How Tidingly Doth the Season Go (Monica)

[Samuel Banks-Walker]

Eight weeks and five days. The amount of time it took for Monica’s plan to maturate. Their roughness in the bedroom had been mitigated by a resolve and control that bordered on the infinite. As the true final release of any and every lycanthrope when making love. When screwing or any lesser more simpler epitaph was the release that came with a timed shift and orgasm. It was an at once scary and affirming moment. Especially for those who’d began life not as a lycanthrope. Because in those moments it was the ultimate acceptance from their lovers and what they saw as their dark halves. Their beast. It was a moment that could and ninety percent of the time resulted in either death or infection.



It was one of the many odds he hadn’t been willing to risk. Yes they lived the impossible and had for seventeen hundred and nine days. Tonight was not one he’d never had a night mare of happening. Yet one if he’d been as truly accounting for every possibility he would have. Monica was as willful as she was smart. And she’d beaten the odds achieving her goal no matter what.



So he sat here outside of the bathroom door waiting. She’d found a way to ratchet up things their first night truly making love. Not the rushed quick exchange which merely whet their appetites. Their first night away. They’d enlisted her mother, a cadre of highly decorated mercenaries and a hand selected few skilled members of the Pride all orchestrated with a nearly swiss precision by Abel. Their children were as safe as if the two of them remained home. And for their getaway they alighted to one of the crowning jewels of their territory Manhattan. Beginning in the Aviary they winded and dined themselves into a frothy frenzy. Happy well fed and laughing they retired to their suet which afforded them the wide view of the skyline.



Making love as they basked on the city beneath them. Each bout ratcheting up the underlining current. He’d fought long and hard just not long or hard enough. As Monica had found the way the one few ways to spur him on. The reason he’d held back and refused not merely the odds of her dying or worse surviving scarred or infected. Lions were feline and the shift into their war form the half man half beast was a milder form sexually but even that…



The barbs that came part and parcel could do far more than stir estrus in a nonlycanthrope woman. They could scar her beyond all hope of child birth if she survived. Luckily the shift occurred at the apex of their evening instead of merely a several thrusts into the evening. Even his vaunted healing abilities might not have been enough. The fact he needed to lap her scarred womanhood he hoped hadn’t scarred her mentally more. As the blood freely flowed and his mouth came away crimson before she made it away tiptoeing gingerly to the restroom.



It was by far one of their more intense moments. Him shifting quickly back and vibrating with the pleasure and revulsion of his actions. The blood the hint of fear and smell of unbridled lovemaking. It was enough to have even the most staid persons head spinning.



As such he waited on the floor sipping his second Russo-Baltique Martinin he’d made her since her disappearance into the restroom.

[Monica Davis-banks walker]

They had made it to her six weeks postpartum and she was ravenous for him by then, but the brief unfuflling releases they had managed during nap time weren't enough so she asked him a date night and giving as he was it was agreed upon. It had taken another almost three weeks to plan between her mother and the others they would need to make the babies safe. In the back of her mind, she had realized what she needed to do but hadn't even meant to make this the night it happened.

She had left him earlier that day going to the salon to get dolled up and her nails also taken care of. Shopping for something special Monica grinned when she found the one thing that screamed ravage me to her in the shop. When they hd met to leave she had spritzed her pulse points with a mix of her own cultured arousal and a scent he seemed to love on her normally. Everything she did tonight was meant to get the welcome back to intimacy she thought they deserved. So as they ate and drank and danced and chatted, she teased. With word and fingers and even her toes under the table. Her body worked against his on the dance floor her lips peppering him with kisses and promises of what would come.

Monica had learned enough of her mate to know how to get him ready quick but tonight was about drawing this out. by the time they reached their room, she saw clearly the hunger in his eyes. Still, she pushed further stripping slow and dancing for him in her new finery The straps left little to the imagination. Crisscrossing her body which was still a little thicker then she was used to post baby. The tiny black lace cups held her barely controlled milk full globes. Watching him stalk her around the large bed as she laughed and kept just out of reach until he finally lunged and snatched her down on top of him. New lingerie that was then quickly destroyed by him had added to the urgent heightened

They rolled, kissed, groped and fought for control. It was then she probably messed up or maybe her instinct took over Having made it on top of him her hands went for his shoulders nails dug in tight and she bit him hard on the mouth his lip trapped in her teeth. the taste of his blood coated her tongue, the growl that followed rolled down her throat as before she could blink he had flipped her onto her belly uncaring of the damage she might do to his lip tearing her away. No warning no hesitation just force as he took her and roughly.

It was then she noticed he felt different and while part of her revelled in it the amount of strange pain she felt with his punishing thrusts was a concern. His hold on her throat from the back left her unable to make to much noise until he came back to himself and that didn't take long, she laid still wiggling as he tended her wounds in a very lionine way. Eventually, she managed to pull away and make it to the bath. Panting hard on the other side of the door and then laughing. It wasn't a fully unhysterical sound but as her body pulsed hard she still tasted him on her lips and felt him faintly elsewhere.

