Dark Currents: Elementals, Book 1

by Mima

  Markos dove right in as soon as Adam took a breath. “Neither are the bonds you claim as powerful as you say. You’ve focused on her less than a week. I’ve also been her rampart, anchor and lover, plus her friend, mentor and confidant. Just because you’re fresh meat doesn’t mean you’re the most filling meal.”

  Adam snorted. “Leave it to a minotaur to make a food analogy.”

  Tasha’s voice interjected in Russian. Dammit.

  Adam replied, his voice softer, less angry.

  Markos chuckled. She heard the door open.

  “Honey, we’re home. What’s for dinner?” Markos called out.

  The door closed. Xia peeked. Tasha met her gaze and made impatient shooing motions with her hands. After a second’s hesitation where she understood that Tasha hadn’t given her away, she stood and pelted to the bedroom. The selkie was waiting. He cupped his hands. “Hurry! They’re back!” he hissed.

  “Shut up!” she hissed back, lifting her foot into his grip.

  He tossed her with selkie strength and she landed in a sprawl on the bed. He lowered the screen. She winced at the rasping metallic sound. Markos filled the doorway. Curse the tiny floor plan.

  “Xia?”

  “I was a little dizzy. Wanted a moment to rest.” She winced at how breathless she sounded. Casually, she propped her head in her hand, trying to make it seem as if she’d fallen onto the bed in this position.

  He frowned, stepping up and laying his hand on her forehead. “You do feel warm.”

  She sat up. Adam came to the doorway, his face controlled.

  “I’ll be fine. Let’s just get dinner made.”

  Markos put one of his huge hands on her shoulder. “No, you stay here. I’ll take care of dinner. Adam can do the dishes.” He pressed her to lie back.

  She saw Adam looking at the window and quickly babbled. “So did you have a good manly conversation about little ol’ me? What did you decide?”

  Both men looked at her sharply. She winced mentally. Adam moved to the window and looked out. He reached up and lowered the blinds.

  “I mean, don’t pretend you didn’t go out there to discuss cars.”

  Markos just chuckled and went to the door. “Curious witch.”

  When he’d passed out of sight and she heard cupboards opening, she looked up at Adam. He was pulling on his lower lip thoughtfully, watching her face. She quickly ran her hands over her cheeks, wondering if revealing dust or grease somehow marked her guilty.

  “What?” she asked grumpily.

  “You really want to know what we talked about?”

  She felt her eyes pop wide. “I assume you’d have stayed in the house if it was meant to be shared.”

  The sound of running water came from the kitchen sink.

  “You could assume that us leaving the house meant we wanted privacy, yes.”

  She swallowed. He knew.

  “Some of it was posturing. Two strong males not used to sharing a woman have to work out some details.”

  Oh. Xia was suddenly dizzy for real.

  “Have you ever shared yourself with two males at once before?”

  His question took her from dizzy to faint. “Ummm. No.” Why, had he?

  “Have you been in a ménage of any kind?”

  Not unless he included a pile of giggling, turned-on-but-mortified young witches watching a burlesque together in university. “No,” she breathed.

  Adam nodded slowly. “All right.”

  He moved around the end of the bed, took off her shoes, slightly dusty she noticed, and left. Left?

  She lay staring at the ceiling with huge eyes. Listened to the sounds of Markos in the kitchen, his hooves making soft tapping sounds on the linoleum. Eventually, he came into the darkened room.

  “Sun’s gone down,” he said quietly.

  “Yeah.” She always knew the sun’s position.

  “We’re having breakfast for dinner. Is that all right?” He sat on the edge of the bed, smoothed her hair at her forehead.

  It struck her as a very proprietary gesture, but it was so full of tenderness she didn’t say anything. “Of course.”

  “So you want to know what we talked about?”

  She stayed silent.

  He leaned down over her and put his lips to her earlobe. The shadow of his emerging beard against her cheek shocked her with sensation. The heat of his breath in her ear filled her hearing. “We worked out who would get your ass, pretty dancer. And you’re not going to get a say.”

