Aurora crossed the room to him and he remained kneeling on the furs she had laid on the floor, looking up at her, his soft expression and the need she could feel in him calling out to her. She placed the fur in her arms around his broad shoulders and then wrapped her arms around his head and held it to her stomach.

She looked down at him and ran her fingers through his pale silvery hair.

He was incredibly powerful, yet amazingly tender, and every inch of her warmed as he wrapped his arms around her and held onto her, his breathing slow and steady, his cheek against her belly and his eyes closed.

Calm flowed through him for the first time in hours and she realised that he needed this.

He needed to feel her arms around him. He needed her to show him affection. It wasn't her blood that had helped him maintain better control over his bloodlust these past few days.

It was just her.

Her presence in his life.

She stroked his hair, her gaze locked on him, studying his noble but wild beauty. If it was her affection that gave him reason to fight his bloodlust and perhaps made him dare to dream of overcoming it, then she would give him all of it, and none of it would be a lie.

Did that mean she was falling for him?

She had seen mortals fall in love, and others too, such as the vampires at Snow's theatre.

She had never understood what they were feeling until now though. She felt desperate and scared, happy yet sad at the same time, warm and freezing cold. She had an urge to cling to Snow and keep him here with her forever, hiding from the world, just the two of them.

Whenever Snow spoke of death or looked as though he would still accept that fate, she grew angry and wanted to shout at him and make him take back his words and change his mind.

"What are you thinking, Aurora?" Snow whispered and moved to press a kiss to her stomach. He tipped his head back and she cupped his cheeks and looked down into his eyes. Her noble, beautiful vampire.

Her heart pounded hard.

"I think I am falling in love with you." She spoke those words quietly but they were loud in the room, as if she had shouted them at the top of her lungs.

Snow stared at her, his pale blue eyes wide, filled with the shock she could feel in his trembling body beneath her hands.

"Aurora," Snow whispered and then he was on his feet, drawing her close to him, enfolding her in his strong arms and kissing her so sweetly that it brought tears to her eyes.

She didn't want this to end, and if she had her way, it wouldn't.

She had never feared anything in her life as much as she feared the end of these days with Snow, and she would give anything for just one more day with him, one more day spent in these arms that held her gently and kissing these lips that made her feel alive for the first time in her life.

Tears rose unbidden and she quietly sniffed them back, not wanting to ruin this moment, desperate for it to be a perfect memory for both of them.

They both needed this.

Snow sighed against her lips and pulled away. His large hand cupped her jaw and tilted her head back, so her eyes met his.

"You are not only thinking you are foolishly falling for me... you think sorrowful things too." He stroked her cheek with his thumb, the caress tender and soft, stripping away her defences and leaving her powerless to resist him.

She nodded, needing to confess all because it was the only way she would feel better. She didn't want to hide anything from Snow, not anymore. He deserved to know everything and she would answer any question he posed.

Snow brushed a kiss across her brow and lingered there, his lips resting gently against her forehead.

"Aurora... what happens if you judge me wrongly? Will there be a consequence?" The wary edge to his tone told her that he suspected he knew the answer to those questions and feared posing them for that reason.

"I would lose my soul and be cast into Hell, and there I would likely die."

"This is your only chance to redeem yourself?" He drew away and frowned down into her eyes. She nodded and then shook her head, because she honestly wasn't sure whether it would be her final shot at redemption.

"My master gave me this mission as punishment for my sins... but I think perhaps he also did it because he could see I harboured feelings for you."

"He gave it to you because he is a sick individual and he needs to be put down," Snow growled and she placed her hand over his mouth, stopping him from saying more.

She feared that if he spoke foul things about her master that he would come to them to punish Snow and take her away. She didn't want to lose a minute with Snow. Not a second.

"If my verdict is that I believe you able to function in society without endangering anyone because of your bloodlust, and I believe that is the only reason you would prove a danger to a mortal, and I can give evidence to back up my verdict, then my superiors have no reason to harm you or go against my decision."

Snow took her hand away from his mouth. "What if you can't give them solid evidence?"

She swallowed hard. She didn't want to think about that. She didn't want to think about any of this.

"Snow?" she whispered, holding his gaze, hoping he could see in it that this subject pained her and she needed to forget about her mission, her master, and her home.

"Kiss you again?" he said with a wide smile, reading her mind.

She nodded and he gathered her back into his arms and slowly dipped his head towards her. She tiptoed and met him halfway, kissing him softly, drawing out each brush of their lips, savouring the way it lightened her insides and took her pain away.

Aurora didn't stop him when he laid her down on the furs in front of the crackling fire. The heat of it and his touch chased away the last remnants of chill from her heart.

