The Elementals Collection

by L. B. Gilbert

  “You did what?” Diana froze in anger and shock.

  He looked at her strangely. “Did you have something else in mind? You can’t care for her. And there isn’t a good alternative among my relations.”

  When she didn’t respond, he continued, “It’s the best thing for her. They may even find someone she knows to take her in. If not, they are prepared. The system is there for such cases.”

  Diana’s blood boiled.

  She closed her eyes and set the glass on an end table. “I’m taking Katie back to Boston. But I’m not turning her over to social services. I’m taking her to Pedro. He will take good care of her.”

  Alec stood, jaw clenched. “You can’t do that. Pedro is not an appropriate choice.”

  “As opposed to turning her over to the system? Are you crazy?” Diana said, making an effort to keep her voice down despite the blood pounding in her head.

  “Pedro is not well. Not yet. Even if he has recovered enough, it’s still not a good idea. You can’t replace one child with another. That’s not how human hearts work.”

  “Says the vampire,” Diana ground out. “I know they aren’t interchangeable. But they’ve both suffered major losses. They can help each other heal. It will work. And if it doesn’t, I’ll find Katie something else. But I’m not putting her in the system!”

  “You act like it’s a fate worse than dea—,” Alec cut himself off abruptly. “Oh. I’m such an idiot. You were in the system. After your mother died.”

  It wasn’t even a question.

  The familiar rage and panic rushed, unbidden, up her chest, giving it a good squeeze. Diana turned away and took a few deep breaths before she could speak.

  “We’re leaving in the morning. Are you going to have the jet ready, or should I call the airlines now?”

  “Diana,” his voice was soft and gentle, “What happened?”

  “Are we taking the jet or not?” Her voice was strained.

  She felt his hands on her shoulders, but she shrugged them off and stalked out.

  After charging up to her room, she locked the door and went to the fireplace. Calling the fire, she built it high and hot. She sat in front of it for a long time before going to bed.

  36

  Alec’s attempts to engage Diana in conversation the next morning failed spectacularly. She avoided him by fussing over Katie whenever he got too close.

  The little girl was adorable and very shy. And she was clearly worried about what was going to happen to her.

  Katie asked a few questions about Pedro, and Alec shot Diana a disapproving look before he could stop himself, ratcheting up the tension between them. It got a hundred times worse when she overheard him on the phone, instructing his people to look into other options in vague terms the little one wouldn’t understand.

  He genuinely didn’t know what Diana was thinking, telling Katie that Pedro would take care of her. He’d called his man in Boston and was gratified to hear that Pedro was doing better. But he was still far from well.

  Alec kept his mouth shut about it, not wanting to worry the child, despite the fact he was honestly itching for a fight with Diana.

  He didn’t want to jeopardize his budding relationship with her, but he didn’t want to back down on this either. He wasn’t Diana’s equal in magic or even strength, but he had to be her equal in this. She had to value his opinion and listen to his concerns—even when she didn’t agree with him. Otherwise, he was going to be constantly compromising himself and everything he believed in.

  Not that he foresaw a lot of conflict. He knew that, for the most part, they would agree on how to get on. And he did see a future for them, even if she wasn’t ready to admit it.

  Unfortunately, he’d stepped on a land mine he hadn’t even known was there. Something awful must have happened to her in foster care. He shuddered when he thought of all the terrible things that could happen to vulnerable little girls.

  I am an asshole, he thought suddenly. He hadn’t given a second thought to calling child services. Let humans take care of their own. It was one of the few rules vampires actually followed. It was relatively easy for them since most didn’t care about anyone but themselves.

  The situation did not improve in the afternoon when they boarded the jet and flew home. For a Fire Elemental, Diana did a damn good deep freeze.

  There were no signs of thawing by the time they landed. She only gave one-word answers to his questions unless they were addressed to Katie as well. Once he’d acknowledged that he was still looking for different housing options for Katie that did not include foster care, it got marginally better. But it wasn’t enough to get back to the rapport he’d struggled to achieve with her.

  They’d landed in Boston before she spoke a full sentence to him. “I’m going to take Katie with me tonight. I will check things out with Pedro tomorrow.”

  “Please don’t take her until I’ve seen him,” he pleaded. “I need to tell him about his son first. I promised him things that are ash now.”

  “I guess I should say I’m sorry you don’t have a head to deliver, but that would be weird. And I don’t think it would have helped him.”

  He leaned in to whisper. “I disagree, but it can’t be helped. There wasn’t a better way. More to the point, this thing you propose. . .I don’t think it will help him. Or her. Pedro is better, but not well yet. He may not be able to handle the care of another person. I’m going to see him tonight.”

  He wanted to say more, but he didn’t want to get into an all-out battle with Katie watching them with those big brown eyes.

  Diana nodded curtly and took the little girl to the waiting car. Passing a hand over his eyes, Alec got in with them.

