I gently placed her arm over my shoulder and the urge for us to be more than what we were was stronger than anything I had ever felt. Reluctantly, I dove off the cliff and my dragon form appeared.
She grabbed one of my horns and pulled herself upright.
I landed and went to lie down, which allowed her to slide off my back easily. Once she was off me, I shifted back into my human form.
She turned around immediately and I shook with laughter.
“You have to get used to it Elena.”
“Don’t force it, please.”
I rolled my eyes, putting on my robe. “Fine, you can look.”
She turned around slowly, as if she thought I was playing a joke on her. “Thank heavens.”
“I’m actually not that hard on the eyes.”
She raised an eyebrow and snorted. “Okay, whatever.”
“What?” I asked with a teasing lilt in my voice.
“Good night, Blake. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I laughed as she hurried toward the entrance of the academy.
“Hey,” my aunt’s voice sounded from behind me.
I turned around as she approached.
With a shake of her head, she said, “Elena is a decent creature. Stop messing with her.”
“Me? Mess with Elena? Never,” I said with smirk. Constance narrowed her eyes. With a wink at her, I turned around and headed to my room.
I was early the next afternoon.
Tabitha wasn’t speaking to me, and to be honest, I didn’t care that much now that I knew Elena was the calming presence in my life and not Tabitha. I was getting sick of Tabitha’s moods.
Elena flew in fast and almost stumbled as she landed.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to see how fast we can fly,” she gasped, trying to catch her breath.
We. I gave a slight shake of my head as she lumbered into the forest to shift.
She came running out, eager for today’s lesson.
“A bit of an improvement from yesterday,” I said.
“Yesterday was fun and of value. Okay, not the goodbye part, but the actual lesson.”
I laughed. Keep your mouth shut Blake.
I flicked my cigarette away and went to stand in front of her.
“What is today again?”
“Haha, lightning.”
“Oh yeah.” I smiled at her. “Again, the same thing, Elena,” I said. I wanted to touch her, but I refrained.
Last night, I’d made a plan to avoid two things: touch Elena and flirt with her. Both seemed like completely impossible tasks at the moment.
The lightning appeared just as fast as the fire had once Elena focused, but as soon as it appeared, she shrieked and shook her hand.
“That one really hurt!”
“It will. Only in the beginning. Again.”
She leveled me with a glare and I blew out a breath.
“Elena it’s the only way you will get used to it. Concentrate.”
She closed her eyes but her concentration was lost, so the spark didn’t come.
“You are only going to drain yourself and not learn the value of this lesson if you keep that up.”
She grunted. “It really hurt.”
“Boohoo, you are a Rubicon.”
“You’re so mean. I want the chirpy Blake. Bring him out.”
I stifled a snort at that. “Haha, it is me. Now show me your lightning.”
Her upper lip curled into a sneer for a moment, but she closed her eyes.
She cleared her mind. The spark came again and she grunted. “Mother f…” She shook her hand.
I frowned. Was she faking it? The lighting didn’t hurt that much.
I took her hand and inspected her palm. It was slightly red and a few blisters were already popping up on her skin.
“I told you, look. Blisters.”
“You heal. Sometimes things are painful, Elena. Welcome to my world.”
She grunted at me and went back to shaking her hand.
She used her other hand again, her face scrunching up as she concentrated.
The spark was softer this time but it still burned her hand.
This was weird, and didn’t make any sense.
“Okay, let’s take a break.” I went over to the boulder and sat down.
“Mother of pearl,” she said.
She slapped me hard in the stomach with the back of her hand when I laughed. “It’s not funny.”
I held up my hands in defense. “Okay, sorry.”
She closed her eyes again, her face scrunching up again. I was impressed with her determination to keep going, but no lightning appeared in the palm of her hand. Instead, frost spread over her palms, a look of relief on her face.
“Much better.”
“See, you are a natural.”
“I’m a Rubicon.” She mocked me and I couldn’t help the laugh that burst from my mouth.
“Are you trying to sound like me? You need more practice.”
Her eyes sparkled. Dammit, Blake, stop admiring her.
“So,” I said.
“If you are going to tell me that the break is over, Blake Leaf, I’m going to torch your ass.”
I chuckled at that. She wasn’t ready to torch my ass yet, but the day would come soon enough. “No, I actually wanted to ask you about your mother.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “My mother?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, you tried to maybe try and find her?”
A dark laugh left her mouth. “Yeah, so not going to happen.”
“What, you think Tabitha is not up to it?”
“No, I’m just not ready for her deep sighs and grunts this time if I won’t be able to even produce a name. You should’ve seen her when I gave her just my father’s name and birthdate, not even year,” she joked.
I knew this was hard on her. She knew nothing about her heritage or whether she had other family members somewhere in Paegeia. I couldn’t imagine being thrust into a world you knew nothing about, and then finding out you were a dragon.
“You don’t know your mother’s name?”
She shook her head. “I told you she left and my father never spoke about her.”
