Lovers' Oath

Author's Note

: Okay, I've been gone for a long time, but with good reason, one I'm sure all of you will like. I've included it at the end of the chapter so you can jump into the story right now. Any mistake you find is due to my tinkering around after my editor Gabriel sent it back to me.

Enjoy.

*****

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Next Morning.

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As Rayn slowly woke up from the blissful unconsciousness of sleep, she felt a familiar feathering sensation against her cheek. Involuntarily, her lips curled up in a lazy smile. Sighing happily, she turned her head to the side the sensation came from. As she drew a deep breath, a delicious smell assaulted her nostrils. It smelled so enticing. As she again took a deep breath, the sweet scent spread heat inside her body. Humming in pleasure, she tried to bury her nose into the source of the warmth. Without opening her eyes, she nuzzled the slightly calloused flesh and let the scent engulf her.

Heat seemed to pool between her legs, slowly, yet surely waking her body up. It seemed to wake a kind of hunger inside her, a need to

taste

it. As she blinked open her eyes, she realized two things first -- one, she had her nose buried into Kiel's wrist right where the vein throbbed, and two, it wasn't her bed she was lying on. Startled and confused, she sat up quickly, holding the blanket to her bosom. As her eyes took in the surroundings, snippets of the last night flashed in her mind.

"Good Morning." The husky, sensual sound of Kiel's voice greeted her.

As she looked up at him, she realized he had stood up and left her side at some point during her perusal of the room. But the familiar sight that greeted her pushed that realization to the sideline. There he was, leaning on the door frame, looking fresh out of the shower, his shirt unbuttoned, and with a tray laden with food. As her eyes travelled down and back up his body, he cocked an eyebrow as he strode forward, "Like what you see?" he murmured sitting down in front of her.

"Huh?" She asked, trying to stop the blush from coloring her cheeks.

"The food," He pointed to the tray as he regarded her with amused eyes, "Like all that?"

"Yeah, I do." Rayn replied, trying to sound as nonchalant as him. Then looking up at him, she frowned, "You cook."

"Yes, I do, anything wrong with that?" He coolly asked handing her the plate as she didn't make any move to do so herself. Stirring the food on the plate with a spoon, she shook her head,

"No, just that... it doesn't go with your image." She transferred a portion of the food into her mouth. As she chewed, she realized how hungry she felt.

"And what image would that be?" His eyes twinkled knowingly as she bit on her lips, barely stopping from saying her thoughts out loud. But as she saw the mischievous glint in his eyes, she smirked and said it anyway,

"The jerk image."

"Hmm." He narrowed his eyes, "May be it's time that image changed, then?"

"May be." She shrugged, "I don't care either way." Then she noticed something, "You aren't eating?"

He shook his head, "No. I have already had my breakfast. I'm going to the HQ. I just stayed to make sure you are alright."

"Oh." She didn't know why she felt disappointed suddenly. Putting down the plate, she made to get up, "I better get ready too, then."

"And where do you think you are going, little one?" He positively glared at her.

"Uh, to the HQ, of course." She replied confusedly, then as an afterthought, added, "Oh Old one."

For a moment he seemed torn between getting angry and laughing out loud at her cheeky reply. He settled a compromise by deciding on authoritatively instructing her,

"You are to stay right here, and away from the HQ for the next week. If I see you anywhere near there, I'll personally see to your punishment. Eat, rest and sleep. No exertion, no missions, and no cheeky replies. Understood?" As she opened her mouth to argue, he quickly interrupted her, "That is an order from your Alpha. No arguments."

Now it was her turn to glare at him, "How come you get to order me around? I thought I am an Alpha, too?" She almost pouted.

He shrugged, "You belong to me, so I get to be your Alpha. And an Alpha gets to order his people around, especially the naughty little girls." He smirked seeing the shocked expression on her face. "And you are a potential Alpha, not a full-fledged one, yet."

"I don't belong to anyone!" she exclaimed.

"You belong to this pack, Rayn. I'm the one responsible for the pack -- for you; and I'm telling you to stay in so that you can recover properly." He reached up to brush back a lock of hair from her face, then cupped her cheek with his palm, softly murmuring to her, "You are too precious for me to let you get hurt by your own enthusiasm. You need to recover properly. Won't you listen to me, just this once?" he looked at her imploringly, his fingers slowly caressing her cheek, distracting her as his eyes held hers captive.

