The Soothing Scent Of Earth (Elemental Awakening, Book 2)

by Claire, Nicola

  "Air to wash away your fears," he murmured.

  "Water to revive me," I added.

  "Quintessence," he said, but didn't go on.

  So, I did. "To give me courage..."

  "Don't," he whispered, pulling me closer. "For all we know, he was a crazy old man."

  I'd agree with that sentiment, but I'd met an Alchemist since. And although Noah had been strange, he'd been clearly focused. She is ours to protect. Committed in a way that made you pause.

  I didn't trust Noah or the Alchemists. Or my grandfather for that matter. Even though I was beginning to fear they were tied up in what I had become. And for what was to yet happen to me. There was no way I could turn to them for answers.

  "You know it was the Alchemist doctor who helped us escape that diner," I said, while Theo remained silent. "Perhaps Isadora helped too, I don't know. But it was his voice I heard in my head when the Basilissa had the mind talking channel open. She had been furious with his interference. They know something. The Alchemists. They have the answers. But Theo, I just can't go there."

  He let a relieved breath of air out, as though he'd been worried I'd suggest heading to wherever they based themselves.

  "So that leaves the Aeras and the Nero," I added. "And as much as I can't trust the Alchemists, and feel I can't trust my grandfather, there is something to what he taught me as a child."

  "What's that?"

  "Earth does ground me. And Fire has guided my path."

  "Oh, Casey," Theo murmured, burying his face in the crook of my neck.

  "I'm scared, Theo," I repeated, feeling his whole body jolt on those words. "Air could take away my fears."

  Left unsaid was the obvious. What would Water need to revive me from? And God help me, but what did sacrificing my soul entail?

  "We need answers," he finally said, voice devoid of any earlier playfulness. It was flat and slightly defeated and a little worried too.

  "We could run, but whatever is happening would catch up with me," I pointed out, receiving a nod of his head on my shoulder. "Pyrkagia is out. Gi is out. The Alchemists are out. What does that leave?"

  "I know, I know," he murmured. "You're right." A long breath of air exhaled, a hand through his hair again. Then a small smile when his eyes met mine. The smile didn't reach them. "Peru," he announced.

  "Peru," I replied.

  His hands came up and cupped my cheeks, he stared into my eyes for a long moment.

  "Go run a bath," he instructed, out of nowhere. "I'll contact Aktor and make sure he's arranged safe passage through Aeras territory."

  I had the distinct impression he didn't want me in on the conversation with his old friend. For a second I considered arguing. If we did this, it needed to be together. But then one look at his worn out façade, his tired and anxious face, and the depth of love that shone in those golden hued eyes, I decided he needed this moment alone. He needed his confidant to bolster him. And he needed to be able show a side of himself he didn't want me to see.

  I was sure that side was similar to the one he'd shown Aktor when I admitted through that Fire in the Amazon that I was indeed in trouble and had been harmed by the Gi. I'd give him his privacy to grieve, knowing I'd be doing something similar in the tub when alone too.

  I nodded, leaned forward and kissed him softly, sweetly, then fell into the deeper kiss he turned the clinch into with the next breath. We pulled apart breathing heavily and for the first time in what felt like hours our smiles reached our eyes.

  "Don't take too long," he insisted. "I still have plans for you, even if those plans are just watching you fall asleep in my arms."

  I laughed as he helped me to my feet, a sound so out of place in our world right now. But I welcomed it. God alone knew what lay ahead for both of us. I'd take every second of reprieve I could get.

  Even if I missed out on much needed sleep tonight to get it.

  I walked to the attached bathroom knowing his eyes were on my every move. Soaking me up. Devouring my body by a look alone. One glance over my shoulder and I was certain we'd both be lacking sleep again tonight.

  It took a while for the hot water to make it through the pipes, but finally after staring at myself blindly for several long minutes in the mirror, steam began to climb up the single window in the room. Over the sound of water falling into an enormous cast iron tub I heard the crackle of the fire out in the other room change pitch. Pyrkagia filling the cabin, even making its way into the small bathroom.

