Certain Things

He felt how her arms snaked up his shoulders and around his neck, which only made him pull her even closer, following along with deepening the kiss. It was like all of his emotions were being dragged towards her. Everything was about her. He felt happy, loved and dizzy. It was almost like he only wished to be closer to her. But was it weird now that they only had known each other for an hour or two? Their lips being together in a deep kiss, only made the feeling of being drawn to her increase for every second they kissed and stood this close.
They broke the kiss to get some air, and it almost seemed like Mariella was out for words the way she couldn’t really finish her sentence. The smile on her lips on the other hand told him that it was all in a good manner. “Wonderful?” he breathed out to end her sentence. He truly hoped that it wasn’t going over the line.

She felt his breath trace over her lips after they broke off the kiss, and he finished her sentence from before. "Yeah," she breathed out in a softer giggle. She felt completely hypnotized by him, and for the rest of the evening she was fully under his spell. Even as they had to leave because of the many emotions, the stroll in the park had been a nice change of scenery.


Winther's Tavern & Inn seemed like this secret little love affair. It wasn't because Mariella liked the whole hiding stuff from her family thing, hadn't she learned from last month when she had gotten into the whole fake marriage thing with Mono, that she shouldn't keep stuff from Nigel. But on the other hand, she was also trying to figure out what this was, and it had only been a week. Letting her have this to herself and figuring out what it was, she he could understand that. Tomorrow was the full moon and she was always home then, because they never were sure when it was a full moon. The morning sun danced over her naked back only half covered by the blanket. She always woke up with the sun usually, and her inner clock made her wake up a little earlier, not that she minded it meant that she could spend a little extra time looking how peaceful he looked while sleeping. It was around seven by now and she had been awake for a little while.

Since Henry had first met Mariella, things had gotten quite fast. He had managed to find a proper place to sleep, instead of just sleeping in his car where some things just weren’t as easy as in a room. He had stayed at the Inn for a couple of days and Mariella had stayed the night. It had been wonderful night. Peaceful even. He laid on his back with half of his torso and one leg out of the covers feeling a little too hot. After all it had been an intimate night and it was soon getting to the late summer month. One arm was swung over his head lazily, once again to feel a little colder.
There was something about laying next to Mariella. He could hear her heartbeat and how her breathing changed depending on which way she was laying and for a while now, she had been laying with her face towards him, seemingly watching him sleep. How did he know that she wasn’t just sleeping? Her heartbeat was slightly more rapid that when she first had fallen asleep. “You’re staring at me,” he mumbled, still with closed eyes, “While I’m sleeping.”

The firefairy let her eyes trace over his features, just taking in how he felt why sleeping, but without scanning him for emotions and thoughts too much. Not that she really could help it much. Luckily, she had also tried to explain her powers to him at least up to a point. She hated the thought of someone being too scared of her knowing what they didn't want said. Mariella chuckled a bit as he mumbled, making her chuckle a little bit by how he continued his sentence, making her chuckle a little bit.  "I'm gazing," she licked her lips a little bit, turning her front towards him, shaking her head a little bit while a soft laughter left her lips. Mariella taking a deeper breath in, keeping her eyes at him. She felt peaceful and happy. It was insane how hard she had fallen for him, it was unlike anything she ever had felt before, and while it should scare her a bit - and it did, she was also overly intrigued by it. Love was a dangerous battlefield, but if her family could do it, so could she, right? Mariella just wanted to be in this little bobble of joy that was theirs, there was nothing wrong with that, right?

Her chuckle put a warm cloth around his heart, melting him carefully. She was so gentle and yet spontaneous enough to take risks. A little curl appeared on his mouth in a little smile. She made him so very happy. “It’s creepy” he said and popped one eye open to watch how she moved around, laying on her side. The sun framed her half-covered body beautifully and gave it and her hair a magical fiery shine. It was incredible how one could be lucky enough to meet someone they would want to spend the rest of their life with. Knowing that it was love. Knowing that another female’s name was written on his collarbone. He only cared for Mariella romantically. She and Danica were the only important people to Henry. It was incredible what Henry already was ready to do for Mariella in case of danger. He wished for her to be safe.