"Uh. Okay. I'll stay in." she muttered, not entirely sure why she agreed, but felt that it was important that she did so.

"Promise?" the back of his fingers brushed along her jawline, his thumb traced the curve below her lower lip.

She nodded, "Promise." Had she made a note to herself about his habit of seducing her into obeying him? She had. Damn! Yet, she didn't feel very irritated at him.

"Thank you." He smiled at her, barely managing to suppress the look of victory from showing on his face. Then slowly standing up, he said, "I'll be back soon. You can stay in here, if you like, or in your apartment if you so wish." Then pausing, he added in a soft murmur, "I'd like to see you when I come back." His eyes searched her face for a clue to what she would decide. It suddenly seemed very important to know that she would be there, in his rooms, when he came back.

"I guess, um," She looked up unsurely at him, "You will find me in my apartment?"

A disappointed look crossed his features before he could mask it. "Okay." he nodded. "Good day." Then giving her a warm smile, he casually walked out of the door, leaving Rayn to look at his back thoughtfully as she tried to decide if her decision was the correct one... or rather, was it what she really wanted?

*****

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Kiel's Office, few hours later.

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"You wanted to see me?" Rohan casually strolled in.

"Hmm... Yes, actually." Kiel answered from where he stood near a wall- mounted screen, watching what appeared to be an old video footage of a mission. "Come, take a look at this." He beckoned Rohan.

"What is it?" Rohan frowned as he came to stand beside Kiel, then as he realized which mission it was, he nodded, "Ah! So, you think the mole was planted on this mission?"

Kiel shook his head, "No. I think this was the first mission the mole was active. It was planted before this mission, in fact, I suspect, at least a year before this mission. But something happened, and they never used this player until this mission."

"May be they were waiting for a good opportunity?"

"That is possible. However, the mole apparently failed to perform on this mission, both for us and for Gedan. Yet, Gedan didn't punish the operative. Why didn't he?"

"That's curious." Rohan frowned, "Perhaps it wasn't a failure for the demons, then? May be the mole actually succeeded?"

"May be. But then, if ruining that mission wasn't their purpose, what was the purpose that was achieved?" Kiel rubbed his chin thoughtfully, rewinding the footage and replaying it.

"Hmmm... This is getting more and more interesting every minute." Rohan quipped with mock cheer. Letting out a frustrated growl, he unceremoniously dropped himself on a chair and continued to watch it, trying to find out what they looked for. A few minutes later Kiel straightened, switching off the screen and turned to a bewildered Rohan, "What the... What happened?" He asked Kiel.

"We have a visitor." Kiel calmly supplied already striding forward towards his desk. Just as Kiel sat on his seat and Rohan sat on the other side of the desk directly across from Kiel, a knock sounded on the door. "Come." Kiel coolly called to the person. As Rogers walked in, Rohan turned towards Kiel raising his eyebrows.

"So, did you get it?" Rogers went straight to the point that held his interest.

"Good evening to you too, Rogers. Have a seat." Kiel gestured towards a chair. Without another glance at it, Rogers shook his head,

"No chief, thanks. Did you... I mean, were you able to retrieve it?" Irritated impatience colored his words.

"And by 'it', I assume you are referring to this?" Kiel held up a small, blue, cube shaped gem. At first, Rogers stared at it, almost startled, the slowly, a triumphant smile spread on his face.

"So I was right! It was right there, under their noses, all along!" His grin broadened as he reached for the gem. Without handing it to him, Kiel held it up to the light for inspection.

"Yes, it certainly seems so. I wonder how you knew it was there, though." Kiel drawled.

"Oh, but I didn't

know

. You see, knowing it would have meant... that is to say, if the gems were pursued knowingly, they would have vanished to somewhere we wouldn't look for. Because of the fact that we didn't exactly

know

they are there, we were able to find them." Rogers explained as if explaining simple arithmetic to a child. Then, as if saying it would somehow make it more meaningful, he said "It was actually Rayn's idea, you see." Nodding his head, Kiel handed him the gem which instantly captured Rogers' attention. Rogers turned towards the light, holding it up close to his eyes as he peered into its depth.

