by Tamara White
Sometime while I was thinking of our kiss, Dane must have slipped into the seat next to me. We have a couple minutes before the bell rings for the start of class so I decide to ask him about the kiss.
As I turn to him though, I hear the head bitch’s voice, “Hi Dane, I’m Catherine. A few of us noticed you sitting here with this trash and thought we’d offer you a chance to sit up with us,” Catherine looks my way with malice.
I sigh and sink further into my seat hoping she leaves me alone. Ever since I started going to school here Catherine Jones has always hated me. I have no idea what I did to make her hate me so much. I’d tried confronting her once to ask what her problem was and she said I was a slut after her boyfriend. Her boyfriend at the time was Liam.
“Excuse me? Did you just refer to Evie as trash?” Dane was smiling when she approached him, but now he looks pissed.
“Well duh. Everyone knows that little Evie Grayson is a slut that will sleep with anyone for a little more money,” she draws my name out when she says Evie.
She must be stupid, though, because Dane look absolutely enraged the more she talks. I hope he doesn’t believe a word she’s saying.
I’m starting to get irritated at Catherine’s interruption when I feel it. Oh Crap. My powers are rising. How do I stop it?
The walls start shaking and objects start falling off desks. Dane, I can’t control it! Dane finally notices I have no idea how to stop the power from being released. He jumps from his chair, grabs my hand and pushes past Catherine, dragging me out into the hall and into a janitor’s closet before locking it behind us.
What the hell! Before I can ask him what he’s doing his lips are on mine. One hand is on my hip and the other is cupping my face while he’s pressed against me. I lose all my ability to think and just kiss him back. I don’t know how it’s possible, but it’s better than yesterday’s kiss.
Dane stops the kiss with a light kiss on my cheek “All better?” he asks.
Huh? It takes my brain a few seconds to catch up. The kiss stopped my powers. “Yeah,” I breathe out.
“I think we should leave early so we can discuss your powers. I’ve told the other guys and they’ll meet us at the car,” he says to me. I don’t argue I just grab my stuff from the classroom while Dane speaks to the teacher.
As we get to the car, I realize what just happened. I could have destroyed the school. I feel arms catch me as I go down.
Chapter 10
Dane
As we get to the car, I feel Evie’s power again so I look over to make sure she’s ok. She looks like she’s panicking so I take a step toward her to try and calm her down and she just drops. She must have fainted because her power has stopped. I manage to catch her before she falls to the ground. Lifting her into my arms, I cradle her to my chest as the other guys jog up to the car. They must have seen her faint.
“Is she ok?” Mike asks while Ky and Teddy look her over to make sure she’s not hurt.
“Yeah, she just fainted. Let’s get her home. Mike, do you want to climb in the back and I’ll pass Evie to you while I climb in after?” Mike nods before climbing in and waiting for me to pass Evie up.
I do it as gently as I can before I climb in after them. Mike and I rearrange Evie so she’s spread out over our laps with us holding onto her for the drive home.
Evie
Why am I lying on a lumpy, hard bed? I jerk up and open my eyes. I was lying on someone’s lap in the backseat of the car. Looking around at the guys I see Kylan driving and Teddy is in the passenger seat, which means I was lying on Dane’s and Mike’s laps.
“Sorry,” I manage to squeeze in between them, hoping I don’t make things more awkward.
“It’s ok. You fainted. I had to catch you before you fell and hit your head,” Dane says before grabbing my hand and intertwining it with his. It feels nice to have him holding my hand.
“We’re almost to the house, Evie, then we’ll make you some tea and lunch,” Teddy says to me. I can’t help but smile. I usually make all my meals so it will be nice to have someone make me food.
We pull onto a gravel road and head down the long driveway as we approach the house I can’t believe what I’m seeing. How do the guys afford this place?
It’s a beautiful 2-story house. It looks like it was once old but has been recently renovated. There’s a large in ground pool off the patio on the right side of the house, surrounded by open space that backs onto the edge of the forest. I would love to have a house this beautiful.
