Elemental Awakening Book Bundle

by Nicola Claire

  Oh dear freaking God, when had I become this wanton woman?

  It didn't take long, which was entirely too embarrassing to think about. But within seconds I split apart into a million pieces, and he swallowed my cries of release down with his mouth. My body shuddered against the tiles, against him, and he held me up and softly kissed my cheeks, my closed eyelids and then my lips. It was so very tender and gentle, a caring caress of his lips against my feverish skin.

  Theo made me melt with a look alone, but Theo like this was an inferno inside my heart and soul.

  He pulled back and looked down at me affectionately. I had trouble lifting my eyelids to look at his face. My head was resting back against the shower stall wall, my hands lying ineffectually on his biceps.

  "You are so delicious, Oraia," he murmured.

  The reminder that I fed him, when the heat of lust coursed through my veins, made me wake a little from the delightful fog he'd wrapped around my mind right then. My eyes flicked fully open and there was no stopping the scarlet that heated my cheeks. His lips tipped up at the edges and he sucked in a slow, languid breath.

  Then to my surprise, he reached over and grabbed a bottle of shampoo off the shelf and poured a good portion in his palm. Without another word he washed my hair, taking his time, massaging my skull, making sure I closed my eyes when he rinsed the suds out. I followed suit and washed his hair, the entire time his eyes didn't leave mine.

  There was something incredibly intimate about this. Caring for each other. Cleaning, pampering, petting. It was a different kind of intimacy from sex. I could imagine that sex would come in many varied fashions, but that allowing someone to wash you was an invitation not many gave. This was personal in a way that sex wasn't always.

  And I loved it. And I had never known that it existed until him.

  Once we were clean a nervousness settled in my lower stomach. I didn't want this to end. I didn't want to step out of this shower and go eat a meal with Aktor. I hadn't had my fill of Theo yet. He looked down at me, the spray of the warm water still ricocheting off his chest and onto mine. His muscles sleek and shining in the lights of the room. Every single definition standing out and framed with stunning clarity. My eyes ran over his body, hungry, wanting, needing more.

  "Do you trust me?" he asked, voice low and sensual.

  I nodded agreement immediately, not even having to think about the question anymore. Gold flashed in his eyes and his lids lowered. A sexy half-mast look that melted my insides.

  He stared at me for a very long moment with those hooded eyes of sun-glow yellow. His delicious looking chest rising and falling a little too rapidly. Then he said, in a voice that went directly to my core, "Turn around and place your hands on the wall, legs spread, back arched."

  Butterflies turned into a tornado in my belly. I just stared at him, unable to respond or move or even blink.

  He leaned forward and whispered, hot breath across my lips, "Trust me, Oraia."

  I sucked in a breath and turned around, Theo's hands running softly over my skin, helping me into position. He lay a trail of kisses up my spine, as the warmth of his body slowly seeped into my back and his hands worked their way around to my chest. He palmed my breasts, a torturous massage that made me bite my lip and stifle a moan. His lips kissed along my neck and then nibbled on my ear, a hot tongue flicking out and wrapping around the lobe, then a gentle suck that seemed to pull on other parts of my body.

  Slowly, so very slowly, one hand ran down over my stomach and cupped me suggestively between my legs. His lips remained at my ear as he whispered, "I'm going to make you come again, like this." A finger slipped down the track of my folds, then slowly slid inside. I felt my walls tightening, trying to pull him deeper within. He growled in my ear, his erection jerking between my butt cheeks. "Then I'm going to slide into you from behind," he rasped, "and take you hard."

  My body jumped. I couldn't help it. The image he created with his words, mixed with the sensations he'd already elicited with his touch, made my body convulse involuntarily. But a small sound of distress left my lips, belying my eagerness to have him do every single thing he promised. This was so very erotic, so much more than I had the ability to partake. I wanted it, dear God in heaven, I wanted it. But I was also so very shy about putting myself there. Being taken like that in a shower stall. A shiver dashed down my spine, not missed by Theo.

