Elemental Awakening Book Bundle

by Nicola Claire

  "Right, here you are, Miss Eden. Everything you should need is all in here. Clothes in the walk-in, toiletries in the ensuite bathroom. The fire should already be lit in the hearth. I recommend fifteen minutes in front of it, you need to refuel. Likewise, I made sure to have enough plants inside to feed your Gi. We'll worry about the other Stoicheio when they Awaken."

  I stepped into what was clearly the master suite. Opulent, plush, luxurious and masculine with a hint of femininity in the pattern on the thick coverlet that spread over the king-sized bed. Aquas and browns, modern to match the artwork, but rich in design. Small oriental looking flowers dotted the bedspread, hand embroidered by the looks of it. I let my gaze fall over the dark wooden furniture, the large bay windows and overstuffed armchairs sitting at a comfortable angle to each other by a beautiful orchid in full bloom. The fire called to me, an Aubusson rug before it the only reference to old money the house seemed to have.

  It was such a contrast to Theo's old home, I wondered what he thought of it. Then I decided it was better I didn't know. The least I had to do with him, the better.

  It would only hurt.

  "Is it to your liking?" the butler asked.

  "It's beautiful, Aktor. But surely this is the master suite."

  "And you are the mistress," he said with a small bow and then backed out of the room before I could argue that fact.

  As he had done, so many times before, Aktor simply accepted me. Despite the rules. Despite the obstacles. Despite Theo not thinking the same way. Aktor had put me in this room because he knew I should be with Theo. Here. In the master suite. And the old man was counting on that transpiring.

  But wishes are one thing. Reality, I have learned, is something else.

  I walked across the soft carpet to the fireplace, thinking I should shower the grime off but Fire called. I knelt down and watched the flames lick higher, a hiss of burning wood welcomed me home.

  Aether, it said. Oh, Aether, it cried, and then I heard voices.

  It took a second, maybe two, to realise they weren't in the room with me, but were coming through the flames of the Fire like a Pyrkagia communique.

  "Darling, you must be tired," Isadora's voice purred from inside the hearth.

  "Not too tired for this," Theo replied, his voice muffled but still audible through the crackle of the flames.

  "It's been a long time, Theodoros," the bitch murmured. "Things have changed."

  "If you mention that Gi one more time I will throttle you," he snapped back, the hand covering my mouth trembled as finally the tears returned.

  "Theo," Isadora tried, and I reluctantly acknowledged that at least she was trying.

  But how do you fight off an amorous suitor such as Theo? One you have always loved and so recently thought lost to another. One who clearly doesn't remember that fact and still believes you are his.

  "Allow me this, Dora," he pleaded. "I need you, love."

  And then he groaned. A sound I had heard him make on many occasions. A sound I knew he made when things were heating up and Pyrkagia was flowing and we were usually fully naked, skin on skin.

  I made my own sound. A hitched, horrible sound. Then managed to whisper, "Stop!"

  The words were for the Fire, to break the connection, to not show me anymore. But they could have equally been for Theo.

  Stop hurting me.

  Stop breaking my heart.

  Stop doing this.

  Stop.

  The door to my room crashed open and as I struggled to gain my footing on the stupid rug beneath my feet, Theo crossed the space between us and hauled me up to his level, shaking me like a rag-doll. Shaking me while he sent every ounce of his will through his Pyrkagia directly at me.

  I screamed.

  Isadora screamed from the still open door.

  And Theo let out the roar of an injured lion; so pain-filled, so wretched, so real.

  "Get out!" he yelled, at first I thought to me. But his hand was still wrapped around my throat and his eyes were actually on Dora.

  "Theo, what are you going to do?" she inquired, somehow managing to sound steady. But even I could see the worry in her eyes.

  "This is between me and the eavesdropping Gi," he snarled.

  "Theodoros!" Aktor thundered from the hallway.

  And then with a flick of his hand Theo pushed Isadora back out the door, slamming it shut and then melting the lock completely.

  They banged on it for several seconds. They yelled for him to not do anything he'd regret.

