Fated Souls (The Fated Saga Book 1)

by Sariah Skye

  "It is, and generally straight out of the bottle, too," I said, with a laugh.

  He snickered. "That explains the lack of wine glasses," he said.

  I took the noodles and smeared it in a pool of sauce and took a bite. "Oh! It’s really good!" I said, in between bites. Then I felt stupid…talking with your mouth full was probably not very attractive.

  He beamed. "Good. Spaghetti is your favorite food?"

  I considered this. "Hmm…I think so. With a side of raw wild boar and opossum liver sauce. Mmmmm!" I said, exaggeratedly smacking my lips.

  Gabriel cocked a brow. "You’re kidding, right?"

  I grinned devilishly. "Yes." We chuckled. "Yes, spaghetti and meatballs is probably my favorite, secondly only to triple chocolate cheesecake. Oh, and Mountain Dew, but that’s not really a food. More like an ambrosia."

  He laughed. "I’m more of a Coke person myself."

  "What!?!" I pretended to be in shock, clutching my chest and making weird choking noises.

  "Stop!" he said, tossing a paper napkin at me. "Above all those I prefer coffee. Well, I’m sure you figured that out," he said, between bites of his spaghetti.

  "What do you like? In case I get extra ambitious and attempt this…cooking thing?" I said, taking another bite. It really was quite good, just the right amount of fresh garlic, onion and basil. A little sweet, a little spicy, and full bodied. "Although I don’t think I could do this good."

  "I don’t think I could again either. I’ll have to just get Daniel for that," he said with a laugh. He took a sip of his wine between bites and looked thoughtful. "I really think I’m just a burger type guy. I love a good hamburger. There are some great spots in the Cities that have this cheese filled one. It’s called a Juicy Lucy."

  I narrowed my eyes in a grimace. "Really? That sounds gross."

  "Maybe but it’s not. It’s so good. They’ve even been featured on Food Network before, at least according to my brother," he said. "You’ll have to try one sometime."

  "Maybe we’ll go up there sometime?" I asked rhetorically, hopefully.

  He nodded. "Definitely. That is if the whole date-thing works out," he said, with an insecure laugh. "I mean; I know I didn’t do the greatest job—"

  I scanned around the living room again. The candlelight, the breeze blowing in softly from the window, the sheer white curtain looking ethereal in the dim candlelight…the extra care he showed to keep the candles from my cat (even now, I could see her from her pillow on the floor eyeing the dancing flames on the wall, a look of needing to pounce in her naughty green eyes). I felt a warmth in my chest, that emanated outwards and upwards to my face, reddening my cheeks and causing me to smile. "It’s wonderful, don’t sell yourself short. Remember, not only have I had no dates to compare you to, but I can tell you tried very hard, and that counts for a lot."

  He snorted. "So I could have like, decorated with garbage and put porno on and it would have been okay? Since you have nothing else to compare to?"

  It was my turn to playfully throw the napkin at him. "No. This is very much out of a Hollywood romance. For short notice, I’m pretty impressed. And confused where you got these candles."

  He flushed. "Ah, well believe it or not, they were mine. Sometimes I just light them and do magic things with the flames. Helps to keep my magic on edge, you know? Working with the elements and stuff. For the others, I just go outside or turn on the sink and it’s all right there. Fire, I need a little help sometimes."

  I considered this. "You mean you weren’t hoping to romance some woman when you came down here, and that’s why you had them?" I teased.

  "Ah well, you should have seen the stack of them I had before I found you," he teased right back.

  "Touché!" I chuckled, taking a bite of garlic toast and swooning at the flavor. "Oh! That’s good!" I said, putting a hand over my mouth so he couldn’t see me rudely chewing my food as I spoke.

  He grinned. "That was all mine. Daniel doesn’t believe in eating bread."

  My mouth fell open in mock horror. "No bread? That’s like…a dragon’s staple!"

  "Yeah he’s all…healthy and stuff," he shuddered.

  I laughed. "Yeah, dragons don’t do healthy. We eat what we want. Or who..." I added with a wink.

  "Not Daniel…he’d drive you nuts. Don’t eat this, don’t eat that, that’s bad for you…blah blah blah," he said, rolling his eyes, making the motion of flapping jaws with his hands.

