Chapter 5

Sarah woke up feeling energized and rested like never before. She stretched her hands above her head and rolled to her side. Deciding she was feeling way too comfortable to get up immediately no matter what waited for her outside and what she had previously planned, Sarah opted to stay in bed for a little longer.

What was it she planned to do today? she wondered. Hm… what was it she did yesterday? For a moment she couldn’t remember but then it all came back rushing to her. Tour of the Roman Forum, the feeling of being watched, getting lost in the dark streets of The Old town, falling and hurting her ankle, and then the eyes… those shining eyes she saw before everything went dark.

Sarah’s eyes snapped open, and she sat up straight in bed looking around to find that she was in her own hotel room. What? Is it possible that she only dreamt it? But before she had a chance to really decide what’s real and what’s not, she saw an unknown man sitting in the chair in the corner of the room looking out of the window.

She gulped once, not daring to take her eyes off him, assessing the situation she was in. Even though he must have noticed her being awake, the man didn’t move. He didn’t even blink, so Sarah used the chance to look at him. From what she could see, he appeared to be tall and well built, his hair was light brown, a little longer than an average man preferred, but his eyes, the once she yearned the see the most, she couldn’t because his gaze was fixed to something outside of the window or nothing at all.

So, she didn’t imagine being followed yesterday? But why? And who is he? And how did he bring her here? Thousands of questions ran through her head in just a couple of seconds while she watched him while he didn’t even move.

Strange thing… Sarah didn’t feel endangered, on the contrary, she felt at peace. She felt like she was right where she was supposed to be, like she finally found that place she always felt she had to find… is it possible that he’s… no! It can’t be!

Sarah coughed discreetly wanting to gain his attention and before she had a chance to ask him who he was and what was he doing in her room, he spoke.

“Who was following you?” he asked a simple question, still not looking at her. His voice was so deep, borderline growly, and it made Sarah shiver from an unknown and unexplainable feeling.

“You?” her answer sounded more like a question because she failed to understand what he was referring to.

That finally made him turn his attention to the girl in bed, and their eyes met. Sara’s blue oceans met deep fires of his emeralds and instant recognitions of two souls caused both of them to feel the fire that threatened to swallow and devour them.

The man stood up from the chair and quickly made a couple of steps that were separating them and hovered over her, for some reason giving his best to look threatening.

“I won’t repeat again. Who was following you yesterday?” Sarah wondered why he sounded so angry but realized that his anger did not affect her in any way. It should have, she was aware of that, but it didn’t.

A strange man was standing beside the bed she was sitting on, looking like all the furies of the world were trying to break from deep within him and he was fighting so hard to keep them at bay. He looked like he could explode at any second, but Sarah still wasn’t scared.

“I don’t know,” she said a little louder and feistier than she intended. “I thought it was you…”

The man whose name she still didn’t know straightened and with the obvious displeasure with her answer he returned to the place he was previously sitting.

“I don’t know, ok?” Sarah swung her legs over the bed edge and touched the floor with her bare feet but still didn’t get up. “I noticed being followed by I have no idea why would anyone do that. I am no one interesting. Just a tourist in this city.” And after a few moments of silence, her curiosity won, and she fired her questions: “Who are you? What are you doing in my room? Why were you following me? How did you know where I’m staying?”

A torrent of questions Sarah fired made the strange man smirk a bit, and it automatically made him appear a thousand times more attractive than he already was even like that… all gloomy and frowned, angry…

His smirk made Sarah smile and her own reaction to him made her question what was going on here and was it possible that he was…

But his frown returned so quickly that Sarah wondered if she imagined him smile.

He turned to her and asked for her name.

“Sarah.” She answered quickly.

Silence fell upon them, and he looked at her so intently that Sara started to feel uncomfortable. And still, he has answered none of her questions. After a few minutes of staring contest between them, he opened his mouth, probably to ask something else, but Sarah was quicker.

“Oh no, mister. You don’t get to ask any more questions until you tell me who you are and what do you want from me.” Now Sarah stood up, resolved to get her answers.

To her utter surprise, the man in front of her said nothing. Instead, he raised his hand and turned the palm upwards. When he was sure that he had her complete attention focused on it, he closed his eyes and let out a few of his pent-up emotions, channeling them into his palm.

Right in front of Sarah’s eyes, levitating just above his opened palm, a fireball appeared. A real, hot, burning, flaming ball of fire…

It was there just long enough for her to see it, and then his fingers curled and his fist swallowed the fire just like it was never there.

“What are you?” Sarah muttered.

Instead of giving her a straight answer, he chose to rather show her. He reached for her slowly, not wanting to scare her, with the same hand that held fire till a second ago.

Now, to his surprise, Sarah didn’t even flinch at his movement, what more, as soon as their skins touched, Sarah leaned into it and closed her eyes, relishing in the feeling it brought… the feeling of… everything.

She knew what this meant. This man that stood in front of her, this strange creature she still couldn’t identify, was her mate.