14. ~Ariana~
~Ariana~
This was a mistake.
It really wasn’t doing what I’d hoped it would.
In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say it was doing the exact opposite.
Being here was not taking the edge off for me.
Not sexually and not power-strain wise, even though there was an Inhibitor in effect here that prevented the use of magic while within the building.
My magic operated differently, because of its Celestial connection.
But I’d never felt it as prevalent while under the effect of an Inhibitor as I did right now.
It had to be one of the changes that had come along with me reaching magical maturity.
I’d been trying to ignore anything feeling different or being different. But this was impossible to deny.
I sipped at one of the few non-alcoholic beverages available at Polaris as I lounged back in a booth at the far back looking around at everything going on, trying to unsuccessfully soak up my building sexual need in the atmosphere and sexual energy coming off everyone around me.
Instead of helping me to sublimate, though, it was going the other way and serving to ramp it up.
Polaris had undergone a massive renovation a few years ago, and it looked better than ever. The underworld jewel of the supernatural elite.
Its ceilings glittered with golden chandeliers. Suspended above were ornate cages each housing supernatural erotic dancers in glittering outfits that really served to catch the eye, their movements a blend of sensuality and acrobatics.
The center dance floor was packed with supernatural beings letting everything go.
Velvet-draped balconies wrapped around the second level and were lined with private viewing boxes. Some figures relaxed in the plush booths above sipping from their enchanted drinks and watching everything happening below.
The furniture was deep violet and blood-red, tufted and luxurious and lit by golden candlelight.
Above it all, the name Polaris glimmered near the upper left wall in all its proud glory.
I’d thought tonight would be a good opportunity to come here without having to answer to anyone, or explain why I was here, because Papa and Gramps both weren’t here tonight or even up in Papa’s office working on the books, or discussing business matters.
Gramps was working on building his hybrid-only team up at the Guardian Compound, and Papa had a special date night with Pops, Dad, and Mom.
The only person connected to my family that I had seen when I’d come in was Anton, Papa’s right-hand here at the club, but he’d just smiled and greeted me pleasantly, not questioning me or bothering me.
Phew, because Papa didn’t like me coming here without him or Gramps being around.
Especially after one particular time that had been a clusterfuck of epic proportions.
But I wasn’t here to replicate that tonight.
I’d just needed a breather, while Kai and Nyx were preparing the tactical—and magical—plan for the Unity Council mission set for a couple of nights from now.
I’d done all my readings and caught up on what I’d missed during that first week, so I had some time on my hands.
Time where I hadn’t wanted to be sitting alone in my dorm room and drowning in my own thoughts.
Nor had I wanted to run into the guys and their overbearing ways in the A-Wing.
Sometimes you just needed to take a step back.
Things could become clearer then where certain complications were concerned, once you revisited them.
Like this weird dynamic between me and Kai.
Me and Vorzyr. And my growing interest in befriending Nyx.
I’d spent the last three years keeping away from him because of his connection to Kai, so I hadn’t realized how much in common we had regarding our concerns over our powers, or how gentle and nice that he was, how approachable and easygoing.
I was actually looking forward to working with him on this upcoming mission.
It might actually be nice to have someone to talk to about my repression issues , as Kai and Vorzyr referred to them.
Someone who didn’t pile on the pressure at the same time.
I took another sip of my drink, then went to rise to my feet to leave now that coming here had been proven a bust, but a hand clamped down on my shoulder, stilling me before I could leave my seat.
As gasp of surprise escaped me, and I looked up to see Kai fucking Hunter standing there with that devious smirk of his.
“Not so fast,” he said, as he slid into the booth right beside me, propped his leather clad elbow in his go-to trench coat on the tabletop and rested his head against his hand as he regarded me. “Fancy finding the innocent little Ariana Martel in a place like this.”
“You know that I’m not that innocent.”
“On the contrary, you’re decidedly innocent. So much so that you require a firm, guiding hand with your sexual exploits.”
“Fuck off,” I sighed. “I came here for some peace and quiet.”
