Chapter Four Pax
Chapter Four
Pax
Aria was two steps ahead of me as she climbed the exterior steps of the motel.
Long black locks of hair blew in the breeze behind her, the scent of coconut and the goodness of who she was invading my senses.
My love for her gripped me.
She held herself so differently from when I’d first met her in the flesh. Since the moment I broke her out of the mental facility.
She’d been so fuckin’ timid. Terrified of the burden this life had placed on her shoulders.
Sure she was going to succumb.
I’d sworn then that I would protect her. That I would go to any length to see to it that she came out safe and whole on the other side.
Maybe I’d been a fool to think the other side was going to begin last night. To think that she was finally free of the bonds that held her hostage. Free of the threats. I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.
Easy.
What a fuckin’ joke.
It should have been apparent our existence was far more complex than I’d believed.
Twisted gnarls of mystery.
God, I didn’t think I’d ever been so terrified as when I’d lost her last night in Faydor. No way to tell where she’d gone, though I’d been sure she hadn’t been awakened.
It was different.
I had sensed her. Right there. Floating in the otherworld, but in a place unseen. In a place where I couldn’t reach her.
It had nearly brought me to my knees, having no way to protect her after I’d promised it was the very thing I would do.
My purpose.
Now she walked like she’d found that purpose, and it was bigger than she ever could have imagined.
Because she was more remarkable than any of us had known.
“This is it,” she said as she stopped in front of Room 237.
We’d gone east, following the same path we took the first time we escaped Albany, though we made it an additional four hours deeper into Pennsylvania this time.
Hated that I had to drag her on the run again, but I honestly didn’t know what else to do except keep moving.
Stay one step ahead of the monsters that lurked.
Which was hysterical since those bastards would be waiting for us wherever we chose to go. But staying stagnant felt as if we were setting ourselves a trap, and I was doing the best I could do.
Aria tapped the key card against the reader, turned the handle, and pushed open the door to the motel room.
This one was a bit nicer than some of the dives we’d previously stayed in. Not so off the beaten path. Half of our issues had been solved once we no longer had to keep Aria hidden from her parents.
At least that part was a relief.
Problem was, I was pretty sure the only way we were going to get through this was by leaving a trail of bodies behind us, and I doubted that we would remain anonymous and unwanted for long.
But I’d lived close to half my life running as a criminal. Hiding my identity. My own sort of monster flying under the radar.
At least I was good at it.
We’d ditched my car outside of Albany. Thankfully, it had been registered to a fake name; we would have had a whole new set of issues if it hadn’t been. There was no chance in hell they weren’t going to link that altercation at the park to a car with my description.
I’d paid cash for a decent ride, telling the salesman at the used-car dealership that I was buying a gift for my girl. For once in my life, it hadn’t been a lie.
Because all of it was for Aria.
Everything I did. Every moment. Every breath. Every single thing I had to give.
From here to whatever fucked-up eternity we found ourselves in.
Aria was stronger than ever, but old habits die hard and all that shit, so I still wound around her, murmuring, “Wait right there,” as I swept the motel room.
“It’s clear,” I said when I was done.
The second I did, she stepped in and clicked the locks behind her.
She swiveled back to me, the woman so damned gorgeous that she knocked the breath out of my lungs every fucking time I looked at her.
Now that things had changed between us—now that I’d given in to what I should have known was coming all along—that feeling was overwhelming.
She slightly lifted her jaw, and the hazy light from the lamp illuminated the scars that marred her face from the battles we fought in the night. Scars that didn’t do anything to sabotage her beauty, but instead marked her as extraordinary.
She watched me with those fathomless gray eyes, rimmed with the darkest lashes.
They roiled with intensity, emotion bubbling up from an endless chasm.
The energy that bound us pulling through time and space. Through realms and eternities.
“Sight of you, Aria. Ruins me every time. Leaves me standing here gaping at the beauty that you are. Leaves me wondering how I could get lucky enough to be standing in front of you. Lucky enough to be chosen for you.”
