Life and Water: The Elementals: Book One

by Melanie Gilbert

  “I can’t explain what changed in him, and I’m not going to make him until he is ready, but he’s not the same. Let him take care of your sister. He will be kind to her. I promise.” Jeff had way more patience with that kid than I did. I just wanted to get my mate to her own bed where it was quiet and she could sleep peacefully.

  Archer glared at me, a warning, as he stepped out of our way. I could feel Jonas sizing me up as I held his daughter in my arms.

  “Governor,” I addressed him. “I will take care of her and I will not hurt her.”

  “You had better not, Commander. I have taken all that I can, watching you destroy her happiness.” I hung my head at his words, ashamed again for the actions that had placed my mate into my arms in her weakened state. I had never willingly let anyone see my weakness, but I knew I needed to let Jonas see my guilt. I hoped it would make him more comfortable with the idea of not being in the same room with his injured daughter. “I can see she trusts you enough to keep her safe, so I will trust her judgement on this, but you have a long way to go before I can forgive what you have done to her.”

  I nodded and quietly left their room to follow Jeff down the hall. After he opened the door and did a visual sweep of the room, he pronounced it safe to enter, and he left the key on the TV stand. He had also brought all three of our bags, mine and both of Sylee’s. Those he left on the floor in front of the TV.

  “If you need anything, just say the word. Get some rest. She’ll need you at the top of your game. Everything may be going smoothly right now, but I have a feeling you’ll butt heads again soon,” Jeff said with a wink.

  “You’re probably right,” I replied as he left, closing the door behind him.

  I kicked my shoes off again, and pulled the covers of the bed back before laying my mate down. I removed her shoes and socks, but left it at that. We’d made progress, but neither of us was ready for anything more than shoe and sock removal, and I didn’t want to cross a line with her already. I covered her up and grabbed my bag and headed to the bathroom. I longed for a warm shower.

  Bard hadn’t packed us pajamas, we hadn’t needed them traveling in the forest, so I was surprised to find pajama bottoms in my bag. The price tag was still attached. Within the folds of the material I found a note saying they were from Ruby and she hoped they fit well. She was a good woman, and my mate was lucky to have her as a mother. Part of me wondered what my life would look like if my mother was like Ruby. Shaking my head, I moved on from that thought. What was done, was done, and my mother was no Ruby Hamilton.

  I pulled the pajamas on and exited the bathroom. My mate hadn’t moved a muscle. She was still exhausted from her ordeal, and our tromping through the woods before that. I lay beside her on top of the covers. I always got hot when I slept and I hardly used covers at home. Plus, she had not given me permission to hold her, and if I laid under the covers with her, I would never be able to keep myself from pulling her to me. I fell asleep easily and quickly with the temptation averted.

  Chapter Eight

  Sylee

  I woke up in a bed. It was the most heavenly feeling I had had in a long time. Even though it was a hotel bed, it was softer than the ground in the forest, or the dirt and sticks in the vampire trap. I was warm and my head was on a pillow. I sighed in contentment. Then I felt movement next to me.

  I slowly rolled to look over my shoulder and found my mate asleep next to me. He was shirtless, and I had to admit, I took a few minutes to slowly admire the view from top to bottom and back again. This time, I didn’t fear embarrassment from being caught ogling him.

  I had told my mate that I had prospects for a good husband. Truth be told, no one came close to him in the looks department. They were decent human beings, except one who was so self-centered it was a chore to be around him. He put my mate’s arrogance to shame. They were all muscular young men, they were training in Light academies so they worked out a lot, but none of them held my attention like this man.

  My hand reached out with a mind of its own and started tracing his muscular features, up and down his arms and then over to his toned abs. After a while I hit a spot that made him twitch.

  “Are you awake?” Please don’t say anything! Please be asleep!

  “Yes.” Of course you are, I wanted to say. “Please don’t stop.”

