RILEY
"Love, it's time to get up," a gentle voice spoke to me as I was just about to beat my family at Risk.
My mother watched proudly, while my brother looked in horror as I took my last move.
You can do it, Riley- you can win this battle, my mum cheered on.
You can do anything you set your mind on, princess, my father added.
I smiled smugly at my brother as I conquered his last territory, taking my rightful place as the victor of the game. I bounced around the room on my toes, dancing to the celebratory music in my head. The whole place smelt of apple and cinnamon as my mum was baking while we were playing. I stuck my tongue out to my brother as he sulked about his loss, while my dad stroked his head, telling him that there was no shame in losing to his little sister.
It was a true moment of bliss until someone interrupted me in the middle of my victory dance.
"Come on, love- we need to get going."
Going?! Going where? This was my moment of triumph and no one was going to take it away from me.
My family were all smiles and laughter as I celebrated, and even Luc eventually came around, my funny faces finally winning him over.
Something warm pressed against my neck and I felt my whole body arch in sweet pleasure. My parents and Lucien slowly started to fade away before the bright light hit my eyes.
"That's it, love, open your eyes," the voice encouraged me and so I did.
I smiled as I saw the gorgeous face that was hovering over me. My hot dragon pressed another kiss on my neck, working his way over to my lips where he planted a teasing peck on my mouth. I could seriously get used to being woken up like that.
"You were smiling so much as you slept, mate, that I was starting to get a bit jealous...unless you were dreaming about me, of course," he said with a playful wink.
"I was actually kicking arse at Risk, I'll have you know. And you woke me up right as I was enjoying the satisfying moment of my victory."
"Oh, I can give you something else to be satisfied with." That mischievous smirk on Aiden's face was going to be the end of me.
I looked around and realised that someone was missing, which made my heart ache for some reason.
"Rafe?"
"He went for a run," Aiden explained but I knew what he was not saying. I hadn't thought about what the morning would be like after everything that happened the previous night. "Don't think about it- he just needs to clear his head. Last night was pretty intense for all of us."
I stretched my hand out so that he could place his in mine and that was when I saw it again- the beautiful dragon tattoo that was now adorning the back of my wrist. Instinctively my other hand flew to my neck where I could still trace the outline of Rafe's bite.
Aiden's gaze grew anxious as he followed my every move as if he was not sure how I would react now.
"I'm sorry....we didn't mean to do it without your consent. There was just no other-"
I didn't wait for him to finish as I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him in for a deep, passionate kiss.
"Don't you ever apologise again for saving me! Sure, I would have prefered it this happened on our own terms but, honestly, I never again want to be under that cambion's control."
Aiden cupped my cheek and I could feel the heat radiating from his palm.
"It will never happen again, Riley. Not as long as Rafe and I can do something about it."
His words reassured me because I knew he absolutely meant it but the memories of Markolf and how he manipulated me to luft for him made me want to throw up.
"I kissed him, Aiden. I desired him. I knew deep down that it was wrong because it was not him I truly wanted but my own body and mind betrayed me." I couldn't even look him in the eye because I knew that he and Rafe saw it all and I could only imagine what they must have felt like. I was ready to rip off the heads of the two girls that dared to flirt with them and I knew that I would have buried them alive if they tried to do anything else. What Markolf and I did was way beyond that.
My dragon mate pulled me in for an embrace that I was not sure I deserved. "It's okay, love- he controlled you, we know that."
"This time." My mind trailed off as I wondered whether I could tell him the whole truth.
"And it won't happen again," he kissed me on the forehead as he whispered his promise.
"But it already did."
The puzzled and slightly worried look in his eyes got to me without him even knowing what happened that night in Putney, and I knew there and then that things between us would be doomed if they could not trust me to tell them the truth.
"The night I found out the truth about me, about my family and my whole past, I went to a bar with Scarlett. I was angry and I needed to be in control again. So I met a guy and I slept with him, all while controlling the situation- or so I thought."
"What are you trying to say, love?" Worry. That was all I saw in his eyes. Not anger or jealousy, as I was expecting. No judgement. Like it didn't matter who I had been with before because I was with him now. Because they marked me. Yet, he was still worried about me.
"The reason why I recognised Markolf last night was that I had seen him before. The guy I hooked up with at the bar- that was him."
"He dared touch you?" Aiden roared and the room shook because of the anger in his voice. His eyes became yellow and I knew that Blaze was just as pissed off.
"According to Markolf, ending up with him that night was no accident. Not that this makes things better- I slept with the enemy and I don't know whether I would ever be able to forgive myself for not knowing better." My disappointment with myself was immense- I was truly dismayed by my fucking colossal error of judgement.
Aiden's eyes reverted back to their usual beautiful colour as he pulled me in for a surprising kiss.
"Listen to me, Riley- you couldn't have known, and I am pretty confident to bet that he meddled with your emotions that night as well. Don't you dare doubt yourself and your instincts. What we are up against is a half-demon and demons have more tricks up their sleeves than we can ever imagine."
My heart beamed at how ready my mate was to fight my corner even when I doubted myself.
