Fate: An Action & Adventure Romance Novel (Sacrifice)

by A. C. Heller

  “Aiden?”

  “Hmm?”

  “It's freezing in here.”

  With that he jumps into action and picks me up. Aiden sets me outside of the tub, and quickly follows me out once he sees I'm safely on the ground.

  “Right! So... towels...”

  He looks around the room obviously searching for towels, but the space is completely empty aside from us and the tub. We're not gonna find any towels in here and I'm so cold my teeth are chattering, so I grab his arm I start leading him out of the room.

  “Come on, I've got towels in my room.”

  Aiden doesn't comment, he just lets me drag him by his arm until we reach my room. He steps in front of me and opens the door. Nice. We both enter and I rush to the bathroom and grab two of the biggest towels I have. He wraps his around his waist and turns away from me. With zero regard for his privacy I watch him turn and drop his pants and boxers under the towel. He has the right idea. Standing up I wrap my own towel around me and drop my shorts and pull my tank top off over my head. After, we both sit down on the edge of my bed in loaded silence.

  “I'm sorry I hurt you.”

  He turns his eyes on me and there's something in them I haven't seen before. He doesn't speak but his head dips down and his lips are almost on mine when he whispers to me.

  “You're so sweet. I...I have to do this.”

  I never get a chance to respond because after he says that his lips are on mine. They’re warm and soft and comforting. Aiden lifts a hand and presses it to my cheek as he tilts his head, deepening the kiss. Parting my lips I touch my tongue to his bottom lip, and apparently that was all the invitation he needed. Aiden wraps his other arm around my waist and pulls me to him before laying me down on the bed, his body over mine. While we kiss I run my hands down his sculpted back until I reach the towel he's wearing. His arm moves from around me and he runs his hand from my knee, up my thigh, and up until he reaches my ass. Aiden gently breaks our kiss and props himself up on an elbow, staring down at me he mutters.

  “Jesus, Chas.”

  His words come out strangled and I can tell he's holding back. He takes a trembling breath before speaking again.

  “I think we need to slow down.”

  A noise of protest leaves my throat and I look up to see Aiden smiling.

  “You've had a bad night, Darlin'. I don't want to take advantage of you. I'm just not that guy.”

  Pouting and not very happy about it, I nod because deep down I do understand where he's coming from and I know he's right. He's not that guy. Sighing I adjust my towel so I'm still decent, or as decent as you can get in a towel, and sit up, tucking my knees under myself. Aiden smiles at me and lifts his hand to run this thumb over my bottom lip.

  “Besides, we aren't really sure what would happen. You could end up being the death of me.”

  He smirks at his own joke and I can't help but laugh.

  “Not that it'd be a bad way to go.”

  He winks at me and stands up. Picking up his wet clothes he heads to my door. Turning back to me his expression has changed. He looks almost sad as he speaks.

  “You're really something special.”

  And like many times before, with that, he's gone. Not even bothering to change or even get up I pull my blanket over me and shove my face into my pillow. It doesn't take long before sleep overtakes me.

  The next morning I wake up early. My phone, or more accurately my oversized watch, tells me it's only just after five in the morning. I'm wide awake. There's no sense in trying to go back to sleep, so I throw on a pair of sweats and a tank top. Opening my door quietly I look down at my feet to see that Squish has decided to come with me. But as I make my way down the hall I notice that all the doors are open, the rooms empty. The compound is often quiet, but now it feels void of life.

  Once in the kitchen I confirm that I am in fact, all alone. There's a note on the table that reads:

  On Assignment. Gone for a few days.

  A & T

  Letting out a sigh, I shrug my shoulders. I know I'm in for a boring few days but there's nothing I can do about it. They were my only company. At least until Liza comes back. Since I have nothing to do and Squish as my only company, I spend my morning watching TV in the living room. After a few hours, I'm bored to tears. I really don't know why I even bother trying to watch TV, it's entertaining for like an hour then I'm over it. Heading back up to my room to do god knows what, I remember something. Takeo's door was open... And naturally, I can't resist. Once I clear the threshold of his room, I stop and look around. Its exactly the same as I last saw it. Only no longer cold. The first thing that peaks my interest is a desk in the far corner of the room. The surface is littered with papers and books. Shifting through the papers, one phrase catches my eye. “Hair as gold as the dawn.” Snatching up the paper I carefully read over it.

  The Nephilim prophecy speaks of a daughter born among humans, unaware of her birth right. Just like the Angel's that fell from heaven, she was damned by her own blood to be a victim of her own abilities. Her hair as gold as the dawn, eyes like morning dew, she is grace in its purest form. In her life she will truly love only one, taking the dark from his soul, she will allow it to consume her. Sacrificing herself, her heart, and her soul. The warrior...

