by Larissa Ladd
Lonely Hunger
An Elemental Series Part Seven
Larissa Ladd
Copyright © 2015 Larissa Ladd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
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ABOUT LONELY HUNGER
In the aftermath of the attack on his brother, Aiden and his bride, Elemental leader, Aira, at their wedding, Dylan is sure of one thing: Leigh is not at the heart of the conspiracy. Though she admitted to being a spy, he knows in his heart she didn’t do it. But until he can find her, she remains a suspect. Using his own elemental powers, Dylan discovers that Leigh is a prisoner of the rogue elementals who executed the attack. Anger and a fierce desire to save the woman who sets his soul and his body on fire, consumes him…and heaven help the rogues as Dylan sets out on a trail of vengeance could destroy them all before the dust settles!
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Free Book for You
About Lonely Hunger
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Free Book for You
A Special Note to Readers
Other Series by Larissa Ladd
About Larissa Ladd
CHAPTER ONE
DYLAN LEANED AGAINST THE WALL, rubbing at his temples to try and rid himself of the headache that was brewing. It had been three days since the wedding, three days since the reception that had ended in pain and tragedy for the air elementals who had come to celebrate their ruler’s marriage. Thanks to the attack on the hotel that had housed the air-aligned elementals, Aiden and Aira hadn’t left for their honeymoon yet, and the strain was starting to show. Dylan closed his eyes. Aira had been closeted with the elders and the other elemental rulers for hours already, and he knew that the meeting would continue to drag on.
He wanted nothing more than to get on the road, to chase down the people involved in the attack on the hotel. Leigh had mysteriously disappeared, along with the fire and earth elementals who were definitely involved; Dylan was still holding out hope that she was only swept up in the attack, that she wasn’t part of it at all. Her words had haunted him ever since he’d gotten the call from his brother. “No one is going to attack them at their wedding…when this is all over and everything gets back to normal, call me.”
But he, Aiden, and Aira couldn’t get on the road to apprehend the people involved in the attack on Aira’s kith and kin until the elders and the elemental monarchs came to a decision about how they would be treated. It was an act of war, Aira had noted—and Dylan was inclined to agree. He had known for a while that there were many elementals who didn’t agree with the elders; Aira herself had considered going rogue when they started jerking her chain during the trials to select a ruler of the air element. Certainly, the elders were inclined to err on the side of protecting the community as a whole by weeding out unstable elementals—something that those targeted, like Alex and Dolores, Aiden and Aira, to name a few, understandably resented.
That Aira had done a great deal to protect unstable elementals in her position as the ruler of her element had apparently been lost on those members of the fire and earth communities who resented her power. Dylan knew that his sister-in-law was the most understanding of all the rulers, at least in regards to instability. She advocated for those who were brought in on the charge to be given a chance to stabilize, rather than to be dismissed immediately as a danger. Dylan could see both sides, and he knew that when Aira did vote for an elemental to be put to death, she was certain that they were irredeemable.
A few feet away from him, Aiden was pacing. Dylan wondered idly now much sleep his brother had gotten since the news had come in about the attack. Not enough, to judge by the older man’s hair, which was in disarray and looked finger-combed, the bags under his eyes, the drawn look to his face. The fact that Aira was definitely a target—that this attack was certainly meant to be a message to her, and that she was no safer now that she was married than she had been before—had to be wearing on the fire elemental. Aiden’s nature made him protective—sometimes overprotective—and while Aira was strong, her abilities were volatile, and she was not immune to the kinds of magic that the earth-aligned could bring to a fight; in fact, she was so strongly aligned to her element that she was more vulnerable than she readily admitted.
Thinking about his brother’s need to protect Aira, Dylan’s thoughts went back to Leigh. He could picture her easily in his mind: the beautiful red hair, green eyes, the strikingly feminine shape of her body as she stood next to him. That Leigh might make it onto the list of assailants—and be branded a traitor to the elemental race as a whole—had plagued Dylan for days. She had been so candid, so upfront with him about the fact that she was spying on the wedding proceedings; how could someone like that go and kill and injure people? It didn’t seem to make any sense. But then, Dylan thought to himself tiredly, Dolores and Alex had seemed benign at first too. Dylan scolded himself, not for the first time, that he hadn’t been more penetrating, that he hadn’t tried harder to read the woman as she sat with him, as they danced. If she’d had any idea about the attack that was going to happen, he should have been able to pull it out of her mind.
The door opened and Dylan stood up straight. As one of Aira’s de facto bodyguards, the last image he wanted to present was fatigue. He saw in the corner of his eye that Aiden had snapped to attention as well; his brother’s blue eyes—though bloodshot—avidly focused on the door. “We need to find out what these people want,” the elemental ruler for earth was saying, her voice carrying through the door easily. “I just don’t think we should consider this an act of war.”
“If it had been your people killed in a tornado, you’d assume it was an act of war,” Aira countered quickly, her voice strident. Dylan smiled to himself.
