Braving the Elements (3 page)

“Jesus, he sounds like a groupie
.”

Charles
smirked and rolled his eyes.

“So let’s go, let’s go. Follow me!”
Master Bert gestured everyone out through the doors.

As everyone shuffled outside
—the girls all throwing red faced glances Charles’s way, as usual—Charles said, “You’ve hit red, I don’t understand the problem…”

I didn’t, either.

I stepped through the backdoor of the mansion and onto a stone path. We followed the rest of the students through swaying trees, huddling in the darkness, the inky black licking my senses.

I closed my eyes as we walked, feel
ing that pulsing in my chest—the one I had tried to find inside, but hadn’t been able to. Now, with the night looming around me, pressing on all sides, it felt like something was released. Something inside me relaxed, the block dissolving away.

Suddenly, I felt the
magic crouching in Charles where he touched my back to direct me. The darkness whispered in the form of leaves rustling, of night birds calling, of the tickle of the wind as it stirred my hair. I connected with my childhood; peering through the darkness, seeking out the imaginary people. Feeling the whisper in my body, the tickle of my senses.

It had always been magic. I just hadn’t known.
And I attributed it to the night. I’d probably learned to control it, as Charles said, when on my own, feeling my way through the darkness.

J
oy filled my body, sensing Master Bert now, a glowing orb burning within him. Onto the other students, many with tiny sparks, nothing more than colored winks, and only two with a small flame.

I stopped, eyes closed, feeling the ground beneath me. Shoes
quickly shed, I stepped off the path, dirt at my feet, clutching Charles’s hand and dragging him with me. His inner orb felt my petting and started to dance, spinning and twirling.

The air brushed my face, wanting to be let in. The dirt at my feet wanted to climb up my body. The heat grew, the joy making me laugh. I raised my hands, my smile twisting, electricity filling the air, humidity squeezing out water.
Charles stood mute behind me, his orange orb starting to flicker brighter, a deeper color, merging with my power and intensifying.

“Isn’t it wonderful?”

Was that my voice? It sounded deep and sultry, sensuous. I laughed, carefree and light, my fingers crackling with power, spikes of pain pricking my skin.

“
No, Sasha!”

My body whipped around, brought into an iron chest and surrounded by bands of steal
arms. The joy cut off by a control more fastidious. Somehow, my magic was smoothed out and balanced, dissolving the danger.

In opposition, m
y heart jumped, beating wildly in my chest. Heat filled me, but not from magic. I leaned my head against Stefan’s hard chest and sighed.

“What are you playing at?” His words bounced off my head.

“I don’t know, it felt wonderful. I was so happy for a minute.”

“You were trying to draw too much.
You have to learn to control each element before you bring them together. Most importantly, you have to learn to cut off the draw.”

His heart pushed against my cheek pleasantly.
“
That’s
what I did?” I backed off his chest so I could meet his intense black eyes. His handsome face took my breath away, his strength and power had me floating, his presence and charisma making me melt. It wasn’t fair, this thing he did to me. It wasn’t fair that his choice as mate was an equally beautiful jerk named Darla who didn’t deserve him.

“How’d you know I needed to come outside?” I whispered.

His head leaned down fractionally, getting closer. “You feel things. You respond. React. You’re not a planner or a plodder. I figured if you were exposed to it, your body would remember how to do it. But you have to control it. It was dangerous what you just did. You know what happens when you draw too much.”

“I don’t…” I shook my head. “I don’t know how to control it.”

“That’s why you’re in school,” he whispered, his pupils dilating. His eyes roamed my face, touching my eyes, my nose, glancing across my cheek, then to my mouth. He sucked in a deep breath, his eyelids drooping. His fingers tightened on my arms, drawing my body closer.

My hands landed on his lateral muscles, bumpy and delicious.
I breathed in his smell, musk and masculine. Safety and protection.

“Boss, Bert is nearly here. This the way you want him to see you?
Damn it
, she smells good when she’s turned on!”

Stefan
jerked me away from him, his eyes blinking quickly as they refocused. He let me go and stepped back.

I could have kicked Charles!

Master Bert hustled up, his eyes catching me and relaxing. A second later, they hit Charles with a scowl, then hit Stefan. “Oh my gosh! Boss! What are—
hello
! Did you detain them? Maw, I feared something had happened to them, the tricky little monkeys.”

“So
mething did.” Stefan gently pushed me toward Charles. Before he took his hand away, I could have sworn his thumb brushed my collarbone. “Sasha tried to draw too much. Charles let her do it, staring at her like a googly-eyed teenager. She needs to be watched. She’s above the other students in power level—dangerously so.”