  I dipped a toe in the water, as Theo's Stoicheio brushed against my side, seeking a tactile touch he was incapable of physically achieving from where he sat talking to Aktor through the flames. I sent my own back down the strange connection that sprang up between us whenever we entwined our Stoicheio like this, and in the next instant heard his words. Spoken to his old friend and confidant. Spoken in private, not meant for my ears.

  "She's scared," he said, voice subdued.

  "Of course she is," Aktor replied, through Theo's connection. Not quite as loud or clear as if I had been sitting there next to the Fire with them. But enough for me to make out his words.

  "I have to admit, I am too," Theo added, and my hand pressed against my chest, trying to still the ache his confession awakened.

  "But you will be her pillar, won't you, Theodoros?" Aktor replied in that voice he adopts when he's giving you sound advice. Advice you'd best heed.

  There was too long a pause between Aktor's remark and Theo's answer. For a moment I thought he'd severed our connection, realising I was eavesdropping when I shouldn't. But in the next instant his Pyrkagia stroked down the side of my neck, over his Thisavros claim mark, then surprisingly dipped between my breasts, slipping beneath the water.

  Ah-oh. I'd been found out all right, and he was letting me know in typical Pyrkagia fashion. I tried to pull my Stoicheio back and heard Theo chuckle, then wrap his around my retreating Element, holding me trapped.

  "Theo?" Aktor asked, puzzled at his lack of response and inappropriate laughter.

  "Just a moment, Aktor," Theo murmured. "I'm dealing with a little stowaway."

  "I didn't mean to," I muttered.

  "Oh, Cassandra," Theo purred, sounding like he was breathing in my ear, making me glance over my shoulder, but see nothing. And then abruptly get pushed back into position in the bath by a firm Pyrkagia hand. "You show such delightful promise. Your Pyrkagia is growing by the minute. Soon you will pass even me."

  I wondered if that concerned him. I wondered if he was jealous of my increasing skill at all. Which made me wonder if he felt uncertain about things to the same degree I did. Uncertain about things to do with us. I wondered...

  "But for now, sweet little Gi, I must concentrate on Aktor. And you," he husked, "Must get ready for me."

  His Pyrkagia slipped lower still in the bathtub, well beneath the water level, smoothing over wet skin, slinking between my closed thighs. I'd been rubbing them together, knowing exactly where he was heading. But it hadn't helped. Within seconds he was where he wanted to be, and I had lost control of my Pyrkagia. No longer hearing his conversation, just succumbing to the bliss he was creating between my legs.

  I'm not sure how much time passed, but I was panting, breathless, light headed, moaning, reaching, needing, wanting, and then suddenly finding release. I gasped, then groaned through the sensations Theo had elicited, thinking his touch was far more delicate and skilled than mine.

  And then having it confirmed when the door opened, signifying the end of his conversation with Aktor had already passed, while he'd simultaneously brought me to climax.

  Oh, he was good all right. Way better than me at this, I was sure. Hell, he'd been doing it for three thousand years, but I don't really think that was the reason why he'd been able to do two intricate, subtle and highly intimate things at once.

  Theo Peters was just that good. He didn't have a reason in the world to be jealous of me.

  "Now," he said, as he came to loom over me in the bathtub. "Yo
u owe me a debt."

  Then he preceded to strip bare and slipped into the tub with me.

  "Time to pay up, Oraia," he murmured. "And this time, I want to be buried deep inside you when you use your Pyrkagia to tip me over the edge."

  "Is this another lesson?" I asked, a little too eagerly.

  He laughed, delighted at my enthusiasm, I should think.

  "Oh, Casey," he purred. "You love my lessons, don't you?"

  I raised an eyebrow at that cocky statement.

  "Hmm, guess what?" he said, settling himself between my thighs, his erection already exactly where he wanted it to be.

  Well, almost. With one thrust of his hips he seated himself exactly where he wanted to be.

  "I love teaching you, too," Theo finally said on a breath of heated air. "Oh, Aetheros do I," he added, and then started to rock those delicious hips.

  And I didn't argue with him, because he was right.

  I loved his lessons. But I loved more, that he loved them too.

