(Continued flashback from Beasts of Kurayo thread)

Ever since Ayla’s rather rude and abrupt leave, Ivan had waited for days for her to come back home. Every hour, he would rush over to find either Celeste or Nemesis to see if she had returned. His patriarch, though, was becoming quickly short-tempered with him as he continued this childish act until he more or less furious enough to toss Ivan on his ass out the door and told him to look for her. He didn’t possibly think that she would return to Haza but when he couldn’t find her anywhere, he knew that she must have…

The journey took even longer than usual as the seas became more restless and the storms more frequent. When his ship made it to shore, he was quick on his feet to head to her little house, after making a couple of stops along the way. Soon he arrived at the familiar sight of her porch and knocked only a few times before getting on both his knees. In his mouth laid a single rose which he held onto the stem by his teeth. In his hands were a bouquet of flowers ready to present to her.

“My sweet Ayla”, he started to sing to her, albeit in a bad tone, “Come back home. Come back home with…meeeeeeeeee!” Ivan wasn’t familiar with the term “tone deaf” yet but he was certainly looking forward to her to stop with that stubbornness of hers and listen to reason, which was him of course. “Come back home to meeeeee!”

Once the singing stopped, he got back on his feet and gave her the flowers. “So, you ready to head back now? Running back here was a bit silly, wasn’t it? You are a Volkov, meant for grander things.” He flashed his signature smile at her, waiting for the cue of her gathering her stuff and heading back to Kurayo with him.

That hadn’t been the deal, had it? She said she would go with him and become a Vaewolf but she had no intentions of actually staying with him. Ivan was annoying at best. At worst he was a god damn hurricane. She tried to pick back up the pieces of the life she had seemingly left behind. Her eye color changed back but her smell… People were quick to pick up on it. She was stronger than they were for the most part and it only took a spar or two to make them regret picking a fight with her.

When the knock on the door occurred she took a long drawn out sigh. “Great.” Here they went again. Opening the door her honey eyes looked down into his. It was a sad sight to see honestly. “You need to be quiet Ivan.” Ayla was quick to put her hand over his lips. He had already pissed the locals off more than she cared for.

She lowered her hand and he spoke to her. “No, the deal was only to become a Vaewolf was it not? What I do is up to me and Kurayo can be a bit sulky at times.” She watched the smile and shook her head while she wandered back into the house. “Come on.” She had to at least let him in before he did something stupid. “You can stay here but you are leaving soon…”

Kicking him to a little couch like bench she was quick to shut the door and meander off to the other side of the house. She had been intimate with him enough… The pull to him was hard to fight but she did it because she had no attachments to him otherwise.

In the morning, she avoided him completely and headed into town. It was her surprise that the butchery had figured out that numbers worked best on a person like her. She was jumped and beaten to a pulp. They wanted Ivan gone and while she had fought off most of them eventually she had been overtaken. They let her go as a warning for Ivan. Slamming the door open she huffed a bit as she slammed her things down. “You need to leave.” There were tears in her eyes but only because her pride was hurt.

When the door finally opened, Ivan was about to greet her when her hand clamped down on his mouth while he attempted to mutter to her. She released him after a bit and his mouth still went on like clockwork, “Dear, you have read between the lines of the fine print. Of course, you were going to be with me. After all, I’m your sire. Who’s ever heard of a rogue Volkov?” He looked left, then right, then left again before looking towards her. “There aren’t any because I’m sent to kill them. Now, don’t be acting all silly and come back.” He didn’t see why she was being so damn difficult, but if he had to work her nerves once more then so be it.

“Ayla…” He whined her name before she brought him inside the house. “Oooh, I get to come inside? I knew you couldn’t resist my charms” He licked his hand and slicked his hair back but she had other plans for him. “Hey!” The poor fool found himself on a bench while she went off, likely to her own room. Frowning, Ivan shrugged before he curling up on the bench and falling asleep. He was sure that in the morning, he would be able to change her mind and have her come back to Kurayo with him.

