EarthBorn (The Elemental Born Book 1) (2 page)

Heading up to my room, I was planning on dropping the necklace off then heading down to Chelsea’s room, but that turned out unnecessary. Opening my door, I was instantly greeted by the sight of naked flesh. Chelsea was spread-eagled on my bed and the smell of her arousal was filling the air.

"I thought you might need a reminder as to why you keep me around," she said seductively, opening her legs wider to show me the pink, wet flesh between.

This was what I needed. Kaia was long gone. It was stupid of me to even be thinking of her now. Chelsea was the one I should be concentrating on.

"You thought right." Quickly I stripped and climbed up onto the bed, more than ready to lose myself in the feast before me.

Chapter Three

~

Kaia

The drive over to Dyanna’s seemed to take longer than usual, even though traffic was light and there were no roadworks on the motorway. Pulling up in front of the old farmhouse, I quickly grabbed my bags off the passenger seat and climbed out, just in time for Hetty to fling herself at my legs and cling on as if for dear life.

Hetty was the newest edition to Grace’s ever growing family. Grace was her great aunt, though, I forget how many greats actually come before the aunt part.

“Hey, Hetty. Are you going to let go?” I asked, looking down at her little blonde head.

“No,” she yelled, turning her little toothy grin up at me.

“Fine.” It was pointless arguing with her; she always won.

Slowly, I hobbled my way to the front door, brushing my feet on the mat as best I could with a three year old hanging onto my leg, before entering. Instantly, the feeling of home washed over me. This was my home, not the place I stayed when I stopped with my mother. That had stopped feeling like home after I’d found out she’d lied to me about why my father had left when I was five.

Hobbling through the house towards the kitchen – where I knew Grace would be, thanks to the wonderful smell of bacon and eggs drifting through the house – I attempted to shake Hetty from my leg. When I entered the room, I found the whole household there, minus Dyanna, of course. I knew my friend too well to expect her to be anywhere but hidden under the covers of her bed, dreaming of hot, naked men.

“Hey, Kaia,” Jess said, coming over to give me a hug before she spotted Hetty clinging to my leg. “Hetty, let go of Kaia, now,” she ordered her daughter. “I would love to say that I don’t know where she gets it from, but unfortunately, she plainly gets it from that damn father of hers.”

Jess’s ex-husband had a problem letting go of their relationship. It had been two years since Jess left him and moved her and Hetty in with Grace and still he kept coming around, trying to get her to go back to him.

“Kaia, stay,” Hetty cried.

“Yes, Hetty. Kaia is staying. So can let go of her now.”

Once I assured her that I was indeed here to stay, at least for the night, she let go of my leg and scrambled away before her mum could grab her and sit her down for breakfast.

“Dyanna is still upstairs, Kaia. Why don’t you head up and see if you can get her to show her face sometime before midday,” Grace commented from the stove.

“On it.”

~

Dyanna was in fact still in bed, but she wasn't asleep. "Can you tell the sun to go do one and stop being so bright this morning," she moaned from under the covers.

I laughed. "And what makes you think that the sun would listen to me?"

"You’re Earth. Surely you have some kind of say on the brightness that fucker shines down here. I swear the sun hates me today."

"You do know that the sun isn't a person, right? That it’s just a ball of gas millions of miles away."

"Of course I do. But it still hates me."

Walking over to the window, I pulled the curtains I knew Grace would have opened that morning in an attempt to get Dyanna out of bed, closed, instantly shutting out most of the light. "Better?"

Peeking out from her hiding place below the covers, she checked to see if the light was now dull enough for her alcohol sensitive eyes, before sliding up the bed to rest against the pillows. "Much."

Just like me, she was still wearing the clothes from the night before. "So how are you holding up? Looking forward to tomorrow?" she said with a smirk.

"Of course. What could be better than standing in the nude in front of a large group of men and tying my life to one of them, and in doing so, signing their death warrant?"

You see that was the problem. Anyone I bonded with would be in mortal danger right along with me. Anyone I was close to was. When I had first moved in with Grace and met Dyanna, I had done everything in my power to push her away, to make her hate me. I had done that with everyone else and it had worked… until her. Dyanna had seen straight through me

A few weeks after my thirteenth birthday, when my powers had begun to show themselves more and more, my mother had sat me down and told me the story of the Four... Again.