  Xia’s breath stopped. It was a long-running issue between them. Markos liked ass play, but with his size, rarely indulged in it when he had human-built partners. Xia had never taken him there, because every time he’d tried, he’d judged her not stretched enough. Even though she’d begged.

  Chuckling against her neck, he kissed the hollow beneath her ear, then touched his lips to hers. He was familiar, gentle, comforting. And shockingly different from Adam. She remembered kissing Adam for the first time only a few days ago, in the kitchen. His passion and energy had stunned her. She’d never come from just a kiss before.

  Markos spoke as he nibbled along her jaw. “Xia. Don’t overthink tonight. You and I have to work together to break Adam down. There will be pleasure, for everyone. We all know how it needs to end, and we’ll get there. We just have to try to enjoy the journey.”

  Wise Markos. Sexy Markos. “AreyoustillseeingElspeth?” she asked in one breath.

  Markos sat up. His thumb rubbed the tendon in her neck. “No, we broke it off almost after it started when we discovered we weren’t as compatible in bed as we’d hoped.”

  Her mind boggled at not being compatible with Markos in bed. He was a passionate, amazingly thorough lover. “So, this isn’t going to hurt someone on your side.”

  He put his hand in his lap. His head tipped and his gaze left hers. “There is someone…and she will be hurt when I tell her of it. But we’re not lovers, yet. And this is much more than a sexual liaison. I hope she’ll understand.”

  A pang struck Xia’s chest. Her hand shot out to cover his. “I’m sorry.”

  “I refuse to be.” He gripped her fingers, engulfing them. “You can always come to me, Xia. After this night, after tomorrow’s revelation, after the tumult of either our success or failure.” He squeezed her tightly. “Always.”

  She squeezed him back, bringing her other hand up to join them. “I know.”

  His surprising words of love from the phone came back to her. They’d loved each other a long time, and always would. He’d always be her man, but Adam had made her see he was never really The Man. Markos wasn’t the love of her life, just one good, shining love in her life.

  “Remember, if someone tries to force you to be something you’re not, you will always have a place with me, no matter who I’m with.”

  Well, he was usually a good guy. But he had some really annoying moments. “Can we eat now?”

  “What? Why did you get snippy?”

  “Markos.” She struggled up off the bed and sat next to him. “Let’s just go eat, ’kay?” She smiled at him, trying to limit the teeth.

  Adam filled the doorway, leaned in it. “Come eat, so you can really get some rest.”

  She frowned at him. “You didn’t come in to guard my sleep.”

  “You weren’t sleepy.” He turned and left.

  Xia clenched her jaw.

  “What did I say, before, to make you angry?” Markos persisted with his usual tenaciousness.

  She stood up, stretched, her toes curling in the rather unfriendly Berber carpet. Folding her arms, she looked at his lowering brow and knew he wouldn’t let this go. “First, you tell me what was in your letter.”

  “The letter you couldn’t be bothered to read on the eve of a harrowing ritual?”

  “Yeah.” She’d already apologized. She wasn’t going to get wound up again by him.

  “I told you I would come if I could, but they’d ordered me not to.” He rose, and her head tipped back
as she held his stare. “I told you that ghosting into Terra was it for us, our turning point. At that moment, I had to choose you, or my career. I knew that if I didn’t go to you, to anchor you, that I’d lose you. Lose all rights to you.” He stepped up to her and touched her cheek. “I chose my career, because it’s not just a job for me. It’s a need, to keep the world in balance. But I asked you to call me. One call, and I’d be there, and I’d find my own way to contribute to maintaining the Great Sleep. And you didn’t call.”

  Xia’s stomach flipped over. In her pique at the assignment, one Markos had had no power over, she’d tried to hide from the reality of seeing it in writing. But she’d also hidden from any support, advice and reassurance he’d taken the time to give her. She should have realized when he sent her a real letter and not an email. She should have trusted him more, been less childish.

