Chapter Sixty Six

*Ariya*


My heart stopped. Ivan had the sexiest grin on his face. His eyes were glowing blue. My blue. His eyes were glowing the blue that meant he was only for me. I turned beet red but couldn’t break my gaze from his. Ivan came closer to me, kissing me passionately. He moved us across the room until my back found the wall. Ivan pressed up against me, never breaking the kiss. His tongue parted my lips and began exploring. Just like before my fangs forced their way out and a growl escaped me. I ran my hands through his hair as his hands ran up and down my back. I didn’t want this to stop.
I pulled Ivan closer to me, wanting him to be fused to me. I felt Ivan’s body shiver as he pressed himself against me. I could feel him getting excited. I nibbled his bottom lip and a groan escaped from him. I scraped my fangs on his bottom lip and groaned. I wanted to bite down, to taste his blood again. But more than anything, I wanted him. I wanted to be closer to him. I pulled at Ivan’s shirt and as he took his shirt off I ran my hands across his chest, feeling his warmth.
Ivan took my face in his hands, gasping for breath, “We need to slow down, princess. We can’t do any of that while we’re here.”
I pouted, “I know you’re right but please, take your shirt off more often. I like feeling your warmth.”
Ivan laughed, “Anything for you.”
I curled up in his lap and rested my head on his chest. I loved the feeling of his warmth. It wasn’t too hot, but it was a cozy heat that made me want to fall asleep.
“I half expected you to bite me when you scraped your fangs on my lip.” Ivan laughed.
“Oh, trust me. I wanted to. But I wanted you to be closer to me. I couldn’t have you close enough.” I told him.
Ivan grinned, “You have no idea how happy that makes me.”
“Is it weird that I really just want to sleep a bunch now? Even if it brings Boss back in here a lot more and I get to be tortured sooner? I just want my memories back sooner than later. I want to know everything that happened.”
Ivan laughed, “Me too, Ari. Me too. I think we just need to be patient for now. Maybe we can still do some type of training.”
I raised my cuffed hands up, “How do you suppose we do that with the cuffs on?”
“Maybe after a few more memories, Boss might let you out of the restraints?”
“Unlikely, but worth a shot. I wish there was something else that I could do to train.”
“Well we basically have been working on your control.” Ivan laughed.
“I’m not starving right now though, that doesn’t count.” I laughed.
“I know, but it does still count. If you are able to resist in general, it is something. Maybe you could work on using your energy manipulation or dragon’s eye? Or maybe working on the mind link?” Ivan offered.
“I worry about using the energy manipulation here. If I break something Boss will know and then I’ll be back to the table. I don’t know what else I could do with the dragon’s eye. It’s just activating it, seeing finer details and then that’s it. But you’re right on the mind link. Keo was talking about trying to see if we could switch places.” I said.
“Can you guys actually do that?” Ivan asked, bewildered.
“Not sure, but Keo felt like we might be able to. If we can figure out how to see each other in our mind then maybe we could train. I don’t know how helpful that will be since my actual body won’t be moving if we’re training in my head. But the switch part would be really helpful. I could always switch with him and train with the others, even you, if you were out there.”
“The only time I’m leaving your actual body is if I am getting us food or if it’s the end of the day when I’m supposed to go back to bed. Otherwise, it’s only if Boss orders me to leave.”
Hearing about Boss made my mind go back to an earlier conversation after he had left.
“Ivan, promise me something.”
“What is it?”
“Promise me that if for any reason, you feel like Boss is onto you being you that you’ll tell me immediately.”
“Only if you promise that we’ll leave immediately if he does.” Ivan said.
“Deal. I promise.” I said.
“Then I promise to let you know.” Ivan said.
“Do you think he’ll get suspicious of you?” I asked him.
“I don’t think so. Boss never asked me many things. As long as I continue doing what I’ve always done I don’t think he’ll have any reason to believe that I’m Ivan.”
“I hope not. Wait, is there anyone here that you talk to?”
Ivan laughed, “No. Never. Boss was the only one I communicated with but it was only about work and updating him on things. I would listen more than talk. The only other person I really said anything to was you. Partly because you were the one that I had assigned to me at first, but partly because I had feelings for you. Everyone else usually left me alone.”
“Aren’t you in charge of all the trackers though?” I asked him.
“Yes, but they primarily take their orders from Boss. If we had to track something Boss would have us go to an area. We didn’t really work together. We would show up together as a unit. If they found something they would bring it to me but they usually never beat me to finding something. The only time they did is if I was there to oversee things.”
“Really?” I asked, bewildered.
“Yeah. I mean if one person has a scent, they’re going to follow that scent. If someone else follows them but doesn’t know what the scent they’re following is, they’re going to just be confused as to where they’re going. It was easier to find what you thought you were looking for and fan out. That way if multiple paths were being created they were potentially all covered.”
“Won’t the other trackers smell my scent on you?” I asked, worried.
Ivan laughed, “No. Trackers are good, but they’re not that good. They know when someone has been near someone else. But they aren’t that good. They know I’m in the same room as you. By default your scent would be near me or around me. The trackers can’t really distinguish too much of it. Now if Drake was suddenly in here they would be able to know that a foreign scent was on me, but they wouldn’t be able to distinguish that it was Drake unless they had already been accustomed to his scent. They would also have had to be accustomed to the scent within the last few hours. Otherwise it would drive the trackers crazy.”
“It’s different for you though?” I asked.
“Yes, being a wolf is what makes it different. I don’t know if Caleb can do it. But Derek taught me after I first shifted. I can only memorize so many scents though. I know yours, so by default I know Keo’s scent. I know Caleb and Drakes now. But that’s it. I can memorize Boss’s scent but only if I had my memories around him which we should definitely not do anytime soon.”
“Yeah, please don’t do that. Wait, what do you mean you know mine so by default you know Keo’s scent?” I asked.
Ivan laughed, “It’s part of why Derek and Caleb couldn’t figure out when you 2 switched. You both smell the same. Almost. There’s a very, very small difference. But I think I’m the only one that can smell it.”
“Because you’re mated to me?” I asked.
“Exactly.”