  And all the while he watched me, not the rattling frame of the door. Not the lightning that shot down all around the building in a thunderous crack of sound, not the torrential rain visible through the still open curtains, nor the flames in the fireplace as they licked the mantle above.

  Not even the orchid as it swayed in its pot and danced to a death's dirge.

  "You want me?" he asked, voice deceptively soft. "Here I am," he whispered.

  And then he leaned forward so slowly until his lips were hovering above my mouth.

  "Open," he instructed.

  "What?" I squeaked, but of course, that meant I "opened."

  And Fire burned down my throat as he breathed Pyrkagia into me through a kiss that surely meant my death.

  Chapter Five

  Shhh

  I have suffered much since I awoke in a pit full of dirt.

  I have been vilified, ostracised, and cast out.

  I have been tortured, poisoned and experimented on in a mad scientist's lab whilst still conscious.

  I have been dragged from my home, fought for another, made to kill in order to protect those I consider mine.

  I have discovered my once-thought kind and trustworthy grandfather was in fact a member of a cult that was obsessed with Elemental powers not natural to humans.

  I have found out I am a god's answer to a fate not yet determined but thought to be the very worst.

  I have loved and lost that love.

  And I was through with it all.

  As Theo's body moulded to mine, and a moan escaped his lips, while Fire swelled between us, his and mine, I pulled on the Earth. And felt its ever present reply.

  We are yours. Do as you wish. Take from us, Aether. Yours.

  The ground beneath that exquisite mansion rumbled. The house shook. I could hear Aktor and Isadora yelling at Sonya to get out. The glass in the window frames rattled and then just gave up the ghost and shattered.

  Rain poured in, soaking us where we stood. Drenching us, but not quenching the Fire. It burned. We burned. It raged to an inferno between us. I could smell the burned Aubusson carpet. I could feel the flames lick up my body, my clothes turning to ash at my sides.

  Theo's hands replaced them.

  Remember me! I shouted inside my head. This is us! I yelled.

  But a part of me knew. He was acting on instinct, nothing more. His feeding had been interrupted between Isadora and himself, and I'd been presented on a singed platter for him to taste.

  Theo's Stoicheio wrapped around mine in a poor imitation of a Thisavros bonding. Nothing like the real thing. Hollow. Weak. Fake.

  I started to struggle in his hold, his lips still firmly pressed to mine, his tongue halfway down my throat, his hands; one fisted in my hair holding me still, the other cupping my butt cheek and thigh, pulling me hard against his erection.

  The wind had started to howl, the curtains billowing horizontal to the floor now. The rain sharp splinters of ice digging into feverish skin.

  "I will have you," Theo growled against my lips. "You want this too."

  I did. I did want it. Skin on skin. Theo around me, with me, inside me. But not like this.

  I tried to speak, but my back had hit the wall beside the still raging fireplace, a picture next to my head falling to the floor from the impact our bodies made. The walls swayed, the ground rolled, the house screeched in denial, but I knew it was no good. Resistance was futile.

  This house and anyone in it would
be buried if I didn't stop this now.

  Was it me? Was I causing this?

  Stop! I yelled to Earth, Fire, Air and Water. Stop! I ordered, but all I heard was the groan of trees outside, the roar of flames around me, the whistle of the wind and the sharp rat-a-tat-tat of rain on any available surface.

  We cannot, several different voices replied. We cannot, they repeated at different resonances. We cannot, they cried with force enough to make me moan from the pain that took up residence inside my head.

  My vision began to blur, my limbs became weak. But not Theo. Whatever was weakening me was not affecting him. His hands roamed down my body, lifting me off my feet and wrapping my legs around his waist.

  No! Not like this. Please, no!

  I felt him ready to enter.

  A single tear rolled down my cheek.

  Not like this, my mind whispered desperately. He'll never forgive himself, my heart and soul cried out.

  A bright white light filled the room, so blinding it even made Theo pause. His head pulled back, his chest pulled away, just our groins aligned but no closer.

  "What the hell?" he said, suddenly aware of the state of the room, who was in his arms and just how close we were to being crushed in rubble.