Taking a deep breath, finding some feminine products and the spare panties she kept that hed had given her between making drinks through the door. she finally cracked the door open to look down at him on the floor. Her heart had slowed to normal and she still felt for him as she had before this all had transpired. His fear of her fear of him had as she thought gone unfounded. Monica knew her part in having pushed him so she didnt blaime him at all for what had happend. Tho she had a distinct feeling he might.

[Samuel Banks-Walker]

Touch was such a powerful thing. Coming as he had through the world where touch had also been such a punishing thing. Surviving death more than one should ever have to. And yet he was now on a first name friendship with the concept. Not daring a smile but hopeful the pain caused was not permanent. He inhaled her scent as her body worked to continue the healing his abilities sparked. Rising he handed her a cocktail closing to within a touch. His eyes holding the briefest glimpse of moistness. An easily missed glint and shine.

“Monica…” He began his words stopping of their own volition. The questions dancing in the unspoken space between them. Unasked. The need of their answer easily rectified if she dared touch him. The space between holding so much promise as to be a presence in its own right.

[Monica Davis-banks walker]

She took the drink he offered letting their hands touch and then her other hand reached for his face thumb gathering his tears and bringing her finger to her lips sucking the sadness from them. Hating the unsureity in his tone her confident strong lion. She had done this to him and sighed as she smiling at him and sipped the drink. His paused words swallowed with the chilled alcohol." come hold me while I knit I can feel it already the warmth "

It was a strange feeling this between the ghost of a promise of what might be there. She saw her aura as she looked at her skin in a new way a small hair-thin thread of gold where there hadn't been. It flickered and wavered not solid yet as her body decided what it would do with this new thing they might have. She didn't know how they would escape it this time but her body had done stranger." do I smell any different?"

Her tone curious as she laid atop hs shoulder on top of the rumpled bed. It didn't bother her to be back on it after their moment and she was determined not to let it plague him.

[Samuel Banks-Walker]

Thirteen words and the pall fell away. Thirteen words and aa touch and they were once more back in bd skin touching as much skin as possible. Resting. He was quietly poking at her shields. Testing the edges. He’d been teacher, drill sergeant, angel and demon to so many new lions that he was pensive. There was a feel and he knew that the inciting action was potent enough. Part of his quick and exacting attempt to heal her had been to avert the vast and drastic potential of what they’d shared. Or more specifically what he’d done to her. Holding her sighing he sniffed the corners and roamed his aura vibrating in time to their breathing.

The answer was there and dared not seek it out. He knew the signs. Almost as well as he knew her body. The small increase in unabating warmth. It was negligible. But he knew her body. He knew her warmth and the difference that others wouldn’t notice he did. Her temperature would continue to rise. Her urges would grow. It’d be unbearably hot for her as her body tried fighting off the infection without realizing that it was incubating the very thing it was trying to defeat. The full moon was in twenty-nine days. Twenty-nine days was all they had to prepare her for the hell of her first shift. Her being his Regina. His untrained strong Regina.

The thought of that alone was enough to pull him up short and make him ecstatically happy. He might get his wedding. His wife. " Not yet It will take a few more hours. And at first you are going to want to take more showers and baths. "

[Monica Davis-banks walker]

Drink done she nuzzled him softly her forehead under his chin listening to the rumble of his voice through his chest. Grinning despite her self. Listening to the words she for some reason could taste the truth of them and that made her pause"hmmm"

A shower sounded good as she found her self damp with sweat when moments before she hadn't been. It wasn't painful or like when she was sick but was. It was an oh yeah that what he meant moment but she still clung to him tightly. All together the panties were too much against her skin and she wanted them off almost frantically. Fingers kneading his abdomen absently after she had shredded the spare pair and noticed she hadn't bleed much past the initial moments after.

Swallowing hard she felt her chest get a bit tight" so ..yeah..hot? are you this hot all the time..wow?"

Eyes closing, as she caught on to something she had only seen from the outside. she knw what she had been told talking to those who had been willing to share freely of their shift with her but now she was getting a crah course and it was exciting while at the same time a little off-putting. "I...whew..I know we don't"

her words faltered her mouth now arrid dry her already preternatural nature taking this new thing and running with it it was hard to focus and could hear her own heart beat speed up. Maybe she was in a little trouble, but he would know better than she dd right then.

[Samuel Banks-Walker]

" Yes, yes I am. This is why most lycanthropes infected and born shed clothing so easily and quickly. Lions moreso especially during the summer. It becomes unbearable. Having lived it my whole life I don’t know any other way." He said daring to hold her despite of the spike he felt coming on. The first of many.