  The page looks as though it's been torn, but I've read enough to know that it is about me. Did my parents know about the prophecy? And if they did, they still... No. I have no way of knowing the answer to that question so I'm not even going to think like that. The warrior... The words run through my mind repeatedly before I shut them down. No prophecy is going to dictate the outcome of my life. I'll be damned... Oh... Well... Shit. Inwardly rolling my eyes I leave Takeo's room and slam the door behind me. This isn't fun anymore.

  Later, after I have a small salad for dinner, I decide head into the gym. Flicking on the lights I immediately spot a small stereo on a bench. Turning through the stations I find one that sounds good and I climb onto the treadmill. As I'm belting out the lyrics to some song about just meeting a guy and it being crazy and perhaps he might call you, I hear clapping coming from outside the door. And to my total embarrassment there are at least ten men standing outside the gym watching me, and none of them look familiar to me. Now that I'm ten shades of red, I turn off the machine and step down, giving them a smile and an awkward bow. One man steps forward and he's gorgeous. OF COURSE! He's gorgeous! I'm really starting to hate this place...

  The man walks forward and let me just tell you, DAMN... He's shirtless and he's wearing sweats that hang low on his hips. Once I manage to take my eyes away from his incredibly toned body, I look up at his equally beautiful face. He's got light olive skin, dark features and hair, with a light dusting of facial hair that makes my brain immediately wonder if it tickles. Gah! Bad Chasca! Shaking it off I smile at him as he makes his way over to me.

  “Don't be afraid to look, sweetheart. I'm not.”

  “I wouldn't say I was afraid. More...visually prudent?”

  He smirks and extends his hand to me. I take it and meet his gaze.

  “Angelo De Luca. I'll be your guard for a few days. Until your keepers return.”

  My keepers? Ugh. That makes it sound like I'm an animal.

  “My keepers? I'm not some caged up animal, you know?!”

  “Then sheath your claws.”

  Damn... He got me there. Fine. Whatever. I watch as he goes and lies down on a weight bench and starts lifting. Inspecting the weights I can see he is pressing one-hundred and fifty pounds. And if I'm going to spending a few days around this guy I might as well make small talk, right?

  “My name's Chasca.”

  “I know.”

  “Well it's kinda nice to meet you...”

  “Kinda? You wound me, madam.”

  “I'm sorry. I guess I am being a little bitchy. It's been … well not very fun lately.”

  He grunts setting the weights back into their resting place and sitting up. Running a hand throu
gh his longish hair. Well it's long enough to touch his ears but he seems to keep it brushed back. Angelo stares at me in silence for second before speaking.

  “I'd say you’re holding up pretty well.”

  “Thank you.”

  He reaches up and tugs a lock of my hair and rubs it between his fingers.

  “You really are as beautiful as they said you would be. Your eyes are so expressive. It's like I can see what you’re thinking.”

  Uh...I hope he's kidding.

  “I'm serious.”

  Fuck.

  “Don't be shy, sweetheart. I don't bite. Now. Let's get cleaned up and I'll make you dinner.”

  “You'll make me dinner?”

  “What? Not used to being around men who can cook?”

  He walks into the showers laughing to himself. Rolling my eyes at his obvious jab at Aiden and Takeo I head upstairs and take a quick shower. Grabbing a white sun dress out of my closet I slip into it and head into the kitchen.

  When I enter he's already at the stove, seemingly hard at work. He turns back to me and stands there staring for a moment. I look down at myself to make sure there isn't a huge stain on my dress, only to find there isn't. Looking back up at him, with my best 'What the shit?' expression, I see he's now smiling at me.

  “You look like an Angel. Pun fully intended.”

  “Ha ha. Very funny, Mr. Angel-O”

  Angelo grins back at me and continues cooking. Taking a seat at the table I keep my eyes trained on him. There's something about this man that's very familiar, but I'm not entirely sure if I should be happy or freaked the fuck out by it. After a few minutes of silence he comes over and places a cup of coffee in front of me. It's then that I notice he has a tattoo on the side of his neck. How had I missed that before? It reads Guerriero. That's strange, that's not his last name. Maybe it's a friend or something?

  “What's your tattoo mean?”

  He glances over his shoulder and smiles at me again. This time it's a knowing smile.

  “I suppose you could say it's a title of sorts.”

  Scrunching my face up, I roll my eyes at him.

  “Could you be anymore vague?”

  “Well, I could. But you'd probably scrunch your adorable face up again and we don't want that, now do we?”

  “I don't think I like you...”

  Angelo laughs at that, it's a great laugh that comes from deep in his chest. With his already husky and silky voice, it makes me almost a little proud that I was capable of causing the glorious sound to come from him.

  “Now, now, Sweetheart. No lies.”

  Sitting back in my chair, I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him. He seems completely unmoved by my glare and even winks at me. Whatever, stupid, arrogant jerkface... He brings over two plates of what looks like Shrimp Alfredo. Mother of god, it smells divine... Eh. Wrong choice of words, but seriously, it does!

  “This smells amazing!”

  “Thank you. My momma taught me well.”

