by Anna Santos
My angel shouted inside my mind to toughen up and stop being such a pathetic and emotional girl. I knew she was right. But it hurt every time I remembered the fatidic night of his rejection. It had been a scary and traumatic experience.
“What’s wrong?” he asked with a soft and caring voice.
His voice and sweet eyes didn’t help make me want to control my feelings. If anything, it made them worse. Why did he have to change so much? Why am I moved by him? I should have hated him with all my heart. I didn’t. I didn’t want to go back to him, but I didn’t hate him. I pitied him and was sad at what he had become. Deep down, Philippe was kind and caring. I knew he was. But he was also tormented by his demons. I was Cedric’s. It was no longer an option for me to feel anything for Philippe. I didn’t want Cedric to die. He deserved to be loved. He was kind, and he was an angel. Vampires only brought darkness.
“What’s wrong, Aria?” Philippe asked again, touching my shoulder and making me focus on his face.
I quivered and moved back. The closeness was unbearable.
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, sitting on the bed as I entwined the fingers of my shaking hands.
He placed himself in front of me as I calmed down. Then, he caressed my hair, shifting some of it away from my face.
I pushed his hand away. “Stop touching me.”
“I won’t hurt you.”
I sneered like a mad person. I would laugh if tears weren’t threatening to fall down my cheeks. I wasn’t afraid of him. I should be, but I wasn’t. Deep inside my heart, I knew that he wouldn’t hurt me. I also knew he regretted what he had done. A part of me wanted to believe that I was being foolish, and couldn’t possibly know that for sure. Yet, the part of me that knew that Philippe and I were soulmates also knew that he wouldn’t hurt me.
He crouched and put one finger under my chin, making me look into his eyes. “Why did you tell him that you were here with me?”
“Because I don’t like to lie.” I glared at him, annoyed by his question and his previous accusations. He was making it seem as if this was Cedric’s fault. I shouldn’t have gotten drunk. I shouldn’t have ended up in Philippe’s bedroom. My voice trembled when I spoke again. “Cedric has every right to be mad at me.”
“If he trusted you, he wouldn’t be mad. Didn’t you tell him what happened?”
“Hmm. He didn’t let me explain. But I will once he gets here. Just try not to annoy him. I don’t like confrontation. I don’t want any more drama, and I’d appreciate if you left me alone for good.”
Philippe stared at me quietly. For a few moments, I felt a sharp pain in my chest as if our hearts were synchronized. He looked miserable—terribly saddened by my words. I couldn’t and didn’t want to be moved by the gloom in his eyes.
He nodded sternly and straightened up. “Okay, I’ll be good. But if he yells at you I’ll hit him.”
“No, you will not,” I told him firmly as I wasn’t kidding. “It’s my problem. I’ll handle it. Just don’t make things worse.”
His lips were in a straight line until he finally said, “I won’t. I promise. But I don’t want him yelling at you.”
I was going to tell him that it wasn’t his problem; however, the bell rang. I stood up and let all my clothes fall to the floor.
“He’s here.” I gulped.
“My butler will open the door,” Philippe said as I was leaving the room after I had clumsily picked up my clothes from the floor.
I clenched my hands into fists and turned to face him. “It’ll be worse if he finds us in your bedroom, don’t you think?”
“Yes, you’re probably right,” he agreed.
He sped to my side. Resting his hand on my lower back, he accompanied me to the stairs.
Philippe’s butler was already on his way to answer the intercom.
“If it’s the angels’ prince, let him in,” Philippe ordered as we descended the stairs to the living room.
“Yes, sir.” The butler complied.
