A Life of Love - IV. A Testament to Love - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Severus Snape and Bethany Wright had been engaged now for almost four months.  It was early March and their wedding was set for May 19, 1980.  They were living together in a cozy cottage on the outskirts of Sherwood Forest while Bethany studied fairies and their population's decline in the area.  She was working for a group called Welfare for Indigenous Sprite Habitats also known as W.I.S.H..  

Bethany had less than a month left before she had to turn in her research to the Ministry of Magic Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.  W.I.S.H.'s hope was to receive more funding to try to fix the problems affecting the fairies.  If Bethany persuaded the Ministry that this was necessary, W.I.S.H. would be given years to study the fairies and they wanted Bethany to have that job.  

Severus, meanwhile, was expanding his potion sales with his by-owl delivery service.  He had access to recipes for new, powerful potions and their antidotes that had been beyond his sphere until recently.  He also had several new clients.  Yet, he hadn't written any poetry recently, and most of Bethany's drawing talents were now spent on sketching fairies and their habitats.  However, they were planning a romantic vacation to the beach in Summer.  Everything from a by-standers perspective appeared to be going very well for the couple.  

However, they both harboured a dark secret that strained their relationship and cast a shadow over their potential happiness.  The truth was that Severus had been involved in the Dark Arts for years, keeping his actions a secret from Bethany.  He had even gone so far as to pledge his allegiance to the Dark Lord, Voldemort, a month before Bethany had found out that he had.  She had been under the impression that Severus had given up his interests in the Dark Arts years before.  She didn't question where Severus's new potions and clients were coming from because that was his business and it was thriving.  She did, however, notice him staying out very late and often sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night only to come back exhausted the next morning with excuses that didn't hold up.  So she assumed he was having an affair.  

Only a confession of his loyalty to her, and his involvement with Voldemort under the influence of Veritaserum, convinced her otherwise.  Severus feared she would leave him because she and her family were against the Dark Lord.  Yet, despite her fear for both their safeties, Bethany promised Severus she had no intention of leaving him.  She had loved him for years and wasn't about to abandon him during this difficult time.  However, her mind was clouded with worry and she wondered how they would ever escape the clutches of the Dark Lord and have a normal life.

After only two months, Severus had distinguished himself so much that he was raised to the rank of Death Eater and had the Dark Mark branded on the inside of his left arm.  He felt a mixture of security and worry, accomplishment and guilt.  He wasn't telling Bethany the details of what Voldemort's followers were doing, so he decided not to tell her about becoming a Death Eater.  He wasn't thinking how obvious a place the Dark Mark was to someone who regularly saw him naked, or while changing shirts, or even with his sleeves rolled up.

---

The day after Severus was branded, he and Bethany took a break from their work to spend some quality time together.  It was getting to be a rare treat since all the drama of Bethany's parent's attitude about the two lovebirds living together had occurred, and on top of that Severus had the new vocation as a follower of Voldemort.

Severus made the first move by coming up behind Bethany as she was washing her hands after having been out doing field work.  He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his bulge into the small of her back.  This was one of her favourite initiative moves.  It sent tingling chills all up and down her body.  If he pushed long enough she would get wet, which is exactly what he wanted.

“Mmm,” she hummed and let her head fall back against his chest.  

Severus moved his hands down to her hips and pulled her against his hardness.  At the same time he leaned forward and began kissing and nibbling her neck.  Bethany reached up and grabbed the back of his head while craning her neck so that he could kiss her as she wove her fingers into his black hair.  His kiss was forceful and passionate.  His tongue delved deep into her mouth and swirled around aggressively so that she could barely return the action.  When she did probe her tongue into his mouth he sucked on it rather hard and she had to pull it back.  

He spun her around to face him while still kissing her.  Then he grabbed her around the small of the back and squeezed her tightly so that she was crushed against him.  He readjusted his hands so that they were on her buttocks, pulling her against his bulge just as he pressed against her.  She made a short moaning sound in the back of her throat and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, moving her hands through his hair.  There was no need to pull him nearer.  He was still ravishing her mouth with his tongue.  

