Mer woke up to someone kneading her shoulders, and she groaned with pleasure as hands dug into her muscles. They were overworked from all the magic training followed by more exercise in bed. Of late, Rush was insatiable, and she wasn't sure if it was stress with what Tanya had said or more of his normal self. It wasn't often they didn't have sex at least twice a day. Every time Rush saw her naked, there was no escaping him, which meant every morning and night.

It was night wasn't it?

There had been a different way about him lately. At first, she'd thought it was some sort of desperation. It wasn't infrequent that he just woke up with a hard on, spread her legs and plunged into her before she was conscious. It was real good thing that turned her on, or it'd piss her off. She got her own gratification from how much pleasure Rush got from her, but she was starting to get the feeling that he was needy. That was a bit backhanded of her to think, considering she was head over heels for him and wanted him to love her, and not that he was showing her more attention, she was trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

When had she gotten so backwards?

He just seemed so... intimate, and that was unlike him. Rush liked physical pleasure, but he'd been clear to her where he stood on emotional affection. It was like he was distant, just himself. Rush understood emotion like the direction of the back of a cereal box, lift mouth for smile, growl for anger, and dig deeper for the reward at the bottom of the box.

The fingers had finished probing her shoulders, and his entire body pressed against her back as he moved her to her side. Warmth trailed with his hand down her neck and she let out a gasp as it grazed her breast, but he passed it to trail his fingers against her stomach, run down her thigh, and then back up to her shoulder.

"Did you forget what I feel like?" Mer asked in a tease as she looked to him.

The green of his eyes was deep as they met her chocolate, but their locked gaze didn't last long. As soon as she bit her lower lip, a growl rolled out of him and he pressed his arousal into her side. That was all it took before his lips dropped on hers and they fought for air to breath. Rush's tongue on hers was always so demanding and hot, and she liked to fight with it. It was a futile struggle, but fun none the less. In less than a minute, he had her on her back with her legs open and the length of him buried inside of her.

Perhaps it was from him staring, stroking, and rubbing himself on her all day before she awoke, but he never lasted long in the evening. With a guttural growl, he released into her, and it was one of the few times when there was emotion on his face. It was so arousing to see his lips open and his eyes blazing with his eyebrows craned up that she was never far behind with. Rush rocked her hips as she arched into him, and he let out the cutest whine as she squeezed him and lost herself in her own pleasure.

More often than not this week, Rush had this look of almost pain on his face when they finished, and she wasn't sure what to make of it. The man certainly wasn't in any physical pain and the difference between that emotion and pleasure was a hair's breadth with Rush's shallowly broadcast emotions. Maybe she was reading too much into it. He rolled off of her but pulled her into his side with a slow breath of contentment. With everything that was going on, she was surprised he could breathe one.

"Do you still like having sex with me?" Mer asked, trying to decipher his recent changes.

Rush's laugh was so loud she cringed and groaned as it relaxed out of her muscles.

"Meredith, I haven't the faintest where you get these ideas from. If I didn't like having sex with you, I wouldn't do it." Rush pet her like she was an upset hamster, and she brushed his hand off.

"I mean it. You've been giving me strange looks, okay," Mer said, the blush climbing into her face. She was already overheated from the activity, so it didn't take much. "You look different. It's strange when I'm trying to enjoy you and then you look like I'm chopping off your wang."

"Oh." Rush frowned and was silent for a moment. "You noticed that."

"Of course I noticed it, Rush. You have zero filter when we have sex, and any emotion on you is like slapping neon yellow paint on a black wall. What is it?" Mer nudged him, and his lips tightened in some sort of discomfort. "If you like men, just tell me now. I'll save us both some grief and see if–"

Rush slapped a hand over her mouth and frightened her with how his lips pulled back and he bared his fangs. It wasn't something he did often anymore, and she sank back into the bed to try and get away from him. Something was wrong.

"I'm sorry. Let me leave," Mer said in a hush, rolling to get off the bed.

Rush grabbed her arm, and she cursed as he held her in place. "I'm sorry, Meredith. I knew what you were going to suggest, and I couldn't hear it from your lips. I got territorial, and if you'd mentioned going to another man, I'd have broken him to pieces regardless of if it was a joke."

Mer stared at him with awkward confusion. Territorial? There was no one else here, and he owned her by all vampire laws. What could he possibly be worried about?