"I didn't find all of the eleven gems there; only this one was in the box." Kiel supplied, his eyes tracking every movement the other man made.

With a frown, Rogers turned towards him, "Only this one?" as Kiel nodded, a disappointed look passed on his face." May be the gems have been hidden separately, then." Rogers muttered, turning his attention back to the gem.

"What is

that

?" the sharp question had both Kiel and Rohan turn their attention towards the door, through which Rayn sauntered in, her eyes fastened to the gem. Finding Rogers too interested in it to answer her, she turned towards the other men. "Well?" She demanded, her tone turning cooler as the wheels turned in her head.

"We don't know." Kiel admitted, as Rayn continued to glare at him, he added, "Not exactly, anyway."

Not satisfied with his answer, Rayn turned towards Rohan, her brow raised in question. Wishing very much that he could be somewhere else, anywhere else than the receiving end of her wilting glare, Rohan slowly nodded, "He speaks the truth." Then in a desperate attempt to turn her focus to someone else, he quickly added, "He knows, though." and pointed at Rogers, who just seemed to become more interested in the gem, to the extent that he seemed to turn red with effort.

"Rogers?" She asked, her tone dangerously calm.

"Yes?" He asked politely from near the window where he stood perusing the stone.

"What, exactly, the fuck is that?" Rayn growled with frustration.

He glanced at her over his shoulder, and gave a smile, "I believe it to be the seventh Jewel of the Eleven Jewel of the Gods. This one belonged to Queen Cleoce."

"And where did it come from?" She asked. As the room remained silent except for the sound of shuffling made by Rohan, she scowled and looked back at Kiel, who made a point of not meeting her eyes as he got up and around the desk to stand in front of her.

"Uh, I better get going. I have some... a few things..." Rohan mumbled and left the office hurriedly without meeting the withering glare his friend leveled at him.

"I need to start exploring the powers this gem holds. May be it can provide directions for where to look next. I will send you the paper work shortly." Rogers calmly informed Kiel, trying very hard to not smirk at the Alpha who seemed completely under Rayn's spell. As Kiel nodded, Rogers casually walked out of the room, only pausing briefly at the door to look back at the duo and grinned, "Have a good night, both of you." He didn't wait to see the pair of glares he received from both of them.

Once sure that Rogers was well out of ear shot, they turned to each other.

"So, you came on the mission for that?" Rayn asked, trying not to show the hurt she felt.

"Why does it matter?" Kiel raised one brow.

"It does." She barely managed to keep the tears in check. For some reason, it mattered that Kiel had kept the real reason for his involvement in the mission a secret. "It matters because I want to know what the hell I risked my life for. So was

that

the reason you took point instead of me on this mission?"

Before answering, Kiel searched her face thoughtfully, trying to understand the real meaning of her question, and hoping his answer wouldn't disappoint her. As he saw the agitation in her grow, he shook his head,

"Not really. I didn't even know that gem would be there. My involvement and your change of position was an out of the profile factor. Something that the enemy was not to be aware of, thus giving us an element of surprise; that factory was a stronghold of the demons and destroying it meant a significant blow to their weapon supply. It was only when I was going out that Rogers asked me to pick up a wooden box of a certain description if I saw it there." As he saw uncertainty and doubt in her eyes, his jaw tightened, "So, yeah, you risked your life for only me, which brings us to the point of you disobeying two of my direct orders."

"One." Rayn promptly disagreed, her chin tilting up in a belligerent way.

"Two, counting the one you are still violating by being here." Kiel countered. "Care to explain why you keep disobeying me?" he crossed his arms on his chest and raised an eyebrow at her.

She shrugged, "It's not my fault that your orders don't have a compelling hold on me." She took a few steps back and leaned back against his desk, trying to be subtle about keeping out of his reach as she saw his eyes flash dangerously, his face turning livid for a second before he reined his emotions in.

"I don't want to

compel

you to do something, Rayn. The orders aren't given for my benefit but for your own." He dryly commented as he casually took a few steps towards his desk, wandering closer to her. As his eyes took in the apprehensive look on her face, and he saw the tell-tale gulping motion of her throat, he smiled at her. He took another step closer, coming up so close that his body almost pressed up against hers.