He moved one hand up her back to cradle her neck and the base of her head.  Then he dipped her backwards over the sink while he bent forward.  Severus was supporting her weight but still drawing her to him, at least, her lower parts.  He finally ended the kiss by pulling his mouth away with a hard sucking until he had just her lower lip which he bit firmly.  After he released her mouth, they were both panting.  He began kissing madly down her neck and to her chest where he had to stop because he could go no lower in the position that he was holding her.

Severus spun himself and Bethany around so that they were no longer facing the sink.  He still had her in a dip as he regarded her large breasts, heaving with passion only inches away from his face.  He gave a mock-sinister chuckle in the back of his throat and flashed a sexy grin.  Then he lifted her back up.  His face was very close to hers.  They could feel each other's warm breath.  After a few moments, Severus began unbuttoning her sweater until he could tear it off.  It ripped slightly from the force with which he stripped it from her body, revealing her bra beneath.  Bethany could mend it later, because at the moment she was appreciating his dominant attitude.  

Severus turned her around in his arms and began walking forward with his arms around her torso.  When they reached the back of the armchair, Severus unhooked her bra and slid it off her shoulders.  He reached around and grabbed Bethany's breasts making a guttural sound in his throat at the feel of their weight and softness in his hands.  He pushed her down over the back of the armchair.  Then he reached around to unzip her trousers and yanked them down.  She wore white bikini briefs, which he reached underneath to fondle her clit from behind as she was bent over.  She gasped and sighed as he moved his fingers in a circular motion around her bud of pleasure.  

Finally, he felt she was wet enough and pulled her panties down around her ankles.  He bent lower as he slid her underwear down and then bit her buttocks cheeks playfully once each, with a slight growl.  Severus stood up again.  He unfastened and pulled down his own pants and underpants so that his large organ was free.  He bent over Bethany, taking the back of her neck in his mouth and biting down with a growl.  At the same time, he pressed his naked shaft into her buttocks and reached around to pinch and twist her nipples.  Bethany began panting loudly.  Severus rubbed himself against her and she began making little noises of desire.  He let her arousal build until she was moaning and on the verge of begging for it.  

He asked her, “What do you want, Pussycat?”

“I want you,” she said.

“Be more specific. What do you want from me?”

She whimpered, “I want to feel your cock inside of me.”

“Good girl,” he whispered directly in her ear.

He grabbed a hold of his stiffness and slid it back and forth a few times. The top of his shaft spread her lower lips and her wetness coated his length. He pushed the head of his cock back and forth over her clit, which made her writhe.  Without warning he pulled back until the head was at her wet openness and plunged it into her. Bethany let out a hard breath.  Severus leaned back to admire their connection, her pale heart-shaped ass, and her submissive position.  He smacked her ass and she gasped.  Then he began ramming into her and pulling almost all the way out. 

Severus bent over her again and his fingers toyed with her nipples.  He bit her neck, then her gently sloping shoulders.  She cried out.  Severus moved one hand down to her pussy as he was fucking her and rolled her clit with his fingers.  Her flesh was bouncing delightfully.  Severus thought about what he wanted next.  

He took away the hand that held her breast and licked his finger.  He took a short break from fucking Bethany, and remained inside her. He wriggled his wet finger around her forbidden entrance.  Then he slowly pushed the finger inside of her.  She gasped, especially when he started to fondle her clit again with his other hand.  Bethany started rocking her pelvis without realizing it.  So he began thrusting into her again.  He was going fairly hard and deep but she seemed to be loving it.  She cried out in ecstasy as a hard climax shook her.  The pressure against his cock and finger was amazing.  His climax followed swiftly as his cock twitched inside her, spewing his essence.  They both lay like broken marionettes over the back of the armchair for many minutes but Severus never pulled out.

He began playing with her nipples again, this time twisting harder.  She moaned and he kept working her up.  He felt a surge of control over her and decided on the next thing he wanted to do to his willing victim of sexual sacrifice.  He pulled out his member, which was covered with both their juices and pushed it against the now abandoned opening between her cheeks.  He wriggled the head against it until he started to enter her.

