elemental 02 - blaze (2 page)

Dylan took the milk carton from his brother’s lax grip and poured some into his coffee, rolling his eyes. “Because no one would have believed that story either.”

Aira almost choked on the sip of coffee she had taken, managing to avoid breathing it in only barely. She swallowed and gave Dylan an approving look.

“You know, it’s a good thing for Aiden that you’re a water elemental, you can help heal that burn you just gave him.”

Dylan chuckled. “What should we have for breakfast? It’s my turn to cook anyway.”

Aira began to relax, realizing that neither brother was going to bring up her nudity. Dylan made bacon, eggs, and toast, and the three of them ate companionably, chatting and drinking coffee until the sun came up.

Aira went about her normal routine, working on her assignments while Dylan and Aiden amused themselves playing music and watching television. “You know,” Aira glanced up at the two brothers playing guitar a few yards away. “I’m entirely in the wrong line of business. I should become a bodyguard and lounge about all day.”

Aiden grinned and winked at her unknowingly.

Dylan put his guitar down. “One of us could go grocery shopping for you, or run some other errand,” he suggested.

Aira sighed. It wasn’t that she minded their presence in her home—not anymore, anyway—as much as it was that she was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Dylan and Aiden had accompanied her on her meetings with clients, one waiting in the car while the other went in with her, pretending to be her assistant. She conducted a good bit of her business from home, but before their entrance into her life, she’d had a thriving social circle. While they hadn’t forbidden her to go out, having two men with her at all times would be a bit conspicuous. She considered it a bright side that she wasn’t spending as much money and she was earning plenty, staying up late to work extra assignments from sheer boredom.

“You can go out, you know,” Aiden said, divining her restlessness in one of the odd moments of rapport that existed between them.

Aira smiled slightly. “I know. It’s just I can’t think of a good way to explain two guys hanging around me all the time with neither of them being my boyfriend.”

Dylan chuckled. “You could say you’re working for the CIA and we’re your shadows, to make sure you don’t reveal state secrets.”

Aira rolled her eyes. “And then I’ll be plagued with questions—and at least one of my friends will distract Aiden from the important task of guarding me with his life.”

“Oh really?” Aiden perked up.

Aira shrugged. “I don’t have ugly friends,” she said simply, closing her laptop. She wanted to leave the house; she wanted to go out and get drunk and take a cab home. Aira realized that part of the cause of her tension was not just that she didn’t see her friends anymore—it was that she wasn’t seeing any men, or at least not romantically. While she hadn’t entertained any serious relationships in years, Aira had enough charm that, combined with striking looks, she was able to convince most any man she was really interested in that he should come home with her—or take her back to his place. It wasn’t the most emotionally fulfilling way to live, but Aira enjoyed the challenge, and the light touch of an attractive man who was no more interested in happily ever after than she was.

“I won’t get distracted,” Aiden protested. “It’s not like I haven’t ever seen beautiful women before.”

Dylan snorted at his brother. “I’ve seen you go through condoms. You’d get distracted.”

Aiden scowled at his brother. “I take my job seriously. Have you ever seen me neglect my responsibilities because of a woman before?”

Dylan considered the question. “No. No you have not.”

Aira got up to get herself another cup of coffee. The predawn wakeup call was making it difficult for her to get through the day, on top of being restless. She had always been an active person, a trait that had intensified as she had developed into her elemental abilities. The idea of being cooped up in her house, leaving only to run basic errands or to visit clients, was taking a toll.

A few days after the kidnapping that had finally given Aira a good sense of just how much danger she was in, Aiden had suggested that she look around the message boards that elementals participated in, to see if she could find potential partners that way. The suggestion was sound, but Aira had balked at it. She knew such boards existed, she wasn’t even surprised to find there was a matchmaking site for elementals, but the thought of going on blind dates expressly for the purpose of finding her mate was irritating. It reminded Aira too much of old fashioned methods like arranged marriages—one of the tactics her grandmother had suggested when Aira had first balked at the suggestion that she needed a mate.

