by Liza James
“Hurry up, I’ve got places to go. People will be over soon.” Elijah’s voice yells from the driver side of his vehicle. I roll my eyes and turn, hurrying over to join him and Stella.
“You also didn’t tell me that while Elijah may be more attractive than ninety percent of the male population, he’s also a raging dick,” Stella chirps as she jumps into the back seat. I can’t help the laugh that falls out of my mouth as I shut the passenger side door and buckle up. Elijah’s eyes dart back to her in the front mirror, an entirely unenthused expression on his face.
“Yeah you’re a real peach too, sweetheart.”
“Ew, I hate that pet name.” She scrunches up her nose at his sarcasm.
“I told him the same thing,” I say, smiling to myself.
“Why? Because it’s generic? For nameless, unimpressionable women?” he asks.
“Yes,” we both say in unison.
“Exactly.”
My face drops at his admittance, and Stella rolls her eyes, but his lips are lifted just slightly with a conniving smirk.
“You sure you don’t want to move in with me?” Stella pointedly asks and I tilt my head to rest against the window.
“Unfortunately, she’s in a non-negotiable contract with me. She’s not going anywhere,” he continues, his voice dripping with conceited sarcasm. It’s been one week of living with Elijah and I’m already losing my mind.
For one, I’ve realized that he’s a drinker. He drinks almost every single night. A decent amount as well, to where he’s a bit tipsy but keeps mostly to himself and Sam. I hate that it seems he’s so uncomfortable with me living here it makes him turn to alcohol. I wish things could be different, I wish Sam wasn’t here. And I wish we didn’t have this ridiculous blood bond that begs for me to be close to him, seek out his warmth and attention when he only seeks out Sam.
Sam.
She has become an ever present gnat, buzzing in my ear about all things her and Elijah. She drives me crazy, and when she doesn’t shut up about their sex life, I find myself downing a few shots myself, just to fog out my mind. I already have to see them kiss, watch them spend time together, silently observe as her fingers trail across his chest and arms as they talk. I don’t need to hear about him railing her at all hours of the night as well.
I actually did hear them once and I nearly threw up everything I had eaten for dinner. It happened recently too, just the other night after Elijah and I actually shared a decent conversation. He told me a little more about the Angel race. He explained the Capital to me, how it was that gorgeous cathedral in downtown Manhattan which doubled as the central base for Fallen Angels. He even shared that Nathanial currently leads their people, because Elijah had refused the role initially but was reconsidering. I hadn’t felt closer to him than in that moment and I left the conversation feeling like maybe we could eventually be friends.
That night I had woken up from a rhythmic thump, thump, thumping downstairs. At first, I was worried that someone was trying to get in, so I jumped from my bed and slowly opened the door. That was when I heard her, Sam, moaning and crying out Elijah’s name as he assumedly, slammed into her with enough force to break the damn wall down.
I couldn’t help it, tears pricked at my eyes and I used all of my strength to force them back. But once I heard him as he groaned into her, clearly reaching his own climax, I truly lost it. I slammed my door shut like a child, in hopes that he heard me, so that he knew I knew what he was doing and surrendered to shedding a few tears throughout the rest of the night. I couldn’t feel anything through the bond except disgust and hatred, and while I wasn’t completely positive, I was pretty sure those were my own emotions. I had no claim over him, I tried to remind myself. But the warring blood bond between us said otherwise, and I had to force away those feelings.
We didn’t speak the entire next day—which was yesterday—and today we were gathering my things and getting ready for the party he was throwing together.
“This isn’t one of those, fifty shades type contracts, right? Because I don’t know if I’d support that or if I might have to kidnap and hide you away, Luna.” Stella’s voice breaks through my thoughts as I force a sympathetic laugh at her remark. How funny, she could never hide me away from him and the fact that it both excites me and makes me miserable is the real problem.
“Wow, that was fake. I was just joking, promise. What’s up?” Stella leans forward from the backseat and looks at me. I turn to assure her I’m fine when I see Elijah watching me silently, his soft green eyes piercing through mine, no doubt reading my emotions and putting two and two together.
