Elemental Awakening Book Bundle

by Nicola Claire

  "And my element is?"

  "Earth, or Gi. Mine is Fire, or Pyrkagia."

  "Earth, Fire, Air, Water. So, four?" I asked, finally feeling like some answers were making sense.

  "Five actually, but don't fret about that. The fifth element is extremely rare and no Ekmetalleftis alive today has command of it. Concentrate instead on the main four; Gi, Pyrkagia, Nero, and Aeras. Nero for Water and Aeras for Air."

  I ran a hand through my hair and started playing with the strands. I almost wanted to start chewing on them, like Sonya does, but I just couldn’t bring myself down to that level yet. I did have some standards left. I stared at the dark blonde between my fingers. I wondered if all Gi looked like me. All Pyrkagia seemed to look a little like Theo, so it stood to reason.

  "Do I look like a Gi?" I asked, meeting his eyes.

  "Your eyes are the same shade, but your hair is not. I attribute your hair dye to helping cloud my judgement. Had your hair been dark brown, I would have recognised what you were sooner."

  My eyebrows rose up at those words. "Two things," I said, anger beginning to replace the fear and overwhelming panic of before. "First; I became this Gi thing less than forty-eight hours ago. I was completely, and utterly, human before then. So stop going on about me pulling the wool over your eyes. I'm not that Machiavellian." Theo's eyebrows rose on that. "Second; I don't dye my hair. This is natural."

  He sat up in his chair. For some reason that was more convincing than my repeated insistence that I'd been human until yesterday morning. "Prove it," he whispered.

  My head pulled back. How the hell do I prove that?

  "Um, how?" I lifted my hair off my shoulder and stared at it again. "I don't have dark roots," I suggested. His eyes rolled to the ceiling and then back to me. When they settled they were alight with gold flecks.

  "There is one way," he husked, voice deep and deliciously silky. I stared at him, confused, then watched as his gaze slid down my body, leaving a wash of heat in its wake, and came to rest at the juncture between my thighs.

  "No freaking way!' I said with conviction. "First you cop a feel and now you want a peep show?"

  He gave me a lascivious smile.

  "You'll just have to take my word for it," I announced.

  "Oh, Oraia, you will show me. Maybe not today, but I will have my 'peep show' as you call it. And you will love giving it to me."

  "You are so full of yourself," I declared, astounded at his confidence.

  He shrugged. "I am Pyrkagia, it is what we do."

  I stared at him for a moment. "OK, explain that," I demanded.

  "You feed off nature. Plants, animals." Animals? "The life that surrounds humans. I feed off Fire." His hand swept out to indicate the flames in the hearth. "I must sit in front of a fire for at least fifteen minutes everyday. I choose night time. Aktor always has the fire in my bedroom blazing when I retire. I get what I need here."

  Well, that made sense. I started to relax.

  "But, my kind is different from all other Ekmetalleftis." And here comes the tension again. "We can also feed off other forms of heat. Such as," his voice lowered, his eyes began brightening to only gold, "passion, desire, lust. It is all a Fire of some description, is it not?"

  I blinked back at him. And I thought I'd become a freak.

  Theo wasn't nearly done with freaking me out though. "You are the most delicious meal I have ever partaken." I squirmed in my chair, his eyes blazed only gold. "You are bubbling over with unfulfilled passion, yet it is so contained. You are contained. You offer a glimpse, now and then, a tempting, tantalising taste. And then deny me further. I find myself addicted to that next glimpse. Craving that next delicious morsel of Fire from deep inside. For some reason, I can't seem to stop myself trying to pull that passion out. You intrigue me. My reaction to you intrigues me."

  The crackle of the fire in the hearth was all that met the end of his words. Poignant, I think.

  "No witty comeback? No scathing put-down? Casey," he murmured, "give me something to go on here."

  I couldn't help it, I smiled. He was just such a tease, even when discussing otherworldly, freaky things such as this. He returned my smile with one so natural it made my heart sing. I wasn't meant to let him do that to me, but Theo had a way about him that made me melt, made me want something I couldn't identify, but knew I'd be missing if I never got the chance to try.

