MATED TO MY TWIN'S MATE

SOMEONE ELSE

Diane was playing idly with her fingers, sitting right in front of Rydar who wouldn't stop looking at her like one entranced by a spell. Probably he thought he was dreaming that Sky was actually sitting in front of him… in the flesh.

“I've just been there,” Diane answered.

He'd asked her where she'd been after all that while; how she disappeared. He just wanted to know everything.

“I was scared something terrible happened,” Rydar chuckled, “I was even told you died in the fire.”

Fire? Diane wondered inwardly.

“Yes, the fire…” she cleared her throat, “It happened so suddenly, I didn't even know what to do….”

Maya was seated somewhere nearby, overhearing their conversation closely, although she was hidden from sight. She typed quickly on her phone, and Diane's phone simultaneously vibrated.

Diane took a quick peek at the screen of her phone, seeing the text her mother had just sent her.

'You're glad you're okay and happy you got to meet him again.'

“I'm just glad I survived,” Diane followed suit, smiling cutely at Rydar, “And that I got to meet you again.”

Rydar nodded casually, “I guess so. You caught me off guard earlier, when you bolted off like you'd seen a ghost or something.”

“Oh, that,” Diane giggled, covering her mouth, “I was just overwhelmed… I actually don't know why I ran.”

As she spoke, Rydar's eyes traced the lines of her face, absorbing every detail as if etching them into his memory. He was a very attentive person, especially with people he was fond of (he was hardly), and this focused attention of his didn't go unnoticed by Diane.

She felt a warm blush creeping up her cheeks.

“Is that so?”

Diane nodded shyly, “I'm sorry I did that, and that I made you come all the way here.”

“You drove me that crazy,” Rydar laughed, his grins slowly reducing into an attentive smile as he burned his gaze into Diane's eyes.

Feeling his hot gaze on her face, she cautiously averted her eyes. This was the absolute love of her dreams admiring her like stars in the sky. He was so god-like sitting there, that she so badly wanted to jump on him and give him the best kiss she'd ever done. But she had to remain seated there and just play along; being too forward might seem suspicious.

“You do feel the same way, right?” Rydar began again, after a few seconds of them just staring at each other.

“Huh?” Diane mumbled. Has something very serious been going on between him and Sky?

“The mate bond—” Rydar was stopped mid-sentence as he noticed the helper tripping over the rug on her way to where they sat, with the tray of drinks in her hands wobbling precariously.

Rydar, with his fast reflexes, managed to prevent the girl from taking an embarrassing tumble. Even though he saved her from falling, some of the drinks still spilled on his shirt. She was utterly mortified and quickly dropped the tray to the table, “I'm so sorry,” she pleaded, quickly pulling out a few strips of tissue to wipe the stain off.

“Get your dirty hands off him,” Diane sprang off from her seat and pushed the helper away, “You just can't do anything right, can you?”

“It's okay,” Rydar said to ease the situation, wiping some of the stain off with his hands. Naturally, he wasn't one to tolerate such, but he seemed to be a different person in front of his mate. Diane also suddenly remembered that she was supposed to act nice. She couldn't have him thinking that she was a mean person.

“I'm sorry for pushing you,” she quickly told the girl, smiling, “Did you get hurt?”

The girl, however, was still scared of what she'd done, and she also couldn't understand why Diane was acting nice to her all of a sudden.

“I'll… I'll get another shirt… I mean…” She stammered, “I'll… I'll….”

“Don't worry, just take the tray with you, I'll handle the rest, okay?” Diane smiled.

“Ok… okay,” the girl said and quickly rushed off.

Diane turned to Rydar, “I'm sorry about that…”

“It's fine,” he said. Rydar was taken to one of the guestrooms, where he had to take the stained shirt off to have it dry-cleaned on Diane's insistence. Maya was quick to act in this case and was able to prepare a new shirt as quickly as possible, handing the shirt to Diane.

Diane eagerly took the shirt with her to the guestroom. On getting there, she saw Rydar standing in front of the mirror shirtless. He had a well-defined physique, and the contours of his back were perfectly sculpted. The landscape of the finely chiseled muscles beneath his skin drew her eyes. He had a beautiful black tattoo on his back, an object she couldn't recognize, but who cared what it was? Her eyes trailed lower, following the gentle arches of his torso; the captivating indentation above his hips that formed a sensual bridge that made her yearn to explore into the realm of his masculinity. She was aroused.

But as quickly as he turned from the mirror, she was snapped out of her fantasies.

“Oh,” he smiled.

“I brought this,” Diane said clumsily, handing him the shirt.

“Thanks,” he said and took it from her hands. But as Rydar took the shirt from her, he felt an unexpected impulse of attraction to Diane, making him pull her closer with the shirt. Their bodies were now mere inches apart. A magnetic force seemed to draw them together, and he sensed a growing desire to bridge the remaining gap with a kiss.

Diane was equally enveloped in the moment; she felt her heartbeat quicken as Rydar pulled her closer. She'd longed for that moment so bad, and her eyes were fixated on his lips.

Rydar tightened his grip on the shirt and pulled her even closer, that they could now feel each other's breaths on their faces. He slowly arched his neck, bringing his face tantalizingly close to hers. Diane was ready for the moment, her eyes instinctively fluttering close.

Rydar reached for her lips. But just before he could make a connection, he felt an odd shift inside him, like a sudden barrier coming in between them.

He opened his eyes and stepped back from Diane. And with a slight frown on his face, he asked,

“Who are you?"