  "That’s okay, if he pisses me off, I’ll eat him," I said with a wink.

  "I don’t think you’re kidding either. I saw that dragon form. That was…impressive!"

  "Was it everything you dreamed?" I retorted, mockingly with a slight roll of the eyes.

  "More! I mean, there are pictures of pink dragons, ones that have been passed down in books and other various artworks. None of them hold a candle to you. It was…absolutely amazing," he said, sounding slightly giddy. "Tough and strong but still…majestic, like an eagle but bigger! Not scaly or scary at all, but just…" he cut himself off, laughing uproariously. "I must sound like an idiot. Or some sort of stupid fangirl."

  I narrowed my eyes. "Hey. What’s wrong with a fangirl?"

  "Nothing!" he insisted quickly. I chuckled.

  "Those wings…you described them as little, and fragile. But they so are not…they’re like butterfly wings. All those iridescent colors in them, sort of like the sparkles you breathe…they just embody magic. I’ll bet they serve more of a purpose then you know," he said, shaking his fork at me.

  I frowned. "Well, that remains to be seen." I fell silently taking another few bites of my dinner, a swig of wine. I didn’t know why, but the subject of my wings was a bit sore for me. Of all the things I could ever be picked on—and was picked on—the state of my wings hurt the most. Sure I couldn’t breathe fire, but not being able to fly? I mean, it still keeps me from doing anything normal and dragon-like. Everyone knows dragons can always fly.

  Gabriel cleared his throat to break the silence. "So, you never did answer my other question?"

  I looked up. "Which one?"

  "Favorite color? You hate pink, but what do you like?" he asked.

  "Probably green. Can’t get much different then green, you know?" I said, with a laugh. "How about you?"

  "Red. Or black, but mostly red," he answered, after a moment’s thought.

  We spent the rest of dinner discussing favorite shows, movies and books and teasing each other over our choices. I laughed at him for geeking out over Lord of the Rings, and he taunted me for my obsession with 90s music. He told me that his current favorite band was a group called "Imagine Dragons" and I just rolled; he even used one of their songs as the ringer for his cell phone. I bet they weren’t even dragons at all. He said it was ironic, yes, but had nothing to do with his ancestry’s dealings with dragons now or in the past, he just liked them.

  We finished dinner and rose to continue on with the next part of the evening which included getting dessert out and about.

  "We should blow these out," he said, as he leaned in and started to exhale.

  "Wait—let me!" I said. I sat back and closed my eyes, concentrating on the light breeze that was blowing in through the curtains. I exhaled slowly, imagining the candle in front of me extinguishing but sitting far enough back to make sure my blowing wasn’t actually blowing them out, it was the magic. I imagined the room filling up with dancing sparkles.

  "Open…your…eyes," Gabriel said, hushed.

  I did so, slowly. I watched the sparkly mist I exhaled just a moment ago, dancing on the breeze, snuffing out each candle in turn: first the one directly in front of us, then the ones behind us on the coffee table…on a shelf over the couch….

  A giddy smile spread across my face. "Oh! I did it!"

  "You’re definitely amazing. Only been a couple days trying," he said, reaching over and grasping my hand.

  I looked down at his hand touching mine, and felt a shiver up my arm and down my spine. I wanted to
say something—every nerve in my body was itching to make some sort of sarcastic comment to break the uncomfortable tension seizing my body—but I forced myself to say nothing. I tried to force myself to look into his face, into those amazing, deep eyes but I couldn’t make myself do so, his gaze was too penetrating like he was going to see right into what I was feeling…but I couldn’t allow that, since I wasn’t even totally sure what I was feeling.

  I didn’t have to make the decision to stare or not to stare. Gabriel, his hand still on top of mine, came around the small table to stand right in front of me. I could feel the energy from his body—whether it was magical energy, or what it was I couldn’t tell—and I was very aware of his proximity to me. He pulled my hand into both of his, and gently tugged, prompting me to slide off the chair. I did, and with one decisive move, pulled me into his body. I let out a startled noise, and again I felt the urge to make a snide comment but he didn’t allow me, he leaned over and touched his lips to mine gently.