  "Shhh," he crooned. "I'll take care of you. But, Oraia, there is much pleasure to be gained when you push past conformities. Test your own boundaries. Trust me. Let me help you stretch to new heights. I promise you will enjoy it."

  Oh, this was sweet torture. To be this close to nirvana and walk away because I am coy. I closed my eyes tightly and swallowed down my fears. Theo wanted me. Like this. He craved me, in any way he could get me. Even if I wasn't his Thisavros, even if this all was torn asunder tomorrow, how could I not take the chance to feel this, to share this, with him? Even if just for a moment.

  "O..Okay," I managed to breathe out.

  "That's my little Gi. So fearless," Theo murmured against my skin. I wanted to tell him to stop teasing, but his finger had started sweeping through my centre, dipping in a fraction, then back out and swirling around my nub. The ability to talk was immediately lost and the ability to think quickly followed.

  Theo moaned out a sound in my ear as his finger pressed deeper inside. My hips bucked against him, starting to rock in a rhythm as old as time itself. I felt him grind back against my rear, seeking friction of his own, all the while giving me what my body craved with just his hand. He teased and tormented the flesh between my legs, he rubbed and pinched and then soothed with a soft stroke and tender sweep of his finger through my wetness.

  I moaned and threw my head back on his shoulder and then he slipped two fingers inside. Stretching me, teasing me, making me want more, want him. He started pumping harder, the palm of his hand resting against my mound, while his fingers thrust in and out, over and over again. A crescendo built, a delicious sensation from deep down inside, which spread unmercifully throughout my centre and rushed me, consumed me, made me buck and writhe and cry out.

  I was panting and could barely hold my weight up on my shaking legs, but Theo wasn't done with me yet. His hands gripped my hips, he pulled my butt back towards him, away for the wall and then I felt the tip of him resting right there. I was swollen and sensitive and utterly wet. And I wanted him inside like I had never wanted a thing before in my life. He didn't thrust hard as I expected, he did exactly as he promised. A slow glide between my folds, until he was seated deep inside.

  "Oh Oraia," he breathed out above my shoulder. "So good. So... bloody... good."

  And then he started to rock.

  The pace increased, his hands holding my hips exactly where he wanted me, and the hardness of him filling me, then leaving me bereft, only to punch back in again with force. Hard. He'd said he'd take me hard. And he was. My hands were slipping on the wet tiles, trying to hold my upper body steady as he thrust into me repeatedly from behind.

  I had never thought I'd experience anything as basic, as animalistic as this. And I decided nothing could ever compare again. I didn't want to think about what lay ahead. The fact that my time with Theo may be limited. I didn't want to think I would never experience this sort of abandon ever again. No one but Theo could give me this. To allow me to stretch, to reach new heights, and yet feel so safe and protected while I did so.

  His hands left my hips, running up my sides, sending delicious shockwaves over my skin. It felt different, without his grip to steady my rear. But I also realised I was meeting each thrust with a rock back of my own. Just as eager for that deep, hard penetration as he was to give it to me. His fingers suddenly wrapped around mine, entwining with my own as they rested on the tiles in front of me. He held the majority of his body off my back, the only connection was through our hands and where we met; him thrusting in, me rocking back to take everything he offered.

  It was unbelie
vable. It was mind-blowingly good. It was... everything I thought Theo would be.

  I felt his body tighten, he grew larger inside me and then as he let out an erotic sounding roar on his release, I followed. I hadn't expected to come again, but Theo was simply too sexy, too virile, to ignore. The orgasm rocked through me and I cried out his name as I came. Shuddering beneath his body as he lay himself down my back, hot skin to hot skin. He kept murmuring words in Greek, which I had no hope of understanding. His lips interspersing each muttered sound with a kiss along the back of my neck.

  I felt so sated, so relaxed and yet so very, very alive. I could do this forever and never tire of it. I would crave this for the rest of my life.

  "Sweet little Gi," Theo murmured, English finally finding its way into his vocabulary. "You are a dream; a delicious, addictive dream." He kissed my neck softly, trailed his lips around to the side and rested his head on my shoulder. I think he was exhausted. I think I'd worn him out.