A tremble rolled through her body. “It’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
Frustration puffed from my nose, and I ran an agitated hand through my hair. “Yet I have you on the run again. I hate it, that you have no peace. I thought finally . . .” I trailed off.
Her brow pinched. “You’re the one who’s running because of me . . .”
“I just wanted to give you stability. A permanent place to stay.”
The thought of it tore through me like a pained, blissful dream.
A home.
I had never really had one of those. Not the kind that spoke of rest and safety. Every memory I had of home was riddled with torment and pain. Had to squeeze my eyes closed against the assault of the voices that instantly poisoned my mind.
You little fuckin’ freak. Gonna beat it out of you one day. Won’t have my son bein’ some fuckin’ pussy.
“We’ll have it one day. A home.” Aria’s voice jolted me from the memory, her words flowing as if she had a direct tap into my mind.
“A place where it’s just you and me. Where we don’t have to be afraid that the other is going to disappear.
I choose to believe, Pax. I won’t count my days any longer. ”
“Is that what you want, Aria? A home? With me?” I asked as I took a step toward her, the woman a lure.
Shackles and chains.
I wasn’t about to complain. I wanted to be bound. Tied to her in every intrinsic way.
Funny, it was only two weeks ago when I’d been terrified of seeking her out. Worried of breaking the creed given by Valeen that we never search for our Nol while awake. A warning given that it would only cause us more danger. That we might somehow turn on each other.
Our Nols were the ones chosen to fight beside us in Faydor. I wasn’t sure if it was the case with every Nol, but I knew the connection I shared with Aria. Knew she was meant for me the way I was meant for her.
And I knew right down to the fabric of my being that there wasn’t a chance I could harm her.
“Yes.” She said it without hesitation.
“And what kind of place is that goin’ to be? Tell me it’ll be on the beach, Princess.”
I let my words twist back to the fantasy she’d woven—one of us on some deserted island. One where, when we went to sleep, we didn’t arrive on another plane to fight a war that was never going to end.
One that would go on through every generation.
A soft smile played across her tempting lips as she leaned against the door. “Hmm . . . our vacation home will be on the beach, but I think we’ll have another house. Maybe one in Albany.”
I took another step forward until I was standing directly in front of her. I slipped my palms onto her sides as I murmured close to her mouth, my voice rough with need, “Oh, we’re going to have two houses, huh?”
Heat flamed at the contact.
Her tongue stroked out to wet those plush, tempting lips, and she peeked up at me with a sweet dose of playfulness swimming in her expression. “I am a princess, after all.”
“My princess.” My hands curled around her waist as I claimed it.
“Yours,” she murmured. All the lightness vanished, and her voice quivered with the truth. “Just like you’re mine.”
Dipping down to capture her mouth, I kissed her slowly. Needing her to understand what she meant to me. I thought she did, though. I thought she was the only person who could get me.
A low whimper rolled up her throat as she pressed herself against me, all that soft sweetness against the hard planes of my body, every muscle coiled with need.
“Is it wrong that I want you? After what happened earlier today?” she whispered into the lapping shadows of the room.
Twilight just beginning to take hold.
Edging back so I could look at her, I ran my fingers through her hair.
“Isn’t it you who told me that we didn’t know how long we had?
That we had to relish every second? There is nothing wrong with that, Aria.
You deserve every ounce of joy. Every bit of pleasure.
And if that means eking it out in the few moments of quiet we have, then that’s what we’re going to do. ”
Except Aria and me? We were going to have forever.
I knew it.
Knew it in my soul.
Because I was sure then that mine didn’t function without hers.
My heart.
My purpose.
My Nol.
“I think that sounds like a really good plan.”
“Oh, I have plans for you.”
She rocked her head back on the wood of the door, a shy, excited smile dancing over her lips. “Oh, really? Like what?”
She squealed when I swept her off her feet and into my arms; then I turned and tossed her onto the bed.
Then I peeled myself out of my shirt and tossed it to the floor. “Like this.”