Infinity Chronicles Book Two, page 10
He groans, widening his legs as he narrows his eyes on me. “Fine,” he mutters, his body slamming into mine. The air in my lungs escapes on a whoosh as he melds our bodies together. “Sorry,” Ares apologizes, then bites the side of my neck roughly.
Placing my hands on his waist I let my fingers inch up under the fabric of his shirt. Ares kisses his way back to my lips, giving me small nips as he goes. When his mouth reaches mine, he takes my top lip between his teeth. “I could devour you.” His voice is a soft whisper. What does it say about me that I want him to?
Bringing his hands up over my hips, he continues until he reaches my chest. I lean forward, pushing myself into his hands. He makes a low sound of approval, his thumbs finding my nipples easily. Even over top of my shirt his hands feel amazing. A heavy pant falls from my lips when he gives me a light pinch, followed by his fingers circling my nipple. My hips rock forward to meet his. Taking my hands from his back, I tangle them in his hair, my arms over his shoulders. My skin begins to tingle as I drag in a breath. The thought of having all of him hits me. I want to be surrounded by him, filled with him. Closing my eyes, I drag my fingers down his back and when he arches into me, I feel a pulling sensation in my chest. Tugging on the imaginary cord, I wrap it around me, encasing myself in Ares’s shadows. His body sags into mine, his forehead hitting the wall behind me. My mind opens and as a rush of energy hits my nerves like an electric shock. I jerk, my nails scoring his back as I cling to him tighter. Gritting my teeth, I push back the feeling. Shoving the invading powers back into Ares.
His back arches and his mouth opens, but no sound escapes. Even though we’re standing within his created shadow, I can see perfectly when his eyes snap open and instead of the pitch black, they now have a constellation of starry white dots. Looking into his eyes is like seeing into the far reaches of space.
“Ares!” A panic filled shout erupts from me as I place my hand on his cheek—what did I just do to him? Head still tilted back, his eyes close slowly and his head bobs as he takes in deep breaths. “Are you okay?” My voice is barely a whisper now and I use my other hand to lift the back of his head. “Should I get someone, Dante? I don’t know what to do.” My voice breaks.
“Okay…” Ares finally stammers, “I’m okay.” He takes one step back and stumbles, ending up on the ground as he drops like his legs wouldn’t support him.
“Oh God,” I fall to my knees, tugging my shirt back down. “Dante, Dante!” I scream, the house is too big, he probably won’t hear me. “Tell me what’s wrong, what can I do?” I plead, my hands running over his chest and face.
“Just need a second,” Ares mumbles. His large body sprawled across the floor in the hallway.
“I’m so sorry, I’m sorry.” Tears blur my vision. “Dante,” I call out again. My voice strangled with emotion.
“What’s going on?” Mia’s voice is on the edge of hysteria. She drops beside Ares's head, her hands shoving mine away. “What did you do to him?” she accuses.
I stand up, backing away, tears falling down my face faster than I could catch them if I tried. “I don’t know. We… I.” I can’t find words. “Help him,” I plead, backing farther away. Ares's head lulls to the side in my direction, his eyes slitted open. When I don’t move, his hand reaches out toward me. I shake my head, I can’t go near him and I don’t understand what I did to him or if I could hurt him more.
“Go,” Ares demands, closing his eyes. He tugs his hand from Mia, who has wrapped her fingers around his. Rolling my lips in, I glance at him. I can’t leave him, even if he wants me to. I can’t. “Laura,” he calls sitting forward, his chest and shoulders sagging with the exertion.
I inch closer, unable to stay away, and I fall on my knees again as I place my hand on his back, steadying him. He leans into me as soon as I’m close enough that he won’t fall over again, sighing.
Mia stands and she’s the one who backs away now, her face contorted in confusion. “I don’t know what you’re doing to him, but I will not let you hurt him.” I look up at her, feeling helpless. Ares's head is in my lap now, his body surrounding mine like I’m the one needing protection. His fingers dig into my back and leg, his face burrowing deeper into my stomach.