“Um, I'm not sure I'm ready for that so soon.”  She said in a faltering voice.

“Sure you are,” he said in a solicitous tone.  “You just need to relax a little more.”

He began pushing again.  Once his head was in and he was ready to start inching his way forward, he felt her wriggling uncomfortably beneath him.

“Ouch!” she said.  

Bethany was getting angry with him for not listening to her and for being insensitive.  She wasn't quite sure what to do.  He was acting so domineering.  Severus was intimidating to stand up to when he was in this kind of mood.  

She continued, “You're not listening to me.  I said I wasn't ready.  That basically means 'no' and you aren't taking me seriously.”

She wondered if serving the Dark Lord was making him callous to everyone, including herself.  She felt like Severus was making a display of his power.  Bethany wondered what it would be like living with him acting this way, especially if it increased.

But at the realization that she was upset and not just playing hard to get, he withdrew his throbbing member from her body immediately.

“I'm sorry, Sweeting,” he said smoothly.  “I thought you just needed some encouragement.”  

But in his heart he wondered if he were just trying to exert his will over her.  The thought scared him.  He remembered how it had felt so good ravaging her when she was dressed in fine gowns and the sense of satisfaction that he derived from mussing her up.  He never wanted to do anything to hurt Bethany but it had been hard to stop when she had told him to.  Severus had wanted to keep going so badly that he just assumed she would start liking it if he continued.  But he had been causing her discomfort both physically and emotionally.  Severus also feared that Lord Voldemort's control over his attitude was causing him to act less sympathetically towards Bethany.  After all, Severus did spend his evenings torturing basically innocent people.

He felt the need to flee from her and what he had just done to collect his thoughts.  He told her he had to go wash off in case they wanted to try for another round.  It was a poor excuse because he could have simply cast Scourgify.  In his hurry to get away, he left her bent over the armchair without even kissing her.  

Bethany was stunned watching him leave her like that.  She decided something was definitely wrong and she was angry with him.  He didn't seem concerned with her feelings at all. She decided to put her clothes back on and return to working on her sketches.  She was almost done with the project she was hired for.  

Severus on the other hand went into his potions lab after washing off and sat with his head down on the desk thinking for a long time.

---

Evening came and Bethany still hadn't seen Severus.  She decided to go upstairs and look for him.  She found him in the potions lab staring out the window at nothing in particular.  When she asked what he was doing, he broke out of his reverie.  He had been contemplating what he had gotten himself into. He was now a Death Eater and wondered how it would affect his marriage, but he didn't want to admit this.

“I've been thinking about some choices I've made recently,” he said.  He turned towards Bethany and took her hand.  “I'm truly sorry about what I did downstairs earlier.  I wasn't in my right frame of mind.  I should have listened to you and I shouldn't have left you like that.  I just felt... it would be better for you if I put some space between us, and I came up here to contemplate on my own.”  He didn't want to mention he was afraid of hurting her further while in his bad mood.

Bethany felt her anger melting away like frost in the Spring.  “It's alright, Darling.  But don't you see how different you've been acting lately.  I think we both know why.  Don't fall so far into the darkness that I can't find you.  Use me as a guiding light so that you can always find me and follow me back to the other side if you ever change your mind.”

Severus smiled.  “I love you Bethany.”

“I love you too, My Jungle Panther.  Now why don't we try that again without all the domination.  Let's make love instead.”  

Severus needed no other incentive.  He picked her up and carried her into the bedroom.  He had her on the bed, disrobed, when he took his shirt and pants off.  He crawled in bed with her.  Almost immediately, Bethany saw the Dark Mark branded on his arm.  She covered her mouth and sucked in a deep breath, ready to stifle a scream.

“Severus!  No!  It can't be.  You've pledged yourself to the Dark Lord with a binding, irreversible contract.”