“Well, hmm.”
Master Bert put his hand to his chest in thought. “I confess, I didn’t know if she could even
reach
her power. What an excellent suggestion, then, coming out here. Maw, yes. Hmm. Should I separate them? Move them up a level?”

Stefan
blew out a breath. “We’ll have to divide her time. Put her in more classes; speed up her education. Learn elements from you, push her to James for weapons, then to Darla for incantations.”

“Not Darla,
” I blurted.

Stefan
speared me with his Boss stare. My back and lower cheeks tingled, a warning that danger headed my way. I shut the hell up before he did something awful.

To
Master Bert he said, “This starts tomorrow. Get her working. We don’t have a lot of time—she’s in danger every time she uses her magic without control.” His bearing still filled with command, expecting to be obeyed at any cost, his next words were for me. “And no more reckless car rides. You’re putting yourself in needless danger. They stop immediately.”

My
argument died on my lips as his powerful gaze shocked into my system. Didn’t mean I agreed, though.
Easier to ask forgiveness than permission…

“Maw, yes!
” Master Bert nodded at Charles and I, still thinking about my education. “Absolutely, Boss! Your pet is safe with me.”

As the words sank in, the world slowed down. My gaze
swiveled to Master Bert, incredulous.

“Yes, well.”
Stefan turned, a flash of irritation smearing his face before he stalked off.

“Pet?” I asked
Charles in a disbelieving whisper as Master Bert led the way. “Is that what he said?”

My mind flashed back to Jonas on the first night we met them.
When he and Charles had called me
little pet.
They’d thought Jared and I would break down and do as they said in mindless agreement. We were only as good as our willingness to drop our pants. Dimwitted humans. Lesser species.

Anger filled me.
Shaking my head and blinking, I realized that I was being led by an oblivious Charles. His thoughts weren’t bent on how wrong that term was, how immoral. Quite the opposite. It was a given.

What the hell was wrong with these people?

I sucked that thought in. I tucked it away. I didn’t know how to handle it yet, the pain of it—so I would stuff it in a new secret box. I’d thought that if I learned this stuff, earned my reputation, I’d fit in. Nowhere in that equation was stooping to being a
pet
human.

My chin rose
as my heart fell, refusing to let that term diminish my accomplishment of sucking in elements. I’d show them I wasn’t just a stupid human. I’d learn this stuff and rock their world.

Somehow.

Charles was in stitches for the rest of the class. It seemed that pulling in elements once was enough for Sasha to thoroughly figure out how to do it repeatedly. Other students, even the best, would need a few seconds of concentration before they had some magic flowing. Not Sasha. Not anymore. She couldn’t pay attention for crap, she couldn’t remember even a sentence of knowledge if she heard it, but let her work with her hands once, and she got it. Not only that, but she pulled in way too much, freaked out, and then puffed a red fog that had the ability to singe off eyebrows.

Bert had gotten less and less chipper as the class wore on. He also had less and less hair on the top of his head.
It seemed Sasha could pull fire the best. Yee haw. Plus, every time she did something before Salline, the top overachiever in class, she nodded to herself. She was pitting herself against the best and keeping tabs, willing herself to be better.

Thank God, too
, cause Charles was really starting to get worried. He’d heard she could turn a letter opener red when she first came here. That was a decent flow of magic. Not only that, but she had the Boss’s eye. It took a special ability to have him looking—hinting at much higher than red. But up until now, she was like every other human that someone brought around to show off: fairly useless.

But what the hell was up with that strange shadow she had going on
? It was like a wispy essence of the Boss hanging around her. Every time she bent over, or looked up at him in jubilation, or did something feminine, Charles would get wood. Natural enough. Except, when he thought about trying a move, he’d get a strange scent wafting by, that kinda smelled like the Boss in the height of rage. If that didn’t deflate the ol’ sails, Charles didn’t know what would.

Great gods, Charles n
eeded to get laid. It’d been twelve days! The crazy human had him always on his toes—he was afraid to leave her alone in case she did something stupid. Like go give the Boss the finger.

“Alright, let’s go for a ride.” Sasha stalked off toward the house in determination.

“Whoa, wait a minute.” Charles ran to catch up, unable to help a smirk at the small curl of smoke rising from Bert’s scalp. The man should’ve just backed away like everyone else. “The Boss said no to that.”

“True. And if you aren’t a snitch, we won’t get caught going against his wishes.”

“Sasha, no. No way.” Charles grabbed her arm to keep her from marching through the gate toward the parking lot. A pure shot of lightning blasted his palm.