  "There it is," he breathed, his eyes closing slowly as he sank languidly back into his chair. My mouth dropped open as I stared at him.

  "Did you just feed off me?" I asked, incredulously.

  "Ah-ha," he nodded, not even bothering to form words right then. How dare he? I wasn't prepared to offer up anything like that? Had he tricked me? His eyes were gold. Did I taste nice?

  Oh, shut up.

  "Well, you can stop right now!" I commanded.

  "Can't," he answered, eyelids still closed. "Even the Fire of your temper tastes sweet."

  "Theo!" I shouted and he started laughing.

  His eyes opened and beautiful, stunning gold stared back at me.

  I felt like a gazelle looking into the hungry eyes of a lion. "Behave," I said slowly, using his favourite reprimand on him.

  "Why couldn't you be Pyrkagia?" he whispered. I don't think he wanted an answer. Well, at least, not from me.

  We stared at each other for minutes as the gold slowly seeped from his eyes. When nothing but hazel looked back at me I felt I'd lost something precious and rare. I felt bereft.

  "It is late, Cassandra. We both need sleep." I nodded, I did feel tired, but strangely very much alive. "I have work to do in the morning, but we can continue your education tomorrow afternoon," Theo suggested.

  "I'll be at the shop until six."

  "No," he said firmly. "You have starved yourself for the past two days, maybe longer, I'm really not sure anymore." He did sound a little lost saying that, as though he still refused to believe I'd only been a Gi since Thursday morning. He shook his head to clear it of those confusing thoughts. "You need to spend the morning in amongst my trees, replenishing. Let Sonya handle the store, you will commune with nature. Tomorrow afternoon we'll resume this conversation, and then tomorrow evening I will show you off."

  "Show me off?" That seemed to be the only note of worth from his entire speech.

  "The sooner my people get to see you, quell their curiosity, the sooner I will know how much security you will need. You are in enemy territory, Casey. Whether by design or chance, it is still enemy territory to you. You must act accordingly. Despite that, my protection should be enough to keep you safe."

  "You are a Prince," I offered, a little sarcastically. He could have told me that titbit sooner.

  "Indeed," he replied smoothly. "But even then, there are disgruntled subjects in my father's realm. I wouldn't have a job otherwise."

  I cocked my head at him and raised my brows in question. He sighed.

  "Casey, I need sleep, you have worn me out." I laughed outright at that, he smirked. "Can we cover your unending questions tomorrow afternoon, please?"

  I grumbled out a yes and stood to leave, then stared at the locked doors.

  "You threw the key away," I pointed out, my heart deciding it needed another workout on that little remembered fact.

  "Yes, I did," Theo said frowning. "Well, you can take the bed and I'll sleep in one of the chairs by the fireplace," he suggested.

  I just stared at him. Was he mad? He started laughing, thinking it was all a very amusing game no doubt. He crossed the space to the door that separated our bedrooms, wrapped a hand around the door handle and I watched as heat made the locking mechanism melt. It took a few seconds, but when he pulled his hand away, the brass knob was glowing and the door stood slightly ajar.

  "I won't be able to lock it again," he admitted, looking over his shoulder at me. "I'll have Aktor fix it tomorrow. Is that all right?"

  An unlocked door between our rooms. It was going to be bad enough that I knew he slept on
the other side of the wall, shirtless I was picturing, but now the door wouldn't even remain closed. I'd probably hear him snoring. He'd no doubt hear me toss and turn from panic at his proximity. I struggled to maintain my composure at those thoughts.

  Theo let out a long breath of air.

  "I can be trusted, you know," he said softly. "I have never, in my entire existence, forced myself on a woman."

  I flicked my eyes up to his face. He was so sincere and I suddenly felt incredibly bad. Despite his misgivings he was helping me. Despite the cost to him, the risk, he kept doing it. I nodded my head, then dipped my face to walk past.

  Just as I came abreast of him I whispered, "Thank you." His hand came up, hovered over my cheek for a moment, and then rested on my shoulder instead.

  "It is a pleasure, Oraia. Please know that."

