We're running. It's freeing to run and not feel as much pain. It's freeing to run with the others and not see their pitying gazes. Their wolves don't pity mine. They obey mine. They respect mine. They keep one step behind me at all times. The wolf loves it. He loves the control, the sense of community, the whole feeling of being out with his own group. He feels so deeply connected to the other wolves, as I do. It's finally something we agree on, him and I. We both love running. We both love running in the forest with all of our friends. Even the newcomers join us. They're a little reluctant at first, but then they too give into the urge to run. To let loose entirely. We don't judge. We're just here to give into our urges. To be free.

And it is freeing. I love it now. I am nothing and everything out here. I'm in every part of the forest and I'm not here at all. I'm part of an intricate system, but my death would not impact it in any way. The other wolves would live on. The system wouldn't break. And sometimes it's really nice to be a part of something but not to be an invaluable part. It made a lot of things a lot less complicated.

And then there was the fact that the pain wasn't as bad as when I was human. The pain is barely there. A light throbbing to remind me I had been pushed into a wolf trap, but nothing that held me prisoner. Nothing that hindered me in any way. It was so liberating.

The pain after a shift wasn't much to speak about anymore, compared to the pain in my leg. Where I used to have severe pain in my face, it was now just so intense in my leg. It felt like someone had crawled under my skin and repeatedly just hammering away at the bones in my knee and below. And it was worse whenever I had shifted. My own theory was that it just got worse because I was out running so much and didn't really protect the leg.

Abel was so sweet through it all. As always, he cared for me. Helped me move around the house. Without complaining too. He just did it like it was second nature at this point. And when I watched him do it, I wondered if he was wasting away his youth with me. We started out dancing and having fun. Now it was a lot of him helping me in and out of the tub. Helping me get dressed. Help me down on the toilet and then wait until I was done. It was just not romantic and what if he was going to regret all of this?

"I'm sorry about this," I muttered as he helped me up from the sofa, helping me out to the kitchen so we could get some dinner. I wanted to try and use the dinner table more rather than spend all of my time in the sofa or in bed. I needed to see other things. Be somewhere else.

"You know that's unnecessary to say," he said and went for the fridge, grabbing a bag of blood.

"But I still don't want you to think I'm taking you for granted."

"Then thank me," he said softly, coming back to me, bending down and kissing me softly. It left me breathless, the way he kissed me. All the doubts I had had earlier just vanished. No one kissed someone they felt bothered by like that. It was filled with love. With desire. I had to repay him after dinner, and we both knew where that was going. I was already excited.

Abel stretched to his full height, smirking at me and grabbed a tubber ware with my dinner in it, some leftovers from another night, and popped it in the microwave.

"You think you can get out of dinner by looking at me like that and you can't. I'm gonna make sure you're eating it all." He sounded like a really strict teacher, and it was really adorable.

"I'll eat it all, I promise." I held my hands up, as if I was already hiding food in there.

"You better," he said, turning back to the microwave as it started beeping. He put my leftovers in front of me and then popped a mug of blood into the microwave, turning back to look at me eat.

I dramatically stabbed a potato with my fork and slowly lifted it to my mouth, wrapping my lips around the metal teeth. Abel rolled his eyes at me after grabbing his mug from the microwave and sat down opposite me.

"You can flirt all you want, but we both need to eat before playing."

I smirked in response. It wasn't like I was trying to not have dinner, but I was also super impatient. Like how was I supposed to eat or do anything else when he was around and looked like that? He pranced around like he didn't know exactly how hot he was. Okay he didn't know, but he knew how hot I thought he looked and that was really the important part here.

"Hey Gael," Abel said then, sobering a little.

"Hmm?" I said, my mouth full.

"I wanna introduce you to the vampires when they come. As my boyfriend."

I smiled. "Would be weird to introduce me as anything else, wouldn't it?"

"Maybe, but... This is big. To me. These are my peers. Me being with you has changed the trajectory of my life and I want them all to see it."

That just made me smile even harder. I wasn't sure I was getting the full scale of what it meant to him, but I could tell it meant a lot, so it did to me too.

He rose to his feet and pulled my chair out from the table, pushed me back against the backrest and sat down in my lap.

"They will all watch you, see you. Marvel at you," he murmured and lowered his mouth to mine, kissing me.

I had had my hands on his thighs, but they moved up to the button on his jeans, undoing them. He sighed against my lips as my fingers crept into his trousers, wrapping around him. His body moved with my hands.

For a long while he had kind of had a more active role in all of this due to me not being able to move much. I appreciated him finding ways for me to still be active. For me to still be able to please him, because my god, there was nothing hotter in the whole world, than making him absolutely lose his mind.

He ran his fingers through my hair before wrapping them around the locks, pulling my head back. I groaned in response, but not really out of pain, despite pins and needles dancing across my scalp.

"I love you," he whispered, looking triumphantly down at me. "I'm gonna move this to the sofa now." He grabbed my thighs and wrapped my legs around him as he carelessly walked towards the living room, as if I weighed nothing.

He gently put me down on my back and I lifted up on my elbows, smiling rather goofily up at him. "What now?"

He pulled his trousers off and then his shirt. "Get naked," he said in between getting his socks off.

I snorted and heeded his command. Then he almost jumped on top of me, immediately kissing me. I could barely breathe. I was flushed all over my body and I was desperate to feel him. I pushed on his chest and got him up before getting him down on his back. I struggled to get in between his legs, biting down the pain shooting down my leg. This wasn't the time to be in pain, but I must've been bad at acting. Abel gently took my face in his hands, asking me through his eyes if I were alright. And that wasn't what I wanted. I wanted to be hot and sexy, and most of all, I wanted to be able to fuck my boyfriend without all this pain!

I tried to reposition, but it only made it worse, and I whimpered.

"Gael," Abel said softly. "Take it slow. I'll wait." He gently put his hands on my hips, helping me position better. After a while, I managed to relax and then I kind of forgot what we were supposed to do, because Abel was just kissing me and doing all the work. But only until it was time for me to put some effort in. I lifted up with my arms a little and hovered above him, trying to balance myself with one leg, keeping all weight off the bad one. Abel grabbed me again, helping me and I appreciated it so much. He was so patient. And this was so not sexy, but he was patient, and he didn't seem the least bit discouraged. His breath had stayed heavy throughout, small moans slipping out every once in a while.

It only got better when he guided me inside of him. I had a hard time keeping it together. It had been a while since I had been able to do it like this and it just meant a lot. Everything about it meant a lot. Abel's patience and the way he was looking at me that very second. It was how he always looked at me during. It was like nothing had changed for him, despite all my limitations.

I loved him for that.