Inferno: No idea on the cluster. Keep me posted.
EOHQ: Will do. Zeus wants unicorn on display.
Of course, he wanted to trot his show pony all over town.
Inferno: Affirmative.
He shoved the phone into his back pocket. Something about today didn’t sit right. Astruxes attacking humans was usually a petty annoyance. Drenching them in freak storms. Blowing papers off desks. Messing with heat so hot pots seemed cool enough to touch. Commanding birds to take craps from trees on the people passing below them.
The free-range spirits were angry at being separated from their energy source, but they didn’t congregate en masse, and they harangued humans, not Naturas. Even more, Seanair had strict rules about dispensing energy upon death. A prayer was spoken, and the freed element energy returned to its figurative mother ship. Period.
Disobeying Seanair’s rules earned Naturas a visit from Elite One, and those visits ended only one way.
He gave a last look through the small gap in the door and studied his pretty unicorn.
Yeah, it’d been a lifetime ago since someone had held him like he meant something.
That was the problem with Elspeth. She made him soft. As a rule, he didn’t hesitate. Ever. He didn’t feel anymore either. For years, he’d bathed in ferocious anger, replaying his father’s death over and over until hatred charred his emotions.
Her chest rose and fell in a soft, easy rhythm, her hand still extended toward where he’d been.
The soft hum from the car-filled streets blanketed the room as he looked at her, and he allowed himself to admit the small truth. He’d never kissed a woman he wanted. Sure, he needed women to recharge his element. He wasn’t into men, but they’d work too. Sex was a servicing, a function.
He’d burned away all traces of that foul Earth energy and tasted Elspeth’s true essence. Odd that he’d gotten spice and not sweet. Since he’d inhaled her freely, he’d discerned her every thought. She’d judged him honorable. Secretly kind. Desirable.
His unicorn had a dirty little mind.
If she hadn’t been completely wrecked, she’d wanted them skin to skin, with him deep inside her. He shut his eyes, needing to kill this strange sensation dogging his every move. A waffling. A weakness. A want.
He wanted her with a desire bordering on wild fury.
How could he want someone he hated? She was a Lennox. He loathed her like the rest of the arrogant lot.
He studied the swaths of brown hair draped over the white sheets. The pale skin of her shoulder peeked from beneath where he’d tucked the comforter around her. In the hour he’d lain beside her watching her sleep, he’d decided she was naturally pretty. Thick, long lashes. Her nose turned up slightly, and he’d had to stop himself from toying with the tip.
Even in sleep, there was a steadiness about her. An ease. An honesty he didn’t know what to do with. Try as he might, he hadn’t found anything to hate or even frown upon. Well, her brother’s situation and her asinine engagement, but he shut that shit down.
He returned his focus to Seanair, self-anointed Zeus, and waited for his anger to froth and rise. He called up the worst day of his life and conjured up the smell.
Burned flesh had a distinct odor, one that baked into his senses, that he wouldn’t dislodge. If he’d seen his father die, his brain probably would have dulled the memory, lessened it over time so he could return to some new normal. Scent was different. Scent took him right back, hiding like a scared gopher between the pews, that strange crinkle, and then…charred skin.
He set his Fire free, flames coating his palm. He could create a fireball, set her bed aflame, let her burn in his power-induced sleep.
One Lennox down, too many to go.
The idea of anyone harming her unleashed a vicious fury. Smoke wafted from him, the fumes of his anger seeping from his skin. He realized he couldn’t do it. He would never allow harm to come to her. He was as certain as he’d been in that alley.
He would die for her.
He scrubbed a hand up his face. He’d hurt her by accident. He’d been trained to take life, not to save it, and he’d gone into overkill with his energy. Shame filled him. He owed his dad, owed him to finish what he’d started and get that Fire cuff off that motherfucker Seanair and start the search for the true Fire Magnus. As an emissary, the cuff would make him unkillable, but the moment he found the rightful wearer and removed it, he’d be dust in the wind.
Yet, here he was, lusting after a lemon-loving unicorn.