"He thinks that we are alike, me and him. Both outcasts, neither of us fitting in the supernatural or the human worlds." I was saddened by the thought that maybe Markolf was right. I was neither a shifter nor fully human. The supernatural world was my birthright and yet I had no claim to it anymore.
Aiden placed his fingers under my chin, making me tilt my head to meet his gaze. "Aurelie Moreau, you belong more in this world than shifters who have spent their lives knowing nothing else. You didn't even think twice about stepping up when we discovered this threat. Your parents would have been proud of you. I know that I sure as hell am and I am pretty certain that Rafe, your brother, Anna, and the friends you've made feel the same way. But above all, you are my mate, as well as Alpha Macalister's mate- even if we are not fully mated yet, that alone means that you have always had and you will always have a place in this world. Never doubt that, my magnificent mate."
He didn't let me answer as his lips mashed against mine, the intoxicating taste of his mouth making me want to undress him so that we could get back under the covers.
The footsteps I heard along the corridor though made me pull away from him. Aiden was surprised at my reaction but I knew that it was Rafe on the other side. I guess the walls of the mansion were pretty thin for me to hear him or he was just walking that loudly. The crazy thing was that I could swear I heard his heartbeat as he knocked on the door- was he really that nervous that his heart was starting to beat faster?
I wondered about Aiden's heartbeat and suddenly I could hear it loud and clear in my head like I had a stethoscope pressed against his chest.
Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub.
The sound of his blood flowing through the chambers of his heart was like a soothing lullaby.
The knock on the door brought my attention back to the person standing on the other side. Aiden walked over and opened it, letting Rafe back in the room.
"Seriously, are you two still not ready? Erix will be here in fourty-five minutes to portal us back to Luss. We don't really have time to waste. Markolf can make his next move anytime now," the wolf Alpha barked around the room.
I wasn't exactly hoping for a Good Morning but I expected a bit more than this after last night. He was behaving like nothing had happened and it was rubbing me the wrong way, especially when I still hadn't had my coffee.
"For an Alpha, you have terrible manners, Rafe," I said with annoyance, even if I knew that this was not going to be the start of anything good.
"Oh, excuse me for interrupting your relaxing lie-in, your Majesty. Goddess forbid that there is something urgent that spoils it." His sarcasm did nothing but piss me off even further.
"What the hell is your problem, Macalister?" I didn't mean to explode but I could not help it. My senses felt on their edge and that did not help either.
"My problem, Moreau? My problem is that I have a cambion to destroy and us chilling here is not helping with making that happen," he snarled but I could practically taste the anger that I could sense through our bond.
He was not angry at me though. He was angry at the cambion. He hated Markolf....because of me. It was right there, I could feel it clearly when I set my mind on understanding his emotions through the bond. What the cambion had done to me at the gala, on top of everything else that he was responsible for, was pushing Rafe over the edge and he was itching to do something about it. And yet he seemingly refused to acknowledge the fact that they had marked me and that the three of us went further than that.
Sure, we didn't mate fully, whatever that was meant to entail, but we still had sex. The three of us. Together. At the same time. And that, along with the marking, was a big fucking deal given out relationship so far.
My own anger was now starting to simmer beneath my skin. I knew he cared- I had seen it the night before. I felt it every single time we fucked until the early hours of the morning. Hell, the freaking bond barely left anything hidden within our triad, even if the guys were better at protecting their thoughts than I was as a newbie in mind linking. But that was exactly what pissed me off- he was ready to play it all cool and uncaring when I knew that he was fucking lying.
"You know what- I don't have time to babysit you. You both better be ready on time," he finished lecturing us and turned on his heels to leave the room.
Oh no, you don't get to walk away from me!
"This girl..." He barely muttered under his breath. Normally it wouldn't have reached my ears but I heard it distinctly.
My hand stretched out as if to hurl something at him when my anger boiled over. A fraction of a second later, the lamp on the chest of drawers right next to Rafe caught fire but I could not care less as I moved quickly right in front of him, poking a finger in his chest.
"Don't you dare walk out of that door," I threatened him.
To my surprise, Rafe just stared at me in shock, his jaw practically on the floor. Good, I caught him off guard.
That was until he spoke again.
"What the fuck, Moreau?" He blurted out, startled.
Sure, he was probably not used to his hookups ordering him around like I just did but his reaction was a bit over the top even for him.
Aiden walked over to the two of us and put his arms around me to keep me calm.
"Riley, maybe you should sit down," he murmured, stroking my arm with his thumb.
Is he serious? How was I the one that needed to be reasoned with in this situation?
"Oh, come on, Aiden- I know he is your best friend but he is being a prick."
The smell of something burning grabbed my attention and I finally turned to look at the burning lamp, just before Aiden snapped his finger and killed the fire.
"What the hell? How did that happen?" I exclaimed.
To add to that, I was perplexed as to why they both looked at me like I was crazy.
"You, Moreau," Rafe said, his tone deadly serious.
There was a tension in the room that I had only just noticed.
"Me what?" My eyes blinked with confusion. My glance darted around the room, looking for an answer but I came up with nothing. I turned my head from Aiden to Rafe and back, impatiently waiting for someone to answer my question.
Finally, Aiden gave me a weak smile. " You set it on fire, Riley."