Thomas's POV

     I watch silently as Ares' friend stares at me, not breaking my gaze. Something about him isn't right, almost like, he's not as he claims to be. Like he's not Enchanted. But there's no way, no one in their right mind would willingly come here if they weren't Enchanted or a suicidal adrenaline junkie.

     I listen as the sound of the three pairs of foot steps get closer and closer. Though quiet, they're loud to my supernatural ears. I stiffen my limbs that are wrapped around Ares' body in apprehension over who's exactly coming down the hall. That is until the breeze changes and I get a whiff of the cold and some spices. It's them!

     I hurriedly untangle myself from Ares' body dropping down into the ground softly, but as I go to meet my girls, I'm caught by the back of my jacket before I can get more than a step in. I turn and glower at the cocky bastard and get a much much scarier glare in return. He sets down the kid in a chair behind us and looks down at me with nothing short of impatience.

     "What are you doing?" He asks, pulling me back towards him slightly. I can barely hold back the sigh of relief that comes with being so close to him, calming the itching and burning of my skin where my clothes touch. I don't want their touch, I want his and the thought almost has me wacking Ares upside the head. Stupid ,cocky, rude, Enchanted asshole turning my brain to human teenage girl mush.

     "I know them, so let go." I say trying to pull away from his iron grip on my jacket. I huff when I'm unable to, finally beginning to understand how Chloe felt when I did this to him.

"Stop moving and stay here." Ares grunts. At this point I'm getting increasingly pissed off, the arrogant son of a bitch just met me and already he acts like he owns me.

"Fuck you." I spit, finally ripping away from his grasp, though I'm eighty-five percent sure he allowed me to, but either way I was free. I quickly scurry away from him, knowing that if I got caught again, he wouldn't be so nice.

     I enter the long hallway and immediately find the faces of none other than Nysa and our Vampire friends Cora and Ben. Once they see me, they use their enhanced speed to slam into me, their sequels of excitement capable of rendering me deaf.

"Tommy!" Cora is currently trying to climb my body to hug me. Ben isn't any better damn near humping me from behind in a full body hug.

     "Guys!" I say laughing way too hard to get any words out. "I just saw you last month."

     "You know these two are like overgrown puppies." Nysa says, the only one not trying to snuggle me to death. I smile warmly at her, and that was a costly mistake. Because gods dammit now she's onto me. When she comes up beside me, she seems to look deep in my soul scrutinizing me under her steel gaze. I try to stop the newfound ability to blush from kissing my cheeks but I can feel it warm my face.

     At that exact instant, both Cora and Ben feel the heartbeat that has settled in my chest. It's kind of scary to feel the constant thumping in my chest, the action making me feel vulnerable. All three of the little shits gasp at the same time, but it's Cora that's first to speak. I take a step back, nervous about the awed but weirded out faces on their faces.

     I immediately feel Ares step forward a couple steps, though only enough for me to feel it, not enough to shift the others oblivious gazes towards him.

     "Thomas," Cora starts, taking a small step towards me, her voiced awed and confused. "You're alive?"

     "Your body's warm. I heard a heartbeat. How?" Ben is next to chime in, his voice less awed and more confused. Since I never told them about looking for my Bond here on the Enchanted side of town, I'm not surprised at their confusion but it does nothing to quell my anxiety. But I look over at Nysa and see the look on her face. With her subdued emotions she can only show so much, but there's no mistaking the pride that shines in her eyes after the realization hits.

"You found him, didn't you?" Her voice is soft but she makes her way towards me, her hands coming up to cup my cheeks, her own lifting up in a awed smile at the warmth in mine. The support that she's giving me so freely for the past two hundred years of my life finally crashing down on me with waves of love. All that come from the dark skin angel that stares at me with such happiness in her gaze.

"Yeah, I did." My voice cracks in my answer but I can't help the smile that breaks my face, even if he isn't what I had pictured, I still have someone to call mine. After six hundred years I finally found the one I'm to spend the rest of my life with. Suddenly I have such an overwhelming urge to have him by my side, I' m winded. I need to feel him. To have him in my line of sight so I can be sure that he's here and real.

