by Anna Santos
“I’m not hungry.” I swallowed hard. He was speaking so affectionately to me that I had no idea how to react. “What will happen if you don’t find Kayden?” A disturbing thought crossed my mind. I didn’t want to be stuck somewhere for my protection. Not again.
“I’ll think about that after we reach that point,” he said and kissed my forehead.
I nodded, placing my hands against his chest, holding on to it, so I wouldn’t fall into his arms. “For now, we need to be happy about the covens of witches agreeing to let us in and preventing the war.”
“Yes.” I closed my eyes when his lips touched my cheek, and he hugged me against him, securing my hands around his torso.
I should have stopped him, but I was too caught up with my mind drifting to sever the contact between us.
“What are you doing?” I asked, breathless, trying to escape the attraction and think clearly about what was going on.
“Hugging you.”
I rolled my eyes, feeling him chuckling against my chest.
“Seriously, I’m just hugging you. I’m not trying to be a smartass.”
“And why are you hugging me?” Oh, stupidest question ever!
“Because I love you, and I don’t want to leave you alone, even though I have to.”
For my dumb question, he had an excellent answer. I was aware that sometimes I needed to shut up and let things happen. And I didn’t need to feel guilty about what was happening. I was no longer in a relationship with Cedric. I wasn’t cheating on anyone, and we weren’t doing anything wrong. We were simply hugging.
I needed some comfort and peace of mind. I had been feeling lonely and misunderstood; angry at the world and restless. None of that was pressing on my mind right then.
“All of this is confusing,” I said, learning how to relax in his arms. It wasn’t hard when he wasn’t pressuring me to do anything. My mind let go and drifted with my thoughts.
“What is confusing? Us?”
“No, Kayden’s plan,” I explained. “If I’m the key to cure vampirism, don’t you think I should let William test me?”
“We don’t know if Kayden was telling the truth. He could be lying and wants to steal your angelic powers.”
“But if he wasn’t? Wouldn’t you like to be cured?” I asked, dreading his answer. If he was human again, we could… I stopped wishing that. It was unfair to him.
His sorrow flooded my soul with his unspoken words. It was uncanny. Maybe it was one of my powers as an angel or a product of my imagination.
“I would accept the cure if there was one. I…know that you don’t want to be a vampire or love one. I respect your decision no matter what. I would be a human if I could, not just to be with you but also because I’m tired of living in the dark.”
“I don’t hate vampires. I just wanted to know what you were willing to give up for…”
“Everything,” he answered immediately, caressing my face and staring deep into my eyes. “I would give up everything for you.”
“Okay...”
“Why did you give up your wings?”
I sucked in the air. “I didn’t want Cedric to die because I’m—” I didn’t finish my sentence as there was a knock on the door. It startled me and killed the magic between us. I had no idea why I felt the need to pour my heart out and show my feelings and emotions without restraints. It felt natural to be like that around him.
“They are probably done. We will leave, and I’ll tell Jo and Camille to keep you company.”
“Okay.”
Philippe got up and answered the door. It was Cedric on the other side.
“They gave me four places to look for Kayden. We need to arrange teams of angels and vampires to search those locations and go to the cemetery after signing the settlement,” Cedric said to Philippe.
“Okay. Jo will stay behind with Aria. Aria would also like to have Camille by her side.”
“Sure. Jacob doesn’t want her in the cemetery anyway. She can stay here with the other angels to protect them,” Cedric agreed. “Are you sure Jo wants to stay behind?”
“Did she say anything to you?”
“No. But I…never mind. Talk to her, I’ll find Camille.”
Cedric turned around and left. I walked to Philippe and stared at the noisy room. Philippe showed me his phone.
I frowned. “Why are you showing me this?”
“You’ve lost yours, didn’t you?”
“In the car accident.”
“Keep mine. I’ll get you another one tomorrow. I have an extra, and I’ll text you what is going on. If something happens, you can call me.” He typed a number and pressed save to memorize it. “You just need to call this number or text. Okay?”
