Chapter 19: Chapter Hot & Steamy... Tea Anyone?

“That can’t be right.” Her eyes were wide as she stared at him. He had to be playing some kind of trick on her, but why?

Arion glanced at her phone still lying beside him. “What else can this device be used for?” He asked.

“It’s used to communicate with others mostly, you can speak to them or send them messages.” She clued him in, though she wasn’t sure where this was going. “Can’t you track him, if he was here last night, his trail would be fresh right?”

“And you were just explaining to me just last night, that we need to do this the correct way. If I find him and you arrest him, we can’t hold him, or even explain how we found him.” He repeated her reasoning back at her.

She sighed placing a hand to her temple as she shook her head. She hated that he was right.

“However, if you were to ask me to kill him, I could. Though we would need to leave for my world as soon as the deed is done.” The way he looked at her at that moment, she knew he wasn’t lying.

“It won’t come to that.” It was an enticing offer, but not one that her career path allowed her to choose, not at this moment.

“You need only say when.” He crossed his arms over his chest as the kettle whistled to life behind her.

Sliding herself off the counter she turned to pour the boiling water into her cup. Her brow raised as her phone chimed, notifying her of a new message received. Spinning back around she saw that he was now staring down at it with a glare.

“You have a vendetta against my phone now or something?” She asked.

“Did you change the image?” He questioned, yet she was sure he already knew the answer.

“No.” She frowned as she took the two short steps across to him, freshly streaming mud in hand. Looking down at her device she could see that her screen saver had changed, she hadn’t even noticed it when she turned her alarm off earlier. Reaching out she swiped her finger up on the screen to unlock it. Yeah, she’d be changing that.

Her backdrop had been changed and not by her. Staring back at her was an image that had been taken of a man with a broad smile, his face cut off just below the nose. He was standing over a woman who was fast asleep, knife in hand. He wore black gloves and black clothing, the smile was all that was visible of the male. But the woman, that was her bed, her clothing, and her room. Confirming he’d been here last night.

“Maybe I was a bit hasty about you removing the thing that was keeping people out.” She muttered. A sick feeling filled her as she placed her cup down, suddenly she couldn’t put anything in her stomach without the risk of losing it all together.

Arion’s eyes hadn’t left the manic smile that was staring back at them. “Sick bastard.” He appeared to growl the words.

The alert had been Jessie, he was giving her the heads up that he had the information she was after. Thank the heavens they had agreed to keep everything out of technology’s hands. There was a good chance her phone may have been bugged now. “We have to get to the station.”

“Is that wise? Should we not call this in? He could have left something that would allow him to be traced " He added the last word with a bit more tact behind it than needed.

She groaned, hating that he was right. “I’ll have Jessie bring over what he found and have them sweep my house for any tampering.” She turned her back on him as she called Jessie, filling him in and telling him what had happened. “They’ll be here shortly.” She told Arion once the call was over.

She cringed at her screen as she hung up. It really wasn’t a nice site. She needed something that would keep her mind off this lunatic, not a constant reminder every time she picked up her phone. None of the photos were what she was after. She heard a light sigh, causing her to glance up at study Arion who appeared lost in thought. His head was angled slightly down and to the side, his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes were staring at nothing in particular. He was gorgeous.

Tapping the camera icon on her phone she lifted the device and snapped a picture of him. His eyes darted to her as the camera on her phone made a light-click sound. She chuckled as she set it as her back screen causing him to frown. “Much better.” She commented more to herself.

“What did you-” He trailed off as she spun her phone around to show him.

“This is much better to look at.” She watched as his eyes lit up, a shy smile edging on the corner of his lips. Not his usual cocky smirk, it had her stomach in knots. This situation was getting dangerous, she was about to make a swift exit when he lightly grabbed for her wrist.

“I- I never meant to hurt you.” He confessed again, she could tell that he was disappointed in himself. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not giving you a free pass, what you did was wrong. You need to remember that your a demon Arion. Human bodies are far more fragile.” She felt as though she was scolding him. “Keep that in mind and you’ll do better.”

“You could have retaliated.” He stated.

“Violence only breeds violence. Your not wrong that I could get myself out of that if I felt the need, but I didn’t feel overly threatened by you.” She wasn’t sure if she could actually take him in a fair fight, most likely not given the episode with his underdog.

“You should.”

She scoffed a laugh. “Getting full of yourself now?”

She turned to face him, taking a few short steps to stand before him, his hand retreated from her wrist as he stared down at her confused. Her movements took him by surprise as she swiftly gripped his arm, using her speed and his own weight against him she spun under his arm and around the side of the center counter. His brief state of shock allowed her to slip her foot in between his lucid stance and cause him to stumble forward. She pinned his arm behind his back at an ungodly angle as she placed her free hand into the pressure point on his shoulder. His body was smashed into the kitchen counter she had been sitting on earlier, her kettle jolting a little at the sudden intact. She heard the air leave his lungs as his body slumped against the marble. “I could have gotten out if I wanted to.” She repeated.

“Noted.” He responded breathlessly.

She let him go before he could recover and flung her off of him like she knew he could. “You were angry, if I had done something it would have fueled you. So I waited-”

She was abruptly cut off as he spun around. His arms snapped around her back, abruptly slamming her into his hard form. His hand trailed down cupping her buttocks as he lifted her up. As though on reflex her legs wrapped around his waist as he buried his head against her neck, his lips finding and caressing her collarbone. She let out a soft sigh as she felt herself melting into his body heat. All sense of thought or reason left her as he invaded every sense.

He was breathing heavily, holding on by a bare thread. “You’re driving me insane... I want you.” He whispered against her.

Her whole body shivered, she couldn’t deny she felt the same. She chuckled as he moved her to the center counter. Placing her down on it freed his hands to roam her body, tracing her curves. She ached into him as he explored causing him to let out a feral groan.

“I’m getting a slight feeling that you may like being treated roughly.” She teased with another laugh.

“No one would ever dare do such a thing, it’s exhilarating.” He pulled back to look at her, his mouth slightly agape. “You don’t completely fear me, you understand me, you tolerate me.” His eyes were full of so many questions, but his expression held hunger, a lust to claim her.

She reached up cupping his chin with a single hand. “Maybe you’ve just been misunderstood for so long that you don’t know what it feels like to be normal for a change.”

Closing his eyes he lent into her touch. “You Shanarra, will make the most amazing Queen.” He opened his eyes to show her a burning determination. It was as though he was declaring that he would make her his. His hand snaked around her neck as he leaned in, their lips barely touching when the doorbell rang.

They froze.

“Fuck!” Arion sighed heavily and retreated regretfully releasing her.

She jumped down from the counter lightly patting him on the shoulder, finding the situation amusing. Though deep down she was grateful for the interruption, she was about to let him take her right there and then on her countertop, what in the world had gotten into her!?