elemental 02 - blaze (7 page)

Alex leaned in and gave her a hungry kiss. Aira’s confusion and introspection dissolved, her lust spiked as he rested his hands on her waist, holding her tightly but respectfully. She let out a soft moan as Alex deepened the kiss, nipping at her bottom lip playfully. In that moment she would have gladly remained there indefinitely, overwhelmed by the sweetness of Alex’s tongue and the way his body vibrated against hers, taut with energy and desire. She lost ability to even care what happened next or that Dylan was still waiting for the all-clear, as Alex pressed her against the door of the car. He moaned softly against her lips, his grip on her waist tightening. Aira melted against him, swept up in the combination of his attractiveness and the steady pulse of lust in her veins. Her mind consumed with need, her body kindled with desire, she felt her hands trembling and her heart pounding. She would have let him do anything to her without complaint, but Alex remained moderately respectful, more mindful of the public venue than Aira. She was on the verge of moving further to increase the tension between them when she was interrupted by a chirp from her phone.

The sound divided the thick fog consuming Aira, and she broke away from the kiss, gasping and panting for breath. She hadn’t experienced anything so intense since kissing Aiden. Aira pushed the thought down, shaking her head and reaching for her phone. “That’s Dylan,” she called to Aiden, who was kissing Dolores with similar fervor Aira had experienced just a moment before. “We need to get going, Andy.” She used the nickname to break through the almost palpable haze of desire surrounding the other two; she knew Aiden hated it. He broke away from Dolores, confused for a moment before realization set in.

“Right! Yes. I’m so sorry, Dolly,” he murmured to the other woman, giving her a brief kiss before breaking away. “We’ll get together again soon.”

The two cousins seemed disappointed, but Alex gave Aira a last, lingering glance full of promise and desire before she got into the passenger seat.

“Are you okay to drive?” Aira asked Aiden tartly as she fastened her seat belt.

Aiden rolled his eyes. “You had more to drink than I did.” He started the car and sent Dylan a text advising that they were clear. Aira stared out the window and attempted to conquer her tense desire, telling herself that since she had Alex’s phone number, she could see him again whenever she wanted. She added his number to her contacts, thinking of inviting him to her birthday.

As they drove back to the apartment, Aira’s intense lustful sensations and almost brutal power began to ebb, and she turned her thoughts to the less-than-normal events of the lunch. She remembered Alex’s persuasive comment suggesting she reschedule and how she had almost found herself submitting and giving into his will before something deep inside of her rebelled. She had turned the same tactic—whatever it was—back on him. Reviewing the events of the meeting without the rose-colored glasses of intense attraction, Aira knew something was certainly going on with Dolores and Alex.

“Did anything about that lunch seem odd to you?” she asked Aiden, shifting in her seat.

Aiden glanced at her skeptically, shrugging. “Not really,” he said quickly.

Aira raised an eyebrow, wondering how much charm Dolores had been radiating at the fire elemental while Aira had been distracted by Alex’s overtures.

Aiden started to say something, then hesitated. “There was something a little strange about it, now that you mention it.” He made a turn, his brow furrowing. “It was like they didn’t want us to leave their presence.”

Aira nodded slowly. “They were determined to keep us talking to them, to keep our attention on each of them.” Aira licked her lips. She was more than willing at the time to give Alex all of her attention, the part of her mind reeling with lust and power had taken over. “Whenever we tried to talk to each other, one or the other of them would interrupt and reel us back in.”

Aiden nodded. “What do you think?” he asked her, for once deferring to her opinion.

Aira shrugged. “It could be nothing. It could be that…” she bit her bottom lip in thought. “They’re air elementals. We’re all very good at intelligence gathering. They could be spies.”

Aiden snorted. “Well, whoever hired them made a mistake then. You are clearly a better counter-intelligence agent than they are spies. Thanks for kicking me—I think my legs will be black and blue for a week though.”

Aira grinned. “You were about to give us away! You’re like… a highly less effective James Bond. Jeez.”

“Hey! I could be every bit as effective as James Bond. I could seduce Dolores and find out exactly what’s going on.” Aiden scowled. Aira rolled her eyes, laughing again. “You were calling her Dolly. She had you wrapped around her little finger, Andy.”

