Genesis (9 page)

My groan may have been a little
overdone. “Don’t start with that again. I thought we decided we
were going to be friends.”

“
We are.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “But I
thought you just said—”

He chuckled, coming closer. “Just
because I have agreed to proceed with friendship does not negate my
desire to bond with you.”

“
For the love of
Pete!”

He laughed. “No, for the love of
Rayla.”

Oh brother. I pushed his shoulder.
“Sappy much?”

He gave me a hearty grin. “You have no
idea just how sappy I can be, my lady. Now, please, we must return.
It is getting dark.”

I hadn’t been paying attention to the
dwindling light. Up above us, the water stirred with glowing marine
life. Wow. They even simulated the stars.

He set a hurried pace, as if eager to
get indoors. When I glanced at him, he jerked his gaze away from
me.

What was Taylor afraid of down here?
He’d said himself this was the safest place I could be right now.
It had me wondering, but he didn’t comment. It couldn’t have been
that big of a deal because, otherwise, we would have drifted back
to his house, yet there had to be a reason for his sudden change in
mood.

If I didn’t move it he would leave me
behind. I took one last look at the city and that creepy feeling
from earlier today flooded into me. Someone was watching us. I
sprinted to catch up to Taylor then made sure I stayed right by his
side.

A shiver refused to stay buried, but I
didn’t think he noticed. I touched his arm, making sure he was
paying attention. “What’s out here, Taylor? What are you hiding
from me?”

Taylor refused to answer my question,
brushing it off with a lame joke. Something inside me recognized
the danger surrounding me even if he wouldn’t give it a name. I lay
in bed, trying to fall asleep. Taylor had promised to begin my
training tomorrow, and I knew I needed rest. Despite my inner
turmoil, my mind drifted off…

Black mist surrounded me, yet I
harbored no fear. In the back of my thoughts, I was hazily aware I
was dreaming. So why did my skin tingle and my heart race as if I
was about to face the greatest challenge in my life? The mist
congealed into the recognizable shape of a man.

“
Good of you to finally show
up,” said Heath, meandering toward me as if he had a year to reach
me.

My pulse picked up as usual. It
happened so often, it shouldn’t even affect me anymore. “Why are
you in my dream?”

He shrugged? “Why not?” His dark eyes
were hooded, yielding no emotion at the moment.

I raised a brow. “I’ve got a suggestion
for you.”

He gave me his real smile, and I nearly
melted right there. “Hmm?”

With more effort than it should have
taken, I shook off my attraction to him. “Go hijack someone else’s
dream.”

He laughed. He was nearly to me now. My
skin vibrated in anticipation of his touch. “Now, why would I ever
do such a thing when I’ve already found what I want?”

I tilted my head. “Dream on, Heath.”
That pun was intended. He didn’t want me. He’d already proven
that.

His face went serious. “I see a
demonstration is in order.”

Without another word he pulled me
against him, his long legs pressing into mine. The warmth of his
body seeped into me, sending a rush of chills along my
arms.

“
What do you want really?” I
asked, trying not to sound as breathless as I felt. I was still
angry at him for walking out of the bonding ceremony like he had.
If he wanted me so badly, why hadn’t he insisted on staying
there?

His low chuckle surprised me. “There
are other ways to fight, Rayla.”

I scoffed. “Yeah, like you’d really
fight for me.”

He inched away from me as if seeking a
better vantage point. “You think not?”

“
You don’t care about me. If
you did, you would have—”

His lips brushed mine while his fingers
slid along my neck, sending my brain on vacation. His lazy kiss
wove a spell over me. Fitting me to him in a delicious way, his
hand pressed against the small of my back. When he intensified his
kiss, my bones melted into goo. It lasted forever, yet I groaned
when he pulled away from me.

I staggered from the loss of him.
Frustrated, I reached for his hand, yet he stayed just beyond my
grasp. Taunting me. Jerk face.

He smiled. I imagined something like
love lingered in his eyes, but that couldn’t be it. He blew me a
kiss. “Until next time…”

Then he vanished.

I woke with a start, my pulse still
pounding from Heath’s kiss. I brought my trembling fingers to my
swollen lips. They tingled as if the dream had been
real.

A new ache for him settled into my
limbs. Even though I knew it would be nearly impossible, I had to
keep it from taking root in my heart.

The daylight met me like a fierce
warrior. Taylor barged into my room, pulled back the curtains and
ordered me out of bed. At least he let me stop for
breakfast.

When the last bite barely made it past
my lips, he insisted I follow him to the back of the house. We
faced each other and he clasped my hands. “Close your eyes,” he
commanded.

I complied immediately, listening for
further instruction. If there was one thing I wanted out of this
deal, it was to know how to manipulate air. I put my whole focus
into it despite my fatigue. Taylor didn’t comment on my sleepless
night, and I was thankful I hadn’t inadvertently kept him up with
my worrying. “Why won’t you tell me what’s wrong? Am I in some kind
of danger?” That was a stupid question. I had so many people after
me I didn’t have the nerve to actually count.

He didn’t say anything for a really
long time. I peeked at him, but he didn’t seem to notice. I wasn’t
buying it, though, because he knew everything I did when I did it
whether he could see me or not.

“
Deep breath,” he
instructed. He still wasn’t going to answer me, which just made me
worry worse than if he told me Godzilla was about to crash through
the roof. “Hold it,” he continued, “for the count of five, four,
three, two, one. Release. Tell me what you feel right now. Describe
everything you notice within and without.”

