Alex greeted her friends cordially before he noticed her drink was empty, and insisted gallantly on replacing it. Dolores settled next to Aiden as Aira, deprived of Alex’s distracting company, felt a familiar twinge of jealousy watching the two of them becoming very cozy. Her friends were vying for Dylan’s attention in the absence of his brother’s and Aira felt her impatience increasing the longer Alex was away. She looked around and saw him talking to the karaoke emcee, charming the woman with a ready smile, two drinks and two shots carefully cradled in his hands. He broke away from her quickly, making his way back to Aira.
“I’m sorry I was gone so long,” he told her, looking directly into her eyes. “Will you ever forgive me?” Aira, slightly tipsy and feeling the effects of the increasing elemental energy flowing through her body, felt the push on her mind, the drawing in of Alex’s will against hers. She raised an eyebrow, wanting to warn him that she was wise to his game without saying anything in front of her friends.
“I will if even one of those drinks is for me,” she said, gesturing to the contents of his hands.
Alex grinned broadly and held out the two full cups, waiting until she chose one before he offered the shots as well. “Drink and shot, my dear. It’s your birthday, after all.”
Aira colored, taking one of the shots and downing it with Alex in the same moment. She chased the sharp, heady liquor with a sip of the refreshing drink he had chosen, for the moment indifferent that she was mixing alcohols. The alcohol entered her system and things began softening, her sense of time deteriorating. It was fortunate she had Dylan to watch out for her, to make sure she didn’t do or say anything she would regret. Aiden, she thought when she wasn’t drawn into Alex’s warm charm, was utterly useless as a bodyguard, wrapped up in Dolores’ attentions.
It seemed like only a few moments later when the karaoke emcee called Alex’s name, and Aira regarded him with shock.
“Didn’t I mention? I love to perform,” he murmured, giving her arm a quick squeeze that sent a jolt of intense desire through her. He gave her a little grin and nimbly trotted across the courtyard, jumping onto the stage and looking out over the assembled crowd. “I’d like to dedicate this to the most gorgeous birthday girl in the world,” he said into the microphone, gesturing to Aira. She found herself moving closer to the stage, drawn as if a moth to a flame. He slipped off his jacket, and Aira was staring at him with unabashed lust, trying to control the rising wind that shuddered the leaves of the tree arched over the patio. In the span of a few heartbeats, she recognized the song: Muse, “Supermassive Black Hole.” Aira’s eyes widened and she thought her desire for Alex would either become absolutely unbearable, or utterly squashed, depending on how he performed.
He had chosen his song well. Aira almost swooned as he began to sing, looking directly at her.
“Ooh, baby don’t you know I suffer/ ooh baby can you hear me moan…”
His falsetto was nearly flawless, and as he moved into the chorus, Aira found herself dancing to the heady beat, not quite closing her eyes as the intoxicating sensation of Alex singing directly to her washed over her.
Aira inhaled sharply as the song continued, her hips shifting and twisting, her body swaying without direction from her brain, her instincts ruling her. She was smiling up at him, watching him move to the music as he sang, every moment calculated, she knew, to drive home his intense attraction.
“Glaciers melting in the dead of night, and a super star sucked into the supermassive…”
At the end of the song, he bowed to the cheering crowd and leaped off the stage, immediately grabbing Aira and pulling her body against his, kissing her hungrily. The audience crowed their approval, but Aira was too lost in the moment, too wrapped up in the feeling of Alex’s lips on hers, his tongue probing her mouth, his hands respectful but tight on her waist, trailing around to the small of her back.