Severus had forgotten to try to hide the Dark Mark from her. His deception was clouded by his excitement to make amends to her for earlier.  He looked down at the bed as she squirmed away from him in horror.

“Do you know how easily someone could see the Death Mark and give you up to the authorities?”

“Not unless I roll up my sleeves.  And Voldemort is the authority now.”

“No, he's not.  Not yet anyways and I hope he never will be.”

Rolling to her side, she began to cry.  Severus moved behind her and reached out to hold her but she winced at his touch.  

“Please,” he said.  “Let me comfort you.”

She nodded and he held her close. He leaned over and kissed her on the lips.  She let herself snuggle with him, trying to drive her terrible thoughts away.  Soon he stopped stroking her hair and let his hands trace down her back then wander over her pale hip.  Severus moved his hand over her belly and down the outside of her thigh.  He let his fingers glide up the inside of her thigh and lightly cross her mound.  Bethany rolled onto her back as Severus started to kiss her sweetly and softly. He moved his hand up to fondle her breast and gently rub a thumb over her raised nipple.  

Bethany felt disassociated from physical sensation because she was in shock.  She was still dazed when he lifted himself on top of her.  His arms were holding him up and when she looked to the side she saw the Dark Mark glaring right in her face.  

She screamed.

“What's the matter, Sweeting?” he asked, confused.

She grabbed his wrist, trembling at the touch of the branded area.  “This.  This is the problem.”  Bethany's eyes filled with tears.  “I can't make love to a Death Eater.  What would that make me?”

Severus lay back down on his side, thinking miserably, 'If she can't bring herself to have sex with me now, she'll never marry me.'  After a moment he turned to her and said, “That would make you no different than you are now.  It would only be proving what you have sworn to me so many times—that you will never leave me no matter what, because our love is stronger than anything else.

“But I didn't foresee this,” she said weeping.

“No, but no one can foresee what will happen nor change the fact that one made a promise. Already you have accepted my decision to follow my own path.  This is only a little further down it.  Will you leave me now?”

There was a brief silence in which she didn't look at him.  

“No,” she said softly.  “I promised I'd never leave you.  And I don't know what I'd do without you.”

“I feel the same about you.  I would be lost without you.  So please... we can get over this.  It will just have to take extra effort on your part as you adjust to the idea.  I am still me—the man who loves you more than anything.  No one can change that, not even the one who gave me this mark.”  

He wiped away one of her tears with his thumb.  “It'll be alright.  You'll see.  Just love me and everything will be fine.”

He moved to kiss her.  She didn't flinch or pull away.  He kissed her long and deep.  Slowly he introduced more sensuality into his movements until they were both aroused.  He lifted himself above her again.  This time he made sure his elbows supported his weight, so that she would not see the Dark Mark.  Slowly, he entered her as they kissed.  He felt her respond positively.  They made love for a long time.  Near the end however, he wanted to speed up to finish so he lifted himself back on his hands.  He went slowly at first, his eyes closed in rapture.  

Bethany's eyes were open, looking at the divine expression on his face, and looking down to admire his fine body and his member thrusting into her.  Then she turned her head and saw the Dark Mark on his arm near her face.  She closed her eyes and thought numbly, 'A Death Eater is fucking me.  And I am letting him.  How did this ever happen?'  

Severus was so caught up in his work that he didn't notice the tear slide down Bethany's cheek as she looked at the Mark and thought of terrible fate that may await them.  When he opened his eyes though, she smiled at him.  She felt that her love was great enough to challenge fate.  So she let him finish in a burst of exultation.  She herself had no release that night.

---

Soon after becoming a Death Eater, Severus was entrusted with a very important experiment.  It involved finding a way of taking the regenerative power of a Phoenix and making it into a potion.  For the assignment, Severus was given a Phoenix and told to keep killing the bird until he could find a way to harness its powers and drain it's essence into a viable substance.  Severus did not like the idea, but at least the bird would keep resurrecting.  He knew he had to hide this above all other things from Bethany, because she loved magical creatures so much.  So he kept the bird's cage covered with a cloth in his lab room and always shut the door.  

