by Quinn Loftis
“This way,” Itterra said as she turned toward another archway in the marble wall. That was when Tara realized that there were archways all around the circular interior, and they weren’t just around the base of the massive room. They were also going up the walls as though there were other levels to the mountain. Her eyes narrowed, and she saw that there were steps built into the marble walls that blended seamlessly. If Tara looked straight at the wall, she couldn’t see them, but if she shifted to the right or left, she could see them traveling up to the various floors like a massive circular staircase. She also noticed a walkway on each level that circled all the way around the mountain.
Tara felt the pull in her chest again and realized her feet had slowed down considerably as she took in the interior of what she’d earlier assumed was only a mountain. She turned back toward Itterra and saw the Headmaster and Zuri standing beside the Headmistress, waiting on Tara to follow. She picked up the pace, and they all started off again.
She didn’t allow her eyes to stray from the path in front of her, despite being curious because the mountain had started shaking again, and this time it didn’t stop.
“Is he throwing a tantrum?” Zuri asked.
Terrick chuckled, his deep voice filling up the arched corridor. “The knowledge of the soul bonded has been lost to us for a very long time. I am beginning to remember how very possessive and protective they are of one another.”
There was that term again, soul bonded. And they were using it in regard to her and Elias. When they reached the end of the corridor, a hallway ran left and right. Tara turned left without thinking about whether she knew where she was going. Somehow, she was certain Elias was this way. She pushed past Zuri and then both Terrick and Itterra. The tugging in her chest was becoming insistent, demanding her attention. She reached a set of stone stairs and began descending them without hesitation. The glowing orbs lined the walls here as well, illuminating the stairwell. Fifty steps later—yes, she counted—she reached the bottom. Her ears immediately picked up Jax’s voice.
“You’ve got to calm down. They aren’t going to let you out of here until you do. You’re dangerous like this, Elias,” Jax growled.
Tara jumped when she heard an enraged roar reverberating off the stone walls.
“That’s mature,” Jax snapped. “Keep acting like a four-year-old who isn’t getting the candy he wants and see what Terrick does with you.”
Tara’s head snapped to Terrick, who lifted his hands innocently as if to say, “Who me?”
Tara didn’t buy it for a second. Terrick look controlled and civilized, but something about the man told her he was dangerous.
“She’s here, Jax,” Elias’s voice was rough as though he’d been yelling loudly for a long period of time. “I can feel her. She needs me and I need her. Why don’t you understand that? I am only a danger to anyone who keeps her from me.”
The deadly tone sent chills running down her spine. Tara kept moving forward, allowing the pull inside of her to direct her. There were three hallways to the left of the stairs they’d just descended. She reached the last one and turned to walk down it. Her gaze immediately found Jax. He was at the very end of the corridor. Iron-barred cells lined the hallway.
Jax’s head turned at the sound of her footsteps, and he let out a sigh of relief. “Thank the Mother,” he breathed out. Tara saw hands reach out and grab the bars, only to instantly release them with a snarl of pain. She gasped as she looked down at her own hands. She’d felt something the instant Elias’s had touched the cell bars. It wasn’t full-blown pain, but it was uncomfortable.
“Tara!” His voice was a demand and a plea at the same time.
She nearly ran the last twenty feet and stopped inches from the bars. Elias was in front of her, so close to the bars his face nearly touched them.
“Open the door,” he rumbled without taking his eyes off of her.
“Elias,” Terrick’s voice was filled with warning. “I understand what you are feeling, because I would feel the same if I was separated from Itterra. But I am still your Headmaster, and you will respect that.”
“Open the door,” Elias said again and then added through clenched teeth, “please, Professor.”
Jax swore under his breath.
“Tara,” Itterra said. Tara turned and looked at Headmistress.
Elias growled, like an honest-to-goodness growl. It nearly made Tara laugh because he didn’t seem to want her attention on anyone but him.
“Do you feel safe with him?” the Headmistress asked.
“Tucker said a lot of things to you,” Zuri added. “Stuff that probably made you doubt Elias and Jax. I heard most of it. If you don’t feel safe, we won’t let you in there with him. He can talk to your through the bars.”
Tara gasped when her hands throbbed and didn’t stop. She turned and saw that Elias had his hands wrapped around the bars, and there was smoke coming from underneath his palms.
“What are you doing?” she shrieked. “Stop! You’re hurting yourself.” He didn’t stop. The bars started to shake, as did the ground. She stepped forward and looked straight in his unusual sea green eyes. “It hurts me, too,” she whispered and looked down at her hands. They were becoming red.
Elias immediately released the bars and reached through them. She noticed he was very careful not to let his arm brush up against them.
He gently took one of her hands and held it. “Keep it there,” he said softly. When he released it, he ran his finger slowly across her palm, and warmth enveloped her hand. A second later, the throbbing was gone. Tara’s heart sped up as he did the same thing to the other hand. He’d healed her. Somehow, some way, Elias had healed the pain he had caused.
