Anira

I arrive home with a growing desire that I shouldn't have left.
"This must be a punishment." I pound the steering wheel a few times. "Anira, be strong and brave. You learned to fight like a girl; you didn’t fall apart when life decided to play with you by taking away the only person you loved. A damn férnus won’t change who you are. Go into this house, get your things, and leave."
"That's it!"
Determined, I get out of the car and enter the house. Everything is in place, and even the broken cupboard is as it was before.
"I thought it would take you longer."
"Arow!" I run to him and throw myself into his arms.
"Ann, it doesn’t help much with you leaving your scent on me."
"Sorry, but I was worried about you."
"Don’t worry, everything will be fine."
"Arow, tell me something. Am I giving off any unpleasant scent to your nose?" He raises an eyebrow.
"Ann, your scent is deliciously unsettling, but I smell Auror on you, which masks it a bit. Winter is coming, and things tend to get quite intense during this time."
"Is this your first mating cycle?"
"Yes."
"Have you found your companion?"
"Not yet, but I’ve found someone to spend this period with."
"Alenna?"
"Yes." He smiles awkwardly.
"And afterward, Arow, how does the relationship work?"
"Ann, we’re not like humans. We don’t get jealous of those who don’t belong to us. It’s just a time for both to satisfy their needs. It’s better if done with a friend. Some of us come back with battle scars; the mating cycle is dangerous without a controlled partner. That’s why Alenna and I chose each other. We’re friends, and this will be our first cycle."
"And if there’s no one to mate with, what happens?"
“Never felt an insane urge to mate? One that wakes you up at night craving something between your legs?”
“How do you know that?”
“We learn from a very young age.”
“Yes, for the past six years, always in the winter.”
“Never had a mate?”
“I never went out much, Arow, and had only a brief relationship with a jerk who saw me as a piece of meat.”
“Ann, it might seem crazy, but I know your body is tingling. All férnus are like that, but in your case, without the bond with Auror, it will be agonizing.”
“I don’t know if I feel anything that would drive me to his bed.”
“What I know is that when the bond is finalized, nothing else matters. Our only joy is knowing that our mate is breathing. We do everything to make their life happy and peaceful with us; no one would ever harm them. A férnus, whether female or male, is territorial, possessive, and very jealous. The scent of another male on their females can make them extremely furious. That’s why I ask you to take a shower when you leave, my scent is on you, but Auror’s scent dominates everything.”
“I’m going to run away, Arow.”
“That would kill him.” His words frighten and paralyze me.
“Why? He can have the females from the South, you said.”
“Auror has already met you, Ann. When mates meet, the bond forms immediately; it concludes during mating. Auror won’t be able to touch any other female besides you. Anyone who gets close to him will die. If he doesn’t mate during the heat, the pain will be desperate all winter, like burning him and then cooling him down, only to burn him again.”
“My God! I can’t live like this, but I can’t let him suffer.”