His dick pushed against his fly. Damn thing demanded sustenance, especially once he’d absorbed his father’s Alpha mantle. Naturas liked their sex, but trying to keep two mantles charged was proving to be daunting.
Turned out his little brain wasn’t so smart, as it wanted to sink into someone who could do nothing for him.
He had to get his act together. Solve the Astrux mystery. Figure out what was going on with this asinine gala.
The strangest sensation washed over him, an odd taste inside him he didn’t recognize. Guilt. A feeling he’d long squashed. He didn’t have a remorseful bone in his body. He couldn’t, and do what he did. His admittance to her of his role stung. He eliminated horrible people. Not the petty-crime types, but assholes who took out cities with hurricanes. Folks who had no problem burning thousands of acres to damage another Natura’s position. Two weeks ago, he hadn’t blinked at torching a bunch of Airs who’d attempted to get away with popping a few tornados to rip up downtown Atlanta to teach another Air family a lesson.
She moaned in her sleep, and he breathed in her exhalations.
His dick firmed to the point of pain.
He couldn’t escape the flavor of her emotions swirling in his senses, her desire potent, alluring. Why was his body reacting like she was a refueling power station? She couldn’t recharge him. Elementwise, sex with her would be like tapping a busted electrical outlet.
He shook his head. He couldn’t leave her now. He’d Fire-sealed the apartment, but bringing someone in to regen later tonight wasn’t a risk he’d abide.
He’d have to take matters in hand. He turned and headed for his room. Goddess, could he sink any lower? There was nothing wrong with masturbation for pleasure, but pumpin’ the chump for regeneration purposes was like filling the energy tank with the cheap gas. Alpha Fires didn’t top themselves off, not on the regular anyway, and his two mantles required steady servicing.
One of the last conversations he’d had with his father snuck into his thoughts, a man-to-man convo right before everything changed.
One of these days, his dad had said, you’ll meet someone who’ll check every box. I’ll never forget the day I met your mother. Tried to deny it every which way, but I was done, son. Cooked clean through to my soul. Anyone can have sex. When you’re with your true other half, in that moment where you give energy freely to each other, you’ll know the purest, greatest love. His dad had socked him square in the arm. Then you’ll know exactly why I chase your mother all day, every day.
The words bounced around the hollow space inside him, a crevice left by death. A take-care-of-business twinge shot through his balls. There’d be no one for him. No wife. No family. He’d sign his own death warrant the moment he ended Seanair.
He walked through the guest room and into the bath. If he didn’t take the edge off, his resolve to keep it all business with Elspeth wouldn’t last. He went to take off his lace-up boots, and fuck it—
Yanking open the holes of his button fly, he made it to the sink and turned the hot water on full blast. Jerking up the drain stop, he watched the basin fill and hoped the water would be hot enough. He should have taken care of business before he’d made his bargain and dismissed her other guards.
He shook his head at his mistake and shoved his jeans and boxers to his knees. Dick hot and hard in his one hand, he plunged his other one into the scalding water.
A grunt caught in his throat as he siphoned the heat from the liquid. Warmth. Life. Goddes
s, I need more.
He stared at himself in the mirror. A vein popped in his forehead as he strained to channel the flow of thermic energy from the water. Yellow light crept up his arm and disappeared beneath the T-shirt’s sleeve. Inhaling deep, he started to pump, tightening his fist until his cock turned a strangled red. He stared until his reflection glazed over, his shaft thickening and growing harder, his breath coming quicker.
It wasn’t enough. Flying solo was never enough. The skin on his hand pinked in the scalding water. He bent more at the waist and leaned his weight onto the sink.
He closed his eyes, felt her phantom lips on his, took things further and imagined slipping inside her, what he’d do to her. Her dark hair spilled across the white sheets. Her sexy, smoky rose scent clogged his senses. He cast aside his excuses and let the truth of her desire fill his lungs anew. She wanted him. Him.
No one wanted him. Not even his own family.
His mouth watered as her desire spread through him.
