Chapter Ten: Kiss and freak

Ara's POV

After a week of thinking about it thoroughly, I decided it was best I go for what my heart wanted. I'm Arabel Lee, if I remember correctly, what I want is what I get. For example, if I want Drake back, getting him away from Sharia is as easy as taking candy from a baby. I wouldn't tho, because I can never go back to my vomit.

I rang the doorbell continuously. I needed to apologize for my erratic behavior to Mindy, then find out about their true relationship. I could perceive that gingerbread and cocoa scent again but I couldn't see any car other than Mindy's so I hoped he wasn't around. I didn't dress attractive enough to meet him. The door opened and my eyes almost popped out of their sockets. My prayer wasn't answered because he was the one who opened the door. He was freaking shirtless and seductively licking something off his fingers, or maybe it was like that because it played in front of me in slow motion.

My lips parted a bit as I ogled his body. He had a blue wolf's head tattooed to his front torso. The wolf was howling up at the silver moon also tattooed on his body. Have I ever mentioned my love for men with tattoos?

Lord help me!

"Oh, hello Miss Angry Bird," his voice broke through my lustful admiration. I looked up at his face and he was smirking, I got caught.

"G…g…g…g…g…" I said stammeringly. I scratched my arm awkwardly.

"Good evening to you too," he said still smirking. Since my feet were my only saving grace for me, I meekly stared at them.

"Can you let me into my Manager's house?" I asked with a voice I never expected to come from me. You know, since I was nervous and all.

"My ‘friend’ went out to pick up her ma… husband," he accentuated the friend. I rolled my eyes. Right, he loves her.

"Can I still come in? I'm going to wait," I asked politely, raising my head to give him a polite smile but my lips got caught in a gape. Damn his cute eyes!

"Sure," he pushed the door wider and stepped aside. I inhaled and scurried into the house, fighting against the powerful urge to jump into his arms and kiss his lips out of order. I should have worn my lucky bracelet. "You look great by the way," is he mocking me? What was great about what I wore? I wasn't expecting to see him so I wore a Henley neck long-sleeve shirt with graphic pleated shorts and over the knees flared heels boots. I didn't see what was great about what I was wearing. Is he talking about my face?

"Thank you," I muttered.

"So since I'm the only one here, please sit," he said with a fake British accent. I ignored his bad use of the accent and sat down in the three-sitter teddy chair and crossed my legs. "What can I offer you, madam?" He asked gentlemanly with a slight bow, still maintaining the British accent. I chuckled. If only he knew how terrible it sounded. "You okay?"

"Uhm yeah, I've been here more than you, if I want something, I know where to find it." That was not what I meant to say.

"A simple ‘I'm okay’ or ‘I don't want anything’ would have been nice," he said bluntly, rolling his eyes away. "Suit yourself," he went to sit on the other chair far away from me. I didn't mean it that way. I was ruining everything again.

“Gosh, Arabel, you are an idiot!” I mentally face-palmed myself.

He burst into laughter, causing me to flinch at the abrupt sound. "Relax, I was kidding," he laughed, maybe because of how tense I looked. "Sort off," he muttered. I knew it!

"I'm sorry about the other day. It wasn't my place to decide or question you like that. I don't even know what possessed me, I found myself asking and getting jealous over it… I'm truly sorry," I rambled apologetically. He paid no attention to me, just continued to type on his phone. He must really hate me all because of Mindy. I didn't hate her but she was starting to irritate me. I never thought the day I would feel like this towards my friend just because a guy I didn't know would come. Why do I have to feel like this? Why do I have to get hurt? Why do I have to feel so lonely and heartbroken every time? Don't I deserve to be happy? Since I became the ice princess, nothing ever went my way. Just a series of bad luck. Why was I even feeling this way toward a guy I barely know? And why isn't Raquelia doing something about it?!