In light of the power surge she had experienced in the early morning hours, however, and after a couple of weeks of curtailed social activity, Aira was considering the idea with a more open mind. Aiden and Dylan were discussing something as she sat down at her desk and sipped her coffee, opening her laptop once more and using the cover of their chatter to navigate to one of the elemental forums. She began filling in the form to join, knowing that tech-savvy elementals had put systems into place to make sure that only elementals could enter the site. There were family tree verification requirements that would keep the “normals” out. Aira sighed as she received the message that she would be notified within 24 hours as to whether or not she was accepted into the forum.

Well, at least I can go run errands with the brother
s, she thought. She hoped they could be sweet talked into taking her to the mall for a few hours.

Chapter 2

Aira received a confirmation email before nightfall. After telling Aiden and Dylan—sheepishly—that she had joined, both were in favor. Apparently they were both active on the forums; they had to be, as part of their job.

“There are some really good people on there,” Dylan assured her. “Maybe you’ll find someone to hang out with.”

Aira shrugged off the idea, though she had thought of similar reasons for joining. She didn’t want to get her hopes up. But since the power surge had begun to abate, Aira had found herself dwelling more and more on her sense of restlessness—and an underlying dissatisfaction at her celibacy over the past several weeks. The reckless kiss that she’d shared with Aiden hadn’t faded from her consciousness as much as she wanted it to. While Aira knew any physical involvement with Aiden would be a bad idea, her grandmother’s hint notwithstanding, she couldn’t rid herself of the impression it had left on her.

As she, Dylan, and Aiden wandered around the mall from store to store, Aira’s mind continued to get caught up in the brief but consuming passion she had felt the moment his lips met hers. She kept telling herself she didn’t want to repeat it, but she had never experienced a connection so involving in her life. She had discussed it with Dylan privately, on more than one occasion after the fact. She wondered why she couldn’t just develop feelings for the younger of the two brothers; he was so receptive, so patient, and such a good ear for anything she wanted to talk about. But there was no spark between them—there wasn’t that passion Aira felt for his brother.

Aira had been distracted all afternoon, thinking about the way it felt when Aiden pressed against her. She firmly denied the possibility of an attraction to the man himself, though she had to admit he was not unattractive from an objective standpoint. She stood firm in her insistence that she was not interested in him. She was interested in sex. She blushed as she realized that her libido was more active than it had been before, and wondered just how much the power surge had to do with that change. She wanted to charm someone, to flirt and give him a knowing smile and cock her hip just so, to lure him into her bed. She wanted—needed—to get laid, and that was all there was to it. The difficulties associated with a one night stand were a little frustrating considering she would have to be guarded by Aiden and Dylan, but Aira was determined to overcome them.

That night, Aira logged into the forums and introduced herself in the appropriate thread. She didn’t say much—only that she was an air-aligned elemental, that she lived in a general area, and that she was getting used to her abilities in an adult setting. She had enough caution to know better than to reveal her lineage, or the fact that she was about to come into full possession of her power. Dylan and Aiden added her as a friend on the system and commented on her post, solidifying her entrance into the social group. Aira had not exactly avoided elementals as she had entered adulthood; one of her close friends was an elemental as well. But she had slacked on the task of networking with elementals her grandmother had introduced her to through her teen years. For the most part, Aira had tried to live as normal a life as her abilities would allow. She knew, not only from her grandmother’s reports but also from Aiden and Dylan’s confirmation, that elemental politics had become fraught and tense.

