by Maia Starr
Ariella made her way to the bed and patted the soft mattress, inviting my company. I joined her on the mattress and lay down sleepily. To my left was a desk I had set up for her. She’d placed a cork board on the wall and filled it with pictures, notes, and bagged samples. On the desk sat a microscope and her tablet, still left on and furiously scribbled with notes on her findings.
I frown with familiar endearment as I noticed the novelty disco lamp Ariella had finally set up next to the bed. I’d spotted it in her bag the day we arrived and dreaded the moment she would bring it out. I much preferred glow stones. Still, seeing it then made me realize she felt at home here.
“Disco lamp?” I smirked.
She placed her hand over the lamp and smiled, sitting with her legs folded under her bottom. “I figured it was a mandatory 20s item.”
I looked around the silent room, the silence grabbing our sexual tension and playing with it. “How was your day?” I asked, hovering over her body and instinctively reaching my hand under the band of her pants. She wore modest pink pajama pants and a white tank top. No rings, no bracelets, no makeup.
She nodded and lay back, closing her eyes as she whispered, “Good.”
“Good,” I repeated in exhale as I began to gently bite at her neck and lick along her collarbones. Looking down, I could see her freckles spotting across her chest.
Ari’s eyes shot open, and she grabbed my hair in the palm of her hand. She laughed in the sexy way she did and quietly giggled out, “Caridan?”
But there was no time for a response. I removed her top and watched the lights grazing her supple breasts, pressing my lips against her nipples. She got on top of me and leaned forward to kiss me in the same fashion she had the first time she'd tried to tempt me. I looked up in wonder at her mounds and cupped them in my hands.
She moved in and kissed me fiercely, almost aggressively. Her tongue searched my mouth until it found mine and we did our familiar dance. I could feel my skin light up; a surge of energy that only seemed to emerge only when she was around. I tugged her pants down just enough, and she began grinding against me in a slow rhythm. Following suit, I grabbed her hips and moved with her body until I saw her eyes glaze over with passion.
She could feel I was hard, and the slick feel of her against me only made me want her more. But, she loved playing this game with me. Everything was a game to her. The tease; the taunt; making me wait. Sometimes it felt like torture to be at her command. It made my temperature rise with anger to wait, but my patience was rewarded as she lowered herself onto me. From that moment on, our bodies moved in perfect harmony with one another as she mounted me.
I waited patiently, watching her every facial feature and gauging her pleasure. I caressed her waist and could almost feel the heat suddenly radiating off her body. A surge of pleasure washed over her face, and I knew we didn’t have to wait to orgasm any longer.
She let out a muffled moan, and I quietly followed before she collapsed on top of me, filling my mouth with kisses before she rolled onto the mattress.
I turned over to regard her so that we were both laying on our sides, facing one another. I watched as her tacky light sent a dotted pattern flying throughout the dark room, lighting up every crevice and bouncing off of glossy pictures on the wall. As the yellow dots reflected against her skin, Ariella squeezed my hand, and I could feel her warm breath on my neck. “It’s kind of beautiful,” she whispered.
“I would say ‘not as beautiful as you,’ but…” I trailed off, feeling stupid for even joking about it.
The blonde laughed and moved her head up to meet my eyes, and with a tired wit, she whispered, “Good thing you didn’t, or I might actually feel like you liked me or somethin'.”
“Right, because that’s not terribly clear by now.”
Her face lit up suddenly, and she rested her chin on her hands, grinning wildly at me. “So you do?”
I rolled my eyes playfully and could see she was still waiting for my response. My brows creased and I slid my finger across her face; my lips now chapped from our barrage of kisses.
“Of course. Why do you think I chose you?”
She snorted. “Just to bug me, I guess?”
“I chose you because I knew.”
“Knew what?” she asked.
I exhaled and suddenly felt a tingling throughout my body. “I knew that you were meant for me.”