"Hey," his soft voice broke through my thoughts. When did he get here? To my utter astonishment, he clasped our hands together and entwined our fingers. The warmth from his palm spread through my body like a warm blanket thrown over a shivering soul. My heart lost it that moment and my head went blank. Gingerbread and cocoa bashed my nostrils and with every breath, I inhaled, the fog continued to overtake my mind. "It's okay. I'm sorry, it was my fault for making such a stupid joke."

"Joke?" I asked absentmindedly. "What's a joke?" I was dazed. The guy, Cyrus, nodded sheepishly. Somehow, I got the courage to remove my hand from his and shifted away. This man is more dangerous than I thought. I went as far as sitting on the arm of the chair to create more space between us, but it still wasn't enough. "You mean to tell me that the other day was a joke? That you've been messing with me the whole time?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I tend to do that a lot," I nodded. In all honesty, I wasn't paying attention to what he was saying. I pinched the bridge of my nose as if I was trying to make it immune to his scent. It was no use so I slipped back into the chair and tried to process what the hell he was talking about.

"Can you stop crying now? You're ripping my heart apart," he complained. I touched my cheeks and furrowed my brows with confusion. I was never one to cry and after gaining my cold abilities, I cried lesser and got angry often. Yet, I was weeping for the man I didn't know. My cheek heat up as he dried my tears with his handkerchief. He moved very fast. How did he get close again?

With his face a few inches from mine again, my mind was blanketed with excitement and lust, like a teenage girl meeting her celebrity crush for the first time, and then he tried to kiss her. I stared deeply into his bright blue eyes with an awkward smile on my face. "Are we good now?"

"Yes," I answered absentmindedly. At first, I thought it was my imagination. There was silence for over a minute with only the sound of our breathing and my heartbeat reverberating in the room. He held my gaze as if trying to hypnotize me, or maybe he was because the situation wasn't normal. His breathing got heavier with every tick of the clock and his blue eyes became darker and darker until a pair of navy blue orbs was staring into my icy blue eyes.

Then he groaned and spoke up. "I'm sorry but I just have to do it or I won't be able to rest today," he said hoarsely and impatiently. Before I could ask what or even think about it, he slammed his lips on mine. It wasn't my first time kissing a guy but it felt like it was. I stiffened with shock, not responding to the vigorous movement of soft flesh against my cold ones. I had never been caught off guard before. I normally surprised people, but not the other way around. It was a first for me, he was making a lot of firsts for me. Like crying over him or liking a guy at first sight. Making my mind go blank and removing my sense of reasoning. Making my body feel like mush and causing a strong sensation of electricity to course through my body for the first time. Not even Drake succeeded with it.

Cyrus groaned with annoyance and bit my bottom lip but my brain was frozen so I still didn't kiss back. He withdrew disappointedly and the fog immediately cleared up. It was replaced with alarm and agitation. Did I just turn down a chance of my crush hitting on me? "I'm sorry," he apologized, shifting away from me.

What the hell, Arabel?! Kiss him back!

He stood up to leave but I pulled him down with the new strength I was still getting used to and found myself straddling his thighs before I could stop myself. Without sparing rationality a thought, I kissed him. He was stunned like I was for a little while before responding to it quicker than I did. His hands encircled my waist while mine gripped his hair like he was going to disappear. His lips were like a fountain of ever-blissful chocolate and gingerbread, one I could never get enough of. The more I tried to take, the less satisfied I become. At that moment, I wasn't sure if it was only me, but I felt a blazing heat consume my body and ignited a flame in my core. I'd never felt that way before. It felt like my clothes were getting in the way and needed to be taken off. I was a few seconds from ripping my shirt open when Mindy screamed from behind us.

"Ugh! Can you guys not have sex on my couch!!!" I flew out of his arms as if struck with electricity, toppling over to the hardwood floor and landing hard on my ass. I looked over my shoulder and saw her smirking at me with her arms folded while her husband stared at us with a frown on his face.