“
Ow!” He shook his hand. “Why the hell are you sparking? What are you, a mutant?”

“No.
Just a pet. Or maybe that’s the same thing,” she muttered softly.

He got the feeling he wasn’t supposed to hear that
. Her chest bowed in. He’d seen people do that in the field, closing down, trying to protect their vitals. The words, quiet and deep, hinted at a profound hurt. Something more than just taking offense to that idiot Bert. Something more than indignation, or even outrage. This was something older; old haunts that stayed with her.

Charles had noticed her look of crushed bewilderment earlier. He’d seen the dark cloud settle more firmly around her shoulders. It was heavier and darker than the previous dark cloud of failure and uncertainty. It
was adding weight and pressure, which might crush her chances of becoming whatever the Boss thought she could be.

The strange thing was
, Sasha seemed like such a tough, street-smart girl. She would run head-first into danger with a smile on her face, but call her a pet and she broke down. There was a sensitivity there, an uncertainty of being different and cast aside, that flowed beneath the fun-loving, brash exterior. She might play at being indestructible, but she was a person underneath it all, with the same soft spots and triggers. Charles could sympathize; he was extremely young for Watch Commander, and got poked at and ridiculed constantly. He’d spent a whole year beating the crap out of people to mask his insecurity. Sasha would beat this, too, she just had to beat a few heads first.

Maybe Charles should show her how. Later, though. For right now,
he would use a little charm. He’d been studying up, watching the human romance movies. A little research and
voila
, spread legs and a happy ending. Fail proof.

“Hey,” he said, careful not to touch her in case she blasted him with one of those hair eating fogs. “Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?”

“No. You must’ve missed that step in your pick-up routine.”

Her voice was flat.
Serious, or sarcastic… It was hard to tell with her when she was in a bad mood. Probably serious—she didn’t tend to joke when she was sad.

Movie rule number one:
when in doubt, apologize.

“I’m sorry, that was my fault
. I can be really oblivious at times. But you really are, you know. You have beautiful eyes…”

She hesitated as she reached for the door handle. Slowly,
not able to help herself, she turned to him, insecurity riding her movements. Fidgety. “Yeah right. I’m ugly compared to the girls in that mansion.”

Her long eyelashes fluttered and her heart-shaped lips dropped into a sensuous pout. Oh man, it would be worth it fighting t
hat weird essence of the Boss. Charles wanted to conquer this mountain so bad, it hurt.

However, m
ovie rule number two: he had to take it easy. Easy and sensitive—human chicks dug that.

He suppressed his grin and leaned against the car. “They have nothi
ng underneath it. All they are is hip and breast. You are the whole package. You make me want to be a better person.”

Her brows dipped in confusion as her body unconsciously swayed toward him. He straightened up a little, draping his body around her, but not touching her yet. He had her on the hook, but he hadn’t reeled her in. She was skittish. He had to take his time.

“I am?” Her pout got more pronounced, uncertainty tugging at the corners of her lips.

Classic chick response.
“Yes, you are. You’re really sexy. I’m scared of walking away and never feeling, in my whole life, the way I feel with you right now. You get me in all the right ways. No one else affects me like you do.”

Her lamb eyes blinked up at him, hopeful.
Trusting. Wanting to be something special to a man, and begging him to be that guy. To give her that fantasy of happily ever after.

He bent down toward her, his face close to hers, his
hands settling low on her hips. “We fit together, you and me. I like you just the way you are. We’ll make magic together.”

She stepped closer, unable to help herself, her eyes on his lips. Her hands, kept low, reached for him, needy. Wanting to be loved.

A surge of electricity lit up his world. His teeth welded shut and his eyes vibrated in his skull.
He rolled back against the metal of the car and shimmied down the hood. Electricity frazzled his nerves and zinged out through his limbs.

“Why would you do that to me?” he yelled,
spasming on the ground. “And what the hell did you just do?”

“A whistle is good, but sometimes I like the power of a Taser.”

“Uuuuhhhhhh-uh.” His body pulsed in a horrible way. “That’s a helluva way to treat someone who’s complimenting you!”

“Charles,
really?
We’d make magic together? You like me just the way I am? Why didn’t you just say, ‘You complete me’? And no way do I rank over the super models with crazy kick moves that walk in that house. Give me a break.”

“I was trying to make you feel better!”

“By coming on to me?
And, I feel fine. What are you talking about?”

The way
he noticed her standing, though, with her chin raised and her face wary, it was pretty clear she did not feel fine. Charles had a feeling she was really self-conscious about something. But she was still fingering that damned Taser like her own personal bodyguard. Two words flashed through Charles head: s
teer clear.

