Page 5 of My Dark Obsession

‘New Word-Novus Mundus’

Amaya

The giant’s jaw ticked constantly under his growing beard; his wide lips pressed into a firm line showing his irritation.

Was it me? Probably-I did tend to irritate people with my presence. I was told countless times not just by Lyal or that bitch social worker but by teachers, shopkeepers and even the good for nothing sheriff and his buddies. We all had a hate-hate relationship-they hated me, and I hated them.

So finding out I was in a supernatural world full of shifters and magical beings and then being told I was apparently not quite human myself, well it didn’t fill me with fear as it probably should.

I was used to being different. I was used to being the odd one out.

But was I different because I hadn’t actually belonged to that world?

I saved that one for later because the main thing swimming through my noisy mind right then was the fact he said we were Circle Mates?

Being as this was a world with animal shifters, I assumed he meant mates as in how animals mated?

Or like how in the books I snuck from the library, the shifters mated with their true lovers.

If that was what he meant, he was going to be disappointed.

Again, true love was a creation of someone’s imagination.

The giant cleared his throat as his red glowing eyes searched my face. Whenever I spoke, he focused on me with his entire being, never moving, always fully focused. That was a first for me.

“I’m no’ a hundred percent sure on tha’, but why? Why would ye’ want to go back so much when ye’ were obviously in a bad position there?” His deep voice rumbled through me, causing goosebumps to line my skin. I don’t think I had ever heard a voice so deep before.

I had never spoken with someone like this before now, not including the twins of course. But something about the red eyed shifter man took my usual calm control and stamped all over it. I wanted to yell, I wanted to scream, I wanted to grip that thick hair on his head and pull.

Damn it, focus.

“My foster brothers; they need me. I won’t leave them there. They are mine.”

It was always hard to hold in the possessive obsession I had for my boys when I spoke of them. I pictured their blond curly little heads pressed together in the small room we shared, curled up in the blanket I stole from the church donation.

My stomach churned with its familiar coldness. I had wasted so much time.

My breath quickened again, once more taking me into a panic I was not used to. Twice in the space of half an hour, I’d complain about how embarrassing that was, but I could only think of my boys.

I needed them. I needed them to breathe.

My vision wavered as I sucked mouthfuls of air into my newly healed lungs, but it wasn’t enough.

I couldn’t breathe.

The walls were closing in as the ground reached for me.

My heart hammered against my chest as the giant’s warm strong arms pulled me into his lap, his warmth wrapping around me as the smell of cake and firewood filled my nose.

“Breathe Mo Chridhe.”

His hands slowly ran up and down my arms as I sat on his thick thighs. He was so warm, so big, so strangely familiar. The vibration of his timber travelled through my tense muscles.

I had to get off.

I pushed to my feet and wiped my sweaty palms on my pants. Closing my eyes I steadied my breath and told myself to stop being so fucking weak.

“I have to get back.” I repeated.

“Amaya, as ye’re Mate I swear to ye’, I will help get ye’ back to the human realm and get ye’re boys. I will protect ye’. But I will no’ be leaving ye’re side. Whether ye’ decide to stay here or there.” He stood up before me and held his fist over his heart before bowing low.

Damn. Chivalrous.

“Why exactly can’t I just go back?”

“The portals, they’re all closed. Have been for years. Tha’s why I don’t know how ye’ got here. But I swear to ye’, I will get them boys to ye’”

Portals? Is that how I got here? I would have remembered coming through a portal, wouldn’t I? Who was I to argue. I mean once I had my boys, I definitely wouldn’t be staying with the giant that was for sure. But there was no denying I could have used the help in getting back.

“So what now?” I asked.

He nodded and walked to the small shelf where he pulled out a pen and thick cream paper.

“I will send word to my connection telling him to meet us tomorrow. We find out how ye’re here.” He scribbled on the paper before looking back at me “And what ye’ are.” Just before he rolled the paper up, I just about made out the words

Owe me, so meet at the portal.

Has to be discreet and no involvement of the council.

Why discreet? And who the hell was this council? He obviously didn’t trust them. The question was, did I trust him?