  I wanted to believe him, and in a way I could. He was certainly getting something out of keeping me around. If half of what he had admitted earlier was true, he enjoyed feeding off me to some degree. So, I was paying for this arrangement. But I should never, ever forget that was what it is.

  An arrangement and nothing more.

  I found my dinner waiting on a small table by the window, where I could sit and look out over the trees in his front yard. There were so many. Why did he surround himself with plants when his Stoicheio was Fire? He didn't need them, so why? It was another piece to the puzzle that was Theo Peters. Or what had his father called him? Theodoros. I smiled at that. So old world. So Greek.

  I ate what I could stomach and then forced myself to have a bath in the attached ensuite room. That had a lock so, at least, my heart rate wasn't galloping. Just at trot for now. Aktor had laid out nightwear on a stand to the side. He must have sourced it while we were at the King's. I slipped the nightdress over my head and noted it came to mid-thigh. My guess, Aktor had been given strict instructions on what to purchase. This flimsy number hardly left anything to the imagination at all.

  I slipped my underwear reluctantly back on. No way was I traipsing about the place, with an open door to Theo and a bare arse sticking out. I opened the bathroom door and glanced across the room. The dinner plates had been removed. How the hell did he know I was finished? I shook my head and noted the lights had been dimmed, to just one bedside lamp, and the covers had been pulled down.

  Oh, I could get used to this. I ran across the soft carpet, my feet making no sounds at all, and launched myself onto the high mattress of the bed. I sank into the feathered comfort letting out a small whimper of delight. I heard Theo chuckle through the opening of the door and cringed. Fire coursed up my cheeks and I prayed he couldn't feed from where he was right now. I ducked under the covers and pulled them up to my ears. Then waited for sleep.

  Two hours later I was still staring at the shadows of branches dancing along the walls of my room. So many unanswered questions filled my head. So many fears made my heart too fast for me to ever hope to sleep again. This world was so strange, yet I felt comforted by it. I'd always loved plants, maybe my grandfather was right, and that's why I was a Gi and not a Pyrkagia. Maybe my predilection for nature was the impetus for what Stoicheio I could command. But why had this happened?

  Did it really matter how, if I still didn't know why?

  Something told me that was the crux of the matter. Because I was not born, like Theo was obviously born, into this life. I became this creature I now am from spending two days in a dirt covered pit. Who put me there? And why did they do it?

  So many questions. So few answers. And with only four weeks grace from the Rigas, so little time. I curled up in a small ball and prayed that Theo could in fact help me find the answers. He was my only hope. He was my only chance to make any sense of this world.

  With thoughts of him on my mind, when sleep finally claimed me, I assumed I'd dream about Theo. But at some stage in the night my nightmares returned. It seemed strange to me that I still had them, because I'd come to feel safe and protected by all the plant life in the city, and the scent of Earth soothed like nothing else could. So why did a pit full of dirt make me break out in sweat, tangle the sheets, and cry out in my sleep?

  I woke abruptly to Theo's softly murmured words in my ear. To the realisation that I was wrapped up in his arms, still in my bed, still in my room. And that Theo was, indeed, shirtless when he slept.

  Heat rushed through my entire body, setting it alight with flames. It was all mine. It wasn't Theo's. But one muttered Greek curse from his mouth and I knew he hadn't missed it.

  And, of course, his lips crushing mine kind of gave it away too.

  Chapter Nine

  We Have A Gift For You

  The taste of Theo met my tongue. It was delicious. Sweet, yet spicy. A combination of flavours I was sure existed somewhere exotic and warm and full of sunshine. I moaned into his mouth, felt his body shudder above me and his lips press firmer into mine.

  This had to be a dream. A beautiful dream come to chase the nightmare away. If I had to endure being buried alive every single night simply to experience the delight of this dream afterwards, I would gladly. I would give anything to taste Theo in the wake of such panic and fear. Like the Earth, he soothed me. Like feeding from the trees, he fuelled me. My body arched, my nerves ignited, and flames licked up my centre burning brighter and brighter, and hotter and hotter. I thought I might just explode.

  I was sure I might just explode.

