Braving the Elements

by K. F. Breene

  A red haze blocked the door, that protection spell Charles still couldn’t figure out how to work was locking him in. As I hustled away with Jessiah, I heard her harsh laughter.

  “Do we need to wait?” Jessiah hesitated.

  I tugged him along. “Nah. He’s around constantly. I doubt anything’s waiting in the woods to accost us. And if it is, I can blow up a plant to attack it. Or us.”

  He laughed merrily, tucking my arm around his.

  “So, what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked as we sauntered toward the trees, the night silky and warm on my face.

  The soft moonlight caught his beautiful blue eyes as they beheld me, soft heat infusing them. “I never get to talk to you. It seems like you’ve always got somewhere to be or something to do.”

  “Or Charles nudging me away?”

  Jessiah grinned, threading his fingers between mine to hold my hand. “He doesn’t trust me with his women.”

  I laughed because it was so true, even though I wasn’t Charles’s woman. “He is a tiny bit jealous, yes. I’ve noticed.”

  A powerful surge blasted through the link, Stefan extremely uncomfortable about something. Given that he was always irritated in some way about his duties, this was par for the course. I stopped the link altogether, wanting a freaking second to myself to figure out this attraction to Jessiah. No, I couldn’t even feel a fraction for him what I did for Stefan, but I wanted to see if this interest was returned—healthy and reciprocal without an arranged agreement with other women. It tipped the balance.

  “You’ve come a long way in your elements. Do you have any other help?”

  “Just you. I like your teaching style. I am a hands-on learner, so how you show me helps.” I blushed a little. Granted, sometimes his hands wandered a little too close to personal areas, but he always apologized with that devilish smile, the scoundrel side of him making me laugh.

  As if thinking along the same lines as I did, he smiled. “Hmm. So, where do you stay while you’re here? I haven’t seen you around the mansion after light.”

  We walked through a canopy of trees, heading deep into the woods. The leaves draped across the sky, hiding the approaching dawn. The last traces of night called to me, the silken feel of darkness reaching for my body and caressing my senses.

  “I’m tucked away,” I answered, leaning against his shoulder as we walked. “Where do you stay?”

  He paused next to a tree, directing my back toward the bark. His eyes looked down into mine, the woods still and quiet in the pocket of time when night animals tucked into their beds and the day animals got the urge to wake up. His hands lowered to my hips.

  “On the first floor of the main house with all the other minions,” he said in a husky voice.

  My hands traveled up his arms, smaller than Stefan’s. He didn’t have the medieval tattoos to make him seem exotic and wild, either. Or the giant width of shoulder from fighting and surviving in the world, keeping his people safe and protected.

  With effort, I ignored all that, glancing back to his face. He was handsome, surely, but not devastatingly so. His eyes didn’t hold the same wicked intelligence, or the same soul-touching depth. My heart didn’t pound, or lurch, or even flutter. My stomach didn’t tingle or fill with butterflies.

  Damn it!

  Jessiah leaned in, his mouth brushing mine softly. A pang of guilt rocked me, unexpected. This wasn’t wrong logically, but my soul didn’t know that. This man wasn’t the one I truly wanted. He wasn’t my ground; my other half.

  That man was promised to someone ten times prettier with a long list of accolades. And I’d thought I’d always been lucky? Yeah right.

  I pushed back, moving my head to the side to escape the kiss. Regardless of Stefan’s attachment, I didn’t want Jessiah. At least not right then. I wasn’t ready.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, his head still bowed to mine.

  “I should probably get back.”

  His eyes delved into mine, making me shiver in a way I wasn’t expecting. Before I could identify the weird thrill of—apprehension? Fear?—a rustling caught my attention. Adnan stepped through the foliage.

  “Sasha, sorry to interrupt, but do you have a minute?” Adnan nodded to Jessiah in acknowledgement.

  For a race of people who had sex while carrying on conversations, I wasn’t sure why this intrusion surprised me. I was equally confused as to why it relieved me as well.

