Read Aries: Book 2 in a Young Adult Paranormal Romance Series (The Zodiac Twin Flame Series) Online
Authors: Rachel Medhurst
My heart thudded in my chest as consciousness pulled at me. I tried to remember where I was and why I felt like crap.
‘He’s waking up.’
I didn’t recognise the voice as I managed to force my eyelids to lift.
‘Welcome back, Aries,’ a nurse said, offering me some water. She supported my head as I sipped the cool liquid.
‘Did it work?’
The memory hit me as I clenched the covers in my hands. The doctor was standing on the other side of the bed. I was back in the hospital.
‘It was a great success. Your bones are nice and strong so we were able to attach the implant easily. The wound needs to be cared for religiously to prevent any infection. In six months’ time, you should be able to take your first walk.’
I smiled at him. Six months to rehabilitate was a lot sooner than originally planned. I was determined to make sure that I did everything right.
‘The police have been in and informed us that you were involved in a traffic accident yesterday.’
Raising my eyebrows, I shrugged. ‘When can I see it?’
I was itching to know what my new implant looked like. They had explained that the prosthetic would be bolted to my skeleton through the implant, which meant I would be able to feel where it was. I couldn’t feel anything yet but I couldn’t wait to get a look at it.
‘We’ll be back later to check on the wound. You can have a little look then,’ he said.
I thanked him as he left. Natalie almost bumped into him as she came into the room.
‘How do you feel?’ she asked, bending over and kissing my forehead.
I frowned, grabbing her hand when she went to move away. It was the first sign of softness that she had shown me since I had been horrible to her.
‘I’m excited. It’s like I can finally breathe.’
She put her head to the side and studied me. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Things can only get better,’ I replied.
She laughed and handed me a get well soon card from my siblings. I shook my head at their silly messages.
‘You mentioned that you’d been through some rough times. Tell me about them,’ I said as Natalie sat in the chair next to me.
Her eyes dropped to the floor. I couldn’t reach out because she was too far away. I hoped that she would speak to me. She was right. I was self-absorbed and never asked her about her life. Even when we had been together.
‘I’m not sure—’
‘Please.’
She grabbed the arms of her chair and pulled it forward, scraping the legs against the floor. I smiled and took her hand as she offered it. Her brown eyes had little flecks of gold in them. I had never noticed it before. She had a smudge of black eyeliner on her bottom lid. It made her eyes look massive as she looked at me. Her pupils were small. Her tongue flicked out to lick her top lip.
‘You know my father died when I was young, don’t you?’ she said.
I nodded. We had shared a few things when we’d dated, although I had never told her about my siblings.
‘Well, we had a huge mortgage and he had no life insurance. I ate baked beans on toast for a few years. That part was okay. I watched my mother sink further and further into debt as she tried to dig her way out. That was the hard part.’
I squeezed her hand. The thought of her living with empty cupboards made me angry. Why hadn’t someone done something? How was it fair that they had been left with so much debt?
‘One day it got too much for her. I came home from school, just after we broke up actually, and found her sprawled on the kitchen floor. She had taken an overdose.’ She sniffed. I didn’t react. She needed to be heard, not comforted.
‘I suppose, in a weird sort of way, it was good. It helped me to take my mind off you.’ She smiled briefly.
My stomach clenched. I resisted the urge to apologise. I would do it later.
‘I rang for an ambulance. They took her to hospital. My grandmother was called and she came to stay with me. My mother hadn’t told her how bad things had got so I told her everything.’ She wiped her fingers under her eyes to stop her makeup from running. The tears hovered on the edge of her lids. All I could do was listen and hold her hand.
‘She took charge. She put our house on the market and moved us in with her. I think mum was secretly relieved but I missed my old home.’
‘I remember when you moved. I went to your place to try and get you back but you weren’t there. I didn’t see you for a couple of years. Then I saw you…’ My eyebrows scrunched up as I tried to remember where we had bumped into each other again.
