Dark Times

Chapter Forty-Three

In the morning, I awoke in a dreamlike state. I had to recap everything from the night before. It didn't seem like a dream. Rather a fantasy. Fantasies couldn't be real, but dreams could.

Aidan laid beside me, his face buried in the skin of my neck. I massaged a hand through his hair, waiting for my brain to catch up to me.

I was marked. I'd been claimed. I was his now, for good. Strangely, I didn't regret it. Not one bit.

Two or so months ago, the thought of being marked would've made me sink. Now, all I felt was pleasure.

That bond between us had snapped fully into place now. Through it, I could feel his content.

Everything was going to change today.

I slipped out of his hold. Still naked, I grabbed his rucksack and dragged it closer to me. I was aware that I wasn't being quiet as I threw the chains aside. I knew when he was awake, too. He reached out to draw circles into my lower back.

My hands were on the package, readying to tear it open. I turned, staring down at those hazel eyes in anticipation.

"Aren't you going to stop me?"

He shrugged, a knowing smirk spreading across his face. All it did was make me more suspicious. "What's mine is yours."

I shook the package next to my ear, hearing the tiniest clatter. Then, my impatience getting the best of me, I tore it open. To say I was not impressed was an understatement. It was just wine. A mini bottle of wine with a small card. I stared down at it in disbelief.

"I thought this was supposed to be a secret. When I tried to grab it yesterday, you had a fit."

He threw a tantrum all because I tried to open a bottle of wine. This was a joke. It had to be. Maybe he'd duplicated the package to throw me off and leave me thinking I'd figured it out. Or maybe the wine wasn't wine at all. But it couldn't be poison. The Ranger wouldn't give out poison. Poison was a cheap death.

"You weren't marked yesterday," He said, shrugging as if that were the answer to all of my questions. Unbelievable. This couldn't be right. "Open it, if you want."

I pulled the lid off, smelling inside. It smelt like wine- but you couldn't smell all poisons. "What's this supposed to be?"

"It's a marking present."

"That's what you were both hiding?"

They'd been so secretive over the whole thing. I was actually a little disappointed. I'd been expecting something exciting. At least a bang. Not this.

"What did you think we were hiding?"

"You're both bastards." I'd need the wine now. I planned to chug the lot of it. Aidan could go fuck himself if he thought for one minute that I'd be sharing. "I don't know, a bomb maybe. Something cool. But not this. Why couldn't you have told me it was this?"

"Up till yesterday, you were totally against being marked."

Pfft- times change.

"But knowing this was just a gift would've shut me up."

"I enjoyed it when you didn't know."

"Of course you did." He enjoyed catching me snooping. Why didn't I realise sooner? Oh yeah, because they were bastards. They'd done this on purpose. I could feel it. They'd set the entire thing up knowing what it'd do.

I sighed, abandoning the bottle. I dropped back onto my back, sidling up beside him. Casually, he turned onto his side, grabbing my breast. There was a casualness to his touch, like he owned me and I him. He pinched my nipple, ducking his mouth towards it where he sucked it slow, hot and sexually. I moaned, tipping my head back.