  Adam had known. He’d known that Markos was on the verge of coming for her, and he’d kept that chance from her. Xia turned from Markos, a flash of heat rolling up her neck to light up her brain. Fists clenched, she felt as if she could breathe fire… But in the next breath, the fire sputtered, and by the third, all that was left of the heat was her beating heart.

  No, this wasn’t Adam’s fault. She’d already discarded her care of Markos before Adam destroyed the letter. But he was a ruthless shit for doing it. Xia turned back to Markos and stepped into him for a hug. He gave the best hugs. He was so wide and steady and warm.

  She whispered into his chest. “If I’d read your letter, Markos, I wouldn’t have called. But I’d have written. I’m always going to be right on that edge with you.”

  “I know,” he replied.

  He squeezed her, and she sighed, loving it. Burying her face in his neck, rubbing her cold nose into the stubble there, she added, “You deserve better. Someone at your side, not balanced on edge.”

  “I know,” he said again, and her heart ached, and settled.

  He’d always been there for her. In the end, she’d decided she didn’t want him there. It was hard to admit. Hard to see her rejection of something so important to her. Maybe it seemed unconscious, but it wasn’t. If she’d wanted Markos, she’d have reached for him. But she’d moved on, and so had he. How ironic that they’d verbally confirmed their love for each other after it was too late.

  Adam’s voice came from behind her. “The food is getting cold. Or should I close the door and give you privacy?” There was absolutely no inflection in his voice. It was utterly polite and bland.

  Markos pulled back and kissed her on the temple. “Let’s eat.” His voice was low and quiet.

  Xia turned and moved forward, away from his heat, away from their sadness. Adam didn’t move. She stopped inside breathing distance. He was backlit, his face in heavy shadow.

  “Xia…” He paused, his breath still, but never finished the sentence. He turned and went into the kitchen. She saw he’d served himself and stood to eat at the counter. She wondered how much he’d overheard.

  Markos served her pancakes, eggs and bacon. “Now you tell me what I said before to make you upset.”

  Xia rolled her eyes. “I don’t even remember that conversation.”

  Markos reached to put honey in her tea, but she said, “No honey, thanks. Although I will put some on my pancakes.”

  He nodded, as if it was normal that she no longer took her tea the way she had for decades.

  Adam said, “She got irritated because you implied you’d already have another woman, when you were reassuring her she could always come to you.”

  “Adam!” Xia exclaimed. What rude little selkie ears he had.

  “Oh,” Markos said mildly. He looked at Xia curiously as he piled up his own plate. “You’ve never minded my bed partners before.”

  “When I’m not there. But if you’re saying I can come to you, and you’re saying you’ll already have company, then you’re saying I can come in addition to the company.”

  Markos tilted his head, confusion on his face. He really was so handsome in his rough, primitive way. “It would be rude to ask a new lover to get out just because an old lover needed support.”

  Xia put the bacon that was about to go in her mouth back on her plate. She put her hands flat on the counter on either side of her plate, and counted. When she reached twenty, she picked her bacon back up and chewed it viciously. “This is ridiculous. Future situations that may never occur have no place here tonight. We need to stay in the moment.”

  “Do you know a good spot for the ritual?” As a fire elemental, Markos was very good at that. He could let everything but a full angry steam go. If he made it up into the height of anger, that could feed on itself for days. Xia shivered as she remembered some of the angry sex they’d shared. Ripped clothes, love bruises, interesting locations…

  “Focus, Xia,” Adam bit out darkly.

  She blinked, ripping her eyes from Markos’s flexing forearm, bared by his rolled-up shirtsleeves. “Well, it needs to be private and not near the ocean, but somewhere near water. It needs to be away from any structures, and if the area burns, it can’t damage anything important and should stay contained. It should also be defensible, although I think attack is unlikely, don’t you?”

  “One of the magicals you saw in the dreamtime is still eluding capture. I doubt very much he’d have the manpower to find us and take us, but the guards aren’t going anywhere. Guards that will include Robert, I should mention.” Markos put an obscene amount of Tabasco on his eggs.

  “I know a place. My island in the loch. There’s very little development there because the government has a facility on the far end. The selkies can take the water, Robert can take the air, we’ll still have privacy, and any fire will be contained.”

