Free Bound, An Arelia LaRue Novel #1 YA Paranormal Romance by Kira Saito

the lace
curtains bounced off his hair making it seem more sun-kissed than
it really was. His grey eyes looked almost unearthly as they peered
at me. For whatever reason, I couldn’t help but notice that Sabrina
was right about his chin, the cleft did make him more
appealing.
    “ I’m not slacking off,” I
argued.
    “ That’s what it looks like
you’re doing. Why are you in this fat kid’s room anyways? You have
some sort of crush on him or something?” Ivan strolled into the
room and made himself at home on the window ledge.
    “ Gross, no. He’s ten. I was
just making sure that he’s okay, not that it’s any of your
business.” Why did I have to explain myself to him
anyways?
    “ Yeah, that’s right you have
the hots for Lucus, don’t you?” He asked rather bluntly. You’re one
of those girls who likes that whole tall, dark, and tortured thing,
aren’t you?”
    “ Look, I don’t know who you
are or why you insist on constantly being a jerk, but leave me
alone.”
    “ Is that what you really
want?” He lit up a cigarette while taking off his tie. “Why can’t
we just be friends?” He pulled out a small bottle of vodka from his
pants. He had clearly stolen it from the kitchen. “Here, loosen up,
take a shot.” He held out the bottle and waved it in the
air.
    “ No thanks.” I flung my
hands in front of my face, refusing his ever-so-kind
offer.
    “ Oh, come on voodoo queen,
you think that one little drink will take your powers away?” Ivan
continued to insist. His eyes beamed as he waited to see my
reaction to being called a voodoo queen.
    “ What did you call me?” How
the hell did he know?
    “ I heard you talking mumbo
to some spirit before I walked in, so I figured that you must be a
voodoo queen.” He took another drag from his cigarette and another
shot of vodka.
    “ I don’t know what you
heard, but whatever it was I’m not a voodoo queen.”
    “ Sweet denial feels good,
doesn’t it?”
    “ I don’t know why I’m even
wasting my time standing here talking to you.” All of a sudden I
realized that I was throwing away precious sleep time arguing with
some random guy who insisted on continually making me feel like
crap. I left Ivan and walked down the hall. As I approached my
room, I heard a loud thump come from down the hall, and then the
sound of someone dragging something, afterwards silence. It sounded
as if it had come from Lucus’s room. I sprinted down the hall and
pounded on his door. What the hell were they doing in there? I half
expected no one to open the door, and was a little surprised when
Lucus actually did answer. However, I wasn’t surprised at the fact
that he was shirtless again and clad only in black pajama
bottoms.
    “ Arelia,” he smiled. His
eyes vividly danced, as if he were genuinely happy to see me.
“Would you like some cognac?” He held out a crystal glass with
brown liquid inside.
    “ I’m fine,” I made my tone
as icy as possible. I wanted him to know that I meant business.
“What did you do to Sabrina?”
    “ Why don’t you come in and
take a look for yourself?” Graciously, he moved to the side, so I
could enter the room.
    Immediately, the sound of Sabrina’s
epic snores greeted me. I walked over to the bed where a
kimono-clad Sabrina was drooling on a silk duvet. Relief flooded
over me. She was okay, not murdered or anything.
    “ She walked in and promptly
passed out. She also rolled off the bed a minute ago, so I
apologize if you were disturbed by any strange noises,” Lucus
explained. He intently examined the expression on my face trying
his best to read it.
    “ Oh, thank God. I
thought…”
    “ You thought what?” His eyes
focused on me daring me to say what I really thought.
    “ I thought…”
    “ You thought we were making
loud, passionate love?” He joked.
    “ What? No! Well maybe, or I
thought you had killed her, what guy says loud, passionate, love
anyways?” I did need a shot of whatever he was drinking after