The Untamable
Summary: I took poetic license with Voltage's Star Crossed Myth and their character Leon. Somehow I didn't think they did justice to the Wild Lion of the Heavens and the plot was rushed. So I wrote my own. This was more for my own entertainment than anything, but I still thought I'd share it.
Chapter 1
I died the day a god fell from the heavens.
It was a day like any other, but not for me. I had never seen a darker sky, a louder thunderstorm or a fiercer, more merciless rain.
It was clear the heavens were not happy.
"Last chance Goldfish."
I took one last look at him. He was almost too beautiful to look at now. Completely restored to his divine self, he stood imperiously, one hand on his hip, the other held up as he examined his nails. As if he didn't care what decision I made.
Hmph. As if.
I glanced down to the dark ground nearly three stories down. It was a long way after all.
"I don't have all day."
I glared at the auburn haired idiot. Didn't he realize what I was about to do? Everything about him, the angled hair hanging sexily in his face, the elegant nose, the straight perfect mouth nearly screamed disinterest. He didn't care. But those eyes. Those honey eyes were nearly ochre and flashing with…something. I couldn't quite name it.
It was there on the tip of my tongue, but so far away.
I could only taste it and it was enough.
I jumped off the building.
The nightmares had been relentless last night.
It was no wonder I was exhausted by the time I made it to office.
I've never been religious. The concept of spirituality is a book I've never opened. I've been a scientist most of my life. A student of astronomy. The big bang, the evolutionary leap were just theories I read in college. My head had never been in the clouds, but firmly on the ground just gazing up at the stars. For me anything celestial was gas and light billions of light years away and God was simply an entity in my periphery watching me live my life and having an occasional beer and a good chuckle when I stumbled. Which was probably eight or nine times every day.
"Will you hurry up Storm!"
Ironically, my mother had been a huge Marvel fan. And so I'm the butt of a many Mother Nature jokes considering my major had been planetary climate change.
Sara had a clipboard in one arm, hugged to her chest, and one arm trailing behind with which he proceeded to drag me up the flight of stairs.
Not particularly athletic I'm pretty sure I was not only holding her back, but increasing both our chances of a heart attack. I blamed her. She didn't want to wait for the elevator. That's Sara is general. She's in a hurry all the time. With work, life, boyfriend; everything. She wants it too fast. Maybe it's good I'm friends with her. I like to take my time, plan in advance and proceed with caution but gusto. With burning thighs, and heaving breaths, I let her tow me up three flights of stairs. The roof top was our destination, a huge sprawl of concrete, grass and glass. It had been the perfect venue to hold our event.
We were both on the organizational committee but one of us had an ulterior motive. I wanted a raise, but Sara was afraid our gorgeous blond CEO would be snared by Cassidy, our PR manager before we could get to him. It was a huge climb, pun intended. Sara was overreaching, but with such enthusiasm, I didn't have the heart to tell her that Sean, although sweet, was completely blindsided by Cassidy. The big bosomed woman with her frills and coiffed curls was far shinier than my petite, redheaded friend. Even if she had the largest, most fantastic green eyes I'd ever seen and curves I would kill to have.
I wished my mother had given me the Marvel genes to go with my name. Me? I'm stubborn and a little on the tall side. So you can imagine it's hard to look up to men. Again, pun intended. My eyes change color with my mood. Mostly they are grey, but on sunny days there are tinges of gold and on dark gloomy days a splash of blue. Unfortunately, my moods are just as capricious. Makes me a harder to get along with. My only redeemably quality? Thick, long golden hair that hangs to my waist.
A man once told me he wants to wrap it around his wrist and do things to me in college.
I keep in in a bun. Ahem.
On the roof the music was finally flowing without a glitch. The sound guys gave us thumbs up. We'd finished helping Cassidy with the preparations an hour ago to go get dressed. Helped was a loose term. She'd stood there pointing and ordering. But one look at her and I realized we shouldn't have bothered to change at all. She had stepped out of some magazine cover in all her red dress, glossy chocolate waves and big thick eye lashes. I heard the deflating sigh come from Sara before finally drawing full, happy breaths. We were done running.