His happiness was warming her heart even more, making her heart sing. Mariella giggled a little bit when he said it was creepy, narrowing her eyes a little bit teasingly. "It's romantic," she corrected him, shaking her head at him. Mariella drew a slightly deeper breath in. Yes, there was the whole having another woman's name on his collarbone that wasn't really the most appealing thing in the world, but it was easily forgotten as her emotions clearly looked past it. Besides, she still just wanted to live in the moment, and getting addicted to this kind of happiness was dangerous - she knew that, oh she knew, but she felt so safe next to him. It was another kind of safe than she was used to, and perhaps it was the feeling she had longed for the most. To feel home in someone's arms, to be loved. And she couldn't stop thinking about him, so much it drove her crazy. Alison had even asked what was on her mind while working the other day. So to know, that he also thought about her, it was really anything she could ask for wasn't it?

Her word rang in his head. It’s romantic to stare – no gaze. The way she had narrowed her eyes made it clear that she was trying to tease him and it worked oh so perfectly spreading butterflies under his ribcage and making his cheeks burn just a little. The hand over his head grabbed onto his pillow to cover his face for a second. He then lifted it a little to glance at her from under the pillow before he rolled over and framed her with his limps. “So, this is romantic too?” he asked with a wide teethy smile before he kissed her cheek going down to her jaw and onto her neck, trying to tickle her just a little by nibling kindly in her skin and letting his morning stubbles touch her delicate, light skin. He felt so light and loved around her, as if something that had been missing was finally put in its place. Though, there was a quite grand chance that it was the wolf in him who had chosen her as his mate. Someone who he as supposed to spend the rest of his life with. On the other hand, he knew that there was another name written on his collarbone which his witch part in him had chosen for him to spend the rest of his life with. As of right now, he wasn’t that worried about the whole situation, because he had lived for so many years without a mate, and now, Mariella had kindly been tagged by the wolf. There was no way he was going to easily find this Alexandra and even if he did, he was almost certain that nothing would be stronger than the love he felt for Mariella already. It had been dangerously quick they had clicked together.

The way he grabbed onto this pillow and then covered his face, made her lift her head a little bit, while pressing her brows together, pretending to be made about it. Mariella narrowed her eyes a little bit as he lifted the pillow just enough to get a small glance at her. She raised her brow slightly teasingly. Then he felt his lips against her cheek, then on her neck, making her laugh as he nibbled her skin. Every single trace of emotion was like absorbed through her skin, making every single even more blissful than the last. Feeling whole and like she could take on the world, it was rare, but she felt like that around him. "It might -" she giggled softly. Well, she believed in love. She believed love suddenly being at your feet and you couldn't anything but fall madly in love - she had seen it happen. Mariella still recalled the day Nigel had found Irina in the woods and given her shelter for the night, even if they had taken months to actually just be bloody honest with one each other - okay mostly because other things being in the way, but still. It was something she had watched blossom into something beautiful. She hadn't even known Maya for long, but she knew how she felt, and watching her find love as well - it was beautiful. Every single little story in her family had made her want her own. And here she had it, and she was somewhat excited to break the bobble and actually tell about it. But she also knew it meant a longer process by calling the fake engagement off with Mono, but she was just happy that they hadn't gotten married yet. Then again, she knew a 'I told you so', was in the nearest future from Nigel. "So, what are we going to do on a lovely Friday like this one?" She asked a bit teasingly before a sweet laughter left her lips.

Henry stretched his arms, so his body was further away from hers. He gasped a little, as if he was shocked that she told him that him hovering over her might be romantic. He knew it very well to be that, but he thought it was funny acting upon it being something crazy to say. But after a little while, with his mouth slightly open by the surprise, she asked a question. What should they do today? He closed his mouth and smiled a little. “I actually have something for you,” he said softly before eh gave her a quick kiss and stood up. He corrected his underpants a little and moved over to his jacket which had been tossed over a stool as they had gotten over here by the evening. In his pocket he searched for a little box. He took it up and moved towards her, “Don’t get worried, I’m not asking for your hand,” he said even though he knew to himself that one day he would like to marry. He sat down on the edge of the bed and handed her the orange box. It was a simple necklace box with a brown and blue stone in it. As soon as she opened it, he waited a little for a reaction before he would describe it and how it was special. “It’s nothing grand, but I’ve put some magic energy into it, so it should weaken your power… Or well, the intention was to make it easier for you to be around the people you care about the most, without being swayed by their emotions,” he said smiling softly at her, wondering if she wished to try it already or not.