  And then his thigh pressed between my legs, forcing his way closer to the hottest part of me. Oh dear freaking God, I was dying here. This... sensation, could not be real. Could not exist in actuality. It was a figment of my mind, that's all. Something my subconscious dreamed up to chase away the fear.

  I had a very clever subconscious.

  "Theo," I murmured and received a husky, "Oraia," murmured back.

  For some reason I hadn't expected my dream to be so realistic. Actually, I would have preferred Theo didn't talk at all, then I couldn't associate this fantasy with reality. Theo talking felt too real.

  I blinked my eyes open, aware I was no longer sleeping, I wasn't awake in a delicious dream. I was awake in reality, and reality was the nightmare, not my dreams.

  I screamed. It was loud. Theo swore just as loudly and promptly fell backwards off the side of the bed. The swearing intensified when he hit the carpet. I sucked in air as though I'd been suffocating for the past five minutes, not kissing Theo Peters senseless in my bed.

  Oh no.

  How many times had I daydreamed about exactly this? How much more... disastrous could I have made the experience? My first real kiss with Theo and I blew it. My fingers came up and traced my lips, feeling the sensation of heat he'd left behind. They tingled.

  He still hadn't stood up, he wasn't making a sound. So I crept to the side of the bed and tentatively peered over it. He was lying on his back staring at the ceiling, frowning.

  "Hi," I croaked out above him.

  He blinked and then let a heavy sigh out.

  "Are you all right?" he eventually asked. Huh, the first words out of his mouth aren't condemning, but concerned. I nodded.

  "Are you?" I asked, softly.

  "I think I strained a muscle," he admitted with a shrug. "And burst an eardrum. But it was worth it." He smiled then, it didn't quite reach his eyes.

  "I'm sorry," I said, whisper quiet.

  His face softened, ever so slightly.

  "Casey. It was my fault, not yours. And here I was, just telling you last night, that I have never forced myself on a woman before. It seems, where you are concerned, I lose all reason and control."

  Oh, I think I liked that, but I couldn't let him go on believing I was coerced.

  "I had a dream. A nightmare," I said, he nodded for me to continue. "I thought you were my reward for getting through the time in the pit again." His mouth opened, but no words came out. "I thought you were a good dream, to wipe away the bad." A blush stole up my cheeks. "I actually liked it."

  He let a relieved breath o
f air out, then ran his hand through his hair. He was still lying on the carpet on his back. It was kind of amusing.

  "Well, anyway," I mumbled. "Just didn't want you to think it was all you."

  "I appreciate that."

  I didn't know what else to say. He just kept looking up at me. His hands now lying across his stomach, fingers laced. He looked perfectly at ease and in no rush to shift positions or leave. Minutes passed. I'd stopped looking at him, instead staring at the carpet to his side. Because to look at him would give too much away. I was aware his eyes were still on me, and that I was half hanging off the side of the bed. But I couldn't find the willpower to move back. To be the first to shift away.

  He broke the stand-off first.

  "There are four different Ekmetalleftis. Four branches of the same. At our birth, when our Creator made the first elders, we lived in harmony. Inter-racial marriages were the norm. Mixes of our Stoicheio did not diminish our numbers. Our children are always the same Ekmetalleftis branch as their fathers. So, no reason not to follow your heart and marry the one you desired. The only caveat Aetheros, our God, placed on us, was not to mix with humans. We could entertain them, but not keep them. To keep them was to waste our chance to procreate. And we do not procreate easily."

  I wasn't sure why he was telling me this now, but the steady sound of his deep voice was lulling. It washed away the last of my embarrassment, the last vestiges of panic from the nightmare, and allowed me to relax into the covers on the bed. I lay sprawled across the surface on my stomach, one arm hanging down the side of the bed and tracing a pattern in the carpet beside Theo's hip.

  "Then the Alchemists came. Their constant search for further universal knowledge led them to our kind. At first, we allowed them access to some of our history. It only seemed fair. We'd lived amongst the humans for centuries, and for the past several, our God had been silent. Without his guidance decisions were made that perhaps would not have been if we still held his ear. But we wanted to give something back to humans who unwittingly supported us. The Pyrkagia, in particular, wished for this, and rightly so. We are the only ones who can feed directly off them.