Among the Peonies

Give and Let Go

Jay and Alex twitched in the distance, not knowing what to do.

Blade groaned and curled up in a ball around my feet. I felt bad... but not bad enough to regret it. I mean, he's so sexist!

"S-sir..." Jay stuttered quietly.

"A-alp-pha?" Alex asked nervously.

"I can handle this," I said to them. They nodded feverishly and scampered away.

Meanwhile, Blade was trying to get up, and he was succeeding, slowly.

"Annabel," his voice was a type of dangerous I've never heard.

"Yes, bumblebee?"

He was now eye-to-eye with me. He growled loudly and slammed his hands on the wall next to my head. I didn't flinch.

One arm wrapped tightly around my waist, and the other held on to my hair gently yet firmly. He buried his face in my neck, breathing deeply. He was holding me so tight it began to hurt. I tried to wiggle some more comfort into our embrace, but I was only held tighter.

"Annabel, you're the only fucking thing that's keeping me from fucking killing everyone."

I gulped. "Yeah well... bleh."

He lightly bit the tender skin on my collar bone, warning me of talking back in his current mood. I involuntarily shuddered.

A growl vibrated through his chest. He picked me up, never breaking intimate contact, and carried us to the bedroom quickly. He tossed me on the bed, and not even a second later he was on me.

I didn't move. I didn't dare.

"We will talk about that later," he growled out quietly.

I nodded, though he couldn't see my face. If we brought up me damaging his "stinger", bumblebee might just have a full on rage fit. Which, considering what I've been through, I can't believe I haven't actually seen one.

I let him hold me, his grip tight and his body shaking.

A timid knock on the door shattered the silence.

"GO THE FUCK AWAY OR I WILL KILL YOU."

The door wasn't knocked again.

I ran my hand over his back, the muscles tensing and releasing under my touch. My other hand found its way to his hair, and I gently tugged at it like I knew he loved.

He hummed approvingly into my neck, placing soft, yet angry, kisses on the tender skin.

I waited.

One minute.

Two.

"Blade?"

His grip tightened slightly at the sound of my soft voice, but he replied, "hm?"

"Do you want to talk now?"

He sighed. "Fine." He sat up and picked me up, placing me in his lap so that I was straddling him. "Go," he said.

I cleared my throat and looked away from his intense eyes. My fingers fumbled together. "Well..." how do I start this? "I-I just think that, uh, maybe you should be... you know..." I peeked up at him under my eyelashes to see an eyebrow raised. I sighed, looking back down. "I think you should be less of a buttface."

Peeking up at him again, he had a blank look on his face. Well, that is until he had to look away and bite his lip to keep the laugh off.

He looked back at me. "And might I ask how I am a buttface?"

"Well," my fingers nervously toyed with my shirt, "you're..." I took a deep breath. If I don't say it now, I never will. I looked him straight in the eye, sat taller, lifted my chin, and said, "you're a demeaning sexist who locks multiple women and myself away. Not to mention your unrealistic expectations of the amount of control that needs to be under your possession."

He blinked at me. "And your solution?"

I pursed my lips to the side, and my eyes looked to that side as well. Solution...

I looked at him. "Well, for one, you could allow the other women to be free around here. I know you think it's not safe, but then why not punish the men? Not the girls! Y'all aren't dogs. I have faith you can carry on without having sex if you see a girl. Second of all, I can't be under your watch all of the time! It smothers me and it aggravates you. We can't even keep an eye on the kittens for more than three days, for Heaven's sake! The men around here protect their Luna, you know." My voice softened towards the end, and my hands slid onto his shoulders. His face was blank. He looked away, thinking. After a few moments, he made eye contact, sighed, and kissed my lips.

The kiss was soft and gentle, before he leaned back a few inches and whispered with a smile on his lips, "okay, Babydoll."