‘At a house party. It was at my friend’s. You had grown so tall!’
I smiled at her. ‘Yeah, you developed earlier than I did.’
‘That was the first night we actually…’
I shook my head as the memory played in my mind. It had been awkward at first but turned into a pretty amazing experience.
‘I’m glad you were my first,’ I whispered.
She looked up at me and a secret smile played on her lips. ‘Me, too. I’ve not been with anyone else, you know.’
I tried to sit up. The movement jarred me. My head spun so I laid back down. ‘You’re twenty one and you’ve only ever been with me?’ I stuttered.
I loved the thought. It made my chest swell but I had no idea why.
She nodded and looked down at the cover on my bed.
‘It’s always been you, Aries.’
The words were so quiet, I almost didn’t hear them. I swallowed as her hair fell forward, covering her face. I didn’t know what to say. I had been with other women but not in a relationship.
After we had split, I had been pretty low. My fire went out of control. I had to stay inside, away from the others. It would explode from me with just one word. I didn’t know how to rein it in. Mother had told me it was my anger. She had said that I needed to let myself feel any emotion that came up, instead of trying to suppress it. I wasn’t an emotional person in general but I was in pain. Natalie had bruised my fifteen year old heart, although she had no idea.
‘The fire…?’
I glanced at her. She watched me with clear eyes. She had opened up to me. It was time to return the gesture. We had never been open with each other before. It wasn’t something I found easy.
‘I have an ability. We all do,’ I said, holding up the card with my siblings’ handwriting on it. ‘I can create fire with my hands.’
‘Is that why you’re a fireman?’
I looked away from her. I was no longer a fireman. What would I do for the rest of my life, if I couldn’t do that?
‘I wanted to help people,’ I replied, not looking at her.
She pulled on my hand. I glanced over.
‘You’ll find another way.’
Her support was more important to me than anything else.
‘No, it’s not why I was a fireman. I loved to help people and be active at the same time.’
‘Can you do it whenever you feel like it? Create fire, I mean?’
She couldn’t look me directly in the eye. I could tell she was being tentative. Was I that unpredictable?
‘Yes, I can just…’
Instead of explaining it, I held up the hand that wasn’t holding hers and pulled the energy from within me. A burst of flame formed in my palm. She gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth.
‘Who was that man in the park?’ Her face darkened.
I had been waiting for the questions. I was surprised she hadn’t asked them before now. There was no way I could stay quiet if I’d seen something so different.
I pulled the fire back into my body but kept my hand in the air. The red leather bracelet on my wrist suited my tanned skin perfectly. The silver charm, with the Aries zodiac sign, stood out against the bright colour of the band. The edges were still singed from the fire.
‘I noticed that you all have those bracelets. Is there a reason?’
I nodded and let my hand drop to the bed. ‘I don’t know how to explain it to you.’
‘Just tell me straight. You’re not one to mince your words anyway,’ she said, stroking my arm.
The calm gesture sent heat over my skin, which made Natalie pull away.
‘You just got really hot,’ she said softly, looking at her palm.
‘Sorry. It’s you…you make me hot.’
She looked at me. I winked. A small smile played on her lips before she turned serious. ‘You’re not going to get away with it that easily, tell me.’
I rolled my eyes and avoided her hands when she tried to get touchy feely again. I needed a clear head to explain.
‘As you can tell, we’re not your usual family. Each one of us has a mission…this sounds so ridiculous,’ I muttered.
‘Go ahead,’ she said, capturing my hand and holding it firm.
‘We’re not biological siblings, we’re a soul family. We were given a mission before we came to Earth. We have to unite with our soulmate. It’s the most important goal we have to accomplish in this lifetime.’
When I looked at her, I expected to see mockery in her expression. Instead, she frowned.
‘Aren’t we all supposed to be with our soulmates?’ she asked.
I smiled and let my head fall back against the pillow. ‘Yes, but I’m talking about the ultimate soulmate. What people call twin flames. It’s a tough relationship, because it makes you face who you are.’