  I slowly let my arms inch around his neck, tracing up his stomach and chest as I did so, feeling the strong presence of him, and pressed my body closer to his, feeling his heart pulsing, his chest rise and fall rapidly.

  He kissed me again, a bit more intensely this time, snaking his arms through mine and firmly pressing his palms on the small of my back, nudging me even closer, making the kiss deeper, and more intense. My breath caught once more in the back of my throat, feeling the total proximity of his body to mine…his heat, the weight of him…the sensation sent tingles up and down my spine and jump-started my heart. Without realizing it, I kissed him back, harder, more feverishly and he responded in kind. His lips parted slightly as did my own in response, his tongue demanding entry resulting in a deeper, more insistent kiss.

  I don’t even know if he realized it, but his hands began trailing lower down my back, and lower still as we were kissing pretty roughly now, tongues mashing together, me biting his lower lip until they landed firmly on my ass, causing me to gasp in surprise and tense up.

  Abruptly, he stopped. He pushed me away and immediately gasped, smashing his palms onto the sides of his face. "Oh my god. Crap, Leorah…I’m sorry, I got carried away, I—"

  I waved him off. "It’s okay. I just wasn’t…. expecting that?" I didn’t know what I was expecting. I’d seen the movies, read the books, watched the TV shows…. obviously when kissing someone pretty intently like we were, things get grabbed. Or pulled. Or bitten.

  "No, that was a really jack-assed thing for me to do, I—" I cut him off again, this time pushing him towards the couch.

  "What are you—" he began hesitantly. I pushed him again, and he fell onto the couch as I stalked him, staring him down intently. He looked nervous and excited at the same time as I slid into his lap and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. I hope I did it right, I saw girls in the movies do it all the time. Being romantic or flirty wasn’t exactly something that came naturally to me or any dragon—but especially me. I don’t really know where it came from, or why all of a sudden I felt so bold. I just knew I enjoyed the sensation. I liked the way it felt when he was next to me—the closer, the better. I loved how it felt when he kissed me, even more so when he acted abashed, like he did something wrong.

  And all I knew is I wanted to do it more. Like something carnal was arising in me, something I didn’t know existed. And the couch was more comfortable because in my human form, Gabriel was about six inches taller than me and it was straining my neck.

  I forced myself to stare intently into his eyes. He smiled slowly, pushing back the hair that had tumbled into my face, cupping my face with his palm, and I couldn’t tell who started it, but our lips met again and we started kissing yet again, slow at first but growing more intent.

  My hands fell to his waist, searching for a comfortable spot to rest, my fingertips brushing inadvertently against a small sliver of skin that was exposed, his t-shirt rising up. It felt hot to the touch, I grazed a trail of hair. Intrigued, I allowed my hand to slip under his shirt further, feeling that trail of hair go up his stomach, across his chest, back down to his waist and assumedly, under his pants. I stopped when my fingertips scraped against the top of his pants, and that simple action seemed to do him in; any restrain he was using had flown right out the window. He yanked off his shirt from the bottom and pulled it unceremoniously over his messy hair and onto the floor nearby. Like they had a mind of their own, my hands instinctively reached out and wrapped around his shoulders, scratching at his shoulder blades—dragons liked to scratch when they become hot and bothered. Apparently, I was no different. Gabriel didn't seem to mind though, and he let out a quiet moan. He rolled me over onto the couch where he slid his body sideways between me and the couch cushion, his mouth still mastering mine skillfully. I allowed my leg to bend to him, nuzzling his upper thigh.

  His fingertips brushed my calf and trailed upwards, leaving little electrical sparks along the way. I giggled a little at the sensation.

  "Oh, the dragon is ticklish," he said, smiling as he moved his kiss to the side of my mouth, then along my jawline. All the while my dress had inched up my leg and now stopped mid-thigh and his touch stopped at the end of the hem, as if debating on what to do, where to go. His hand moved up towards my hip, his lips trailed heated kisses down my jawline and tenderly kissed the soft spot along my neck right under my ear, and I felt my eyes roll back in my head. "Oh god," I whispered, not really realizing it had come out.

  "She’s got a sweet spot, too," he said, a flirtatious lilt in his tone.