  I hadn’t expected that from him. Ego and that little smirk of his was what I expected. I wasn’t ready for the physical affection part of our relationship. I had been having a moment and now it was broken, and I was blushing with embarrassment. Again. I hoped I hadn’t given him the wrong idea. I was not ready for the birds and bees yet.

  He opened his blue eyes to look at me. I didn’t want to appear weak, so I forced myself to look back into those beautiful orbs. The ice in them had melted since Bard took me. At least when they looked in my direction they were more liquid than ice now.

  “I need to get cleaned up,” I said and rushed off the bed to grab my bags. Then I hurried into the bathroom and locked the door. I leaned my head on the door and let out a huff of air at my confusion. The man I had hoped would learn to at least like me had done so, but now I was running from him. What was the matter with me?

  With a great sigh, I turned the shower on. The warm water was relaxing after cold ponds and streams. I stayed under the running water longer than necessary for a regular person, but in my opinion, it was just long enough for a person who had been forced to live in a forest for an obscene amount of time.

  I was happier after I’d dressed in clean clothes. My mom had even bought me makeup and new tennis shoes. I was putting on mascara when there was a knock on the bathroom door.

  “Yes?”

  “Adam said everyone’s going to dinner soon and they want to know if we’d like to go. Are you up for it?” Carmon asked through the door.

  After sleeping so much, I was ready to go out. I would tire quickly, but I wanted real food. “I’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

  “I’ll let Adam know.”

  I quickly finished my makeup and used the cheap hotel hair dryer to dry my long hair. I forgot how clean I could look, sadly, but now I felt human again. I took one last look in the bathroom mirror and opened the door, ready for food.

  I stepped out and looked around for Carmon. It wasn’t a big room, so I didn’t have to look long. He was staring out the window at the parking lot below. Our room was located at the back of the hotel, so we had a terrible view. The front of the building didn’t have a great view, but at least you could people watch. When he heard me drop my bags on the floor, he turned. His eyes widened the tiniest bit and his mouth opened slightly. He stared openly and when I felt a blush coming on, I tried to move the attention off of me.

  “Like what you see?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I do.” He smirked. This time, though, his eyes held no malice. It was a flirty smirk. I didn’t know he was capable of smirking without hating me. I was glad he could. It made my heart beat race and I knew I blushed this time.

  “Good,” I replied to him, trying not to let him see how affected I was by him. “Let’s go eat. I’m starving.”

  “Then let’s go get you some food, Love.” He took my hand and led me from the room. When we entered the hall, he wrapped my arm around his. My poor, recently dehydrated brain was having trouble wrapping itself around the idea that this man, who a few days ago hated me, was being kind and calling me “Love” like I was the most important person in his life.

  I wanted so badly to believe that he would stay happy with me, but a part of me kept going back to Bard’s house. Carmon had been kind after his nightmare, but once the fear was over, he had gone back to his old ways. I didn’t want to let my heart hope he had changed because I couldn’t take it if he went back to despising me.

  He must have caught my mood. “Are you feeling okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I lied.

  “Don’t ever lie in front of Jeff. His Love element tells him when people are lying and he will call you
out on it. It’s annoying never being able to get anything past him, but at the same time you can believe everything that comes out of his mouth.”

  He’d caught my lie, and yet he hadn’t reprimanded me for it. Could I be open with him? I guessed I could try. The worst that could happen was that he would go back to treating me the way he had prior to my second visit to Bard’s house. Before I could open my mouth, he spoke again.

  “You don’t think you can trust me yet.” It was a statement, not a question. “I don’t blame you. I would feel the same way in your shoes.”

  “I’m afraid that if I open myself to you, I will get hurt again.”

  “Again?”

  “Your nightmare.”

  “I see.”

  “My heart thought it was safe to open just the tiniest of bits, and then you slammed the door closed. Now, my heart wants to open to let you in again, but I’m afraid of what will happen when you decide that being nice to me isn’t what you want.” I laid it all out for him, and honestly, I braced myself for the turbulent onslaught. He must have seen, or felt, my bracing muscles because he stopped walking.