"I already know this. You've told me this story every damn year of my life," I’d moaned.

"Yes I have, and for good reason. It’s an important part of our history. But, now that your powers have begun to grow, there is something else I need to tell you." I could see her hands shaking in her lap as she’d fiddled with her fingers nervously.

What the hell was she nervous about?

"Okay," she’d sighed, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "I have always told you your father left because of me. That we just weren't compatible. Well, that isn't exactly true. He left because of you."

Those five words had broken me. Left me short of breath, tears in my eyes.

"What? Why?"

"Don't think he didn't love you. He did, very much so. It's just that when you were born and you opened your eyes for the first time, we knew you were different, special. We also knew that your life would very likely be a short one. You see, you’re no ordinary witch, Kaia.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean my life would
‘very likely’
be a short one?”

“You are one of the Four, Kaia. You are Earth. As your powers continue to grow, you will be able to control the earth itself. Already you’ve had a remarkable amount of control upon the plants you tend in the garden. That is why we named you, Kaia. It means earth. And that’s why he had to leave. He couldn’t stand the thought of watching you grow up, to only lose you before you even reached adulthood.”

“But why would he lose me?” I’d asked, so in shock that I hadn’t yet put two and two together.

“Because they all die young, have done since the demon killed the first Four all those centuries ago, and you will no doubt be any different.”

We had spoken a little more about my powers and what they meant, but there was one thing that had stuck with me good and proper. It had been that that had set me on the road to alienating myself and pushing everyone away – especially those I loved – in order to protect them.

“Only the Crone, Grace, knows what you are. It is safer that way. You must pick your friends carefully and not tell anyone who you are unless you trust them completely. And you must understand this. The demon will use anyone he can to get to you, Kaia… anyone.”

A year later I had gone to live with Grace, with no friends and no family left to wave me goodbye. They all hated me. And I was glad about that. I’d had no problems letting go of my so called friends back home. To be honest, I was never really that close to any of them. But being horrible to Ethan had been harder than I would ever have imagined. I’d done it, though. I’d pushed him away like I had all the others and made sure that in the end he hated me just as much, if not more than the rest of them.

“That does put a bit of a downer on it, I do admit, but still, what I wouldn’t do to be there at the Circle when it was full of hot, drool-worthy men.”

“I wish you could be there, it would make me feel better, less nervous.”

“I asked Grace again last night, once I had finished being sick that is. She said no.”

As soon as Grace had told me that it would be just me and her at the ritual, I’d asked if Dyanna and some of the girls could go with me. But as Grace had pointed out, only Dyanna knew the truth about my powers and it would be safer for her to not be there, just in case someone had leaked the news that the Elemental witches were performing the ritual to call her protectors early.

“I think what we need is a plan. I can’t be there, we have established that, but Grace never said I couldn’t be nearby. How about I park my car around the corner from the Circle? That way, if you need a quick getaway, if the guy is bone ugly or something, then I am right there waiting for you with the engine running so you can just run around the corner and jump in.”

I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face as Dyanna sat there telling me about how we could escape into the wilderness, where ever that was, and hide out. Everyone, including the demon, would never know where we were. We would live off the land and make our own vodka to sell at top dollar to the locals. Was there even any ‘locals’ in the wilderness? Dyanna really did get carried away when she was excited about something.

“Well, I'm not sure about the wilderness and vodka thing. Do you even know anything about making vodka? Anyway, it would be fantastic if you really were parked just around the corner.” At least then I’d know that I would have some form of escape if the worst happened and the spell picked someone there as my protector. It wasn’t a sure thing that my perfect partner would be there, but with the mass amount of people coming, it was very likely. If they weren’t there, the spell would call them to me, but it could take days, weeks, years even before they showed up. I hoped it would be the latter. At least that way, when the demon came for me, only I would die a horrible, painful death and he, whoever he was, would be safe.   

~

“So you managed to get her ass out of bed then?” Grace commented as we entered the kitchen an hour later, Dyanna having washed and changed into clean clothes.

“Yeah. Took a while, though.” I laughed.

“I bet.”

“Hey, I was already awake. It’s the suns fault for me not actually getting out of my bed,” Dyanna moaned, seating herself at the breakfast table.

