Ales
I was fuming the entire drive home. I understood where Patro was coming from, but I was angry. Angry it took him that long to calm down. He couldn’t recognize my voice like he usually could. I held onto the steering wheel tight, afraid I would somehow break it.
I looked in my rear-view mirror and watched Elani as she held Stacey in her arms. They both fell asleep like that. I was relieved she didn’t continue to question me on everything anymore. I looked over at Patro who was staring out the window.
“Patrocleus,” I whispered. “What was that about?”
He sighed and scratched his scalp.
“He put his hands on her and I saw it. She was terrified of him. I recognized the look in her eyes.” He glanced at me, and I returned my attention to the road.
I thought for a second, yet I refused to take myself there. I hadn’t thought of her in a long time. I didn’t want to think of how I left her to cry alone and live in agony. She had no one else but me.
Patro interrupted my thoughts.
“Whatever you’re thinking right now… It’s true.”
I gritted my teeth and focused on the road. I didn’t want to think about it, because that couldn’t be true.
“I’m warning you right now, Patrocleus, don’t fill my head up with anything else. I might not react how you want me to.”
Patro didn’t say anything else as we rode the rest of the way in silence.
We reached Patro’s place, which was within walking distance from mine. He got out of the SUV and took Stacey from the back seat without waking Elani up. He shut the door and nodded at me. I nodded back and drove toward my house. I parked the vehicle in my garage. I got out and picked up Elani from the backseat. She had truly fallen asleep to the point that she didn’t even move when I picked her up in my arms and carried her inside the house. Lady’s excited barking didn’t bother her either. If I hadn’t trained Lady to bark a certain way when someone was in distress, my security system installed in my home wouldn’t have picked up on it and Elani wouldn’t be here.
I was so exhausted when I finally put Elani to bed; I couldn’t do anything else but shed my clothes and fall asleep right next to her.
I heard her when she woke up and went to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I sighed, thankful she didn’t complain or scream about being in my house. She came out the bathroom and caught me looking at her. She offered a small smile as she shed her clothing. I tried to focus on her face, but my eyes betrayed me, as I looked at her in her sports bra and black lace panties. She didn’t shy away from me as she removed the sports bra and climbed into bed with me. Her back was to me. I knew that she was nervous because she hadn’t slept with me in a long time.
At the first contact of my fingers on her back, goosebumps invaded her skin. I smiled and leaned in kissing her shoulder. I moved my hand to rest on her belly, making lazy circles on her body.
“Did you miss me, baby?” I asked, wanting her to stop being so nervous.
She nodded. “I did.”
“Look at me,” I commanded.
She took her time, but she finally turned to look at me.
“I won’t if you don’t want me to, even though I know you want me to.”
She chuckled. “That’s confusing.”
“You know what I’m saying, baby.” I reassured her.
She smiled and leaned in, kissing me. I didn’t deepen the kiss. I waited for her to tell me what she wanted. She reluctantly let go and sighed. She reached out and touched my bare chest that heated upon her touch.
“You know how much I want you, Ales. Even when I didn’t remember you, and you came into my life like a tornado turning it upside down, I wanted you.” She moved her hand further down to my abs. “I could never not want you. I miss the way your calloused fingers feel on my skin. You make my body come alive. Please touch me. I want to feel you again. I miss you. My body has missed you so much, my liege, to the point it feels like I’m addicted to you. Ever since I remembered, I haven’t been able to get the way you make me feel, or the way you feel when you make love to me, out of my mind. Touch me, my liege.”
I groaned. I didn’t expect her to say all that to me, but the more words that slipped out of her mouth, the harder my member became. Her words became the drug I needed. Touch me, my liege, echoed in my mind and I kissed her roughly. I wrapped my hand around the nape of her neck and deepened the kiss. I craved to be deep inside her to the point that I was aching. I groaned as I repositioned us and I was hovering over her. I knew she loved the way I enveloped her in my arms.
She threw her arms around me as I removed her panties with such ferocity. She whimpered. Gods! That sound. I missed that sound.
I didn’t have time to go slow as I removed my boxers, not breaking away from our kiss. I positioned myself and slowly entered her. I stopped kissing her, concentrating on the way it felt to slide inside of her once more. It had been way too long, centuries long, that I hadn’t been in perfect bliss. I clenched my teeth, refusing to move until I was all the way in. She was so tight, tighter than I remembered, and it caused me to hiss. I rested my forehead on hers as I thrust and buried myself inside her walls.
“Jesus!” I said through clenched teeth. Her walls constricted around my member holding it in a vice like grip.
I opened my eyes to look at her as she waited on me to move.
“Look at me, baby…” I called out to her. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Please love me.” She begged, pulling me in for a kiss.
I smirked and began to move.
I couldn’t be gentler as she wrapped her legs around my waist, and I thrust in and out of her. I grabbed one leg and placed it on my shoulder. I needed to get deeper. I moved back a little, shifting my weight to one hand as I dove in.
“Please…” She begged and couldn’t hold back her moan.
I grunted, wanting to talk, but too focused on making her remember how good I gave it to her and how much I missed this. Missed her being so wet for me no matter what. She gave me her body wholeheartedly, and I accepted it. I wanted her to know, through it all, she had my body and soul. She whimpered again, clutching my hand while the other grabbed my bed sheet.
I knew the moment she orgasmed; it almost forced mine with hers. I slipped from her and flipped her on her belly. I positioned her and smiled as she got on her knees arching her back ready to take me.
“Mmmm, baby,” I said as I caressed her back and spread her legs a bit wider.