Severus was learning to use the 'Avada Kedavara' curse and found this to be a great opportunity to use the 'Killing Curse' most effectively.  However, the bird started to recognize Severus as impending doom whenever the cloth was taken off of its cage.  So it would start singing its own dirge every time it saw him.  Severus knew that he couldn't let Bethany hear this so he started working with the Phoenix only when she was out in the woods doing her research.  He was close to creating a stasis field that would at least keep the Phoenix in ashes between death and life.

During this time, he tried to balance his home life with his new occupation.  However, Bethany sensed there was something very wrong, more wrong than her usual discomfort at living with a Death Eater.  For one thing, Severus had never constantly kept the door to his lab closed before.  He made up a lie about a sound-sensitive potion that he could not risk being disturbed.  She believed him for the time but suspected the potion to be a task for Voldemort.  

Severus went out of his way to be tender and romantic with Bethany in order to reassure her of his love.  They both respected the other's privacy as each had their own problems and work to deal with.  Their relationship improved again, but Severus felt empty because he was hiding half his life from her when he was used to sharing everything.

One day, Bethany came home early from her studies.  She heard a strange soft singing, like an exotic bird, coming from Severus's study.  Curiousity compelled her towards the room.  Since Severus never locked his door because that would seem too suspicious, Bethany simply opened it.  She didn't do so particularly quietly but Severus was busy concentrating on the Phoenix and its incessant singing.  Bethany did not have time to announce herself because the moment she opened the door, she saw and recognized the Phoenix.  No sooner could she gasp in surprise at the beautiful creature than she heard Severus say the 'Killing Curse', aiming his wand at the bird which immediately died.

Bethany screamed.  Severus turned around horrified for he knew what she had seen.  She stood covering her mouth with both hands, eyes wide.  Bethany was trembling from the surge of negative emotions she was experiencing.  She wavered a bit, her vision growing dim as the world around her spun.  Then she fainted.  Fortunately, Severus saw her waver and caught her before she hit the floor.  He tried to bring her around for a few minutes before he succeeded.  

He had his hand on her forehead, brushing back strands of her hair and talking to her softly.  She heard his voice in the darkness and followed it until she was blinking into the light.  

“Are you hurt, Sweeting?” Severus said gently.

“Oh,” she said, smiling into his face.  Then she saw the ceiling far above her.  “Wh-where am I?”  

She looked around and saw that she was in his potions lab.  Then she noticed the bird cage and the ashes.  The color drained from her face.  She screamed again and Severus bit his lip knowing what was to come.  

Bethany pulled away from him crying out, “Let me go!  Let me go!”  

Severus didn't try to hold her.  

She tried to crawl for the door but collapsed again.  Severus was soon right beside her.  She began crying.  

“Don't touch me!  What have you done?  How could you?  Oh no!  What else have you been doing to innocent creatures behind my back in our home?”

“Nothing,” he said.  “I haven't done anything to any animal except this Phoenix. And it resurrects.”

“You think that justifies killing it?  Why are you doing this?”

Severus explained to her the task he had been set to by Voldemort.  Bethany was shocked.

“So your aim is to kill the Phoenix so that it can't come back?  And you keep on murdering it?  That's torture!  How can you do that to such a rare and magical creature?”

“Well, it's not like I have a choice, do I?” he huffed.

“Yes, you do.  Set it free.”

“I can't.”

“If you don't, I will.”

“If you do that, Voldemort will have me killed.”

Bethany ranted, “What am I supposed to do?  I can't just ignore this. It's just too much.  I have to turn in my portfolio to the Ministry of Magic next week.  W.I.S.H. is depending on me.  They believe in the care and protection of magical creatures.  So do I.  This is what I have wanted to do since I was young.  I love doing field studies.  I want to keep on with this as a career.  But I can't live with my husband killing the creatures I am trying to protect while I am out trying to save them.  I can't live a lie.”  

She broke down into further tears and ran into the bedroom, throwing herself on the bed.

