8. Aries
Aries
O n the tiny box in Paige’s living room, men hit the ball with a strange blunt stick. The crowd goes wild, jumping to their feet and screaming like madmen as the ball soars through the sky. They cheer even louder when the man who hit it drops his stick to run in a wide circle.
Truthfully, it makes no sense. But it is quite intriguing to watch what passes for entertainment in this world. Back home, if there is not a blade being used, it is rarely considered crowd worthy.
My stomach rumbles. Shit. Did she tell me what to do should I get hungry? So far, I haven’t seen a single servant. Pushing to my feet, I make my way into her kitchen, toward the white box that made a mind-numbing humming sound all night.
After gripping the handle and pulling it open, I’m blasted with a gust of cold air that has the hair on my arms standing on end. Like winter when the rest of the apartment feels like autumn. Interesting. I lean in closer, feeling the icy air on my face and smiling.
What other fascinations might this world hold?
Reaching into the winter box, I withdraw a yellow block. It’s firm, though when I open the bag containing it, it appears to be soft enough to be sliced through. Turning in a slow circle, I look for a blade. With a victorious smile, I spot a wooden block boasting some knives.
After setting the yellow block on the counter, I slice a chunk off and take a bite. The taste is familiar even if the color seems—well—off.
“Strange-looking cheese,” I comment as I continue munching then return the cheese to its bag and place it back in the fridge.
A few minutes later, I’m trekking toward the couch with my bounty—more cheese, some small, square, chunks of salty, dried bread, and an ale. The baseball game is now over, and in its place is a bunch of men sitting around a table, talking about things called ‘stats’.
Curious what other forms of entertainment might be inside this small box, I hit the button Paige showed me earlier. The screen goes black less than a second before another picture appears.
A man claims a woman’s mouth, his hands on her shoulders. It brings to mind a similar moment from last night when Paige kissed me. My body warms at the thought, and I recall the memories of my dreams spent buried inside her.
Never has a woman had such an effect on me.
If I were home in Astronia, I might even be tempted to consider my feelings for Paige to be the mating call.
But that’s impossible. We’re from different worlds, her and I.
And that’s how it must remain. Even if I had to fight the urge to slip into her room and see just how far that kiss could have taken us.
I’m ripped from my thoughts when the man onscreen pulls away from the woman.
“Did my brother kiss like that?” he demands. Brother? What the hell? A woman should not be kissing brothers!
“How dare you speak to me like that,” the woman screeches before her hand cracks across the man’s cheek.
He rushes forward and grips her arms then slams her into the wall.
Anger burns in my throat even as I am helpless to tear my gaze from the scene. How the hell do I get inside and save her? How do I—
“How dare I speak to you like that? How about the fact that you went to that ski lodge in Aspen with my brother?” he bellows.
I abandon my food on the small table then lean in closer as though somehow that might aid me in hearing clearer. Surely this woman was not traipsing off to unknown lands with this man’s brother if she’s supposed to be with him!
“I thought he was you!”
“How can you say that! After everything we’ve been through, how could you not know it wasn’t me? I am your husband!”
“You are identical twins, Micah. And he—” She closes her eyes, and a tear rolls down her cheek. “He romanced me! Bought me flowers the same way you used to! And when we were together—”
The man jumps back as though she struck him again. “You slept with him?”
The woman sniffles. “Yes. And he was a far better lover than you!”
“And now he’s dead,” the man says. “You killed him!”
She lets out a horrified scream then turns away and begins to sob. “He never saw that tree, Micah. He never saw it.”
“Damn,” I murmur, already far more engulfed in this drama than I was in the baseball. Grabbing my food, I lean back and prepare to see just how this woman manages to talk herself out of the offense of sleeping with her mate’s brother.
* * *
“What the hell are you watching?”
I turn my head to study Paige as she stands above me, arms crossed. Her hair is braided over her shoulder, her glasses perched atop a perfectly straight nose. Both dark eyes are narrowed on me.
“That woman slept with her mate’s twin brother, and then the offending man died. Then a different man impregnated his mate’s mother. It’s quite an interesting stream of events. One wouldn’t think so many lives could have these many transgressions in them.”
