Neither was bending Maura to his will. He’d thought fulfilling a fantasy would be the key to her happiness, and now he saw that was not the case. She obeyed him. She responded to his touch, but she never came to him of her own accord. He began to see the reason why. She felt trapped by him. Smothered. It bothered him that she felt that way, but as he began turning it over in his mind that night and the next day, he slowly began to see that she was right. He wanted to be her master, but of her own free will. She was a prisoner. His prisoner. He wanted a mate. More than just a woman to fuck. He didn’t realize it at first, but what he wanted was for her to love and desire him. Once he’d come to that realization, he began to wonder how he could accomplish his goal of getting her to love him. And once he went down that path, he realized, ultimately, what he needed to do was give her freedom back to her. There was an ancient saying that if you loved something, to set it free. If it came back to you, it was meant to be.
