Soul Mate Service (boyxboy)

Chapter 32

THADDEUS

"Alright, you've got about thirty seconds to explain what the fuck is going on before my patience decides to take a hike." I tried my best to maintain composure, but through my cocky facade, my leg betrayed me, bouncing restlessly from the place where I sat across from Aria's parents.

They'd already requested that I pile all of our travel tablets in the farthest corner of our Housing Pod before burying them underneath multiple layers of blankets, and now, both of those nerds were perched uncomfortably on our couch, looking unnaturally rigid.

Their fidgeting only fueled my frustration.

This... situation was seriously not good for my sudden bout of incredibly overprotective urges, or the way that my fingers were twitching toward the bedroom. My rampant desire to be both anywhere that was not here and everywhere that was Aria was fucking with my already short attention span.

Attempting to keep my emotions in check, I ground my teeth until my jaw popped audibly.

I'd changed Aria into a nightgown and tucked his exhausted form safely into our bed before dragging myself out here to face whatever the fuck this bullshit was. But yet and still, the desire to shield Aria from anything and everything continued to gnaw at my soul, eating at me from the inside.

Quite honestly, the only thing that was keeping me from hurtling across the room and wrapping him up in my body like a life-sized shield was the fact that through our bond, I could clearly tell that he was still sleeping comfortably, completely oblivious to the fact that – not unlike a bomb on the brink of detonation – I was approximately two point six seconds away from blowing a fucking gasket.

Fortunately for her, that was also the very moment that Aria's mother began to speak, her voice trembling slightly as she fiddled with her fingers.

"We would truly prefer if we could discuss this with Aria present as well–"

"No." I was quick to respond, cutting their stupid ass request off before it gained any traction. "Aria's been through enough. You either tell me now or you leave."

A beat of tense silence passed, during which Bea and Milo shared a hesitant glance. And as I leaned back on the couch in challenge, crossing my arms across my chest and letting my legs fall open wide, I reveled in it.

Let them hesitate. I wasn't going to budge.

Milo sighed, reaching up to brush back a few strands of his salt and pepper-colored hair that hung in front of his sweat-streaked forehead. And when he spoke, his voice was low, as if he thought that at any moment, one of those decrepit ass Elders was going to jump out of the walls and arrest him for existing.

... Honestly, after the encounter Aria and I had just endured, I couldn't even fault him for it.

"W-well. We didn't think that things would escalate to this point. And quite honestly, there's still much we're unaware of." He said.

"Get to the point." I grumbled, unable to hide my annoyance any longer, a slight twitch forming at the corner of my lips.

"What we are trying to explain is that according to The Elders' plans, both you and Aria are not even supposed to exist!" Bea suddenly hissed, the words erupting from her lips like steam shooting from an air compressor.

And me?... Well, I was stunned.

So stunned in fact, that when the sound of hysterical laughter began to reach my ears, I barely even realized that it was coming from me.

"Hahahaaa, that's a good one!" I told them between hacking chuckles, holding out a hand as if to signal that I couldn't take any more. "Now if you're done trying to fuck with my head even more than The Elders have already done tonight, you two can see yourselves ou–"