“Go Mia.” Ares’s words are stronger than just a few moments ago. I look down, peeling my chest away from him so I can see his face. His eyes are open and I can see the tawny brown irises, there are no white sparks in sight. I sag and wrap my arms over his head. Tears of relief fall as I sob into his hair. Several minutes pass, neither of us willing, or able, to stand while Ares regains his strength.
A throat clears from a few feet away. “Mia told me you needed me?” Dante sounds dubious as he takes in our positions crumpled on the floor.
“I could have used you like five minutes ago. This house needs an intercom.”
Dante’s head jerks back like I’ve shocked him. “Okay,” he adds a few extra syllables to the word. “What did you need?”
“I broke Ares,” I spout, still uncertain of what exactly happened.
“She did not break me.” Ares huffs as he lifts his head from my lap. “Really?” he asks, sounding more like himself. With a sigh and more effort than it should take, he leans away from me and comes into a sitting position. Dante walks over offering his hand, which Ares accepts before rising to his full height. I watch him like a hawk, expecting him to collapse any second again. Ares rolls his head around on his shoulders and arches his back a few times, once he’s done, he walks over to me with a purpose. Reaching down, he gathers me from the floor with his hands under my arms.
I’m too shocked to do much other than allow my feet to bear my weight. “I’m not broken.” Turning to his brother he announces again, “She didn’t break me.” I nod my head and point toward the floor where we were moments ago.
“He couldn’t even stand up. We… I… and then… his eyes. I’m not sure what I did to him,” I stammer, still freaked out.
Dante walks over and places his arm around my shoulder. “What about his eyes?” Dante coaxes, his voice consoling.
I look over at Ares. “You know how they get all dark.”
Dante’s brows pinch together. He looks between me and Ares. “Ah yeah, did it scare you?”
“No.” I wave my hand dismissively. “They changed, it looked like, like I don’t know. Different.”
Ares walks over, stopping in front of me. He bends his knees so we’re eye level. “How did they change?” I look down, afraid again, he’s not mad now but he might be when he realizes I did something to him. His finger slips under my chin and forces me to look at him. “Tell me.”
“They were all dark,” Ares nods, telling me to continue, “but there were these sparks of white, like stars. I thought I really hurt you. Are you sure you’re okay?”
Ares places his other hand on my cheek and leaning forward, he whispers, “May I?”
“Always,” I answer, even with Dante’s arm wrapped around my shoulders. Ares places a feather light kiss against my lips.
When he pulls back, he looks up a Dante as he fights a small grin. Watching the two of them, I feel a sense of satisfaction that I have no reference for. I don’t have any reason to feel satisfied at all.
“What?” Dante asks, looking around like he might see what has the smile trying to break free on Ares’s lips.
“See,” I lean over whispering, “something is wrong with him.” I keep my eyes on Ares, expecting something to happen any moment.
“What exactly happened?” Dante questions me, peeking at Ares from the corner of his eye.
“I don’t know, one second we were… kissing, and the next his eyes go all starry night and he falls over. He could barely speak.”
“Kissing?” Dante looks over at his brother, his eyes now narrowed. “Ares, have anything to add?” His arm falls down around my waist and pulls me tighter to his side.
Ares makes a scoffing sound. “I didn’t just fall over. I tripped.” He brushes at the sleeve of his shirt, not meeting anyone’s eyes.
“On what, your ego? Because there wasn’t anything else to trip over.” I’m a little perturbed he’s downplaying the whole thing. What would have happened if we weren’t at home? My mind starts spinning, what if it happens every time we kiss, I mean really kiss? I turn to face Dante, and confess, “It was more than kissing, we were making out.” It’s only then I realize I don’t even have my bra on anymore and have no idea where it even is.
Dante’s eyebrows shoot up. Facing off with his brother, his voice holding an edge he demands, “Did you claim her?”
Ares raises his hands in surrender. “Absolutely not,” he pauses, his eyes move over to mine. “She claimed me.”
Chapter 9
My mind goes completely blank for a brief moment. Then Ares’s words filter back in. I claimed him, what does that even mean? “I did what?” I gasp, feeling like I can’t catch my breath. My heart is pounding against my chest, flooding my ears with the heavy thud.