  “I think we should stay in a hotel tonight. The safe house is not a good place for a little girl to wake up in,” Diana said quietly after settling Katie inside.

  Reflecting on the number of weapons he’d seen there, he quickly agreed and dropped them off at a hotel he owned.

  Of course, he hadn’t volunteered that last bit of information. Or the fact that that they would be closely monitored in case Diana decided to disappear after she settled Katie somewhere.

  That last was a fear he didn’t want to dwell on. Diana had opened up to him a little, but there was a lot more to her current behavior. He’d thought her reticence and distance was a result of her mother’s death but clearly that wasn’t the complete story. And there was a real possibility that she would rather write him off than share her history with him.

  Badgering her into confiding in him was not going to work. Even though he was sure he could find her again, he didn’t want to spend years chasing her around the world trying to make her accept him in her life. He’d waited so long for someone like her, even if he hadn’t known exactly what he’d been looking for. But now that he’d found her, he didn’t want to wait a second longer to hold her, to make love to her.

  It was burning him up inside. Hiding that level of arousal from her had been a challenge, even for a vampire in complete control of his blood flow.

  Alec smiled wryly to himself. He hadn’t even desired the company of a woman for decades. Maybe even the last century. He’d thought he was past those basic desires. And now he could barely contain himself. The only thing that sobered him and tamped down his hunger was the task ahead of him: telling Pedro about his son.

  He’d given bad news like it before, but it never got any easier.

  As for Diana, as much as it went against his every possessive instinct, he would give her time. And if she didn’t come to him. . .then he would try a more aggressive tactic.

  37

  The next day, Diana took Katie to meet Pedro. She left the little girl outside with one of Alec’s men while she went to speak with him.

  Alec hadn’t called her, so she could only assume that either Pedro was better or he wanted her to see for herself how impossible her idea was.

  The little man had aged considerably, and he was still a little vacant. He putte
red around the apartment cleaning what was already clean and straightening out things that did not need straightening. Diana had serious misgivings, but she couldn’t shake the idea that this was the right move. And when all was said and done, she was a creature of instinct.

  “Pedro, I want you to know how sorry I am about your son,” she said finally.

  He looked at her directly then. “I understand that it was you, not the vampire, that killed those responsible.”

  She was surprised he had been told of Alec’s true nature. Only the highest level servants were privy to that sensitive information. She hadn’t known he was that high in their servant hierarchy.

  “He helped.”

  A lot.

  Pedro nodded.

  “He must trust you a lot to tell you what he is,” she said softly.

  He sat. “It was not him that said what he was,” he said, waving that away. “It was the leader, the father. Long ago. Not a bad man. Perhaps not a good one, but not a bad one either.” Pedro paused. “I have served the family since I was a boy. When my father died.”

  “I see,” Diana said. “And would your son have served after you?”

  If he said yes, there was no way she could leave Katie here.

  “No. It was understood. Only my lifetime is expected. There is a choice these days as long as you don’t know the secret of what they are. And they keep their word in these matters. It is part of their code.”

  Diana hesitated, but the sense that this was where Katie belonged remained.

  “Okay, then. I know this isn’t a good time to ask, but I need a favor.”

  Diana left the apartment an hour later convinced things would work out for Katie. Pedro had immediately been taken with the little girl who had known his son. He had made Katie lunch and showed her around the apartment.

  Watching her play with his son’s toys had made him tear up, and Diana had asked him if he had changed his mind. But he said no. Katie could stay.

  Before she had left, Diana had taken Pedro aside and put several unpolished gemstones in his hand. The old man hadn’t recognized them for what they were until she told him.

  “No, please. I have a good income. I don’t need this,” he’d said.

  “But she might someday. Put them somewhere safe. She might want to go to an expensive university,” she’d said, and Pedro had stopped pressing her to take them back.

  Diana didn’t return to the hotel suite Alec had gotten them. Instead, she made her way to the new safe house.

  Gia had decided to move it once Alec had learned its whereabouts. She should have told her not to bother. Alec would find the next one so long as she was there. But Diana hadn’t been able to acknowledge to her sisters what Alec was. . .not yet.

  How could she when she couldn’t even tell him? Or at least confirm what he already seemed to know. Admitting it would require the telling of secrets she’d never spoken aloud, secrets only Gia knew.

  Gia kept all of their secrets.

  Diana decided to avoid dealing with Alec for the time being. She did have other business in Boston, and it had gone unattended for too long.

  When she got to the new safe house, she started going over the building plans for the Denon Corporation once again.

  38

  It had been two full days since Alec had seen Diana. He’d stayed busy checking on his business interests and reading reports from his men. One was on the Denon Corporation and several detailed Pedro’s progress.

  Pedro seemed much better since Katie’s arrival. He had even enrolled her in school.

  It grated slightly that Diana had been right. Very few people had ever dared to contradict or disagree with him. And even though he had always known Diana was special, he had still expected to be right and her to be wrong.