  "I guess I do," I said, feeling the strangest thing at that moment that I think I’d only felt slightly once before, an extreme heat that started between my legs and resonating upwards and downwards all at once. The feeling was blissfully relaxing and intensifying at the same time, this time causing me to let out a low moan that I didn’t realize was coming out until it did.

  Seemingly feeling a surge of bravery, Gabriel's lips moved from the spot on my neck and began trailing further down to my collarbone, and his hand on my hip not so gently this time raised up and rested on the spot under my breast and paused there. I could feel the electricity of his touch, even through the gauzy fabric of the sundress. Even though he appeared confident I could see the hesitation in his eyes. It slowed him down only slightly and after a ragged pant, his mouth was over mine again, biting my lower lip gently, and trailed my hands down his stomach slowly, finding the waistband of his jeans. I was about to unlatch it when Stone Temple Pilots "Interstate Love Song" started blaring, indicating that my cell phone was ringing.

  "Oh my—Kit!" was my first thought. I pushed Gabriel off of me and jumped up, the strap of my dress hanging low on my shoulder and down my side, my boob half popped out of the neckline. I readjusted myself as I dashed into my bedroom for my phone I’d tossed on the bed. I didn’t even notice the number, I just poked at the screen and hollered into it, "Hello? Hello? Kit?" Silence on the other end, then dialtone.

  "Shit," I cursed, clicking the screen until I pulled up the last called number to see if it was Kit; I didn’t know if it was or wasn’t, it was one I didn’t recognize. "Fuck!" I tossed the phone in frustration down on my bed and crossed my arms over my chest.

  I gasped, feeling my exposed skin. "Holy hell…" Away from Gabriel’s intoxicating presence, I could finally think more clearly without his woodsy, musky scent penetrating my brain. I was still breathing rapidly, still felt the heat between my legs but it was quickly subsiding.

  Holy shit, what was I about to do? Where did that come from? Was I really just minutes away from having sex with Gabriel? I've only known this dude for a few days! Dammit, Leo, what the fuck are you thinking? Not that it was a big deal. As a dragon I didn't get diseases and whatnot like humans would, from being promiscuous. I could get pregnant, but, it wasn't my fertile time. Dragons could be aroused at any time, but our fertile times as females only arrived once or twice a year and it was marked by a heavy dose of pheromones, a musky scent and a cranky disp
osition; cranky because it hurt. I'd listened to Kit regale tales of her human menstruation and honestly, it didn't sound all that dissimilar. Cramps, bloating and swelling, headaches—we got them too.

  Aside from that time though, it wouldn't be surprising for dragons to get it on after only meeting once; however I'd attained a bit of human behavior of course and it just felt wrong. It was also scary how drawn I was to him after only a short time. Dragons rarely felt that sort of magnetic pull to someone so soon, if ever. And that was disconcerting to me. But perhaps dragons could and did feel that way towards other humans; it's just that no one remembered feeling like that in recent history since it just wasn't done. My gut told me to chill but my body simply wanted to let go.

  I fanned the heat from my face, feeling a sense of panic, when there was a light knock on the door.

  "Leo? You all right?" Gabriel asked from the other side, as he peeked in.

  I nodded. "Yeah…" I sheepishly smiled and pointed at the phone. "It wasn’t Kit."

  "I’m sorry, but that’s not what I meant," he said, stepping in all the way, his shirt still off.

  Oh, those tattoos…his skin…felt so good—I shook my head. "No—I mean, yes! I’m fine just a little—"

  "We…probably got a little carried away, huh?" he said, looking down at himself. "I’m sorry, I don’t know what was…the wine, your dress…Gods you look so fucking beautiful, and I loved kissing you so much I just— "

  "—I liked it too…but it’s probably a little too soon," I said. "I’m not even, uh…I mean…" I blushed.

  "I am really sorry, I mean…it’s been a really, really long time for me and being so close to you the past few days, well I—"

  "It’s really okay," I insisted. "I kinda egged you on so...kind of like you know, just eating one potato chip. You have one, you have to have more because they’re so good."

  "So…I’m a greasy, salty piece of potato?" he retorted, pretending to sound wounded.