20. ~Ariana~
~Ariana~
I glanced down at my text message exchange with Gramps from a few minutes ago, just as I’d finished up with Sorin, Drake, and Jace. I’d had to sanitize that awful basement with my magic, too, to erase any signs of them or Kai and Vorzyr being there.
Shit, what I’d walked in on… it had disturbed me, to say the least.
Knowing that Kai and Vorzyr had stooped to torture had been bad enough, but there was also the fact that a despicable group of fanatics like Puritas was impacting impressionable minds in college students and that they were also clearly recruiting and, therefore, growing in numbers.
The hatred toward hybrid beings was mounting.
There were so many people close to me who were hybrids, even outside of Nyx.
There was my dad, my Gramps, even technically my mom for years, because until certain complications had happened to her when she’d briefly been imbued with power by the True Celestials, she’d also been a hybrid being consisting of sorceress and Immortal.
To have this much hate out there toward them made me sick to my stomach.
At least the problem could be mitigated when it came to Puritas as a group. Changing the hearts and minds of intolerant shits like its members, though, that was a whole other thing to combat.
Ariana: I have a situation I need your help with.
Gramps: Have at it. Here to help always, Ari.
Ariana: Puritas agents discovered at Maven Academy. I’ve dealt with them, but an investigation will be needed to determine how they were reached by the group. There is also intel that points toward the Unity Council working with them against Chimera Circle.
Gramps: Send me their names and I’ll see to the agents in question. I’ll also deal with the larger aspect of this distasteful alliance via Ry’s help.
Ariana: Will do. Let me know what you find out on all accounts.
Gramps: I’ll take it from here. Concentrate on your studies and the goal Ry set for you.
Ariana: Gramps.
Gramps: You can’t be involved with this.
Ariana: I think Grandfather would disagree. Pops said that he wanted me to do something to help others, this falls under that banner.
Gramps: This isn’t what Cornelius had in mind. Don’t worry, I promise I’ll see to it.
Ariana: I still haven’t heard from him. Is he still off-realm?
Gramps: Unfortunately, yes.
Ariana: Are you okay?
Gramps: Keeping busy between the Guardian Movement and Polaris. How about you? I’m sorry he still hasn’t been able to see you. I know how much he misses you.
Ariana: It’s okay. I understand that whatever it is must be important and vital.
Gramps: Don’t miss classes. Call your mom when you get a chance.
Ariana: I promise. Love you, Gramps.
Gramps: Love you, too.
He’d changed the subject far too quickly when I’d mentioned Grandfather’s off-realm mission. A mission that now had Dad involved in it as well.
What the shit was going on there?
I sucked in a breath and pocketed my phone in the black and gold coat I’d conjured, that was embellished with rubies. Just how a certain dragon liked it.
Then I teleported—carefully, this time—through Kai’s protective barrier around his and Nyx’s dorm room.
Nyx was already waiting downstairs where Vorzyr would be coming out into the parking lot soon. But, first I needed to speak with Kai.
I materialized in the room just as he was sauntering out of the bathroom.
With just a towel wrapped loosely around his hips.
I swallowed at the sight of all that hard muscle, water droplets dripping down his torso, his hair all wild from obviously quickly towel-drying it.
He pulled up short with a startled curse as he found me suddenly in his room.
“Well, at least you didn’t slam right into my ward and shatter it to hell this time. Definitely an improvement,” he spoke with a wry grin.
Before I could get a word out in greeting, or to respond to that, his gaze zeroed in on my fancy cloak, and he stalked to me. “What are you wearing? I think that might be a little over-the-top for the restaurants around here.”
“Ah, there’s your snobbery come out to play, elite sorcerer, son of the Maven Coven’s finest and fanciest leaders.”
“You mean the very Coven that both your Pops and Mom attended?”
“Pops is far from elitist, and his inclusive and egalitarian approach both in his personal life and with his leadership of the Guardian Movement has influenced my entire family.”
He cracked a smile. “I’m aware. I’m just messing with you.”
“Well, it’s clearly become one of your favorite pastimes.”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “Only one of them when it comes to you, Ari.” He stepped closer and reached for the opening of my cloak, but he didn’t go further than that, and asked instead, “May I?”
“It’s actually probably a good idea that you do before we head out, because I’m gonna need your head in the game.