“But if they were truly interested in deposing you, wouldn’t they have attacked your hotel?”
“They attacked air elementals. I agree that we should question them once they’re apprehended, to find out just how large this thing is, but it couldn’t have been clearer who they were sending a message to.”
“It’s certainly like the earth elementals to go that route,” the ruler of the fire community was saying. “But you know, Aira, that my element doesn’t go for subterfuge.”
“They do when they align with earth elementals—or had you forgotten about Alex?” Dylan tried not to laugh. It was a good reminder, he thought; not only that Aira had been poisoned by an alliance of earth and fire elementals while on her way to becoming the ruler of her own element, but also—on an unspoken level—of the fact that she had disposed of the threat without any problem.
The three rulers filed out of the room, followed by a few of the elders. “We’ve decided,” the spokesperson for the elders said. “Aira will travel with Aiden and Dylan to apprehend as many of the group as they possibly can. Between the three of them, they should be abl
e to get the job done.”
“Thank you, sir,” Aira said, inclining her head slightly to the elemental elder. She was, nominally at least, higher in rank than the elders were. Dylan had yet to truly appreciate the separation of powers between the different ranking groups.
“Once we have them in custody, the final decision as to what to do with them will be made.” Aira nodded, and Dylan fought back the smile he felt twitching at the corners of his lips for the triumphant little glance she flicked at his brother. She was looking almost as tired as Aiden was; there were signs of strain on her face, and in spite of her authoritative tone of voice, Dylan could hear the fatigue crackling through it.
“Aira, keep in touch. We need regular reports.”
The other two elemental rulers went off, looking discontented. Dylan and Aiden both moved at the same moment to flank Aira, making their presences more obvious.
“Aiden, Dylan, you two should take the initiative in apprehension—don’t get offended, Aira.” The elder said.
Dylan saw his sister-in-law hold back a retort. “You know as well as we do that you are vulnerable to elemental attacks. Dylan and Aiden quite simply aren’t as vulnerable as you are and can withstand earth-aligned attacks better than you can. You need to remember that you are no longer simply an elemental. If you’re deposed or disabled, there will be very great consequences to the balance of power.”
“I’m aware of that,” Aira said. Dylan noticed that she was taking a deep breath to restrain her impulse to argue. “I have no intention of taking too many risks.” Dylan suppressed the snort that started in him. Aira would stop taking risks on the day she died. “I understand the need for protection. I’ll be safe.”
The elder nodded and turned back into the meeting room to continue the debate with his colleagues. Dylan watched, suppressing his feelings of envy as Aiden wrapped his arms around Aira, pulling her close. The two kissed and Dylan could feel the crackling air around them as they exchanged energy, buoying each other’s flagging essences. “When was the last time either of you slept?” he said, trying to keep the flush of resentment out of his voice. He hadn’t been sleeping much either—but he suspected that part of the insomnia that Aiden and Aira were suffering through had to do with their insatiable sex drives, given only a partial outlet with the need to be alert to new information. They couldn’t go on their honeymoon soon enough, he thought.
“I got a few hours last night,” Aira said, pulling away from Aiden. In spite of her obvious fatigue, Dylan could tell that she was feeling better. He pushed down the thought that he was hungry to experience that for himself—the way that two people, so tightly bonded, their energies mingling constantly, could bring each other up beyond normal endurance. His mother had told him that he would find his mate soon enough; he would have to be satisfied with his purpose-filled life until then.
As they walked out of the building the elders had commandeered for their own uses, Aiden glanced at Dylan with his eyes full of worry. There was something about the Aira’s that was clearly worrying the fire elemental—or something that they hadn’t mentioned, some problem that they were keeping to themselves. Dylan returned his brother’s glance; as soon as they could talk privately, he knew Aiden’s concerns would come tumbling out. “I don’t think Aiden’s slept at all,” Aira added, giving Dylan a little rueful smile. “Every time I wake up he’s already awake, watching out for me.” She turned to look at Aiden. “You know, I can—at least in my limited capacity as an air elemental—protect myself a little bit.”
“I’m aware of that,” Aiden said, and Dylan sighed as his brother bristled at the slightly caustic tone in his wife’s voice. “We’ll talk about it later. The walls here have dozens of ears.”
Dylan sat in the back seat of the car, closing his eyes and trying to cast his mind out over the distances. The main problem, he knew, was that he didn’t have the slightest clue where Leigh might be. If he could locate her, he might be able to discover whether or not she really was part of the group that targeted Aira’s guests. If she wasn’t, her disappearance might be because she was in danger. But even with the contact he’d had with her, he hadn’t managed to get a good enough impression of her mind to be able to locate her. If he knew where she was, at least a cardinal direction, he could possibly at least get an impression of how she was doing.
It bothered Dylan that after such a short acquaintance with the woman, he was already so worried about her. That was the weakness that had gotten Aiden and Aira in such trouble while Aira was coming into her powers and later when she was fighting to become the ruler of her element; but there was something about Leigh that tugged at Dylan, even though he wasn’t sure precisely what it was. There was a stillness to her, a calm that was at once both unearthly and very deeply grounded.