  Chapter 19

  We've Been Looking For You

  I woke feeling refreshed and aching in all the right ways. Heat washed down my side, and it wasn't Pyrkagia, but all hot, sexy man. I stretched, arms out high above my head, toes pointed straight down, and rolled over to my side to face Theo.

  "Good morning," he said, a smile evident in his tone.

  I opened my eyes and stared into brilliant hazel, long lashes dipping down as he surveyed the woman beside him. A curve to his sensual lips as he took in what he could see of me above the sheet. I was naked, and the hint of what lay beneath, flush against his side, was obviously appealing.

  "Eyes up top," I instructed, my hand already stroking over his arm as it lay above the covers.

  He flicked his gaze up to my face and my stomach dropped. He looked more tired this morning, than he had last night. Shadows clung doggedly to his cheeks, a furrow etched across his forehead. The corners of his eyes drooped. He was exhausted.

  "You didn't sleep at all, did you?" I asked, sounding a little angrier than I had intended. I knew why he hadn't slept, and he should have woken me so I could take over.

  "Gi have been travelling up and down this stretch of road all night," he murmured, with a casual shrug of his shoulders. Confirming my fears. "I kept our shields tight."

  A frustrated and concerned sigh escaped me, as I sat myself up, sheet covering chest, and leaned back against the headboard. My head thunked against wood with purpose. If it had been a brick wall it would have been perfect.

  "Why didn't you wake me?" I asked, managing to not sound too horrifically angered this time.

  "You needed sleep, Oraia."

  "And you didn't?"

  "I have slept well enough up until two days ago, one more night won't be too detrimental. How well have you slept the past three months?"

  Good point. I held his determined gaze, then couldn't help reaching up and trying to smooth some of the wrinkles. His lips tipped up into a smile at the contact.

  "You can't help yourself," he murmured. "Your Pyrkagia side craves touch."

  "I'm not so sure it's just the Pyrkagia in me that makes me want to continually touch you. I wanted to before I found my Fire."

  "Did you?" he said, leaning into my hand like a cat seeking comfort. "I beg to differ. You were so shy. I could see the desire to do so, but now your Pyrkagia gives you the push you have always needed."

  He was right. I had been shy. Too much had transpired for shyness to have a place in my heart anymore. Life was too unpredictable for me to not take every opportunity to grasp what I wanted most. Theo.

  "You may have created a monster," I whispered, my finger trailing down his cheek, over his jaw, and coming to rest above my faded Pyrkagia mark.

  "I created, Cassandra?"

  "Aether aside, I am your creation, Theo. You drew me out of myself right from the start."

  "Ah," he breathed, finally lifting his hand to stroke my skin in return. He chose to touch my neckline, just above my breasts. "You did show such delicious promise when I visited your store."

  Yes, I could see how he would think that. The only time I have ever been able to flirt was with Theo. No man has ever gotten the response to their advances that Theo did. And yet, back then, I had still been unable to fully let go. Was my confidence now something he had nurtured, or was he right? Had I embraced the part of me that was Pyrkagia?

  Isadora's hate-filled words sprang to mind. Uninvited, but crystal clear. Of course, with you he could just mould you into whatever he needs. I gave myself a little shake. I would not let that woman continue to place a wedge between us. She was no longer here. No longer our concern. We'd never return to Auckland, and her area of expertise was spying on the Gi. Not the Aeras where we were headed.

  "Maybe it's a little of both," I said aloud, although the thought had been in my head and wasn't meant to come out.

  "Both?" Theo queried, finger dipping beneath the sheet, teasing.

  I smirked at the direction of his touch. Not exactly subtle.

  "Maybe I've grown as a woman, because of both your guidance and my Pyrkagia side. Maybe I wouldn't be as bold as I am without one or the other."

  "Bold? How bold?"

  I struggled to contain a laugh at his eager expression. Forcing a serious mask on my face, I asked, "Shouldn't we get going? The longer we stay..."

  He cut me off. "I need a reward for my vigilance last night. Wouldn't you agree?"

  "Oh, of course!" I exclaimed, the laugh bubbling closer to the surface. "How do you think this reward should be given?"

  "Well," he said, moving to lie on his back and placing his hands behind his head, almost expectantly. "See anything you like?"

