Rapture (Elfin Series) (4 page)

Elora splashed cold water on her face as she stood in the bathroom in her brother's apartment. She squeezed her eyes closed tight as the air cooled her wet skin. When she opened them again and looked at herself in the mirror, she tried to see if she appeared different. Did being someone’s Chosen make you
look
different? She
felt
different; she felt claimed even though he hadn’t so much as denied or confirmed her pronouncement. She felt like she belonged to him and worse, she liked it.

“Argh!
Pull yourself together, Elora.” She groaned to herself as she toweled off her hands and face. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she opened the bathroom door. As she pulled the door open, she nearly ran into a solid wall of chest. A very nice chest she might add.

“
Hello there,” her voice was smooth and sultry as she looked up at the warrior who currently occupied most of her thoughts.

“Are you alright?” Cush
asked her as he stared down at her.

Elora didn’t know how to answer his questi
on. Did he really want to know? Because if he did, then she might as well start off with a big fat
hell no
she wasn’t alright. She’d follow it up with a would he please just wrap her in his arms and tell her that he wanted her and needed her as much as she did him. And if he didn’t really want to know—if he was just asking out of some weird sense of duty because it was the polite thing to do, then she would knee him in the crotch. She watched as his brow drew together and his lips tightened, and on her final thought he shifted his stance. He was moving like he had heard her thoughts. It was in that moment that she noticed his arm was touching hers. She nearly closed her eyes and groaned again as she remembered all she knew about Cassie being Trik’s Chosen. When they touched skin to skin, he could read her mind and vice versa.

“Crap,” she muttered under her breath.

“I really want to know,” his deep voice drew her attention from her thoughts and she looked at his amused face, “not because I’m being polite. I don’t really care about being polite,” he added.

“Well you caught all that stuff that just went through my head, so that’s how I’m doing,” she told him without looking away. She wasn’t about to be ashamed o
r embarrassed about wanting him, and if he had a problem with it he could kiss her butt.

“I do have a problem with it,” he answered her thoughts.

She jerked her arm back with a frustrated growl. “No worries, I won’t force you to marry me. I’ll get over you,” she told him and then mentally kicked herself because she knew there was no way in hell she would ever get over him. “There are plenty of fish in the sea and all that jazz.”

She pushed past him
, no longer having the energy to verbally spar with him. Instead she just wanted to lie down and sleep for…like…ever.

Cush watched Elora walk down the hall away from him toward the living room. He had gotten the message loud and clear. She wanted him, but she wouldn’t beg. He was telling himself it was a good thing that she was able to resign herself to the fact that they wouldn’t be completing their mating. He didn’t have room for a woman in his life and he wouldn’t be able to make her happy. In fact, he would just drive her crazy. Because once he claimed her, once he made her his, he would never let her go. He knew the type of male he was: possessive, jealous, selfish, alpha. He wouldn’t want her around any other males. He would cage her to protect her and that would break her.
See it’s better this way,
he thought to himself as he followed the direction she had just taken to the small living room in her brother’s apartment.

Cush’s
feet and thoughts froze in place the second he entered the living room and saw Elora standing wrapped in the arms of a male he’d never seen before. He felt his muscles grow rigid and his jaw tightened as he ground his teeth together. He forced himself to lean casually against the wall because if he didn’t he was going to rip the arms off of the human male who was still touching his Little Raven. He watched as Elora, her brother, the unknown male, and Lisa talked and laughed. They were obviously friends.
Friends
, he told himself,
that is all
.  But then the idiot had to go and smack his mate on the ass—stupid human.

Cush saw red as that hand made contact with Elora’s very tempting backside and he was across the room with his forearm pressed to the human
male's throat before the idea had even crossed his mind.

“CUSH!” He heard Elora’s gasp but ignored everything but the human he had pressed to the wall.

“Give me a reason not to remove your hand from your body,” Cush said calmly.

The male’s eyes were wide and Cush could feel the pulse in his throat pounding against his forearm.

“Dude, I didn’t, I mean…Elora’s just…we’re not,” the boy stuttered stupidly.

“She doesn’t belong to you,” Cush pointed out. The boy shook his head. “Then why would you touch her in such a way?”

“I was just messing around, just playing,” he screeched.

“Cush let him go!” Elora’s voice broke through. He turned his head to look down at her as she attempted, in vain, to pull him off of the human.

“He touched you,” Cush told her unnecessarily.

“So what?” Elora snapped. “I’m single
, Cush. I can let any guy I want touch me. Now let Paul go.”

For some reason
, the male’s name on Elora’s lips only enraged him further. He turned back to the human.
Paul
, he mentally spat the name. The guy was turning blue, which indicated to Cush that he was pushing just a tad too tightly.

“Do not touch her again,” he spoke slowly and though he didn’t yell he knew his words were laced
with the right amount of menace, “ever.” He finished and stepped back. His sudden release had Paul falling to the ground which caused his lips to twitch. He turned around to walk away and as Elora made her way to get closer to Paul he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back.

“Do not,” he warned her as he leaned down to whisper
in her ear. “I don’t know what is going to happen. I don’t know what I feel for you. But what I do know is that any man I see touching you, or being touched by you, is in danger of dying by my hands. So please, do not go to him.”

Elora stilled at the cold hardness that wrapped around the warning in his voice. She tilted her head back so she could look up at him and saw that his blue grey eyes were so bright that they nearly glowed. His jaw was clenched with the effort that it was taking him to not act on whatever it was he was feeling.

