was a need he understood, one he could satisfy in ways words never could.

The corners of his mouth twitched into something that wasn’t quite a smile—too sharp, too fleeting. His touch shifted, sliding down to press against her chest, over her heart. “If,” he murmured, voice dropping into a rough growl that rumbled deep within his chest. “That is what your heart craves.” His muzzle tilted, brushing against hers for a moment, before claiming her lips in a heated kiss—one of comfort and hunger in equal parts.

The scarred brute’s body pressed firmly against hers as he moved closer, unwilling to break away for breath. His other paw found her hip, his grip pressing just enough to ground her in place against him. There was no hesitation, no room for doubt in the way he moved, his actions spoke of absolute devotion. Every motion done with instinctual certainty, as though he had long resolved to banish her emptiness with the fire he was ready to ignite and stoke.

"speaking"

A small, needy sound escaped Mariah's throat as Caedes claimed her mouth, the kiss searing through her like wildfire. She arched into his touch, the firm pressure of his paw on her chest anchoring her, steadying the frantic beat of her heart. Her own paws slid up Caedes' broad chest and over his shoulders, clinging to him as if he were the only solid thing in a world turned to quicksand.

Caedes' grip on her hip sent tendrils of heat unfurling through Mariah's core. She hooked a leg over his, eliminating any remaining space between their bodies, craving the grounding weight of him. A whimper built in the back of her throat when she finally broke the kiss, panting in absence. Mariah gazed up at him through lidded eyes, her need laid bare.

"It’s not only my heart that craves," she breathed, her words heavy with unspoken pleas. Make me feel. Chase the numbness away. Remind me I'm alive.

"Mariah Mendacium"

Caedes felt her arch into him, her need present in the way her body moved against his. The sound that escaped her throat was like fire to dry kindling, igniting a wildfire that blazed through his veins. His eyes traced her features, those fine details of her face, of her hauntingly silver eyes. Every touch. Every breath. She was delicious. The beat of her heart, her pulse under his touch, it was all a rhythm he could not just hear but feel in the core of his being. A hot, aching burn.

Her body yielded and clung—it was such surrender, such a plea that struck deep within him. The kiss broke, her breath warm and ragged against his lips as she pulled back just enough to look up at him. Her eyes, heavy-lidded, told him everything. The break in the kiss allowed him to drink in the sight of her—flushed, desperate, beautiful in a way that words could never capture.

He tilted his head, his muzzle brushing and licking her throat in a touch that was more than intimate—it was possessive, reverent. He drew down to her collar and back up to her chin, sliding kisses and grazes of his teeth all the while. His claws ran down her legs, forcing their hips to grind against each other, his massive form shifting above her. Then Caedes reclaimed her lips, the kiss deeper, hungrier, and more forceful than before. It wasn’t merely a kiss; it was a promise. A claim unto her soul and her desire. There was no hesitation in the way he moved—only the absolution that he would give her everything she wanted, and in doing so, remind her of everything she was.

"speaking"

Mariah's body sang with sensation as Caedes' muzzle traced the column of her throat, each brush of his tongue and graze of teeth stoking the flames higher. When his claws ran down her legs, gripping her hips and grinding their bodies together, a choked moan spilled from her lips, muffled against his as he reclaimed her mouth. She yielded to the forceful kiss, opening for him, allowing him to assert his control and succumbing to it.

When Caedes reclaimed her mouth, Mariah returned the kiss with a fevered intensity, pouring every ounce of her need into it. She nipped at his bottom lip, soothing the sting with her tongue a heartbeat later. Her paws roamed over the hard planes of his back, mapping the topography of scars and corded muscle. Caedes was an anchor in the maelstrom of sensation, strong and solid, and she clung to him like he was the only thing keeping her from shattering apart.

Breaking the kiss with a shuddering gasp, Mariah looked up at Caedes with eyes gone molten silver, pupils blown wide with desire. "Caedes," she rsasped, the word escaping as both a plea and a declaration. The atmosphere was charged, crackling with an energy that pulsed between them like a heartbeat—a rhythm that only they could hear. In that moment, every fear and every doubt seeped away, leaving only the two of them tangled in a world that felt both infinite and achingly real.

"Mariah Mendacium"

Caedes’ breath caught at the sound of her voice—his name spilling from her lips like sin itself. She was everything—flushed, trembling, and utterly his. His emeralds mapped out her features despite the haze of lust, every defined feature engraved into his memory. And then there were his paws, roving over her, fingers grazing her waist, her inner thighs. It was enough to drive the meticulous brute mad.

“Mariah..” an invocation, a prayer, and a claim all at once. His claws tightened against her hips once again, pulling her closer, as if he feared she might slip away. He reveled in the way her body molded to his, her surrender feeding the hunger inside him irrevocably. Every breath she took, every beat of her hammering heart—all of it urged him on. He was a zealot in the face of his belief. Her.

The taste of her lips was intoxicating, and he lost himself in it—her heat, her scent, her small gasps and moans. His kisses grew deeper, more fervent, his teeth nipping at her lips and more, her jaw, her throat, leaving a trail of his devotion etched into her skin. Caedes paused for a beat before he tilted his head, pressing his forehead to hers, grounding himself before his lips laid claim to hers again, devouring her with molten intensity as his paws found her hips.

FADE TO BLACK

"speaking"