elemental 07 - lonely hunger (2 page)

“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 of 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.

“You know,” Aira said, smiling wryly. “I almost miss the days when at least some of the people with designs on me wanted to marry me.” Aiden chuckled, kissing her hungrily for just a moment before pulling away.

“Well, marrying you sort of went out the window once we bonded,” Aiden told her. His hands trailed down along her body, sending thrills of sensation through her—almost enough to completely dispel the fatigue she felt. Aiden nibbled at her neck carefully, smiling against her skin. “Don’t tell me you’re regretting it already?” Aira smiled, shaking her head.

“No, no. I would definitely be much worse off with anyone other than you.” Aira gave him a playful prod. “Unless, of course, Dylan was available.” Aiden snorted.

“Dylan was just as single as I was. You just don’t feel that way about him—and he doesn’t feel that way about you.” Aira sighed.

“It’s a shame really,” she said, unable to fight down the smile that twitched at her lips. “I mean, it would satisfy the requirement they had for me, and Dylan isn’t nearly as much of a jerk as you can sometimes be.” Aiden made a protesting noise, launching himself up and rolling onto her, pinning her to the bed. Even in the darkness, Aira could sense him looking down at her, the mock-severe expression on his face.

“You like that I’m a jerk sometimes,” he said lowly, his lips bare inches away from her ear. “You like that I’m not afraid of the big bad Regina Sylphaea, and I don’t take any of your shit. You like that I don’t just agree with everything you say.” His hands tickled her ribs and Aira squirmed, trying not to smile. “Admit it, Aira. You love the fact that I keep you in check.” Aira suppressed the ticklish laughter that threatened to burble up from her chest.

“Dylan doesn’t just agree with me either,” she said, just in the interest of being contrary. “He’s also pretty handy at saving my life, you know.” Aiden’s hands slipped between her legs and Aira bit her bottom lip, inhaling sharply through her nose. 

“You would have eaten Dylan alive, babe,” Aiden murmured in her ear as he began to stroke her. “You know for a fact that I’m the only person on this planet who is willing to stand up to you the way you want—and the way you need, even if you won’t admit it.” Aira moaned softly, pushing her hips down to meet his touch.

“Stop distracting me,” she said, giving him a playful shove; Aiden pressed against her pleasure center more firmly, stroking and rubbing, driving out all thought of what they had been arguing about.

“Make me,” Aiden replied, and Aira could imagine—even without seeing him clearly—his face swimming above hers, one eyebrow raised in challenge, lips curved in a self-satisfied smile. Aira pretended to pout, even as Aiden’s fingers worked away at her, sending thrills of electric sensation shooting through her body. Aira gripped his shoulders, her body tensing as she struggled to hold onto even the finest thread of thought. She couldn’t let him win. 

Aira could feel Aiden’s energy flowing through her, her own energy flowing out of her body and into Aiden at the same time in a feedback loop that was comforting and novel at the same time. She focused as hard as she could on stopping the interchange of energy—knowing that would give Aiden pause. It was difficult; Aiden’s hands on her body, his lips barely inches away from hers, the feeling of his heat sinking into her, were all so tempting—but for reasons that Aira couldn’t fully articulate even to herself, she didn’t want him to keep the advantage over her. She gave him a shove—hard, abrupt, off-center. Aiden’s weight shifted on top of her and when she shoved him again, he tumbled off of her completely, and then off of the bed, even as he grabbed at the sheets to stop his momentum.

Aiden hit the floor with a thump and a curse and Aira buried her face in her pillows, laughing. There was still a current of energy flowing between her and Aiden, enough for her to feel his annoyance at her for the trick she had pulled. The lamp next to her bed switched on and illuminated Aiden, standing next to the end table, looking at her with a mock scowl on his face. “That was just mean,” he said, hands on his hips as he looked down at her. Aira began laughing harder, letting her head fall back among the pillows once more.

“You told me to make you stop,” she told him between bursts of laughter. Aiden tried to hold his disapproving expression but the scowl only made Aira laugh harder, until she was nearly breathless with it, curling in on herself and shaking her head.

“You called me a jerk,” Aiden said, climbing back into the bed with her. “I’ve never shoved you out of the bed.” Aira peeked up at him from the pillows and stuck her tongue out. Aiden’s mock-irritation dissolved and he pulled her into his arms once more. “Fine, fine. I’m a jerk, you’re a goddess, I am nowhere near good enough for you.”

“Shut up,” Aira said, pulling herself up to kiss him on the lips. “I’m a brat, you’re a jerk, and Dylan is a saint.”

“Dylan is not a saint,” Aiden insisted. “Okay, yeah, he’s patient and a good go-between.” Aiden wrapped his arms around her waist tightly, burying his face against her neck. “I’m worried about him.”

“Yeah. What do you think about that woman he met?” Aira had been mulling over what Dylan had told them about the earth elemental who had ostensibly attended their wedding to spy on them.

“I’d like to trust his judgment,” Aiden said. “It’s pretty easy to see he doesn’t believe she was capable of participating in the attack. But you and I both have been blindsided, and he’s been lonely.”

“Do you think he’s desperate enough to have fallen for someone who might just be interested in using him to get closer to us?” Aiden considered the question and sighed, shrugging.

“I’d like to think he’s not. But I know he’s lonely. I think we need to find out if this Leigh was involved, and if she was, how much.”

“How are we going to even get started on this?” Aira was irritated that the people responsible for the earthquake and the fire at the hotel housing the air elemental delegation had managed to get away in the chaos that followed the freak event without anyone noticing them. They could be anywhere in the world, just about; and they had no idea who it had been. Only the vaguest of clues were left behind. It was obvious that it was the combined effort of earth and fire elementals—but how many?

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