Aria
I take a deep breath and knock on Sebastian’s door, half praying he doesn’t answer. It’s a little after 8:30, so I’m earlier than usual, and I know he might be in the shower. Or still sleeping. Or entertaining a girl. I don't think that will be the case since I heard him out on the prowl only a few hours ago, as the sun was coming up, but I have to brace myself in case he opens the door and a girl is in his bed. Or a girl opens his door, for that matter.
When the door opens, it’s Sebastian, standing there with hooded eyes, wearing only a pair of jogging pants, slung low around his waist. I take a deep breath and try not to stare when it’s so hard because he looks so damn good.
“Aria,” he says before I get enough air in my lungs to speak.
SebastianI am moving so quickly down the hallway toward the room where the maids keep their cleaning supplies, if I happen to run into anyone, I’m sure I will knock them clean through the wall. Seeing Aria cry and knowing it was at the hand of some worthless maids has my own heart aching. I can’t get to the closet soon enough.I hear them before I see them and know exactly who it is. Two of my mother’s maids, Helena and Gertrude, two old ladies who have far too much time on their hands cleaning a room that it would only take one person a few hours to clean. They’ve been here forever, since they were young enough to have to wear a uniform like the one Aria is forced to wear now, the one they are calling her names because of.I slow down before I reach them because I wan
SebastianAll day, Aria is all that I can think about. I try to concentrate on my work, but I can feel here beneath my fingertips. I can taste her on my lips. I can smell her every time I inhale. I need to get the work day over with and get back upstairs. I’m praying that she will still be in my room when I arrive.It’s been hard to concentrate but I’m doing it. My father has me looking into the rogue situation even more closely, talking to our contacts in the city on the phone and reaching out to other wolves in the area who aren’t part of our immediate pack. Everyone needs to be aware of the situation. I know he’s dispatched Grip to handle business in the city. I hope he is able to get any immediate threat under control.Talking on the phone to so many people do
AriaMy eyes linger on the door where Sebastian has just disappeared. I am trying to process what just happened, but it’s not something mere thoughts can translate. All I can think about is how badly I wanted him when he was standing here, and now that he’s gone, how badly I want him still.He’s gone now, though. Only the scent of the deep woods and rain lingers in the air to remind me that he was there. That, and the feel of his warm touch on my skin. I can still feel all of the places where he touched me, where he kissed me, where I wanted him to touch me.If he had been able to stay, if he had asked me, I would’ve given myself to him completely just now, like a moth pulled to a flame, knowing she will get burned, she will be consumed, but completely unable to say no
Sebastian“Sorry about earlier,” Dez says to me through the mind link as we are running through the forest, looking for the rogues that were allegedly spotted on the far western border of our territory. He hasn’t said anything about what he interrupted yet, and I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t want to talk about it either, if I were him. It was clear, as soon as I stepped out into the hallway with him, that he had interrupted something important, something that made me want to strangle him, even if it wasn’t his fault he’d had to come and get me. He was just doing his job, after all.“It’s okay,” I tell him, but that’s not really true. I’m still bitter about it. I’ve just accepted the fact that it really isn’t his fault, so I’m not mad at Dez. I’m
AriaI am sitting on my bed, rereading the last few letters I’ve received from my parents. It’s been a few days since I’ve gotten one. I hope I get another one soon. Mim comes out of the shower, drying her hair with a towel. I look up at her out of habit but quickly avert my eyes. I’m still not sure what to think about her reaction to Leah earlier. Part of me feels sorry for her because she’s had to switch partners again so quickly, but the rest of me is suspicious about how she feels about me.Mim sits down on her bed and starts brushing through her hair, humming a song. I suppose she must feel better, but I don’t say anything to her. I haven’t told her about what happened between Sebastian and I this afternoon, and now that she’s acting so different, I am pretty sure my original instinct n
AriaI decide not to go downstairs for breakfast the next morning. I’m not hungry. I’m afraid, if I do eat anything at all, my stomach will be so unsettled, I’ll be too nauseated to even make it down the stairs to Sebastian’s room.“Have a good day, sweetie,” Mim says as she heads out the door for breakfast. She gives me a look that I can’t quite read. I’m not sure if she’s nervous about having to spend the day with Leah again, excited about seeing Dez, or teasing me about the possibility of something happening with Sebastian again.“You, too,” I say, not sure how I feel about her going off to work with Leah. After her reaction to the girl the day before, I’m not if I should feel sorry for Mim--or for Leah.
SebastianMy entire body is on fire. The scent of vanilla and all things wonderful fills my lungs, and just the feel of her beneath my fingers is intoxicating far more than any amount of liquor could ever be. I want to devour her in a way that melds our two bodies and souls into one.I can’t allow myself to let that happen, though. Not now. Not yet. Aria is far too special for me to make her feel as if she is only a toy to me, something to be played with and then tossed away.When I pull away from her, it feels as if I am ripping adhesive from raw skin. It burns, deep to the bone.I tell her the truth. I want to treat her like a lady. I say exactly what I am thinking, not considering how old-fashioned it sounds. I tell her I want to woo her.
AriaCleaning Sebstian’s room is different now. It’s never been a difficult task, compared to what Mim is doing downstairs, but now, I feel like I have more ownership in what I’m doing. Everything I touch is his. Everything I clean or straighten, he has touched recently himself. I can smell his scent throughout the room. I can feel his essence in the items that belong to him, especially in the clothing he has recently worn, the bed he has just slept in, the pillow that smells like his cologne.It doesn’t take long for me to clean up. He is certainly a tidy person, especially for a man. I wonder if any of that has to do with me. Perhaps he is being cleaner than normal because he doesn’t want me to think he’s a mess.I do all of my regular cleaning and a