The Devil's Warrior Queen
Chapter 404: Fear

Chapter 404: Fear

Ari froze on her seat as he spoke. It seemed as if she had been slapped in the face with shock. She wasn’t expecting the words or perhaps, his confession.

She had always been torn between the strange sensations she felt for Vlad and their undying friendship. Ari had always thought it was safer to conceal her feelings rather than reveal it, at least it was for her.

She had believed it was best to suffice whatever feelings was growing within her for Vlad. Ari didn’t want it to bloom into something significant, as she believed he would find his mate one day and leave her to her fragile and pathetic emotions, not to forget, heart broken.

She would rather not be in that side of the card, sulking over a man she could not have, so she kept her thoughts to herself as well as the butterflies in her stomach.

Ari as well, was not in the slightest oblivious to Vlad’s feelings towards her. It had been a palpable energy emanating from him every time.

When he thought she wasn’t looking or she didn’t notice, she did but she ignored. His sneaky glances, the admiration in his eyes and the way they would gleam with unsaid words. She ignored it all, cause it was best for her and best for him.

Not to mention, she was well aware that demons could portray feelings for random people even though they were not their mate, until after their eighteenth birthday. The feelings would die down and a gaping void would fill their soul as they await their true mate.

She reasoned that while she harboured harmless feelings for him, that could be the case for Vlad as well. There was a good possibility that she wasn’t his true mate and after his eighteenth birthday, the universe would snap him out of the fallacy and he would come to realise that.

The thought of him losing feelings for her didn’t make her feel any sense of ease but rather discomfort as her skin crawled with dread.

But to save herself from the clutches of heartbreak, she had to do the inevitable, that which she could not avoid. She had to snap herself out of her delusions and back to reality, even though it would brutally suck.

"I’m not your mate, Vlad." Ari whispered softly to him, as if it would make him better understand.

As she spoke, Vlad’s brows raised up in confusion. "What makes you think that?" He asked in uncertainty, inwardly dreading the fact that she harboured no feelings for him.

"We won’t really know until your eighteenth birthday. There’s a good chance that I’m not your mate, just a fleeting infatuation, nothing more." Ari pointed out, forcing a smile on her lips, but it couldn’t diminish the sadness in her eyes.

"It’s not a fleeting infatuation, Ari and I don’t need to wait until my eighteenth birthday to know who my mate is or isn’t. I know it’s you." Vlad stated firmly as his jaws clenched.

Ari’s lips pursed as she sighed. She wanted to be on the logical side of reasoning to avoid getting hurt, because if she enjoyed the pleasure of being in his arms for only a few moments and then, one day he woke up to realize that it was all a lie, and his feelings had suddenly faded because she was not the one, her heart would be crushed.

"I’m only trying to be reasonable here, V. If it doesn’t turn out to be, I’ll be the only one getting hurt and then I’ll hate you for it." She spouted out in a serious demeanor, her voice suddenly turned firm and subtle.

Ari was just trying to shield her heart from the agony of heartbreak. She knew just how dangerous it could be if one’s emotions controlled their actions. It would be detrimental and knowing how powerful she was, it would be chaos.

A thought suddenly fleeted through her head and for a moment, she realized that anyone could be the cause of the death prophecy she had been having, most including her.

"No, let’s end this here. If you’re right then good, but if not, then it would have been a sort of way to prevent a lot of bad things from transpiring." Ari suddenly blurted out.

"I’m very certain, Ari. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt before, it’s unexplainable." Vlad said in surety, his eyes pleading for her to believe him.

"Don’t. Give me hope. Hope is destructive and disappointing. Hope is why my mother suffers silently everyday for the past seventeen years, I don’t want to end up like that either." Ari uttered with a finality and with that said, she sprouted up on her feet and looked away.

Vlad rose after her "It’s far beyond hope, you are only pushing it aside because of your fear." Vlad remarked.

Ari suddenly blurted out with tears filling the brim of her purple eyes, making it glisten in an ethereal manner. "My fear is very much justified. I fear that history might repeat itself again and it will be even much worse than anticipated. I fear that my death prophecy claims the lives of people I love and it will, because it’s a fucking prophecy and I have no idea what to do about it. I fear for a lot of things and..."

But before she could continue, Vlad interrupted as he cupped her face in his big hands. In the next, unprecedented moment, he leaned forward and he slammed his lips on hers, shutting her up.

As he leaned in, their mouths met in a fervent kiss, leaving her frozen and succumbing to his touch.

Ari’s big eyes shone widely at his unexpected action. The tear drop at the brim of her eyes fell as he kissed her. Even though her mind tried to pull away, her body did not conform to the order, rather it acted on its own accord as she pressed her soft lips into his luscious ones.

Her body melted into his arms as she kissed him back, pushing her lips into his. It was unlike what she had expected her first kiss to be, perhaps she didn’t think about it much, but now that it was happening, she didn’t want him to stop.

She could feel his breath fan across her reddened cheeks as he kissed her. The feel of his warm lips meshed with hers made her body relax limply in his.

Ari suddenly felt his arm crawl slowly around her small waist as he pulled her closer to himself, pressing her body against his large frame. Her hand trembled slightly as she placed it on his chest for support. Even with his thick clothing, she could feel the hardness of his muscles as they rippled underneath it and the heat emanating from his body.

Her hands suddenly coiled around his broad shoulders and she let her intrusive thought win as she buried her fingers into his lustrous, white hair., something she had always wanted to do.

A soft groan bellowed from deep within his throat in pleasure and his kisses hardened. He parted her lips open and invaded the warm inside of her mouth as their tongues entwined rhythmically.

He sucked and licked till she was out of breath, but even then, Ari did not want to stop kissing him. His kisses made her melt like rubber on high heat. A pleasing sensation streamed through her veins as she felt a warmness pool at her lower region.

His mouth was a tantalizing inferno and as their tongues entwined, it was as if her body was consumed by the flames of desires.

Finally, Ari reluctantly pulled away from the kiss as she was utterly breathless. She needed to catch her breath for a second, but as she stared into his desire filled gaze, they were like twin orbs swirling with passion, pulling her into an inescapable gravity.

Their erratic breathing echoed softly as they pulled away and for a moment, Ari thought of what had just transpired, as she snapped out of the reeling moment.

"We shouldn’t..." Ari trailed off in a smattering whisper as she backed away.

"I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have taken you unaware but in my defense, you kissed me back." Vlad pointed out with a smirk.

Ari’s lashes fluttered in embarrassment as her face reddened "It was unexpected and it’s not right." She muttered under her breath, uncertain of her own words.

"It felt right, didn’t it?" Vlad said.

"It did." For a moment, her heart took the lead as she blurted out with a tiny smile, but then she immediately snapped out of it.

"I mean, it did, but still, it doesn’t make it right, does it? We should be more realistic." Ari said immediately. She knew she was losing her willpower, getting swept over her feet by his undeniable charms, but she had to wake up.

Before they could utter another word, a voice rang in the vicinity. "What a beautiful couple, you both make me envious." Ares said with a straight face and their heads snapped toward his direction.