  His wide golden eyes glanced down at my scorched but obviously naked body, held aloft by his grip on my rear. I saw the second he realised what was about to transpire. I waited for the anger to be directed at me. But it didn't come. His eyes had stilled on my wet cheeks.

  Then the light expanded, rushed around us in a tornado of lightning bright flashes, ozone wafted on the electrified air. Theo's dark hair rose off his head, I could feel mine doing the same.

  "What's happening?" he asked, his words sounding like static, as he removed my legs from his waist but somehow managed to pull me closer, not push me further away with that move.

  "I...I don't know," I stammered, but I was thinking that maybe I did.

  The wind picked up, although all I could see before me was Theo and the blinding white light that surrounded us, and all I could hear was his harsh breaths mixed with mine.

  Where to, Aether? a new voice sounded in my head. High-pitched and chilling, not deep and steady like the Earth, or playful and teasing like Fire. This one froze me, then ran cold fingers down my spine. Where to, Aether? it repeated.

  I shook my head.

  "What is it?" Theo demanded.

  "Aeras," I whispered and the voice inside my head sighed, changing from chilling to calming in one breath.

  Aether, where to?

  So many things swept through my head. The look on Theo's handsome face, so close and yet still so closed off. The sound of a building about to break. The façade I'd seen earlier, driving through those gates towards the sleek mansion on top of the hill. The grass lawns, the trees.

  The Moreton Bay Fig.

  The more I thought about the gnarled, exposed roots of the tree, the one outside as well as the one in a book I used to own and the one that had appeared in my first dream visit from Gramps, the more it crystallised in my mind.

  So be it, whispered Air.

  Then the light blazed, and the wind whipped and the cool wet feel of grass met my toes. I looked down and saw a tree root, my eyes followed it until they came to the tree. The light dissipated, the wind calmed, and that ozone smell wafted away on a now non-existent breeze.

  But it still rained.

  "What the fuck was that?" Theo demanded, looking down at me with shock and I was thinking horror on his face.

  "Aeras," I repeated.

  "Yes," he said, stepping away, putting space between us, taking his body heat, but not the heat of his gaze. His eyes roamed hungrily over my completely nude body. I couldn't look at his. It hurt too much. Because although I saw appreciation in his look, there was still no recognition.

  I was a naked woman before a Pyrkagia prince, one who was still hungry.

  I covered my breasts with crossed arms as Isadora, Nico, Aktor and Sonya came running over. They all stopped as one, taking in the sight of our unclothed forms.

  "Did we miss the party?" Nico asked, as Aktor removed his shirt quietly and walked over to me holding it out.

  I could have kissed him.

  Nico reluctantly did the same for Theo, whose eyes still hadn't left my body, this time concentrating on my naked thighs.

  "What the hell happened?" Isadora demanded, taking a step toward Theo and being cut off by Nico. They glared at each other, but she didn't push forward, taking the silent threat at face value.

  "Are you all right?" Sonya asked. "One hell of a storm," she added, as though she needed to hear it said aloud.

  "You know better than that, Miss Marin," Aktor said softly.

  Sonya's shoulders slumped. "It just looked like a crazy-arsed storm to me," she muttered.

  "Hey," Nico chided softly, moving to wrap an arm around her shoulders. She stiffened but didn't move away. "At least you can't be fooled now. You'll always question your environment. That's got to be good, right? More awareness."

  "More awareness of the crazy-arsed things that are happening," she muttered, but smiled when Nico rolled his eyes.

  "Are you all right, Miss Eden?" Aktor asked pointedly.

  "A bit singed," I whispered, feeling the heat still from Theo's gaze. Why wouldn't he look away?

  "I gather things got out of hand," Aktor said conversationally, as I brushed a lank wet strand of hair out of my eyes.

  I glanced at the house and before Theo could answer that revealing statement said, "I think it's safe to go back inside." The house looked sound, a few windows broken, some more cracked, but at least it had a roof over it to ward off this persistent rain.