She stared at me and then smiled, collapsing back onto the mattress, now looking satisfied. “Well, I didn’t,” she admitted. “I thought you were a total jerk.”
I laughed. “And now?”
“Well, you’re still kind of a jerk. But, you’re my jerk.” She giggled. “And you’re sweet.”
The rest of the night was spent in a sleepy haze, the two of us falling in and out of the grips of sleep, intertwined with one another. The rain pelted the glass of the window and sent a small chill through the muggy room.
Chapter Nine
Ariella
“I fly back today,” came Caridan’s voice on the other end of a wide screen I had been sat at for the majority of the day. He was sending me a video call from the mines that he’d been serving in. His tone was excited and exuberant in a way that I’d never heard before, which only made me feel guiltier that I wasn’t.
“That’s good. You using your own wings for that adventure, or are you taking advantage of human invention, yet again?” I mocked in a light, whimsical tone.
It was just as Targeg had warned me: Caridan was called away to attend other missions. The Koth didn’t consider his choosing official, and so he was made to move into the apartment above mine. He was sent into the mines, and I'd felt the sting of loneliness for a month now. I would sleep alone in the bed we'd made ours and crave his touch and miss his conversation.
I'd tried to keep busy, making progress with my work in a way that was obviously impressive to the Koth. I spent most of my nights in my lab, and it hadn't gone unnoticed. I'd heard rumblings that Caridan would benefit from my findings. I tried not to act too excited when a friendly nurse named Alexandra told me the rumors she'd heard while patching up on of the higher-ups of the Koth.
“Are you alone?” he asked in low tones.
I nodded and his face brightened.
“I found myself missing you,” he admitted. I became lost in the screen, eyes elsewhere as he patiently waited for my response. I startled myself as I realized I hadn’t said a word for some time and smirked at him.
“Oh,” I said and tried to sound upbeat and then teased, “Should that be shocking to you? I am pretty fantastic, lest we forget.”
“Right,” he said absent-mindedly. “Are you alright?”
“Yes,” I said, maybe a little too quickly. “What, I don’t confess my lust for you, and that means I’m not feeling well? Somebody’s awfully full of himself.”
He stared at me, his expression vacuous. “What’s wrong?”
I laughed and suddenly found myself avoiding eye-contact with him. I had been excited about my project all week. This was what I came here to do, after all, but I just couldn’t shake the sick feeling that had been in my stomach for weeks.
I’d been keeping a secret from Caridan, and I wasn’t sure if I was keeping it due to a lack of proximity to my love, or if I would be too afraid to reveal it even if he were here. He would be returning later and, while I had missed him, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see him quite yet.
“Nothing; you’re just feeling insecure because you miss me!” I finally managed to tease.
He stayed stoic a moment and then his expression softened slightly. “You’ve been working hard?”
“It’s all I’ve been doing,” I breathed with put-on exhaustion. “I’m just a lonely little orphan without you.”
“With Targeg a lot, I’m sure,” he murmured. “He must be loving that.”
“Hey, I’m a lovable gal; what can I say? But I’m a taken woman.”
He grinned at this and somehow made it feel like he was right in the s
ame room with me as he leaned toward the camera. Taking another look at me, his shoulders tensed and he asked, “Are you alone?”
“I already said yes,” I scoffed. “Just busy.”
Caridan’s expression darkened, and I knew I had made him sullen. Without any hesitation, he said, “Then I won’t keep you.” And then the screen went dark.
I stared into blackness for a moment before swiping his tab away and refocusing on my work. Usually a tiff like that would have had my stomach in knots until I had the chance to speak with him again, but for now, I felt happiness in my solitude.
The sterile environment of my lab had become my home since he’d been gone.
I’d performed several treatments on Targeg over the last few weeks and was finally seeing some smoke progress. Something, be it in their water or food, was tarnishing their Aurorean glands. My salve seemed to be healing it up quite nicely, but I still wasn’t sure if I could heal it completely.
