Air: The Elementals Book Two

by L. B. Gilbert

  He dismissed a beautiful girl who sidled up to him invitingly with a dark glance. She took one look at his forbidding features, the cold set of his lips and eyes, and wisely retreated.

  His enhanced hearing and sense of smell, still blessedly intact, were threatening to shut down against the onslaught of music combined with the scent of so many sweaty people. Under normal circumstances, he would have avoided this place like the plague, but where his quarry went, he followed.

  He threaded through the dancers on instinct, letting his senses guide him to the girl who had almost destroyed him.

  A tingling at the base of his spine guided him to the left of the bar. From there, he could get a clear view of the balcony that ran along three sides of the room. His skittering senses told him she was there. He didn’t know what she looked like, only that she appeared quite young. But that was the case for all of her kind. They took up the Mother’s mantle while in their teens or twenties, and then they stopped aging.

  He dismissed one woman after another until his eyes locked onto a figure moving high above. A thrill of recognition coursed through him, as well as surprise.

  She’s tiny, he thought, taken aback.

  He’d been expecting someone more physically imposing. But the Asian girl dancing in the corner of the catwalk was petite, barely five feet tall. And she was completely unaware of his intense scrutiny.

  Grateful she couldn’t sense the danger she was in, he leaned against the wall, intent on his prey. The Elemental was wearing dark pants and a red corset tank with a black design on it.

  He watched her, transfixed, aware with some disgust that he was getting hard. His hatred was still a fire in his blood, but some of that warmth was swiftly being channeled in another direction. It made him angry, mostly with himself, but his enemy wasn’t what he’d expected.

  Shifting uncomfortably, he continued to stare, hyperaware there was something wrong with him.

  The problem was the way she moved. He’d never seen anything quite like it. She’d completely given herself over to the music, her fluid, rhythmic movements abandoned and free. She moved like the element she was supposed to embody—like wind whipping over a field of wheat.

  He hadn’t realized she would be so…sensual. She was keeping perfect time with the primal beat of the music. For a second, he forgot himself and pictured taking a fistful of her sleek, black hair, using it to force her mouth toward him.

  For fuck’s sake. He couldn’t even see her features clearly, and he was struggling for control.

  He recovered more slowly than he liked, but he was able to push the erotic image away. He had a plan and couldn’t afford to be distracted by inconvenient lust. The creature might be graceful, but she was also dangerous and possibly corrupt.

  The music changed, pausing between tracks. The momentary reprieve made him aware of how long he’d been staring at the sprite. By rights, he should be trying to rip out her throat. Reminding himself of his mission, he started up the stairs to the balcony with large, purposeful strides, his tunnel vision trained on his target. He skirted the shifting dancers, pushing them carefully out of his way as he went.

  His control was straining, the instincts of the wolf still alive inside him, but he didn’t want to alert his prey to the danger. Not until it was too late for her to escape. And now that he’d finally found her, there was no way she could get away from him. Not again.

  The crowd was thinner on the balcony, but there were still enough people to block his view of the Elemental as he prowled closer. He wanted to push them away and leap on the girl. Tamping down his impatience, he forced himself to move with normal human speed. In a few moments, he would have her.

  He spared a second’s thought for how he would get her out of there, but he dismissed it just as quickly. His black-ops training had already helped him spot three viable exits where he could carry an unconscious woman out without too many prying eyes. It would be a simple matter to convince anyone who tried to stop him that his woman had simply had too much to drink. The fact that he was six-foot-five and built like a brick wall would be enough to discourage anyone who thought to argue with him.

  With another step, he reached the darkened corner where the sprite was dancing. A light breeze ruffled his hair. The platform was empty. He swore viciously, spinning around. He couldn’t see her anymore. With a growl of frustration, he looked up and realized there were skylights on the distant ceiling. And one was open.

  Logan let the weird sense of being watched fade away as she took to the air. Of course someone had been watching her. The club had been full, and people were always checking each other out.

  It had felt a little different tonight, though. For a split second, she felt hunted, which was ridiculous. No one hunted an Elemental unless they had a death wish. She’d scanned for threats but found none. Shaking off her uncertainty, Logan paused to savor the night air.

  She was high above the ground, her physical form gone. Logan enjoyed the sense of weightlessness that came with drifting high above the earth. Not all her predecessors had enjoyed this the way she did. A few had disliked the sensation of being formless so much that they chose not to travel in the winds unless they had to. But she had loved it from day one. It was one of the reasons she’d been able to take to the air almost as soon as she’d inherited her power.

  Unlike Diana and Gia, Logan hadn’t had Elemental abilities from birth. Her gifts had been run of the mill…for her family. Then she had been given dominion over Air at seventeen—old enough to have accepted the fact she was not going to be an Elemental like her great-grandmother and other distant ancestors.

  The Mother had turned to her after all, and everything had changed.

  Her life had altered dramatically over the past few years. Logan no longer sat and read about the great deeds of Elementals. Now she was living the life she had always dreamed of. She worked and played hard, trying to make the most of each new experience. She had to. At any moment, the Mother might change Her mind and choose someone else.