She looked around the forums, reading posts and trying to get a feel for the different personalities. There were some people who lived in her area, and Aira found herself responding to threads about things to do, clubs to visit, bars that were worthwhile. She knew she should be cautious, and at first she was able to keep that necessity at the front of her mind; after all, she was a target. She wasn’t going to be targeted by most of the normal population, who had no clue that elementals existed; she was an object of interest for certain elementals. Even those elementals without a vested interest in her due to the strength of her lineage would be interested in her because of her strength. Although Aira hadn’t given her relative power much thought as she had grown up, the surge that had awakened her, and occasioned a brief local news story about a freak wind storm, had made it impossible to avoid the realization that she was more powerful than most of her family members at least.

Aira felt as though her new-found sense of caution was chafing her. She remembered the kidnapping. The knowledge that she had been disarmed, captured, and carried off relatively easily, gnawed at her. She had never been the type of person to doubt herself, but in spite of her cavalier attitude, she felt more vulnerable than ever before in the wake of the kidnapping.

Out of anger, she’d sent a scathing email terminating her relationship with the client who had put her in a position to be kidnapped. There was no way to be sure how much her former client knew about the designs on her, but his willingness to put her in danger at all had made her indescribably angry. Anxiety was a familiar feeling for Aira, but very rarely had she ever known direct fear. The sensation was frustrating.

When she swallowed her pride and told her grandmother what had happened, she endured the sigh of disappointment and waited for the lecture she knew would come.

“You need to find a mate,” her grandmother had reiterated. “If you had taken my advice, you wouldn’t have had a problem from that man.”

Aira bit back the sarcastic retort that fought to escape. Knowing the man had wanted to marry her solely to secure her power for his own ends didn’t exactly make her feel too charitably towards the institution of marriage.

She did recognize that her grandmother was ultimately right. If she found someone to enter into a serious relationship with, it might defray at least those in the elemental community who saw her as a commodity rather than a person. Aira told herself she wasn’t looking for a husband when she posted in the forum, but she was open to the idea of meeting someone – a boyfriend who could entertain her and maybe take some of the pressure off.

That night Aira talked at length to a local elemental named Alex. He claimed to be air aligned like her and live only a city away. According to his profile picture, he was rather appealing. Six feet tall and originally from England, he had a lean, almost hungry look to his face. His bright blue eyes and dark brown hair framed an intensity that both startled and intrigued Aira. The next day, she found herself taking breaks from her work to chat with him. Like every air elemental Aira had ever met, he was charming—a trait that they all managed to embody. She knew her own flirtatious abilities had more than once been called devastating. It was nice to be able to talk to someone who could keep up with her banter. Although she wanted to maintain her reserve, she found herself opening up slightly. She talked about her grandmother without naming her, told him about her childhood spent learning to control her abilities.

They exchanged stories about their childish displays of power, about the times their precocity had gotten them into trouble and talked about their families. Aiden began chatting with Alex’s cousin under the pretext of investigating the man Aira was talking to. Aira’s libido, along with her curiosity, were piqued. She even found herself blushing when he addressed her as “Air” in spite of the fact that she normally hated the nickname. Aira knew she should be careful. She, of all people, knew how dangerous a charming person could be. But that didn’t stop her, she wanted to have some fun in her life. She entertained no illusions that Alex was “the one,” but the idea of having fun with him was appealing. Aiden’s conversations with Alex’s cousin, Dolores, had veered from checking out a potential date of Aira’s to something more akin to a flirtation.

Dylan seemed to be the only one of the three questioning motives. “Don’t you think it’s a little bit suspicious?” Dylan asked Aiden, making a slight face “I mean, no offense to you bro, but it’s kind of our job to be suspicious of anyone who’s overly interested in getting to know Aira. I mean, basic precaution, right?”

Aiden dismissed the concern. “It makes sense. Besides, Aira’s supposed to be looking for a mate. If someone’s interested in her, we should guard her, obviously—and take precautions—but if she can’t be allowed to spend time talking to someone, then she’s never going to find a mate.”

Aira shrugged when Dylan looked at her for her input. “Obviously we can’t assume everyone is safe, but we can’t assume everyone’s a threat either, can we?”