She didn’t move or say anything. Her gaze rose from the spot she stared at on the bed. When her eyes met mine, a bolt of heat rushed through my body. I stiffened all over as she licked her lips.
‘I don’t like the sound of that,’ she whispered.
‘Why not?’
It wasn’t quite the reaction I had predicted. Not that I could predict anything about her, I didn’t know her well enough.
‘It’s hard enough having a normal relationship with you, let alone—’
I put my hand to her cheek and she stopped talking. She cupped my fingers. Her eyelashes grew wet as she looked at me.
‘I’m sorry for breaking your heart,’ I whispered.
She nodded and blinked back the tears. ‘Do you know how many times I’ve cried over you? And I never cry!’
I nodded. I had seen how bad Pisces had been when Antony had run from her. She had cried all the time. Natalie wouldn’t be as bad as that but I could see the pain in her eyes.
‘I’m a cripple.’
She frowned and I cursed myself. She had opened up to me and all I could believe was that she was better off without me.
‘I don’t care.’ She pinched my arm. ‘Will you stop thinking about yourself for one second?’
I laughed. ‘I’m not thinking about myself. I’m thinking about you…naked.’
She slapped me half-heartedly as the corner of her lip lifted. I had managed to lighten the mood. I couldn’t be doing with too much heaviness.
‘No wonder the others call you the child of the group.’
‘What! Those rotten scoundrels,’ I said in my best pirate accent.
‘How did the operation go?’ Natalie asked, gesturing to my heavily bandaged stumps.
I grew serious instantly. ‘I want to see what it looks like.’
‘Are you always so impatient?’
‘Yes, pretty much,’ I replied, taking the covers off.
Clenching my fists, I resisted the urge to pull at the white bandage.
‘Your mission. I can see that Pisces and Antony have already achieved it.’
I glanced at her. I thought I had managed to successfully divert her attention away from the awkward topic.
‘Yes, they have united. They have a long way to battle yet but they’ve managed the hard part.’
‘And what about you…?’ she whispered.
I shook my head, throwing the covers back over my leg stumps. They were a reminder of how far I had left to go. There was one main priority in my life right now, and that was to walk again. I was sick of sitting. I needed to be active and move around independently.
‘I have a way to go until I’m ready to harmonise,’ I said, breathing a sigh out when the nurse came in to check on me.
‘They’re looking very smooth,’ the doctor said as the bandage came off.
‘I can’t see them,’ I replied.
It was a part lie. I could see the little piece of metal sticking out from my stump but I couldn’t see the exit wound.
‘Here, I’ll take a picture of them so you can see.’
Natalie crouched on the floor in front of me. A part of me wanted to stop her but it was the only way I would get an idea of what my new implants looked like.
‘They’re fantastic,’ she said to the doctor as she handed me her phone.
They looked exactly as I had imaged they would. Two bits of metal. One sticking out from each stump. I wanted to get exercising so I could build up my leg muscles again.
‘If you look after them well, you should be fine to leave in about a week. We’ll show Natalie the exercises that you can do at home and you’ll go to rehab to use weights on the implant. It will help to get your bones strong and your muscles working.’
He showed me how to keep the wound clean. It would prevent any infection from going down into the bone.
‘My thighs looks so swollen.’
‘They will do, you’ve had major surgery,’ Natalie said.
‘The swelling will go down over the next few days,’ the doctor said, writing something on a clipboard. ‘I’m happy with what I’ve seen here. The nurse will put clean dressings on and we’ll go from there. I’ll be back tomorrow.’
He left us. I sat staring at what could be my only lifeline. I had researched normal prosthetic legs and had seen that the pressure on the socket would usually cause pain on the stump. I was glad that I would never have to experience that.
‘How does it feel?’ Natalie asked.
‘Will you stop asking me that?’ I snapped.
She moved away from me. Six months felt like a long time. I was bored already.
‘Sorry,’ I murmured, remembering that she was only trying to help.