Growing up without even knowing who her mother was must have been terrible. “That must suck.”
“Yeah, you’re not the only one who has it hard, Blake.”
I simply looked at her. “I never sulk about my life, Elena.”
“Fine, whatever,” she said, her tone playful.
Perhaps I could try to find a picture of Tanya and show it to Elena. If my suspicions were correct, then maybe she’d recognize her, although that chance was slim… Why would she know what her mother looked like if she didn’t even know her name?
I felt like an idiot for not telling her the truth. But I didn’t know another way.
If Elena knew I knew more than I should, she would question it without a doubt.
The frost vanished.
“I got a plan,” she said as she got up.
“Plans already. I like that.”
She closed her eyes, and the frost spread over her palms again.
Once her hands were frozen, she closed her eyes and sparks of lightning danced on the frost.
I started to laugh.
“Mother eff.” She groaned.
“If you told me that was your plan, I would’ve told you not to do it.”
She glared at me.
“You said it’s my friend. Does this look like my friend to you?”
She buried her hands in between her legs and moaned from the pain.
I tried to suppress my laugh.
“It’s not funny,” Elena exclaimed.
“I’m not laughing.”
“But you want to.”
She started to chuckle again. “It burns like fire.”
“Don’t look at me. I can’t heal dragons. Sorry.” She seemed to actually be in pain, and I knew I shouldn’t be laughing at her, but it was ha
rd not to.
“Shush, Blake.”
“I’m sorry, really, I don’t mean to.” I pushed back my laughter and took a deep breath to steady myself. When I was sure I wouldn’t start laughing again, I looked over at her.
“Elena, lighting and water do not mix. What is ice?”
“Yeah, I know,” she huffed sulkily.
“Well, maybe you did learn a lesson after all,” I teased.
She snarled and came to sat down again.
“I really think it’s enough for today.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“You think you can fly back?”
“Yeah, I’ll manage.”
Nodding, I got up. “You’ll see, tomorrow the blisters will be gone.”
“I don’t believe a word you say anymore. I’ll wait for it first.”
“The lightning isn’t supposed to hurt that much. Seriously.”
“Then why does it hurt with me?”
“Maybe because you are a baby,” I mocked.
“Shut up.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said. She turned around, and I shifted, flying away.
She was like the sun. And, man, I loved spending time with her, but she had a very dark cloud waiting to surround her, and I had to prepare her for it.
I never should’ve befriended her, but it had been so easy to fall into.
Mentally, I added “No more laughing” to the list of things I had to try not to do.
Over the next few days, I truly worked on keeping my distance and cooling it with the friendliness between. But that only caused me to push her harder and harder, and as a result, we almost fought, which made me feel like shit.
Elena’s hands were covered in blisters, but the next morning, she came up to me in the hallway as we changed classes, and showed me that her hands were healed. I tried not to smile, but I could feel her eyes on me whenever I didn’t pay any attention to her.
Friday’s lesson was the worst. I pushed her so hard that she passed out cold, and I had to take her back to the academy.
I carried her upstairs to her room, and when I kicked the door open, Sammy’s eyes went wide as saucers. I ignored the gasp from Becky and walked over to Elena’s bed, setting her down on it.
“Dammit, Blake!” Becky yelled furiously at me. “Look at her hands.”
“She’ll heal. You’re such a drama queen. Elena actually brings her A game whenever she shows.” The menace in my tone surprised me, because I wasn’t feeling even a hint of unkindness.
Becky chewed on her bottom lip, glaring at me. With a shake of my head, I stormed out of the room.
I knew what had me in such a shitty mood. It was Friday. The darkness tended to consume me over the weekend.
Sighing, I headed to my room. It would be best if I stayed there for as long as possible. That way, I wouldn’t be tempted to hang around Elena.
It would only confuse her if I was around her.
I needed to get her to distance herself from me, so she could focus on her task. I was sure any animosity between us would make it easier for her to want to kill me.
Thankfully, the rest of the day and night was manageable, and I even put on the lovesick puppy act for Tabitha. But it didn’t last.
I woke up pissed off on Saturday, and dreading Sunday.
Tabitha dragged me to the cafeteria Saturday night. She thought it was the lack of food that had put me in such a bad mood.
I followed her to a table in the corner with some reluctance, where she forced me to sit while she went to dish up.
Sarah, Susan, and Jeff joined me and before I knew it, three tables were pushed together as more of Tabitha’s friend joined.
I pretended to enjoy myself, faking smiles and laughs. Pretending wasn’t as easy as usual.
I turned my head and saw Becky pushing Elena down onto a pillow.
Why on earth did Elena put up with her?
Sammy blocked my view of Elena, which was a good thing since Tabitha had just asked me something. I muttered a noncommittal reply and looked away from Elena’s table.
I started to feel slightly better, but the calming effect wasn’t working well from this distance.
I needed to get closer to Elena.
“You want to leave?” Tabitha asked.
If we left, I could stop at their table and pretend to tie my shoelace. I was about to nod when Sammy called my name.