  Gia assured her it wasn’t likely, but Logan still felt like she was on probation. After all, it had only been a little over a year since she was allowed to work solo. She was devoted to her job. She’d taken a break for a few hours to decompress, and she was good now.

  It was time to get back to work.

  2

  Two weeks later

  “I’m fine,” Logan repeated for the fourteenth time. And it had been fourteen times. She was counting.

  “You need to be more careful,” Serin said. “You were seriously hurt, and it would have been far worse if you’d not taken out those witches beforehand. They might have killed you.”

  Her sisters, Serin and Gia, were communing with their elements, water and earth. When they did, their voices carried to her along the aether, the fifth element, which bound all magic to the world. They sounded different from the spirits Logan had heard since she was a child. Though those voices could be annoyingly loud at times, they didn’t resonate with the vibrancy of magic and life she associated with the living. And unlike those others, her sisters never lied to her…

  As the Air Elemental, Logan technically communed with her element at all times. She had to breathe after all. And she was usually grateful she could keep in touch with her sisters so easily, but not when one of them wanted to lecture her.

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” Gia said eventually, coming to her defense. “They weren’t a match for our Logan. Even crippled, she’s a force to be reckoned with. Not that I don’t agree about being more careful. But I have faith you can handle most anything anyone throws at you, including those newbie grey witches. But a little discretion in whipping objects heavier than yourself might be in order.”

  Logan sighed, a long, drawn-out sound of suffering. She’d been getting the riot act from all three of her sisters since she’d returned from Quebec. Even Diana had lectured her on keeping things simple when she’d contacted her yesterday.

  Logan had been hur
t while giving some witches a much-needed set down. The witches had dabbled a little too close to the dark, enough to shift the balance in their vicinity. They hadn’t done anything worth stripping them over, and they weren’t black yet. Instead, the girls referred to them as grey. As a group, the Elementals had decided to send a message before the witches did something that would shift them all the way to the black.

  And Logan had delivered it with style, as she always did.

  But it was her flair for drama that had gotten her in trouble. She had been showing off—although that wasn’t something her sisters frowned on. Making a lasting impression was a big part of her job. In this case, she had decided to huff and puff to blow the witches’ house down.

  Unfortunately, it had been more than a dark shack in the woods belonging to some old crone. The substantial log cabin had been difficult to destroy, and Logan had whipped a heavy log a little too carelessly. It had hit another log embedded in the dirt, causing it to rebound on her. It struck her back with considerable force.

  The log would have broken her spine if she’d been human. As it was, she had a couple of cracked ribs. Fortunately, the witches were rolling around the ground, too busy groaning and praying for death to notice what she now called “the little mishap”. Despite her injury, she’d managed to dematerialize and make her way out of there.

  “The little mishap” was why she was currently rusticating in Provence, enjoying the mistral’s soothing touch in the south of France. They had a cozy safe house there, one passed down from earlier generations of their kind. The Air Elementals had always loved it there, especially when the wind blew so hard it shrieked.

  “I’m almost as good as new,” Logan assured them. “And I’ve learned my lesson. No more playing the big bad wolf without knowing where each log is going to land.”

  “How about no more whipping around huge logs instead?” Serin persisted.

  “Well, how about a compromise? No more than one log at a time anymore,” Logan said, feeling rather generous.

  She loved the Water Elemental, despite the older woman’s need to mother her to death.

  Serin sighed. “I’ll take what I can get.”

  “That’s the spirit.” Gia laughed before her voice became serious. “Has anyone heard from Diana lately?”

  Logan smiled. Gia was still suspicious of Alec Broussard, Diana’s new mate. It was an unusual choice for a Fire Elemental. Vampires were the most flammable of all the Supernaturals, with the possible exception of very old wood nymphs. But Logan had met the man in person and thought he was worthy. Alec was certainly less annoying than Serin’s pompous and conceited mate, Jordan.

  But comparing the two was not fair. Serin and Jordan had been together since before Logan was born. Just because she’d never liked him didn’t mean he was a bad guy. He was simply irritating to be around.

  “I heard from her yesterday,” Logan replied. “She and Alec are in Adelaide, wrapping up a case. They’re good. They’re heading to the North Coast afterward. Alec wants to take Diana to dive the Great Barrier Reef for a little vacay. And before you ask, she already lectured me too.”

  “Well, that’s good. About the vacation, I mean. She doesn’t take enough downtime,” Gia said.

  The Earth Elemental sounded upset, but Logan suspected it was more complicated than that. Gia was happy for her sister; they all were. She just didn’t approve of her choice. Gia had issues with vampires, but they seemed small compared to the giant chip Diana used to have on her shoulder before she met Alec.

  Once upon a time, there wasn’t a species Diana had detested more than vampires. But now, she was practically married to one.

  “Yes, well, she has been a little quiet,” Serin added, but her voice held no judgement.

  “She and Alec are still in the honeymoon phase,” Logan explained. “And Di deserves a break. She’s always worked too hard.”