  “What’s up?” I stepped away from Jessiah smoothly, using Adnan as an excuse to head toward dinner.

  “I wondered…” he hesitated, his gaze flicking back to Jessiah, who apparently did not intend to follow. I hoped he wasn’t mad. “You helped me today—thanks—and I wondered if you would continue to help me if I helped you in turn? Maybe if I taught you some sword and chanting, if maybe you’d work with me on keeping my power open when I fight? Without that, I can’t get into the Watch Command, which is the one thing I’ve been training for my whole life.”

  Ah, the dramatics of youth. Still, this sounded like a sweet deal! Maybe I’d even get a friend out of it. “Sure.”

  We got within sight of the mansion. I scanned the back wall, looking for my pissed off bodyguard. “Where’s Charles?”

  “He got worried when you took off, so he sent me after you.”

  “Why didn’t he come after me himself?”

  “He went to look for the Boss, I think.”

  “Oh great, he’s telling on me, that butt-head!” I shook my head as we walked through the door. I might as well just use the time to my advantage.

  To that end, I snagged some dinner from the dining hall and headed straight for my room. Eat, shower, alone time. I still had Stefan on the brain.

  *****

  “I had her, where were you?” Jessiah barked into the phone. “It’s not easy to get her alone!”

  A growl filled the line. “You think I can get people to you in five minutes? That I can mobilize the right equipment from a random text you send? You have to plan it out! You need to coordinate this.”

  Jessiah kicked at the ground. It had been a huge stroke of luck getting Sasha without that fool Charles. Although, it seemed that Charles had trouble breaking protective spells.

  “I have an idea. Be ready tomorrow at dawn. I’ll text you the exact location and time. Be in position before I arrive. I’ll trap her bodyguard and hand wrap her to be taken. Just be there.”

  “You are dangerously close to overstepping your bounds.” The voice on the other end paused, menace nearly crawling through the line and into Jessiah’s head. He’d forgotten the type of men he was dealing with. The dangerous nature of the type of men he dealt with.

  “Sorry, sir.”

  “Have her ready. I’ll organize the pick-up.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Jessiah dropped the phone and took a deep breath. Warning tingles filled his whole body. He wondered if he was really making the right decision.

  That organizational chart flipped in his head.

  Stealing his determination, he headed back to the mansion to finalize his plans.

  Chapter 6

  “Boss, I need to talk to you.”

  Stefan finished reading the document Jameson had handed him and faced Charles, a bad feeling taking over the pit of this stomach. “What is it?”

  “Sasha took off with Jessiah after Darla’s class.”

  Stefan waited for more. When it didn’t come, he dropped his hands to his sides so he didn’t shake the other man. “Why didn’t you go after her?”

  “Because that bi—uh, lovely future-mate of yours slapped a defensive shield in my face, knowing I have trouble with those, and allowed her to escape.”

  Stefan’s head tilted slowly. “Darla prevented you from going after your charge? By a defensive shield? Your power grossly tops hers, not to mention the help of the runes. Are you so thick you can’t learn to break a simple spell in a month?”

  “Boss, it’s damn hard to learn when that stupi—when th
e teacher won’t actually teach. At least I basically know the structure of the chants, but Sasha doesn’t even know that much. She spends the whole class blowing things up, shooting them out of the room, or, like today, creating monsters for us to take down. Though, I have to say, that giant plant monster was actually—“

  Stefan hardened his gaze, cutting off the other man immediately. “Are you telling me that Darla is withholding information? Why didn’t you come to me with this?”

  Charles shrunk into his shirt. “Sasha didn’t want to tattle because she, quite rightly, figured Darla would just get vindictive.”

  “So, you’re telling me—a wasted month later—that Sasha has learned nothing?”

  “Well, she’s learned plenty, and some things will probably be extremely useful, but nothing that’s on the class agenda.”

  Stefan took great pains to control his facial expressions. Darla had become the biggest nuisance of his life. She’d been pestering him for blood constantly, and if not that, a formal mating, and if not that, sex. He’d never had a firm fondness for her, but he’d always been able to tolerate her, especially when she spread her legs. Now the thought turned him off entirely.