“I’m sorry, luv,” he said in a much different tone than he’d used when he’d spoken to Jax or Terrick. “I would never hurt you. Not intentionally.”
He was holding her now-uninjured hand in his. His thumb rubbed absently over the pulse in her wrist. “Will you please come in here? I just—” He bit his bottom lip as he seemed to try and gain control of his emotions, but Tara could feel his rage and fear and need inside of her as if she were feeling the emotions herself. “I just need to hold you,” he finished.
And she needed to be held by him, though she didn’t say it out loud. He must have felt it because his eyes bored into hers, and she felt the tug in her chest again, much more insistent this time.
“I feel safe with him,” Tara finally said.
Terrick stepped forward and raised his hand toward the bars. The first four bars swung open as one, a door disguised to appear like a seamless front. Elias released her hand, and Tara walked over to the opening, though she didn’t step into the cell. Instead, she turned and looked at the people watching them.
“Could you all please give us some privacy?” she asked, trying to sound respectful and not tell them that she and Elias weren’t a damn circus side show to be gawked at.
Jax started to speak, but Itterra held up a hand to stop him. His mouth immediately snapped closed.
“Of course,” the Headmistress said. “Someone will be back in a little while to check on you both. We can move forward from there.” Tara knew she meant they would decide if it was safe to let Elias out of the cell.
The door closed behind her with a quiet click, and in the next breath, her back was pressed to the stone wall and Elias’s lips were on hers.
Elias pressed his hands to the stone wall on either side of Tara’s head as he pressed his lips to hers. An inner voice told him to back off. It said he was coming on way too strong. But no amount of telling himself that was having an effect. Elias pressed even closer as he felt the magic inside of him reaching for her. He’d told her that he needed to hold her, but now that she was within his reach, he didn’t trust himself not to be too rough or push too far. So, he forced himself to keep his hands on the stone wall and off of her.
He tilted his head and sank his teeth into her bottom lip. As soon as her mouth opened in a
small gasp, he slipped his tongue inside. Tara’s own moan was drowned out by Elias’s guttural growl. He ran his tongue along her own and across the roof of her mouth. She tasted like the sweetest nectar, and he drank her down as if he had every right to. Something inside of him whispered that he did. She was his. Her soul needed to be joined with his, was meant to be joined with his.
As those thoughts wrapped around him like a comfortable blanket, he slowed the urgent kiss and savored her. The long, deep kiss turned into short kisses, gentle bites, and tentative touches of her tongue against his.
“I didn’t know what was wrong,” Elias said in between kisses. “I could feel your fear.” His lips left hers only to leave a trail of kisses from her chin to her cheek and down to her neck. “I could feel your confusion,” he said against her ear. “And then I felt your doubt. You doubted me.” Elias bit her neck hard enough to leave a mark.
“Bloody hell,” she snapped and pulled back to look at him. Her lips were swollen from his kiss, and something primal inside of him wanted to beat his chest at having left his mark on her.
“How could you doubt me?”
The desire that had just filled her eyes was suddenly gone, replaced with the fire he loved so much. “What do you mean, how could I doubt you? I barely know you!”
Elias pressed his forehead to hers and, despite the anger he could feel raging inside of her, she didn’t push him away from her. “You know I would never hurt you. Your soul knows I couldn’t hurt you without destroying my own.”
“What does my soul have to do with this? I don’t even know if I believe in souls,” she said. Elias had managed to distract her when she’d first walked into the cell but now he could see everything that had happened was coming back to the surface. He could practically see the wheels spinning. He stroked his finger across her cheek one last time before he stepped back and gave her some space.
Tara pushed away from the wall and walked around the small square cell. Elias stood in the center and simply watched her. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
It had been nearly a month since he’d last seen her, and he was so hungry for just the sight of her.
After several passes around the tiny space, she finally spoke. “Tucker said—”
Elias growled like a rabid wolf, because when she spoke his name he felt like one.
Tara paused for a moment but then kept going. “He said you and Jax are bad people. That you’re team dark elemental and you want to kidnap me—to be fair, Zuri did kidnap me, and that you want to teach me to kill team light elementals. He said he was there to save me from you.”
“Team what?” Elias asked as his lips turned up, showing a grin, which was something he had not done since he left Tara. Now that she was here where he could see her and keep her safe, he was becoming rational again. Sort of. Okay, probably not at all, especially where it applied to her. But at least he wasn’t trying to figure out how to bring down the entire Terra Academy without killing anyone so that he could get to his soul bonded. See, totally rational.
“He said there were dark and light elementals-—
“That’s true,” he interrupted.
“Well, there you go, then. Team dark and team light,” she said, sounding irritated he didn’t understand her reference.
“Let me explain, Tara. There are light and dark elementals. Kind of like there are people who live with the light shining in their lives and through their actions. And then there are those who hide in the darkness and let the shadows cover up their wicked deeds. But…” He walked away from the middle of the room and leaned against the wall, his eyes following her every move. “He didn’t tell the truth about what team he played for. Tucker is an acolyte for a dark water elemental. He has nothing to do with light elementals, and he sure as hell doesn’t care about saving anyone.”
