Author's Note:

Holy crow! In one night, this story got more favorites and alerts then I was expecting. I woke up with two inbox pages full! Sadly, most didn't have anything to say.. For those who did review, thank you. I love reading them. :)

Disclaimer: The Nine Lives of Chloe King belongs to ABC Family and Liz Braswell, respectively. All I want to play with is their characters and my plot. :)

. ... .

"Be quiet," Chloe said, and Alek watched her lips move when she spoke the words. Those lips; they were perfect. They were soft and smooth and he wanted nothing more than to kiss her thoroughly for the next few hours. Unfortunately, that wasn't in the agenda tonight. "My mom only just went to sleep," she said, lowering her voice to near-whisper. She sighed, as she opened her front door.

"Not to worry, kitten. I'm more quiet than you can ever be," Alek said, matching her volume.

Chloe frowned, "Did you just call me kitten?" she hissed.

He smiled and moved around Chloe and maneuvered through her house quickly. It was easy; Mai were always able to figure out how to get around places. Up her stairs Alek went and was laying on her bed before she had even gotten up the stairs.

She opened her door to the familiar, by now, sight of the Mai lounging on her furniture.

"Alek, what's going on?" Her voice was a normal tone now, and there was an edge of annoyance.

"What's going on is that I shouldn't be here telling you this. I can't..I can't believe I'm even doing this.."

A darkness passed over his face, and Chloe realized that this must be really important. She bit her bottom lip nervously, tucking a blonde curl behind her ear. She walked over to her bed and sat on the edge of it, near Alek.

"What is it, Alek?" she asked, her voice softer than before.

"The mission to bring your Jackal home today was two kinds of a trap," he said. Chloe opened her mouth, confused. Before she could speak, he continued, "Valentina wanted me to text her as soon as we found out where the Jackals were hiding. We weren't supposed to go in there. Mai hunters were on standby and-"

"What? Valentina lied to me? After I directly told her that Kai was under my protection and that I was taking him home." The news of this betrayal stung Chloe, who had put a lot of trust into Valentina. She looked at Alek, a question forming in her bright blue eyes, "If that's what was supposed to happen, why didn't it?"

Alek grinned, "Now you sound like Valentina," he said, pausing for a moment. "I was supposed to text Valentina when we found the location," he said slowly, as if he were choosing words carefully, "but I gave you my word. I couldn't go against you and obey her."

Chloe felt an odd sense of warmth spreading through her body, as she looked at Alek and listened to his words. For the first time, she felt as though she had a direction with this whole Uniter thing. The news about Valentina made her uneasy, though. The fact that I was the result of a thousand year prophecy and I was called the 'Uniter' obviously didn't mean anything to her.

"Thank you, Alek. That means..so much to me. You don't know," she said, and Alek smiled at her. She wanted to lean forward and kiss him again. Her lips tingled at the thought, but she controlled herself as well as she could. She needed to stay focused.

"What do you think about Valentina?" she asked him, and his mouth formed into a frown.

"I don't know, kitten. I'm not sure if she's got an agenda against you, but I do know that you shouldn't trust her as blindly as before. However, you don't want her as an enemy..if it ever gets to that point."

Please oh please oh please don't get to that point, Chloe prayed in her head. She nodded and fell silent.

Alek sighed, "I should be getting back, now. Valentina will be wondering where I got along to. I'm supposed to take the night off," he motioned to his many injuries.

Chloe felt a spasm of panic when he mentioned leaving, but of course he had to go. What was she thinking? Just because he kissed her didn't mean he was magically going to stay around for forever. She took a breath and nodded.

"Alek..before you go, I just.."

As Chloe stumbled over whatever she was trying to say, Alek's hand grabbed her lightly, pulling her closer to him. Their lips met and Chloe felt herself melting into him. His hand tangled in her hair, slightly pulling it; a pain that felt good. The liquid heat spread through Chloe's body and she gasped at the feeling. Their tongues met then, Alek's dancing with hers in soft, velvety movements. Chloe moaned lightly into the kiss.

Alek pulled away from Chloe's mouth and the girl whimpered so quietly that he knew it hadn't been on purpose.

Alek's brown eyes studied her, awed by how beautiful she was. Her amazing blue eyes, however, were closed.