He hadn’t told Aiden and Aira about the stirring feelings he’d experienced courtesy of the earth elemental spy. When they had discussed the attack in the hotel room, in the direct aftermath, Dylan had mentioned that Leigh had come to him and represented herself as a spy for her earth-aligned family. “I don’t think she was involved,” he said, “But if we can find her, she might know something. She seemed to have a pretty good background in what’s going on in that quarter.”
Aiden had questioned him in detail. “She actually said she was a spy? What did she say about why she was there?” Dylan had almost regretted mentioning the woman at all; Aira and Aiden both were more than a little suspicious when it came to someone who had been sent to their wedding specifically to spy on them—even if she was direct about it. Dylan could understand it, considering what the outcome had been. But he couldn’t quite credit Leigh with having been involved—and thought that she might actually be a decent ally to cultivate, if they could find her.
When they arrived at Aira’s apartment, Dylan went directly to the kitchen and brewed a pot of coffee. “None of us are going to sleep until tonight anyway,” he said. “We might as well be alert.” He looked through the cabinets and pantry while the coffee brewed—he had been slowly stocking the ingredients that he would need to regularly make potions, based on the most common components in the books that Lorene had left behind.
“Good idea,” Aira said, sitting down heavily at the bar. She put her head in her hands and Dylan felt a flash of sympathy for her; of the three of them, she had the most difficult aspect of the task at hand. She not only had a role to play in chasing down the attackers—but she would have to try and put aside her feelings of anger and grief and contribute to deciding their fate. “They don’t want to think it’s an act of war,” she said, her voice rumbling slightly with aggravation. “Of course, Connor is still worried about Oriel’s fate. She’s been in lockup since my trial, and no decision made.” Dylan remembered that Oriel Peters had been behind the poison that Alex had given to Aira; she had wanted someone else to take the elemental rule of Air to keep her grandfather’s power base stable. “So he has a vested interest in this not being seen as more than just a petty squabble. Maralah, of course, wants to downplay it for her own reasons.”
“What we need to do,” Aiden said, “is to hunt down the people in charge of the attack—the ones who planned it. Whether they executed it or not, they’re the ones we need to round up.” Dylan nodded, beginning to assemble the ingredients he needed for a potion. He knew that they all needed rest—probably Aira most of all—but for the moment, they would have to delay it a little while longer. A potion that would strengthen their elemental energies would improve on the stimulation the coffee provided.
“So where do we start?” Aira asked, glancing from Dylan to Aiden. Dylan shrugged.
“We’ll have to check the grapevine.”
CHAPTER TWO
AIRA TURNED OVER IN BED, fighting the sudden onslaught of wakefulness that came over her. She wanted nothing more than to sleep—and yet, she couldn’t help waking up every few hours. It would have been fine if she and Aiden were on their honeymoon together; then they could just make up for lost hours o
f sleep in the afternoon. And then, Aira thought with a flash of resentment at the people responsible for postponing her time alone with her new husband. The waking every few hours would have been for an entirely different reason, too.
She opened her eyes; Aiden was wide awake next to her, looking into the darkness. “You’re not doing any of us any favors keeping this vigil, you know,” she said, draping an arm around his waist. Aiden chuckled softly.
“Says the girl who’s also awake.” Aira rolled her eyes and moved closer to Aiden in the darkness. Even without the poison in her system, even without the recurring nightmares about the darkness consuming her, she liked the feeling of Aiden’s energy flowing through her, the way his body was warmer than usual.
“I keep waking up, thinking about those people,” Aira said quietly. She sighed, pressing her cheek to Aiden’s bare chest. She trailed her fingers up from his abdomen nearly to his collarbone, feeling the tingle of his essence simmering away underneath his skin. She had fought being legally bound to him tooth and nail, but some part of her had to have known, all along, that it would end up that way.
“We’ll track down the people in charge,” Aiden said, turning to face her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, dragging his lips along the line of her jaw and stopping just short of her mouth. “We’ll track them down and bring them in.” Aira closed her eyes. She was tired down to her bones, her body aching with it. She hadn’t slept well, anxious and full of energy from the events of that day. She and Aiden had been in bed together—about to go to sleep, exhausted already—when the call had come in. In a matter of only a few hours, she had been called upon to meet with the elders and the rulers of the other elements; the first of several meetings.
It wasn’t the first time that one of the elemental groups had decided to essentially wage war against the order. Aira had learned enough of the history of the elemental community to know that there had been multiple occasions in the past when groups had decided to rebel—either against an individual ruler, the elders, or the community as a whole. The need to keep the nature of elementals a secret from the larger world was not universally accepted; in the past, battles had been waged over the secrecy, over policies that led the Elders to not only get rid of unstable, dangerous elementals but also their kin, and other issues that came up within the group.