  Before Alec came along, they had all taken turns trying to talk Diana into relaxing more. Unlike the rest of them, Diana had no family—no obligations to stop and check in with anyone. Until she met her vampire, Diana had avoided any relationships outside of their small circle. As a result, she had never learned to rest in between missions. She went from town to town, doing her job and not much else. Alec had forced Diana to slow down and learn to enjoy herself a little. They were probably sexing it up and down all over the Australian continent right around now.

  Logan sighed, a little envious.

  “No one is disputing that the relationship has been good for Diana. She deserves to be happy. And I am glad she has someone…supportive,” Serin said, a very noticeable edge in her voice.

  Was there trouble in paradise? Maybe she’ll break up with Jordan, Logan thought gleefully.

  For half a minute, she let her hope rise before the guilt set in. After, she started hoping whatever was bothering her sister wasn’t related to her mate. Serin loved the man, and on paper, there was nothing wrong with him. He was simply a bit selfish. The biggest problem was that he seemed to make Serin’s job harder instead of easier, like Alec did for Diana.

  “In any case, I’m glad she’s happy,” Serin continued without acknowledging her lapse. “No doubt she’ll check in more often once she and Alec settle into a routine.”

  Of the four of them, Serin was the most concerned with appearances. She wouldn’t want to discuss anything wrong with her personal relationship with her sisters until the issue had been resolved. Serin was tight-lipped about family issues too.

  That last part was understandable. If Logan had been saddled with Serin’s parents, she’d spend a heck of a lot more time whining.

  “I’m sure that’s true,” Gia said carefully.

  Gia had obviously also heard the unusual note of frustration in Serin’s voice, but she’d known the Water Elemental for almost a century, long enough to know not to bring it up.

  “It is true,” Serin continued in a determinedly upbeat tone. “I have to go. I’m meeting Jordan for dinner before heading out to Cancun again. Not a cartel this time. A shifter is acting up. Feel better, Logan. Don’t move too far from the mistral until you feel like your old self.”

  “I don’t intend to,” Logan assured her. “I’m sitting on my favorite rock. The wind really picked up today. It’s great.”

  “The wind always picks up wherever you are,” Serin said with genuine humor this time before saying goodbye.

  “Rest up and be more careful next time, sweetie,” Gia said.

  “I’ll be fine. Practically one hundred percent now. Already back in dance form,” Logan said, opening her eyes to check how long she had till darkness fell.

  She was basking in the sun on a windswept hill close to their safe house. The two-story dwelling was nestled between some trees at the bottom of the hill.

  “All right,” Gia said. “Try not to break anything else. Like your bones or anyone else’s unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

  “I did not break any of my bones. I only cracked ‘em a bit,” Logan said, knowing better than to promise not to break anyone else’s bones, despite her forced vacation.

  You just never knew.

  3

  It was dark by the time Logan finished prepping her dinner. It was a quiche in homage to her current location. She couldn’t cook much, certainly not any of the elaborate Chinese meals her aunt had tried to teach her to make. Cooking wasn’t a high priority, unlike her training and missions.

  She reminded herself to make time to go see her family before she went back out again. Hope, her mom, lived in San Diego with her sister. Aunt Mai was almost ten years older than her sibling, but she was every bit as youthful and energetic. Both women had emigrated to the U.S. in their teens with their globetrotting parents, who had lived all over Europe. The Air Elemental was the only one in the current generation born in the U.S., although Diana had ended up there after her mom died.

  Logan had lost a parent too. Her dad had been killed shortly after her seventh birthday, but betw
een Hope and Mai, she had a rich, supportive family life. She was close to her mom and aunt. And even though they hadn’t dreamed she would inherit, they’d taught her about her legacy as soon as she could walk.

  Though Mai and Hope were gifted, neither had demonstrated Elemental-level talent. But they knew their place in history and what they owed to future generations. They had told her about the Elementals because it was a part of who they were—the legend in their blood.

  Unlike Diana, Logan had grown up with full awareness of her lineage—her ancient forebears Feng-Po-Po, the Goddess of the Winds, and Xihe Li, the legendary Fire Elemental.

  Her mother and aunt had spoken about those illustrious ancestors as if they were close relatives who lived down the block. The stories were passed down her maternal family line the same way her mother’s jade combs had been. As a result, she’d grown up with knowledge of the Elementals as part of her reality. Nevertheless, it had come as a shock when she had inherited in her teens.

  Recalling those first heady days playing with her new abilities brought a smile to her face. Gia had called her a prodigy. And she had been a natural, able to take to the winds within the first few weeks. It was a skill that took months or years to master, even among those who had been born with their abilities.

  She still had a lot to learn, but things were going well. Her sisters were pleased with her progress. Logan, however, couldn’t wait to be completely healed so she could get back out there. Downtime was great, but work was better. She loved her job.

  Very hungry now, she threw her quiche in the oven, and then turned the music up loud.

  Connell stood outside the two-story house, just beyond the lit windows. He was shrouded in darkness.

  The devil take it.

  She was dancing again. He stifled a groan. This was getting ridiculous. He’d been tracking the Air Elemental for more than two months. He’d started in England after hearing about what happened at the Burgess estate. Word had come almost immediately about the stripping of the Burgess heir.