Stronger as One (#1, Completed)

17. The eagle 🌶️🌶️

RILEY

The satisfaction of seeing what I told them slowly sink into their minds tickled my senses way more than the ridiculously expensive golden chocolate at the party. Ah, the sweet taste of victory! Before I had a chance to truly enjoy the moment though, I heard a loud squeal and someone practically jumped on me from behind.

"You are here! I am so happy that you made it- I've missed seeing you this week!"

Natalia was such a sweet girl. Being the Alpha's daughter and an Omega that could sense the feelings of others didn't allow her to make many friends but as I was completely unphased by either of those things, we had bonded pretty quickly since we met.

"Hey you! I missed our coffee dates as well", I said as we hugged.

"I see that you have met my brother and his best friend." Her brother? Wait, was the dark-headed idiot Rafe Macalister?

"I haven't really. I was just introducing myself." I smiled sweetly at both guys, as I didn't want to ruin the moment for Natalia.

The dragon shifter was the first one to make a move, as he took my hand and brought it to his soft lips. I wondered if fire dragons could control their body temperature because I felt his lips warm up the moment they touched my skin, sending a shiver down my spine.

He looked straight into my eyes, as his lips lost contact with my hand. His green eyes were mesmerizing, adding to the suavity of the gorgeous man in front of me. For a moment I wondered what it would be like to spend some time alone- would he charm me to the point of forgetting my name or would he fail to capture my attention? Yet, I somehow doubted that the latter was actually an option.

"Aiden Hayes, Beta of the Fire Dragons clan. Pleasure to meet you, Miss Moreau!"

"Call me Riley", I smirked and so did he. This was clearly a man with refined tastes, intelligence and elegance, and yet the twinkle in his eyes had me convinced that there was a mischievous side to him too. "I met your Alpha earlier tonight. He sure knows how to make an impression."

Aiden laughed and a beautiful smile settled on his face." Don't worry, I tend to be more relaxed than Cyrus is."

"That's a relief. I would have been disappointed if that wasn't the case." I found myself batting my eyelids at him as I spoke. Okay, I might have been attempting to flirt but I couldn't help myself. This man was extremely hot and clearly had way more going for him than just his looks. I would have had to be dead on the inside not to feel attracted to him.

In the meantime Natalia was just beaming with happiness as she watched our interaction, while Rafe looked a lot less pleased. Did that guy have a stick up his arse or was he just never satisfied?

"Rafe", Natalia scolded her brother, "don't be so rude and introduce yourself. Riley helped me after I got caught in that trap, so you should be extremely nice for her."

I had to say that as much as Rafe Macalister had rubbed me the wrong way so far, seeing him melt a little at his sister's request touched my heart. I wondered if Lucien and I would ever be like that.

Rafe stretched his hand out for me to shake it and I had to oblige for etiquette's sake. "Rafe Macalister."

"Ah, the future Alpha. I hope that when you take over the position, you remember that it's not always a good idea to make assumptions about people based on very little information." I squeezed his hand to show him that I still meant business and I was actually happy to find him squeezing back just as hard. Good, he didn't let go just because I was a woman. That was something that I respected.

I still couldn't figure out how I felt about this man- I wanted to strangle him; yet, I also wondered whether being with him would be as dynamic and rough as our interactions.