“Knock, knock,” came another familiar, but unwelcome voice. I spun in my chair to see Brenem standing in the empty doorway of the lab. My eyes flicked behind him quickly, and it occurred to me that I was probably one of the only ones left in the building.
His aggressive nature put me feel immediately on edge, and I would have given anything for Caridan to call back. I turned back to my desk, and the shifter made his way next to me.
He sat beside me and rested his chin in his hand; his arm propped up on my desk as he looked at me in a blithe, playful fashion. I glanced in his direction but said nothing. His hair was black and long, shagging down past his ears. He had stubble that swept across his face and a pointed nose. I felt a shiver pass through my arms as I remember what he looked like when he was transforming into a dragon.
His face was rounder than most Weredragons. They typically had very defined jaws that made their dragon form more apparent even when they were. His wings were beautiful; a long bone connected that sprouted his secondary and primary wings. His wings seemed to form in layers, like spreading out a paper fan, and they radiated heat.
If he were anyone else, I would have been fascinated to see them up close, but instead, I snapped my head back toward my studies and tried my best to ignore him.
“How’s Meg?” he asked with a rise in pitch, his tone light yet condescending.
“I wouldn’t know,” I snarled and stood, backing away from him by several steps. “But I’m pretty sure I’m done with this conversation. You’re not supposed to be here, and I’m busy, so if you don’t mind…”
Brenem laughed defensively and watched me lean up against the counter, knee bent in tight jeans and foot resting against the bottom cupboard. “She doesn’t like other females around the watering hole. Something tells me she and Caridan would have been just perfect for one another.” He raised a victorious finger in her direction, cocking a brow as he explained, “The jealousy, and all. Though I’d argue that not only have I softened her prickly exterior, but I even encountered a sweet, albeit fleeting, moment with her on the porch.”
“A sweet moment?”
He shrugged. “Yeah.”
“Well, I’d argue that Meg is naturally a very sweet, caring, fun, awesome person, so that fact that you had to soften her in the first place says a lot.”
“Like?”
“Like the fact that she was cold to you in the first place says that you’re absolutely unbearable.”
He nodded along as though he were my best friend in the world, listening to my problems. Finally, he said, “I’d say she’s pretty hot towards me now. Very hot, in fact.”
I stared at him for a long time and looked sharply hurt before carelessly tossing my hands into the air in defeat. “Okay, I give! We shouldn’t be talking anymore.”
“Why? Scared your boyfriend is going to disembowel me, as he so loves to do?”
I stared at him, unimpressed at the sentiment until he signaled for Meg to enter the room. She was done up in one of her favorite, tight dresses. She waited for him to wave her in and then I could hear the click of her heels against the cold, metallic floor. He gestured for her to stand next to him, and so she did. He told her to tell me what she’d learned, and so she did.
I was surprised she was able to breathe without his say-so.
“I thought we weren’t speaking,” I said sharply, unable to look away from her.
“Ari,” she said, and then broke down, tortured sobs escaping her lips as she attempted to tell me something. Brenem grabbed her hand, and for the slightest moment, it actually looked like he was concerned. The expression made me go pale and the conversation that followed only made me feel worse.
Caridan was a killer, she insisted. I should leave him, because he would kill me, too. Brenem told me Caridan had attacked and disemboweled his brother after he tried to befriend a woman Caridan was guarding.
Meg cried into my arms and begged me to go back to Earth, and for the life of me, I couldn’t garner a reaction. I felt numb. And then the numbness was replaced with anger.
I jerked away from her and grew so furious
“This is what you want to say to me?!” I yelled.
I startled her so much that her tears immediately stopped. Even Brenem looked puzzled by my reaction.
“Hey, kid, she’s not messing around here,” Brenem defended, standing as I did to protect my sister, as though I would ever try to hurt her. “I was there. You were taught about us well enough to know that if Car’s willing to kill one of us, he’d think nothing of using you to save his own skin, okay?”
