When Opposites Attract - Chapter 21

Okay, so I know this chapter is incredibly short, but it is extremely necessary. This chapter is dedicated to Josie and Phoebe. I hope you like it. =)
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In case you didn’t already know, Selene and the rest of my coven had no idea I was even on speaking terms with Mateo. I think they assumed that I hated him – which was true for only the first few days I had met him – and didn’t ask any questions about him.

Until the day I happened to be getting ready for meeting Mateo’s coven.

I was stuck in the mud in what to wear. I didn’t want to show that I was trying too hard, but I did want them to know that I had at least made an effort. I was torn between wearing my best, boot-cut jeans that fit me nicely, or my denim skirt that reached mid thigh. To top it all off, I didn’t know whether to complete either ensemble with my blue, off-the-shoulder top, or my dark blue tank top. After much pondering, I chose the tank top and skirt. I didn’t want to style my hair as I usually did, since Mateo always saw me with my hair down and straight, so I pulled the hopeless locks into a ponytail and secured it with a black hair bobble.

There was a knock on the door, and I jumped, my body adapted to the hushed silence in where we lived. ‘Kaia?’ It was Selene.

‘Come in.’ I called add the last touched to my outfit with a couple of colourful bracelets.

She stepped into the room, and I couldn’t help but still be stunned by how beautiful she was. It never failed to amaze me. Her skin was creamy, like soft, melted butter, without a flaw or blemish. She had doe eyes – big, dark-brown eyes that were slow-blinking, fringed with thick, long lashes. She had an hour glass figure, but she was more slender than anything – graceful, like a ballerina. I didn’t know how old she was, but I did know she was born circa eighteen-hundreds.

‘Where are you going?’ She asked, looking mildly surprised as she leaned against my bedroom door, assessing the clothes I was wearing.

For one moment, everything stopped. I hadn’t thought up a story to tell her. What would I say? I decided to settle on the distorted version of what could be called the truth.

‘Oh, um,’ I cleared my throat nervously. ‘I’ve got a date.’ And I’m meeting our supposed enemies.

‘Really?’ She smiled, that angelic smile that lit up her whole face. ‘Who?’

‘Oh. Dan – this guy at my school.’ Okay, now I really was lying to her. If she ‘d just asked me where I was going, then that would have been fine. But no.

Her smile grew sly. ‘Do you like him?’

I thought of Mateo, of how he gave me that sultry look whenever I said something unexpected, of the way he nuzzled my neck and the way he kissed me – like I was the only thing that mattered. ‘Yeah,’ I said dreamily.

Selene laughed. ‘Well, I hope he’s good enough for you’

‘Oh, he is.’ I said.

‘Just be careful.’

I frowned. ‘Why?’

‘I don’t want anybody trying to take advantage of you.’

I had to grin at that. ‘Oh, don’t worry. He won’t.’

‘I mean, I know a human’s attempt on you is nothing compared to your power and your temper,’ she allowed herself a small smile. ‘But I’d still like you to be careful.’

‘I will.’ I promised her.

If only Mateo were human.

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I met up with Mateo at the place we had agreed on – the empty field that we had passed through before.

‘Hey,’ I smiled, and tippy-toed so I could press my lips to his.

‘Hey,’ he murmured, and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. ‘Are you nervous? You don’t look it.’

‘Oh, I’m shaking inside.’ I told him truthfully. But I was good at concealing myself – years of practice. I quickly assessed him. He was wearing a plain, white tee and dark jeans, and, as always, his black trench coat, un-buttoned, was strung over half his outfit, too.

‘You shouldn’t be nervous,’ he said, and started rubbing soothing circles against my hips.

‘I know. But I really want them to like me – what if your leader doesn’t?’ Something flashed through his eyes- knowledge, perhaps? – and he turned away from me slightly and muttered, ‘Oh, I think he will.’

I frowned. Had he meant for me to hear that? ‘Well, anyway,’ I said, shaking off my feelings of unease. ‘I know I won’t know how to act when I’m around them.’

‘Just be yourself.’ He rested his forehead against mine, his beautiful, dark blue eyes staring deeply into mine. ‘And they’ll love you – just like I do.’

‘I love you.’ I whispered, my eyes closing as my arm wrapped around his neck.

‘Mmm,’ he murmured. ‘I love you, too.’ Oh,I could just get lost in his eyes.

‘Well,’ I said, and made an attempt to smile. ‘Shall we go, then?’

He took my hand and led the way.

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Mateo lived in an area as secluded as I did. Granted, the street that I lived on did occupy humans, too, but our house was safely tucked away from sight by a thick thicket of tall trees.

Mateo, however, lived in a place that was secluded from everything.

We walked for about fifteen minutes, and we went through lots of twists and turns, through a couple of alleyways, jumped over a couple of fences, sucked in our stomachs to pass through a very tight kissing gate, and then finally, we reached a driveway.

‘Come on. It’ll be fine,’ Mateo assured me when I froze on the spot.

I allowed him to tug me further up the driveway until the house of his coven came into sight. It was beautiful, in a strange mixture of modernisation and classical. The house was white, with wooden panels along the top half, and a long porch stretched out along the bottom half. There was a combination of blue and purple rhododendrons sitting on pot-plants just outside the house, and a long greenery stretched out beyond.

‘Wow,’ was all I said. ‘Wow.’

He smiled and tugged my wrist closer to the house, and it struck me as odd that I was actually going to meet his coven.

‘Don’t be nervous,’ he whispered into my ear, and with one kiss pressed tenderly onto my neck, he pushed his key into the lock and twisted, and I entered his home.

I looked around the room we had enterds. It was a hallway, with several doors leading off, and a small table with a vase of more rhodednedrons sat against the far wall.

'Hello,' a chorus of males broke the eerie silence.

I turned around, startled. There were five men - looking to be everywhere from the age eighteen to twenty-seven - standing together near the door. They were all tall, like Mateo, has a muscular build, again, like Mateo, and were attractive, though, in my opinion, not as much as my boyfriend.

'Oh, Kaia,' Mateo said. 'This is Demetri,' he gestured to the man of the far left, who had charcoal black hair and dark brown eyes. 'Hey,' Demetri said. I smiled shyly, and my grip on Mateo's hand got tighter. 'That's Jozef,' Mateo pointed at the tallest, blonde-haired man, who quirked a smile. I smiled warmly back. 'That there is Kian. Stay away from him.' Kian was a very handsome red-head. He grinned at me, and I guessed that he was probably the equivalent of Rhys from my coven. A major flirt. 'That's Jake,' Mateo nodded to a dark-skinned guy who smiled, a warm, dimpled smile that made me grin back. 'And that,' Mateo said, and motioned to an intimidating-looking man with steel grey eyes and dirty blonde hair. 'Is Zeek.' He didn't smile at me like the others had, just nodded - very informal. I think I may have managed a smile, I wasn't too sure, though. It struck me as odd that none of these people seemed leader-material. And then i remembered the name of someone he had mentioned when we were at our special spot - Leion, was it? - and I looked around.

And then Mateo frowned. 'Hey, where's-?'

‘Welcome,’ a quiet voice said, and a man who looked to be about twenty-five – though I knew better that he was probably hundreds of years old – stepped from the shadows that framed the right side of the wall, and all I could do was stare, my eyes widening.

It was like he was a male carbon copy of me.