  “Sounds perfect.” Markos and Xia both spoke at the exact same time. They looked at each other and grinned.

  Adam took his plate to the sink. “I’m going to go tell Tasha. We need to get people over there to scout it out.”

  Xia’s smile faded as she watched him stride stiffly to the door. He spoke in Russian for a few moments. Once, Markos spoke up, adding something. The door closed. Markos shared, “She doesn’t want to leave us. She’s sending most of the selkies and Robert.”

  Xia nodded her thanks at the summary.

  “If you’re done, it’s time you got some sleep.” Adam stood next to the couch, out of reach of her perch at the counter.

  “Adam…” It was her turn to let her sentence trail away. She swallowed, refused to be intimidated by him. “Do we need to talk about tonight?”

  He stared at her.

  She stared back.

  “Just remember, this is a ritual. It’s not me, Xia. Aqua will be with me. What I do isn’t…what I will always want.”

  Xia set her fork down, the last bite of pancake wedged in her throat and cemented there with honey.

  “It better be what you want, Adam. There’s no pretending tonight. Sex magic doesn’t work if you fake it.” Markos growled at Adam, his breath coming heavy. “Things will get kinky, and things will get wild, and you just have to give yourself over to it. No holding back, or it will fail.”

  Xia put her hands in her lap. Gripped her fingers tightly. Squeezed her thighs together to still the deep throbbing there. With effort, she spoke around her closed throat. “Adam, I know this isn’t”—she swallowed to use his sweet word with Markos here—“sharing, between us. This is outside of that.”

  “I hate it when you fear me. Just remember, Xia, I earned your trust before. Give me a chance after this, to earn it back.”

  She stood, alarmed. “Adam!”

  “Don’t. Don’t say you trust me. It won’t be me, tonight. It will be us, Aqua and I together.”

  She suddenly understood his fear. He thought she was going to see Aqua in him, and resist. “When I join you tonight, I’ll only be able to face Aqua’s sexuality by believing in you. I know it won’t be entirely you there with me, but I know you’re not her. We’ll deal with it, Adam. I w
on’t do that to you.”

  “You really think you’ll be able to find honest pleasure with Aqua?”

  She bit her lip. “I like sex. You’ll be there, even if you’re not in control.”

  He strode forward, his hands hard on her arms. “Promise me. Promise you’ll give me a chance to be your lover again, tomorrow, no matter what my body does tonight.”

  She laid her hand over his heart. It jumped and tumbled against her palm. “I promise.” A series of platitudes tumbled to her lips. I’m a professional, I know how to separate reality from ritual. You’re sexy enough to take on any persona and still excite me—it couldn’t ever be bad between us. Don’t doubt my ability to forgive. She kept them all back.

  Markos’s bass rumbled in a false coo at Adam. “I promise too. To give you a snuggle in the morning. Don’t worry, sweet cheeks, we’re not afraid of getting wet.” Markos winked when Xia gave him a dirty look. “I’ve got one word for you, dream dancer.” He smugly popped a piece of bacon in his mouth. “Asssss.” He drew it out with relish.

  Xia rolled her eyes, laughing. Adam’s shoulders were more relaxed. Markos’s irreverence didn’t seem to anger him. Nor did he respond to his last word. Her thighs clenched in reaction again. Was he serious? Had they really discussed that before she’d made it out the window? She must have missed at least a whole minute of conversation.

  “Bedtime, Morphi. Let me in.” Adam’s touch low on her spine, in the dip above her tailbone, lit up every bone in her body, liked he’d plugged her into a power source.

  “Oh,” she breathed. She felt his psychic push and opened her door. His strength and otherness washed through her, and suddenly sound was muffled, like she had water in her ears. The thought made her shiver.

  “I’ve got to get back online.” Markos collected her dishes with his and put them in the sink He pulled his laptop over, and she was already gone, lost to his ferocious focus.

  Adam’s hand flattened against her back, steering her off her stool and toward the dark bedroom. She stopped to snap Cookie Monster on.