Infinity Chronicles Book Two, page 4
Dante is already at the house when we get there. “He went up to take a shower,” Milo informs us with a strange look on his face, like he’s trying to figure something out.
“The furry asshole needed to cool down, did he?” Ares asks.
Milo looks between us, brows furrowed. “Something like that, I guess. Everything go okay?”
“Why don’t you go check on how his shower’s going, and you can tell me,” Ares adds drolly.
“I think I’ll wait until later,” Milo tells him, fighting the grin on his face.
Ollie claps his hands together, getting our attention. “Children, lets eat.” More than happy for the change of subject, I push past Ares ready for dinner. I hope when Dante comes down, I can look at him without turning red. I think I have a pretty good idea of what Ares was alluding to.
At the kitchen island, we all dig into the dinner Gloria prepared. I’ve met her once or twice now and she always been nice. She reminds me of Maggie with her rounded tummy and softly lined face. Dante shuffles in, his hair still damp from the shower, his eyes seem to glow as he looks into the room from the doorway. It’s like he is waiting for something. My worries of feeling self-conscious disappear when he seems unsure.
Putting my fork down, I slide off the stool and approach him slowly. “Dante it’s so amazing that you can change like that. You were like a real tiger.” His head bobs up and he looks at me, examining my face.
“When I shift, I am a real tiger,” he tells me in that deep grumbly voice I’ve loved since the first time I heard him talk. I bounce on my toes, all my thoughts about his voice and his growl pull together to make a lot more sense. Staring into his golden eyes, I see the traits of his animal that I was completely oblivious to before.
“It’s amazing,” I say again, I can’t seem to help myself.
“Really?” he asks, his voice quiet, shy even.
I nod my head vigorously. “Seriously amazing.”
“Now I get it,” Milo says from behind me. “He’s a right bastard.” His words are harsh, but his tone is light.
“Quit making googly eyes at her and come eat, Tom.” Dante’s head snaps up in his brother's direction.
“I’ll show you a tomcat, you demon.” Dante chuckles in response. He walks past me, snagging my hand as he does and takes us both over to the island.
“Ah but I’m only a demon to some,” Ares adds with a grin barely this side of sinister.
I stop in my tracks. “What?” The two brothers look at me. Crossing my arms over my chest I glare. “Who says you’re a demon?” I’m angry at the insinuation.
“You can calm down Laura, no one really thinks he’s a demon. That’s just his moniker, a nickname to the people who don’t like him,” Ollie tells me while still shoveling bites of braised beef into his mouth.
I let my arms fall to my sides, but I still don’t like the thought of someone calling him that name, it makes me think they believe he’s evil. And Ares may be a lot of things, but evil isn’t one of them. “Well, I don’t like it. I better never hear someone say it.” Ares chuckles, but doesn’t respond.
Ares’s bedroom—I guess I could call it our bedroom now, since it’s been taken over by all of us—is filling up. The once open and severely minimalistic room has morphed into our hangout spot. The place we all relax and watch TV or play games. Occasionally, I’ll see reluctant acceptance on Ares's face when one of the guys brings something else to add to the room. Tonight is the first time he’s drawn a line. “No, absolutely not.” Ares is standing in front of the door, blocking Ollie’s entrance. His arms folded over his chest and his chin held high.
“Come on, please? Dante is watching that stupid TV show he likes, and I’m bored. I want to play.”
“Oliver, we don’t need another television in here. One is more than I wanted, you aren’t getting two.” Ares is firm, he hates the TV. It’s obvious he’d rather not have anything but a bed in his room, like it was when we first slept here.
“Why do you even care, it’s just a TV? I’ll keep the sound muted,” he offers in consultation. Ares’s head falls back, and he lets out a heavy exhale, his whole body expanding with the movement.
“Fine, fine. You know what. Take the whole damn room.” Ares turns, angling his body toward mine. I haven’t gotten my jammies on yet, I’m waiting for my turn in the bathroom. At this rate, I really don’t know why we bothered coming over to the main house at all. We’d have more room in the apartment over the garage.