Grace didn't reply to that comment, just shook her head, a small smile on her lips. “So Kaia, you all set for tomorrow? Have you learnt the incantation I gave you the other week?”

“Mmm…”

“Kaia,” she said sternly, turning her eyes to me. “It is very important that you know what you are doing. For one, you can never tell what will happen if a ritual is not performed correctly. And second, we need to set a good impression in front of the potentials. I expect you to have the whole thing memorised by the morning, understand?”

“Yes, Grace.”
So no last minute fun for me then.

Dyanna and I had been planning on sneaking out once everyone was in bed and heading down to ‘The Pit.’

The Pit was where the young generation of the coven hung out at night. I tended not to go there very often, with everyone hating me and all, but at that very moment, I could think of nowhere else I would rather spend my last night of freedom.

Looking over at Dyanna, I could tell that the news that I was expected to memorise the ritual before morning did not change her plans for our night time escape from here. She would get us there, even if that meant helping me study every second of the day until then.

“Grace, I was wondering. I'm not really comfortable with the whole nudity thing, and well would it be possible if I could wear a robe or something? I mean, I am performing it at a much younger age than normal, so...”

“I understand dear, I really do. You are still innocent, have kept yourself pure – unlike a certain granddaughter of mine,” she said, glaring in Dyanna’s direction. “I will talk to the others and see if they can think of an alternative. But you must prepare yourself for having to do it naked. It is tradition.”

Please, please let me do it in a robe.

“Here you go, girls,” she said a few minutes later, placing two large plates of eggs, bacon, sausage and beans in front of us. “I'll be in the barn if anyone needs me.” The barn had been converted into a potions room/classroom and had been where I had spent most of the last five years. “And remember, Kaia, you need to have that incantation memorised before the morning,” she warned as she closed the door behind her, leaving us alone in the kitchen.

“Glad I'm not in your shoes.” Dyanna laughed. “She once made me study the protector calling ritual as punishment for disobeying her, and fuck, that shit was hard.”

Great
.

Chapter Four

~

Ethan

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I had spent the best part of the day in my bed with Chelsea, wearing myself out, giving her orgasm after orgasm, reassuring her that this ritual meant nothing and that she had nothing to be worried about, only for her to track down my father and tell him that I was her mate? What the fuck?

"I mean, I know it's not official yet, but I don't see why he needs to go when he has me." Chelsea’s voice drifted around the corner, making me freeze in my steps as I made my way downstairs.

"I know for a fact that you two are not mates, Chelsea," my father's deep voice boomed. He was pissed, I could tell. Why Chelsea kept going I have no idea?

She must be fucking crazy.

"But he is. We've been together for years. He loves me."

"You have been
fucking
for years. I'm pretty sure there has been no official relationship between the pair of you. And as for him loving you, I wouldn't hold my breath."

"But he does. I know he does."

"Has he ever told you that? Said those exact words to you?"

"Well... No, not exactly."

"And he won't. My son doesn't use that word."

He was right, I didn't. I hadn’t told anyone I loved them since before my mother had died. And I certainly would never have said those words to Chelsea.

"Now if that is all, I have things to do. Goodnight, Chelsea."

I could hear his heavy steps heading my way, could sense his approach. I could also hear Chelsea’s heeled steps getting further and further away. I stayed where I was, knowing that my father would now want to speak with me.

As he rounded the corner, his eyes clashed with mine. "You need to end things with that girl once and for all, Ethan. Even if this witch’s spell does not select you as her protector, it will not be the last time Chelsea gets jealous and causes trouble for you. What happens if you are picked and the witch comes back here? Can you imagine the trouble and hurt that girl could reap? Or when you find your truemate, do you think Chelsea will just step back and let someone else take her place in your bed?"

"I'll talk to her," I promised.

"End it, Ethan, or I will." And with that he stormed on down the hallway towards his office, slamming the door behind him once he entered.

Fuck!

He was right. I needed to end it and soon, but not tonight. Tonight I just wanted to go for a drive and get the hell out of this place for just a few hours before I had to deal with her.

I needed to find the guys; hopefully, one of them would have an idea of how I could get rid of Chelsea. I'd tried before. Last year, she had started getting really clingy, constantly calling me at all hours when I wasn’t at the packhouse, texting me. At one point, I kept getting the strange feeling that she might have been following me, but nothing was ever proven. I'd told her it was over. Didn't last, though. That girl was hard to get rid of. She just kept turning up at my room wearing less and less every time, until, finally, she showed up completely naked.