He knew her arousal.


Its timing strange yet…


Shaking his head inwardly while remaining very still he arched a brow. Another aspect he and several others had spoken of was the connection to the humanly preternatural that most lycanthropes held. Most lycanthropes especially those infected had some latency or aptitude towards either magic or psychic ability. It was as if the touch of the other helped ease them into the life. He thought over the next twenty nine days. Her symptoms would be nearly impossible to hide. Especially as she wouldn’t have the benefit of being completely absent her first few changes. Most ha the balance of a few wild shifts before they realized their missing time and constantly waking up miles form where they’d gone to sleep. She wouldn’t have that benefit. They couldn’t afford it.

“The bath might help,” He said scooping her into his arms not bothering to seem even remotely human. Those moments were completely gone. He slid into the tub holding her against him as the water filled around them. Nearly dissipating her growing heat. As the water climbed he held her to him. “Marry me.”

[Monica Davis-banks walker]

Hearing him say that this was normal she moaned softly" ohh I.. I see"

Her brain sluggish some and watching his face like he was the most fascinating thing she had ever seen in her life even the brow that said nothing and everything had her rapt. She was lucky to still be working at home she had at least one more month of leave and had been keeping up with most of her caseload without a drop in quality of work save for being able to go out on site. Bash had been far less surprised then she would have liked that she had given birth and needed time away but she supposed he knew things how he always seemed to despite her best effort to keep him out of the loop.

So she would have a month to get her proverbial shit together then come up with a plan to either keep her job as a marshal under the new laws or hand in her resignation and get private sector work. Monica wanted to go as long as she could with her job she knew how to get around testing and since she wasn't "attacked" and would spend no time in the hospital they wouldn't feel the need to run her blood test she had just passed physicals before going on leave in truth and had a year before recerts so despite the fairly large looming possible problem they might just be able to pull this off like they did everything else they worked together on.

As he scooped her into his arms she was limp and dazed the headache she was growing was a bit much and the light even as low and intimate as it was hurt her eyes. She heard him hit the switch putting them into darkness save pale moonlight slivers in the high bathroom windows. The water enveloped and she almost sighed at the slight chill of it leaching the heat from her skin. As she felt him sit her up against him and roused some with the adjustment he shocked her to her core. Looking up at him eyes wide then one narrowed like she was trying to process the words.

This was not how she saw this ever happening there would have been more candles and some wine and food possibly but true to the story that was Sam and Moe things didn't go as planned. She knew she was taking longer then it felt like to answer him but it couldn't be helped. The person she loved most in the world and would do anything for, save their children had asked her to be his forever in truth. She felt it climb up and out of her chest the starting of a giggle, then before she realized she was shaking with her laughter not laughing at him not at all but the situation. eyes wet with tears of both joy and mirth. Trying to cup his face in her wet shaking hands and hold him still even tho she was the one moving. Peppering his mouth and cheeks with kisses" you are absolutely ridiculous with your timing but what person in their right mind who loves you as much as I do every day would say no?"

Sobering some she looked at him again this time tearing up in earnest god her emotions were riotous, nodding again as she sagged against him" yes, yes I will its yes"

[Samuel Banks-Walker]

Time was a fickle mistress. She stretched dilating and distilling moments into what she would have of them. Seconds became hours. Hours a flash of nanoseconds. It moved in accordance with its own will and wiles. Fooling the mind deceiving the heart. Making triumphs of tragedies and heartaches of victories. Time was ever the theif of always and yet the promise of forever. Same breath differing emotions.



He understood why she might say no. He would not fault her for it. It was a lot and in the surface to those bent to see the many evils he did as the whole of him it could be viewed as duplicitous his timing. Feverish dealing with the pain and promises of yet another life change that would link them forever over and exponentially together again. It might in that light, his timing be viewed as dishonest trickery. Though in truth it was so much more the opposite. It was him asking her as nearly human as the day they met or their many trips abroad of New York. It was before the changes and shifting that time would further force a request of the same equally lonely soul as him riding the New York Subway. It was a request and promise asked and made of the same soul that had dared death and worse to protect what they had. It was an honoring of what had come before and hope for what would come after.



Nodding as she answered. Just that unburdening nod. That spoke the volumes of his oft misread silence and stillness. Not the lifeless still of the dead no the still of the hunter deciding on whether it would hazard the chase or wait until the moment had nearly passed, before playing the survival game, the hunt. Holding her more to him he kissed her hard, daring risk more of is natural strength. Soon there would be no holding back. Soon for now and ever they would be so much more physical.



Pulling a hairs breath away from those kissable lips meeting those warm dark orbs forehead to forehead he smiled. Saying as the seconds ticked by, “Tomorrow?”

