The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural (47 page)

“
That’s not what I meant.”
She frowned.

Ace exhaled deeply before asking, “What do
you mean then?”

Slowly, Lee stood up and padded her way to
him. Her hands went around his hips until she was able to lock her
fingers behind his back. With him being a whole head taller, Lee
had to stand on her toes before whispering a single command. “Kiss
me.”

Puzzled but wanting to make her feel loved,
Ace obeyed and their lips touched where they stood. They started
out as gentle kisses. Their lips touching just long enough for him
to show how interested he was and gentle enough to stay within
their boundaries. Regardless of how sweet he was being with her,
Lee still wanted more. A piece of her body craved for something
that kissing alone could never satisfy. Her head tilted to the side
and she nibbled on his lip as an invitation to do more.

Ace pressed his lips harder against her. It
wasn’t overbearing, his touch was just enough to force her lips
open. Their teeth nearly clashed as his familiar breath warmed the
inside of her mouth. That’s when she decided to take the kissing to
another level. With her hands around his waist, Lee pulled him
closer to herself. In another half step back, she was able to sit
back down on the bed and Ace followed right beside her.

The only time he pulled his lips from her
mouth was to catch a breath. He wanted to ask her why she was being
so persistent. It was so unlike her. When Lee had first told him to
kiss her, he hadn’t been remotely in the mood. But now her touch
was growing to intoxication and he could feel himself losing his
mind by the way he was holding her. The familiar way her body
curved in just above the hips, and how his hands managed to hold
onto her figure so perfectly sent his fingers aching for more. But
he couldn’t allow it. She wouldn’t want that…

Lee sighed deeply against his mouth and she
couldn’t stop her hands from exploring the hard muscle beneath his
shirt. She wasn’t sure how many times they had circled over his
chest, but for the first time her fingers had stopped at the collar
of his shirt. Without a second thought, she pushed him down hard
before sliding her body atop of his. Before he could say anything,
her lips were entangled with his.

In that moment Ace wanted her more badly than
anything ever before in the past. And who was to say he couldn’t?
She was his girlfriend, he loved her. They hadn’t spoken a word
since they started kissing, but everything she was ding implied
that she wanted more. The only thing holding him back was the
amount of true untainted love he had for who she was. And she was
not being her usual self that morning. Ace knew better. He needed
to stop her and remind her why they were in love before things
could get out of hand once again.

He pulled away from her just as her name hung
on his tongue. But before he could say anything, another voice
chimed across the yoga studio. He recognized the voice before his
eyes even flew open. But that was impossible! Instantly Ace sat up
straight and shot his eyes to the doorway where the woman he was
just kissing should not have been. He gazed at her in shock as the
lean athletic body and long brown hair rolled off him and vanished
from the scene. Then it made sense. Ithaca had the ability to make
people do what she wanted them to do to the extent that she could
make them see what she wanted them to see. He had just let her fool
him again.

Once Ithaca vanished, the room seemed
dangerously quiet yet he managed to glance back at Lee in the
doorway. Time seemed to stop when their eyes met and all Ace could
think about was how no amount of wording could capture just how
inconsolable her entire essence was. Ace had seen her cry, but he
had never seen her face so wet, her expression so devastated, nor
her voice so horse to the point that no words came from her gaped
mouth. She stood there more shocked than Ace as a heartbroken wail
clung to the back of her throat.

“
Lee,” Ace finally began, “I
can explain.”

Tears only continued to pour from her eyes as
she shook her head. Finally she was able to choke on her breath and
that’s when the real crying began. Lee had never even heard herself
sound like that; half choking and bawling as if she had just lost
the life of someone truly precious to her. And for all she knew,
she had. Ace meant the world and more to her. But this was the
second time she had seen him kissing the epitome of her greatest
fear and the pain was unimaginable.

Her lungs felt as if they were about to
burst. Her knees trembled almost as bad as her hands and her eyes
had watered so much she couldn’t see a single thing before her. Her
face felt sticky with tears but none of that compared to the
misplacement of her heart. A murderer could have stabbed her in the
chest a million times and that would have only been a portion of
how she felt because a piece of her had died after seeing him with
another woman.

As she stood there unsure what to do next, it
finally dawned on her that this was the cruel world that lay
outside the orphanage. This was the kind of heartlessness Ace had
warned her about so long ago; even before setting her free. He had
sheltered her from it for so long but that had all been in vain. He
had now become the one to betray everything she knew.

“
Ace…” she gagged on her own
voice. “How could you?”

Ace couldn’t bear looking at her devastation
any moment longer. His heart was still hers though she didn’t know
it. He loved her like he had never loved a soul before her; as if
she had been a part of him forever. It tortured him to see how
heartbroken she was and he quickly climbed to his feet to hold
her.

“
Don’t you dare touch me.”
Lee hissed. Her voice harsh and it was enough to stop him in his
tracks. It was a side of her Ace had never seen. It was a side he
that he created.

Ace gaped at her wanting more than anything
to tell her the truth. That it was a mistake and it meant nothing.
Everything Ithaca had done was unreal, but everything he loved
about Lee was real and it always would be. “Lee…” he called again,
his voice reaching out for her even though he was nearly an arm’s
length away. “Please listen to me. I can explain.”

“
No!” Lee bellowed forcing
back tears. “There is nothing you can say! I saw you with her last
night, and I see you with her now. But thanks for showing me the
real you. Thanks for letting me know the kind of person you truly
are so I can cut you from my life now rather than look back and
know that I fell so hard for a liar.” For a moment Lee hesitated.
Though her heart had been ripped out of her chest, breaking up with
him hadn’t been her intention. Seeing the love of her life being
unfaithful was the most inconsolable pain she had ever experienced,
but even as she stood there, she didn’t want to take back what she
said. “We are done Ace! Is that what you wanted to hear? Now you
can have her and you won’t be breaking me while you’re at
it.”