And well, I'm male after all. I just couldn't help myself.

Entering the lounge where we all tended to hang out at night, I yelled to the boys. "Get your shit together guys, we are out of here.” Grabbing my jacket and picking up the keys to the SUV.

“What's wrong?” Zak asked as he and Frankie jumped up out of their chairs and rushed out the door behind me.

“Chelsea.” That was the only explanation needed.

“Dude, I really don't know why you hit that. I mean, yeah, sure, she hot and sexy and a good lay and easy to get under the sheets. But seriously man, that girl is not right in the head.”

I didn’t know why either anymore. The boys hated her, and even my wolf wasn’t too keen.

“Are any of the easy ones right on the head?” Frankie asked.

Zak laughed. “Probably not.”

Unlocking the car door, I got behind the wheel, instantly starting the engine and revving it impatiently. "Shotgun," Frankie called as he pulled Zak back from the door and swung him around before pushing him to the ground and jumping in the front passenger seat.

"You fucker!" Zak spat, climbing into the back. "So where are we headed? And what has Chelsea gone and done this time?”

"No idea as to where we're going, I just want to get out of here for a while. As for Chelsea, she's just being her usual clingy, annoying, jealous self. She seems to have got it into her head somehow that we are going to mate, and no matter how many times I tell her it’s never going to happen, she just won't let it drop. I heard her just now talking to my father about our
future
mating. Well, my future plans certainly do not include being stuck with that bitch for the rest of my life. I really need to get rid of her," I muttered, slamming my hand down hard on the steering wheel in frustration.

"Yeah right, as if she's ever going to let that happen."

"Well, we need to find a way because Alpha wants it ended… now."

"Shit, did he order it?"

When the Alpha ordered something, it was impossible not to follow that order. Even if you wanted to, our wolves wouldn't allow it. "No, but I'm pretty sure that if I don't get rid of her soon, he will."

It would probably be easier if he did. But no, I had to do this myself.

Tomorrow, I’ll do it tomorrow.

"How about we head over to Pete’s for a drink?"

Pete’s was a local bar on the border of our territory where pack land met with that of the coven. It was used by both groups, but it tended to be filled mostly with the pack than the Wiccans.

"Sure, but just for one, though. I need a clear head tomorrow to deal with Chelsea."

"Yeah, and full use of your senses so you know when to run," Frankie said with a grin.

Yeah, that I would definitely need.

~

Kaia

It took a while, but by the time everyone was tucked up in bed for the night, I had finally remembered every word that I needed to speak at the ritual and in the correct order too. It hadn’t been as hard as I had thought. The incantation itself was simple enough, it was all the prep that needed doing beforehand that was a little complicated.

Looking at the clock on Dyanna’s bedside table as we quickly piled up the books we had scattered all over the floor, it indicated that we only had fifteen minutes left in which to sneak off the property before the next guard patrolled the area we needed to cross in order to sneak out.

For numerous reasons, my being here included, Grace had a team of specially trained Wiccans to help guard the property. They were who we needed to get by. Once every hour, there was a small window of time when the guards had no clear view of a small section of wall on the east side of the property, and that was where we needed to go.

“We better move fast, Dyanna. Times almost up.”

We rushed through the wardrobe, throwing clothes here, there, and everywhere in an effort to decide what we were going to wear. I picked out a pair of tight blue jeans and a black vest top while Dyanna pulled on one of her usual small black dresses. Then we climbed out the window and shimmied down the drainpipe.

We only just made it in time. Just as we climbed over the low wall on the east side, one of the guards came over the hill. Luckily enough, he didn’t spot us and we were able to make our way over the fields to the road where Hannah was waiting.

“What took you guys so long? And why are you heading over there so late?” she asked as she pulled away and sped down the lane.

“Had a few things I needed to take care of.”

Hannah didn’t know that I was performing the ritual tomorrow night, only Dyanna did. Hannah wasn’t exactly my friend. I liked her, but still, she was Dyanna’s friend really. She, like all the others I had allowed into my life over the past year or two, didn’t know about my powers. It was safer that way.

“Well, I better not have missed Greg. He was supposed to be meeting up with me at the Pit tonight, but when I left to come pick you two up he still hadn’t shown up.”