Unfortunately, he had overslept and missed her completely by the time he woke up. “Ah, crap.” The vaewolf yawned loudly before waiting for her to return. It must have been hours before Ayla returned yet as he stood up and smiled, his eyes saw the damage done to her. “Ayla?” He didn’t know what had happened, but it didn’t seem like it was a fair fight or else she would have come back with far fewer injuries. Her words well on deaf ears as he saw the tears in her eyes, something he wasn’t used to seeing nor doing he like it. Calmly he approached her and leaned in to sniff her a few times before he indeed left the house without uttering another word. He left her grounds and followed the scent back to the butchery. It would be several hours before he made his return, only he wasn’t alone. Secured by rope, he led a line of men, the ones that attacked her, back to the house. Many were worse for the wear while he barely had a scratch on him, one that ran a bit down his cheek. When they reached her yard, he yanked hard on the rope and made them drop to their knees. “Ayla!”, he called out as he gripped tightly around the handle of his crossbow. “Got some men that are wanting to apologize to you! “ He could hardly care about them wanting to come after him, but to do what they did to her? That was unforgivable. Of course, the men came here out of fear after learning that he could dispose of them rather quickly and were trying to save their own skins. Shame that they didn’t know Ivan better, otherwise they would have known that they were screwed either way.

Soon the air was filled with “I’m sorry” and “Forgive me” and the like, but Ivan remained unmoved as his icy stare traced around each and every pathetic fool in attendance. When he grew tired of it, he immediately shot one of them in the head, while the others panicked and went to reason with him. “Oh? And why didn’t you cowards come after me? Why did you go after Ayla?” He left the question to be answered as he sent another bolt through the next man and then the next. Before he knew it, only one was left standing, probably pissing himself silly. He aimed the crossbow willy-nilly at him as if it was a game before dropping it entirely. “No, I won’t kill you. I’ll save that for her. She will need to recover… “ He moved away to give her enough space to extract revenge against the leader while he started to move the other bodies, “Mama always said that roses were the best at hiding the bodies.”

The look in his eyes was something she wasn’t used to. What the hell was she supposed to take that as? They barely knew each other and sure he wanted her as his mate but he didn’t need to act like it. She could take a beating. Honey eyes watched as he left before she started to clean herself up. She took the time to try and get over her fight that she had lost on. It’s true if it had been fair she would have done much better.

Finally, her name fell on her ears as she pushed back the curtains to look outside. What was that fool doing? She opened the door and glared down at the men. “I don’t want their damn apologies.” They were meaningless and fake. Still, she watched as Ivan began to shut them up in his own way. It was then that the young Vaewolf realized that a part of Ivan cared for her.

A sharp breath left her lips. What idiot would care for a person they barely knew like this? Probably only Ivan. That seemed to be in his character once he saw something he liked. The back of her mind smirked a bit as her face on the outside remained stoic.

She rolled her shoulders and let the carnage flow with her new strength. The blood of her enemies fed into healing the damage they had caused and she made it a beautiful picture of gore and violence. A rage that could not be subdued easily. When she was done she stood a bloody mess as she moved the bodies with Ivan.

“Come with me,” her voice was soft in a way that it hadn’t been before as she tugged on his sleeve. It wouldn’t matter about the bodies when she was done with what she had to do. Taking him back inside she gave him a kiss from her bloody lips. “You did not need to avenge me like that but I appreciate it coming from the man who would be my mate.” She said it stubbornly as she tried not to show much gratitude for what he had done. “I suppose that being your mate would not be terrible.”

For Ivan, having a mate was a strange thing and something he was obviously not accustomed to. He had observed Nemesis with his mates, along with other couples but aside from the submission and dominance aspects, he didn’t understand the concept of having someone. It wasn’t until he saw her hurt because of an unfair fight that it woke something in him, perhaps something that made him even more dangerous than before when he was focused. He didn’t round these poor fools up for no reason. They had to pay for what they did to her, even if she didn’t wish for him to do it.

It wasn’t because he was instructed to do so by his superiors, but instead of his own free will. It had been as simple as pulling the trigger of the crossbow, over and over again as he fell those of the guilty party. He, as well as Ayla, knew that they didn’t mean their apologies and really, he didn’t care. Death was the only suitable punishment, but he still saved the ringleader for last.

He stood by momentarily as she came out and wreak havoc on them. He had seen her fight before, but it wasn’t hard to see that her newfound rage and strength was from her new blood. His screams lasted only so long before they died down and he helped her move the evidence away. “Guess you own a butchery now…”, he spoke, breaking the ice as the last body was removed.

Ivan stopped and looked at her, a bit confused in the change of tone. After all, he had been so used to Ayla’s aggression at him that the softness was a change of pace that startled him. But he did as he was told, mainly as to not see her temper turn to him. Before he could utter a word, she kissed him while he looked on dumbstruck. “Mate? You..accept me?” A shameless, wide grin came across his face as he leaped onto the table and started dancing like a fool. It didn’t last too long as he came to terms with the change in direction of their relationship and hopped off it. “It’s…confusing for me. I guess I had it all wrong about how mates worked. I thought it was about control and stuff. But you made me lose control when I saw you hurt like that.” He scratched the back of his head as some innocence reared its head. He was supposed to be a killer, and they usually didn’t come with hearts. In this case, however, it was drawn out of him and the next thing he knew, he bravely cradled Ayla’s face with both hands and then kissed her.