He grew impossibly hard. Exhaling roughly, he took a harsh breath and upped the jerk of his hand. The pithy heat from the steam did nothing. He needed to come. Come while doing a massive energy grab. He sought another heat source and looked to the wall. Thank fuck. Heated floors. He tore his hand from the water to hit the switch for the radiant coils beneath his feet. He scrambled out of his boots, ripped off his socks, and curled his toes against the warming tiles.
He caught sight of his desperation in the mirror. What a disgrace, allowing his Fire energy to get gutter low. He didn’t deserve his father’s mantle. He flipped the scalding water back on, plunged his hand into the stream, and resumed pumping his cock with his right hand.
What would Elspeth would say if she could see him now? Weak as a newly powered, jerking himself off, about to pop a blood vessel under the strain of yanking power through his feet and hand and wringing out an orgasm to open the place inside him where his power resided.
He closed his eyes, opened his first aura, tried to get his element to absorb the heat in his heels. He worked himself sore, teetering on the edge of orgasm so he could open his second shield.
Sweat trailed into his hair. He raised his head, focused on the sheen of sweat on his face, and tried to picture her. What would she look like when she lost control? Would the V at the top of her mouth pull flat? Would she cry out loud or breathy? Even though she was a Passive, would the green in her eyes glow? Would his eyes turn the shade of hers if she could conceive?
A smile pulled his mouth tight as he imagined himself behind her. Driving into her. Imagined his name coming from her mouth. Breathy. She’d be breathy, and that pale skin would flush pink. His mind played a game of musical positions. His breathing grew faster, his heart beating furiously. The picture formed right in front of him of her green eyes, unfocused, his name a ragged breath from her full mouth, the smile on her face when his eyes turned the green of hers, telling her she could have his baby if she wanted.
A wife. A family. His dream.
With her.
A shudder ripped through him. Red smoke filled the room. His vision went crimson.
“Els-peth.” Her name came out in a strangled grunt.
Jets of heat shot from him, down his hand, across his thighs. A hunger like no other tore through him. A night. One. With her. That’s all he wanted. No mission. No revenge. No death. No Lennoxes.
Just her. And him. Taking their fill of each other until they were breathless.
He pinched his eyes shut. Why’d she have to be beautiful? And smart? And kind? She was supposed to be a bitch. Self-righteous. Judgmental. A typical Lennox.
Fire energy crackled over his skin and sizzled away the sweat. The red smoke retracted and reabsorbed into him. He assessed his energy levels and ground his jaw. Not enough. Not nearly enough if he had to battle an enemy he couldn’t see. That strange Earth Astrux would have killed her, its energy salivating and starving to devour her life-force.
Over his damned dead body would it have her.
He looked himself over in the mirror, all stubble, scowl, and scar.
He’d fallen so far, so far there was no way up. No glimpse of the boy who’d wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Something flickered in his mind, an idea killed, probably the last dying cinder of hope he had another option besides death. That something good waited for him at the end of this long road.
Who was he kidding? At the end of his journey was a cliff and only one way to go—over. Since he’d gotten his father killed, he didn’t deserve a future or anything more.
Not even the fantasy of Elspeth Lennox.
Elspeth awoke to easy breaths and streams of morning light spearing through the windows like someone had turned up the intensity of the sun. She looked to her left, where she hoped to find Aleron still asleep so she could secretly study the man who’d kissed her back to rights.
She rolled onto her side and tucked her arm under her head, unable to stop looking at the indentation of his head in the pillow. The sense of loss, of sadness, that he wasn’t there was almost a physical blow. She tested her ribs, finding the soreness gone. Which sent her now fully awake brain chasing the memories of the horror in the alley, of the attacking thing she couldn’t see and down a rabbit hole of a thousand questions.
On top of those endless brain loops, she’d received a crash course in the dark side of her people. She should be frozen in fear. If this could happen in New York, where she was protected by family, what could happen thousands of miles away, in a massive country, with no one who knew her?
And how did she explain that a pair of intense brown eyes, a scowl, and a scar hushed her worries?
Why had she met him now? At a time she couldn’t pursue him? She tried to chalk up her attraction to the flood of emotion from yesterday’s events, yet it was the diner that had done it for her.