Aira melted against him, willing to let the kiss go on forever, to let it intensify further. If Alex had begun stripping her free of the dress right then, she wouldn’t have even cared enough to realize everyone was watching them. Power surged through her, freed of the suppressing influence of Dylan’s magic and her grandmother’s potion, fueled by the energy Alex was sending into her body through the kiss. She felt unreal—utterly disconnected from everything but the warmth of him, the taste of his lips, her need to feel him against her, to get rid of the clothes between them. She broke away from the kiss with a gasp, a sudden sensation like ice-cold water showering over her, changing the intense heat of her desire into frigid fear. She felt a hand on her shoulder and pulled back from Alex, looking up into his intense blue eyes as her mind reeled from the abrupt change from amorousness. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Dylan retreating, acting as if he had merely brushed against her as he attempted to speak to the emcee. Aira realized he was the person who had touched her. He had managed to work a spell in a moment, jolting her free of the insidious influence of Alex’s attraction. She swallowed against the sudden dryness of her throat and turned her attention back to Alex, who was looking down at her quizzically.
“Sorry,” she murmured, leaning up onto the balls of her feet and kissing him briefly on the lips before breaking out of his embrace. “I suddenly remembered we were being watched.” Alex stared at her a moment longer before nodding, submitting to her apparent change in pace.
It was not much longer before Aira had her turn. She gave the woman in charge a little grin, knowing she had chosen her song almost as well as Alex had—before he had made his choice, before he had even arrived. As the distinctive first notes of Fiona Apple’s “Criminal” came through the speakers, she made eye contact with Alex, letting her voice drop down to a lower, more sultry part of her register as she began to sing.
“I’ve been a bad, bad girl/ I’ve been careless with a delicate man…”
Aira felt Alex’s intensely sexual attraction to her, couldn’t take her gaze off of him as she worked her way through the song, tipsy enough to be relaxed but not sloppy. She forgot about every other person watching as she shifted her hips in time to the song; she wouldn’t have noticed even an earthquake. She took a deep breath as the song moved into the climax, her body pulsing with vigorous energy, her nerves lit with lust.
“Let me know the way, before there’s hell to pay/ give me room to lay the law and let me go/ I gotta make a play, to make my lover stay/ so what would an angel say, the devil wants to know…”
There was a brief silence—no more than the span of a few heartbeats—and the crowd cheered, almost deafening Aira as she stepped confidently from the stage and back into Alex’s arms.
Chapter 8
She was barely aware of the rest of her party’s turns on the stage; of Dolores singing “Supervixen” and Aiden singing “Heart Shaped Box.” Both of them directing their songs at each other, and her other friends taking their positions and giggling through their more lighthearted songs. Alex drew her in more and more, and Aira knew that while self-preservation demanded she keep her distance and not reveal anything, Alex’s subtle charms were working on her every moment. He kept her glass filled, kept her attention on him. She barely noticed the rise and fall of the wind as the evening wore on, and they moved as a group from the first club to another location, Alex keeping her hand firmly in his. The group decided against the strip club they had intended to visit, instead going straight to the preferred after-hours bar early, needing the relatively private atmosphere to decompress.
When the clock struck midnight, Aira was instantly aware of it; she was seated on Alex’s lap, and before her friends could even begin to sing ‘Happy Birthday,’ she was rocked with a power surge so intense she couldn’t believe that she had ever thought the ones she’d experienced before were potent. She reeled against Alex, who held her tightly, covering for the fact that she was suddenly overwhelmed. “You didn’t tell me,” he murmured against her ear. “I knew this was a special birthday—but you didn’t tell me how special.”
She knew he could feel the air energy rushing through her; Aira had never felt so intensely powerful in her entire life. She looked at Alex, smiling slowly. In an intellectual leap, a sudden connection of all of the dots of information she had gleaned, she knew he had fully intended to be present for her assumption of her full powers. He knew who she was; he knew she was nearing her complete transformation into an elemental. She kissed him briefly.
“Don’t ever lie to me again,” she murmured against his lips, knowing he would hear her in spite of the catcalls and hoots happening around them. “If you ever lie to me again about anything, I will make sure you lose the ability to lie permanently.” Alex’s eyes widened as she pulled back, her smile deepening. His hands on her waist tightened.