Hiding the bodies was easy enough for the newly made vaewolf. However, the silence from the two of them was deafening. Ivan’s voice at first startled her once the silence had been broken. Her eyes like honey stared towards him. “I suppose so though I don’t know what I will do with such a thing.” Her voice was soft unlike the many times before that they had communicated. Ayla didn’t look like the type of creature to be able to be soft but she was attempting.

After all the times she beat the piss out of Ivan she wasn’t shocked when he was startled by her. She was sure that he thought she was going to beat him again. Her hands went to her hips as she listened to his words. She already knew what was coming when it came to Ivan. They had been around each other enough and… There was also this deep-rooted feeling inside of her that caused her to know him a bit closer than she had before. If she had to bet it would have to have been their shared blood now.

A deep sigh left her lips as he danced but before long he hopped off and admitted something to her. His fingers were worn and calloused from what she assumed was whatever work he did for the Volkovs. His fingers caressed her face as she boldly kissed him back. He tasted odd and she sort of liked it in a way. “Only a god damn fool would let another control them Ivan. When it comes to mates especially among shifters we are prideful creatures who hold our own… even when bonded. It would have never worked the way you thought it did. Control is for those of the weak mind… I am not weak and neither are you.”

Her hands went up to his and stroked them gently before she gave him yet another kiss. “You losing control means that you care. And someday maybe I will have the same response towards you as well. While I accept you I will still need time to adjust to you. Will you give me that Ivan? Can I have time?” Her heart still felt closely shut due to her history but she was sure with time maybe she could love the man in front of her.

Once she had her answer she closed the gap once more and this time she did not break her kiss. Her hands ran down his arms to his shoulders and settled there for a small time before they slowly crept up and caressed the edge of his jaw on either side of his face. Finally, she broke the slow passion filled kiss and beckoned with her head towards her room. "Before I change my mind," there was a smirk on her face.

If there was one thing that Ivan knew of Ayla was that she did have a good head on her shoulders, even if her fists did the talking usually. At least in the case of him. The change in her tone threw him off a good deal as he was half expecting a rough comment from her. “Things like that basically run themselves with the right people.” Words of wisdom that seemed out of place for someone as eccentric as Ivan but he was capable of good thoughts. He figured that in time she would make her new found establishment her own. The bodies would make for good fertilizer in case she did want flowers or a sort of crop- it’s what Celeste would do to cover up the unsavory deaths that had to come when one crossed the Family. Somehow it would make the plants look more radiant.

This relationship between them would prove not only complicated for her, but for him as well. He had initially believed that he had to play master and her, his pupil and child. But it seemed that as she spoke after their kiss, he was really starting to grasp it. He looked back to his own masters’ relationship and saw that Nemesis didn’t really control his wives. Not that either would likely let him do so. Sera would have beat it out of him and Celeste wouldn’t take any of it. He’s seen her angry and it was enough to have him stop with his games. “Guess I have much to learn”, he stated bluntly. “One thing though- I never considered you of all people as weak.” It was the god to honest truth- he did hold a good amount of respect towards her strength, which was one of the reasons why he sought her out so in the beginning.

“Yes”, he nodded with little need to hesitate. It wouldn’t be any different from him adjusting to her. He couldn’t treat her as he did with everyone else. Especially with this affection; he wasn’t used any thrown his way aside from his maker. Yet she had done so without there being an ulterior motive. Even when she kissed him again, it felt strange but he accepted it eagerly.

Ivan stared at her and slowly followed her towards the room, his eyes wide as even he knew what the gesture had met. He would end up in her bed once more, but this time it wasn’t just to sleep. But he wouldn’t be Ivan if he didn’t at least make a gesture of his own and he picked up and carried her like a groom would his newlywed bride They would get familiar with one another in a sense and he was on his best behavior as they explored each others’ bodies for hours before they gave into exhaustion. By the end, Ivan felt like he was on cloud nine. Hell, his body did feel lightless as he laid on the bed, panting and sweaty. Not even killing those oafs and burying them didn’t tire him so. And he liked it. Both were beneath the covers and he looked onto her and held a half smile. “Having second thoughts about this?”