  A smile graced my lips as one of his arms wrapped around my stomach and held me tight. Then slowly, as though reluctant to do so, he pulled back, slipping out of me and sending an additional shiver through my body. He turned me in his arms and ducked his head down to look me in the eye. The gold had receded, but the hazel was still more gem-like than normal, a shine that did not exist in humans' eyes, but looked perfect on this man.

  "So," he said, a cocky look touching the corners of his lips. "Do you like stretching yourself, Cassandra?"

  I huffed out a breath, but there was no way I was up to playing games with this man. He'd just reached down into the very heart of me and seen everything there was to see. I lifted shy eyes to his and smiled. I couldn't deny what he already knew. I couldn't deny it even to myself.

  "Yes," I whispered and watched as his lips parted slightly to suck in a deep breath, and as his eyes closed for a brief moment, savouring my answer.

  "The things I could show you, Casey," he murmured, eyelids slowly lifting to hold me in a heated gaze.

  It was a simple statement, one that should have excited me with the promise it held. But there was a note of sadness to his tone. As though he only wished for it, but couldn't believe it would actually happen. Oh, I was sure he wanted to show me all those delicious things, but he knew, like I knew, that our time was not our own.

  When had we both started to doubt this could last? When had we begun to give up?

  The elation of moments before was replaced with a fearful sorrow. He caught the shifting emotions on my face and reached forward to cup my cheeks with both hands.

  "Nothing is set in stone," he whispered, lowering his lips to rest on my forehead. "Dreams can come true."

  But if he thought that, if he truly believed we could go against all the opposition to me being here, against his centuries of defending Pyrkagia, against those who mean me harm, then he would have proven it. Nothing would have stopped him from claiming me again.

  I wasn't sure, I certainly had a lot more to learn about Ekmetalleftis, but something told me that if you held your Thisavros in your arms and feared you'd lose her, you'd mark her again and again. Cling to that claiming, show the world she is yours. I couldn't see an Athanatos not doing that, if they felt their claim was being threatened at all.

  And yet Theo hadn't bitten me again.

  The need to reach up and touch his fading mark on my neck was atrocious in its desire. But I fought it, just as I fought my tears.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  And Now The Athanatos Was Coming For Me

  Theo left me to dress in my room. He'd attempted to lighten the mood with little teases and his now familiar touch, but although I'd tried my best to hide my unease at what lay ahead, I was sure he'd sensed it. That didn't stop him from kissing me mindless before he left the room.

  In a perfect world, Theo Peters would be perfect. But my world was far from being as good as it could possibly be. There were still too many unanswered questions. Still too many people wanting me either gone from Auckland or just wanting me. Who were the trees whispering about? Who meant me harm? The Pyrkagia Rigas? The Gi? Or the Alchemists?

  And underlying all the uncertainty was the one question that meant everything. Why had I become what I am now? Why?

  I sat down on the bed once I'd donned my borrowed clothes and stared numbly at the floor. Aktor had been in the room while we showered and taken my dress. No doubt to wash it for me. It was a lovely gesture, but it also meant he'd been aware I was showering in Theo's bathroom and not the attached ensuite. Strangely, I didn't have it in me to react to that revealing thought.

  Fear encased my heart and sent icy tendrils throughout my body. But there were no answers to quell the angst. Only more questions to fuel that dread. And to top it all off, the palms outside were restless. Their whispered words of warning making no sense at all. I couldn't even depict a language anymore, just nonsensical sounds that left me feeling raw with apprehension and alarm. I wrapped my arms around my body and stood up from the bed, heading out to the main part of the house.

  Aktor had the fire roaring and Theo stood resting an arm along the top of the hearth. Despite the feeling of impending separation, I immediately crossed the space and tucked myself into the front of his body, making him wrap his arms around my frame so we could both stare at the flames. I heard him chuckle behind me, clearly amused at my sudden boldness. But if time was running out, I sure as hell was going to take every opportunity I could to touch the man, to be in his embrace.

  "You smell of vanilla and raspberry," Theo murmured in my ear.