Ares comes back to stand in front of me, his eyes locked on mine. “Laura, breath.” What is he talking about? I am breathing. “Here, like this, in,” Ares takes a deep breath through his mouth, “and out. That’s it Laura, just follow me, in and out, in and out.” I nod mimicking his breaths.
My thoughts begin to clear. “Did you say I claimed you? As in I did something to you, that you didn’t have a choice in?” I wrap my fingers around Ares’s wrist. His hands are on my shoulders and Dante’s arm is still wrapped around my waist. Completely shocking me, Ares throws his head back and laughs, he laughs so long I start to think he’s come unglued.
“Laura, sweetheart, you couldn’t have claimed me if I wasn’t willing, it doesn’t work like that.”
“Why are you laughing at me?” I shuffle my feet remembering there is still so much I need to learn about their world.
Ares’s face sobers. “I’m not laughing at you.” I narrow my eyes at him. “Well, that’s not how I meant it,” he amends. Placing a kiss on the tip of my nose he adds, “I’m sorry.”
“Milo and Ollie will be home soon, why don’t we head to the room, I’m sure they’ll want to know what happened too.” I can’t read Dante’s voice, is he mad? I peer up at him, but he’s making a point not to look at me.
I take one quick look behind me, expecting to see my black bra lying on the floor, but it’s nowhere in sight. There’s no way I’m asking Ares what he did with it in front of Dante. I need some of my dignity.
As soon as we reach Ares’s bedroom, I excuse myself to the bathroom. I have more questions than I know how to ask, and I’m not sure I’m ready to hear the answers. Facing the mirror, I look at my reflection. My lips are still a little puffy from Ares’s kisses and I have a few purple love bites on my neck. I have no idea how I’ll hide hickeys at work tomorrow, or at school on Monday for that matter. Placing my hands on the counter near the sink, I lower my head. There are so many things I need to be focus on, my mom, finishing school, yet my love life with four guys is the only thing I can’t seem to get off my mind.
There’s a light tapping on the door. “Coming,” I call out, taking a deep breath. I need to find out exactly what I did tonight, and what is means for our future, I cannot do that hiding in the bathroom.
Pushing out the door, I see Ollie standing there waiting for me, his legs crossed at the ankle and his arms folded over his chest as he leans against the wall. His shirt is a little wrinkly around the waist, evidence of wearing an apron, but his eyes are smiling at me. No judgment, no expectations, no demands to explain what happened, just Ollie. I peer around noting we’re alone.
I walk right into his arms, face-planting into his chest. He grunts, and then chuckles, wrapping his arms around my back. “That bad?” he asks after giving me a few moments. I toss my head back and forth, but don’t come out from the safety of his embrace.
“Are they mad at me?” Ollie’s always been the most level-headed. I haven’t seen his emotions get the better of him since the first night he showed me his gift, even then he was madder at himself than anything else.
Rocking me back and forth from left to right he asks, “Why would they be?” His tone is incredulous.
I chance peeking up at him, and he pauses as his eyes meet mine. “Ares said I claimed him,” I whisper.
Ollie rolls his eyes. “The bastard, he’ll never stop gloating. We’ll have to listen to him tell the story a hundred and twenty-seven times.”
I sag. “Ollie, I’m being serious.”
“You think I’m not? He’s a smug bastard, and you just handed him the keys to the kingdom.” Ollie teases, his tone light. I know he loves Ares and he’s trying to make me feel better.
“It was scary, I don’t think I ever want to do that again,” I mutter, nuzzling my face against Ollie’s soft shirt.
He pushes me back, holding me at arm’s length. “Now don’t go saying that, you’ll break all our hearts, and makes Ares's head bigger than it already is.” Ollie pulls me back into his chest and places his chin on top of my head. “That’s the goal you know, for all of us.”
“But—” I splutter.
“There are no buts Laura,” Ollie interrupts. “We didn’t tell you before about the bonding because you already have so much going on, but I’m happy you know now. You think you hurt Ares, but you’re wrong. He wasn’t prepared, but I can promise that what you did, didn’t hurt him any more than it hurt you. It just took his body a few seconds to recover.” Ollie intertwines our fingers together and raises our joined hands, flapping them at our sides.