I stood in front of the couches, staring at the front door while nibbling on my lip and expecting the worst. I didn’t want a scene. I loathed drama. I hoped Cedric was wise enough not to start a fight and to let me explain. Yet, I knew that all hell was going to break loose once the Prince of Angels stepped into the Vampire King’s house.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ARIA
My heart stopped when I saw Cedric entering the living room. He was glowing silver. His eyes were shining as if he were possessed by a divine entity. His angel was surfacing, and he didn’t seem happy. His eyes stopped when they caught mine. I felt shivers run down my spine and butterflies explode in my stomach. He looked scary and hot at the same time. It was kind of crazy to get turned on by him just then, but the angel inside me was rejoicing at seeing him. She was happy; she was proud of her mate, of my mate. Cedric was my mate now…
Time seemed to have stopped when our eyes had first met, yet I knew that only a second had passed. Then he turned to stare at Philippe. My heartbeat increased more. Before I could scream no, Cedric was jumping to grab Philippe. In the length of a split a second, the two of them were crashing against the wall. Cedric’s hands were around Philippe’s neck while the house shook with the impact of Philippe’s back hitting the wall.
I ran to them, neglecting the fact that I could get hurt. I just knew I needed to stop this insanity. Before I could reach them, Philippe had pushed Cedric back and the prince was hitting the couch, falling back and getting up as if nothing had happened. I froze in the middle of the living room, unsure of what to do. They were extremely fast. It was dangerous to get near them.
Moments after, Philippe was facing Cedric. Both were growling like beasts as they wrestled, their hands clasped together. Philippe’s eyes were dark and his fangs were out. Cedric’s eyes were celestial blue, and he wasn’t playing around. I’d never seen him that infuriated.
“Stay away from my mate,” he ordered Philippe.
“Cedric…” I called his name, but my voice was feeble. I was shaking with fear and nerves. I didn’t want them to fight because of me. “Please, Cedric!”
“Cedric, you’re overreacting,” Philippe said.
That was a mistake. It made him even madder. He growled, pushing Philippe back, and punched him in the face. Then he threw him across the room as if he were a rag doll.
My heart stopped beating and my eyes followed the next events, incredulous. Philippe got up and sped into Cedric. They exchanged a few punches until they grabbed each other and smashed the furniture and the porcelain with their bodies. The destruction of objects was all I could see and hear. Everything was so fast that if I weren’t an angel, I couldn’t have followed the fight.
I wanted them to stop. I was shaking with apprehension—I knew I was. My angel was confused. She was rejoicing at Cedric’s action, but she was also in pain because of my own suffering. I didn’t want them to fight. I didn’t want Cedric to act like a brute and react with violence before even listening to what I had to say. I didn’t like violence. Why is he fighting Philippe? Philippe hadn’t done anything to me. He could have been a jerk, but he was acting nice. He’d taken care of me the previous night while Cedric had hurt my feelings by ordering me to go home and failing to show up at the nightclub. I drank alcohol because I’d been mad at Cedric. Philippe didn’t have anything to do with the pain I was feeling. I’d been miserable because my boyfriend would rather have me locked in a house than go out with me.
“Cedric, I don’t want to hurt you,” Philippe said, trying to push him back.
“I should have killed you the moment I found out that you were her former mate. It would have spared me a lot of trouble.”
I was going to say something, but I noticed the guy who had been upstairs with Philippe slowly coming down the stairs. He didn’t seem worried. He had a creepy smile on his lips. Sean and Gabby were also witnessing the events, looking down from the top of the stairs. Gabby was recoiled against Sean’s chest, cringing at the
noise.
“I hope you’re happy,” the guy said.
“What?” I asked, unsure if he was talking to me.
“I remember you from the boat. You were human then. Philippe was curious about you,” the guy said, talking casually, as if there weren’t a fight going on nearby. “He made us look for you for a couple of days after you fell into the river. I don’t quite understand what’s going on here, but I’m guessing this is your fault. You’re playing both guys. How? I’m baffled by how you were able to fool both Philippe and Cedric with your naïve face. You aren’t that stunning either. What do they both see in you?”
“Go to hell,” I told him, boiling with anger. His pretentious smirk was getting on my nerves. I sighed. He wasn’t far from the truth. What was going on was my fault. Still, I hadn’t asked for it. Cedric was being unreasonable, and Philippe shouldn’t have come after me. “Do something! Stop them!” I urged the guy.