He leaned over her, his body resting half on hers and half on the furs beside her, and continued to slowly kiss her, as if he savoured this moment too. His tongue brushed hers, causing it to tingle and a moan to slip free of her lips.

He did it again, sweeping his tongue along hers, and then kissed her more deeply, fusing their mouths together in a way that stirred the passion that always ran as an undercurrent through her veins whenever she was near him.

He stroked her hair, brushing his fingers through it as he kissed her, the aggressive edge to it at odds with his gentle caress. She melted beneath him, needing more and aching for him to make her forget everything in the heat of the moment. She wanted to lose herself in him and their mutual desire.

She skimmed her hands down his thickly muscled arms.

The soft material of his black jumper clung to the delicious curves, emphasising them and causing a fierce ache to see him nude again. She would never tire of it, not even after a million years with him.

He had a godly form, powerful and masculine, a warrior made flesh.

She ached to lick every inch of him and worship his body as he had worshipped hers.

Snow grunted when she grabbed his shoulder and rolled him onto his back. She shamelessly settled herself astride his hips, feeling him growing hard in his black jeans.

His hands claimed her waist, burning her flesh through her white dress, teasing her with a brief flash of his strength as he ran them upwards. His thumbs and fingers pressed into her stomach and back, and then he brought his hands around and cupped her breasts. She moaned and bit her lower lip, her eyelids falling to half-mast as pleasure ran through her blood, igniting it and making her burn hotter for him.

He thumbed her nipples and she closed her eyes, groaned and thrust her breasts into his palms. She needed him skin-to-skin with her.

He was distracting her, throwing her off her mission to get him naked.

Aurora caught his wrists, leaned forwards, and pinned them above his head on the furs. His breathing quickened and she stared down at him. The sight of him beneath her, held at her mercy, sent a liquid rush of heat through her that pooled in her belly.

The edge of panic in his eyes subsided and he craned his neck and captured her lips, kissing her fiercely.

Each rough meeting of their mouths and the dominant thrust of his tongue sent new heat through her, shooting her temperature up another degree, until she was kissing him as hungrily as he was her, fighting him for control.

He moaned and ground his hips, his hard bulge stealing her focus as it rubbed her in just the right place to have tingles arcing down her thighs. He was cheating. She still wasn't used to this and he was using his knowledge of that to his advantage, distracting her with the blissful feel of him between her thighs.

Aurora rocked her hips against him, seeking more pleasure.

Snow rolled her onto her back and had her hands pinned to the furs before she had finished one thrust. He flexed above her, driving his hips against hers and tearing a throaty moan from her. She arched into him, unable to control herself, lost to her desire.

He kissed her even harder than before, stealing her breath away and making her dizzy. The fire crackled, its heat nothing compared to the inferno burning inside her. She rubbed herself against Snow, hungry for more of him.

She was meant to be getting him naked.

Aurora evaded his mouth and twisted free of his grip, surprised by how easy it was to escape him until she caught the warmth shining in his blue eyes.

He didn't want to hurt her.

He cared about her too.

She wasn't the only one falling in love and judging by the nervous shimmer that had been in his eyes almost constantly since he had first seen her several days ago, she wasn't the only one feeling scared by the thought of losing her heart to someone.

She wanted to kiss him again and show him that she was here with him, sharing this moment, experiencing the same confusing combination of fear and happiness. She couldn't afford the distraction though. Not right now. She would kiss him when he was naked.

Aurora caught the hem of his jumper and his t-shirt at the same time, not wanting to waste precious time by removing them one after the other.

She pulled both garments up and sighed as the tightly packed muscles of his stomach came into view. She slowed, filled with a desire to take her time now, inching his tops up and gradually revealing his incredible body to her hungry eyes.

Snow moved to kneel between her thighs and she sat up, unwilling to release his clothing in case he pulled it back down again. The fire was warm enough to keep the chill off his skin. Surely, he wouldn't deny her? If he did, she would fight him on it.

A smile curved his sensual mouth, placing a wicked glint in his eyes.

He grabbed the hem of his jumper and t-shirt and pulled them both up over his chest and then off.

Beautiful.

It was wrong of her to want to run her tongue along the valleys and over the ridges of each honed muscle, delighting in their perfection and power.

He tossed his tops onto the floor on the other side of her to the fire and she barely bit back her sigh as his muscles shifted and bunched, flexing in a way that made her shivery and hot.

He leaned down on all fours, resting on his knuckles, and stalked towards her, crawling up the length of her body and forcing her to lie down on the furs again. Her pulse raced, blood rushing, spreading the achy shivers through her body until it cried out for him to touch it.

He stopped above her, his hands close to her ribs, and stared down at her. Tormenting her.

