When I woke the following morning Dante was gone. It was pretty much unheard of for him to go out without waking me or sitting with me for breakfast but last night had been so intense that I’d overslept. He must have too. That must have been it.

I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. Everything felt alight, every color seemed brighter. Last night had been utterly incredible. This was what I had wanted. While we’d had that slow burn loving and had, for want of a better phrase, made love many times over, last night had been so different. It had been passionate and raw and animalistic. I’d really enjoyed myself and, from what I could tell, so had he.

I wasn’t saying for one second that I wanted our sex to be like that every time we did it, but it was pretty hot to have him fucking me like that, taking full control and showing me what it meant to be an alpha. It was exhilarating. I mean, it meant that my ass hurt quite a lot this morning and my ass cheeks were still a little red from where he had hit me, but it was hot.

I sighed. I’d be happy for it to return to what we had before actually. The Dante from last night didn’t feel like the Dante that I had come to know over the last few weeks. Yes, of course, I enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t trade the Dante I had for the world. I would have to make it up to him.

I got myself ready and found myself running down to see Horus once again, dashing past the folk around the campsite that morning and hardly even waiting for my knocks to land before I barrelled in to speak to him.

“Owen,” he said. “What news?”

“Everything you’ve said has worked,” I said, buzzing with the thrill of it all. “We’ve been more open with each other, we’ve talked, we’ve bonded and last night,” I sighed and took a seat in the armchair. “Last night was incredible, Horus. He was so passionate.”

“And that’s exactly what you were hoping for,” he said. “And because you’ve been speaking, I assume he knows that’s what you wanted?”

“I guess so,” I breathed. “Wow. I want to do something for him too, I think. I need to pay him back.”

“That’s very nice of you.”

“I also want him to know that he doesn’t have to change himself for me,” I said. “I know that last night wasn’t his usual thing and I’m fine with it being like that every once in a while, but I just want him. I need him to know that all he needs to be is himself. That’s fine by me. He’s pretty perfect as he is.”

Horus chuckled to himself.

“What?”

“You’re falling for him aren’t you?”

I blinked. Is that what this was? Is that what this fuzzy feeling in my chest was when I talked about him? Is that what that want to be near him all the time was, that want for him to be mine and no one else’s?

Horus was right. I was falling for Dante. I let the feeling wash over me. I let it spread warmth through my whole body and lift my entire soul up. I smiled broadly.

“You’re right,” I whispered. “I’m falling for him. I didn’t think it was possible to do that.”

He sighed. “You’re just so much more comfortable here than you were a month or so ago, Owen,” he said. “And you’re so desperate to please Dante. It’s very sweet of you.”

“I really care about him,” I said, and I really meant it. I’d never really envisioned myself caring about anyone that way, and I could feel these feelings growing in my chest. I wanted to make him happy. I just had to know how.

“The next thing I would suggest is exactly what you’ve already said,” Horus said carefully, stirring his tea. “It would be for you to do something for Dante. You know him quite well by this point, I don’t think you’ll need me to spell it out for you.”

I smiled. He was right, of course he was right. And I’d sort of got there all by myself. After all that Dante had done for me, from the very beginning really but especially last night, I should do something for him. And I think I knew just the thing.

“Thank you Horus,” I said. “I don’t know how I can ever repay you for all of this.”

Horus laughed. “There is no need for repayment,” he said with that warm smile of his. “Yours and Dante’s joy is more than enough.”

“You’re far too kind, Horus,” I said. I wished him a good day and then found myself hurrying back to the cabin to prepare it for Dante’s return later on that day.

I knew exactly what I needed to do. Dante wanted romance; he wanted to be swept off his feet so that was exactly what I would give him. I cleaned the entire cabin from top to bottom, changed the sheets on both of our beds, did the washing, made sure that everything looked perfect for when he came back.

I went back outside and picked some wildflowers with Martha, letting her show me the best ones, the ones she thought Dante would like, putting them in a vase on the coffee table. I lit some candles and dimmed the lights, the massage oil out and warming, ready so that I could properly take care of him tonight. He worked really hard; this would be just what he wanted after a long day, surely, a nice massage and some time together, just the two of us.

When I heard his key on the lock, I set myself up in the living room, trying to look nonchalant, when all I really felt was tense at my desperation to impress him. I shook it off in my head. He would be grateful, I was so sure he would be. This was all for him, every bit of it.

“Owen,” Dante said as he stepped inside, closing the door behind him. “What have you…what’s all this?” He seemed confused. He seemed confused and not even a little bit pleased.

I cleared my throat, trying to keep everything light. “I thought that, after a long day, you’d want to sit down, take a load off and relax.” He looked over at the living room, at the flowers, at the candles, at the massage oil, but his face remained stony. “Are you okay?”

“Fine, yeah,” he said, shaking his head. Something was going on, something he wasn’t telling me.

“Did something happen today, sweetie?” I reached out to put my hand on his shoulder and he flinched. It caught me off guard. What had I done? “Are you okay?”

He looked up at me, a forced smile stretching across his face. “Everything’s fine,” he said. “Sorry, I just want to go to bed, I think. Is that okay?”

“Sure,” I said, taking my hand away, trying not to let the disappointment show in my voice. “I’ll put this away and we can get ready for bed. We can snuggle if you think it would make you–”

“No, Owen,” he said, harshly. I told myself he hadn’t meant to snap. “I just want to be alone tonight.”

He didn’t say another word, trudging off down the corridor and heading straight into his room, slamming the door behind him. So I guessed I wasn’t welcome in there tonight. It was such a shock I had to sit back down.

I don’t know how long I sat there staring into space but, eventually, I blew the candles out and threw the flowers in the trash. What had I done to deserve this?

To my surprise, there were tears in my eyes. The rejection hurt more than I could possibly imagine and it sat so heavily on my chest I could hardly sleep when I climbed into bed. Were we falling apart? We’d barely begun.