"I have..." Rush rubbed his free hand over his face. "I've been getting more attached to you. I did not mean to make you feel as if I was in agony while having sex with you. Just when I see you under me, dropping your composure and surrendering yourself, I get protective. You're vulnerable, and I enjoy that you open yourself to me, trust me." Rush let go of her arm and ruffled his dark hair with both hands. "This is why I said us being together would be trouble for you. It started when I realized that this conflict with Tanya and the northern houses isn't going to go away and that I'd have to pick sides. When I contemplated having to choose between you or them, it wasn't even a competition. I will always choose you."

"Rush..." Mer didn't know what to say. This was something she'd stopped asking him about over the last year because it upset him. Having a mate was a serious thing for him. "You getting territorial can get dangerous, can't it?" Mer asked. Rush had wanted her to be able to protect her friends if he ever got too attached, but she was not there yet.

"Yes. Please refrain from any jokes about leaving me for other men until I can figure out what's going on in my head," Rush cautioned.

"You act like I'll be upset that you think of me as more than a fuck buddy," Mer joked, but Rush's frown didn't lift. "I'll be careful Rush. I promise. Keep me attached to your side and I'll look at no one else until you get full grasp that I'm irrevocably in love with only you."

"I don't doubt your commitment, Meredith. I want to strangle any male who might show interest. It's not easy to explain to a human, which is why vampires and mages don't mix."

"I got it. Don't we have somewhere to go today? Some carnival?"

Rush smiled, smothering his worry away enough that she left his gaze to look down his naked body. Damn he was so ripped, and still aroused. Noticing her ogling him, he stood and went to his wardrobe. The man dressed in record time, covering his tight pecs with a white silk collared shirt and layering it with a casual suit jacket. Vampires dressed so Victorian, but thankfully he didn't impart his taste on her. That was nice because she wasn't much into corsets and frilly dresses.

Unlike Rush, she didn't get to dress on her own. The man took care to pull out her clothes and dress her himself. Normally, being treated like she couldn't function on her own might aggravate her, but instead, she just reddened the whole time. It was fun for Rush, which was why he did it.

Parking her on the bed, he slid underwear on her legs, trailing his fingers up her ankles, calves, thighs and then lingering as he pulled them snug. Before getting her pants, he trailed a finger over the front of the sheer fabric, and she jumped with how sensitive she still was. Rush purred as he slipped on her black pants in a similar manner and then tugged her forward on the bed to button them. It was more to press her naked chest to him then to button anything.

She was grateful that he put her top on. No matter how many she had, they all had so many buttons and high collars to keep other vampires from staring at her. They were a chore for a human to assemble with their slow speed, and if Rush was thirsty, he just tore the buttons open and sank his fangs into her neck, so it wasn't like any of it hindered him. The frill of her cravat would keep eyes off of her neck and chest while Rush was figuring his head out too, so was glad for that and the tails on her suitcoat the covered her behind.

There was so much to think about as they met with Darius and Lyon to head to the unity gathering. Stuff was tumbling on Neil and the mages, and Darius wasn't committed to defending either of them, even if Rush said that he would protect her. It wasn't like the mages were nice to her, but her aunt and uncle was among their leaders, and she loved her family.

"Hey there, smarts." Lyon, the Shade family lycanthrope greeted her with a drawing pair of golden eyes. There was an ongoing joke from when they'd met that she was slow intellectually, and the ass never let it drop.

"What's up slim," Mer retorted, and Lyon set his teeth with a snap but held his smirk.

Lyon was smaller than all of the other lycanthropes she'd met, and if he wanted to tease, she could stab right back. All lycans were huge, so Lyon had wide shoulders and was taller than both Darius and Rush, but he tapered. Muscles still wound his body like any dark creature, but if he had to arm wrestle with any one of the men she knew, he'd probably lose.

"You're dressed up," Mer commented as Lyon flicked his small tail of brown hair.

The man was neat compared to other Lycans who had shaggy manes of hair. Instead, he kept his close cut to his head, and today he was sporting a very slick suit coat over a white shirt like Rush. He looked... dapper, if she had to pick a word. Nice, but a little nerdy for her. It was better than Darius in his black robes and L'Oreal hair, she supposed. Of all of them, he had forgone looking nicer than what he always did.

"Did you talk to Meredith about how she should act?" Darius asked curtly, and she sighed.

"Puppy is trained," Mer growled, contradicting much of what she'd said. "These are all hot shot vampies and I should revere them with awe. No direct eye contact, no speaking, no touching anything, no magic. Why not just tie me up and drag me around if I can't exist."

"Meredith," Rush chastised as he turned to her with his patented Rush concern–a blank stare with only a micrometer larger pupil size.

"I know, Rush," Mer said, calming. "If I act out of line, I could get killed, and you can't protect me against vampire law even if you wanted to with all the house heads around. I'll behave."