Kylan and Mike walk in first followed by Dane, then Teddy and I. Kylan and Mike head up the stairs, while Dane takes a left and follows it down a hallway before disappearing from my sight.
I’m just standing here staring absolutely awed by the house.
“Would you like a tour?” Teddy says from behind me, causing me to jump and clutch my chest.
“Jeez, Teddy, I thought I was alone. You scared me!” I am trying to stop my heart from racing, but it doesn’t help standing so close to Teddy. “Yes, a tour would be nice. I think it’s extremely likely I’ll get lost otherwise.”
Teddy grabs my hand and starts walking me through the first level. There’s a study just to the left of the front door. If you follow down the hall and take a left, you’ll be in the kitchen and dining area, off to the right of the hallway and you have a living room. The living room is massive with large glass sliding doors that open onto the back patio and pool. I take a second to admire the pool. I love to swim but rarely get a chance to in Ashville. I think this is one of the few houses here that actually has a pool. The living room has a large L shaped couch facing the 75-inch television. I bet it is super comfy too. No doubt the guys needed a bigger couch so they would all fit.
I laugh at the mental image of them all squished together on a sofa.
“What’s so funny?” Teddy is looking at me and smiling. I must have got caught up looking at everything.
“Nothing,” I giggle. “Where are we going next?”
“Come on, I’ll show you upstairs,” He pulls me after him.
We take the stairs two at a time while laughing. Teddy seems like the serious one of the group so it’s nice to hear him laugh. I don’t know how often I’ll hear that sound.
“Ok so on the left side we have Kylan’s and Dane’s rooms. There’s also a bathroom down at the end of the hall, with a shower and bath tub. On the right side is my room, Mike’s room, and the guest bedroom,” he points to each of their rooms as he says them, but I can’t help but be curious.
“Can I see your room?” I mainly want to see what the view is like but I can’t help but want to know more about the guys even if it’s just seeing the stuff in their rooms.
“Sure,” he walks towards the door at the end of the second floor.
He waits until I’m standing in front of the door before he pushes it open. Whoa. Majority of the wall facing outside is glass windows so you can see the view of the forest. I walk directly over to the windows and just stare. It’s so breathtakingly beautiful and I can only imagine how much better it gets at sunset, seeing all the different shades of the sky over the tops of the forest.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I love to sit here and just stare some days.” I turn around and look at Teddy. How is it possible that I like each of these guys so much already? All I want right now is for Teddy to kiss me. A part of me feels guilty, and I start thinking about Dane, but I don’t know when I’ll ever feel this way again. I’m not brave enough to ask out loud, so maybe if I project it to him?
Teddy? He looks down at me and smiles. Can I kiss you? If it’s possible, he smiles even more brightly so I take that as a yes. I lean up into him on my toes and gently kiss his lips. I’m not sure whether I’m doing it correctly, but it doesn’t stop him from deepening the kiss. He wraps an arm around my waist and gently pushes me back until the wall is behind me. He reaches down with one hand and squeezes my ass before lifting me up so I have no choice but to wrap my legs around him or ri
sk falling over. He stops and looks into my eyes and brushes my loose hair behind my ear.
“So beautiful,” he whispers before kissing me again. Just when it feels like I am going to combust with need, I hear a cough followed by knocking. I jump from Teddy’s arms, shocked to see Dane at the door with a grin on his face.
“Lunch is ready when you are Evie.” He winks at me before walking back downstairs to the kitchen.
Kylan
Teddy has taken Evie upstairs to see the bedrooms so Dane, Mike, and I quickly tidy up the living room and kitchen. It’s not a mess as such, but you can tell we don’t get too much time to clean up. Dane goes to the kitchen to start on lunch, while Mike and I finish cleaning the living room and pool patio. We had a few beer cans on the table in the pool area from the weekend, and we don’t want Evie to think we drink every night.