Stella’s small, pale hand suddenly smacks his chest as a scowl forms on his lips. “Dude, what the hell. Eyes on the road, I’ll take care of my sister.” She turns her attention back to me as Elijah reluctantly focuses back on the road.
“Nothing is wrong, I promise. It’s just bittersweet leaving that apartment,” I lie.
She eyes me warily, trying to figure out if I’m telling the truth or not. Hesitantly accepting my answer, she leans back in her seat. “Alrighty then, if that’s what you want to go with.”
We drive the rest of the way in silence and when we pull up in front of the house, the tension has thankfully eased a bit. Stella’s eyes widen with appreciation. “Okay, I can see why you would choose to live here rather than my little apartment.”
I laugh at her comment as we all climb out and begin unloading the Jeep. We follow Elijah to the front door when it swings open and Nathanial bolts out. In his rush, he accidentally runs directly into Stella, knocking the box she’s carrying from her arms and crashing to the ground. She topples over, bracing herself to hit the cement when Nathanial’s hand darts forward and catches her elbow before she falls.
She looks down, straightening her shirt with trembling hands when Nathanial finally speaks. “Who are you?” he asks simply, but there’s an edge to his tone that I’ve never heard before.
She finally looks up, meeting his eyes for the first time and I swear she’s briefly stunned speechless. She quickly recovers and finally responds, “Nice to meet you too, asshole. Is this the rich boy you told me about?” she asks me, but her eyes never leave Nathanial’s.
I laugh a bit to myself as Elijah’s gaze shoots towards me. “Yes, this is Nathanial. Nathanial, this is my sister, Stella.”
They don’t shake hands—they don’t even offer the sentiment. Nathanial clearly drags his hooded eyes up and down her body and she immediately tenses at his perusal. He takes a deliberate step away from her, putting distance between them and shakes his head before looking over to Elijah. “A few alarms sounded at the Capital, nothing serious though. I’m going to make sure things are okay and then I’ll be back,” his voice is clipped as he tries to sound vague enough around Stella and I suddenly realize that she is most likely going to be around others of their race tonight. I’m going to have to explain things to her at some point.
“Tell me if you need me, I’ll be there. You know that,” Elijah is tense, his body all hard lines and sharp edges. He nods for Stella and me to head inside and I quickly urge her forward. We leave the box on the ground, but I don’t miss the way she quickly catches one last peek at Nathanial before we enter the house.
I motion for us to head up the staircase and towards my room. “Why are you acting weird around Nathanial?” I ask, phishing for her opinion. I know she supposedly has a boyfriend, but I’m curious what she thought.
“What? I’m not. He’s a conceited prick, I can already see that, and I didn’t even have a conversation with him. Hell, he’s alright looking, I guess. But did you see the way he didn’t even say hello? He just—”
A loud laugh rolls out of my throat, “Okay, okay. I get it. You don’t like him. But he’s not an ass, I promise. He just seemed a little off, stressed probably.”
While a wave of mild anxiety courses through me over what could be happening at the Capital, and with no indication through my bond with Elijah, I choose
to focus on unpacking and getting ready for this evening. Stella and I continued unloading boxes, having Elijah place them against one wall as he helped for a few more minutes before disappearing entirely.
Stella and I still haven’t left my room yet, and it’s been a couple of hours since we first came up here. After unpacking almost everything, we began getting ready for the party. I want to say that I didn’t care if Elijah noticed me, but I’d be lying to myself. I do care. I don’t want to care, but I do. And that’s just the simple truth of it right now.
I chose to wear a casual, flowy dress for the evening. A cream one that dipped low in the front and cinched at the waist with big tan buttons. They follow a straight line all the way to the bottom, where it parts the two sides just slightly. It cascades around my calves and has loose shorter sleeves that fall off of my shoulders in a wide neckline. I pulled half of my hair up in a relaxed top knot and opted for hardly any make up tonight, settling on foundation, blush, a few swipes of mascara and lined brows.
