Page 100 of Destined Paranormals: Volume One

I found the elevators and pressed the button, and when the doors opened, I entered after a group left. Again, I pressed the button for the ninth floor, and after the shiny doors in front of me closed, I almost fell when the thing started moving. I could feel it going upward, but it didn’t take long before it stopped. The door chimed, and I glanced up and saw the number nine above the door, so when they opened again, I exited and went left.

It wasn’t a far walk, but by the time I found myself standing in front of a door that said 918, I was shaking and having difficulty breathing. This was it. This was where my mate was. My alpha was here. He was on the other side of that door, and I was about to meet him.

I had to take several deep breaths in order to be able to raise my hand and knock on the door. I noticed my entire arm was shaking when I did. I wondered if I’d knocked loud enough because I stood there waiting, and nothing. I had just raised my arm again, this time determined to knock a little louder, when the door in front of me suddenly opened.

There stood the most gorgeous man I had ever seen. He had dark hair and eyes and the perfect amount of facial hair. His skin was golden brown, and he was a lot taller than I was. So much so that I had to look way up to look at his face. When I did, I saw his perfectly shaped lips part and his nostrils flare. My body had started tingling and vibrating, exactly as we’d been told would happen when we met our mate. My body’s aura was recognizing Calum’s. This was definitely my mate standing in front of me.

“Uh, Ben, I’m going to have to call you back,” he said. He brought what I assumed was a phone in front of him and touched it before he dropped his hands. “Where did you…how did you get here?” he asked.

It took a lot for me to get my body to respond. I finally smiled—at least, I hoped that’s what I did. When Calum smiled at me, I really hoped it was because I had smiled first. This was my mate. I was finally standing in front of him.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

I nodded. “Umm…I’m Asher,” I said. I glanced left, then right before I moved closer and whispered, “I’m from the fae realm, and the fates sent me here.”

Calum’s eyes widened, and he reached for my shoulders, pulling me into the room before he closed the door behind me. He did something, a loud noise clicking, and then I found myself caught between my mate and the door. All in all, not a bad place to be as far as I was concerned.

Chapter 3

Calum

I’d been talking to Ben about visiting next month once I had everything sorted out here in Egypt when I heard the quiet knock at the door. I’d ordered room service for dinner, but it shouldn’t have been here yet. That was only five or so minutes ago. I went to the door, not sure what to expect when I opened it, but finding the most adorable man I’d ever seen standing on the other side wasn’t it.

And he was most definitely adorable. He had blue eyes that stood out against his creamy skin and medium-brown hair. His hair was short on the sides and longer on top. Immediately, my thoughts went to grabbing ahold of it while I plowed into him from behind.

I vaguely remembered telling my brother I would call him back when that thought entered my mind. I didn’t have thoughts like that. I didn’t have sex with random people, and I certainly didn’t suddenly think about how it would feel to knot someone.

I was an alpha, and I had a knot, but it would only come out when I met my mate. Needing the cutie to move on so I could get rid of these thoughts, I decided to ask about him.

“Are you all right?”

“Umm…I’m Asher,” he told me before he looked both ways down the hallway and then leaned forward a little. When he did, I was able to get a better scent of him, and as he said the next words, it hit me all at once. “I’m from the fae realm, and the fates sent me here.”

I reached for Asher’s shoulders and pulled him into the room with me. I quickly closed and locked the door, throwing both the top and the bottom locks. I should have moved then. I had every intention of moving, but when I looked down, I found intense blue eyes staring back up at me.

Now that he was inside my space and I could feel the heat coming from him with how close we were standing to one another, there was absolutely no denying what my fox had screamed in my head just moments ago. This little fae was my mate.

It took an incredible amount of discipline to step back and give my mate some room. He said he was fae. That meant he’d obviously traveled, although I would imagine that wasn’t much different than me traveling with my father or brother. Just a thought, a little bit of magic, and poof, you were now on the other side of the world.

But it also meant he’d left his home. He was no longer in his own realm, and he was now here. But I didn’t live here. Not permanently, at least. This had been my room since I’d arrived, and I had to leave it for extended periods while out in the field on digs, but this wasn’t my home. It was a hotel room.

“I have a letter for you if you want it. If you don’t believe me. I was told it would explain things.” Asher pulled a rather large bag from his back and started trying to dig through it.

“No,” I said and held up my hands. He looked up at me, sadness in his eyes.

“No? You don’t believe me? The letter will explain.”

“That’s not what I meant. Only that no, I don’t need a letter. I can scent that you’re my mate. I believe you.” I moved to the side. “Do you want to come in? I have several questions, and we should probably talk.”

Asher looked at me and nodded. He then moved to the side, dropping his bag by the bathroom door, and walked closer. He stopped beside me, waiting and staring up at me.

“It’s not much, but it’s only temporary. Come on in,” I said, holding out my arm as I started walking into the room. I’d been sitting at the table, working while I could. I’d seen the reports, had been watching the news. The storm was already moving across the desert and would be here by midday.

“It’s nice,” Asher said. “Our house was maybe twice this size.” He shrugged before he went to the small couch and sat down. His hands immediately went under his thighs, and I went back to the chair I’d been sitting at in front of my laptop.

“I’m not sure,” I said, trying to figure out how to start any type of conversation. “What…no. You said you’re fae.”

Asher nodded. “Yes. I’m twenty-eight, and I’m my parents’ youngest. I have four older siblings, and all of them are actually quite a bit older. Only one was still at home when I was born, but I don’t remember them much because she found her mate and moved out before I was of an age to really remember much.”