We’ve just finished up the living room and started doing some laundry when Dane comes in “I’ve got sandwiches and tea ready just going up to tell Teddy and Evie.”
“Sure, we’ll wash up now,” Mike replies while I nod.
Dane is halfway up the stairs when we hear Evie project to Teddy.
Damn! We are really going to have to teach her to project one at a time. Hearing her voice so shy and soft gets me a little worked up. I look over to Mike and can tell he’s thinking along the same lines that I am.
Dane walks back into the kitchen not long after “That was hot! It took all my restraint not to walk into that room. This might be very difficult with her living under the same roof.”
How will we avoid our bond if she’s living with us?
“We have to try guys. She needs to feel safe, and if we push her too far she may not stay,” Mike is looking up at the ceiling right were Teddy’s room is.
He’s right, though, the last thing we want is for Evie to not feel safe with us.
Evie
I can’t believe Dane saw us. Oh god, now he probably thinks what Catherine said was true. I think I’m going to be sick.
Sliding down to the floor I put my head between my knees. I don’t realize I’m crying until I hear Teddy talking.
“Hey, Evie, it’s ok. I promise. We’ll explain everything after lunch, and you will understand why it didn’t bother Dane when he saw us together.” I’m so confused. I’m a virgin for god’s sake and in the space of two days I’ve let strange guys kiss me and feel me up.
“Please stop crying Evie, we’ll go eat lunch and everything will be fine. You’ll see.” He presses another light kiss to my lips. I don’t know why I believe him, but I do. Teddy offers me his hand and helps me up. I must look terrible.
“Teddy, is it ok if I use the bathroom first? I just need a few minutes to myself,” I avoid looking at him. I don’t want to hurt his feelings, but I need the time to compose myself and think things through.
“Sure, sweetie take your time. I’ll tell the guys you’ll be down in a minute, and I’ll get Dane to put your food away so it stays fresh.”
I wait for him to walk down the stairs before I go to the room he pointed out earlier as the bathroom. The bathroom is so grand for a suburban home. This is the type of bathroom I’d imagine seeing in a mansion. Its shower is wall to wall and big enough to fit at least half a dozen people in it. It even has three shower heads installed in the roof. And the bathtub is huge. I could drown if I laid in there. I wonder if the guys would let me come over just to have a bath. I giggle at the idea. I splash some cool water on my face, hoping it helps reduce the puffiness of my eyes, and I think about what I’ve done.
What am I doing here? I feel like the trash Catherine said I was after having kissed Dane and now Teddy, but I feel drawn to each of them. It sucks. If they are both interested in me how will I choose?
I sigh before gathering my remaining courage and going downstairs.
Chapter 11
Teddy
I am so pissed with Dane. What the hell was he thinking?!
And poor Evie, she was so upset that her thoughts spread to me. Now all she thinks is that the stupid girl from school was right. When I saw her crying, I just wanted to comfort her and make her understand everything would be ok but, I could see the doubt in her eyes.
I’m going to make sure Dane realizes he hurt her and now it’s up to him to fix it.
Evie
I’m almost to the bottom of the stairs when I hear voices whispering. Following the guy’s voices down the hall to just outside the kitchen, I’m about to go in when I hear my name. Stopping just outside the door I listen to what’s being said.
“What is wrong with you, Dane?! You couldn’t have called out from beyond the doorway so Evie wouldn’t think she was caught doing something wrong! You could have called out and given her some warning to compose herself? At least then she could choose to act like we were doing nothing rather than make her feel like she was cheating on you!” Teddy sounds so mad, but I don’t understand why.
Surely, Dane should be angry at finding us kissing but instead he’s apologizing. “I’m sorry Teddy, I didn’t think. I liked seeing Evie like that and I wanted her to know I liked it.”
I blush hearing that. Dane liked seeing Teddy and I kissing?! Why?