Taking the paper to his fireplace, he threw it in and whispered ‘Libera’. Instead of going up in flames as expected, it caught light then disappeared in a puff of red smoke.

Yep. Actual fucking magic.

I couldn’t help but ask, “so what are you? ”

“A dragon. The last of them. Soup?”

Seriously? A dragon? I followed him into a spacious kitchen and stood in the doorway watching as he heated a pan of what I assumed was soup over the stove.

Was he a dragon that actually shifted shape and flew in the sky with huge wings?

Or was he a dragon as in those cute wiggly bearded dragons?

The painting above the fireplace was an obvious sign but my mind couldn’t conjure up the image of this man shifting into a mystical beast. I wanted to ask but the smell of cooking food made my mouth water.

I watched on silently as my stomach cramped in hunger. It had been so long since I’d had warm food in my stomach. Any chance of food we had, I made sure my boys were fed first. They always pushed it away and practically force fed me back. They were as protective of me as I was with them.

I couldn’t sit in this warm apartment and fill my stomach with food whilst they were in that house with him. No doubt suffering.

The giant slid a huge bowl on the counter and looked at me pointedly.

“Sit. Eat. Then you can wash and sleep. We will find out everything tomorrow.” He then filled himself a bowl and waited.

I didn’t blink.

My eyes watered.

My mouth watered.

My stomach cramped.

Still, I didn’t move.

The silence stretched between us .

He sighed and rested his hands on the counter, hanging his head.

Yep, he was already fed up with me.

“It’s not poisoned.” He muttered.

Oops. That should have been my first thought, but no, I simply couldn’t eat knowing the twins would be going hungry.

They relied on me, trusted me. I promised them I would get them when Lyal was done and asleep and I hadn’t.

How long had I been gone? Two nights? Three? Was the time the same between realms?

My stomach growled loudly.

He sighed again before pointedly sipping from the spoon in my bowl. My eyes tracked the movement. “See, no’ poisoned.”

Sighing to myself in frustration I wiped my palms on my legs, the urge to grab the twin’s hands or to hold a book within my sweaty palms a nervous habit I now had no access to.

“It’s not that,” I told him, “I can’t eat when they aren’t.”

He nodded his head, eyes full of understanding as he walked to stand in front of me. Placing a warm finger under my chin he lifted my face, his eyes searching mine.

I should have pulled away, told him not to touch me. Told him I didn’t like to be touched. But I didn’t. Instead I stared into his glowing red eyes and almost sighed at his warmth.

Something was definitely wrong with me.

“If ye’ need to find a way back to these boys, then ye’ need ye’re strength.

So eat. Wash. Sleep. Then we will find a way to them.

” He was right; he was obviously right. I would need strength to get them and run, I would need my strength for when I smashed that pole over Lyal’s head, and I would certainly need it for when I slit his throat.

I sat at the round table by the kitchen window as he brought our bowls over and squeezed himself in the chair opposite me, his legs so large and cramped under the table his knees knocked into mine. The soup smelled of cream and tomatoes. My mouth salivated.

I sipped from the spoon and tried my hardest not to slam my face into it and rub the soup into my skin to get it in me faster.

I was so hungry.

“When did ye’ last eat Wee one?” There it was again, that tick tick at his jaw line.

I shrugged and slowly sipped more, trying hard not to create loud obnoxious slurping noises.

I’d seen someone dip a crispy, perfectly grilled cheese into this type of soup before.

The twins and I had had our faces smushed up against the glass of the diner, mouths watering at the sight.

I promised them we would try it one day.

Before I knew it my bowl was empty, and my stomach was now so full it could have popped. Looking out the window I couldn’t see much. The dark night was clouded and not one streetlight was in sight. The bright cherry of a cigarette glowed as it was lifted to the invisible owner’s mouth.

“Where ye’re from, ye’ didn’t get a chance to eat much?” The giant—Rí-I should start calling him Rí-said.

I nodded, “Not really; what little food we got I gave to them. I have to get back.”

“Ye’ will.” He growled, “I’ll make sure of it.”

** *

I had never been so clean, the term ‘squeaky clean’ was an actual thing. Who would have thought? Rí’s shower was amazing. The hot water never ran out and the shampoo smelled of him, like warm freshly baked cake.