His non-frown at the chicken. His semi-smile at the pie. His attention on her. He’d heard her. Hadn’t dismissed her questions. Hadn’t kowtowed to her because of who she was. He’d treated her…as an equal. Sure, he’d brought up the status thing, but he’d responded to her as if she were normal. After a lifetime of being treated like a freak, that was pretty heady.
And then he’d kissed her.
Even as hidden a romantic as she was, she’d laughed at books and movies where a heroine was supposedly this big, tough, badass woman who slept her way through armies but would be taken out by one kiss from the sexy, enigmatic hero. So not believable.
But now she understood. Understood in a way that shook everything she knew.
She hadn’t slept her way through armies, but she was no wallflower. What she and Aleron had shared, and survived, no one would understand. Between the diner and near disaster in the alley, she’d seen the man beneath the stoic guard exterior.
That Goddess-awful Earth energy had done one good thing. Surviving the attack had put her and Aleron on an island of shared experience. Enduring power of that magnitude and coming out alive connected them in a way that turned days to years.
And now?
His touch, his taste were seared into her, his smoky aroma baked into her very essence.
If a kiss could do that to her, what—
The doorbell rang.
Kazumi and the dress. Right.
Crap. She had so much to do before the gala, and all she could think about was gazing into Aleron’s brown, brown eyes and feeling his mouth, so firm and soft but insistent on hers.
She launched herself out of the bed and across the room, and a sense of lightness bloomed. Zum made everything better. She raced into the hall, focused on the door and the second ringing of the bell, and collided with a mass of warmth and muscle and skin. Her hands pressed against his bare middle, and she swore heat shot from her palms and settled between her legs.
His arms captured her like she belonged in them. The woody, smoky scent of him, still heated from blankets and sleep, hit her, and everything stopped.
His
long, strong fingers closed around her wrists. “Have you forgotten the door-answering rule?”
No, and she hadn’t forgotten what that deep voice did to her either.
She caught the flare in his eyes. A quick hit of orange. Arousal. She’d seen it last night in her bedroom. He cut his gaze away and tried to hide it, but those abs of his were tense, his shoulders rigid.
She didn’t want to consider the electricity between them, but it was there—and not one-sided.
“It’s Kazumi.” She held on to his gaze. “You’re not dressed. I can get it.”
He took her hand and pulled her into his room. “Come here.” He grabbed a shirt from an open duffel bag. The longer she stood there, the more his scent filled her senses. Sweet Goddess of Man Cologne, the whole room smelled of him. Of Fire. And man. And…yes.
“Not a word about yesterday.” He yanked the shirt over his tousled hair, the play and flex of his muscles the brightest of shiny objects. All tanned skin and brute strength. He turned, pulling the black T-shirt down, but not before she saw the thin trail of hair disappearing beneath the waistband of his jeans.
“She’s my best friend. She’s a vault of secrets.”
“I know who she is to you, but if you tell her, don’t think she won’t tell her mother. She will. She’ll think you’re not safe.” His gaze warred with hers.
Zum never hovered, but when they’d been at Freddy’s, she hadn’t strayed from Elspeth’s side. She’d always had the sense Zum shielded her in some way. Telling her BFF a ball of invisible Earth energy had tried to fill her lungs with dirt…
Aleron was right.
Zum, never the soul of patience, pounded the ornamental knocker. “Get that big-ass Fire to answer the door.”
“Any Water BS, and she’s outta here.” He gave her an I-mean-it glare, then opened the locks.
Zum stormed in with her outstretched arm holding a long, black bag. “Great Mother N, girl, what the hell’s going on here?”
Elspeth shouldn’t have smiled, but she couldn’t help it. Zum was just over five feet of indignant huffery in her black jumpsuit and platform sneakers, and Aleron was all six-five of stoic badassery. Still, it would be a toss-up as to who was more pissed off at the moment. He might be looming over her best friend, but Zum wasn’t giving an inch, even if her neck was craned all the way back to look up at him.
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