The corners of her lips twitch, and she reaches down and presses a button on the remote. The wording Minutes of our Days pops up along the top of the screen. “You’re watching a soap opera?”
“Soap opera?” The words are unfamiliar strung together that way. “Is that what this is? Either way, these people would not survive a day in my world. Most of them would have been put to death due to fear that their insanity is contagious.”
She snorts, selecting a button that mutes all sound on the screen, and sets the remote down. “It’s fiction, Aries.”
“Fiction?”
“Fake. Not real.”
“I know what fiction is, Paige. We do have books in my world.” My brow furrows as I stare at the magic box. “So these are simply fake stories being acted out?”
“Theatre, my friend,” she replies then plops down on the couch beside me and runs both hands over her face.
“Ahh, that makes much more sense.”
Paige yawns and drops her hands, but her eyes remain closed. It gives me the perfect moment to study her profile. She’s gorgeous, stunningly beautiful in the way she carries herself.
There’s something about her that calls to me. That calls to the dragon in my heart. My gaze drops to her mouth. Those perfect, plump lips I’d had on mine just last night. My cock stiffens in my pants as lust pummels me.
Clearing my throat, I avert my gaze back to the muted box. “How was your day?”
“Fine. Long. Stressful.” She groans. “We’re going to have to be super careful tonight. Blossom is on duty, and her senses are never far off.” Paige rolls her shoulders, and my fingers flex.
“May I?”
She cracks open an eye and stares at me. “May you what?”
“I can rub the tension from your shoulders. You can hardly be expected to remain focused on the task at hand when you’re tense.”
Her gaze narrows. “Are you trying to get handsy with me, Aries? Because, I have to warn you, I have no intention of continuing last night’s mistake. I already apologized. And I make it a habit of not being a repeat offender.”
I offer her a smile even as disappointment battles with logic. “Neither do I,” I say. “I am merely offering to help you so we can be fully focused on getting me home.”
She continues to watch me, mouth flattened in a tight line, until finally she nods. “Fine. But your hands stay on my shoulders, got it?”
“Of course,” I say, dipping my head in a nod. I spread my legs apart as Paige stands and kneels before me.
Heart pounding, I reach up and brush the strands of her thick hair off of her shoulders then take a deep breath and begin to knead.
Her muscles are tense beneath my fingers, and as I work to remove the knots, it takes nearly all of my strength to keep my word.
Especially when she lets out a low moan and her head tips forward in obvious pleasure.
“That feels amazing,” she groans.
“You are quite tense.”
“Yeah, well, I released a dragon into the world last night. Sue me.”
“Sue you?”
“Figure of speech.” She groans. “Seriously, though, your fingers are magic.”
I start to respond. To tell her that my fingers cannot be magic, but then her scent changes. The arousal coming off of her hits me like a stone to the head, and my hands tighten their grip on her body. Everything about her begs to be possessed.
To be touched.
Tasted.
Thanks to my senses, I can damn near taste her on my tongue all over again. And it’s not nearly enough. My beast surges beneath my skin, his desperation for her growing as well.
“Aries?”
“What?”
“You’re holding me pretty tight,” she says with a half laugh.
Releasing her and standing before I do something stupid, I put some distance between us. “Should you clean up before we go?”
Paige stands and narrows her gaze on me. “Do I stink?”
More like you smell so damn good I want to devour you until you’re screaming my name as you come. “No, I am simply unsure what your typical routine looks like.”
“Typically, I’m not sneaking through the library, avoiding my crazy, astute friend while I try to find a way to get a dragon I inadvertently released back home.”
My mouth quirks into a slow smile. “Understood.”
She glances back at her bedroom then turns to me. “I’ll go change into something more comfortable, though. Are you hungry?”
“I ate.” My response is far sharper than I meant it to be, but it cannot be helped. She is making me question the very fate I know will save my people. I am to be with my mate. The one person who was made exclusively for me, and I, her. Given that she is not from my world, I know it cannot be her.
Yet, wanting her this way—
“Okay. Well, I’ll be out soon.” She offers me a smile then turns and disappears into her room. I let out a breath and run a hand through my hair. I must get home tonight.
Otherwise, I fear that my attachment to this woman might make leaving near impossible.