Chance: An Action & Adventure Romance Novel (Sacrifice) (5 page)

Angelo chuckles and shakes his head in disbelief. “Already? Fuck, let her get in the goddamn door first man.”

Aiden can feel his face starting to heat but he gets it under control by inwardly cursing how good at reading people Angelo is. “Shut the hell up, she’s attractive, what can I say?”

Angelo slides out of the booth and heads towards the door yelling back to Aiden. “This one is all yours.  She’s got trouble written all over her.”

Aiden watches as the door swings closed while he unhooks his chest harness and drops it on the table. Glancing around the kitchen he realizes he should probably eat something. Rising to his feet, Aiden walks over to the refrigerator and pulls out a leftover container of spaghetti. As the door begins to close, Aiden jumps back in surprise. “Fucking hell! I hate when you do that!” he yells.

There’s a low rumbling chuckle just before the man speaks. “Perhaps this is why I do it.”

Aiden shakes his head in irritation and pops the container into the microwave.

Damiano leans against the island in the kitchen and crosses his arms over his chest, which is something Aiden has noticed he does all the time. He doesn’t speak much, he just seems to take in everything that’s going on around him, at least when his eyes are open. Aiden had no clue what was going on is his head when his eyes were closed, but he wasn’t about to ask either.  He knew better.  Damiano didn’t talk about himself, ever.

“
Your mind walks fruitless paths.”

Aiden grits his teeth at Damiano's words. He hates that he can get into his head with such ease. “Hey, stay outta my head man. What do you want anyway?”

Damiano arches his back as if he’s stretching slightly and pins Aiden with a stern look. “This is beyond your means.”

Aiden's brow furrows in confusion. “Huh? What is beyond my means?” The microwave beeps and he takes his food out. He takes a fork out of the drawer and sticks it into his food before turning back to Damiano. Only when he turned around there was no Damiano, he was alone.

After Aiden finishes eating he puts his dishes in the dishwasher and heads towards his room. He notices as he’s walking down the hall that all the doors are closed except for his, but he can hear the TV in the living room on. When he enters the living room the first thing he notices is that every light is on, which he finds a little odd.  There is a horror movie on the television, something about a house in upstate New York that’s haunted. There in the center of the couch, curled into a protective ball, Dora is watching the movie through her fingers.

Aiden feels a sharp pain shoot through his chest and it takes everything in him to not physically react to it. Right now his focus is on the terrified beauty on the couch. “You want me to turn it off?” Dora nearly jumps out of her skin when Aiden speaks. He didn’t consider the fact that she had no idea he was there, and now he just feels like an ass. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Dora nods her head and settles back onto the couch. “No, I’m quite alright. I’ve never seen a movie like this before.  I suppose I should have picked a… nicer one.”

Aiden smiles and slowly walks over and sits down at the opposite end of the couch. He can’t help but be curious about her, beauty aside. Her comment has him wondering how long she’d been locked up. “Can I ask you something?”

Dora glances from the TV over to Aiden and simply nods her head once, but her gorgeous blue eyes never leave his.

“How long were you with the Sapient?”

Dora pulls her bottom lip between her teeth and her eyes fall to the floor, obviously in deep thought. “Truthfully, I’m not exactly sure. I can tell you that I was young when my parents died and the next thing I knew, I was with those people.”

Aiden manages to keep his facial expression blank when all he really wants to do is look disgusted. “I take it they didn’t let you watch a lot of TV.”

Dora shrugs her shoulders as if it’s no big deal. “They gave me some books and magazines sometimes but otherwise I was never allowed to leave my room.”

Before Aiden can even stop himself he blurts out, “Why?” And to his even bigger surprise she doesn’t hesitate in answering.

“Because I’m dangerous,” Dora says.

Part of Aiden wanted to burst out laughing at her ridiculous statement but the other half was floored by how serious she looked. Regardless of the truth, she genuinely believed she was dangerous.