  “How close has Sasha gotten to Jessiah?” Stefan stepped away to the corner of the library and threw up a voice diffusor, his tattoos glowing so faintly, no one would be the wiser.

  Charles stuck his hands in his pocket. “He’s trying every trick he’s got, and she’s buying it about a fourth of the time. He’s a sniveling little jerk, but he does have game; I have to give him that. I don’t trust him, though. He’s uncommonly frustrated…like he has an ulterior motive. He’s trying to get her to trust him rather than just getting in her pants, but he is nowhere near sincere. That’s not normal.”

  Charles stared at Stefan, trying to do the mental deduction in his head. He thought with his dick often enough, but making sense of that with the head was still beyond him.

  He tried again. “Okay, like, a guy that waits for sex either really likes the chick and will endure the blue balls to make her smile, or he wants something. Jessiah doesn’t really like her. I’ve pulled his angle a million times. He’s after what’s between her legs, and something else…”

  Charles’ voice dropped away, his eyes widening at whatever he saw on Stefan’s face.

  Stefan realized he’d stopped breathing. He smoothed over his face and unclenched his fists. “So you think he wants something, and she’s buying into him at least part of the time?”

  “Like I said, he’s got game. Plus, she misses that Jared kid, and she’s lonely. I probably would’ve had a chance if I waited. I mean, she’d probably buy into anyone who was nice to her. Want me to beat him up? It’d be my pleasure…”

  “Where is she now?”

  “I sent Adnan to get her. You gotta keep your eye on him, Boss. Adnan, I mean. That kid can fight! If he can keep his magic up, he’s a shoe-in.”

  Stefan, voice low, growled out his next words. “Instead of going yourself, you sent a half-trained child to retrieve my—to bring back Sasha?”

  Charles’ eyes snapped shut and his easy-go-lucky attitude dried up. He’d just realized how serious this conversation was, and he was late to the party. In a rush, he said, “It’s only Jessiah and they were headed out to the woods. I came to get you while he went and got her. I got a text from Adnan—she got food a short while ago and headed off to her room. She thinks I talk too much for some reason, so half the time she tries to ditch me. Kind of mean, actually, but she’s okay.”

  “What makes you think she won’t hook up with Jessiah knowing you’re gone?”

  Charles shrugged, his eyebrows dipping in confusion. “She knows not to reveal her sleeping whereabouts…”

  “It doesn’t mean he won’t have her in his.”

  Stefan couldn’t help his rough voice. It killed him to imagine another man touching her. Stefan had no claim on her. He was spoken for; his duty clearly mapped out to choose a mate. When a person became leader, he had to give up certain things. His path was set, and Sasha needed to find someone else and be happy.

  A vase shattered against the wall. Everyone in the room turned to him with shock or fear written plainly on their face. He probably shouldn’t have thrown it.

  “What do I do, Boss?” Charles asked quietly from five feet away, not daring to take a step closer.

  “If he is using her, keep him away from her. Break him if you have to. I will not see her hurt.” He swung a fierce gaze across the spectators, daring anyone to mutter the term pet. He’d snap them in half, no guilt or remorse in his wake.

  As Charles took off, Stefan set his sights on Darla and started walking. She not only hindered Sasha and Charles with her pettiness, she hindered his whole clan. She would be dealt with.

  He found her in the library, naked and riding on top of Thaos, a younger man with pale orange power. As her hips swiveled over him, having him moaning and rolling his eyes back in his head, she sucked at his wrist, drawing deep, having used her body to steal what she could of his power.

  This is what he would be mated to. This is who Fate had mapped out for him; the best option of the bunch.

  “Darla, get up.”

  Startled, the woman’s gaze shifted to his eyes, widening as she beheld him. She dropped Thaos’ wrist and stood, leaving a moaning man with a lulling head in her wake.

  “Hello, come to join in?” She sauntered up to him in a silky glide, all hip and breast, covered in another male’s sweat.