“My god, you’re tremendous,” he said, looking at her with actual respect in his eyes.
Aira nodded, the power inside of her making her giddy, giving her confidence she hadn’t known she possessed. She knew with a certainty that if she had to kill Alex, if the situation demanded it, she could do it. She also understood, on a level she hadn’t before, just how potent the powers involved in her elemental alignment could be. Her brain was filling with instinctive knowledge, her thoughts moving so quickly they ran together. At the same time, her lust reached a climax. She was filled with such desire that even knowing Alex had seduced her under a pretense didn’t matter; she hadn’t figured out his agenda, but she knew she would. But first, she had to get him alone. Her skin was crawling, her nerves shooting off impulses, her thoughts gradually centering on the need for satisfaction clawing at her.
Aira would never remember they had left the last bar of the night, much less how. She was consumed with the need to get Alex alone, to bring him to her bed. Nothing else would do; somehow, in spite of protests from Dylan, she was leading Alex up the stairs to her bedroom, closing and locking the door firmly behind her as the wind began to rise outside. She would have to be careful, she thought, in the part of her brain not consumed by lust. She didn’t want to destroy the neighborhood. She was trembling, shaking from energy that was only increasing—she had to control it. She had to let it flow through her body. She had to put the energy to its proper use. Alex recovered from his shock at her sudden increase in power, and when she closed the door behind them, he pressed her up against it, kissing her hungrily, his hands wandering over her body in a way that was anything but respectful. He sought her zipper, pushing his body against hers firmly, anchoring her in the present even as her mind traveled a million miles away.
“You have to stay with me,” he said, barely breaking away from her lips. “Stay here, in the moment. This is the most important time.” Aira barely followed his words, too fascinated with his body.
She pulled his jacket off, casting it aside with no concern for its fine design. Alex found her zipper and tugged it, slipping his hands along the folds of fabric and slipping it off of her body. Aira stepped out of the satin puddle at her feet, letting Alex take her by the hand. He propelled her towards her bed, launching himself at her and pinning her to the mattress. Aira moaned as his lips connected with hers again and again, his hands traveling the curves of her body, sending electrical thrills along her nerves. She unbuttoned his dress shirt slowly, moving her mouth away from his lips and down his neck, kissing and nipping while her body arched and writhed as if it had a mind of its own, reacting to the momentum of Alex’s caresses. He had her trapped underneath him, but Aira didn’t care about her apparent subjection—she was too needy for his body, too full of desire to have any concern at all about which of them was on top. Alex guided her bra away from her body, tossing it to the floor and pressing his bare chest against hers while Aira worked the sleeves off of his arms, pushing his shirt away from him. He was lean, almost wiry, with sparse dark chest hair that brushed against her skin appealingly.
In moments, it seemed, Aira was completely naked save for her stockings, held up at her thighs.
“I quite like these,” Alex told her with a charming smile, running his hands along the inside of her leg, the caress sending a chill of anticipation through her. The wind continued to howl, and Aira wrapped her legs around Alex’s waist, pushing her hips against his, beyond ready to feel him. He chuckled at her impatience, kissing the tops of her breasts and working his way to her mouth. Aira was writhing, ready to use her powers—if necessary—to knock him over and take what she needed from him. Before she could make good on the impatient impulse, Alex was thrusting into her, his hips flush against hers, the friction building up between their bodies. Aira gasped as she felt the energy coursing through her body joined with Alex’s power; she knew that she was sharing her sudden surge of power with him even as his powers were mingling with hers. She had to take control—she had to keep something back from him.