“Okay,” I answered, grabbing the phone and putting it against my chest.
Philippe hesitated in leaving.
“What’s wrong?”
“Since I don’t know if I’ll come back…” he murmured, closing the door behind him and shielding us from prying eyes. “Can I kiss you?”
“Aren’t you exaggerating things a bit?” I asked, flattered by his request, but also surprised since he didn’t ask for my permission the first time.
“It can be a trap.”
I couldn’t disagree with him.
“Do you want to have that on your conscience?” Now he was being manipulative.
I scowled at him. The voice in my head told me to stop being a coward and over thinking everything. I should take risks sometimes.
“I guess I deserve your contempt,” he said with a sad voice.
I wasn’t looking at him because I was putting the phone on a table next to me. Before he could open the door and leave, I put my hand on his chest, stopping him.
“Let’s be clear about something.” I looked up at him. He was much taller than me. “I haven’t forgiven you, but I don’t hate you. This isn’t me forgiving you, either.” I took a deep breath and wrapped my arms around his neck, making him come down to meet my mouth.
I cursed mentally as soon as our lips met. It hadn’t been a product of my imagination. It felt good to be kissed by him. It was the most amazing thing. Having his arms around me, our lips together, and our tongues touching gently was breathtaking. I could lose my mind. I was so caught up that I didn’t care about the short time we had. I didn’t want to let him go. It wasn’t supposed to escalate like that. I was initially planning on brushing my lips against his and allowing him to leave. Soon, we were clinging to each other, and my fingers clutched his back, needing more of him. I wanted my mouth to drown in his. My heart was beating so fast that I thought it was going to climb out from my mouth.
“We really need to stop meeting like this,” a girl’s voice made us aware that we weren’t alone anymore. “I swear I knocked, several times, actually.”
I was pinned against a wall, dwarfed by Philippe’s frame. I turned my head to the right to see Camille looking at us. Philippe had his face hidden against my neck, recovering his breath.
Awkward new moment. She had the worst timing to sneak up on us.
“We were saying goodbye,” I explained, breathless. “Camille, before you leave, we need to talk,” I said, battling between pulling Philippe away or not.
“I’m here to keep you company. Cedric has already told me, so…” She shrugged. “Do you need some extra time alone, or we are good?”
Philippe chuckled. I didn’t because she was being wicked. I glared at her, and she gave me a cheeky smile and winked at me with a naughty expression.
“Everybody is waiting for Philippe. I’m sure you’ll have a lot of time to…destroy the rest of the furniture,” she said, motioning her hand around.
That was when I noticed that we had broken a few things while we were kissing, something I didn’t even realize when it was happening. I felt embarrassed, more than I already was.
“We’ll talk when I get back,” Philippe whispered in my ear, taking his time to leave a trail of goosebumps along my neck with his
lips and softly nibbling on my earlobe. I felt his fangs on my skin and shivered, not because I was afraid, but because I felt aroused by it. I fought for rationality. I needed to fight back the deadly attraction between us.
“I hope it’s not a trap,” I replied when our eyes met.
He lost his smile and kissed my lips one more time.
I closed my eyes in surrender. It was that easy. We touched, and I would melt and shiver, giving up any intention of staying away from him.
“I’ll be back, I promise,” he said sweetly, making my heart hurt with love and fear for him.
Philippe let me go and left me with my weakness and confusion. Camille was still looking at me, probably judging me.
“I guess I should explain myself,” I said to Camille who approach the piano and ran her fingers along the keyboard.
She shrugged and looked around. “No need. He’s your first soul-mate. You love him, and he loves you. What’s there to explain?”
She had a simple way of putting things. “It’s not that easy. I tried to love Cedric.”
“Aria, I’m not judging you. Please, let’s act normal and stop talking about that. Important things are happening right now. If you and Cedric didn’t work out, then fine. Let’s relax and hope that nothing bad happens to our men, okay?”