She scrunched her nose a little bit teasingly to his gasp as he still was hovering over her. Mariella still wondered if they were doing anything today, after all she did have today and the weekend off. But she knew she was going to be with her family over the weekend, it was also just Nigel having gone into protector mode after the whole thing with Bratva might being coming for Irina - not that she blamed him, there was also a child in the household, and Mariella had put it to her duty to keep Mila from all the dramatic things in their lives. And full moons, even if Irina was a master in self control - they never really couldn't know for sure, and not with all the werewolves down the street. Mariella raised her brows a little as he mentioned that he had something for her, "oh really?" she replied just before she quickly felt his lips upon hers and stood up. Mariella lifted herself up on her elbows, watching him as he moved over to his jacket. She sat up, running her left hand through the wavy red hair.

The firefairy pressed her brows together a bit as he found a little box and walked back towards her. She breathed a little out when he told her not to get worried, as he sat down by the edge of the bed, handing her the box. Mariella narrowed her eyes a little bit pretending to be suspicious, but couldn't really remove the smile from her lips. She moved her legs so she sat in a tailor position still with the duvet over her legs. Mariella opened the box, and took out the necklace, holding it a little up letting her eyes fall upon the stone. Her smile grew a little bigger, as she looked towards him shortly then listening to him what it was for. She frowned for a short second. He had put magic in it to tune her powers a little down, which made her breath out - it would make family dinners easier, work easier. "Its beautiful, thank you," she put the necklace down in her other hand before leaning over to him, placing a soft short kiss on his lips and sat back. "Do you mind?" She asked handing it to him, moving her legs out of the tailor position, to a mermaid position, and turned a little around so her back was towards him. Mariella moved her hair over her right shoulder, and took a smaller breath in.

Henry watched how she looked at the necklace and then at him as he explained the purpose of the necklace, pulling a little more on a smile. He truly adored her. “You’re welcome,” he said softly against her lips after she had kissed him. There was nothing which could take the smile away from his lips as long as he was with her. He looked at her with slightly raised brows as she asked if he minded. “Oh, yeah sure,” he said pulling on a smile taking the necklace and waiting for her to get into the position she wished to be in before he leaned close and moved the necklace over her head to lock it in the back of her neck. As it was locked he let his hands stroke down from her neck to her shoulders and down her arms. He leaned a little forward so he could look at her, “How does it feel?” he wondered, not knowing if there was that much to conceal from right now.



Can we meet at Winther’s when you’re off work?

Henry sat in his room and waited for Mariella to arrive. He had been a little too M.I.A. for his liking. Whenever they had been texting, he hadn’t replied as happily as usual. Things had been so difficult and complicated ever since he had met Alexandra, his mate, almost two weeks ago. It was complicated to have both girls roaming his mind, especially after Lexie and he had tested the waters. It had felt so electric, lifegiving and magical that he was afraid he didn’t have the same feelings as he used to. He still wished to be with Mariella by all of his heart, even though Alexandra pulled him slowly in the other direction, making it difficult to be in a sane mind.
He heard knock on the door, and he hurried to go and open up. He had a soft smile on his lips. “Hi,” he said, wanting to pull her into a hug. Wondering if it felt the same. God, he felt awful.

How did it feel, she felt the magic slowly influence her. Like she could feel it first like a tickle rushing over her. But then, it was like so many things just went silent. Like the didn't feel so much as she was used so. It was almost a little too quiet for her liking, but she still could feel it. It wasn't completely gone, which was good, she liked knowing when things were off about others, knowing when she could help. It came with having the power since forever, there was never just quiet. "It's weird, but alright," she replied moving her hand up letting her fingers trace over the stone. It was something she would have to get used to.


Oh, now he wanted to meet up. Mariella sighed, everything had been a little off since Yesterday, everything with Matthew being back in down. Selene had gotten some information from the guy before he had met his death, and Maya had tracked down other information they could use. Mariella had been thankful for the stone in her necklace still filled with enough magic to keep her overly emotional with all the worry that was filled up in the room. Then again, taking it off and disguising herself from how she felt - that was another thing she was good at. Mariella had perhaps looked a little stressed, but it could easily be excused by everyone's worry. Then she borrowed one of the trucks and drove off, needing to clear her mind. Which wasn't really a lie. Mariella still had the necklace on as she parked the car, and went to the room and knocked on the door. She was worried, for more than one reason.