  “Sylee,” He said my name so gently. Who was this man? “I will never hurt you physically. I hit you before to make you breathe, but I will never do it again. That is unless you stop breathing on me again, then I will be forced to, but in general I will never physically harm you.”

  I nodded at him and he continued.

  “I cannot make the same promise about your emotions. I am nowhere near perfect. I’ve never been given access to anyone’s heart but Bard and Aunt Lilith’s. I messed those relationships up a lot. I’m not sure I won’t do the same to you, but I want to try to have a relationship with you. Even if we’re only friends. You wanted that once. I hope it’s still a possibility.” He paused, letting that sink in, “You don’t have to make the decision now. Give me time to show you that I won’t return to the monster you are used to.”

  “Okay,” I conceded, and we continued down the hall. When we arrived at my family’s room, Carmon knocked. They were all ready to go, so we walked to the elevator.

  When a few of us had filed into the elevator, I noticed my mate stiffen a little.

  “Are you okay?” I asked him quietly.

  “Yeah.”

  “Don’t let him fool you.” Chris stepped into our conversation. “He hates elevators. Not enough space to protect yourself and he’s not a big fan of them falling. One too many of those, I guess.”

  “You’ve been in a falling elevator before?” I asked my mate.

  “It was this ding dong’s fault,” he answered, smacking the back of Chris’s head. Chris’s arm flew out and threw my mate back a foot into the elevator wall. I let out a small shriek. I needn’t have worried though. Carmon had Chris’s arm twisted at a terrible angle when the elevator reached the ground floor.

  “You ever, ever do that again with my mate so close I will break your arm into a thousand tiny pieces that Jeff will spend hours fixing. And that won’t be the only appendage broken,” my mate’s voice was back to its icy hatred. He released Chris, and then grabbed my hand without looking at me and drug me into the lobby behind him. Paul and Drew followed.

  While we waited for the others to come down, Carmon put his hand under my chin and lifted my head to look into his eyes. They reflected the worry he carried inside.

  “I’m sorry that happened. My brothers and I are used to beating on each other whenever we feel like it. I honestly didn’t think Chris would do it with you standing right there.” His hand moved from my chin to cradle the side of my face, and dog gone it my hormones surrendered and my eyes closed as I leaned into his touch. The ding of the elevator stopped me from embarrassing myself further. I pulled away from his touch, and I could see disappointment had taken worry’s place in his eyes.

  “So, what’s everyone in the mood for?” Ruby asked as everyone gathered together to leave the hotel. The consensus was to pick the first place that had decent food, nothing cheap.

  We headed out the hotel door and down the sidewalk, and I found I had more energy than earlier in the day. Cambria was an amazing city. It was clean, and there was activity everywhere. Street vendors, artists, and magicians lined the sidewalks. My eyes were as big as saucers trying to take it all in.

  “Have you been to Cambria before?” Carmon asked from beside me.

  “No, this is my first time.”

  “So, you’d probably be shocked if I told you that in a few hours, these sidewalks will be even more bogged down with people, there will be dancing in the streets, and way more attractions than you can see in a week?” He watched me with a smile.

  I think my mouth fell open. In any case, he used his hand to bring my chin up so my jaw was closed. Then his eyes lingered on my lips and I had the feeling he wanted to kiss me. I turned away and kept walking. My body wanted to know what it would be like for that steaming hot elemental to kiss me, but my head was refusing. Currently. I would give him time to decide he didn’t want me before I did something so foolish.

  He caught up to me. “Not tonight, but maybe tomorrow I can take you for a night on the town, if you’d like to see it. I want to get to know you.”

  “That sounds like fun.” It did sound fun, and I finally decided that I would get to know my mate, and I was going to make him work for everything he wanted from me. “Before we do that, though, you have to sit by Archer tonight at dinner, and you have to talk to him, and be polite.”

  He stopped and his face showed complete disbelief. His jaw moved up and down, but no sound emerged.

  “You need work on your manners, Carmon. You can’t always just say what you want, and you need to be able to have conversations, decent conversations, with people you don’t like.”