She stopped her pacing and looked at him. She was practically shaking, and Elias felt a sharp pain pierce his heart.
“He said your kind killed my parents.”
Elias could feel how desperately she wanted it to be untrue.
“Luv, come here,” he said as he held his hand out to her.
She shook her head. “Tell me, Elias.”
“I’m going to tell you,” he assured her, “but I want to show you something as well.”
She stared at him for several heartbeats before she took a step forward and placed her hand in his. Elias pulled her to him and wrapped an arm around her waist. He took her hand in his and pressed their palms flush together.
“I’m not completely sure what I’m doing here,” he said honestly.
“That’s not reassuring or endearing to me in anyway,” she said and narrowed her eyes on him. “I’m not in the mood to be turned on by a guy who’s willing to show how vulnerable he is. Be vulnerable on your own time, Creed. What I need from you right now is honesty.”
“You can feel what I’m feeling, Tara. I told you I could feel your fear and feel your doubt. You can do the same thing with me.”
“No, I can’t. I don’t have any magical powers.”
“You do,” he countered, “but they’re just being awakened in you. Though that has nothing to do with this. That’s not what makes you able to feel me. It’s your soul. We are soul bonded. I guess maybe a term you’d better understand is soul mates.”
Tara shook her head. “What does this have to do with my parents?”
“I’m going to tell you the truth, and you’re going to be able to feel that it’s the truth. I’m telling you that I cannot lie to you, luv. It’s not possible between soul bonded elementalists.”
She started to open her mouth, no doubt to argue with him again, but he spoke before she could.
“I’ve never cried over my parents’ deaths.” He spoke a truth to her that no one knew. And as he held her hand, staring into her eyes, he pictured the bond between them wide open, giving her access to every corner of himself. “I’ve slept with three women. I’ve never lied to my grandparents. When I was a child, I found an injured skunk and nursed it back to health. My mom found me feeding it one day and told me I couldn’t have a skunk for a pet. She made me promise to take it deep into the woods and let it go. I told her I did.” When he was done talking, he simply stared at her and waited.
“You never cried?” she asked, her eyes filled with sadness and understanding.
He shook his head.
She pursed her lips and then said, “Three women is a lie.”
His lips twitched slightly as he fought the desire to smile. “You’re right.”
“So what’s the truth? How many?”
Elias made sure she was looking him straight in the eyes when he answered. “None.”
“I wouldn’t believe you if I couldn’t feel your sincerity,” she admitted. “No guy who looks like you is still a virgin at twenty. And you really did keep the skunk as a pet.”
He nodded.
“How is this possible? How can I feel what you’re feeling?”
“It’s part of the soul bond between us, Tara. I didn’t have anything to do with the death of your parents. None of us did.” He made sure she could feel his honesty. “They were killed by dark acolytes who served a dark earth elemental.”
“Why did they kill them?” she asked. The turmoil and pain coming through the bond was gutting him.
He pulled her closer. “The dark elementals crave power. They want a war against the light elementals. For a very long time, the number of light elementals exceeded that of the dark. But that has been changing lately. More and more elementalists are being swayed by the promise of power. One of the ways they add numbers to their army is through recruiting humans. They do it when they’re young and impressionable. They look for dark auras and an affinity for magic. They kill the child's family so that they are left an orphan. When someone becomes an orphan, they are gifted by Mother Gaia with the power to control one of the four elements. Then, if the acolytes get to them before we can, they groom them.”
�
�What do you mean ‘if the acolytes get to them before we can’?” she asked as she leaned toward him. Elias didn’t think she was aware that she was doing it.
“The light elementalists are charged with helping protect these children who have been targeted by the dark. There are four types of elements: earth, fire, wind, and water. And there are four corresponding elemental academies that train young elementalists: Terra, Crimson, Tempest, and Hydro. Each academy is responsible for battling the dark elements of their specific elemental bent. Here at Terra Academy, we are charged with hunting and killing dark earth elementals.” Elias saw Tara shudder, but he pressed on.
“Whichever type of elemental has caused the deaths of a child’s family, that academy then Marks the child and is responsible for protecting them until they come of age. Then, when the child comes of age, which is generally when they turn eighteen or when they graduate high school, representatives from the academy come and recruit them.”
Tara frowned. “TGTE. That’s what you were doing? You were recruiting me?”
“Yes. No matter what you would have answered, you would have been accepted. TGTE is just a front for Terra Academy.”
“What if someone who is ‘Marked’”—she held up finger quotes—“doesn’t want to go? What if they want a normal life?”
Elias tried not to read into her questions. The idea of Tara not wanting to be a part of his world—his life—left him feeling empty. “They will always be in danger. If they refuse the dark elementals and don’t have the protection of the academy, they will probably be killed by a dark elemental.”