He opened the door, making her breath out the second she had her eyes on his. "Hi?" She raised her brow a little bit. Mariella took a deeper breath in while shaking her head, she was going to need a bit more than just a soft hi, to understand why he had been so out of reach. "Where have you been?" She asked before pulling him into a hug, just holding him tight for a moment. "I was worried about you."

A lump of guilt formed in his throat as she repeated his greeting before she pulled him into a hug quite worried. He let his arms wrap around her, having missed her presence, even though things seemed to be off. “I’m sorry,” he said softly, “Please, come in,” he said even though the thought of explaining everything was killing him. “I’ll explain everything,” he continued and would close the door behind her. He rubbed his forehead a little trying to gain a little confidence for the conversation, “I met her,” he exhaled and put his arms down along his side and into his pockets. “I met Alexandra,” he said and shrugged not really knowing what he should do or say, “A-and I don’t know what to do,” he said and looked directly at her, “Because I really want this,” he said and gestured to Mariella and Henry’s relationship. “I-I… I just don’t know if I can,” he elaborated. And there it was. He had pulled the band aid of and just hoped that she would give it a chance. He felt like he was ready to say goodbye to Alexandra forever and just be with Mariella – if Mariella just would forgive him for being so absent and let him back in.

He would explain everything, why was it that that sentence made her realize it wasn't any good. Mariella was used to people being rather straight forward with their points, herself was one of these people as well. She appreciated when people were honest, even if the truth hurt. She walked inside the room, closing her arms around herself almost like she waited for the bomb to drop, but this time, she was used to bombs dropping. She hadn't even had time to explain how crazy this month had been so far, and why she perhaps had been a bit distant, but it suddenly didn't matter. He had met her. Mariella took a sharper breath in, he had met Alexandra. The name of the woman written on his collarbone. Mariella felt like all air was knocked out of her system for a moment as she helt her breath. She moved her eyes away from him, placing her hands on her hips as she looked up, taking in what he said to her. It explained why he had been distant. She didn't say a thing first, she just listened, listened to how he elaborated on everything. Saying he wanted this, what they had, not knowing what do to. She closed her eyes for a moment and drew a sharper breath in, before finally opening her eyes and turned her eyes to him. Was there even a fighting this? How had he even managed to fight the meeting, standing her with her and not this other woman?

Mariella took a deeper breath in once again, feeling like she was falling none stop. He was half witch, she knew that, he knew that. Mariella wasn't a sceptic, she believed in the stuff made of fairytales. Mariella walked closer to him, reaching for his hands as she took a deeper breath in. Maybe they could fight it, he hadn't bonded with this person yet, he had made it away from her. So, maybe there was a chance. If there was a part of him that wasn't the witch, that didn't want whatever the witch part craved. The question was if she was enough? Mariella looked into his eyes, because she wanted to put in a fight, she knew how she felt and if he wanted to fight, she would fight this with him, to be with him. He didn't know if he could, making her lick her lips a bit looking down at their hands for a second. "If you want to fight for this, I will fight for you, for us, for the chance of us being together. But I can only do that if we do it together," she took a sharper breath in.

She listened, and he could see that everything he said hurt her. It was difficult, he knew that. That was why he really had needed to speak with her. He had to figure everything out, even though he was quite sure he had made up his mind. He wanted Mariella. His heart belonged to her, and no one else. That was what the wolf told him. No one could replace her.
She took her hands. There was no spark of energy. But it had to be there. Somewhere. He looked up into her beautiful eyes, hoping that something would ignite, that the wolf within him was stronger than anything else within in. She licked her lips and looked at their hands for a moment and for that second, he felt like he had lost, but as soon as she looked back up, a warm feeling spread in his chest. Hope. There was hope. A smile spread over his lips as she explained that she wanted to do this. Do it together. “I want to fight for this,” he said determined pulling on a pained smile, because he already knew that it would be difficult. There was no pleasurable electricity when he touched her. She didn’t make him feel stronger like Lexie did. “I want this,” he said and put her hands on his hips before he placed his hands on each of her cheeks. No ignition. He leaned down and placed a kiss on her. It felt empty. Meaningless. Like betrayal. He didn’t want to admit to it and tried to deepen the kiss, making it more passionate. But it only hurt him more. It was like everything was gone. The fire was out. He broke the kiss to breathe, but he could feel that he was too weak for this and softly let go of her, “I’m so sorry,” he said with a pained breath and shook his head, “I-I can't do this”.