  "And how would you know that, Cassandra?" Theo asked, and then utterly stilled. The look of confusion and mortification on his face was almost humorous. He had absolutely no idea where that name had come from obviously.

  And didn't that just suck?

  I let a long suffering breath of air out on a sigh and he broke his statue like appearance to raise one solitary eyebrow at me.

  "We'll do this inside," I said, not waiting to hear any arguments, but starting for the front steps. "I don't know about you lot," I added, not looking back. "But this morning I woke up with my lungs missing and a butcher's excuse for sewing down the front of my chest, I need to sit down. And I'm sick of this freaking rain!" I added on a shout.

  Suddenly I was spun around and Theo's long elegant fingers were unbuttoning my shirt.

  "Hey!" I managed, as Aktor walked past saying, "I'd let him, he's just realised you almost died."

  "Why should he care?" Sonya accused, but looked pale and shaken as she too slid past.

  Followed by a frowning Isadora being shoved ahead of a smiling Nico, who offered me a wink.

  "You've healed," Theo whispered, and my head shook slowly as my body slumped and it just seemed too damn hard.

  "Only physically," I managed to whisper.

  A hand came up and cupped my cheek. It took effort to raise my eyes to his.

  Yep, still searching for something to recognise, but now doused in a hell of a lot of sadness and confusion and heartache.

  This was hurting him too, and he didn't know why.

  "Why can't I remember?" he whispered. "I feel this..." He lowered his face, bringing his forehead against mine in the most intimate action he had performed with me so far.

  Forget what just happened in the bedroom, this here meant something. That did not.

  "Why do I feel this still, if I can't remember?" he rasped.

  "What exactly do you feel?" I pressed. Honesty. We needed honesty if we were to move forward.

  Hell, what were we moving forward to? It couldn't be as good as what we'd had.

  "This longing," he murmured. "A need I don't understand." He laughed unhappily then, and pulled his forehead away, breaking the moment.

  His hand fell from my cheek, but he didn't step back. He looked down at me as I redid the buttons
on Aktor's shirt, my fingers fumbling from exhaustion and the knowledge that the world was just so unfair.

  "You're attractive," he suddenly said.

  "But I'm not your type," I finished for him. "I know." My eyes came back up to his face.

  "You're really my Thisavros?" he asked, but I'm not sure he wanted an answer.

  "Was," I said anyway, and pushed past him to enter the house.

  I dragged my feet up the stairs ignoring the voices I could hear in what had to be the direction of the kitchen. I couldn't face them now. Aktor's calm knowledge that things would be as they were one day, when I really didn't believe that anymore. Nico's smug smile that would assume things were progressing nicely, when I had never been so lost as I was right now. Sonya's confusion and pain on my behalf. Isadora's anger and altogether bitchiness. No, I couldn't face it.

  But the room assigned to me was a mess. Rain still pouring in through the shattered window. The fireplace a hissing bed of wet embers. The walls scorched, the bedspread ruined, the carpet soaked.

  I covered my face with my hands and let out a pitiful sob.

  Two hands landed on my shoulders and I was turned into a warm embrace.

  "I may not remember, but I know what I'm feeling can't be wrong," Theo whispered into my hair. "Give me time, Cassandra."

  I cried harder.

  And then he swept me up in his arms, tucking me under his chin and turned from the ruined room, stalking down the hallway. His foot pushed the door open on a smaller but no less luxurious bedroom, and proceeded to carry me towards the bed. A fire still flickered in the hearth, and as we passed it, it roared back to life. Happily flaring from a mere thought of Theo's, no doubt.

  I was too tired to throw Pyrkagia around, but I wasn't too tired to object to sharing a bed with a man who couldn't remember me.

  "I can't stay here," I protested, as he tucked me under the covers like a small child.

  "Shhh," was all he said, brushing my hair from my face and then moving back to the fireplace, staring blindly for a long while.

  I watched him, my body longing for something, that when given earlier I'd realised I couldn't accept. He was right there. Across the room from me. Mere feet away. And yet it might as well have been the ocean for all the distance that there still existed.