Goddess bless, she was done arguing about the wedding, but Zum’s assertion couldn’t be right. Seanair’s businesses weren’t all aboveboard, but assassins? Who was he killing?
Funny, though, this thing she shared with Aleron. She sure understood being used up.
“Honestly.” She took a seat on the sofa, exhausted by the whole idea. “I didn’t know Elite One existed until he showed up.”
“Whoa, girl. Back up.” Zum sat a couch cushion over. “You have got to be kidding me. We don’t talk about security and all that shit all the time because it’s a regular part of our lives. You’re a Lennox. I’m a Fukada. We’ve been raised in this BS.”
“You have been anyway.”
Zum clapped her free hand over her face. “I honestly never think about it with you. And I can’t believe Seanair never told you, but suffice to say, if you’ve got an Elite One assassin at your back, I’m as reassured as I can be.”
Her body tensed like her subconscious refused to consider Zum’s words.
“Seanair and I aren’t exactly chatty with each other.” The word assassin silenced a whole lot of whispers in her instincts but flooded her mind with questions.
“Yeah, but some things shouldn’t be skipped.” Zum sighed and put her mug on the coffee table. “Let’s get to the nitty-gritty. What the hell is up with those bruises, because by the Goddess, if that Fire fucker hurt you, I’ll—”
“He saved my life.”
With as few words and as little emotion as possible, she gave Zum the details of what had happened in the alley. Her mangled pride made her leave out the specifics of what went down after they’d returned to the apartment.
“K. Need to move.” Kazumi paced a path across the living room and back. “You say it’s an Earth, but hail’s a favorite Air tantrum, and Hell’s Kitchen became in ice machine yesterday.”
The door opened, snaring their attention. Aleron shut the door behind him and stopped short.
“Why would you tell her to keep what happened from me?” Zum ground out.
Even without power, Elspeth sensed the rage coming from her friend and felt an equal assault from Aleron.
“Because I haven’t figured this out yet, and I want to keep her alive.” He came toward them, his tone ripe with challenge.
“Well, if that whatever-it-was surprised you, we have a problem.”
“That’s an understatement, even from a Water.”
“Stop with the elemental pissing contest.” Elspeth shifted her glare between them. “I need both of you.”
Even as the words slipped out, she knew how true they were. His earlier mention of her engagement still stung, but after what they’d shared yesterday, she knew he would do anything to protect her.
She captured her friend’s gaze. “You just admitted there’s nothing more powerful than an Elite One guard. He may a supreme jerk, but he’s going to keep me alive. There’s no doubt he saved me yesterday, and I owe him.”
Kazumi stopped short, a veritable war raging on her face as she stayed lost in thought. In the span of a moment, she moved to stand in front of Aleron and bent to one knee.
She bowed her head and held out her right hand, palm up. “I owe you a debt. Whatever you need, name it. I can feel your protection swirling around her, and it’s the strongest I’ve ever felt. You saved the best friend I’ll ever have, and I’m indebted to you for the rest of my days.”
Aleron blanched, his eyes wide.
Elspeth’s throat jammed, stinging and clogging with the certainty that leaving Zum was going to be brutal, harder than almost anything she’d ever done.
“I did my job.” His gaze sliced to the floor and back to the wall. It seemed to take divine intervention from the Goddess herself, but he took Zum’s hand and pulled her to her feet.
Some semblance of understanding passed between them. They gave each other a nod. Hopefully, a truce of sorts.
“Can we all sit down now?” Elspeth gestured toward the couch and chairs.
To her surprise, neither her stubborn friend nor her even more stubborn protector hesitated.
“I wasn’t the only one hurt in this process, Aleron. You need to tell Kazumi everything. She may be able to help you. I know that thing will be back.”
“If it does, I will destroy it.” Aleron sank into the side chair.
Zum gave a decisive nod. “I’m all for Astrux annihilation. I’ve regenned with numerous Earths, and that skunk vibe settled over the city right now isn’t anything like the walk-on-the-wild-side-of-nature hangover I know.”
He bristled at the mention of rejuvenating elements. She sensed a constant tension in him, but that strain no longer read like anger. He’d been with her for three days, and he hadn’t left her alone. She knew single Naturas and Duals refueled themselves regularly, and Aleron had two mantles. Though she had no idea of his regeneration requirements, she imagined keeping a double shot of Fire fueled and firing at his levels took twice the sex.
I wish I were a Fire.
Her first instinct was to kill the urge. Avoid the pain. Stay away from the hot truth.
Instead, she simmered in it, recalling his burning intensity and the sear of his kiss. Her lips tingled with the phantom feel of the hot crush of his mouth, and the skin of her back was aflame where he’d unhooked her bra. She remembered the flex and tension in his biceps as he’d balanced himself above her.
“Let’s form a pact.” Zum stood. “A Water and a Fire combining forces is like a blizzard in human hell, but stranger things have happened. Mostly, I don’t like the halo hanging over the city. With the gala tomorrow night, I don’t want you cremating me if things get dicey and I need to drown something.”
“What halo?” Goddess, she hated being in the dark all the time.
“Nothing you should worry about. Elite One’s handling it.” Aleron’s jaw firmed like he wanted the subject closed.
“What he meant to say,” Zum’s tone scolded like a teacher correcting a student, “is that there’s a weird elemental vibe hanging around, like someone’s using the elements in a way they shouldn’t. There are also these little fissures, like something’s poking holes through the veils of elemental energy that circle the planet. Think of it like driving and the car occasionally makes a weird noise. Nothing catastrophic, but enough to know something’s wrong under the hood.”
“You are fountain of information.” Aleron stared Kazumi down.