I reach my hand behind me, searching and waiting, half scared that he's fake and I made it all up, stopping me from turning around to go to him. My worries are alleviated when the smell of campfires and rain engulfs me. But instead of grabbing my hand, his arms slip around my waist and tug me back against the rock hard chest.

"Bastard." I mumble with a frown, again hating how cocky the asshole is and even more mad at my Slip for making me need him right now. I watch the three faces in front of me morph into surprise at the sight of my Bond that's been standing there the whole time.

It's Nysa this time that speaks up first, an undoubtedly happy smile gracing her face. "Campfire and Rain, huh? You're exactly what I imagined. Tommy over here was in denial about the whole thing but it's ok." I feel his chest rumble as Ares chuckles at Nysa's brassness.

I hear Graves finally come close enough to engage in conversation. "Wanna talk about denial? This one hid from the little shit for months all because he was scared." He snorts and the rest of us can't help but snicker. Ares reaches out to smack him across the back of the head, but the other male is too caught up staring at a shuffling Cora who looks caught in headlights.

     Like watching a train wreck, I watch as Graves takes a couple long strides to reach the poor cowering Cora, and I stiffen expecting him to say something crass and rude, but to my surprise he grabs her by the ponytail and pulls her head up for a kiss.

     We watch, baffled as a strong blush finds its way up Coras neck and onto her cheeks. Her hands start to wiggle, fluttering against Ares' chest though not actually pushing him away. He gets the message though and brings the kiss to an end with one last touch of his lips pressed lightly to hers. He brings her head to his chest as she tries to catch her breath and the action is so tender and sweet, I'm forced to look away, convinced that we're looking in on a private moment.

     "Tommy, me and Ben have a game to play." Nysa says reluctantly, coming up towards me. Ares growls lightly tightening his arms around my frame and turning me so that Nysa can barely see me. I swat his chest, making him huff and turn me halfway back so she can continue. "Will you be ok? I can stay." She offers, ever the selfless one. I give her a soft warm smile, the new expressions and emotions feeling weird and foreign.

     "I'm fine, Nys. Besides, you need to feed. The only problem I'll deal with is getting this asshole to let me breath by myself." I tell her rolling my eyes. Ares decides to prove a point by burying his face in my neck, of course he quickly comes back up when he realizes my scent is still cloaked, grunting in annoyance.

     She chuckles, her cold face holding the warmest expression I've ever seen from her. And although I know she's sad about not having her own Bond to annoy her, she's happy that I do. "Okay, okay. Check in with me in the morning, yeah?" She says, tucking her hair behind her ears. I nod. And with that, a still shocked Ben follows her out the building.

     As soon as they're gone, I feel myself being lifted from the ground and to avoid hanging uncomfortably, I wrap my legs around the strong muscled waist of Ares, my face heating at the position as my arms come up to wrap around his neck.

     He begins walking towards the exit and I look over his shoulder to see Cora being snuggled into the chest of Graves, her small body settled into his broad lap, his face in her neck as she squirms and blushes. I lose sight of the two, as well as the kid that's starting to wake, as we disappear into the long dark hallway.

     It's then that I notice I'm in his arms, and even though he's mostly calming the itch that had grown to be in his arms, my pride won't allow me to be smothered and babied when I have two very capable legs.

     But as I go to struggle my way onto my own two feet, Ares' arms tighten around me. A strained and hoarse, "Please." being pushed passed his lips. A man of few words, I'm coming to see. He sounds so scared, I allow him to hold onto me as we leave the building and step into the cool air of the night.

     Maybe as much as he hid, he needs to make sure I'm real too. And maybe, just like me, he has a reason for being scared of me too.

~~~~~~
Well then. Ares is a big ass over protective teddy bear and Thomas is not having it😂😂. What do you think will happen next?

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