‘I’m used to it,’ she said, looking down at her phone.
The nurse came in followed by Leo and Scorpio. ‘You have ten minutes. Then you have to leave,’ she announced.
‘Look at that!’ Leo said loudly, pointing at me.
‘That looks gross but fantastic at the same time,’ Scorpio said.
I shook my head as I smiled at my brothers. The nurse eyed up Scorpio. She was just his type. It wouldn’t be long until he noticed her.
‘How long will it take for him to heal, nurse?’ he asked, going over to her and standing close to her as she got the bandages ready.
I laughed. Leo smacked my back to shut me up. She was a couple of years older than us. Her cheeks blushed when Scorpio fluttered his eyelashes at her.
‘How do you feel?’ Leo asked.
I gritted my teeth at the repeated question and glanced at Natalie. She picked up her bag and put her coat on.
‘Natalie, don’t go yet,’ I called as she went to sneak out.
She turned and grinned at me. ‘You have company. I’ll be back in the next few days. I’ve got to get on with some things.’
My eyes narrowed on her. What things did she have to get on with?
‘Can you come here?’ I asked.
She came over, the smile leaving her face when she reached me.
‘Thank you for our talk.’ I reached out and pulled her to me. She almost stumbled but kept her feet.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked when I put my hand to the back of her head.
‘Making sure that you don’t forget me when you’re doing other things,’ I said, pulling her down to me and kissing her lips gently. I let her go and noticed that the others had stepped back. They stared at me. I smiled as Natalie tapped my arm and went bright red.
‘Aries!’ she said, before turning and leaving the room.
‘You marked your territory there, didn’t you?’ Leo clapped me on the back again.
‘Yeah, you could have just peed over her. That would warn off the competition,’ Scorpio said, making the nurse giggle.
I didn’t know whether to be pissed off or laugh along with them. My boys were there to try and cheer me up so I winked at the nurse instead.
‘Don’t be coming on to her now, Aries.’
Leo bent down in front of me to take a closer look at my new fashionable metal.
‘While you’re down there,’ I said, grinning at the nurse.
Leo clenched his hands. ‘While I’m down here, I’ll see whether the operation went well enough to withstand my strength!’
The nurse gasped when he pretended to hit out.
‘Don’t mess around near his implants!’ she berated.
‘They’re so immature, nurse, you don’t want to get involved with any of them,’ I said, winking when Scorpio glared at me over her shoulder.
‘He’s the worst, have you noticed?’ Scorpio asked.
She turned to look at him, flicking her hair as she did. I fought the urge to roll my eyes when she pushed Leo out of the way and started to apply new dressings.
‘Don’t you even dare,’ Scorpio said as I opened my mouth to repeat the joke.
He knew me too well. What was wrong with asking? She was conveniently close enough.
‘What…moi?’ I said, wiggling my eyebrows at Scorpio.
The nurse looked up and saw what I was doing. Tutting, she raised her eyebrows before dismissing me with a shake of her head.
‘What’s your name?’ she asked Scorpio.
I bit my tongue on the retort I was going to blurt out. Leo wasn’t so kind. ‘Craphead,’ he said, slapping Scorpio’s back.
‘Will you stop doing that?’ Scorpio said. ‘I’m Scorpio,’ he said to the nurse.
I had to laugh at the way he fluttered his eyelashes. He was just like a girl. The intelligent nurse was never going to—
‘Really? I like that a lot,’ she replied, licking her lips.
My mouth dropped open as Leo bent down to watch what she was doing.
I couldn’t resist teasing him. ‘I know you fancy me, Leo, but you’re not getting near my—’
‘Leo? Are you having me on now?’ the nurse said.
‘I don’t fancy you, Aries,’ Leo said, standing up, ‘you’re far too moody for me. I prefer my men wearing a smile.’
‘You’re not gay!’ the nurse exclaimed, her gaze tracing the tattoos on his arms. His broad shoulders shrugged and she shook her head. ‘Shame if you are. I was going to ask if you were both single. I have a friend—’
‘I’m not gay!’ Leo almost shouted.