“Stop them yourself. Aren’t you an angel? Philippe’s a big boy. He can take care of himself. If he was foolish enough to sleep with Cedric’s mate, then he has to face the consequences.”
Red flared my cheeks as I clenched my hands into fists. “We didn’t sleep together! This is just a…misunderstanding.”
Arguing with the cocky vampire made me realize that I’d gotten my voice back. “Cedric! Stop with this nonsense at once!” I screamed out loud.
Cedric and Philippe were punching each other—neither seemed to be winning, though.
I gulped, sensing the change in the atmosphere. Cedric’s wings had come out and he was flapping them, generating a force field that was pulling the debris from across the room. That didn’t seem good. He was going to use his powers. I had no idea what those powers were since he’d never used them in front of me. His transformation was making my angel restless. She wanted to come out and protect me from the debris that was coming our way. Until then, they’d been careful enough to fight around me, but the movement of Cedric’s wings was making everything in that place fly across the space in a tornado.
The air was cooling down. Cedric pushed Philippe, making him hit the ground and, before I could understand what I was doing, I saw a wave of ice coming out of his hands, and I was exploding in fire and rushing to place myself in front of Philippe.
“You will not hurt him,” I said in a guttural and unfamiliar voice. It came out of my mouth, it was me who was stating that sentence, but it felt powerful and abnormal. My angel had chosen Philippe’s side. It was unthinkable. Either that or I had taken control of my own powers and was preventing Cedric from harming Philippe.
Placing my hands in front of my body, I blocked the wave of ice that came in Philippe’s direction. The wave melted into water as my eyes met Cedric’s. He looked confused and hurt. I was mad at him. He wasn’t letting me explain and picked a fight without understanding what had happened. He was assuming that I had done something wrong, that Philippe had done something to me.
“Why do you have to be like this?” I asked, my voice shattering due to the pain assaulting my soul. Tears stung my eyes as my wings flapped around my body.
“Why are you protecting him? He’s a coldblooded murderer who tried to kill you, remember?”
“Yes, I remember.” I lowered my arms. “Philippe rejected me. I don’t know if he tried to kill me…” I whispered the last sentence as my throat went dry. Breathing deep, I added, “I don’t easily forget important things like that. But you’re overreacting. Nothing happened, nothing will happen, and Philippe didn’t hurt me.”
“So what are you doing at his place, and why are you wearing those clothes?”
“What clothes?” I asked, staring down at myself. I had borrowed Gabby’s clothes. The dress was a bit revealing, but there was nothing wrong with it.
“You weren’t wearing that yesterday,” he said.
I blushed. “What the hell are you implying?”
Cedric voiced the question that must have been haunting his mind. “Did you sleep with him?”
“Of course not!”
“Did he touch you?”
“What do you think happened between me and him?” I enquired, glowing red and placing my hands on my hips. Anger stirred inside me.
I saw Philippe moving behind me out of the corner of my eye. I glimpsed him as he sat, fixed his hair, and then got up and straightened his clothes. Luckily, he seemed calm, and I was hoping that he wouldn’t talk. Cedric wouldn’t believe anything that he said.
Cedric’s eyes analyzed my every movement as he stepped closer. “He’s your former mate. You spent yesterday with him. You spent the night with him and ended up at his place. What do you think I believe that happened? Moreover, you had someone lying to me this morning, telling me you were at your uncle’s place!”
“I didn’t ask Gabby to lie. I was drunk yesterday. Philippe was kind enough to let me crash at his place.”
“And how did you end up drunk and here in the first place?”
“I brought her here,” Gabby said from the top of the stairs.
Cedric stared up, probably noticing for the first time that we weren’t alone.
Gabby let go of Sean and faced Cedric. “I’m Gabby, her cousin. I was the one who lied. I didn’t want her to get in trouble because of me. It wasn’t her fault. She had too much to drink, and I didn’t want to go home. Philippe didn’t touch her. You don’t need to be rude and trash his place.”
Cedric growled, staring at me after a while. “Is that true?”