I rested my back against the wall and tried to calm myself down. She was right.
“He has pretty things,” she mumbled, touching things and looking around.
“He does,” I agreed.
“I guess you’ll be one more to add to his collection.”
I didn’t know what to take from her words.
“You’ll be the prettiest one,” she added with a smile.
“It’s not that simple, Camille.”
“I guess we are stuck here until the men come back,” Jo said, coming into the room and closing the door behind her. “I’m bored. What will we do?”
I shrugged and looked at Camille.
“Don’t look at me. I didn’t bring any cards with me.”
“We should rest a bit then,” Jo suggested, sitting on the couch and looking at me. “What are you doing over there?”
“Rearranging the furniture,” Camille joked.
I rolled my eyes.
Jo frowned. “Come on, Aria. Sit next to us,” she invited, and I obeyed.
Exhaustion was taking a toll on me. I sat next to them and remembered about Philippe’s kiss. I was worried about what could happen to him. I should have gone with him, but I knew that I wouldn’t be of any use to them. I didn’t know what I could do, and Philippe was right, people feared me. They wouldn’t trust me in their territory.
I was almost falling asleep against Jo’s shoulder when we heard movement in the other room. It had been three hours and virtually no news from them. Except for the news Philippe was giving me. It wasn’t much, but at least I wasn’t being paranoid about something terrible happening to them. They were fine, still looking for Kayden in the cemetery and finding a lot of hidden Clarity in his tomb. It was a big cemetery, and there were a lot of places to look for.
I got up and ran to the door, finding Cedric and Jacob talking. I looked around for Philippe.
“Where’s Philippe?” Jo took the words right out of my mouth.
I looked at her behind me.
“He went to get Kayden. My men found him in one of the locations that the leaders of the covens gave us. He had to go with backup to catch him. Kayden had protection and…”
“Why didn’t you go with him?” I asked, upset that he had let Philippe go on his own. He could get injured.
“Philippe insisted on going,” Cedric said.
“And where did he go?” I asked, losing my calm. I wanted to go where he was.
Cedric’s phone rang, and he answered it calmly and talked for a while.
“Kayden was taken to the dungeons, and Philippe is coming back,” he informed us.
I breathed deeply with relief.
“We are finished here. Are you coming or staying?”
His question caught me off guard. “Aren’t we waiting?” I was unsure of what I should do. Where do I live from now on? I had ended up with Cedric, but all my belongings were in his home.
“Jacob, are we going home now?” Camille asked her husband.
“Babe, I have to go upstairs to the dungeons,” Jacob answered.
She walked past us and stopped in front of him with a worried expression.
“Are you okay?” Camille touched his face after looking him up and down.
“I’m fine,” he confirmed with a smile, kissing her lips and her forehead.
Jacob draped one arm over Cedric’s shoulders. “I’ll wait for you upstairs.”
“I still have things to do here. Leave him rotting in the dungeons. I can speak to him some other time,” Cedric told Jacob who nodded before disappearing.
“Aria, are you coming back with me or not?” Cedric asked.
I bit my lip nervously. I didn’t want to go back to his house. I wanted to know what was happening to Philippe, wait for him, and make sure he was safe.
“I’m not going back to your home. We broke up, remember?”
“I do, but where will you stay?”
“She’ll stay with me,” Philippe said, entering the room. “I’ll protect her.”
“Philippe.” I smiled, happy to see him. It seemed like an eternity had passed since he had gone.
“If that’s okay with you,” he said, appearing in front of me in a flash. “Do you want to stay with me?”
I just nodded, full of excitement. My attention was drawn to Cedric when he spoke.
“Camille will bring you your clothes.” Cedric glanced at Camille who was now beside Jo. He stopped to look at Jo while she pretended to be looking at Camille. “Jo, we need to talk.”
Narrowing her eyes, she looked at him. “We don’t.” She waved to Philippe and moved to leave the room.