“Why are you dangerous darlin'?”

Her face lightens at the endearment and for a moment she looks very pleased. “Do you know the story of Pandora?”

Aiden smiles and nods his head. “Of course I do, Pandora was given a box that held the world’s evils and due to her curiosity she opened it to see what was inside, unknowingly releasing true evil into the world.”

Dora sits silently for a moment, her eyes on him, but her mind was far away. “I’m named after her, but it’s different. I know the evil I unleash.”

Aiden finds himself at a loss for words.  She sounded a lot like Maddy, his sister. Her abilities were simple, she had extremely heightened senses. She could see better and farther than the average Elioud and her reflexes and hearing were off the charts. Maddy didn’t see her abilities as a good thing, she rationalized it by saying the only thing she could do with her abilities was hurt people. That wasn’t very long before she disappeared.

“
Dora, no matter what your abilities are you are not evil. I’ve just met you and I can tell that about you.” She gives him a faint smile and stares back at the TV. They sit in silence for a while until something happens in the movie and Dora jumps scooting closer to Aiden. He wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not, but he wasn’t going to stop her. Aiden extends his arm out, giving her an open invitation to come sit near him. “You can sit with me if you’re scared.  I don’t mind.”

Evidently she didn’t have to be asked twice. Dora launches herself at Aiden and tucks herself beneath his arm against his ribs. The first thing Aiden notices is her scent.  She smells like strawberries.  He knows that the shampoo Liza bought for her was strawberry scented but right now he doesn’t care that it came from a bottle. On her it smells amazing and with her body pressed to his he is in heaven. Not wanting to freak her out or cross any boundaries, Aiden rests his arm on the back of the couch and settles back into it watching the movie with her.

The movie was distracting enough to keep his mind out of the gutter. He really couldn’t help it.  There was something about this woman that just made his blood boil. Any man in his right mind would look at her and want to keep looking at her because she is simply beautiful. She fell a few inches shorter than his six-one and her frame was thin, not malnourished thin but perfectly so. The black hair that fell around her shoulders was the perfect contrast of colors with her pale complexion and cobalt-blue eyes.

Dora lets out a soft sigh causing Aiden to leave his thoughts and glance down at her.  To his immense satisfaction he sees that she is asleep. He knows he should really pick her up and take her into her room, but she looks happy.  Who was he to take that from her? Shifting lower so that he could sprawl out a bit he settles back into the couch and wraps the arm that was on the back of the couch around her sleeping form. She snuggles further into him and Aiden tilts his head to look at her face. She looks so peaceful, not worried and sad like she did before.

The protective instincts in him were going insane. Aiden knows he doesn’t have the right being as he barely knows her, but to her sleeping face and to the heavens above he makes a vow. “I don't know what happened to you but you don’t have to be afraid anymore, I’ll protect you.”

In the dark hallway Damiano stands silently watching Aiden and Dora. Once their breathing evens out and he knows they are both asleep he walks into the room. He looks down at their sleeping forms and narrows his eyes, trying to interpret the thoughts that are coursing through his mind. He isn’t surprised to discover that they are both dreaming of each other. Damiano always hated the song and dance that went with courting. He never understood how two that were so meant for each other could be so oblivious to it.

He would leave them to their peace for now.  They were going to need it.

Chapter Five

Bang! Bang! Two gun shots rip a young boy from his dreams. His eyes snap open as he stares into the darkness of his room. There's a rustling near his bedroom door just before it slowly creaks open and a small form slowly closes it behind its self. Moments later the small form reaches the boy and with great relief the boy embraces his sister. “Maddy, what's going on?” the boy whispers to his sister who looks just as afraid as he is.

“We just have to stay together and stay quiet Aiden.  Everything will be alright.” The two young children sit silently staring at the closed door through the darkness, both praying it will and will not open. They both want their parents to burst through the door but deep down they already know if it does, it will not be their parents.