  Well, in this case, he couldn’t argue with the symmetry of Diana’s plan. Not now that it had worked anyway. Feeling magnanimous in defeat, he decided to set up a trust for Katie’s care. He would make sure Pedro had whatever he needed to keep her happy and safe.

  Alec had also reluctantly made contact with his parents as well, stopping in briefly to inform them that the issue with the Elemental had been resolved. He also strongly suggested that his mother take greater care in her future dealings with the Otherkind.

  They hadn’t said much, restricting their complaints to the fact he was now staying at his penthouse at the waterfront instead of the coven house.

  By late afternoon on the second day, he was ready to reach out to her. He knew she had another investigation in Boston on the Denon Corporation, and he was sure he could be of use. It was an exciting prospect. The leisurely part of his life, that of travel and academic study, would be too quiet now that he’d met Diana.

  Alec was confident he could help her in all of her cases. With his business contacts and corporate ties, he could open doors for her almost anywhere. She would never have to pretend to be a secretary ever again. And when cases involved the supernatural, he thought he’d proven the advantages of having someone there for help and support.

  Determined not to wait any longer, Alec got ready to go meet Diana. He turned on the news and business channels in his private office as he put on his tie and cufflinks. He’d opted for more formal business attire in case he had to go to Denon headquarters with Diana later today. But when local news bulletin came on, he realized he was overdressed.

  “Shocking revelations regarding a huge environmental disaster that were covered up by the board of the Denon Corporation were revealed today as private internal communiqués were anonymously sent to hundreds of news outlets,” said a male reporter standing outside of the now-familiar office building.

  Alec sat down with a grunt. “Well, there goes the easy way,” he muttered to himself, sitting to watch the news coverage.

  He had some idea of what was coming due to his preliminary investigation into the company’s dealings, but he hadn’t yet discovered what Diana had just made public.

  The company had knowingly and systematically been poisoning entire villages with heavy metal waste across the African continent as they mined for precious metals and raw materials for the computer industry.

  Most of the major computing companies were in some way tied to the scandal as customers of Denon’s various subsidiaries. Their eco-conscious customers were already expressing their outrage on social media. Boycotts were being organized. After strong advisories that children should not watch the broadcast, graphic pictures of villagers who had died from poisoning flashed across the screen.

  Despite the sadness of the news, the pang of concern he felt was about Diana. She had moved faster than he’d expected. Now she could leave town whenever she wanted. He wanted to believe she would get in touch with him on her own, but he couldn’t take the chance. Worried, he called Daniel first to check on his mate’s current whereabouts.

  “Do you know where she is?” he asked as soon as he’d reached his man.

  “I saw the news. Was about to call you. ‘Fraid she gave us the slip. Guess she’s going to be moving on soon if she hasn’t skipped already. I don’t know where she is at this moment, but it looks like her people moved their local base. I’ve got it narrowed down to two blocks near Chinatown. Should I get more men out here?” Daniel’s naturally hoarse voice was a little out of breath, as if he was walking the area on foot instead of by car.

  “No, I’ll go down myself,” Alec said.

  He’d been exceptionally lucky at tracking Diana down when he tried. Hopefully, his luck would hold.

  Unless she’s left town.

  Hurrying now, he grabbed his suit jacket and threw it on as he went to the front door.

  He stopped short at the sight that greeted him on the other side. Ten men in dark suits with black embroidered insignias over where their hearts no longer beat.

  Shit. The Council.

  39

  Diana was feeling fairly accomplished. She’d managed to send off hundreds of secure emails without frying the safe hous
e computer.

  The charms Gia had sent to the apartment had done their job and ensured the emails were untraceable.

  Gia’s talent was extensive, but she hadn’t found a way to safeguard electronics against Diana and Serin’s inherent destructive ability. Diana had worked in short speedy bursts, interspersed with frequent long breaks to make sure her talent wouldn’t affect the computer too badly.

  Consequently, the laptop in their safe house would live to fight another day. In the meantime, she might look into getting one of those rugged laptops used in combat like the phone Alec had given her.

  Alec. She looked at the phone lying on the coffee table and tried to work up the courage to call him.

  Stop being an ass. You know you want to see him.

  Doubt assailed her. What if she was wrong, and he didn’t want her after all?

  She knew that probably wasn’t the case, but she still didn’t pick up the phone. If she called him now, it meant she was starting a relationship. There would be someone there to second-guess her decisions. But he would also be there to comfort her when the job started to get to her. Provided it didn’t get to him first.

  He’ll want to know your secrets.

  That was the worst part. She knew Alec would never hold her past actions against her. His willingness to cut a bad guy’s head off suggested a certain moral flexibility. And he wouldn’t turn away from her when her job got ugly. What she wouldn’t be able to stand was the forgiveness.

  Diana sighed and sunk into the leather couch and stared at the phone a little longer.