“Yes, nothing happened. Philippe didn’t touch me or harm me.”
“I don’t want you being with him. You’re mine now. He tried to kill you.”
“I know.” I stepped forward and motioned for him to relax. “Cedric, please calm down.”
He combed his messy blond hair with his fingers and inhaled. “I’ll calm down when we leave this place.”
“We could have already left if you hadn’t gone all Hulk in here and trashed his house.”
“I was planning to kill him, so…” He shrugged.
I clenched my jaw as I narrowed my eyes. “If you had done that, I would have never wanted to see you again—or talk to you, for that matter.” He could be extremely hardheaded sometimes. It seriously rattled me.
He looked hurt by my words but then he said, “Let’s go home. I don’t want you here anymore. We’ll talk away from prying eyes.” He turned around to leave, but I stood there.
One moment he was mad and the other he was bossing me around. Who does he think he’s talking to?
“You trashed Philippe’s home. Aren’t you going to, at least, tell him you’re sorry for what you’ve done?”
Cedric turned around to face me. “I hope you’re joking, Aria. Philippe tricked you into going to the Louvre to meet him. He took you to a nightclub and got you drunk, and now you want me to tell him that I’m sorry for putting him in his place? He’s trying to steal you from me. He doesn’t care about you. He didn’t want you in the first place. He’s just having fun causing me pain! Now stop with the tantrums and follow me to the car. I’ve had enough of this place.”
Cedric’s words echoed in my mind like a bad song. I looked at Philippe, who seemed as confused as I was by the prince’s accusations.
“We’re leaving, Aria. Either you come with me now…”
Cedric didn’t finish his sentence because I pointed a finger at him. “Don’t! Don’t talk to me like that. Don’t try to intimidate me.” The coldness in his eyes and voice was breaking my heart.
“How do you want me to talk to you?” Cedric asked with an exasperated expression. “You’ve spent the night in this piece of shit’s house. Unless you’re that desperate to be his new whore, you better come with me now or else…”
Once again, he didn’t have time to finish his sentence because Philippe snapped and jumped to grab his neck and crashed Cedric’s body against the opposite wall next to the door, smashing a painting in the process.
“Don’t talk to her like that or I
’ll kill you myself. You want her, you respect her and treat her like she’s the most precious thing in the world. You don’t boss her around, you don’t call her names, and you don’t doubt her word. Or I’ll stop playing nice; I’ll get her back and restore our bond. Do you understand me?”
Philippe’s voice was dark and dangerous. My heart beat loudly as my mind got clouded by his words. Taking control of my limbs, I rushed to their side, noticing how Cedric was running out of air and how Philippe didn’t want to let him go.
Putting my hands over Philippe’s hand, I begged him, “Please, let him go.”
Philippe’s vampire face turned to me and he released Cedric.
Looking at his hands and then at me, Philippe whispered as his eyes returned to their calm and composed chocolate. “I’m sorry. I was trying to keep my cool. I didn’t want to hurt him.”
“I’ll be fine,” Cedric grumbled after clearing his throat. Grabbing me by the waist, he declared, “You’re coming home whether you want to or not.”
Before I could protest, we were eclipsing out of there, and we appeared inside his bedroom.
He let me go, and I stepped back, dizzy by the materialization and extremely hurt by his actions.
“I can’t believe you did that to me,” he said.
I frowned at him with incredulity. “Did what?”
“Cheat on me.”
“I didn’t!” I gasped.
“I’ve been nothing but good to you and the first chance you get, you go behind my back and you…end up in your ex-mate’s home. The guy who tried to kill you. The one who rejected you!”
He wasn’t raising his voice, but I could feel the disappointment in his tone. His accusations made me want to cry and run away. I hadn’t done anything wrong. I hadn’t cheated on him. He was jumping to conclusions. And he didn’t trust me.
“You don’t understand, Cedric. Nothing happened.”
“I told you to come back home. I said I didn’t want you in that nightclub. You didn’t obey me. I guess you were having too much fun with him to care about me.”