It was impossible to think as Alex picked up the pace gradually, touching her seemingly everywhere at once, murmuring into her ear as they moved together. Aira was breathless, inarticulate with rising arousal, her body taking over from her overloaded mind. Alex teased her relentlessly, picking up his pace and then slowing down, only to speed up once more, until Aira was crying out, panting for breath, strong out on desire. He knew exactly how to play her—as deftly as any musical instrument, drawing out the exact sounds he wanted her to make. Aira, even knowing she was being toyed with, couldn’t marshal her abilities to fight him; she was too involved in her cresting lust to do more than ride the waves, to move her body in counterpoint to his attacks. Alex finally let her reach her climax, holding himself back throughout it, and Aira shook underneath him, shivering uncontrollably as pleasure rocked her. She held onto him tightly, struggling to catch her breath and realizing he was still ready for more—that he intended to wait for her to recover and then bring her to fever pitch again. With sudden insight, and sharp cunning that cut through the haze of her satisfied pleasure, she threw her weight up at him, knocking him from his position of power over her and onto her mattress. She tumbled him over onto his back, following him, pinning him to the bed.
“It’s my birthday,” she said, her voice hoarse and low with desire and the cries that had ripped through her throat. “I’m not going to let you call all the shots.” She flexed her hips, smiling down at him.
Aira had complete control, pulling back her energy, drawing Alex’s into her as she kissed him, moving on top of him, moaning against his lips. Alex was her willing prey, his hands moving over her body, trembling slightly from the force of his own pleasure. Aira smiled to herself as she brought him quickly to his own heights of pleasure, tormenting him as he had tortured her, bringing him to the brink and then pulling away, until he was growling and moaning helplessly underneath her, all thought of taking the advantage gone from him in the face of the pleasure she provided.
They took turns taking over control of their encounters, moving from the bed into the shower and back to the bed. Hours passing without either of them being cognizant. Aira felt the energy within her increasing more and more as dawn approached; it was the time of day most closely aligned with her element, and she knew when the sun began to rise, she would experience the final, thorough completion of her transformation. She wasn’t sure whether or not she wanted Alex present for it, but her continual attraction to him, her constant need to renew the pleasure she had found before, made it impossible for her to decide to send him away.
She reached orgasm underneath Alex for the final time as she felt it happen; she watched her limbs changing, beginning to glow, even as orange-red light began to filter into her windows through the curtains. Seized by the mixture of acute pleasure and almost painfully intense energy flow, her whole body convulsed against Alex’s. The wind rose to such high speeds that Aira—in the part of her mind still capable of thought—feared for anyone in the area who might happen to be outside. She realized in spite of the violent, consuming power coursing through her, she could have complete and utter control of it with only a tiny effort—a small exercise of her will. She pushed Alex away and clamped do
wn on the energy, willing the wind to die down. She went into one of the exercises her grandmother had taught her, matching the wind to her breath, and inhaled and exhaled slowly, bringing the gale down to a steady breeze, attuning herself to it and letting it flow through her unimpeded.
When she came out of the semi-trance, Alex was watching her, his eyes wide with recognition, fear lurking in the blue depths.
“Tell me the truth,” she said, bringing her power of persuasion, her birthright, into sharp focus in her mind. “Tell me everything.” She pushed out with her will, directing the focus of her entire mind on pushing past Alex’s will. He fought her—his own abilities were not inconsiderable—but he was not as potent as she was. Words tumbled out of his mouth seemingly without his commanding them, rapidly, as if he couldn’t explain fast enough.
“My family sent me after you. Dolores is seducing Aiden to keep him out of the way; if we could have found someone for Dylan it would have been perfect. I was to seduce you, to win you over, to convince you to ally with us. We’re all air elementals, and you are expected to be one of the strongest of our element in the world at present.”
Aira sat up. She continued to stare at him as he spoke.
“I was to bind you to us with a betrothal, try to get you pregnant so that you would have to depend on us. Once you were betrothed and pregnant, you couldn’t get out of the family. You’d have to represent our interests with the elders—they would be your interests.”
Aira’s eyes widened. She knew the elders among the elemental community were important; they made decisions affecting everyone, they ruled on issues of whether a family could move up in the hierarchy, they even put severely compromised elementals to death if needed.
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