“We do,” he said, teleporting in front of her and grabbing her arm.
Before she could protest, they disappeared and left us staring at the void.
“Do I want to know what that was about?” Philippe asked.
I shrugged, unsure of what to say to him. “I think he wants to apologize. She’ll be fine.”
“She can take care of herself. I’m a little worried about him.”
I laughed, feeling my stomach clench because of his tender eyes on me.
“I’ll get your things and bring them to Philippe’s house,” Camille said and reminded me of her presence. “See you later.”
Using her powers, she also disappeared, and I was left alone with Philippe. The air felt heavier once we were left alone. My body quivered with nerves as my throat tensed. I needed to have some control over my emotions. I was becoming bipolar with my feelings for him.
“Is it really over?” I asked, not believing that everything was solved so easily.
“It feels strange, doesn’t it? I wasn’t expecting to find Kayden. One of his men told us his location. The specters protecting him gave up when I arrived. I didn’t have to do anything.”
“I agree. It seems odd that he went down that easily.”
“Too easy. Yet Cedric will lock him up in his palace and will interrogate him about the drug and his plans.”
“Okay…” The world spun under my feet. “I don’t know if I should feel relieved or not.”
“I still can’t be sure you are safe without finding out if he has any other allies to do his bidding. I didn’t like his attitude when the angels arrested him. He seemed…too happy about it. Like he knew something we didn’t. Then there’s the gargoyle girl. She wasn’t with him. We have no idea who she is. Maybe I’m being paranoid.”
I hoped he was as I didn’t need anyone else kidnapping me because of my angel. Knowing that the scary gargoyle girl wasn’t caught worried me. She didn’t like Cedric, and maybe Philippe wasn’t being paranoid. Kayden could have some hidden agenda. I tried to focus on Philippe
’s words. I didn’t want to worry him with my apprehension.
“On the other hand, we burned all of Clarity, and the other vampire lords are happy. What have you been doing while we were gone?”
Smiling, he grabbed my hand and pulled me closer. A sense of belonging and confusion spread down my limbs. Damn butterflies!
“Playing the piano, drinking coffee, and talking,” I replied. “Are you okay? You look exhausted.”
“I am exhausted. Let’s go home,” he said, putting his arm around my waist and making me follow him downstairs.
“About staying at your place,” I mumbled, hyperventilating about that rushed decision. I haven’t had the time to think of the consequences. “You need to understand that…”
“You don’t need to be afraid, Aria. You will have your own bedroom, and you still have wings. You can teleport whenever you want. The walls can’t keep you locked in. You are my guest, not my prisoner.”
“That’s what Cedric said,” I grumbled. “Sometimes, I felt like a prisoner in his home.”
“I’m not Cedric,” he said firmly. “You are free to do whatever you want with your life. I want to spend some time with you…before you leave.”
I pondered a bit more about his words. He seemed honest, and there was sadness in his voice when he faced the possibility of me leaving.
“I’ll be a perfect gentleman if you are worried about that. I won’t do anything to make you feel uncomfortable.”
His words made me feel a bit better. He was trying to make me feel safer around him. Hopefully, I wasn’t making a mistake in trusting him.
“We are both tired. It’s been a long night,” he added, helping me go down the steep stairs. “We’ll go home, I’ll make you something to eat, and we don’t need to talk about what you want right now. Not even about our kisses,” he whispered next to my ear. “We don’t even need to talk if you don’t want to.”
“So, what will we do?” I regretted asking since the option that came to my mind wasn’t the wisest one. “Never mind. It was a stupid question.”
He chuckled, and I stared at him, fascinated. But then, he got serious. “Are you afraid of me?”
“I truly don’t know.”
“I’ll prove to you that you can trust me, but I can’t blame you for fearing me,” he said tenderly and enticingly while caressing my waist with his hand. “I want you to be happy. So please let me keep you safe and show you how much I regret rejecting you.”