Severus gave her a few minutes alone then knocked and came in.  He held her and comforted her.  Bethany let him because she desired to be close to him again.  She yearned for the gap that had grown between them to close so that they could be happy and loving like they used to be.  After a while of cuddling, Severus brought her some hot apple cider and a potion for restful sleep.  He helped her out of her clothes and removed his.  He held her naked under the covers, whispering anything soothing he could think of to her.

During a pause, she said, “Severus,” and he knew it was serious because she didn't call him “Sevy” as usual.  “I don't think this is going to work.”

There was a long silence as he guessed at her many possible meanings, hoping desperately it wasn't the one he almost knew it was.  

“What won't work, Sweeting?” he finally asked.

But his potion had taken effect and Bethany was sound asleep curled up on Severus's chest.

---

The next day Severus served Bethany breakfast in bed.  But she remained very quiet as she ate.  He tried talking to her about her portfolio presentation but she said she didn't feel like discussing it.  Severus knew something was terribly wrong.  She normally loved talking about her project and looked for opportunities to practice her speech to the committee.  

Bethany had already turned in a copy of her findings to W.I.S.H. and the group had been extremely pleased with her work.  The leaders of W.I.S.H. had told Bethany that if her presentation swayed the Ministry to give them more funding, they wanted her to do research for the next two years.  Bethany had been so excited when she had told Severus this.  Now she acted like she had given up on everything.  No subject interested her and she lay in bed all that day and the next.

---

With only three days left before the proposal to the Ministry, Bethany forced herself out of bed and rehearsed her presentation.  Severus asked if she would like an audience but she said no.  He was feeling very guilty and had stopped all work with the Phoenix for the last few days.  He even encouraged Bethany to feed and spend time with the exotic bird.  She seemed happy doing this but it was also heartbreaking because she knew the bird's fate.  She just felt that it, or he as she determined, should know some pleasant company before he was finally dispatched of.  This made Severus feel worse.  He thought the Phoenix deserved a loving owner like Bethany after all the bird had been through.

On the night before her presentation, they were having dinner.  Bethany wasn't eating much.  She stirred her food and looked solemnly at her plate.  Severus couldn't stand the silence anymore.

He asked her what she was thinking.

She seemed to ignore his question for a moment.  Then she looked up with teary eyes.

“Oh Severus!” she said. “I can't do this anymore.”

“What can't you do?”

“I can't live with you, knowing you are doing these horrible experiments.  I don't know what else you are doing, and I don't want to know.  I think I have to be alone.”

“For how long?” he asked, swallowing hard.

She gave him the you-should-know look.  “As long as you are serving the Dark Lord and doing things to hurt innocent people and creatures.”

“But I thought you said you would never leave me and that love triumphs over all forces,” he said desperately.

“I guess that's not true,” she said forlornly.  “Because I can't stand this feeling anymore.  I don't want to lose you.  But if you want to do your experiments with the Dark Arts, you're going to have to find a place to stay so that I don't know anything about it.”

“You want me to move out?” he said, stricken.

“No,” she said, crying and shaking her blonde head.  “But I can't live with you like this.”  She broke down into sobs.

He got out of his chair and went over to hug her.  She hugged him back.  Affection was something she had not been returning since she found out about the Phoenix.  So he found himself somewhat glad amidst his grief.  She didn't want him to go.  She had said so.  But if he loved her and wanted her to be happy then he would have to go.

“I love you too much to hurt you like this,” he said.  “So I will go, if that will make you happy.”

“It won't make me happy.  But neither will living this hypocrisy and brutality.”

“Dearest,” he pleaded.  “I would stop but I don't have a choice anymore.  I now regret the decision I made that caused all of this.”

She was still sniffling against his shoulder.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked.

“It's apparently too late for what I want.  I want to live with you out in woods somewhere, marry you, love you, have children with you, and study enchanted creatures.  Oh,” she added, smiling a little for the first time in days, “And have lots of sex.”

“Well, that last part's not excluded yet, now is it?” he said laughing gently.