Aiden’s scowl deepened. “She did not! She’s just…a very charming and attractive woman. Now that I know, I can totally keep out of her clutches.”

Aira shook her head in disbelief. She had to admit, in spite of her suspicions about Alex, she was barely able to restrain herself from sending him a text message and continuing their flirtation. She decided to talk to Dylan first, but she had almost come to the conclusion that, spy or not, she wanted Alex at her birthday party. He was too flattering, too deliciously attractive, and too attentive for her to forego his presence, even if it was not the best idea to invite a potential spy to witness a moment that could be very vulnerable for her.

Chapter 6

Aira could tell Dylan was disturbed by the possible reason for Alex’s and Dolores’ interest in her and Aiden. “We kept to the story,” she told him quietly, sipping at a beer in the late afternoon light of the balcony. “But I think they were trying to shake it up, trying to get us to admit the truth.”

He nodded slowly, accepting her theory. “The key would be to find out who they’re working for, then,” he said matter-of-factly, taking a sip of his own beer.

Aira shrugged. “You and Aiden are the investigators. I’m just a lowly translator.”

Dylan rolled his eyes. “We’d put you on the payroll if we could. Between your language skills and the presence of mind you showed at lunch earlier…”

She had told him about the strange moments that had passed, where she had felt Alex’s will pressing against hers, and had returned the courtesy. Dylan pointed out that air elementals had their own kind of intuition and their own psychic strengths. While water elementals in full possession of their abilities could “read” other people to an uncanny degree, air elementals tended towards being able to project their thoughts and wishes onto others. It was a magic Aira’s grandmother hadn’t introduced her to, but which made sense. She had always been proud of her persuasion skills, and persuasiveness was definitely an air-aligned trait, but she had never felt something as direct as what she had experienced with Alex.

“The thing is, I’m kind of going crazy,” Aira admitted. She felt as though she had an itch she couldn’t scratch, some tingle she couldn’t reach on her own. Something was driving her to maintain the connection with Alex. “Even knowing he could be a spy, I want him at my birthday party.”

Dylan nodded slowly, thinking about what she had said. “I think, if you can keep your keen sense of survival, it might not be a bad idea.”

Aira was surprised by Dylan’s statement.

“I mean, we’re not going to find out what they’re after unless you interact with them more. You’ll be vulnerable, but you’ll have Aiden and me both there with you…and your friends.”

Aira bit her lip, thinking of the way Alex had kissed her, the absolute charm he radiated. She was in danger of becoming attached to him, beyond a casual attraction.

“Besides, when you come into your full powers, I doubt he’d be able to stand up against you.”

Aira chuckled. “He’s an air elemental too. And not a wimpy one, either.”

Dylan shook his head. “You’re underestimating yourself. You were able to keep yourself under control at lunch. You said yourself you kept getting hunches, kept pulling away from his charm.”

Aira sighed. “Yes, but my…uh… ah, to hell with it. I’m getting more and more turned on by the hour, and he’s so gorgeous.”

Dylan laughed out loud, rolling his eyes. “If you really need help restraining yourself, you can count on me to wet-blanket you.”

Aira snorted at the turn of phrase, thinking it was a good description of the spell he had cast to suppress the violence of her powers and the sensation of Dylan infusing his more stable, watery energy into her.

“If you don’t think it will be a total disaster and get me killed…” she said, trailing off.

Dylan shook his head. “You can totally handle this.”

Aira pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, feeling palpable relief. Maybe she was wrong; maybe Alex and Dolores weren’t spies. She texted him a flirtatious note, adding that she would enjoy having his help in celebrating her birthday. If Dylan believed in her ability to take care of herself in that fraught time, she would have to believe in herself.

Alex texted back that he had hoped she’d want to see him again so soon. Aira gave Dylan a little smile, taking her phone with her as she went to her bedroom, beginning a rapid-fire exchange with the other elemental. While she knew she shouldn’t trust him, she found herself warming to his enthusiasm, blushing and feeling just as giddy as she had in his presence. She told herself firmly she would have to be careful—she could easily experience another power surge in the night—but it almost seemed worth it.

After they came home from the lunch date, the repairman arrived to fix the broken window. Aira hadn’t considered how odd it would be to have just one window completely broken out until he asked what had happened.