“So you’re telling me that you don’t want me, but no
body else can have me either?” she asked him as she pushed out of his hold. She wouldn’t have been able to get free had he not allowed it, but she wasn’t going to dwell on that little detail.

Cush frowned at her and she nearly laughed. It was obvious
that he didn’t like the way it sounded when she laid it out there for what it was.

“I don’t know what I want
, Elora, but I do know that seeing another male touch you is making me more violent than usual.”

Elora’s brow rose.
“More violent?” He didn’t say anything more. He simply took her hand and pulled her to the farthest piece of furniture in the room and pushed her into it. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, but she stayed where he put her. “Keep treating me like a damn dog, Cush, and I’ll bite your…,”

“Elora!” Lisa snappe
d. Her voice was sharp, but when Elora looked up at her mother she saw the hint of humor behind the tone.

“I’m just giving him fair warning. Is Paul okay?”

Lisa nodded. “He’s just a little nervous now but he’ll be fine.”

“Okay.
” Oakley came and stood next to Lisa, arms folded across his chest. “Now that Legolas isn’t trying to kill my roommate anymore, are you two ready to tell me everything?”

El
ora let out an exaggerated sigh. “Gah, if we have to…or we could order Chinese and play on your X-Box. Really that’s a no-brainer choice, Oak.” She looked up at him hopefully, but the stern glare he returned told her he wasn’t going for it.  “Fine, pull up some carpet and cop a squat; this is going to take a while.” Elora slid down onto the floor with her back leaned up against the couch and got comfortable before she and Lisa began their story.

“It was a dark and stormy night,” Elora started. Oakley glared at her but she heard a snort come from Cush’s direction and that made her smile.
Great, I’m smiling because I made my fantasy elf crush laugh. I’m lame,
she thought.

Two hours later Oakley was once again up and pacing as Elora finished her explanation.

“So tha
t’s how I ended up at your door. I guess this is where I wanted to be,” she said. “Mom followed me with,” she pointed to Cush and Rin, “those two. The sexy brooding one is Cush and the sexy non-brooding one is Rin.”

C
ush didn’t acknowledge Oakley. He just continued to stare at Elora who gave him a wink and blew him a kiss. His lips twitched and she knew he was trying to hold back a smile.

“An
d Cassie is in the Elf realm?” he asked.

“Yes
, with her mate, Trik,” Lisa answered.

“So what now?” Oakley stopped pacing and looked over to Cush and Rin
.

“We need to get to the light-
elf castle and see what the king has planned,” Cush said as he pushed away from the wall he was leaning on. He walked over to the large front window and then looked back over his shoulder at Elora. “We must go.”

Elora nodded and then stood. She looked back at Oakley and smiled. “Got to save the world.”

Oakley laughed. “If anybody can, it’s you and Cassie.”

Lisa hugged him and kissed his cheek. “We’ll be back. You stay safe.”

Oakley nodded and then watched as the group walked up to where Cush stood in front of the window.

“Picture the throne room in your mind. Lisa
. You hold Elora’s hand and follow with her,” Cush instructed and then stepped into the window. His foot and head hit the glass at the same time. He probably wouldn’t have cracked it except that Elora ran into his back followed by her mother, which created a very painful Elora sandwich.

“What the
…,” Elora said as she tried to right herself and back away from Cush, tripping over Lisa in the process.

Cush stared
hard at the now cracked glass. His hand reached out slowly as if the glass would bite him.

“Something is wrong,”
he said absently.

“What was your first clue? The inability to walk through the glass or the inability to walk through the glass?” Elora asked dryly. Lisa smack
ed her arm and glared at her. “What?” Elora growled. “I’m sorry, but I tend to get pissy when things don’t go the way they’re supposed to.”

“When are you not pissy?” Rin asked
, breaking his long silence.

Elora gave him the single eyebrow stare. “Finally come out to play?”

Rin chuckled at her and then looked past her to the elf behind her. He shook his head. “I don’t have a death wish.”

Elora looked over her shoulder and saw that Cush was glaring daggers at
her and Rin. She shrugged her shoulders. “Whateve.”

“So what, you can’t get back to your realm?” Oakley asked.

“The portals have been closed,” Cush answered grimly.

“Bloody hell,” Elora suddenly breathed
out as the realization hit her. “That means Cassie can’t get back here.” She looked over to her mom. “You know her parents are probably freaking out.”

“You’re right
, Elora, we need to go check on them and let them know that Cassie is okay.”

Elora threw her arms up in the air.
“What are we going to say?
Hey your daughter is fine but you can’t see her because she’s with her quiver carrying boy toy in the elf realm, and oh yeah, she’s trapped there.
”

“Quiver carrying?” Cush’s deep voice rumbled from behind her and she heard the amusement in it without seeing his face. She turned on him and pinned him with
her eyes. “Are you trying to tell me you don’t carry a quiver?”

Cush took a step towards her and his huge frame
towered over her. She watched him warily as a slow smile formed on his sensual lips. He leaned down next to her ear and whispered, “No, Little Raven, I don’t carry a quiver. I wield a sword.”

Caught off guard by his statement
, she let out a bark of laughter and quickly slapped a hand over her mouth. He stood back to his full height and looked at her. Elora felt her face growing warm. She cleared her throat and attempted to compose herself. “Well, by all means, wield away.” Their eyes met as she punctuated her flirtatious statement with a wink.

“Elora
.”

“Yes
, Lisa?” Elora answered, finally turning away from the intense stare of Cush.