She laughed in soft tones but said, “I just don't feel the closeness and trust that I used to.”

“So you don't even want to make love to me anymore?” he said, crestfallen.

“I do, but I don't feel the spark.  All I feel is grief.”

“Well, please allow me the chance to rekindle the fire.”  As Severus scooped her up, a light shone in his eyes.  

Bethany didn't protest.  Instead she clung to his neck as he carried her upstairs to the bed and laid her down.

“I know you let me bring you up here but I have to ask if you really want me to take this any further.”

“Yes,” she said, “I love you.  Maybe here we can forget about our differences for a while.”

So he took off his shirt and she looked at him with new eyes, like it was the first time she had seen his bare chest.  Then he removed his pants and was down to his grey underpants.  She could see the bulge of his sexual arousal.  She was turned on in an old way that was so far from where they had been lately that it was almost like their first time again.  She wanted him to take off her clothes, so he did.  He adoringly kissed each new inch of her skin that showed.   

When they were both naked, Severus lay on the bed next to her.  As Bethany reached out her arms to him to embrace him, he held off sexually for a minute.  Instead, he gently took hold of the side of her neck in his mouth and began to gently bite the sumptuous flesh, growling as he did so.

“Oh,” she gasped.  “Oh, My Panther.”  She couldn't say much more for a moment as he sucked on her neck, sending intense shudders all down her body and inflaming her lust.  

She felt like a helpless gazelle caught by his greater power and this made her feel petite and vulnerable.  His muscles moved with sinewy grace as he clutched the arch of her hip, then her buttocks.  Severus pressed his fingers into the soft skin, kneading and caressing her pale flesh.  He moaned at the feel of her voluptuous body pressed against his.  Then he began to growl again.  She in turn exhaled hard, feeling his potent strength as he seized her in his arms, twisting her over so that she lay on her back.  Severus grazed his teeth over the spot he had been sucking as he pulled his mouth away.  He lifted himself up into a dominant position, crouching over her, his muscles flexing.

“Mmm,” she hummed, slightly dazed by his display of virility.  “So My Panther, you've caught me,” she said breathlessly, as he nipped at her neck.  “Do you intend to devour me?”

“Oh yes,” he smirked.  “You are the main course of my decadent feast tonight.  But first you are the appetizer.”  

He lowered his head to her pert nipples and began plucking at them with his lips, licking around them in a swirling motion, lapping at the very tips, and finally nibbling delicately.  Bethany let out a sigh of arousal as Severus put his hands over her luscious orbs, squeezing them lightly as he played with the rosy buds on their peaks.  When he decided she had been tantalized enough in that way, he began kissing Bethany slowly all the way from her mouth downward to her delicious, moist sex.  

Knowing that he had caused her wetness was a great turn-on to him, so he began lapping at her indulgently.  He was actively trying to pleasure her more than he ever had before.  At first, he licked in an easy, unhurried manner.  He continued this for a prolonged time, until she was reacting to the slow stimulation by wriggling impatiently for more.  He saw that her bud of pleasure was already flushed.  So he put a finger on each side of it to make it rise from its protective shell—naked, delicate, and exposed.  

He took the blossom of her femininity tenderly into his mouth and began sucking lightly.  Once he began to feel her tense up, he added more pressure to his motions, now suckling by pulling a little, then lightening up and pursuing the receding clitoris forward so that it was never out of his mouth.  The feeling for Bethany was divine because she had waited so long for more intense foreplay.  As she writhed about, Bethany reached out a hand towards Severus's free hand and he held it.  She grasped it firmly and he could tell how aroused she was by how hard she gripped, sometimes even digging her nails into his palm.  

They both felt her body go rigid when she was close to orgasm.  Severus took the opportunity to rub his tongue quickly over her little sex bud while still sucking hard on it.  At the moment Bethany climaxed, Severus put a slight pressure on her clitoris with his teeth.  She was already over the edge, but this made her streak up to the next level of exaltation.  Bethany screamed like he had never heard her do before.  It was a vehement, guttural outcry from the depths of her being.  Severus was so surprised that he let go of her pleasure switch.  But that didn't stop her from shaking with overwhelming orgasms for a full minute.  

