ARIA
Hunter looks at me and then at the warlock next to me. I can practically hear how his teeth screech. And I don’t have any idea why I feel so uncomfortable under his gaze.
“Can you pass me some salad, Aria,” Lex asks, gently putting his hand on my bare shoulder and I could swear I hear a growl!
“Of course,” I smile and do as he asks, holding the bowl while he helps himself and then putting it back.
“What brings you here?’ my Dad asks in a stern voice, he doesn’t like our family time disturbed.
“Apologies,” Hunter’s father, Alpha Dickon Forrester smiles broadly, “I had no idea you have already started to celebrate. We’ve brought Aria’s present as it would be too crowded tomorrow to…”
“Is that an elephant?” Dad interrupts him, “Honestly, Forrester, we were having a very rare family dinner.”
“I am sorry again, my King, I had no idea,” the Alpha bows his head in respect, “We’ll just leave and…”
“Don’t be silly,” Mum smiles. In their pair with my Dad, she is the good cop, “Dickon, you and Hunter are welcome to join us! We have plenty of food and…”
“Stella,” my Dad takes a deep breath.
“Xavier?” Mum raises a brow and we all know who is going to win this very short debate.
“Join us, Forrester and Forrester junior,” uncle Connor chuckles, “After all, we are celebrating two great events here. Not only it’s Pumpkin’s birthday in a few hours, but also I have a family reunion today with my son!”
“Excuse me,” Lex stand up, his chair moved with a horrible screeching sound, “I think I am full of this… wonderful dinner. Thank you, Stella!”
He leaves abruptly and mum smiles weakly, “Of course, my dear! I understand…”
I look at her and see how sad she is that dinner didn’t go as planned. I think she is genuinely concerned for Lex and uncle Connor. The latter tries to leave the table as well, but she grabs him by his hand and shakes her hand, making him stay.
“Don’t stand, Forrester, sit!” my Dad commands, and in less than a second Hunter is in Lex’s seat right next to me, maids changing the plates and cutlery for him as he smirks at me.
“Have you no shame?” I roll my eyes.
“I’ve been invited,” he snorts.
“That was practically begging,” I say and see his eyes flash golden for a second, meaning that his wolf doesn’t like what I say and is very near the surface.
“The means don’t matter, the result does,” he gets himself a huge stake and then another and starts gobbling it.
The conversation at the table goes somewhere else and I don’t pay attention to it anymore. To be honest, with Hunter next to me, I feel like the evening was ruined already. And it’s getting incredibly hot in here.
“So, what does your dad really want?” I ask nonchalantly while all the “adults” are too busy to hear us.
“To congratulate the princess,” the werewolf smirks.
“Uh-huh,” I roll my eyes, “Tell that to someone else. I know far too well what you and your dad think of me.”
He coughs a few times as if he almost choked on that meat and then looks at me with some kind of a weird expression I’ve never seen before.
“He…”
“What is it, Hunter? Does he want money, warriors, land? To ask for my sister’s hand in marriage for you again?”
Yeah, about a year ago they were proposing to my then 8-year-old sister. That’s kind of how her crush on Hunter started because she imagined that they are a bride and a groom already. And it kind of went South from there… Dad was furious for so many reasons. Not only Sienna was too young, but our family also had me, the princess of the perfect age. And yet the future Alpha of one of the biggest pack chose to propose to a child, ignoring me completely. And we all knew why.
“Please, don’t remind me,” he groans and I chuckle. But stop when notice his intense gaze on me. This wolf is definitely up to something today.
“So, what is it?” I get down to business.
“Land,” he admits lazily.
“Good luck with that!” I snort, “All land that was disposable already went to packs that really earned that!”
“You think I don’t know that?” he sighs.
“You are here, aren’t you?” I point out.
“That’s not why I am here,” he says way too quickly, looking at me again, and the atmosphere between us changes somehow.
“That’s very low of you,” I say, wiping my lips with a napkin, “Don’t you torture me enough at school? Couldn’t you leave me be at least on my freaking birthday?!”
“I don’t think I ever would be able to leave you alone,” he mutters and places his hand on my thigh, “And maybe I have some great birthday present for you! But maybe you can pass ME some salad first?”
“Shove it up your ass, Hunter! The salad and the present!” I grit through my teeth and stand up now addressing everyone else, “I feel a bad headache and I am a bit tired! Let’s wrap this up for today! We have a party tomorrow anyway.”
“Are you sure?” mum looks disappointed, she hates when business gets mixed with pleasure as she is always torn between the two as the mother and as the Queen.
“Yeah, sorry! It’s been lovely though!”
I escape the dining hall fast and go to my room. However, I don’t feel like going to sleep in spite of everything. Something agitates me, excites me from within. I leave the house and go to my most favourite place – the rose garden.
It is a true masterpiece. Hundreds of beautiful roses are growing over a dome-like construction made out of metal and glass. It’s warm now, so it is open most of the time. This is also the place where my parents got married. And this is where I come when I need some peace like today.
The smell in here is divine and I come up to the huge stone table right in the middle. During summer we have our meals here. And this is the best place to see the stars.
“Is the dinner over?” Lex appears out of a dark corner and I notice a small spark right next to his mouth and in a few seconds smoke spreads all around him.
“Are you smoking?” my jaw drops to the floor.
“Tsss,” he puts a finger to his mouth, “It’s going to be our little secret, Aria!”
“Whatever!” I roll my eyes.
“You are in bad mood,” he states looking at me, “Is that because of that wolf kid?”
“I hoped not to see him at least for one day,” I admit, “I have enough of him and his friends at school.”
“And I guess they are all invited to your birthday party,” Lex chuckles letting out another strand of smoke.
“You guessed right,” I admit and get onto the table.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asks me, a bit startled.
“Watching the stars!” I say the truth, lying down so that my face is in the centre of the table. Then, I can see the opened top of the dome… I can see the stars shining brightly above our heads.
“Stars,” he repeats after me, “It’s been a while since I’ve been just watching stars.”
“You can join me if you like,” I chuckle, “It’s the best and most comfortable view.”
He destroys his cigarette and gets to the table from the opposite side. When he lies down, his head is right next to mine, although our bodies lie in different directions. We don’t look at each other, just watching the universe above us.
“Do you want to know a secret?” Lex tells me suddenly.
“You want to share what you were smoking just now?” I snort, “Because this was neither tobacco nor weed!”
“I think your magic may come to you today,” he informs me and I bite whatever I was going to say next.
“Why?” I ask.
“The abnormalities in your aura I’ve noticed before,” he says, “There are more of them now. Something is coming.”
“Well, I guess we are going to find that out in,” I lift up my phone and check the time, “Twenty-five minutes!”
“I guess so,” he exhales heavily.
We continue lying like this the whole time. Until I hear a quiet beeping noise from somewhere in his jacket.
“It’s midnight,” he informs me and turns his head to look at me.
“Uh-huh,” I sigh doing the same. His eyes are a very beautiful shade of green…
“Aria,” he whispers, his lips so close to mine. His eyes on my own lips. Is he going to kiss me? Is he?
“Yes?”
“Do you feel any changes?” he asks and I want to laugh in his face, but instead I lift myself up and stand to my feet.
“No, Lex”, I say honestly, “Nothing.”
He sits on the table, not taking his eyes off me. Then he jumps off and comes to me, giving me a hug.
“We have a whole day ahead of us,” he says, “It will probably happen a bit later…”
“Yeah, probably,” I lie, putting my head onto his chest…
Aksara