  He takes a seat and we both dig in. It doesn't take me long before I start to get full so I put my fork down and take a sip of my coffee. Looking up at him for the first time in minutes my eyes connect with his. Has he been staring at me? What's with these guys?

  “Have you been staring at me this whole time?”

  “Yeah.”

  Oh...well... That's honest... And really annoying.

  “Well stop it.”

  “I'd apologize, but I gotta tell you. I'm not sorry. And besides I can't really help it.”

  “Oh please, I'm not that pretty.”

  And honestly I'm not fishing for compliments. In my eyes I'm rather plain. Long blonde hair, light green eyes. I'm short and skinny, yeah I'm toned, but so what? I'm not exactly supermodel material.

  “You're right.”

  Ouch. Though I did totally ask for that one, but before I can read anymore into it he continues.

  “You're beautiful. But of course you are. You're divine, Sweetheart. You are 'of the angels', if you will. Perfect even. Often the most gorgeous creatures neither know nor realize their true beauty. And because of who you are, your essence calls to certain people.”

  Blushing profusely, I stare down at my lap. Wow, does he have to be so blunt? I've never handled compliments very well, so this man might embarrass me to death.. If that's even possible...Which it's not... Whatever.

  “Certain people?”

  “People like me.”

  “Can you be more specific?”

  “I could...”

  He finally finishes his food and takes his and my plate and places them in the dishwasher. He's not going to answer me. Why is he so damn vague? It's really irritating. Sighing to myself, I move to the edge of the bench like seat, about to stand. But before I can he saunters back over and places a hand on the back of the bench and one on the table, effectively caging me in. And being as stubborn as I am, I stare right up at him, keeping my face as straight as I can.

  “It's cute that you have no idea what you're in for, Sweetheart. So I'll take it easy on you, for now, and tell you. The men around here, men like me, we like cute, we like naïve , and we like beautiful. Why? That's obvious. We're men and all we can think about is what you'll look like when we have you under us.”

  Paling slightly, I stare up at him wide eyed. Did he just fucking say that?!

  “I'm not here to be the end result of some sexual conquest, Angelo.”

  “I know that, we all know that, but it doesn't change the fact that you've got men circling you like sharks in the water.”

  Angelo leans forward and places his lips near my ear before speaking again.

  “And I'm one of them.”

  Straightening, he smiles at me and walks out of the kitchen. I'm stuck sitting there for a few minutes completely floored. And after I try to come to one logical conclusion for what just happened, I can only think one thing. Shit...I'm in trouble...

  Chapter Five

  Now it's three days later and I've actually managed to avoid Angelo pretty effectively. Or maybe he just let me have my space... Either way, I've had a lot of time to think about everything. Let's review. I'm essentially in protective custody with a bunch of hot men because I have bad people after me. Right, and apparently there is some prophecy about me. Oh and let's not forget the whole divine healing thing I can do. And to add insult to injury, Aiden kissing me, Takeo throwing me out of his room, and accidentally giving Aiden third degree burns. With all that on my mind and doing my best to not think about the new men in my life, I decide it's time to drag myself out of bed. There's really no sense in lying around, letting my mind drive me insane.

  After I get out of the shower, I brush my hair and leave it down to dry. While digging through my fancy new bra and panty sets I see that there's a nice yellow lacy set. Yellow is supposed to make people happy, so I slip them on and stare at myself in the mirror. All the running I've been doing has really helped tone my already slender frame. My abdomen and thighs are tight and this makes me smile at myself in the mirror. Though I have to admit that it seems a little odd that I've had this much of an improvement in the week I've been here. Then again, I've never run this much before.

  After searching through my closet for a few minutes, I find a red sweater and a pair of black skinny jeans, perfect. This day is looking better already. Once dressed, I slide on my black flats and head up to the offices. There's no one in here of course, so it takes about a minute before I'm regretting this decision. As I turn to leave I hear a loud gusting noise that's causing the door in the corner of the room to rattle. It must be the wind, and I haven't felt the breeze on my skin in days. I want to go outside so bad! Shrugging my shoulders, I head over towards the door.

  Totally expecting it to be locked I give the latch a good shove and the door swings open, nearly smacking into the wall. I wince waiting for the impact but the door catches itself and slowly begins to close. I can go outside! I'm so excited I run over to the desk and grab a stapler. Using th
e stapler to keep the door open, I step out into the cold December air.

  There's no snow, but the ground is still frozen and hard as I walk across the grass. Winters on the East Coast are usually very cold, but today seems like a warmer day. Then again, I'm not entirely sure where the hell I am. Whatever. Before my mind can wander off on a weather or location related tangent, I hear a bang come from behind me. Turning quickly, I see that the door has closed behind me. Dammit! Angelo is going to be pissed... Great. Well, since I'm already out here, I might as well enjoy it, right? I wrap my arms around my middle as I turn to continue my walk but before I make it even a step, I'm halted by a hand at my chest.