Severus couldn't help but rest his head in one hand and watch the incredibly sexy chain of reactions that he had set in motion.  She jerked.  She convulsed.  She cried out with every spasm that rocked her body.  Her eyes closed tightly one moment and open wide the next. Her mouth was open and formed a perfect circle, which Severus thought extremely appropriate and amusing, as she gasped and panted.   Eventually, her breaths became deeper and turned into sighs as Bethany relaxed more deeply than she could ever remember.  

When Bethany's orgasm had ceased, Severus smiled smugly and kissed his way up her body.  Then he let her enjoy resting against his chest for he knew she must be exhausted.  The entire time they lay there he kept replaying her seismic climax in his mind in all its sensual details.  The sight of her and the sound of her so uninhibited and deliriously wild from his physical prowess kept him ready.

He didn't start dallying with her for a few minutes.  But when he did, he was relentless.  He spent a good deal of time kissing her breasts, chest, shoulders, neck, and face in order to gently encourage her back into the mood.  All the while his hard member lay against her thigh.  The skin on his length was taut from so much desire to take her, especially because of her recent orgasmic display.  When she seemed ready, he moved between her legs and began penetrating her, pushing his large organ deep inside of her.  She cried out in pleasure.  

Bethany felt extra sensitive because she had already had a big orgasm.  But the sensitivity felt wonderful.  She could feel every delectable movement of his hot and hard member thrusting in and out of her.  It was almost as though she had forgotten what it was like to be in the present, concentrating on her feelings and sensations.  It had been over a week since they had done this, which was a record long time of abstinence for them.    

Now everything felt right again as the dark thoughts and sorrowful ones were pushed away by his light, his strength, and his love.  She thought, 'I just want to stay like this forever.'   She wrapped her arms around him but he was already as close as he could be.  She could feel him breathing heavily into her ear.  His breath was hot and the tingling from it turned her on all the more.  So she clutched his firm buttocks and began pulling his hips against her as she raised her pelvis to meet his deeper thrusts.  

She kept accelerating her pace and clung to him as she pulled him towards her at an ever increasing rate.  He needed no further clues as to what this meant.  She wanted him faster and deeper because she was about to climax.  Bethany clutched his buttocks so hard that her fingernails scratched him.  This just served to stir up his excitement and evoked more passion from him.  Severus took hold of her hips as Bethany held his firm buttocks.  They both started rocking each other up and down with their hands to feel even deeper penetration and more friction.

Bethany grunted in staccato breaths that came faster and heavier, “Uh. Uh. Uh.”   This soon changed to a louder, “Oh.  Oh, Sevy.  Just like that.  Oh.  Yes.  O-o-h.  O-o-h.”  A long, higher pitched, “Mmm.  Mmm” followed which sounded as though it could be from pleasure or pain as she bit her lip.  

Severus knew her body and reactions well enough to know that this meant she was on the brink of orgasm.  He thrust even deeper and harder which gave her the sense of fireworks going off.  At that, she cried out and Severus felt her muscles gripping his member for a moment then letting go and gripping again.  This heavenly sensation coupled with the melodic yet feral sounds she was making caused him to let release his control and accept his own orgasm. His felt the pressure pulse through his shaft and erupt, shooting his liquid essence into Bethany.  He watched her neck and pale chest redden with the heat of her orgasm and pressed his pelvis against her clit as his shaft throbbed and spewed a second and third time.

She sighed deeply after he was finished and her hips fell leaden to the bed. Her breathing began to slow from quick gasps to fuller breaths.  Still he could feel her heart beating wildly against his chest.  Severus remained inside her and rolled over, pulling Bethany with him so that they could intertwine arms and legs and she could lay her head on his chest.  She listened to his rapid heartbeat and found it so soothing as it quieted down that she began to get drowsy.  He was warm and protective.  She felt safe and satisfied as she drifted off to sleep.

Continued in Chapter 2

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