Leave to him to take a serious conversation and make me feel silly. “You really want that? I feel like he didn’t have a choice, like I took something from him without asking.”
Releasing one of my hands, he tows me to the bed with the other, and drops down with a huff. “Yes, the simple answers is yes Laura. I want to be claimed, bound, whatever you want to call it, to you, to the others. It’s what I’ve wanted since the moment I met you.”
I bite the corner of my lip, taking the seat next to him. “What does it change?”
Ollie tilts his head to the side as his eyes go unfocused. “Well, let’s see. So, just for starters it will make it easier on both of you to be apart.”
“Huh?” I say, and that’s about all I can muster in my confused state.
Ollie knocks his shoulder into mine. “How do I explain this? Now that you’ve claimed him, it’s like you have a piece of him with you and it’s the same for him, I guess.” His lips and nose twist up. “It’s not nearly as creepy as it sounds.”
I place our joined hands in my lap, running my finger down each of his. “Okay, I can see how that would be good, what else?”
“You’ll have more access to your connection to him, be able to harness your abilities better. Think of the connections like a filter, no, like a surge protector. We’ll be able to divert any excess energy.” Ollie nods like he’s happy with his assessment, then looks down at me with a wry grin. “I’m probably the worst person to explain this to you.”
I swat his chest with our hands and lean my shoulder onto him. “Why didn’t you guys tell me sooner, it might have made things easier, and don’t give me that bull about having too much to deal with.”
He sighs. “That really is part of it, but… but we were a little,” Ollie pinches the fingers of his free hand together, “worried we would scare you away in the beginning. You’ve done a pretty good… okay, a fantastic job at handling everything we’ve thrown at you,” he amends when I give him a pointed look.
“I guess I can’t blame you guys too much, but I think it would be best for everybody if you guys filled me in on any other big surprises that might happen. I really thought I hurt him. What if we were driving or something when it happened and he would have crashed?” I can’t get the image of Ares lying on the floor completely helpless from my head.
“I don’t think he’d be driving while doing that.” Ollie smirks, adding quickly, “But Laura, Ares’s reaction to the bond is a direct indicator of the strength of the bond. It could be completely different with each one of us.”
“I don’t understand. Does that mean it’s not a strong bond because it weakened him?”
“No, not at all. I’m saying the bond is so strong, he took a few minutes to process the power loop, and Ares is one of the strongest of our kind.” Ollie’s eyebrow raises like he’s just given me a big piece of information.
“So, it’s a good thing then?” I ask tentatively.
“A fantastic thing.” I look over and find Ares leaning against the doorframe, his ankles crossed and he looks utterly relaxed. My cheeks go hot just seeing him, how did he sneak up on us without me hearing him?
“So, the eye thing?” I wave my hand near my face.
“Might have just been part of the process, or it could be a physical manifestation of our combined abilities.” Ares runs his eyes over me, stopping at the side of my neck. I almost raise my hand to cover the bruise he left behind. “I’m more than happy to test out a few theories.” His voice goes husky. At least I know he’s feeling better.
Ollie wraps his arm around my neck and mock whispers in my ear, “See he’s impossible, total gloater.”
I hide my smile by pinching my bottom lip between my teeth at Ares’s expression. He looks both smug and irritated at the same time. Ollie chuckles, laying back on the bed, dragging me with him. I curl on my side, my head pillowed on his shoulder, it’s been a long day. “Should I do everybody?” Ollie stiffens, his head lifting off the bed to look down at me.
“Say again?” he asks.
Now Ares chuckles, his sounding much darker. “Yeah, what was that?”
“Bond with everyone, or do I wait? How does it work? I’m not even sure what I did with Ares.”
Ollie’s head slams back down onto the bed. “I’m gonna die,” he mutters under his breath. “Why don’t you tell me about what you guys were doing, and I think we’ll figure it out.” Ollie offers. I feel a breeze as Ollie lets out a low grunt, laughing the next second. Ares is standing at the end of the bed, the evidence of the pillow he pelted Ollie with falling off the side.