“And why would he need to be saving his own skin?”
Brenem looked at me with a sympathy that infuriated me even more. “Why!?” I demanded, slamming my hand down on the counter.
I looked back and forth between the pair and became so worked up that my teeth began to chatter. I hated feeling like they had something over me. Like they knew Caridan better than I did. I was the one he opened up to, not them. I was the one who had won his heart over, wasn’t I?
I stood from the pair and smacked my hand down over the power tab on my computer and pointed towards Meg. “Now it’s your turn. Don’t talk to me,” I clarified. “Not until you’re done with this,” I said, referring to the red dragon beside her.
Storming away from the pair, I made my way into the city. It was overcast, and there was a familiar smell of Udora that seemed to fill the streets. I walked the three hours to the shuttle station to see if I could pick up Caridan as he landed.
As the day drew to a close, I found myself in the middle of the darkened city. I thought the walk would cool me off, but the frustration only grew. I couldn’t believe how stupid I felt. What did I know about Caridan, anyhow? How did I let myself get in this situation in the first place? I signed up for this to do research, not to have sex with a shifter.
Seeing his face light up in the shuttle exit bay left me feeling no more comfort. His demeanor, while loving, was discouraging. He couldn’t embrace me, and so we both made idle chit chat about my research and his mission as we entered one of the glass lifts and made our way back to the apartment in the city.
I couldn’t even tell him about Brenem, I kept thinking. He was too jealous and too unstable. I didn’t know whether or not he would comfort me or go flying off to fight the red dragon.
As I looked around at the high-rise apartments and shops that lined the city, I couldn’t believe what humans had brought to these people.
We arrived at a complex that looked like it was made entirely of metal and glass. It looked so medical I had almost expected to feel the cold barrage of steel against my skin when we entered that first day here. Our home together was all beautifully stained wood and chic couches; a brick façade covered one wall. He had a kitchen that looked no different from back home. There was a fireplace in the living room, one couch, and a coffee table with intricate carvings on the legs.
The bed was in the middle of the apartment, and to my great delight, it had been a king size.
“M
y lady,” he said with a raise of his brow as he invited me to sit on the white leather in his living room. “Do you need anything? Are you hungry or thirsty?”
“No,” I said, now feeling absolutely exhausted. “I’m just… done.”
“Oh,” he said, sounding almost taken aback. “I see.”
“Meghan hates me,” I said before collapsing onto the bed. “I saw her today.” My stomach flipped, and I could feel the sick rising up my throat. I swallowed hard and said, “She wouldn’t even look my way. It’s like I had two heads or something. She hates me.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t hate you–”
“Oh no,” I interrupted him with a tired laugh. “She hates me. She never actually said the words, but I can pretty much bet my 22 years of sisterly intuition on it. There’s pretty much no getting around that.”
“Ah,” he said with a simple nod. “She’ll cool off.”
“Yeah?” I scoffed at his repeated sentiment; that was weeks ago, and she still hadn’t so much as glanced in my direction. Though I was fairly certain she was having an affair with Brenem. “Will Brenem cool off?”
His expression prickled as he poured himself a glass of whatever alcohol he had in his pantry. “It’s… a bit of a different scenario, I should say.”
“Oh, you should say? Funny thing, that. Because you don’t say. You never say anything. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, as much as I like you, I don’t really even know you.”
He seemed incredulous, annoyed. He stared at me with fury for just a moment and then calmly enunciated, “What would you like to know?”
The look he gave made me feel terrible. Obviously, he felt like he had been doing a good job of trying to open up to me and there I was telling him he’d actually been doing awful.
“Why aren’t we supposed to have sex?”
“We do have sex,” he set his jaw.
“I know we have sex. We have sex all the time,” I said with furious annoyance. “But I want to know why you aren’t supposed to.”
Caridan gave a careful glance around the room, took a large sip of his drink, and then made a steeple of his fingers while he thought on my question.