"Sara?"
"We're too late," she wailed softly.
Wrapping an arm around her shoulders easily from my height, I gave her a squeeze. "Remember the plan. Intercept, distract and flirt like crazy. I'll handle Cassidy."
Her lip worried between her teeth as usual and I rolled my eyes. "Go." I propelled her towards the small gathering of office workers that surrounded our CEO. He was like that. Golden and shiny. I didn't really understand the charm.
Taking a moment to admire our handiwork, I looked around the beautiful roof top party. The Planetarium had thrown the fundraiser for a new black hole simulator. The elite had gathered to repay Sean for his shininess. Most of them, women. I went over their heads and admired the pretty string of bulbs that simulated effect of walking among the stars. Despite myself, I couldn't help credit Cassidy for her creativity. The whole theme looked beautiful. Almost bright enough to dull the real spread of stars above us. Almost.
I stood gazing at them for too long. By the time I spotted Sara, she had Cassidy nearly leaning over.
Crap.
I scrambled forward throwing 'excuse me' and 'coming through' but the crowd seemed to get thicker. A murmur started somewhere in the corner and slowly became a crescendo of 'oohs' and 'ahhs'. They were so enamored that I couldn't help pause and take a look at what the commotion was. Thankfully Cassidy had similar ideas and poor Sara was finally spared.
And there in before the gazebo stood six men. If they could be called men. Like something out of a fantasy movie, they stood with a myriad of glares, disinterest and excitement. Clad in uniform white suits, complete with gold trimming I joined in the wide eyed stares they were fixed with.
Holy crap!
The other five men were beautiful, but him! He was right there standing right in the middle in all his glory. The guy in my dream! White coat unbuttoned, white shirt unbuttoned at the throat, and the necklace with a red jewel at his throat. Nothing was different. Completely self-satisfied and imperious. I resisted the urge to slap myself awake. Because the amount of people around me were shoving and pushing to get a closer look. I just let them jostle around me as I gawped in horror and fear. It was not a dream.
Holy mother of crap!
He was tall. Slightly taller than the other five. His eyes roved over the people almost as if he was searching for something. Or someone.
I shrank back into the crowd.
"Storm Walker."
One of them spoke and like the Nile, the crowd parted leaving me standing there with the spotlight.
My inner monologue went something like this: Oh my god, he sees me. Oh my god, he sees me. OH MY GOD!
His brow furrowed, one hand on his hip as he cocked his head to the side. "Didn't your mother teach you not to take my name in vain?"
"That's rather presumptuous of you Leo. I believe she was talking to me." A raven haired man scoffed at my familiar face. A face that now had a name. Leo. What kind of name was Leo?
"Shut up Scorpio."
My eyebrows shot up. Wait, what?
"You're both mistaken;" a flaxen haired man shook his head, his honey eyes watching me with interest. Like one would watch a trapped butterfly. "I'm pretty sure she was talking to me."
"Come on Taurus. Why does it always have to be you," the fourth man leaned an arm on Taurus' shoulder and grinned. "Hey babe, I'm Pisces. But you can call me Issy."
The fifth, a quiet indigo haired man rolled his eyes. "You're all a little mad." His voice was so melancholy.
"Aquarius is right." The last one watched me curiously, his brown mop of hair falling into his eyes. "Shouldn't we at least check if she indeed has stars in her eyes?"
They were all gorgeous, but for the life of me, my eyes wouldn't move past the auburn haired man with the slanting haircut. And much to my growing horror, his mouth widened into a wicked smirk. He knew exactly who had my attention.
"You there! Girl, look at me."
The smirk twisted into a chuckle and he began to make his way to me. My feet rooted on the spot, I stared with growing trepidation. "Forget it Scorpio. This human is already mine."
"Tsk, fine. Pisces, Gemini, we're leaving."
He was getting closer so I did the only thing my screaming nerves and breathless heart could manage.
I fainted.
The world was beautiful; filled with stars, floating clouds and pretty purple skies. Peaceful, tranquil and right.
"Good choice.