  Stefan pushed her away with a grimace. “What is this I hear about you failing to teach your new students?”

  She laughed sardonically, her smile brittle and bitter. “Oh, is that why you finally seek me out? For your precious human pet? Well, what did you expect, Stefan? She has about as much talent as any human, and less finesse than most. She only wields red. You are wasting your time with her—I only wanted to help you realize that.”

  “If I hear of this again, you will be disbanded. Do I make myself clear? Monday you will have a shadow. I think it’s time I checked on your ability as a professional—“

  Arousal washed through the link, filling him up, making his balls tingle.

  Earlier, when she’d been with Jessiah, she’d muffled it, trying to disguise what she was up to, obviously making him pay attention to it more heavily. She thought she was sneaky, which usually made him laugh because it meant she’d blown something up or otherwise made a huge mess Charles would undoubtedly have to kill. This time, he waited on the edge, wondering what feelings would shine through in the end.

  Arousal was the opposite of what he’d hoped. And being that she’d let the muffling slip, she was in the height of passion.

  A shot of fear coursed through him, fusing his jaw shut and making his hands fists. Being that fear was not an emotion he allowed, rage quickly took its place. Turning abruptly, he was out of the room, striding across the mansion and out the back door with fast, determined strides. He could not suffer her to be touched by another male, his duty be damned; especially not one seeking to use her—aiming to crush her under his agenda.

  *****

  Charles dried himself off with a towel, passing by Sasha’s closed door. Her rinsed plates had been left in the sink when he’d walked in, and the shower had been used and returned to heightened organization. She’d prepared for a quiet night in, and even though he hated going to sleep without a night cap, he knew better than to barge in. The last time he did, she’d blasted him with that weird magic throwing thing of hers. It hurt, and she’d only used a pale purple.

  It was pretty cool she could fluctuate the amount of power she used, though. He’d tried that and only given himself a headache.

  As he walked down the hall, he felt the strange surge that said someone was entering the ward. He turned back to the door, his towel clutched in his hand and the rest of him air-drying, wondering if the Boss planned on a night cap of his own with the sensual little human. Man, what he wouldn’t give for a crack a
t her. She’d be a wild ride, he had no doubt. The way she— The door burst open, scattering his thoughts. The Boss barged through, his shoulders taking up the width of the frame, his eyes ready to rip a body limb from limb. Women often said he had a face like an angel, if that angel hadn’t shaved in a day and road a Harley. In Charles’s opinion, if that angel also decided to go on a killing spree with the intention of taking out half the world. His body brimmed with battle rage, each substantial slab of muscle flexing. Eyes on fire, tattoos alight with his powerful magic, he bore down on Charles.

  “Where is she?”

  “I-in her r-room. I swear!”

  “Did you touch her?”

  “No. Gods, n-no.” Charles put his hands up in surrender, begging to die quickly. “My dick shrivels just thinking of it. I don’t want to go anywhere n-near her.” After today, that would be a solid truth.

  “Who’s in there with her?” His voice rumbled like a guillotine sliding toward a neck.

  Charles’s eyes got wider, if that were possible. “N-no one. I don’t think. I’m pretty su—“

  “Move.”

  Charles dove out of the way, wanting to be anywhere but in the warpath of the Boss when violence called. If there was someone in there, he wouldn’t be in one piece for long.

  *****

  Stefan kicked open the door, the room gloomy where the dark, heavy curtains tried to block out the rising sun. Sasha lay on the bed, the duvet just showing two peaks of knees with a valley in between, her legs spread. At his entrance, she jumped, her head snapping to the door with giant eyes.

  Brain not registering logic anymore, his animal instincts of possession completely taking over, Stefan walked at her, eyes on who might be between her thighs. A certain untrustworthy asshole that was about to die between her thighs.

  He bent down and ripped away her duvet, throwing it across the room. Her thighs were spread wide, her crotch covered by white, lacy panties, the middle wet. Her hands, braced to either side of her in surprise, had two glistening fingers.

  His eyes met hers. He saw the heat and felt the pulse through the link. She’d been thinking of him.