“My mistake.
Operation: Let’s Get Charles Killed When the Boss Finds Out Sasha Has Defied a Direct Order is underway. Let’s get this baby up to one-twenty-nine this time.”

“No problem.”

His balls hurt. Stupid human movies. Now he’d have to give it some time before trying to have sex with her again. Otherwise, she may do irreparable damage.

The next day saw Bert completely hairless and extremely irritated. The man just would not back off when Sasha gritted her teeth and swore. It was his own damn fault.

The bad news was
Sasha was now being ridiculed by the other students. Blasting red when no one else could surpass measly purple, hanging out with a hunk Watch Captain, and working magic in a way no one had ever heard, inspired jealousy. Jealousy inspired snide comments and the term
pet
to be thrown around constantly. The better Sasha got, the worse the comments became.

By the time the class was over, Sasha’s body was rigid and her only
response to her mood was
fine.

“You don’t seem fine,” Charles
remarked as they broke for mid-meal. With the new schedule, they got a short break before weapons.

Sasha’s shrug was tense and robotic. “I
don’t know what to tell you. I’m fine.”

“Those kids are just jealous.
They’re being dicks on purpose.”

This shrug looked more like a weird dance. “I know. It’s fine. Seriously
Charles, don’t worry about it—I’m fine.”

“Sasha—“

“Stop staring at my boobs.”

Charles yanked his gaze upwards. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

Her smirk vanished as the familiar forlorn expression resettled on her face. The knot in her forehead winked back into existence. Charles had realized it was her thinking cap. “I just have to get really good at this.” She sighed. “Stefan is gold, and that’s great. Do you want to eat outside? I don’t feel like being overheard when I’m trying to remember stuff.”

Charles loaded a plate with meat from the house buffet and followed her out.
“The Boss is deep, burnished gold. It’s the highest level before you rocket into white.”

She nodded and sat, putting her plate off to the side and pulling out her notes.
Charles’ eyes monitored her lips as she chewed on the end of her pencil. He really wanted those lips wrapped around the head of his—
“
Ow!” He rubbed his nose where she’d just snapped him with her pencil.

“Get laid, already. Focu
s for two seconds. So pale gold is…” Her clear hazel eyes stared at him.

“Not as strong as the Boss.”

She nodded again. “The order is purple, as the lowest, blue, green, red, orange, gold, white, black.”

“Explain to me why this is so hard for you to remember?”

Sasha threw him a scowl. “I’ve never heard any of this stuff before. You’ve heard it since you were a kid. Give me a break. Okay, I should be extra awesome, since I’m supposed to be black, but instead, when I do things, they seem to have the opposite effect. Like I’m doing it wrong. Or something. I can’t understand Bert half the time when he tells me things.”

“
Wait…you’re supposed to be black? Who said?”

Sasha waved it away. “I shoot black stuff in dire situations.
Stefan thinks this is good news.”

Huh. Yeah, that would explain a great many things
with the Boss. But he’d never even
heard
of a black power level…

Back on track, he said, “
Maybe you’re not doing it wrong, but it’s just because you pack such a wallop?”

“I use red all the time. That should be middle tier. How is that a wallop?”

“I don’t know. Maybe use your normal power level and it gets easier?”

She shook her head in frustration. “That’s what I mean. It doesn’t seem to work like that for me. You guys struggle to pull magic when it gets closer to your power level. For me, when I get higher up there, all of a sudden it is like trying to hold back a flood.
Like I am wrestling with a bear, or something. It’s not the same. Why am I not the same, Charles? Why am I always different?”

Charles
had one terrified moment of panic when he thought she would cry. Her eyes glistened and her body bowed in on itself, fragile and vulnerable. Dealing with a lifetime of insecurities and loneliness. He’d asked some questions during her high after those car rides—she couldn’t remember actually losing her parents, but she constantly felt their absence; the hole where unconditional love was supposed to reside. Her foster family hadn’t fully taken her in; they’d merely been a place to live. Her boyfriend, as her chosen family, hadn’t ever really understood her. She’d always been the square peg trying to smash itself into the round hole.

Kind of like her set up right now.

Charles couldn’t help his heart going out to her, but it didn’t change his terror at what to do if she freaking cried! Should he pat her back, or give her a hug? Last time he tried to console a female, she got pissed off that he thought she was weak and kicked him in the face. Human women weren’t as violent, though. Right? The movies always had the guys being supportive—but he’d tried going the romance movie route and that had ended horribly.