“Dude, you didn’t see her. When you left, she collapsed to the floor crying and felt so guilty. She doesn’t know about the bonds yet, so this has got to be confusing the hell out of her.” Teddy’s voice is rising, and I can feel a slight tremble starting in the ground.
I have to put a stop to their arguing, so I walk into the kitchen and over to Teddy.
“Hey, I’m ok. I’m sorry for crying, it’s just everything is so overwhelming, and I think it’s starting to catch up to me.”
He looks down at me, and I can see the tension in his shoulders loosening and the ground has stopped shaking.
“Now what is this I heard about bonds?” I ask, looking at each of the guys. It must be bad because they refuse to look me in the eyes.
Ok now I’m getting frustrated. Guys, the last 48 hours have been so overwhelming that I don’t know how much longer until I lose it, so please stop keeping things from me. Trust that I can handle what you tell me. I project my words so they know how serious I am.
“Ok Evie let’s eat lunch first then we’ll talk and explain everything I promise,” Dane says to me while grabbing a tray from the oven.
On the tray, there are multiple grilled sandwiches and pastries. “Who made all these? They look delicious,” I’m impressed that the guys actually know how to make food.
Dane looks pleased and blushes “I did. I generally cook for the guys since most of them would rather eat take-out then cook.”
Once we’ve finished eating we go into the living room while Dane brings in tea and coffee for us so they can explain everything to me.
“Do you mind if I start from the start Evie? If you get confused just tell us to stop and explain.”
“Ok Kylan, I’ll listen and tell you if there’s something I don’t quite understand.”
I just hope they explain everything.
“So, you already know the basics of elementals, but you don’t know how we began. We don’t know truth from fact, but the main story says that the first elemental was the result of a human and fallen angel conceiving a child together. It’s rumoured that all angels have the power of all four elements and so when the angel and human reproduced, the angel was able to pass on his affinity with the elements. They had four children in total, the first child was a male Fire Elemental, the second child was a female Water Elemental, the third child was a male Air Elemental and the fourth child was a male Earth Elemental. And they were the beginning of the Elementals.
As the years went on, they had children and their children had children and so on until we reach today. The Fallen Angel is rumoured to have died at the same time as his human wife but it has never been proven. The Original Elementals were only ever able to pass their elements onto the next generation. So, an Air elemental could only give birth to an Air elem
ental and so on.
It’s only been in the past 2 decades that we have heard of bonding’s happening between elementals of different elements. We aren’t sure why yet but the council is trying to find out why it’s started. Are you with me so far Evie?” Kylan is looking at me to make sure I’m following.
“Angels are real, Elementals descended from a fallen Angel, Elementals breed within their own Element until recently,” I repeat back to him.
Now that he knows I’m listening, he continues “So you know that while we can wield the Element we have, there are some extra gifts that some elementals can get. Fire Elementals can be persuasive and push their influence on people. Air Elementals have the gift of foresight so they can see the future. Water Elementals can have the power of empathy. And Earth uses can draw on the environment for strength. Now that is just basic Elemental powers. The stronger the Elemental is the more gifts they have, and can use against other elementals.
It’s the reason the Shaded are so powerful to begin with. Take me for example. Being a fire elemental, I can persuade humans and weaker elementals to do what I want while making them feel like they volunteered to do it. But, being as powerful as I am, if I wanted to, I could turn the same powers on to other stronger elementals. A normal air elemental can see up to a week in the future, whereas Mike can see anywhere up to two, sometimes three, weeks into the future. Dane can not only feel your emotions, he can project emotions into you. And Teddy can cause an earthquake, but I guess that’s not so unusual now that we know you can too. All four of us are extremely strong for Elementals of our generation, and we’ll become stronger once we’ve bonded with our destined.”
He takes a break and looks at Dane. “Dane, do you want to continue? You’re better at explaining the bonds than I am,” he says.
It must be pretty important because all the guys are looking a bit nervous now.