I could hug her.
I got up, and the light started to seep into me as I neared the table.
Elena was wearing sunglasses, and she clearly wasn’t in the mood for jokes. Not that I could joke with her, since I’d put joking on the list of things not to do.
I should asked her if she was okay. I’d pushed her hard yesterday and that wasn’t always a good thing. But I stayed silent because I shouldn’t be caring about her.
“You heard anything from Dad?” Sammy asked.
I frowned.
“You called me over to ask me that? No,” I grumbled. “Why do you ask? Should I have heard something from him?”
Something was up. This wasn’t Sammy’s normal behavior.
“No, I’m just worried about them. Aren’t you?”
“Samantha, why should I be worried about them?” My sister was freaking me out. I had no idea what she was talking about.
The darkness was slipping away and I felt almost normal again.
“You know, that thing?” Sammy raised her eyebrows slightly.
“What thing?”
“Blake, I’m not going to blabber the thing in front of everyone.”
I heaved out a breath. “Sammy, you are not making any sense.”
“What’s wrong with you? How can you not remember?”
“I don’t have time for this, really.”
She looked at Becky and I followed her gaze, but Becky’s face was unreadable. I glanced at Elena, but all I saw on her face was exhaustion.
What was going on?
“Blake!”
“I’m not going to fight with you over this, Samantha. I’ve got no idea what you are talking about, and I’m going to leave now.”
“Blake!” she yelled again.
I shook my head as I left. I felt better. Thank you, Sammy.
I glanced over my shoulder at Elena. Was she just tired? Maybe she was drunk? She was a Rubicon now, and I had told her that booze kept the beast calm. Maybe it was working for her, too.
“What did she want?” Tabitha asked when I got to her.
“Fuck knows. Let’s go.”
I called my mother that night. Sammy’s cryptic words had me worried.
They were fine, just shocked that I reached out. I felt like an idiot.
Maybe Sammy was also drunk. She hadn’t been acting like herself.
On Monday, I didn’t feel as dark as I thought I would. It freaked me out how a couple of seconds in Elena’s presence could keep the darkness at bay for so long.
I decided to take a break from training her. Warbel needed my attention more than she did, and the break would be good for us. I told her to practice on her own when she was alone.
She nodded but I saw the fear in her eyes.
But I couldn’t give in and help her. We needed the distance otherwise my plan wouldn’t work. I didn’t have to be a Moonbolt to see that.
Falling for Elena wasn’t hard. In fact, it was too fucking easy. She was special, and I finally knew what Lucian had seen in her.
I never should have told him Paul was fucking her.
I didn’t even think that she had wanted him. I had a funny feeling that Paul had put that urge inside her.
If he’d managed to make me forget days, he could easily have done that and gotten away with it.
The way I had spoken to Lucian that day… it was one of the things I regretted most. Those were our last words.
I would never be able to apologize or take it back. I’d never be able to tell him that I finally knew what he’d seen in Elena.
The dark found
its way back on Tuesday. By Wednesday I spent the entire day searching for Elena, but she wasn’t around.
I hated the fact that she didn’t need me as much as I needed her.
Thankfully, she was at Warbel practice on Thursday with Becky and George.
I didn’t say hi, just basked in the feeling of the light. I wanted to laugh, but I had to keep my game face on.
I pushed the team and cussed, telling them how useless they were, all just to hide what she was to me.
Whatever this was, it had to be another fucked up entity that wanted us to be together. Once again, I found myself fighting against something larger than me.
I was tired of fighting things I couldn’t see.
The next day, Elena came to watch Warbel practice again, though she didn’t even look at me.
I didn’t blame her. I was a jerk.
I drilled them like an army general.
“Blake, seriously!” Becky said as she fell off her raider.
“Shake it off, Johnson! The first game is tomorrow night. Hustle, hustle, or you’re benched.”
She grunted and I had to fight to keep the smile off my face.
I could feel Elena’s eyes on me, but I ignored her. I had to keep my head on Warbel.
At the game on Friday night, I was pleased to see Elena was there. I’d felt her presence before I’d seen her.
I filled my water bottle—I knew I was going to scream at my Maggots a lot tonight—and walked over to her.
“You should practice.”
“It’s not Warbel, back off,” she joked and my lips curved. She shook her head.
I put in my earpiece to hear what Dimwit one and two were broadcasting and found them staring at me.
They were speaking about the Rubicon being a coach and wondering if I was able to hack it.
I flipped them off and their laughter rang in my ears.
The game was about to start when Greg walked into the box.
“You ready to get your asked kicked tonight, Blake?”
I rolled my eyes.
He laughed at me. “It must be hard to be so competitive and you can’t even play.”
“Your team wouldn’t stand a chance if I could play.”
“Oh, you would’ve made the big shots. No doubt about it.”
I grinned. “I wish I could say the same for them.”
“Still not where you want them?”
“Not by far.”
Darkbeam Part II Page 21