“Laura,” Ares barks my name, his voice full of frustration. I jump, not expecting him to address me.
“Yeah?” I stand up, waiting for his instructions. When he gets like this, it’s all I can do not to either yell back, or salute him.
“Come on.” He beckons me, rolling his hand like I need to hurry.
My mouth falls open. “Where to Mr. Costa?” I ask, already walking in his direction even though he’s being a bossy Ares.
His nostrils flare, “I just want some sleep, I was up half the night and away from you the rest of the day.” The words are gritted out though his clenched teeth, but the sentiment is there. He’s crabby and tired. That I can relate too.
“Okay.” I soften my tone. Ares takes my hand and his hold is gentle.
“Hey, we want her too,” Ollie adds, passing off a wide television screen to Milo.
“We’re going up to her room, come get us when you guys are ready for bed. I need sleep.” Ares doesn’t wait for anyone’s reply. He tows me along behind him and I give Milo and Ollie a quick wave as he hustles us out the door.
On quiet steps, Ares treads up the stairs to the yellow room I stayed in my first night here. He places his finger over his lips and makes a soft shushing noise. Mia’s room is at the other end of the hall, if she were to come out now, there would be no hiding. I kinda wish she would. I don’t get why she’s even still here.
Thoughts of her remind me that I want to ask Ares what they were up to last night, and maybe get an answer out of him about when she’s leaving. If she wasn’t here, we’d be free to hang out in the living room. As it is now, they keep making excuses why I’m eating over all the time when she catches us. Then we have the big ordeal of one of them pretending to drive me home. It’s a waste of time and energy.
The door opens with a barely audible click. He ushers me inside and follows quickly behind. The click of the lock engaging is louder than it should be, or maybe I’m overly sensitized since I’m locked in a room with alone Ares. The atmosphere shifts, I can feel the moment he has the same realization I do.
“Come on.” His tone so much softer than the one he used before, even though he’s using the same words. Ares pulls me toward the center of the room, leading me to the bed. “I should have thought this through. You don’t have any clothes up here.”
“It’s okay, I’m fine. I’ll change when we go downstairs.” I’m not sure I’ll be sleeping anyway. My body feels way too keyed up for sleep right now.
Releasing me, he steps back, and the light coming through the curtain is enough to let me see him reaching his hand back behind his head. He pulls the t-shirt off and extends it out to me. I reach for it, gathering the fabric up to my chest.
“There, you can wear that. It will be more comfortable.” Ares's voice has gone thicker, like the words are rumbling out.
I flee to the bathroom, leaving a tiny crack in the door so it doesn’t make a sound. The last thing I want now is Mia coming to investigate the noise. Ares would leave me in here alone while he had to go play knight again.
With my heart beating a heavy rhythm in my chest, I strip out of my jeans, placing them on the counter. Biting my lip, I slip my shirt over my head and slide his on in one movement. It falls to mid-thigh, it’s actually a little longer than the shorts I usually wear to sleep in. Killing time, I wash my hands and stare into the mirror. I can’t really see much with the lights off, but I look anyway.
Gathering my folded clothes, I finally step into the room. It’s darker than it was a few minutes ago. Ares is obviously at work on the shadows, or maybe it’s just something mundane like he closed the shades. Reaching my arm out in front of me, I find the vanity to set my bundle on. Turning toward the bed, I rub the top of my foot with the bottom of my other one. I feel funny, like I should wait for him to say something, but he said he was tired, maybe he’s already asleep?
The seconds tick by and I’m still stalling. “Are you going to stand there all night?” Ares's gruff voice emanates from the darkness.
“I can’t see in the dark the way you can. What if I trip?” I’m being silly, we both know it’s not the thought of falling that has me hesitating.
“Close your eyes.” Shaking out my shoulders I do as he says. “Now think about the room last time you were here, where was the bed, the chair?” Remembering the first day Ollie brought me up here, I think of the bright cheery bedspread, the soft billowy curtains on the tall windows.