She eyed him warily, trying to fathom his next move, her body never moving despite the apprehension she felt. She would rather take on another round with those demons from last night than admit it, but she was actually feeling afraid of Kiel at that moment. 'I should have just slept the day off.' She mused, leaning back slightly to plant her palms flat on the top of his desk and slid up her ass to rest it on the desk, trying to keep some distance between their bodies while giving the outward appearance of casually sitting on his desk.

As she saw Kiel look down at her with a poker face, she grew more frightened. She didn't know what he'd do. She had never consciously disobeyed him, and as far as she could recall, she hadn't ever heard of anyone having done so. May be there was a reason for that, then, apart from the fact that he was the Alpha and his commands compelled his pack to obey? And she had actually violated two of his direct orders. What would he do? Will he ban her from the pack, and from La Lumiere? Her eyes searched his face frantically for some clue, and when she found none, her heart grew heavy.

"Kiel..." She started nervously, then stopped, searching for words to say what she wanted to say.

As the first scent of her fear assailed his nostrils, his wolf growled at him. It didn't like that he was scaring her. Hell, she wasn't even his yet, and the stupid human was scaring their mate away. What if she rejected them? It again growled a warning to its human. Kiel decided to temporarily ignore his beast; it would be easier to make it realize later that in order to keep her safe from her own whims it was necessary to make her obey him, even if that meant scaring her into obeying him initially.

As he fought to tame his beast, his eyes slid down her body as she pulled herself on top of his desk, leaning back slightly to rest her body weight on her arms, her thighs parting just enough so that if he stepped closer, he would fit perfectly between her thighs. He groaned mentally at his human reaction to the seductive picture that she made. Now he had to rein in that part of his body too, in addition to his wolf. He wondered if she did it knowingly. He took that step that made her part her thighs further and brought his pelvis very close to hers. As he saw her eyes widen at this development, he knew the answer. 'Gods help me when she comes to know the power she holds over me.' He silently prayed thinking about what she would do knowingly if this was what she did without knowing.

At last managing to keep in check both his beast and his body, he slowly leaned in towards her, making her lean back further until her arms gave away beneath her. Before her body could lie flat on the desk, one of his arms snaked around her to keep her torso tilted and pressed up against his.

So soft.

His cock stirred at the way her warm body felt against his, at the way her arms crept up his to cling on to him. He felt his cock push against the fabric of his pants. He brought his face close to hers and inhaled to take in her intoxicating aroma, he knew there would be that musky layer to it, the scent of her arousal mixed with the scent of her body. 'Take her.' His wolf insisted eagerly. 'Not until she is ready.' He tried to reason with it, making the beast huff with irritation. Pushing it back, Kiel looked into her eyes,

"So, do you remember what I said I'd do if you came here today?" He murmured, his breath caressing her skin deliciously.

"Huh... Wh...What?" She asked with confusion, disoriented with the need she felt inside her, a yearning for... something. It wasn't just the need to be taken by him right then and there, but for a connection with him that a part of her desperately longed for.

"I'd personally see to your punishment." He reminded her, pushing against her thigh with his pelvis, making her aware of how wet she felt. A small whimper escaped her lips. "So, how do you think you should be punished?"

"Don't punish me." She muttered, her lips gravitating closer to his. His insides hummed with a pained pleasure as he realized how his closeness affected her, yet she was still oblivious to the mating pull and thus keeping mating out of the question for now. As he saw her eyes flutter close, he held his breath, trying very hard to not imagine how she would feel if she were naked and in his bed, her heated core enveloping his shaft. Having reached his own limit, he quickly straightened, pulling her up with him and after steadying her on her feet, stepped away from her. The few seconds she took to open her eyes, he quickly blanketed his emotions and turned away from her to hide his obvious arousal. As she stared frustrated at him he partially turned his head towards her and flashed a devilish smile,

"Yours is a bad idea. Punishing you is too tempting a proposal to let go of so easily. I'll do it in my own way, so meanwhile, feel free to wander around, 'cause Rohan has been given specific instructions to not put you on any missions until your mentor, that's me, gives the green signal."

"Kiel..." She began again, only to be cut off by him.

"Scram now, little one." He waved his hand in dismissal, shutting her up successfully.