  My gaze flowed over his still sheet covered body, my hand hanging suspended in mid-air as he'd moved away from my touch. When my eyes landed on his tented erection I smiled.

  "Now what could that be?" I murmured, and watched as it jerked beneath the sheet.

  "Why don't you investigate, slake that curiosity," Theo suggested, mildly. All the while his erection seemed to be getting bigger.

  "Hmm, why don't I?" I replied, reaching for the sheet and slowly, so very slowly, lifting it off his body to reveal the prize beneath.

  God, he was perfection personified. Beauty wrapped up in a bronzed skin. Toned, buffed, sculpted, call it what you will, he was faultless. Man was moulded in Theo's image, and never quite to the same exacting standards since. No one looked as utterly beautiful as him.

  I think I stared for a full minute, mouth slightly parted, eyes wide and lust filled. He let me, a small smirk playing on his lips, a flash of orange-yellow shining in his eyes. His lids fluttered, growing heavy with arousal. His erection doing the opposite, seemingly growing bigger and harder under my gaze.

  "Well?" he husked. "Find anything that inspires?"

  Ah-ha, yes, definitely feeling inspired 'round about now. I licked my lips, Theo let out a little moan.

  "Casey," he murmured. "What do you do to me with just one look?"

  My eyes flicked back up to his, seeing hunger, desire, a need that matched my own. Laced with a delicious amount of anticipation. He was almost panting for my touch, for my lips right there. Fighting the urge to beg, to plead, to ask.

  But part of the fun was his direction, was the seductive purr of words that fell from his lips. I may have been much more capable of flirting with him, and seeing that flirtation through to completion, than I had ever been before. But I still needed him to guide me. I still wanted him to guide me. And I wasn't ashamed to admit that.

  "What do you want me to do?" I whispered, kneeling beside his hip, right where I knew he wanted me closest.

  He closed his eyes, as though in some sort of pain. I watched mesmerised as my question and proximity slowly destroyed all carefully constructed control.

  "You want me to tell you," he surmised, not opening his eyes yet. But he understood me, he'd understood me from the very start. Yes, I had grown in confidenc
e. But my pleasure was gained through his direction. Without it I would manage, have some fun, enjoy myself. With it... I would fly.

  He slowly spread his legs, and then murmured, "Kneel between my thighs, face towards me."

  I shifted to follow the command, settling into position above his erection, feeling my nerves spark to life along my skin and saliva to pool in my mouth at the prospect of tasting him. He moved himself up the bed to a more upright position, his back resting against the headboard, so he'd be looking down at the proceedings, at my hair as it fell over his stomach and legs. At my mouth as it slowly slipped over his heated flesh.

  "Lick your lips," he husked. "And move up onto your knees."

  I did as instructed, hovering over his erection, waiting impatiently for the next order, which would hopefully involve my lips on his skin.

  "Spread your thighs slightly," he said, voice lower than I'd heard it in a while. But his request surprised me, why spread my thighs? For better balance.

  With a mental shrug I did as I was told, feeling cool air wash across my already moist folds. I felt a pulse beat between my thighs and had to stifle a gasp.

  "That's it," he husked. "Now lean forward and lick the length of my cock. Top to bottom."

  Oh, God. I never used words like that inside my head, but coming from Theo it sent my arousal through the roof. I hummed as my tongue laved a wet path down his thick length.

  When I reached the base, Theo rasped, "Suck my sac, take it completely into your mouth."

  Oh freaking hell. Could I come from his words and what I was doing? Without his touch, physical or Pyrkagia, between my thighs?

  The sensation of sucking his sac into my mouth was so deliciously illicit and foreign, my body began to tremble with my need to find release.

  "Roll my balls around on your tongue," Theo ordered, his breaths uneven, his voice a rough gasp. "Oh, Aetheros yes! Like that. Suck, Casey." A groan, rock of his hips, then rasped, "Now my cock. Do the same."

  I moaned my approval as I licked up the other side of his shaft, then flattened my tongue on the broad tip. Before Theo could complain about my slight deviation from the instruction, I wrapped my lips around the head and slowly lowered them, sucking my cheeks in as I took more and more.