“Peace and quiet? In this club? Not likely.” He gestured with his eyes at three vampires gathered on the dancefloor clad all in black leather—black tight leather—gyrating away while their hot gazes fixed on me. “Especially not with you in their sights.”
“They could have their eyes on you.”
“Their gazes are basically boring a hole in your beautiful face.” He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “They sensed that you’re an angel. You know how vampires are when it comes to Immortal blood, so imagine how they are when it comes to you.”
“They can’t smell my blood while I’m not bleeding.”
“Yet they can scent the sweet promise of it.”
“So you want me to believe that you came here to protect me from a set of vampires that you didn’t even know were going to be here to begin with?”
“No. I’ve been here for two hours just keeping to myself and watching you until I noticed their interest shortly after they walked in. Especially when they realized that Lucian isn’t here tonight.”
I glared at him. “You were watching me? Why?”
“Because you came to this club.”
“And that’s your concern, how?”
“It made me jealous thinking of you hooking up with some stranger.”
Well, that was incredibly honest and open of him. “I’m not yours, Kai. We’re just fooling around.”
“Then fool around with me, sweetheart.”
I swallowed hard, trying to stop the dirty images that popped into my head just at his mere suggestion of us getting carnal again.
“You complicated that.”
“Because of what I said in the Ruminat hut after our shower fun?”
“Obviously.”
“You were upset thinking you’re just a toy to me.
I wanted to make it clear that you’re so much more than that.
” He reached out and played with my hair in that way he loved to do, twirling some of the golden strands around his fingers.
“But when we are immersed in that carnal headspace, to be clear, you most definitely are my toy to play with. And I know you fucking love that. You get off on being treated like my dirty little slut, on me talking to you in a way nobody else would ever dare to, playing with you in a way you’ve always craved but been too scared to explore. ”
Oh, shit. “How… how did you find me?”
“When you took that spell for me, I used the opportunity to access the one you were casting on me and I reverse engineered it to attach a sensor to you.” He grinned. “It’s only fair, yes?”
I gave him a withering look. “You’re something else.”
“Oh, I know. You enjoy that about me, though, don’t you? About us when we come together? The challenge of it? The break from the bleak norm that you adhere to so aggravatingly well?”
I batted his hand away from my hair and cleared my suddenly dry throat with a couple of sips from my drink. “Did you figure out how to bypass the specific wards for our mission that we can’t discuss the exact nature of while out in public?”
“I did.”
“And Nyx? I was planning to check in with the two of you once I got back later tonight, but seeing as though you’re here now, I might as well ask.”
“It’s all set. We just need to review it together.”
“Okay, good.” I took another sip from my drink. “Good.”
“You look absolutely smoldering tonight,” he announced all of a sudden, doing that thing where he caught me off guard with his out-of-the-blue comments that didn’t always have a linear sort of progression.
His gaze roamed over me in my black leather mini-skirt, my knee-high studded boots, lingering on my sparkly silver bustier, then my smoky eye makeup, culminating with my hair in a half-up, half-down style.
“Well, I couldn’t come to a place like this in jeans and a well-worn jacket.” I looked at him in his dress pants, black button-down and his sleek leather trench coat. “That works here, though.”
“Look at you giving me an almost-compliment again. That bodes well.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. Or read too much into it.”
“Should I not read into what happened in Professor Caelum’s classroom the other day either? Where you didn’t deny Vorzyr’s claim of wanting to take the weight of the spell off me so I’d be at full power to use my magic on you in a sexual setting?”
“That’s not—”
“Don’t deny it. He scented your need.”
“Kai, we’re in an erotic nightclub, you could have anyone here.
” I gestured at another vampire, this one leaning against the bar, his ripped chest on display with just an open vest covering his torso, and his hungry gaze fixed on Kai.
“There, for example.” I pointed at a Fae woman in a rainbow bikini dancing and gazing at him. “And there.”
He barely spared either of them a glance before he told me, “They don’t interest me. Nothing about this place does, except for you.” He slid his hand up my thigh then, the contact making me jar.
But, fuck my life, I didn’t move away.
I didn’t stop him.
I just allowed it.
That infuriating smirk tilted his lips again, as he dipped underneath my skirt, making me squirm.