I flattened my palm on her back. She arched more, then I slid my hand up to her neck. I wrapped my hand around her as I thrust inside her. I wrapped my other hand around her too. I couldn’t stop being rough as I tightened my hold. She was stuck and couldn’t run away, just as I liked it. Her body began to quiver under me and I removed one hand from her neck as I held her in place.
“Take everything from me, my liege!” She spoke so soft yet such a command.
“Anything for you, my love.” I sped up a bit and got rougher as her whimpering turned into moans, loud moans. Nothing else mattered to me as she released again. This time, I couldn’t help but give in.
I dropped to the side of the bed with her in my arms, not wanting to slip out of her just yet. After a moment, I wholeheartedly laughed.
“What are you laughing about?” Elani asked.
“It’s better than I remember. Gods! Being inside you is something else, and I missed it so damn much. I don’t know how I didn’t find you sooner.” I leaned in and kissed her sweaty shoulder and buried my nose in the crook of her neck. “I will never let you go again, love, never.”
She scoffed. “You mean I will never let you go again. The last time I let you go…” She didn’t finish her sentence. I knew what she was trying to say.
I kissed her neck. “I promise to have you as my protector this time, okay?”
She nodded. “Don’t ever leave me like that again, Achilles. I mean it.”
“I promise.” I slipped out of her and turned her to face me.
I looked into her hurt eyes and I saw the pain there. I reached out and lightly grabbed her jaw. I rained kisses on her face, then I pulled back a bit to look at her once more.
My beautiful one.
“I will never do that to you again,” I said to her and kissed her lips. She wrapped her arms around my neck, holding me in a tight hug I didn’t realize I missed so much.
She broke the kiss this time and looked at me. Her eyebrows furrowed.
“I want to say something, but you have to promise to be honest with me.”
I nodded. “Yes?”
“I heard you and Patro in the car… I know what he’s talking about, with Stacey. Do you not see it?”
“See what?” I feigned ignorance.
“I know you see her eyes. You see the way she looks and who that reminds you of. She is exactly like her. I didn’t notice, because I didn’t remember, but when I remembered, something clicked. She never outright looked at you, but, earlier tonight, I saw it. Even through her tears and bruised face, she looked at you. She sought you out, wanting that comfort only you can give her.”
Elani watched me for a reaction and I gritted my teeth.
“Don’t you dare say it, Elani.” I warned her.
She didn’t say anything at first, but then she kissed me; a peck before she pulled away and looked at me again.
“She reminds me of your mother, Ales. Her eyes tell it all. From the joy they expressed whenever you made her laugh, or just because you were her pride and joy, to now, the sadness of losing the one person she loved. Ales, I know you see it just as much as I do.”
I wanted to pull out of her embrace, but she was smart. Elani had wrapped her arms and her legs around me keeping me hostage. I avoided her eyes and stared at a spot on her shoulders. It was so quiet. She didn’t push anymore. She just waited for me to talk.
I sighed.
“My mother didn’t die like us. She would have no reason to be here. There was nothing she regretted in her life.” I finally looked at her and the look on her face said she knew something else. “What?” I questioned her.
Elani cleared her throat. “When I remembered all my memories as Alana, there was something else. I saw your mother and the agony on her face when our bodies disappeared, especially yours. She never saw it coming, Ales.”
“Never saw what coming?” He probed.
“Cyril…he, he stabbed her from behind and she was defenseless. I saw the look in your mother’s eyes. She loved him, Ales. She loved Cyril, and she thought he loved her back, but he revealed it was all a plan to find your weakness. To kill you. Your mother died with regret that she betrayed you, the only person she ever protected with every fiber of her being.”
I heard every word Elani said to me. I really did, but I needed a moment. She sensed that, and she reluctantly let me go. I moved out of her warmth and my body immediately missed hers. I got out of the bed, walking over to take my phone from my jeans. I walked toward the bathroom, feeling like I needed a moment alone. I dialed Patro. After a couple rings, he picked up.
“Is it true?” I asked him before he could say anything.
“Is what true?” he asked, sounding like I just woke him up out of his sleep.
“My mother. Cyril killed her? Stacey?” I couldn’t form complete thoughts.
Patro cleared his throat.
“Yes, Achilles. It is all true. How did you know?”
“Elani. She saw it when her memories came to her.”
“Cyril was the one who killed me all those centuries ago. My body was long gone before anyone could find it. He tricked your mother, and he learned of your weakness, giving the information to Paris. He wanted to take everything from you and when your bodies disappeared, he went mad and killed your mother. Her blood was spilled unjustly, her regret and guilt for feeling like she betrayed her son traveled to the ears of the gods, but I didn’t know it was her at first. Then, before we left, she said something only your mother used to say.”
“What? What did she say?”
“She called you the one that hid as a little girl.” I thought I heard him snicker.
I rolled my eyes and hung up.
My mother, Thetis, a goddess who could never be killed was murdered in cold blood by Cyril. I held my phone so tight I heard it start to crush under my hand. I dropped it to the ground as I buried my head in my hands. My death changed everything. I ran my fingers through my hair and cleared my throat. I stood up, taking my battered, but not broken, phone back to bed. I dropped my phone on the nightstand and slid into bed. I shut my eyes, laying on my back with my arm over my face. I felt Elani the moment she moved closer to me. She wrapped her arm over my waist and nestled close to my body.
She kissed my bare chest and laid her head down on it.
“I will always protect you,” she said.
I wanted to smile, yet I couldn’t, as I tried drifting off into a dreamless sleep.