Stella, the ever-bohemian beauty, is wearing a floor length maroon dress. It’s casual enough to look effortless, but absolutely enhances everything about her. Her wild, red hair hangs around her shoulders in loose, natural waves. The back of the dress is completely open aside for the thin straps that reach over her shoulders and fall to the material bunched up at the small of her back.
I was still worried about the possibility of Stella meeting other Angels in attendance, but Elijah surprised me earlier by sharing a bit of reassurance through our bond. It was the first time he had ever willingly opened up to me in that way and while I was thankful for it, I also knew I couldn’t trust this development in our relationship. Or lack thereof. After that, he completely blocked me out and I knew I wouldn’t read anything else from him tonight.
Stella has also been on edge since we got here. She won’t stop rambling about her boyfriend or sending him quick text messages and reminding me how I need to meet him. I narrow my eyes at her suspiciously as she picks up her phone for the millionth time and obnoxiously giggles to herself over a text she’s reading, I’m assuming from him.
“All right, let’s get this over with,” I mumble as I give myself one last once over in the long mirror I brought from my old apartment. I slide my hands down the front of my dress, turning to the side in order to check every angle.
“You look amazing, Lun. You hoping to grab Elijah’s attention?” she asks as she wanders over to join me in the mirror. She drops her head to my shoulder as we speak to each other through the reflection.
“No. Definitely not. Besides, his girlfriend is here,” I say dryly. I don’t want to dislike Sam, but she makes it her mission to remind me of her and Elijah’s non-relationship every time she can. It’s hard to ignore that.
“She isn’t his girlfriend. You told me that earlier.”
“Semantics. They’re basically committed fuck buddies,” I say as I turn and move to open the bedroom door with Stella following on my heels. I’m not sure what to expect, but as we slowly descend the staircase, an overwhelming amount of chatter and voices fill my ears.
I glance to my left, looking over the iron railing and see that Elijah’s living room is packed with party guests. There are a mix of red solo cups and traditional glasses in the hands of everyone below, some wine glasses occasionally scattered through as well. There’s a long, farm style table nestled across the back wall of the room. It’s filled with trays of food, vegetables, small cakes, some sort of pasta salad and other snacks. One end is also cluttered with an assortment of various bottles of alcohol.
At first, when we reach the bottom of the stairs, I don’t see Elijah. I try not to look for him, but in a room filled with strange people, who could all be Angels or who knows what else, I end up seeking out his familiarity. I don’t catch sight of him until my eyes firmly land on his, colliding together like two magnets finding their homes. A current of yearning and need crash through me. My body begs to step nearer to him, craving his touch on my skin and his voice in my ear.
His face is still, as well as his entire body, frozen in place while Sam clings to his muscular upper arm. She’s telling him something, her mouth working at double speed, a few giggles thrown into the conversation as well. But he doesn’t look like he’s listening. It doesn’t look like he hears anything or sees anything else. Sam leans toward him, clearly repeating his name several times before he finally tears his eyes off of me and turns to face her.
The widest smile I have ever seen on his lips is directed at her and I’m shocked in place by the beauty of it. I’ve only ever seen small smirks, or the tiniest lift to his lips. This is different, it’s a full face, stunning smile that clearly has her forgetting the fact that he just ignored half of what she said to him. I bite my lip as the unjustified jealousy rips through me at the fact that Sam earned herself something so precious from him.
“Hey, earth to Luna. Forget him, he’s not worth it, okay?” Stella’s sweet voice fills my ears as her small hands land on my shoulders and she turns me to face her. I plaster a sympathetic smile on my lips and scoff at the comment, as if Elijah has no effect on me.
God, how I wish that were true.
At the same moment, the front door swings open wide and Nathanial saunters in with another man at his side. Several people look up and shout hellos or wave, but his gaze zeros in first on Stella, then quickly swings to me.