“Oh,” she said, latching onto the news coverage of another odd windstorm. “It was that windstorm last night. I heard it put out several windows in the area.” The repairman nodded, commenting that he had been busy all day with repairs. When Aira heard about the broken windows, she felt guilty. She was still waiting to hear from her grandmother about what a horrible display it was and how she should have controlled herself better. Then she remembered that, while coming into her full powers her grandmother had flooded her childhood home and caused another small, localized flood on another location when she had been consumed with grief at the passing of her first husband. She would understand, Aira thought. The lack of a phone call was likely a signal in and of itself. Her grandmother knew there was nothing Aira could have done in the situation to prevent the wind storm from happening.

As she continued to text Alex, Aira didn’t realize she was forgetting her misgivings about the man; instead she was responding to his air-aligned charm, to the easygoing flattery that even she knew air elementals excelled in. She heard herself giggling at his comments, found herself glancing at her phone every few moments throughout dinner and even afterwards, waiting to see what he would say next. To judge by his preoccupation, Aiden was going through a similar situation with Dolores, and when Aira noticed, the sharp stab of jealousy resurfaced. It’s just my super-powered elemental hormones, she told herself firmly. They’d had another vicious argument when she suggested she was fine with Alex coming to her birthday, but she was hesitant to invite Dolores. Her reasoning was that the woman had nearly charmed Aiden into admitting everything, and Aiden couldn’t keep himself properly on the task of protecting her if Dolores was around to distract him. Dylan had interrupted the argument in his usual diplomatic fashion, telling them both firmly but gently that if either were having a problem keeping the correct caution, he would simply use his spells to bring them back in line. They both conceded.

Aira decided a new outfit was in order for her birthday celebration, and so she spent the rest of her evening scanning local boutiques, wanting to get the shopping done as quickly as possible the next day before she went out. She wanted to look absolutely irresistible. The part of her mind not engaged in planning and making sure her friends would be available for her celebration, was dwelling on the air elemental. She pictured him easily in her mind, sprawled in bed with her, his hands wandering over her body as his intense blue eyes looked down at her full of lust. She had not failed to notice his long, deft fingers, the way his touch ignited something inside of her all throughout lunch, bearing the power to distract her from her annoyance at Aiden’s failure to remember they needed to be cautious. As long as she could keep herself from revealing too much, she thought, she was not at all adverse to seducing—or being seduced by—the other man.

***

Aira awoke the morning before her birthday feeling both incredibly, vibrantly alive and on the edge of mania. The sensory overload that had accompanied her first power surge was back; not quite as strong as it was initially, but constant. Even Dylan’s magic was unable to put a dent in the sensation of power running up and down her limbs, coursing through her organs, igniting every part of her. If her attention waivered from controlling her element for even a few moments, the wind began to rise. She caught Aiden and Dylan exchanging a concerned look.

“I’ll be okay,” she said, irritated at their doubt. Aira put on her most comfortable clothes, choosing fabrics that wouldn’t rub against her sensitized skin. In addition to her irritation, she found her lust increasing exponentially. She had to carefully force herself not to look at Aiden or Dylan for too long or her mind ran away with fantasies of seducing them, of taking them to her bed and satisfying the insatiable thirst, the itch that was driving her mad. She knew it would be a difficult day—that the next day was unlikely to be much better—but she had to believe she could get through it. She had put so much hope in her plans to go out, had looked forward to it so much that it would have crushed her to back out.

Alex sent a text while she was getting ready to go to the mall with the two brothers, a flirtatious greeting that sent a thrill through her. She knew she had only to make the smallest mention of her desires and Alex would find a way to fulfill them. The same power filling her with knowledge of her own potential, however, also filled her with doubt—suspicion. She considered the quandary; Alex was certainly more than just an elemental who was interested in her. The solution hit her suddenly as she responded to Alex—while she didn’t have her grandmother’s intuitive insights, her air alignment did give her some abilities in divination and her grandmother had taught her extensively as part of her elemental training. She opened the top drawer of her dresser, moving pairs of underwear and bras around until she found the old, worn tarot deck her grandmother had taught her with. Aira heard the wind rising, but she paid little attention. Removing the cards from the pack, she felt the comforting weight of them in her hands, soothing her apprehensions.