I shook my head. “The room is cold.”
Now that I noticed it, a shiver of goose-bumps worked up my
arms.

His soft words startled me. “Is it the
room or the air that is cold?”

“
The air.” It was like a
blanket of ice coating my skin. That was when I realized
he
was changing
it.

“
How can you be sure it is
me?”

I folded my arms across my chest,
partly out of frustration and partly because I wanted to conserve
what warmth remained in my body. “Well, it isn’t me.”

A sly smirk twisted his lips. “What are
you going to do about it?”

It should be simple. I thought about
warming the air around me. Nothing happened. I didn’t understand.
Hadn’t I been able to control air before?

“
Manipulation and control
are two different things, Rayla.”

Shivering, I scrubbed my hands over my
bare arms. “Okay, I get it. This is unbearable, Taylor. I need
heat.”

He looked at me pointedly. “Good thing
you have access then.”

He wasn’t going to bail me out of this.
I had a choice. I could scurry back to my room and give up, or I
could stay here and figure it out. Rocking to the balls of my feet,
I jogged in place.

Did he mean that I had access to fire?
I didn’t think so. We were talking about air. Even with all his
wisdom, he couldn’t exactly be an expert on fire. At least, I
didn’t think he could.

This was getting me nowhere. His casual
stance had me more than a little irritated. It had to be below
freezing now. As I walked closer to him, I stepped into a bubble of
warmth. “Hey,” I said. “That’s not fair.”

“
What in life ever is, my
lady?” Not so subtly he pushed me away from him.

The second I was out of his shield, my
body convulsed from shivers. Fine. He wanted to be that way. I
thought back to science. Heat could be made by several different
reactions—the simplest, at least in my mind, was
friction.

I closed my eyes again, imagining the
tiny molecules surrounding me. What they needed to heat up was some
vibration. In my mind what I saw was countless balls banging into
each other.

Within seconds the air around me
heated. Faster, I commanded. I was awarded with more warmth. I
smiled at Taylor who watched me intently.

“
Very good.” He circled me,
each step calculated. “Now, expand the heat into the rest of the
house.”

“
How do I do
that?”

“
You’re a smart
girl.”

I chuckled. “Well you’re not very
helpful.”

“
It is better this way. You
will not always have someone to direct you. Besides, everybody is
different, including the way we interact with the elements. What
works for me may not for you.”

That was fantastic. “What’s the use in
training if you can’t really help me? I could muddle through on my
own.”

“
I’m here to make sure you
don’t blow up the planet.”

“
Oh, that’s real funny,
Taylor. Haha like I didn’t already have enough pressure on
me.”

He shook his head. “Until you have
spent an endless day at court, do not lecture me on
pressure.”

I had a feeling I would be facing that
soon enough.

The next week consisted of Taylor
inflicting all manner of impossible situations on me. I had learned
quite a bit about how to manipulate air which had me pretty amped
despite my frustration toward him. Without much effort, I could
generate a gale-force wind one second and the most tranquil of
breezes the next. Unfortunately, Taylor had taken it upon himself
to rid me of my fear of drowning.

I had no idea what he had in mind
today, as usual. He wasn’t exactly forthcoming with plans and such.
So here I sat, waiting, three feet away from the enormous pond in
his back yard. When I asked him how deep it was, he gave me a shrug
then told me I’d find out soon enough on my own.

He seemed to take extreme pleasure in
making me anticipate his next move. I was starting to believe that
he had a bit of a sadist in him. As it was, he was late.

I whirled around the instant I heard
his light approach. “Don’t think you’re going to drag me out to the
middle of this pond just to pull me to the bottom.” My mind had
been busy imagining all sorts of dark, twisted
scenarios.

A smirk curled his sensual mouth.
“Unlike you, I wouldn’t dream of such a thing. I am still amazed by
what you can conjure.”

For some reason, I didn’t take that as
a compliment.

He huffed. “That’s because it wasn’t
meant to be. Stop torturing yourself with those ridiculous images
and get over here.”

I backed up. “No way, buddy. Not before
you explain what we’ll be doing today.” Up until now I had been the
model student, but he was delusional if he thought I was going to
let him torment me.

He lifted his face toward the water
above us, shaking his head. “Very well, I will come to
you.”

Oh, no he didn’t.

For every step he took, I backed
away.

He gave me an impeccable frown. “You
know, sometimes I think I actually lost when I was chosen to take
you first.”

That induced a scowl from me worthy of
Mr. Darcy. “I didn’t exactly want to come here. You can send me on
my way anytime you’d like.”

His chest expanded sharply. “When are
you going to learn to trust me?”

I shoved a finger at him. “When you
stop torturing me!” Okay, so maybe I was exaggerating, but really,
who wouldn’t consider having to stop a tornado before it demolished
a small town without knowing how to do it, torture? Or better yet,
being responsible for infusing enough oxygen into the air for a
major city?

“
You learned quickly,”
Taylor commented, his voice soft.

“
I had to!”

“
That is my point. You seem
to be forgetting we only have a limited number of days together. I
want to make sure you are ready before I send you out into the
realms. Some might not be so lenient with you.”

“
Ha! Is that what you call
what you have done
with
me?”

He managed to get between me and the
water before he began circling me. “I have been more patient with
you than any other Elemental I have ever trained.”

This was a new side of Taylor. He was
now a predator. With his smooth exterior always showing, I hadn’t
thought him capable. There was that word again. What else was
Taylor capable of? “Well, I feel sorry for them then.”