[Monica Davis-banks walker]

He felt so right under her and against her skin, She looked into his eyes and as he nodded she smiled then the kiss stole her breath. winding her arms around him groaning into his mouth feeling the heat of arousal scorch through her despite what had previously been painful. Swallowing hard as he pulled away but not far panting as he whispered his next question" your a madman..but I don't think I could wait to be your wife any longer either.. let's do it. We call the family have them meet us at the courthouse Ill get a dress you get rings.. we have only who matters there and anyone else can find out later right?"

She knew there would be some not able to make it in time but they could make it up to them and throw a bash of large magnitude later but this was about them and had always been. They were making this promise to each other so to heck with who else might get butthurt. Once she had his agreement she climbed his lap and gave in to her urge to tate him to distract her self from what her body was doing.

[Samuel Banks-Walker]

"In a sane world the madman is king?" Samuel whispered back his agreement. He was all in and not backing away. It was important to him and had been for a very long time. Strangely enough the prospect of having to pay the reaper his pound of flesh for soaring too high was tantalizing. If he had been prone to fantasies he would have envisioned them taking out the world to be together. He was not and so had plans in place to keep the world out of their happiness as long as possible.



Using his foot he removed the stopper as the water reached his chest. Letting the water drain just enough he returned the stopper so as to keep the water near the perfect temperature. He needed it to continue leeching the temp away from them. One of the unspoken was that the heat for hose unaccustomed or unprepared could be sweltering.



“First thing in the morning we’ll go into action but tonight we have a baby-sitter for a few more hours…”

[Monica Davis-banks walker]

Her blush was instant, her smile ready. Letting her hands move easily over him as they indeed had a little while yet unfettered. This time the fevered pitch was non-existent. They could go slow and easy and probably should, Monica was feeling things a bit differently then she had even moments ago her body was sorting itself and it was weird and wonderful.

So it went with them determined to use all the water in the hotel for their tub. Letting out a bit and adding more until her body finally a few hours later calmed and was stable enough for her to not worry as much, then the moved to the bed finally exhausted and sated sometime around sunrise. She slept like the dead, The wake up for check out in an hour woke her hair a mess and groaning softly. Today was the day they needed to get in gear but first breakfast and coffee was a mighty need.

[Samuel Banks-Walker]

He sat at the corner of the bed having slipped from her limbs reluctantly as always. He’d managed a small morning stretch and meditation to center himself. It was more difficult this morning than it had been in years. Well since New Orleans. But as the sun danced at the edge of the horizon line he managed to find that place where man met beast and melded into one synchronous whole.

A wife.

A regina.

A unified whole.

Crawling the length of her to get the phone. Not purposefully attempting to reignite things but definitively not adverse to the notion. “You can sleep a few more minutes if you like…” He didn’t need to mention the breakfast that was on the way she knew him well enough. She also knew the hotel well enough it having hosted them once or twice upon a time before. Their last time here and the oohs and ahhs the breakfast had gotten from her one of his favorite memories of the place.

[Monica Davis-banks walker]

Drifting from sleep to him sliding over her in a not unwelcome manner. She laughed up at him as he held himself aloft and managed to order breakfast and get them ready to get on the way. Eyes half open hands reaching for him to tease along his shoulder so broad and strong and hers. He wasn't overly muscled like his brother but more a boxers build than a weight lifter. It suited him and she found him infinitely attractive, biting gently at his jawline and licking an ear lobe" I cannot sleep because my clock is telling me the babies need to be fed despite the fact they aren't here. I have to pump or put extra milk in your coffee this morning"

Grinning up at him to see what his choice would be, both would suit her just as easily. " Plus I have to call mother to tell her to have Abel grab the outfits from home for the wedding so they can be dressed at her place and delegate so that everyone who can show will be there on time to witness"

Nails playful on his back she was saying all this but had yet to let him move away from her body and its warm with the blanket trapped between them. that was until the door was knocked on and "Room service breakfast has arrived"

[Samuel Banks-Walker]

As she nibbled and teased he returned the favor braced as he was a flex resulted in a soft tap. Then another in time with the trailing of her fingertips.

" There are ways to tire you just enough for a nap and still leave time for everything else." He said as it became its own metronome tap, tap, tap-tap. Keeping time to the growing pulse between them. The inopportune knocking causing a low growl of annoyance at the interruption. The Room attendant would not hear as much but somethings needed to be said.
“It seems I will be drink au lait today.” He said sliding bodily back afro her lingering long enough midway so she could feel his warm breath on her. Moving to the door he slipped on his gloves and wrapped a towel near at hand around his waist. Opening the door just enough that the room attendant could wheel the cart forward but would have to stop as his shoulders were too broad.

As he looked towards Samuel something in his look let it be known this was as far as they would be coming today. Nodding his goodbye Samuel wheeled the cart in the rest of the way and closed the door. “Breakfast first then the fireworks?”