She nodded to him and took a deeper breath in when he said that he wanted to fight this. Mariella didn't do easy either way, easy wasn't for her and perhaps she had become addicted to this losing game already. She hadn't met many people who ever had made her feel loved like he had, it was just like she knew there was an ending, but it wasn't there yet. There was still pages left of their story, this couldn't be the ending now. Mariella took a deeper breath in, and let her rest her hands on his hips, as she felt his hands on her cheeks. The kiss was different, there was something missing but she couldn't explain what it was, and for right now she didn't care. It would be difficult, she knew that. Him having said he wanted this, she had to believe it was true, she believed him when he told her that. But even after the kiss deepened he broke it off softly, she could tell something was wrong by looking at him. Him apologizing making her shake her head a little bit, it was alright. For a moment she thought about taking off the necklace to figure out how he deeply felt, because there was more to it. I can't do this, perpaps there wasn't. Mariella took a deeper breath in and licked her lips a little bit, once again wrapping her arms around herself. "Don't give up just yet, no one has said it would be easy," he had just said he wanted to fight. This wasn't fighting. Mariella wasn't a witch, she didn't understand mates. She didn't at this moment want to understand them, she just wanted to be with him.

"We will figure it out okay? One step at the time, I'm not just going to give up, okay?" Mariella took a sharper breath in and then a small step closer towards him, keeping her eyes locked with his. This couldn't be the end of their story. She didn't want this to be the end.

She removed her hands again, and he felt even colder. Maybe there was something there, but he just had to dig deep enough to find it. She hugged herself and he felt so sorry for what he had just done. Saying he couldn’t. He could, he just needed to fight. “I know,” he said softly and let his hands let go of her cheeks to slowly run down along her arms until there was nothing left to hold onto. He had to fight, just like he had done so many times before. He had to fight to get what he wanted. He nodded a little. “Yeah, I just,” he licked his lips and let his hands find their way to hips wanting to hold her even closer. “It’s really tough,” he said and let his forehead rest on hers. This at least calmed him a little. There was no spark between their skin, but he could feel the wolf within him getting comfortable. “I love you,” he said and let one hand find its way to her cheek again caressing it a bit, “Don’t you ever doubt that,” he wanted to assure her, that even though their relationship had only been though a couple of weeks, he had never felt something like how it was when he was with her. It had been magical, and he wished that it had never ended. His feelings had been true, and it had been incredible how quickly he had fallen for her. As a grown old man, one would think that he wouldn’t be falling that quickly – but he had. “Promise me,” he said softly. Maybe the first step was just to be with her. Maybe his wolf just had to recover from the strong hit from the witch. To get back on top

She felt the trace of his hands on her arms, like he was soothing himself. Mariella couldn't imagine it being easy on him, and she wished there was something she could do to make it easier for him. If this was what he wanted, she wanted to fight, he said it himself he wanted this. Even if it was tough. I love you, she took a sharper breath in and folded her lips a little bit. It was weird to hear. Like she knew her brother loved her, her family loved her, but hearing someone from outside the family say it. No, she hadn't experienced that before. She didn't want to lose him. Mariella took a deeper breath in feeling how his hand once again caressed her cheek a bit. Saying she wasn't to doubt his words, making her lips split a little bit, she didn't know what to say. What she had felt over the short time they had spend together was not to be compared with anything else she had ever felt before, and she didn't want to replace it with anyone or anything else. Not now or ever.  Mariella took another and sharper breath in as he said to promise her, making her heart skip a beat. "I promise," she replied softly looking into his eyes.

Mariella wasn't going to rush him into anything, she wanted to let him have time to built up the strength for the battle ahead. She could not imagine it was anything but hard for him, if he was resisting his witch part. Mariella had always been glad to be a fairy, she wasn't bound to a mate like the witches. But she got the idea to get a few board games and bought a few bottles of wine. So the rest of the day, they could just be in their room playing whatever game she had found and drink the wine. And talk, just be.