When Eric was on the point of losing his reason, a voice attracted him back to reality.

  ''Please, be gentle.

  I don't know how painful it'll be, but if it's you, I'll accept it. ''

  Her sweet, loving voice had a double effect on him: it made him regain control of his basic instincts and realize how lucky he was to meet Rubra.

  Those words confirmed to him the radical acceptance that she had for him, and consequentially part of his nightmares were defeated by these simple words accompanied by her unequivocal behavior.

  Had he not talked with Aka: at this moment, he couldn't have gone on with a light heart.

  Luckily his powers didn't automatically brainwash Rubra, or his mind would have taken a big hit.

  Clearing his thoughts away, he smiled relaxedly and answered while speaking sensually in her left ear.

  ''You don't have to worry about it. Entrust yourself to me. ''

  Just when the pleasurable shiver was on the point of disappearing from her skin Eric started.

  His right hand was next to her face to keep him stable. His mouth alternated between biting and lightly licking her left ear while his left hand slowly started massaging her right breast.

  Instantly, feeling those unknown stimuli, Rubra started moaning, trying to keep silent without success.

  Slowly but surely, his mouth went towards hers again, and his left hand descended towards her precious place.

  After a minute, a shrill voice filled their kiss, and her leg's muscles contracted involuntarily.

  Rubra's mind was empty.

  She only felt happiness and joy for meeting the man in front of her.

  In a similar way, Eric was happy he could give pleasure to the woman he loved. In the past, this kind of event would have been empty, part of his weekly routine.

  Now he felt great importance in every detail around himself: every fold of the blankets, every movement in the tendrils of flames that still surrounded them in a perpetual dance, and most importantly every reaction, voluntary or not, of the body of his lover.

  This kind of undivided attention felt almost similar to meditation.

  Any other problem disappeared from the background of his mind from that point on.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  He was changing at that precise moment.

  His improvement was caused by his love for Rubra, but he could feel those modifications happening in his mind as if a secret part of his brain was suddenly unlocked for him to use it.

  He didn't care anymore about his past, his revenge, and the other obstacles to his freedom.

  At that moment, he understood.

  *What I want isn't revenge. What I want is to resolve my past problems in order to be able to live in this perpetual blissful state filled with my love for her! *

  At the end of the day, his future actions wouldn't change much: revenge was still his chosen means to achieve his objective, but this change of point of view had crucial importance for him.

  It filled him with meaning and energy for the future travel he would embark on.

  Returning to the present moment, he watched the panting red-haired beauty on the bed with a smile full of anticipation and mischief.

  Then he covered his hard rod with his saliva and her love juices.

  Finally, he started kissing her while holding her delicate hands in his, and while she was distracted by the sweet kiss, they became one.

  Rubra understood the situation just a moment later. Like a baby distracted by a doctor during vaccination, the pain of the entering needle was almost completely canceled by what was happening around her.

  Then Eric stopped kissing her for a moment.

  ''Are you okay? ''

  Seeing her nod, he answered.

  ''Then I'll continue. ''

  As his movements slowly became broader and faster, both of their bodies started heating up, and for different reasons, their thoughts synchronized.

  We are one now! *

  A new family, someone who accepted the other just as he was.

  The motivations were different but similar at the same time.

  The feeling of love they were searching for during their whole life was finally in their hearts, and they started smiling, with an even bigger smile.

  Had their story been a rom-com, this would have been the final scene, and they would have continued living happily ever after.

  Unfortunately, destiny found those stories boring and wanted a more exciting tale full of secrets and accidents.

  The moment of the climax brought them even closer to one another.

  Then Eric laid down next to her and was in his sage mode.

  Thinking about manipulating Nature, giving us pleasure hormones to ensure the propagation of the species.

  Somehow Rubra, after staying for two months next to him, started understanding when his thoughts were clearly mismatched to the situation, id est when he was overthinking.

  In the past, she was unsure about what countermeasures to enact against this problem.

  Then a light bulb lit up over her head, and instantaneously she jumped on him.

  The soft, enveloping feeling on his chest brought him back to reality in the fastest way possible, but rebutting words raised from his mouth just as fast.

  ''Rubra, wh... ''

  She was ready, so without giving him a chance to finish his words: she kissed him.

  Understanding at that moment the reason behind her action, Eric sighed mentally and resumed smiling while continuing to pamper her.

  At that moment, a certain someone was searching for any way possible to have a Phoenix barbecue.

  What Nemesis didn't know was that those bitter-sweet worries were a privilege of peace.

  In fact, the war would overwhelm her daily life like sea waves and catch her unprepared like thunder in the clear sky.

  A.N.: In this chapter, there are many hints about the future story. I don't think they're so difficult to understand, but I hope you have got them clearly. What are your predictions? Regarding the sex scene, I will include them when I think they're functional to the story or the development of the characters. Still, as I think it could be perceived from the past chapters, those won't be central in the story, so I lowered the rating from R18 to restricted. That's all. Have a good read!