Her lips glided effortlessly against his, like she was exploring a place she had been to, yet with the same excitement as someone who has never been there. Her hand came up to cup his cheek delicately, as his finger pushed themselves so her hair fell into a kind of weaving between the fingers.
 
She gave a small sigh as he released his hand from her hair and cupped her neck instead, his thumb drawing things only he could understand.
 
She broke the kiss slowly, like she didn't want to, and he watched her. He loved to watch her after a kiss. The time she took before opening her eyes, the way her lips shone and she kept it slightly parted, and the small, yet noticeable heaving of her chest.
 
He loved every single bit of what made her, and he wasn't so ashamed of admitting it. Maybe his own mistakes had taught him more than he thought he would learn, but most of all, it thought him that it would only be stupid pride that would lead him into thinking he could let her go.
 
She opened her eyes slowly. They were moist, intense, almost heartbreaking. The kiss has, like crazy waves brought back all the feelings the turmoil of the past few days had darkened and forced her to tuck away, but this one kiss from him and she was here, learning it all again.
 
She slowly brought her eyes to focus on his curious, pleasant ones and she leaned on him again, letting him have a fill of the taste he has longed for so long.
 
She broke away after some time, and it took her a few seconds to bring her eyes to focus on the side of his face. The dizziness and toe curling butterflies that the kiss had brought weared off as realization started to dawn on her.
 
He had not healed.
 
Not even a single scar had left his body, neither did he feel better. The last time it had happened, the reaction had been instant. It cleared off one by one and slowly, to the extent that she hadn't even realized she was the one doing the healing.
 
But now, none of that happened. She brought her hands to the side of his face, to make sure it really wasn't healed. It still felt the same under her palm, the same rough, burnt - like texture.
 
"Axton?"
 
"Hm?" He hummed, looking up to her.
 
"Your body..."
 
His brows furrowed on seeing the frightened expression on her face. "What is wrong?"
 
"Your scars..."
 
"Tell me, Natalia." He tried to prop himself up on his right hand, but it was too much dead weight. "What is happening? Is something wrong?"
 
"We kissed..." She trailed off.
 
"Yes..."
 
"But..."
 
"You regret it?" He asked, expecting his own heartbreak.
 
She shook her head. "No, not that. You did not heal."
 
"Heal?" He asked her, then looked down at himself. For sure, all the scars were there. All the weakness was there too, and the immobility of his left side. The hideousness, the roughness...it was all there.
 
He looked back up at her. "Is that why are about to cry?" He said, his voice calm.
 
"Why are you not surprised?"
 
He shrugged, then gestured at her to come closer. She moved forward, then lay on his chest, her eyes watching him. "Because you are more than just a cure. I did not kiss you because I wanted you to cure me..."
 
"But I should have cured you. If I can not cure you...then who can? What can and how do we start looking?" She was almost hysterical, held down only by his right hand.
 
"Natalia...I know I can not have two mates, so you do not have to worry about sharing me."
 
She almost laughed in relief. "But what will happen now? What will we do?"
 
He closed his eyes. "I will sleep like an accomplished man now." He laughed, then opened his eyes again. "Natalia?"
 
She looked up to him, her eyes moist again. Sometimes, it astonished him just how easy it was for her to cry. But maybe he was like her too.
 
"Yes?"
 
"You will stay, will you not?"
 
She nodded immediately, then went back to lying down, her head resting on his chest.
 
"Then I really do not have much to worry about. Beta Scott can take care of the pack, while I stay here leisurely with you. You will not have to do all the tedious work for me too. There are a lot of omegas, and if I put my mind to it, I will be able to prop myself up to the bath house, and even down if I really want to go there." He took in deep breath and smiled. "Is it weird how I have it all planned out?"
 
"It is even weirder that you are not the least bit disappointed. You are just...planning your life as the opposite of what you used to be."
 
"I guess it is good for werewolves to try out things."
 
She nodded. "I was scared too that...that you would think I am now useless. Originally, I was just a cure so...I am not sure if you cared for me beyond that."
 
"Then I must be so bad with my expressions."
 
"Why do you say that?"
 
He studied her face, her slightly troubled expression.
 
He opened his mouth, then shut it. "Because I am in love with you, Natalia. Way before you asked me to."
 
She sat up, watching him. "You are not just saying that to comfort me, are you?"
 
She wasn't joking, and she looked like she was about to start one of her crying sessions. He shook his head.
 
"I promise, Natalia. I am not trying to comfort you. This is not something I would merely comfort you with."
 
He watched as her emotions flickered on her face. She went from intense to sad, to relieved, to happy, it was hard keeping up with her emotions.
 
But it has always been hard to keep up. And when he decided to stop trying, he fell for her.
 
She leaned forward, her upper body hovering above him. She looked at him like he was the most precious thing ever made, the most beautiful and most sacred.
 
Her hands cupped both sides of his face, and he looked up to her, his stare intense. His immobility irritated him, but the view...his view of her eyes, her lips. They were enough to take it all off his mind.
 
"Do you know how long I have waited to hear it from you?" She asked, her voice soft, her breath caressing his face like she herself was tracing her fingers softly on it, driving him to the farthest possible edge of euphoria.
 
"Sorry to have kept you waiting." He said to her, feeling a little distracted. His breathing was ragged, his heart unsteady.
 
She could feel his blood pulsating crazily, and the abstractly beautiful intensity in his eyes too.
 
It made her feel a little too ignorant, for not reading that look. He always looked at her that way. No matter what expression occupied the rest of his face, his eyes remained the same towards her.
 
She caressed his face slowly, making his already ragged breathing even worse.
 
"I love you too, Axton. I love you too."
 
She didn't give him time to explain before she kissed him again, her lips feeling like a rush of petals, his response passionate and driven, yet beautiful in a way only they could tell, in a way only they knew they could share with each other.
 
He cupped her waist with his right hand, as she moved to kiss his neck, forehead, shoulders and back to his lips.
 
What she felt for him was maddening, and now that he admitted he felt the same way, she knew she could take his hand and lead him to all the beauty and elation that she has drawn up in her head.