Greg was a male witch a few years older than us. Why he hung around at the Pit, I had no idea. Surely he had better things to do. He had been flirting with Hannah – and a few others mind – for a couple of weeks now and she was desperately trying to get him to ask her out.

It was never going to happen. That guy was a total man-whore.

Twenty minutes later, we pulled up to the old pit gates. Dyanna jumped out of the car to open them before hopping back in. We continued on for another five minutes until we got to the old empty pit buildings that everyone hung out in. We could have gone to Pete’s bar, a pub that sat on the edge of our property, but the pack congregated there. Humans too, which meant no magic. So yeah, that was a no go.

Light from the fires inside glowed through the large broken windows, the smell of smoke and alcohol strong in the air. Walking through the doors, even though the music still blared, I felt as if the world had gone silent as every eye was turned on me. 

Looks of shock and hate followed me as I made my way with Dyanna over to where our small group sat around one of the fire pits that had been dug into the floor. Grabbing a drink from the cooler, I sat down on an upturned bread crate. Dyanna took the seat next to me.

“I'm surprised you two are still alive after the amount you both put away last night,” Emily commented.

“Me too,” Dyanna replied. “Believe me, this morning I’d wished I wasn’t.”

As time went on, the other groups around us slowly began to pretend as if I didn’t exist and carried on with what they were doing. Every now and again someone would make a comment about me in a loud enough voice that I would hear but I was used to it. It didn’t hurt any less, but I had brought it on myself, after all. I just had to look at it as the more they hated me, the better job I had done in protecting them from the danger that was coming for me.

“Hey, Greg, over here,” Hannah all but screamed across the room, jumping up and down like some overexcited child.

“How’s it going, ladies?” Greg asked, sitting himself down between me and Dyanna, completely ignoring the space Hannah had just made next to herself by pushing Terri out of her seat.

Looks like he’s bored of her already.

“Hey, Kaia, still pissing off the world?” He winked.

“You know it.”

“Well, as I'm not in the mood for the usual flock of female attention I attract, I think I will hang with you tonight,” he said, looking around at all the other groups. “Yep, I’d say it is working. No one is heading over here to talk to me. You’re my lucky charm.” He smiled.

“Believe me, I'm not lucky,” I said deadpan.

“Well maybe not usually, but tonight you are for me.”

Greg had never paid me much attention. He would say hello to me when I arrived and say goodbye when I left – I always tended to leave before anyone else – but that was it.

“I thought you were going to meet me at nine?” Hannah whined, fluttering her eyelashes in a way that I suppose she thought was seductive.

“No, I said I was planning on getting here around then, but something came up last minute with the guys.”

Burn!

“And that was more important than meeting me?” she asked, acting as if she hadn’t heard the obvious hint that he was so not interested in her.

“Yes.”

“Well, what was it? I mean, if it’s more important than having a bit of fun with me, then I would really like to know.”

Choosing to ignore her, Greg turned his attention completely on me. Unfortunately, he didn’t block my view to the evil glare Hannah was now sending my way.

I have so lost my ride home tonight.

“You do realise you just helped me piss off another member of the coven.”

“Of course I do, but isn’t that the way you like it?” He grinned.

Yeah it was, but he could have at least not pissed off my ride.

“So are you going to tell us what this important thing was that came up?” Dyanna asked, dragging her crate round and effectively blocking Hannah’s view of me.

“Something big is happening at the Circle tomorrow night,” he whispered. “No idea what, but the Crone had me and a few of the boys up there today to clear more space and put up some more protection.”

Well I knew why they had been asked to clear more space, the Circle was just that… a circle. It was sacred land surrounded by four large stones, one for each element. The land at the centre of the stone circle was kept trimmed and maintained at all times, but outside of it was usually left wild. With all the people attending the ritual there would need to be space made for them. But the other thing they had been asked to do had me worried. “More protection?”

Nodding, he went on. “Everything from reapplying the basic spells already enchanted upon the place, to extra barriers leading up to the Circle. We asked what was happening but she wouldn’t tell us a thing.”

Did Grace think that something might happen during the ritual? Had the demon already started looking for me? Did he know what the Crones had done and decided to come after me now? Panic was beginning to seize me, grip my chest in a solid vice.