“Why the hell would you need me to represent you to the elders? Represent yourself!” Aira pushed herself away from Alex. She couldn’t decide whether his motivations were better or worse for being somewhat personal.
“Your grandmother,” he said. “She’s—I can’t tell you. I absolutely can’t tell you. It was cast out of my mind, but it’s her.”
Aira shook her head. She had used the ability of compulsion on him; if he knew it, if he could say it, he would have.
In the next moment, Dylan came through the door. Aira felt herself on the verge of tears, though she wasn’t sure why she should be so upset by a betrayal when she had known Alex had some ulterior motive. She didn’t even care that she was nude, that Dylan was seeing her completely naked, having obviously just had sex repeatedly with Alex. Dylan looked at her and then looked at Alex, who was still pinned down by Aira’s compulsion.
“What did you find out?” Dylan asked her as the tears began to roll down her cheeks.
“He was going to bind me to his family. They sent him after me, because they wanted to force me to represent them to the elders.” Aira was appalled at the idea someone—even another air elemental—would manipulate her like that, would force her into a sort of slavery.
Dylan nodded, his face solemn, and he crossed the room, disregarding Aira as he began to recite a low chant. Aira was still reeling from the power that flowed through her, her thoughts assembling and breaking apart and re-assembling in her mind. She glanced over at Dylan, who was standing over Alex, intensifying the spell he was casting, holding his hand over the other man’s head. He finished, looking at Aira with solemn satisfaction. Aira watched as Alex fell into an instant, deep sleep, his body relaxing completely.
“We need to take care of Dolores too,” Dylan told her.
Aira smelled the faint odor of smoke, and heard unmistakable noise from the bedroom next to hers. She had a sudden, keen insight into her abilities, and she looked at Dylan with a small smile, climbing over Alex’s helpless body and grabbing her robe. She slipped into it, utterly unself-conscious in Dylan’s presence, and the two of them went through her door and across the hall, opening the unlocked door to Aiden’s room.
“Do you trust me?” she asked Dylan lowly. The two in the bed were oblivious to their entrance, moving together in ecstasy. Dylan looked at her a moment before nodding. Aira took his hand. “Focus all of your water energy through me,” she told him.
Dylan hesitated; a moment later, however, she felt the cold energy wash through her, not with the pressure of an ocean weighing down, but with the torrential quality of a gushing river. She pushed his energy through the air, focusing her intentions and murmuring a spell her grandmother had taught her but never fully explained. A storm swiftly assembled outside, and Aira brought the wind up, hearing it howl until the windows shook. She brought it on, more and more, reaching out and pulling together every ounce of magic she could. The windows above Aiden’s bed shattered and the storm poured through, drenching the intense smoldering heat charging between Dolores and Aiden. The jolt of cold broke them apart, and Aira released Dylan’s hand, focusing all of her will on the wind, pushing Dolores off of Aiden, tumbling her off of the bed. “Now!”
Dylan repeated his spell, forcing Dolores into an instant deep sleep, suppressing her natural will. Aiden launched himself out of his bed at Aira angrily, growling. She brought the wind around, deflecting him, throwing him back onto the bed. She made eye contact with him and held it. “Don’t move.” Aiden’s face flickered with confusion, and he strained against her will before subsiding, relaxing against the pillows. Aira’s lust was cresting again and she noticed, in detail, that Aiden was fully naked and still at the height of arousal, fire energy flickering through him, almost drawing her in. She gritted her teeth, keeping her attention focused on his face. Dylan finished his spell, stepped away from Dolores, and looked at his brother.
“You got the hang of that compulsion pretty quickly,” Dylan observed to Aira.
She saw him smile in the corner of her eye. “Let me finish him off.” He strode to his brother and murmured a less intense version of the spell he had used on the two air elementals, saturating his brother with dampening water energy until Aiden curled up on the bed, falling slowly into a light sleep.
“What did you do to the other two?” Aira asked, adrenaline working its way out of her system.
Dylan grinned at her. “A little quid pro quo. Alex will not stop dreaming about you for at least a month. Dolores, on the other hand, will suffer saddening dreams of loneliness.”
Aira echoed his smile. “Sounds fair to me. Let’s get them out of here.”