"Look at me." he said, as he trailed a finger down her cheek and then followed the curve of her neck with his finger as well. Her blue eyes opened and met his. For a moment they just stared at each other. Alek noted how her pupils were slightly elongated, and pulled her closer to him.

He leaned to her, breathing in her perfume that she had sprayed at the base of her neck. Closing his eyes, he planted a light kiss on the curve of her neck. He heard Chloe gasp, almost silently, and began kissing from the base of her jaw to her collarbone. It left Chloe breathless. His lips were so soft and smooth on her skin, and she couldn't describe what his performance was doing to her body.

Hit bit down easily on the smooth, creamy skin of her neck and there was a jolt of pleasure that surged through her body, straight to her core. Her eyes, that she hadn't even realized she shut, flew open.

"Alek..."She said breathlessly, pushing him away lightly.

"Mmm," Alek said, as he began kissing his way up to her cheek, stopping as he placed the last kiss there. "Yes, kitten?"

"You were saying that you needed to be getting home," she said, though her voice cracked at the end of it. She pulled away from him. Alek smiled at her, and she blushed.

"Too true. Goodnight, Chloe." He placed a last kiss on her lips, and then stood off her bed. Chloe watched as he climbed out her window, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

. ... .

Chloe's POV

I was outside, near a river. I could see it and hear it in the distance, but wasn't close enough to touch it. The land was nothing that I have ever seen. Sand was all around me, and the sun scorched so brightly and so hot that it almost made me dizzy.

"It takes some getting used to, I agree," a voice said from behind me. It was both beautiful to hear to and hard to listen to, and I turned around to see a beautiful woman. She was tall and her long hair was blacker than any black I've ever seen. Her eyes, brilliantly green, were almond shaped and the pupils were slits down the middle. She wore clothes the same color of her skin, and I wasn't sure which was which.

"Where..where am I? And who are you?" the words came out of my mouth and the beautiful woman simply smiled at me, and looked at me intensely with those odd green eyes.

"Chloe, who do you think I am?" she asked, and I was silent. For some reason I didn't understand but simply felt, and I knew who she was.

"Bestet?" I asked, and she nodded. "But..where are we?" I asked again, looking around.

She looked around for a moment before speaking, "Well if you're wondering where this spot is, that's the Nile River," she said, pointing to the river not too far from us. "Not surprising your mind would bring you here for your first encounter with me, but I assure you, this is a dream of your brain's creation."

"This-This is a dream?" she asked, amazed. "It feels..so real, and it looks so..clear. Except you. You hurt to look at and to hear," she admitted and the goddess smiled beautifully.

"You'll get used to talking to a Goddess. I'm sure we'll be in touch quite a lot for the next years to come."

Her words sent a wave of anxiety to my stomach. Years to come?

"But..Goddess, I don't understand why you're talking to me now.."

"You didn't honestly think I'd give you nine lives and not expect me to talk to you, Chloe King. Really?" the goddess said, with an edge in her voice that made it even more painful to listen to.

"I wanted to say that you did the right thing to bring that Jackal home today. Anubis and I have always disapproved of our creation's ill will to each other. That's not what we planned, but things are the way they are. The main point is that you've made one of the first steps to becoming the true Uniter that the Mai, humans, and everything inbetween need you to be."

"What does that even mean? What am I supposed to even be doing?" she asked. "And can you tell me anything about Valentina?"

A shadow crossed over the beautiful goddess' face, "Do not trust that woman farther than you can throw her, Chloe King. I see evil in her heart, and she will cause you a lot of grief. What I need you to do is meet other Mai leaders, outside of San Francisco. There's so many more that can teach you better what it is to be Mai," the Goddess told her, "Valentina is good at getting what she wants. If you're not it, she gets rid of you."

Chloe felt a chill of terror go down her spine as she listened to the goddess' prediction.

"I'll ask Alek about other Mai clan leaders tomorrow, I guess," Chloe said quietly.

The goddess smiled, and bowed her head. "You're so brave, Chloe I couldn't have asked for a better Uniter. Now relax, and go back to sleep."

And the world went black again.

. ... .

Author's Note:

Yes, I leave it there because to be honest I'm still getting in the swing of writing again. I hope you liked the chapter! Hopefully the next chapter things will pick up. Until then, I'd like to add that reviews make me write faster..*smile*