Her returned affections surprised him because up until that point James felt as if he had been pushing the young woman into his own unfathomable drive. Feeling her hands curl around his neck, he groaned into the soft press of her mouth against his. He found himself bending down into her. His hands slid further up underneath her shirt, letting the hem ride up to expose the small of her back, as his fingers danced nimbly up her spine, pressing so that she rode more firmly against his chest. If there was one thing living as long as he had – it was being able to<b>touch </b>in just the right way. And despite the fact that his body was a volatile mixture of fatigue and too much amped up adrenaline, the desire to toss her up into his arms and drag her like some sort of barbarian into his bedroom was a temptation. Except her gentling hands on him and the pliant way her mouth melded into his in that deep kiss changed his tune to something more seductive than that. Nuzzling his mouth against hers, he parted her lips with his own and pulled her lower lip between his to suckle it. The graze of his teeth teased the plush pillow and his tongue danced close to lave the nibble. He did this a few more times before dragging his mouth away from her own and raised his head up to meet her eyes. Swimmingly green, they held more than just passion's dance in their depths.<br/><br/>He tried to hide the sentiment in that stare with the grin that once more quirked his lips. His hands roved back down her back and lower so that his palms cupped her ass and dragged her against his hips so that she felt the stiff erection behind his jeans. “See? No matter how much everything else gets fucked up, there's one thing that just won't settle down, eh?”<br/><br/>The lewd comment was followed by a playful waggle of his brows, though his fingers only dug more firmly into her backside to hold her in place. He released her only because she started to lead him into his bedroom, which, despite belong to a bachelor, was kept surprisingly tidy. Though that might have been because he didn't own by way of<b>things</b>. James had learned a few generations back that accumulating memories and keeping them only made it harder to start all over again every twenty years or so. The price of living in this world without aging with the consequence of lacking any memories to hold on to except for the precious few. Though there were many still he would have rather not lived at all.<br/><br/>But wasn't that the way of the world?<br/><br/>He held onto her hand that had twined with his own and guided himself onto the rumpled comforter after her. One knee propped up onto the edge of the bed so he could pull off his shoe with his free hand followed by the other as he settled on the edge of the bed and hovered above her for a lingering moment. His body slumped after that then stretched out like a great cat on his pride rock. His fingers intertwined with hers fully as his lids lowered and he propped himself up on one elbow so that his chin could rest in the palm of his hand. For now, he would behave.<br/><br/>“I think my little Valkyrie likes the taste of power now that she's felt the real deal. Hopefully you won't let that feeling overcome who you are as a person, Lane. It's one of the reasons why I feel guilty for asking you to help me with these things. I thought when I came into that shop that it would be easy; take the book, use the witch, and be on my merry way with a new skip to my step that hadn't been there for two hundred and more years.” A wolfish look struck across his face like flint to a fire, sparking something in his mind that spoke his actual age instead of what appeared on the surface.<br/><br/>“Anastasia is just one of my many mistakes, darling girl, and technically that red headed bitch saved my life. The mark on my thigh is not a punishment, it's a payment that I've been evading for a long time now. What you have agreed to do is cheat that payment and turn the ire of a very powerful demoness not only on me but on yourself. Just remember that it's not too late to say<b>no</b>. But Anastasia has never been a<i>jealous</i>woman; not like Aislinn--” The name he spoke now was spat out like he had tasted something foul. His features darkened and his hand around her own squeezed a little too tightly. With his nostrils flaring from the surge of anger, James had to force himself to relax.<br/><br/>“Aislinn put me in my very own home sweet home for a hundred years. Alone. In a cave. The Map's – Anastasia's – price of... bringing me back from that particular enchantment was<i>this</i>...” His free hand slid down to touch the warmth underneath his jeans. She already knew what lay underneath. “Which is, in the world of the supernatural, a fair price for a life saved and granted.”