We are
done
. Of all the things Lee shouted just
then, those were the three words that clung to him. It was as if
Lee had just shot a flaming arrow through his heart and it was
going to fester inside him forever. “Lee, don’t. Please just listen
to me. I love you.”

At those words Lee’s face twisted into the
most aggravated expression Ace had ever seen. “How dare you?” She
spat in a voice as dark as it was hurt. “I just watched you break
my heart in the harshest way you know how. And yet you’re going to
lie to my face again?” Just from the change of topic, Lee’s voice
molded from livid to sorrow. “If you loved me Ace… If you truly
loved me, you wouldn’t have done that.” She swiped a river of tears
from her cheeks and gazed up at him one last time. “Feel free to
hurt Ithaca like the way you hurt me. Don’t forget to treat the
next woman with the same respect.”

Between all the emotion clouded into the air,
all Ace could do was take another step towards her. “Please… Lee…
I-”

“
Leave.” She said sternly
taking a step back to allow Ace through the door way.
“Now.”

Ace looked up at Lee for one of the last
moments they had together. Suddenly she was the most beautiful
thing he had ever seen. Her hair was done up and her slender body
was covered by a beautiful platinum gown as an emerald locket hung
perfectly around her neck. She was alive. His friends hadn’t made
it through the shooting, but she had and he never wanted to let her
go again. But it was his turn to go. And she didn’t want him back.
There was one reason for that. Her name: Ithaca. The fists by his
sides clenched and before Lee could say another word, Ace was
gone.

He had disappeared right before her eyes. Lee
had never seen him do anything like that before, nor had she any
idea he was capable of it. What else did she not know about him?
Ace had wanted to explain something and she had never given him the
chance. Now she would never get another opportunity.

Suddenly she was alone, and though this was
the populated city of Heleow, she had never felt lonelier in her
entire life. With so many emotions coursing through her veins, Lee
couldn’t stand any longer. Her back slumped against the wall just
outside the doorframe then she was sliding to the ground. Ace was
the truest thing that ever mattered in her life.

What had she
done
?

~“
Ithaca!!
” Ace’s voice was furious
before he even appeared in her mountainside home. His head was
still spinning from jumping all over the island trying to find her,
and he was still getting used to the new ability. After appearing
on seven blank beach shores with no success, he finally remembered
that Ithaca had taken him to her hideout in the mountains during
their excavations the day before.

“
Ithaca!!
” he raged once more. He had landed on the second floor patio
of her home and when he turned around, a set of sliding glass doors
reviled a living room with the ceiling fan on full blast. To spare
his energy, Ace hurried across the stone patio threw the door open
rather than melting through.

The inside was the same as Ace last saw it.
It was a humble room with only one couch, bland carpet, and no
pictures hanging on the walls giving it a ‘still renovating’ feel.
The living room should have been entirely empty, however the only
difference was that atop the knitted sofa was a girl he had never
seen before. Her head turned over the couch cushion and her wide
almond shaped eyes gaped at the stranger that had just come to her
home.

“
Who are you?” she barked,
her Spanish accent present. She was a pretty girl, not as striking
as Ithaca, but comparable. Her dark auburn hair hung down in
gorgeous waves over her shoulders and they seemed to be the exact
same color of her eyes. Long dark lashes fanned out with curiosity
as she nibbled her lip and with her head turned around, Ace could
see the striking sharpness of her jawline up to her
cheeks.

“
I’m looking for Ithaca.” He
growled.

But before she could reply, another voice
filled the scene. “In the kitchen, Ace.” And the boy flipped around
quicker than a gun shot.

“
You!
” he raged as Ithaca leaned against the wall beside the
fridge.

Ithaca smiled, “Yes, me. How may I help you
Mr. Diachi?”

“
Diachi?” echoed the Latina
voice behind him. “Mason Diachi?”

Ithaca giggled, “Oh, I’m a terrible host.
Mason Diachi, meet my cousin Larissa Iglesias-”

“
What have you done?!” Ace
bellowed before she could change the subject.

Ithaca raised one of her perfect brows.
“Introduced you to my cousin?”

“
You know exactly what I’m
talking about!!” he continued to shout.

Ithaca looked up thoughtfully. “Oh… yeah well
we could talk about your little girly or we could talk about
getting your hands on some element. Personally the latter
sounds-”

“
Was that a part of some
plan?” Ace raged, “To get me on your side?
I love her
, Ithaca. Do you not
understand that? You may hate the Stelters, but ruining my life to
fit your agenda will never change me!”

Ace was too fumed to receive chills from the
look on Ithaca’s evil smile. “All in good time, Mason. All in good
time.”

“
Que pasa,
Ithaca
?” Larissa asked from the
couch.

“
Nada
,” snapped Ithaca, “
No preocuparse.”
Then she
cleared her throat and turned back to Ace. “Now about that
element…”

“
No!” Ace bellowed. “You
have got to me out of your mind if you think I want to take
anything you give me after what you have just done.” He had meant
to say more but Ithaca’s cold voice sliced his next
words.

“
Now.” Ithaca began slowly,
her voice so chilled her teeth were practically clenched. “Or.
Never. Mason. You decide. Do you want your memories
back?”

Ace wanted to bellow once
more; after all she had just ruined the one thing in his life he
could always count on. But it was that phrase
now or never.
He could chose now to
figure out what happened in the past, or never know his childhood.
It should have taken him a while to sort out his reasoning. After
all, Lee was still the only thing in his life that was worth more
than his memories. But what was the point? Lee had just broken up
with him and spending an afternoon yelling at Ithaca wouldn’t fix
it. Where else was he to go, what else was he to do?