Nyx has already seen it and it took a lot for me to convince him to leave it merely at a look, then to head on to the parking lot to meet Vorzyr, instead of getting caught up in some playtime with me. ”
“Fuck me, now I really need to see what’s under this cloak.”
“Have at it,” I said, holding my hands out either side of myself.
“Mmm, I’m enjoying this playful side of you, sweetheart. Much better than what went down earlier.”
“You went too far, Kai, and you know it.”
“Perhaps.”
I started.
He’d actually admitted it. Even him just offering perhaps was a big deal for him.
I smiled.
“What?” he asked.
“I’m just liking this new agreeable side of you with breaks in your usual stubbornness. It’s another piece to the overall complicated and interesting picture that is you.”
“Wow, that was almost sweet. I’ll take it.”
I giggled. “You do that.”
His eyes lit up. “There it is again. I fucking love it.”
He opened the cloak then, and I heard his breath hitch as he took in what was underneath.
The dress was fantasy and flame colliding, a special mini-dress that fused elegance with seduction.
It was deep crimson and shimmering gold, the bodice clinging like molten fire and adorned with dragon-scale like textures.
Intricate golden embroidery wound across the corset.
It was embedded with ruby-red gemstones that sparkled like dragon eyes.
The short skirt flared in layered tulle and scaled panels, blending the sexy transparency of fine lingerie with a fierce aesthetic of battle-forged armor.
Gold-dipped lace and sheer red fabric draped from the sleeves.
“Fuck me, this is… breathtakingly beautiful.” He trailed his fingers lightly over the gilded dragon-scale like cups that were basically sculpted to my breasts. “And undeniably tantalizing.” He sucked in an unsteady breath as he drew his hand away, the struggle clear. “Hell, Ari,” he choked.
With a flick of his magic, he had the cloak closed, concealing what was beneath again.
“Are you all right?” I asked him, as I watched him turn away for a few moments, before then turning back and scrubbing his hand over his face.
“Yeah,” he breathed. “I’m not an animal. I can control myself. Although, you were right about showing me now, giving me a heads-up essentially.”
I loved the way he looked at me.
Even when we’d been at odds and just engaged in some unfeeling dirty erotic play, there’d been so much lust and intensity coming off him, burning in his sexy gaze.
But now it was even more than that. Now our walls were coming down, it was adoration and veneration, too. I’d never felt so desired and consumed in all my life as I had since I’d allowed myself to get close to him and the guys.
“It’s intoxicating when you look at me like that,” I confessed, wanting to keep our newfound openness going, wanting to make this thing work.
That was what tonight was all about, what I really hoped it was going to demonstrate from me to them all.
“It is, hmm?”
I reached out and took his hands in mine, holding them between us. “Thank you for bringing me in out of the cold I’d inhabited for so long.”
“I’m just sorry I took such a harsh and hardline approach with you, in order to get us to this point.” He smirked. “Although, the purely sexual aspect holds zero regrets, to be honest.”
“No regrets there for me either.”
“Oh, I’m well aware. That was made clear the moment I stuffed my cum inside your panties and made you wear it, and you just did it. Admit it, you knew I wouldn’t really use that reality-warping spell against you.”
“You value out-of-the-box thinking and approaches to magical learning, so it’s something you’d want to encourage, not have punished.”
“Exactly.” He grasped my jaw in a tender way, his hazel eyes burning into mine for a few moments, before he let go and took a steadying step back.
Sucking in a breath to obviously calm his body down, he asked in a more business tone, as he folded his arms across his chest, “So, you said you needed my head in the game tonight. What do you really have planned? With that and the dress you’re wearing so exquisitely, it’s clear the restaurant reservation is just a part of it, possibly not even the major part of what you have planned for the night, yes? ”
“Vorzyr is flailing. He’s hurting. I need to remedy that from two different angles. And I’m gonna need your help with one aspect.”
“You want to give him what was missing when he took you outside Polaris?”
“I need to connect with him on a primal level. Doing that, it’s extremely likely that I will actually lose control this time.
And that’s where I need you, Kai. It’s gonna take the full force of your ability to counter magical influence from me.
I’ve also enlisted Nyx to read Vorzyr’s emotions and connect mentally with his primal state to assist me with gauging where he’s at during specific moments when things get carnal. ”
“And you need us to keep out of it?”