“Luna,” he says as he steps towards us. His eyes politely fall to my sister with a nod, “Stella.” I briefly notice the man at his side, similar to Nathanial in that pretty boy, immensely attractive kind of way. His hair is blonde, much blonder than his friend’s and long enough to pull up into a small knot on his head. He has some scruff, nothing outrageous but definitely masculine enough to have me taking a second look.
I return my attention back to Nathanial and Stella, glancing back and forth between the two as her eyes burn into his and he refuses to break contact first.
“What the hell is up with you two?” I ask, stepping in between them and forcing them apart at my words. Stella immediately recovers, throwing an arm around my shoulders and placing a kiss on my cheek.
“Nothing at all, Lun. Nice to see you again, Nate-y.” She smiles widely at him as she props her other hand on her waist. His eyes narrow at her nickname for him, but he chooses not to respond to it.
He swings his gaze back to me as he steps to the side, motioning toward the man next to him. “I actually wanted to introduce you to my friend, Camden.”
I offer a polite smile and when Camden reaches his hand forward to shake mine in greeting, I’m surprised at the powerful grip he places on me. “Hi there,” he says, his voice much lower than I anticipated. It rolls over my skin and wraps around me like a thick wave of heat from a fireplace, sparking and crackling from just two simple words.
“Luna. I’m Luna.” I force out, uncontrollably smiling again.
Jesus, play it cool.
He’s intimidating, if I’m being honest. His arms bunch and flex with strength as he leans back and casually slides them into the pockets of his light denim jeans. He’s wearing a cream, long sleeve sweater that hugs him tightly around his chest and shoulders. He has a narrower build, but still rippled with muscles and definition.
Stella introduces herself as well, taking his hand in hers and shaking it in welcome. Nathanial tenses at their interaction for a split second, and I can’t help but wonder what he could be possibly thinking of my sister. They don’t seem to get along, without even knowing each other. But there is something else between them, a tension that drags their gazes back towards the other, even if in anger and frustration.
“Nathanial. Who is your friend? Pretty sure this was a closed invitation.”
A burning heat scrapes at the small of my back, working its way up my spine and enveloping my body in that sun I’m constantly craving. I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand at immediate attention and shivers break out across my shoulder blades. I unconsciously
sway back towards Elijah until his firm hand lands tightly on my waist, holding me steady and mere inches away from him. I glance down quickly and feel an intense heat build in my core and sink even lower, settling between my thighs where I’m already wet for him. The simple contrasting sight of his tattooed fingers against my creamy linen dress has me turned on and tuned into his touch.
Nathanial’s smile widens as he rocks back on the heels of his brown, Brunello Cucinelli lace-up’s. Guy is attractive and has a sense of style. “I figured she needed to meet more people, make a few more friends in the neighborhood since she’s living here with you and Sam now. Speaking of—” he looks over his brother’s shoulder until he spots whoever he’s looking for. I refuse to turn around and meet Elijah’s eyes, I refuse to see the expression on Camden’s face. No doubt this is oddly uncomfortable. “Sam! Come meet my friend.”
I inwardly wince at Sam joining us but make no expression to show that fact. She hurries up behind me and I step to the side, hoping to shrink away from the small gathering while they all continue chatting. Introductions continue to be made and I can’t help but notice that Elijah is staying closer to me. Not close enough to be touching, sort of hovering around with Sam at his other side. I look to Stella, seeking her help in bailing us out of this group but her attention is locked on Nathanial with a slight scowl on her pretty face.
“You need a drink?” Camden’s dark, deep voice fills my ears and I quickly turn towards him to realize he’s speaking to me.
“Ah—Sure, I could use a drink,” I stammer out and step back, putting space between myself and the small group. Camden steps away with me and takes the lead, reaching back to take my hand in his as he pushes us through the crowded room. I instinctively flinch and rub my chest as the tiniest spark of pain lances through it. Curiosity pulls at my mind and I turn my head to look over my shoulder, meeting the sharp eyes of Elijah at my back.
