The Beast's Possession

**Aife pov**

Bane's face nearly split in half as he grinned at me. His eyes held an excited twinkle in them and I couldn't wipe the smile off my own face. His happiness was contagious. "How about we seal the deal with a kiss then?" Bane asked, wiggling his eyebrows like a child.

As he leaned in, clearly adamant to go for a kiss, I raised my hand and slapped it over his mouth. His eyes widened a little, but then, a look of confusion crossed his features.

"We will have some ground rules and it's best if we discuss them before issues arise. The main thing I will ask of you is communication. And I mean grown-up communication. Transparency. We have to talk, we have to discuss issues and voice our concerns."

"Agreed. Now kiss," he muttered against my hand, once again, trying to lean in, but I stopped him again.

"I wasn't finished."

I could feel his smile against my hand as Bane muttered, "we can kiss between the rules, can't we?"

Rolling my eyes at his silly antics, I admired myself for my ability to remain serious. I really wanted to laugh at his behavior. "Or you could stop wasting time and listen?"

He didn't look too pleased but eventually agreed, so I removed my hand from his mouth. Bane used the moment to peck my lips and stepped aside, looking as innocent as a lamb.

"Are you sure you're an Alpha?" I muttered the question, making him laugh.

"A pretty powerful one, yeah," Bane answered and focused his attention on picking up random objects from the floor. "Don't mind me, I'll busy myself with cleaning while I listen to your rules so I keep my claws off you. For as long as I'm holding something, I won't try to grab you."

Now it was my turn to laugh at his statement. Still rather amused, I crossed my arms in front of my chest and raised an eyebrow at him. "And how are some pens and pencils about to hold back this pretty powerful Alpha, exactly?" I mocked him.

A loud, almost pained groan left him. "Don't test me, woman, I'm trying. Also, if you really want to dig deep into details, I don't see how it could be anything bad if your 'boyfriend' kissed you. Don't come at me for using this title, you gave it to me and I'm keeping it."

When I said the word myself, it didn't hold much meaning. The same word, but spoken by Bane, hit me like a wall of bricks. My first ever boyfriend. Ironically, he also was my first ever kidnapper.

"Let's leave this conversation for later and focus on the rules, okay?" I offered.

With an amused chuckle, Bane agreed. "Fine by me. Now, give me the rules. Communication, got it. What's next on the list?"

Although he wasn't looking at me anymore, I felt uncomfortable all over again.

I tilted my head to look at a spot on the wall and muttered, "I'm not ready yet."

From the corner of my eye, I could see Bane freeze on the spot. He just stood there, not saying anything or asking questions.

Time dragged as we stood in complete silence until he broke it. "Okay, I have far too many ideas in my mind, so I will need you to be a little more specific. Not ready for what exactly? Going public? Having a relationship in general? Talking about stuff? Driving a car? Sacrificing me in the middle of the woods to feed the blood greed of your gods? Which one is it?"

I found it amusing how Bane didn't catch on what I meant and instead went with the most ridiculous and outrageous assumptions. "None of those," I chuckled and quickly added, "intimacy."

Slowly, Bane turned on his heel to face me. He didn't address the fact that I wasn't looking his way, just spoke in the most gentle tone I had heard him using. "And I'm not asking for that. One, it's too early. But let's be clear about a couple of things you're a virgin, so it would be clear for a fool that you're not ready for a step as massive as that. There is no rush. Ever. Also, I haven't asked you to take that step, so it shouldn't be one of concern. And besides, I stole your first kiss and I'm pretty sure I'm your first boyfriend, so I'm already taking plenty of firsts."

When I noticed him walking closer, my head snapped in his direction. Bane stopped right in front of me and gently cupped my cheek, a slight smile spreading across his lips.

"I won't push you to take that step. If anything happens between us, if *you* decide that it is something *you* want to, we will work on it. But it's really not something you should worry about. It really is a massive step in a relationship, and I don't want you to give up on something so precious just because you felt like you were under pressure. Whoever gets to share your first time will be a very lucky man. Even if it's not me, all I want is for you to have the most incredible experience and no regrets. Is this answer good enough?"

Unable to speak, I nodded my head, staring at him as if Bane just showed me one of the wonders of the world. Anything, I expected anything, but this.. The man was full of surprises.

"Now," he grinned. "How about we seal the deal with a kiss?" Bane repeated himself, jumping straight back to his funny antics and ridding us both from the tension that grew in the office.

"You're a little too eager with the kisses, don't you think? How about we finish this conversation first?" I offered, still pushing what I wanted to do.

If I let Bane get what he wanted, he would distract me with the kisses again and I would lose my ability to think.

"Fine," he grumbled. "Worth the try," Bane added and returned to his previous task.

I let my eyes scan the office while he busied himself. Bane had done a lot of damage in such a short period of time. Most of the furniture were broken, papers were scattered all over the place and even the painting frames on the walls were broken.

"Rules, my beautiful lady, have you forgotten about your rules?" Bane called out, startling me out of the weird daze.

"Oh, right," I muttered and cleared my throat. "You kind of ruined my trail of thoughts so maybe you can offer something while I try to remember mine?"

"Thank fuck you brought this up. I have a rule, yes." Bane sounded so relieved, it really was funny.

"I'm listening."

"No one can touch you. Oh, and look at you. Actually, no one can talk to you too. I don't want those horny fucks surround you like a swarm of bees. You're my girlfriend now so no one can get to you." "Jealous much?" I giggled, teasing him.

In response, Bane dropped everything he was holding and stomped to me. His hand landed on my hip, gripped it and he forced me to step back until my back hit the door. Bane buried his face in the crook of my neck, inhaled deeply and ran his nose over my skin until his lips reached my ear.

"I don't label myself as the jealous type, never have. Territorial and protective, yeah, maybe, but never jealous." Bane whispered. I gulped and parted my lips, about to spill out absolute nonsense, but he beat me to it as he added. "But because of you, I think I've learned how to be jealous. So, yeah, I am, in fact, stupidly, terribly, madly jealous when it comes to you."