His voice softer now as he commands, “Now listen to my voice, think about where I am and how you will get to me.” In my mind’s eye I imagine Ares lying back on the pillows. His arms folded behind his head. The blankets are pulled up to his chest, but his upper torso is bare. His dark hair is a little messy, and the scruff on his jaw is darker, he hasn’t shaved today. I feel the pull to be beside him, to feel the warmth his skin would offer, the weight of his arm over my waist as he holds me.
“Laura!” Ares barks my name, his words frantic. I’m startled from my musings and my eyes pop open to find Ares standing right in front of me, reaching out to grab both of my upper arms. “What the fuck?” Ares breaths, wrapping his arms around me. He runs his hands up and down my back like I might disappear any second.
“What’s wrong?” I whisper, his reaction is scaring me. He gathers me closer, almost surrounding me with his body. It’s then I notice his shirt is gone and my face is plastered to his bare chest. Running my fingers around his side and down to his waist I let the tips of my fingernails tickle along his spine.
I feel this edge of his power pulling me, it’s not the same heat that dares me to take from Ollie, but more of a dark promise of something urging me to take the tendrils of shadow into myself.
“I couldn’t see you,” Ares confesses, pulling his face back to look down at me. My hands trail around to his front. I open my eyes and am surprised how clear I can see him. I watch my fingers trace over his skin, fascinated with the inky tendrils I see reaching for me. A thick band coils up my finger and around my wrist.
I can actually see his ability, it doesn’t manifest the way Ollie’s does with fire, but in actual shadows. How come I’ve never seen this before? I expect a light show of sparks to begin any second as I begin to feel his power running over my skin.
My heads falls back. His power is deep and vast, there is a darkness to it, but there’s also something else. An awareness, of him, of myself, of everything around me. Oh, goodness is this how he feels all the time, full to the brim? As his power flows through me, my mind expands to include more of the house. I can feel Mia down the hall, the edges of her mind open to me and I know she’s getting ready for bed. That Ares is on her mind.
Pulling away from her, I find myself searching through the house with a speed that isn’t possible. Three sparks of light call me to the room I left a little while ago. Ollie’s light burns a bright orange, almost as though he’s bathed in a glow from a bonfire. The light surrounding Dante fluctuates, going from a gold to silver, sometimes swirling together. Milo is dimmer, his light pale compared to the others, but he glows a faint green.
I feel the pressure of Ares’s head when it lands on my shoulder, bringing me back to this moment. “Oh, my God. What just happened? Was that real?” I know it was, but I have to ask anyway. Ares grunts in response, his breath hot on my neck. Is he tired? I feel like I could bounce off the walls, I’m so keyed up. “I thought I was the human sparkler… how did that happen?”
“No clue, what’d it feel like to you?” Ares nuzzles behind my ear, and I feel his whiskers tickling the sensitive spot where my shoulder meets my neck.
“It felt, it felt, big. Like anything I could think of would be possible,” I stammer, not knowing how to articulate what it felt like. “I could feel you. I feel like I could have crawled inside your head and known your every thought. Is that what it’s like for you?”
“No, not all the time. I’ve learned to control it. And some people have a natural barrier.” Ares takes my hand, pulling me toward the bed. My vision isn’t as clear as it was when I was sharing his power, but it’s better than it was before.
“What did it feel like for you? Were you with me? Did you see what I saw?” I can’t keep the excitement from my voice as I climb into bed.
“I don’t know, it’s never happened before. I think I was or could have been with you, but I was also here. I could feel you on my skin, all over me, inside me. Turn over.” I do it without thought curling my knees up. Ares scoots in behind me, wiggling his arm under my head.
“Did you see Milo, why was he so dim?”
Ares grumbles, “Later.” His other arm snakes over my waist, securing me to him.
My body relaxes against his. “Why are you so tired?” I whisper into the darkness.
“I didn’t get much sleep last night,” he answers on a sigh.
“Why, did you stay up with Mia? What were you guys doing?” I try to sound causal, but probably fail.