The peace and quiet was rudely disturbed and light broke out around me. With a groan, I touched my aching temples and something tightened around my waist.
Then the memories came rushing back.
Eyes snapping open I stared up at the face that inspired my most beautiful nightmares. "Oh my god!"
Those ochre eyes rolled. "There you go again." He drew closer and my heart clenched in my chest. "I already heard your wish human."
That's when I realized I hadn't really hit my head. Nothing was broken when I collapsed.
Head rushed to my cheeks.
I had fainted like a little girl.
What was worse, the scarily beautiful man was holding me, his arms wrapped around my waist, his face blinding me to everyone else.
"Storm! Are you okay!"
Head swimming, I turned around to see Sara, Cassidy and Sean walking up to me. And here I was still in a swoon in Leo's arms. Planting my hands against his chest I pushed only to realize he was like a rock, immovable. Head snapping up, I stared up at him in shock and for a moment I saw a flicker of humor before his eyes were back to their mocking apathy. When his vice like arms withdrew, I stumbled on my own weight and pulled on the edge of my grey pencil skirt consciously. "Ahem, yeah. I'm fine."
Sara's big green eyes were wide as she wrapped her hands around my upper arm. "That was scary. You nearly face-planted into the red carpet! What happened?"
How could I tell my best friend that her usually straight laced, logical friend just had an adolescent panic attack? It was just too embarrassing to admit. "I think the run up the stairs probably drained me."
"Gee, I'm sorry. We'll definitely take the elevator next time. Thank you! You saved her! That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen! Are you her boyfriend!?"
Hand clamping down on her mouth, I stared wide eyed Leo who seemed to grow impatient, his eyes flickering over the party as it began to resume as if nothing had happened. "Hehe. Sara. My friend. She has a wild sort of imagination."
"So I gather," he said dryly before taking a hold of my elbow purposefully. "We have to go."
"Wha…go?" I turned to see Sara waving. Saying: go be happy. He'd pretty much dragged me across the rooftop to a secluded corner when I dug my heels and wrenched my arm from his grasp. "Now wait just a minute! What the hell do you think you're doing?"
That perfect masculine eyebrow arched. "Excuse me?"
"Sara is a little addlebrained with love. You are not my boyfriend and I am not going anywhere with you." I looked him up and down with a frown. "Besides, who dresses like that in real life?"
"Are we still pretending this is a dream?"
That would be impossible now. Taking a deep breath, I watched the party behind me. People laughing and dancing as the telescopes were unveiled for stargazing. That was supposed to be my shining moment. But I saw Cassidy happily guiding Sean around the arrangement with her winched up boobs like it was all her.
My mind caught fire and all that bluster turned to the man standing behind me. Spinning around, I glared daggers at him. "I have no idea what the hell is going on, but let me assure you, I am not going anywhere with you."
His eyes turned cold, and I've never seen a more terrible face. He looked like he was going to strike me down for a second before he scowled and run a hand through his hair. "You humans are always such a pain. Always with the insipid questions and the misled need to know everything. As if you could handle the truth."
My ire turned to incredulity. "Are you on crack? Is this some sick joke? Did my sister send you here to prank me?" I turned to look around. "Aria! This is not funny!"
"Enough, you raving lunatic." His hand closed around my bicep with biting force, my breath leaving me in a whoosh as he leaned close enough to touch his nose to mine. "You chose me. I'm your lord and master. It is your duty to serve me until I see fit. If you so much as utter another word of your arrogant feminist nonsense, I will pluck out your tongue and feed it to my dogs!"
I was pretty sure my eyes would have popped out of my sockets if they got any wider. My knees were like jelly. Not only was he scary beyond reason but his voice had gotten harder and darker than I'd ever heard. Like the night itself was resonating in it. And It wasn't because I believed his ridiculous demand or agreed to 'serve' him as he said, it just because he had scared the words right out of me. My tongue lay like a wooden thing inside my mouth.
When he seemed sufficiently satisfied with my obedience, he proceeded to wrap an arm around my waist and lifted his free hands to snap his fingers.
My world tipped off its axis.
Again.
To be Continued…