She wriggled beneath him, rubbing her inner thighs up and down his jeans-clad legs, and stroked her fingertips down his chest. His breathing hitched as she swirled one finger around the hollow of his navel and then continued downwards. Two could play at teasing.

She brushed her palm over the heavy bulge in his jeans and his eyes rolled back, a groan leaving him as a sigh.

Aurora flipped him onto his back again and this time he didn't fight her. He lay beneath her and she seized her chance. She leaned over him and explored his torso with her hands, skimming them over the ridges of his stomach and then his broad pectorals, leaving streaks of dazzling colour on his skin.

His gaze followed her caress, a smile tugging at his lips. He liked it when she left colours on him. He liked to know he was stirring her feelings until they overwhelmed her.

She followed her hands with her mouth, kissing him all over, tasting the masculine spice of his skin. He chuckled when she swirled her tongue around one of his dark pebbled nipples. She didn't react like that when he did the same thing to her. Perhaps it wasn't the same for a male.

She tweaked both of them at the same time and earned a husky growl for her efforts, noted he preferred rough to gentle when it came to his nipples, and kissed down the centre of his torso.

He tensed when she didn't stop at his navel. She ran her tongue around it and tackled his jeans at the same time, undoing his belt and then the buttons, casually grazing her hand over the bulge they encased from time to time to tease him.

He groaned and pushed his hips towards her. Aurora finished with his buttons, caught both his jeans and his underwear, and pulled them down to his knees. Her eyes fixed on his hard cock, her mind leaping back to their last intimate moment when she had kissed and sucked him. She wanted to do that again.

She shuffled back up the length of him and licked him from root to tip.

Snow threw his hands above his head, arched his back, and groaned.

Aurora moaned too.

She had never seen anything as delicious as the sight of Snow bowing off the furs, his face a picture of pleasure, his naked body hard and tensed. A hot flood of arousal pooled in her knickers and she wanted to tear them off and impale herself on him right that moment.

She forced herself to lick him again instead. He jerked in response and his breathing roughened, his arms tensing as he clutched the furs beneath him, his powerful body rippling and delighting her.

"Aurora," he whispered, hoarse and hungry, his passion-drenched voice the most beautiful sound she had ever heard.

She wanted to draw this out but needed him too much and could sense he needed her just as urgently.

Aurora sat back and Snow's eyes flicked open, red ringing them now. They locked on her, dark with the hunger she had heard in his voice, silently commanding her. She obeyed, stripping off her dress and shimmying out of her knickers. She tossed her clothes on top of his jumper and t-shirt, and crawled up the length of him.

He reached for her and she took hold of one of his hands, lacing their fingers together. Snow lowered his other hand between them and positioned his hard length at her entrance.

She moaned as she inched down onto him and he took his hand away, seizing her other one. She grasped his hands and tried to keep her eyes open as she took him into her body, as deep as he could go, stretching and filling her completely.

He moaned and swallowed hard, and stared into her eyes.

Aurora set a slow pace, too lost in his eyes to move faster, absorbing the beautiful look in them. All of his emotions played across his face, none of them hidden from her, and she knew hers were on display too. She rocked against him, long gentle strokes that made her ache and shiver, and heightened everything she was feeling.

Snow began to move beneath her, his thrusts countering hers, taking her higher, until she was soaring and her feelings were running out of control, wild and untamed, like the male inside her.

She stared down into his eyes, feeling the connection blossom between them, awed by the depth of it and the beauty. She shivered, holding onto his hands more tightly now, afraid that she would float away if he let go of her.

He kept their pace unhurried, drawing almost all the way out of her before sinking back in, flooding her body with pleasure more intense than any she had felt before. His hands shook against hers and she arched her back, tightening around his hard length, drawing even more pleasure from the feel of him moving inside her.

Snow's heavy-lidded gaze held hers and she wondered if she looked as satisfied as he did, as though she had found her true heaven and never wanted to leave.

She tried to hold on, wanted to cling to this and make it last forever, even as her body began to tighten around his, clutching him, drawing him deeper into her. His fingers pressed into the backs of her hands and he thrust deeper, as though sensing her need and how close she was to shattering.

It came upon her in a blinding flash that ignited the whole of her body and made her gasp in pleasure, unable to breathe as the intensity of it overwhelmed her and carried her higher.

Fire and lightning spread through her and she trembled, lost in the ecstasy and the feelings that burned in her heart, the bliss and the pleasure, the love and the connection.

Snow pumped her slowly, drawing out her climax, intensifying her pleasure, and then his grip on her tightened and he moved faster, thrusting deeper and harder, losing himself to his own ecstasy. He grunted and jerked his hips up, seating himself as deeply as he could go and spilling himself in her with heavy throbs.