Chapter 9
Dylan sat alone on the balcony, savoring a beer by himself. Aira was in the deep sleep that accompanied the final awakening into her powers, her body learning to cope with the onslaught of energy while the power of air worked its way through every cell, finishing the transformation started in her childhood. He knew his own transformation was less than a year away, and he was both worried and unconcerned. It would not be as intense as Aira’s, but it would test him. Aiden was also asleep, no longer under the spell Dylan had placed on him, but exhausted nonetheless. Dylan felt a kind of grim satisfaction at the events of the morning; the final touch that he had put on the two cousins who had successfully infiltrated Aira’s life and almost managed to achieve their goal of seducing her to their side had been a spell to obliterate the memories of their success. Dylan was thankful Aira’s grandmother had taught him the spell—it certainly came in handy. The two meddling, manipulative cousins would know they had intended to subvert Aiden and Aira, but they would not remember they had succeeded to a point.
Dylan’s larger concern was what would happen next. Aira was in full possession of her abilities; the feats she had managed before succumbing to the deep sleep were more impressive than even Dylan had been prepared to see. He knew once she woke up—some twenty-four hours later—she would be even more powerful. Would she still need his and Aiden’s protection? He knew her grandmother’s view on it: she would need it more than ever. He recognized what Lorene had said about her granddaughter. Aira was a potent elemental, but she was unstable. She had mastered her abilities in the moment, but the only way that she would continue to be able to do so—particularly the persuasion abilities she had developed so swiftly—would be for her to find a mate who could anchor her. One who was impervious, or nearly impervious, to her abilities. If she chose a mate who was less than stable, whose personality would bend to hers, she would quickly lose her grounding.
He had met one air elemental who had become completely compromised, who had lost control of his abilities and let them govern him, instead of the other way around. It was not a proposition that Dylan wanted Aira to face.
He needed to eat, and make sure he had enough for his brother. Aira wouldn’t need food until the next day, and then she would be ravenous. Dylan decided his culinary skills were not quite up to the task—he ordered in. He was tired; not exhausted, but he had worked to the limits of his abilities, and he had reason to be proud of what he had accomplished. He stood and finished his beer, walking into the apartment toward the kitchen. He would call Aira’s grandmother later to apprise her of the situation. He considered that with Lorene’s powers of intuition, she likely already knew. But he also understood she appreciated his calling her. Dylan had developed a rapport with the slightly prickly woman, founded on their mutual water-aligned characteristics and their concern for Aira.
There would be more work now, he knew; Aira would have to learn to completely control her newly powerful abilities. He looked forward to the trip back to her grandmother’s house. Perhaps, if Lorene had time, she could help him further hone his own abilities. Dylan whistled to himself, moving around the kitchen and thinking of how he and his brother could best ensure Aira’s safety, knowing it would be a challenge.
Aria’s story continues in WHITECAP: Book 3
Get Your Copy Here: http:
//www.amazon.com/dp/B00P37KK9Q
Something is wrong. Aira has come into her full powers but is more unstable than ever. Filled with dread, she visits her grandmother and learns her grandmother doesn’t have long to live. Racing against time, Aira focuses on her training, absorbing all her grandmother teaches. Before her grandmother dies, she transfers all her magic to Aira and warns her that she is now the key to war or peace in the Elementals world and she must choose a mate quickly--her safety depends on it!
ALPHA HYBRID – CAVERN OF LIGHT SERIES
The Becoming: Novella 1
The Magistrate: Novella 2
The Captured: Novella 3
The Pentagram: Novella 4
THE WITCH’S LOVE SPELL SERIES
The Witch’s Love Spell: Novella 1
The Witch’s Love Spell: Novella 2
The Witch’s Love Spell: Novella 3
ABDUCTION – A PSYCHIC ROMANCE SERIES
Abduction: Novella 1
Abduction 2: Novella 2
EYE OF THE COVEN SERIES
Eye of the Coven: Novella 1
Divulged Secrets: Novella 2
The Sacrament: Novella 3
STAND ALONE NOVELLAS
Cambion
Larissa Ladd is a dreamer with insights fresh as the frost newly formed on the twig whose snap echoes through the moonlit forest. Since as a child she discovered the storybook world of ghouls and goblins, she's been a devotee of the eerie, the supernatural, and all that raises the hairs on the back of the neck. Her spine still shivers with delight when she huddles fearfully in a darkling corner, enthralled in suspenseful tales from her favorite authors Dean Koontz, Stephen King, and John Saul. Feast your eyes on the scintillating flashes of garish color dabbed forth from her pen.
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