Page 5 of Fated
“Ah…well…that’s a bit complicated,” I hedged, because interacting with my hallucination was one thing, but admitting to it that I was dying from obsessive love over it was another thing entirely.
“Can all of your people do this?” Areth asked.
“Um.” I’d lost my train of thought because my gaze had gotten trapped by his man boobs. His blue skin was glowing in the moonlight, and the leather axe harness crisscrossing his perfect chest was making my brain go all funny.
Hey, don’t judge me. If you were there, you’d be struck just as stupid, I guarantee it.
“Are you okay, little one?” Areth dropped the flower and used a claw-tipped finger to lift my chin to face him. Even crouched down, he was taller than me.
Had it gotten hot out all of a sudden?
“Yeah, I’m great, everything’s great. Just chesty—peachy! I mean peachy.”
“Your temperature has raised alarmingly.”
Well, shit. I’d forgotten Areth had heat vision, which meant he had a front-row seat for me going into heat over him. Wonderful.
This was a hallucination though, right? It had fucking better be, or I was going to die of embarrassment long before the Hanahaki took me out.
I coughed a couple of flowers right into Areth’s hand.
“That does not seem healthy.” He removed his claw from my chin to examine the flowers I’d so thoughtfully given him. He peered at them with a less-than-grateful attitude.
Some people just don’t know how to accept gifts.
“It’s not particularly, no.”
“Then why do you do it?”
“It’s great fun. You should try it,” I said in my snottiest tone. It wasn’t like I had control over how wonderful he was.Otherwise, I wouldn’t be standing in a field talking to my imaginary crush while I hacked up enough flowers to open a flower shop. Then, because I couldn’t stop myself, I reached out and poked him right in the boob. “These are pretty nice. My imagination is killing it tonight.”
Areth gave a deep, rumbling laugh that showed off his forked, dragon-esque tongue. I nearly swooned. “I am not part of your imagination, little one. But it is nice to see that you are not completely lacking in all survival skills. Merely insane.”
“Huh?” Even my own mind thought I was losing it and had decided to call me out on it in the middle of a field. Excellent.
“Your dog had enough sense to panic when she first saw me, but all you did was smile and offer me flowers.” He glanced at his chest. The one I was still poking. At this point, it could probably be considered a caress by a casual onlooker.
I snatched my hand back.
“None of that matters if you aren’t real,” I said stubbornly.
“I am very real.” Areth stood to his full height and fanned his wings hard enough to blow me back a step. Mitzy loved it. I could tell, because instead of running back to our house, she ran around Areth’s feet in circles using her happy bark. If she could talk, Mitzy would probably be asking him to give her a ride.
“Wait your turn, Mitzy,” I whispered. “I’m the oldest, so I get dibs on any and all rides.”
“Can she talk? And what are ‘dibs’?”
“Ancient Earth custom—it’s difficult to explain. And as far as I know, Mitzy can’t talk, but her barks are pretty expressive, so we get by.”
“You are still not running, small human. Why is that?”
“Why, were you planning to chase me?” I could probably muster up a good run if that were the case. I’d probably burst into a cloud of flowers afterward, but I’d consider it a life well spent.
Areth laughed. It was a great booming sound that caused several bats to dart out from nearby trees and zoom around in confusion. “No, I am only here to look for something. Once I find it, I will return home. There should be no need to chase anyone.”
“What were you looking for?” I asked as a litany of Please say me, please say me rang out through my soul.
Areth gave me a broad smile before saying, “You should be less trusting, little one. It would be very easy to kill you. You, ah…did notice how much bigger I am than you, right? Plus, all the—” Areth gestured to his claws, fangs, and the other built-in weapons he had on his body.