"I…I…we…er…"

"I don't have a problem with my best friend giving you an epic time, you need it. Buuuuuut, not on my couch. He has a house and there are two guest rooms upstairs, make use of one." Embarrassing? Yes, greatly.

"Alp…" Chris tried to say with a bow but Mindy nudged him, glancing at me. I felt like the only fool here. I was so embarrassed about how erratic I acted. I'm usually the one in control, not the one being controlled. And he didn't even try to flirt with me. All he did was kiss me!

"I have to go," I said on the verge of tears. I stood up and sped out of the house and hurried to my car. I hated when things didn't go my way and this was beyond things going out of plan.

"Arabel!" I heard him call. I ignored him and drove off at the speed of light. I'm surprised I wasn't arrested. I drove over to Raquel's. I needed her to tell me I wasn't running mad and this was a winter witch thing. However, when I arrived at her place, I found her in her destroyed living room and in tears.

"Jena, what happened?" I asked quizzically. Jena was also in tears and covered with her flames.

"She lost the baby," Jena sobbed. "Arthur was upset about it and so he left,"

"He dumped her?!" That's not like Arthur.

"No, just left for a while but it doesn't change the fact that I lost his baby!" Raquel screamed and the whole house quaked, threatening to return to its very foundation with us inside.

"Quelly, please," Jena pleaded.

"No! No! I refuse to accept this! I refuse to let this happen to us! Dad!!!" She roared. All I could think about was how to escape before she gets us killed. "Dad!!!"

"Starlight," a calm voice silenced everything. It felt like nothing happened in the first place. Then he appeared. I almost collapsed when Alexander McGrath appeared out of nowhere. I thought he was Raquelia's uncle and a normal human. How wide is her family?

Raquel crawled into his waiting arms as she cried like a baby. "Do something, bring him back, please," she begged. "I beg you,"

"I warned you to seize from using your powers," he said chidingly, "you can be so thickheaded sometimes. You must stop using your powers for the baby to stay, no matter what," he warned. Raquel nodded. Alexander placed his palm on her stomach and muttered words only both of them could hear. The ball of her eyes rolled into her head and the cornea of her eyes took a shadow gray color before her body stiffened. She passed out.

"Arabel, you must figure out everything on your own from here out, she can't help anymore." What just happened?

"What's going on?" I turned around and saw Arthur standing behind me with a large panda teddy in his hands. "Is she okay?" He asked worriedly, walking past me toward her.

"Why did you leave her?" Jena snapped.

"I went to get what will calm her down," he answered sharply. Alexandra shook his head with a sigh. "What happened to my wife?"

"She will be fine, Arthur, but I'm taking her along with me,"

"But…" Alexander disappeared with Raquel before any of us could blink. There goes my answer.

______

Today was intense. I sighed as I dragged my feet into my living room. I flicked the light switch on and screamed with fear. On my sofa was Cyrus. "Sorry I startled you," he said trying to stifle his laugh.

"What are you doing in my house? How did you get in?" I asked frantically.

"You have a door," he said nonchalantly with a shrug. Like it was normal to break into someone's house.

"It was locked!"

"Humph," he shrugged. I shut the door. I need to get more guards and carry them around… nay!

"I came to explain to you. I know you are confused about everything." He said sadly.

"Which part? My attraction towards you or the strange kiss? If you have an answer, do tell," I said tiredly, slumping on the couch.

Cyrus smiled painfully. "You might reject me after this but please don't freak out,"

"Okay…?" I said uncomfortably. Cyrus went on all fours and hunched his back. Is he okay? "What are you doing?"

"Just don't freak out and don't scream," I crinkled my forehead as I stared at him on my floor, groaning. I stood up as soon as the snapping and popping of bones reached my ears and it was coming from him. I watched aghast as his body grew taller, skin ripping and fur covering his body. In a matter of seconds, a huge wolf with brownish-gold fur stood in front of me.

"What the…the…the…" I trailed off as I slumped heavily on the floor and passed out. I freaked out.