She giggled and glanced over at Scorpio again. A heavy cloud fell over me as they made arrangements to meet up later that evening. She hadn’t even thought about asking me. Although I had made a show with Natalie, it still made me realise that nothing would ever be the same.
‘There you are. All done,’ she said, patting my thigh where the bandage finished and then gathering her things.
‘Thanks,’ I replied as she smiled up at Scorpio one last time.
‘It’s time for you to go,’ she said as she went out, ‘but I’ll forget to check for another ten minutes.’
‘Nice work.’ Leo high-fived Scorpio as I threw my covers over my thighs and leant against my pillow.
‘What’s up, mate? You’ve gone all sullen,’ Leo said, sitting on the end of the bed where my legs should have been.
‘I’m alright, just tired,’ I said, knowing that I sounded grouchy.
‘You will walk again soon. Then you can take Natalie clubbing,’ Leo said.
‘Yeah, or get down on one knee and propose,’ Scorpio said, putting his hand on my shoulder and squeezing.
I laughed and glanced out the window. The light was fading and so was my old life.
‘There is a more serious matter we need to discuss with you,’ Leo said.
My eyebrows lowered when I looked at him. When he was articulate it meant that something was up.
‘We ran into one of Nick’s men. Taurus, out of all people, managed to grab him. He’s currently tied up in the attic.’ Scorpio cracked his knuckles. I cringed at the sound. I did it myself, but when someone else did it, it grated on me.
‘Taurus actually did something other than smoke dope?’ I asked.
They both nodded. Scorpio reached forward and pressed the nurse call button. I took no notice of him; he always messed around with something.
‘Yes, the—’
‘Is there something wrong?’ the nurse asked, sticking her head in the door.
‘Yes, nurse. I needed to tell you that I can’t wait to see you later,’ Scorpio said.
She giggled as she left us to it. It was a typical Scorpio trick, and I had to admit, it worked well. He was going to get laid.
‘The bloke you caught. Has he said anything?’ I asked Leo.
He shook his head. ‘No. Cancer has been taking care of him. We’ve tried to interrogate him but he’s not saying anything. To be honest, mate, we think you’ll be good at it.’
My chest puffed out. He was right, I would be good at it. I believed in justice and would do anything to get it. My father had been kidnapped weeks ago. We still hadn’t found him. If I had been fit and well, we would have got him back by now.
‘I’ll do it when I’m home. Should be out in a week. Can we keep him that long?’ There was justice, and then there was being as bad as the enemy.
‘We have no choice. He’s the only lead we’ve got. Nick is a clever son of—’
‘Oh, and we’ve had to repaint the van,’ Scorpio butted in.
I frowned. I loved the van but the boys were right. The red made it obvious and easy to follow.
‘You can tell that we’re getting close to our mission, can’t you?’ Leo handed me a glass of water for no reason.
‘Yes. Do you think Natalie…?’ Scorpio’s sentence trailed off when I glared at him.
Leo fiddled with his bracelet. He might pretend to be a bad boy but I was sure he wanted to meet his soulmate. He had written love songs for years and always joked about being able to sing them to someone someday. I had never been interested in the whole mission. It seemed a bit fanciful to me. I wished that I hadn’t signed up to any of it.
‘I don’t know,’ I lied.
We had never been in that position before. We had spoken to the girls about it when we were young but we had never discussed it between us. It just wasn’t something that men did.
‘This heart to heart is very touching but we have a date to get ready for.’ Scorpio looked at Leo and gestured towards the door with his head.
They fist bumped me and left, slamming the door behind them. They had joked about me taking Natalie clubbing and proposing to her on one knee. Could I do that? Would I be able to bend down on one knee? I made a vow to myself as I heard my brothers shouting back down the corridor to the nurse. If Natalie was still around in six months’ time, and I was able to walk again…I would propose to her, by getting on my fake metal knee and presenting her with a ring.