  “I can do that already.”

  “Then show me,” I challenged.

  “Fine.” He accepted my challenge before wrapping my arm around his again.

  We arrived at a small mom and pop restaurant a few minutes later. When the hostess showed us our table, true to his word, Carmon sat next to Archer who raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes at him like he was a crazy person. I sent a glare at Archer that I hoped said, “Be nice.”

  We gave our meal orders to an overly perky waitress. I ground my teeth together when she flirted with my mate more than necessary. She finally moved on when Carmon put his arm around my shoulders. I ordered next and hoped my club sandwich would be as delicious as it sounded. Carmon’s double stacked burger with the works sounded good too, and I hoped he’d share a bite with me. I also ordered a chocolate shake.

  “You must be going to an academy soon, correct?” Carmon’s question to Archer was forced and he was sitting with a stiff posture.

  “Yeah, Sylee and I are enrolled at Mount Pickett in the fall,” Archer replied with raised eyebrows. He was probably wondering why my mate was talking to him after sitting by him. We all knew they did not like each other, but I also knew they could fix that since the basis of their dislike was based on Carmon’s treatment of me. Things were changing now. Their relationship could too. It needed to.

  “Mount Pickett is a great academy. What are your career plans?” Carmon appeared to relax a little.

  “I’d like to be a trainer after I get some field experience,” Archer said. “What about you? Did you always want to be an assassin?”

  “I wasn’t given a choice in the matter, so I never let myself think of another option,” Carmon replied, then after a minute added, “If I had to choose something different, I would still want to be a Commander, but my team would be extractors.” Extractors were teams that only saved other teams who are captured by the enemy.

  Archer nodded in my direction. “Sylee wants to do that too.” It was true. I wanted to be an extractor. I didn’t want to be a Commander, but maybe a Lieutenant, and with some training, I would be good enough to do it.

  Carmon looked at me, appraising me with his eyes. I stared back. I wanted him to see someone worth
y of the career I chose.

  Archer must not have noticed because he continued the conversation, “Can your team switch to that now?”

  “I guess we could. I’ve just never considered it before. The need to consider something else never arose, but I don’t know if we can continue on our current path. Not if I want things to work out with your sister.”

  I perked up more at that last line. It seemed my mate was really looking to change, and for his own sake, I wanted him to. I wanted him to know happiness other than taking people’s lives. He needed to know what a good time was outside of his violent upbringing.

  “I don’t know how the council or our mother will take the news, but I don’t care.” Carmon looked at me. “I just want you to look at me and not fear me. I want you to see someone you’re proud of. I want you to introduce me to your friends, and not be ashamed when you do it.”

  I couldn’t help the tears that came to my eyes after such a beautiful speech. I didn’t know what to say, so I smiled and nodded my head, which caused a few tears to drip down my cheeks. At least it wasn’t a full sob session this time.

  By the time dinner arrived, Carmon and Archer were neck deep in civilized conversation. Everyone else at the table was in companionable discussions as well. Paul and Chris were laughing their heads off, while Drew rolled his eyes multiple times at them. Jeff was talking intently with Isla, and I couldn’t wait to talk to her about what they had to say to each other. Mom and Dad were talking with Dalton, which was probably the most mature conversation at the table.

  My dinner was delicious, and Carmon even let me have a couple bites of his burger. It was so nice to have real food. Unfortunately, because I hadn’t been eating much lately, my stomach couldn’t handle even half my sandwich. Carmon took care of the other three quarters of it for me. After seeing how much those Lanshay brothers ate at dinner, I was surprised they hadn’t starved in the forest.

  After my tenth, or so, yawn in under three minutes, Carmon asked Adam if he would take over the protection of my family so he could take me back to the hotel. Adam said he would take charge of my family’s protection detail, and I said good night to my parents. I nearly fell over when Archer extended his hand for Carmon to shake before we left. This time when they shook hands, there was no hostility or questionable motives between them. It made me so happy, and took stress away from my already stressful existence.