“Maddy, I'm scared.”

The young girl holds him tight to her chest and whispers, “Me too.”

Aiden's eyes snap open and he stares at the empty living room before him. He hated having that dream even though it didn't come to him every night. When it did come, it left him missing his sister and reawakening the questions that linger about his parents’ death. There was no question who committed the crime.  The Sapient had been after his family for years. Not because they were Elioud but even before they had been part of The Order. But that didn't explain how they were found. His family was under the protection of The Order.  It was almost unheard of for those hidden to be found. Almost.

A light tapping sound draws his attention from these thoughts to where the sound is drifting from down the hall. Aiden moves down the hall making a small mental note that Dora must have gone to bed since her door is closed. But once he reaches the end of the hall he sees that the sound is Angelo tapping away on his computers keyboard. He leans against the door frame and checks his phone for the time.

“
The fuck you doing on that thing at three in the morning?”

Angelo visibly jerks but when he sees that it's Aiden he simply turns back to the computer and continues what he was doing. “Just a little pet project of mine.” Angelo and Aiden have been close since the day Angelo was brought to the compound. And this was mainly because Aiden barely managed to best Angelo. It only happened once, but that was all it took for Aiden to earn his respect.

When Angelo arrived his abilities were completely out of control, or more to the point, out of Angelo's control. There was no doubt that he would be an asset to their team but first they needed to get his shit sorted. Takeo wanted to sedate him and be done with it but Aiden had a feeling it was going to take more than that. The moment Angelo walked into the training facility he immediately started running his mouth. “So lemme see if I got this shit straight... I'm here to be trained by a pussy and a giant? Fuck this noise...” Angelo didn't get to finish because as he turned to stomp off a gust of wind hit him so hard in his back, that it sent him on his face and sliding across the padded mats underneath them.

Once he gained his feet it was clear to see that Angelo was officially slipping into what was referred to as “Rampage”. His eyes were darker and more intense than they had previously been and his body was totally locked, awaiting the next assault. Aiden wasn't a huge shit talker but he had a feeling that Angelo would respond better to that, so he gave it a try.

“This pussy just put you on your face.”
When Aiden was finished speaking, he watched with avid attention as a sinister smile spread across Angelo's face. He looked, for lack of better phrasing, fucking scary. “You got one on me, but that'll be the last.” And with that he pulled a sword of sorts out of a sheath attached to his hip and charged. Aiden did not move. He stood his ground and even mentally noted the distinctive luminous blue engravings that covered the entirety of the blade. Just as the blade was to connect with Aiden's chest, a gust of wind propels him up and over landing on his feet behind Angelo in a crouched position low to the ground.

Angelo growled and spun to face Aiden just as he is hit by a much more powerful gust of wind that lifts him off his feet and slams him into the stone wall of the compound. A low chuckle sounds through the room and Aiden smiles to himself knowing Takeo is enjoying the show. Despite his best efforts, Angelo quickly realizes that he is in fact pinned to the wall by the force of the wind. Aiden's hands are outstretched in front of him making it obvious what is controlling the wind.

“
Your rage makes you sloppy. I'm unarmed.  There's no reason that blade didn't meet my flesh aside from your arrogance. Get your shit together and we'll talk about you joining us.”

The wind is suddenly gone causing Angelo to stumble forward a step before watching both Aiden and Takeo walk out of the training facility. There was never any talk about that day between them, but every chance Angelo gets he's in the training facility. Aiden tilts his head trying to catch a glimpse of Angelo's screen without making it obvious but quickly realizes it's pointless. “What kind of project?”

Angelo lets out a sigh and scrubs a hand over his face.  Sitting back in his chair his eyes connect with Aiden's and he shrugs. “I've been looking for an Elioud that's eluded us for years. Got word that she's meant to be on our team but I can't find this bitch. She's like vapor. No records anywhere and we only have an alias to even go off of.”