Footsteps fall down the hall and we both look towards the door to my room. I move to get around him, and he reluctantly lets me go. Tiptoeing towards the door, I rest my ear against the wood and listen. The muffled sounds of men standing guard, changing shifts, hits my ears.

I don’t know when Jake is expected home. I haven’t seen him since I came back. My body shivers as I hear the men outside my door talk about when he’s supposed to arrive.

I don’t know how long I stand there, but soon I feel Peter’s presence warm my back, calming me immediately, as I stand in fear of the man he once saved me from. His right-hand raises, turns the lock on the door and then he cages me in. His hands press on either side of my frame against the door. He softly rests his lips near my ear.

“I didn’t take you that night, Wendy, because I couldn’t. I felt the same fear in you that night, as I did the night I protected you from him.”

I shiver as he backs away and gently pulls me with him. Turning me around to face him, my bottom lip quivers as he lifts my chin.

“I also couldn’t take you because something about that night didn’t feel right. I wanted to, Darling. God, how I needed to. But I wouldn’t do that to you.”

My brow furrows as I study him. He wouldn’t give me what I asked? But, once upon a time he told me I’d never have to ask twice. What’s changed? Why…

As if he can see the wheels in my head spinning, he smiles and pulls me closer, guiding me back across the room to my bed.

“I couldn’t take you without being able to give you myself in return.”

My feet stop in the center of the bedroom. He turns, holds my eye, and keeps walking backward a step or two.

“See, that night,” he kneels, and my heart skips a beat. Grabbing a hold of my hips, he licks his lips and focuses on my center. “Fuck, I craved you like I’ve never desired anything else before.”

 I have to tell myself to breathe as he looks back up in my eyes, I see so much love, so much desire hanging in them I swear, I feel like I am soaring above the world. Flying higher than I ever have before, without the help of pixie dust. This is a new kind of magic. A spell I always want to be under and never wake up from.

“I wasn’t ready to give you what you deserve. I wasn’t ready to make the kind of sacrifice you need in return.”