“I took her to the kitchen, we had a drink, but she still didn’t want to sleep alone.” My body stiffens. Did he sleep with her, did he hold her like he holds me? “Whatever you’re thinking, stop,” he orders. “I sat with her until she was finally ready to go to bed. By that time, I was already too awake to go back to sleep, not to mention there was someone in my spot.” I feel the blunt ends of Ares teeth as he nips my shoulder. “I got a few things done in the office, and then it was almost time for you to get up. So, I decided to get ready for the day. I had a nice start to my morning.”
Ignoring his comment, I ask, “So that’s it, you’re just normal tired?”
“What other kind of tired is there?”
I flick my fingernail over my thumb. “You know, just more tired for other reasons. I guess.”
“You’ll have to tell me about those reasons, or show me.” Ares's voice takes on an edge.
“I think you would know those reasons far better than I would,” I rebut, I’m being petulant, and I know it.
“No, I don’t think I do.” Ares’s tone is light and airy as he sighs.
I snort. There is no way he doesn’t know what I’m alluding to. “I thought you were tired, go to sleep,” I demand. His bicep is under my neck, with his forearm pillowing my head. I turn and bite the inside of his arm, not hard just a nip like he’s given me.
Ares’s body coils behind me, and I have a moment where I think I’ve hurt him. He drags his arm out from under my head and I roll toward him in the process. An apology poised on my lips as his face hovers above me. “I’m—” That’s all I get out before his mouth drops to mine. His lips push against mine heavily. He pulls back, but only long enough to lick the seam of my mouth. He takes a stuttering breath and when he leans in again, it’s painstakingly slow. With a slight tilt of his chin, his lips land on mine with a scant amount of pressure. Following his lead, I let my lips barely graze his, pulling back the moment his lips pucker to return the kiss. Ares’s palm lands on my lower stomach. I suck in a breath when I feel the heat of his hand through the fabric of his shirt.
He nips my top lip, pulling enough that I push myself closer to him. Ares's palm travels up past my navel, and slowly continues while I’m chasing his lips with mine. Our mouths open now, but neither of us have deepened the kiss yet. Ever so slowly his fingers reach the bottom of my bra. My nipples tighten, he hasn’t even touched me there yet, but my body knows he might, and it’s already ready.
Ares’s nose bumps with mine in a deliberate caress. I feel his warm breath as he pants, his breathing becoming shallower. “Laura.” I hum in response, my hand reaching up to tangle in his hair. “This okay?” The tips of his fingers glide over the bottom of my bar between my breasts, his palm still flat on my sternum. My back arches and his forehead rocks on mine. My body seems to think it’s ready, but I’m not so sure. Taking my hand from his hair, I guide his hand up between my breasts until his fingers are at the base of my throat. Ares's whole body rocks against mine, his hand trembling as his palm glides up my neck.
I’m not sure I trust myself to let him touch me too much more. With the way my body reacts to his, I’d probably ask him for more than I’m ready for. His fingers tighten under my jaw and he turns my head away from him, his nose nuzzles my ear. His breath has gone almost ragged. I feel the tip of his tongue lave behind my ear and a soft whimper comes from me as I shift, feeling restless.
Ares turns me back to face him, his mouth descending on mine as he controls me and our kiss. His tongue traces over my lips slowly before he delves into my mouth. A groan of satisfaction leaves me when I can finally brush my tongue with his. Turning my hips so I can get closer to him, I find myself almost covered by his body. Reaching under his arm, my hand lands on his bare back, sliding down until I encounter the fabric of his sleep pants.
Ares always asks me before he takes things to a new level of intimacy, even the first time he kissed me. Why don’t I want to give him the same courtesy? I want to let the tips of my fingers explore what’s just on the other side of that barrier. He rocks against me again, and my body follows his, my hips rising off the bed as I arch into him. “Oh hell,” Ares rumbles, nipping at my lips. I pull back, my eyes slowly opening as I lick my lips.
“Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping?” I ask huskily, feeling brave knowing I’m affecting him.
Ares makes a sound somewhere between a grunt and a groan and his forehead drops to my shoulder. “You started it.” His voice comes out mumbled from between us.
“Me, how did I start it?” I’m completely baffled. He’s the one who kissed me.