  "So do you," I whispered back.

  "We make a fine pair," he murmured, making my heart flip over painfully and my eyes sting with wretched tears. He couldn't see them and the fire soon burned them away, but I wondered if he knew they had been there anyway. Theo seemed to be able to see right through me, to the deepest parts of my heart and soul.

  "Ah, Cassandra," Aktor announced. "You look refreshed."

  I smiled at the old butler and watched as he brought a tray of dishes into the room. He set them down on the table, which was just off to the side of the fireplace where Theo and I stood. The scent of roast pork, tomatoes and tzatziki reached my nose. Aktor returned to the kitchen and then reappeared with a plate of toasted pita bread.

  "Gyros," he announced. "One of Theodoros' favourites."

  "Don't tell me you cooked this especially for me, Aktor," Theo announced, pulling me closer to the table. "You just want to see if Cassandra likes the same foods." He leaned down and nuzzled my ear to whisper, "He's such a matchmaker."

  I huffed out a laugh and took the offered chair he pulled out for me to sit in.

  "I'm sure it's lovely," I said, looking at Aktor, who was giving Theo a dark look.

  "Now she'll never give an honest response," Aktor muttered, serving up the Gyros and offering me a pita from the plate.

  I couldn't help smiling at their little dispute. I could imagine they continually teased each other, probably had done for centuries, both men so relaxed in each other's company. A part of me wondered what it was like, to be alive for so long. Aktor had hinted at the weight of so many memories. But this affable atmosphere hinted to something else as well. Something precious, yet familiar. They were family, these two, and even the stretch of millennia did little to hinder that.

  I wanted to ask, but I wasn't sure I was ready to accept the eternity, or near eternity, of an immortal life. Asking seemed like that line in the sand again. If I did it, I crossed it, and there was no going back. I realised I wasn't ready to place myself in that category yet. Maybe once I had some answers to the bigger questions, the immediate questions, then I could work on admitting I was one of them.

  Instead I said, around a mouthful, "Mmmm, delicious."

  Aktor huffed, clearly not believing me, and Theo just outright laughed. It didn't take long for me to join him, despite my efforts to insist the meal was lovely. In the end we were all laughing, enjoying our food, sipping good wine and ju
st forgetting, for a moment, that we were fugitives.

  When Aktor served up a Baklava for dessert and we retired to the fireplace with after dinner drinks, the mood shifted. The brief reprieve was over. We had serious things to discuss.

  "Have you decided your next move?" Aktor asked, sipping a clear anise-flavoured drink. I was sticking with my wine.

  Theo's eyes shifted from the fire to my face, he just gazed at me for a moment, making my cheeks heat in a different manner than the flames had been doing.

  "My first instinct is to try diplomacy again, but in my heart I know it would fail," Theo finally admitted.

  "We can get you both out of the country," Aktor suggested. "It wouldn't be easy, but not impossible either."

  I let a disgruntled breath of air out. This was exactly what I had wanted to avoid, being bullied out of my home, my life. What would I tell Sonya? My family? Could I even tell them anything, or would that put them all at risk? Sonya must have been wondering where I was, I hadn't been in touch since asking her to run the shop for a few days. My family could go a week without contact, busy with their own lives. But Sonya was different. She was my best friend, my colleague. She knew I had been trying to work out what had happened to me, but she didn't know the latest. I wanted to phone her, I desperately wanted to hear her voice, to know she existed and confirm that she had been my friend for ten years. Even if I denied the accusations, I still needed to prove my side of the story - to myself.

  But part of me was too scared to pull her further into this. The less she knew the better. And if I disappeared, Sonya would still be cared for. The building was on a lease, and there was money owing on the business, but I'd made sure that Sonya's name was on everything as well. She'd be OK, she'd still have a job and she'd get on with her life. Even if she cried a tear or two for me in the process, Sonya was a survivor. More so than I had ever been.

  The conversation went around and around in circles, we ended up in the lounge, sitting on more comfortable chairs. And at some point, I drifted off to sleep, my head resting on Theo's chest.