"Good." Darius tone said that he would let her die too if she messed up. Rush would at least fight for her even if he couldn't do anything. For Darius, it would be good riddance. The man had never liked her.

They took a transportation spell to the outside of the gathering area, but there were huge obelisks coming out of the ground that barred them from getting closer. They were glowing white nubs of stone in the darkness, towering several stories high every mile or so and had inscriptions wrapped around their bases. Magic pulsed as she walked by, and she leaned into Rush as it seemed to steal hers. Anti-magic obelisks, they were called. They blocked all transportation magic in any area that placed them strategically.

A mountain trek was not what she'd signed up for in all this frill, and with the creeping shadows everywhere, it gave her the willies. Other vampires traveled the roads, and she could tell where they were by the firefly lights that their blood slaves carried to light their own way. Mer had no such lantern and cursed as she stumbled over a rock. That was the last moment her feet were on the ground.

Rush scooped her up and cradled her to his broad chest, the glow of green eyes in the darkness showing some sort of care that was a result of the danger around them. Moving at vampire speed, he hopped from one place to another until they were at the gathering area, and he set her down. Even as he did though, he pulled her close and ran his fingers down the side of her face with a slow sigh. His getting more attached to her emotionally was showing, and she wasn't sure what to do with it.

There were so many people around her that she didn't need to linger on the thought much. Rush walked with her through an arch of stone that marked the entryway and everything around her was like a night festival. Stalls lined each side of the walkway with vampire or humans selling food or goods, and some even held games. All were lit with dim lanterns that attracted moths as well as customers, and she smiled with excitement. She glanced up to Rush, and his expression was still so flat that it dampened her mood.

"Are you not supposed to have fun here?" Mer asked, a bit giddy at seeing something that was for once not morbid as hell with vampires.

Vampires with their most favored blood slaves walked through the area and chatted almost like friends. Though she knew that they were still slaves in essence, these ones seemed happy to serve their masters and just as excited as she was. Some vampires had stoic expression like Rush, but they at least titled a smile when their slaves tugged on their sleeve or pointed at something. She got the impression that the masters as well as the slaves enjoyed this outing, and it was nice to see them work together in something other than fear.

In Rush's castle, the blood slaves kept to their quarters and rarely if ever talked to him or Darius. When either of them hungered, the slaves bore their necks in silence and gave what was flowing through their veins out of obligation, not adoration. These slaves seems so enamored with their masters, and she wondered if Rush had ever favored a slave prior to her showing up. It wasn't something she'd asked since all his attention was focused on her, as property or attached like he was.

"We need to head to the arena," Darius said, arriving back at their side. Rush had left him behind when he'd carried her. That meant that here was safe enough for them to be separate though, and that was calming.

"The arena?" Mer asked, just as curious about that as the rest.

"Yes. You know we fight in shows of our houses' power. I am slated for the first round of fights, so I need to dress and be present. All these stranglers" –Darius gestured to the people around– "will be joining their houses in the stands shortly after. If you wish to see things as most blood slaves do, there will be time after."

"Really?" Mer bubbled with excitement, but she simmered down as she looked to Rush hesitantly. "Sorry."

"It is all right, Meredith. If you would enjoy the festivities, I will show you them. As long as you do not speak to any of the other vampires here and stay by my side, you are protected by the gathering law and no one can harm you. It is as good a place as any to relax among my kind, but know that it is only because violence is forbidden here. These are not allies."

"I understand," Mer said, walking next to Rush and Darius as they headed toward a huge structure that looked like a roman colosseum. How ostentatious. She supposed they needed a big space for the clash of dark magic. "Rush isn't fighting in the first round?" Mer asked curiously.

Darius' expression crunched in but he answered. "Remus is in the second."

Rush stiffened as they walked, moving like his joints were locked in place.

"Do you not like your opponent?" Mer asked, wondering, and with the sigh that escaped Rush's lips, she knew she'd hit the nail on the head.

"Who are you fighting?"

"It depends on the outcome of the first round's matches, but neither person I might fight is good." Rush met her eyes, and she waited for him to elaborate. She always had to really ogle him to get information. "It will most likely be Jesse Zehir, Tanya's first general, but there is a chance I could face his opponent if they manage to win."

Thinking about him facing off against Tanya's likely half naked general didn't give her much enthusiasm for that spectacle, but wasn't a general a step down from an heir? It seemed like Rush would win that fight, unless she was missing something. What bothered Rush was Jess Zehir but the other person he might face.

"Who is his opponent?" Mer had to ask when Rush was too silent.

"Neil Arc."

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Word Count: 3138