I used half a bottle.

Rolling up the work out shorts he had given me; I tied the waistband with a hair tie I found in one of his bathroom drawers. Before I had swiped it, I had stared at it with gritted teeth at the thought of another female being around all of his things, being around him.

Mentally slapping myself for being stupid, I finished tying the shorts and ran my hands through my freshly washed hair.

The long silken strands slid along my back and ended at the curve of my butt.

I couldn’t even remember it looking this nice before.

I had taken the kitchen scissors to it when it had gotten too knotty and tangled but it had always grown back unusually fast.

I wiped the steam from the mirror then yelled, “the fuck?”

Because why the hell were my eyes purple? Leaning in to get a closer look, I could clearly see the brown receding.

How many more surprises could I mentally take before I snapped? What would snapping entail? Would I actually give in and act upon my fantasies? Would that be such a bad thing?

I held my breath as I rose to my tip toes, turned around and twisted to see my lower back .

There it was, that godforsaken mark he kept rambling about, the very thing that had been causing the insistent itching all night long.

Four rope-like shapes twisted and wound around each other before linking at the top where a purple swirling link joined them all together.

Each rope glided along my skin, searching for something.

One rope contained a red glow, standing out against the others.

Rí’s mark. I didn’t know how I knew that I just… knew.

Fuck.

The black mist floated in the corner of my eye, taunting me and the mark as if this was some kind of joke.

Adjusting the too big shorts, I looked at my pale bare legs and sighed, Circle Mates, new worlds, magic and the assumption that I wasn’t human. Great.

I rushed to the living area to question the giant about my eyes but I saw Rí sat patiently waiting.

I should have felt bad that he slept there the entire night giving me his huge cloud bed.

But I didn’t. The bed was amazing. Not that I slept, because thoughts of Elfyn and Elyas swam through my noisy head constantly.

My stomach gave its usual cold churn. Too many hours had passed without them.

“Mo Chridhe..” Rí looked in awe. He ran his gaze across my face before sliding it down my body, creating a heat withing my core that almost chased away the cold churning. Almost.

“What is Mo Chridhe?” I tried to pronounce it with the roll in the ‘r’ as he did, but I knew I butchered it. It hadn’t been the first time he called me it. I then remembered why I left the bathroom.

“My eyes— ”

“Are changing colour; we will find out why. Until we know why, it’s best ye’ avoid looking at anyone directly.” Right, of course. Show them nothing, give them nothing and expect nothing. No change there.

“My heart.” Bright red eyes racked me as I shoved my feet into the scuffed-up converse. I actually hated how much they were going to ruin the thick white socks Rí had given me.

“It means my heart.” He cleared his throat and ran his hands through his already messy, thick hair.

“Come, we have someone to meet. He’s going to help us,” he rumbled as we trailed out of his living area and down the darkened stairs. Silence greeted us as he held the swinging doors open for me.

The bar was empty, only dimly lit by the scattered lamps and candles on each small table. The smell of strong liquor tickled my nose.

The dark wooden bar and matching tables were aged with well use.

The dripping wax of the candles had slid and settled within the grooves on the tables and each wall was lined with pictures of various animals and groups of people.

Each one as different as the next. Notes of love and signatures were pinned beneath each one.

A memorial wall.

I trailed my hand down a picture of a man holding something bundled up in his arms, the ear poking through the blanket was a sign it was a puppy of some sort…or a shifter. The note read, ‘My darling link, forever tied together’.

There was so many of them, so many notes of love, some stained and smudged as if tears had dripped onto the drying ink .

“The fallen. From the war.” His deep timber sent shivers down my back; he stood so close behind me, I could feel the warmth seeping into my back. A tingle spread down my neck as he ran his nose along the length of it, inhaling before he shuddered, and his chest made an odd vibrating click.

Was he purring?

Did bearded dragons purr?

Was I fooling myself by assuming that was what he was?

Pulling away, I pretended it didn’t happen; the giant didn’t need to know how much he affected me.

Clearing his throat he shoved his hand in his pants pockets and pulled out a key. Unlocking the large, black, wooden doors, he pulled them open and let the humid air and grey light in from the street.