“I prefer river of knowledge.” Zum batted her eyes. “Her grandfather treats her like a child, and that’s not how I roll. There are no secrets between me and E. Now are we making a pact or not?”
Aleron looked warily at Zum’s offered hand. “If the thing comes back, it’ll read my signature and see you’re aligned with me. I don’t want a reprimand for putting the Water Magnus’s daughter in danger.”
“I’d like to see someone try to reprimand you,” Zum scoffed. “Don’t judge me because I’m pint-sized. I’m going to rock that thing like a hurricane if it comes anywhere near Elspeth when I’m around.”
“All right, Half Gallon. Let’s do this.” He placed his hand above hers, palm down.
“Game on, Easy-Bake.”
A glow lit the space between their hands. A sleeve of blue light climbed to Aleron’s elbow and sank into his skin. The same process occurred with Kazumi but in dark orange.
They both winced, as if the actions had hurt.
“What does that exchange get you?” She’d never seen anything like it between her brothers or cousins.
“Think of it as a Natura friendship bracelet so we can’t kill each other.” Zum’s cheeks puffed, then deflated as she blew out a breath. “I can see why people don’t do that on the regular.”
A phone rang, the theme from Jaws coming from the bedroom.
“Hold up. That’s my mom. And I need to get the shoes. One sec.” Zum dashed from the room.
Elspeth turned, wanting him to tell her more about pact.
Aleron had propped himself a
gainst the back of the sofa and was busy raking his gaze, long and slow, down her. “I’m sorry about what I said. The dress was amazing. You looked—”
The tips of his ears reddened, and his gaze cut to his boots. This big blaze of a man was shy?
“I looked what?” She needed him to finish the sentence and confirm the cause of the flush creeping up his neck.
“Beautiful.” His eyes locked with hers. “So damn beautiful.”
Why did she have to meet him now? How was she going to forget how he’d saved her, how he’d kissed her with such care, how his hushed breath on the bruises had tingled and tortured the skin below her breasts?
“Did I look like a Lennox? Is that what you saw? And now that I’m back to jeans and a sweatshirt, everything’s fine?” She had to know if he saw her as the woman in the file Seanair had sent him.
“No.” A red haze seeped from his gaze and hung in the air between them. “You’re Elspeth to me now. Just Elspeth.”
Not a Lennox.
Not a means to an end.
Not a connection with access to Seanair.
“Thank you.” She didn’t swipe the tear speeding toward her jaw. “No one ever sees me but Zum and Lach.”
She bit her bottom lip, a bad habit that kept her emotions banked. In a little less than month, he’d be gone from her life. The shredding was slow, the ripping in her chest feeling like punishing little tears. There wasn’t anything between them but a small something. A shared, horrific experience. A sense of shell-shocked relief. A bond, so tiny and fragile, a thread she wanted to strengthen.
“I promised you the truth.” He hunched his shoulders and pushed off the sofa back, resuming that Goddess-awful military stance.
“If things were different—”
“Your life is decided, and I am not of your station.” He stared ahead, dead-eyed and straight, like a Buckingham Palace guard.
The protocol crap again.
She slipped off the sofa and went to him, stopping within arm’s length.
This close to him, her body was nothing but heartbeat and breath. Her fears crept in, crawling from those deep places where she’d stuffed them, and she jammed the idea of him killing people back inside and slammed the door.
Her heart thumped hard, like it was trying to break through her ribs to get to him. What if she didn’t feel this way with Yuri? What if Yuri didn’t want her, or worse, what if she didn’t want him? What if there was no chemistry between them, and sex was rote and only conception-focused?
Her feelings for Aleron had flared deep and in an instant, rooting in complicated ground. Crisis revealed character, and yesterday, he’d been nothing but honor and determination and selflessness. In the moment when he’d saved her and she’d taken that first free breath, he’d claimed a part of her heart. What he’d done… There were no words, no thanks that would do. Inside her was a mark, deeply buried and sharply carved with his initials.
“Don’t speak of yourself as beneath me again. A man who would lay down his life for someone else is the very best of people. I will never forget you, and if circumstances were different, I’d want to explore this thing between us. Don’t deny you felt something yesterday when I know you did.”
“I learned a long time ago that what I want and what I get are two different things. I will protect you at all costs.” His gaze fixed on something over her shoulder. “Let me do my job, Elspeth.”
Dread spread through her like a noxious cloud. “That thing knows your signature. It wants to hurt you.”
“I’m unkillable.” His stance widened, and his gaze steeled.
“Stop doing that.”
He bristled. “Doing what?”
“Standing there like you’re something for me to command. I’d never do that, and I don’t want you to have that expectation of me.” She moved closer and put a hand on his sweater, the pec beneath warm and firm. “Nothing’s unkillable. We’re not immortal. I don’t know what benefits an extra mantle bestows, but Naturas do die.”
“Are you worried for me?” His gaze shifted to her hand.
“Yes.” She stepped into him and rested her forehead on his chest. “Now that I know what you can do, I’ll worry about you forever.”
His body went taut beneath her, but she didn’t move back. No, she tortured herself further by breathing him in and holding that blessed smoky goodness in her lungs. She didn’t know why she could smell his element, and she didn’t care. She merely prayed the scent would bake into her senses and never leave.
“Mom. Mom. I’m leaving in ten minutes.” Kazumi’s voice drifted in. “Yes, I’ll take a different route home. Yes, I’ll be careful. Yes, Elspeth’s fine.”
A pang of guilt echoed inside her. Kazumi and her mom were tight, and now a lie rested between them.
Warm hands rested on her shoulders, and he gently slipped from beneath her touch. He moved back beside the fireplace, his all-business expression back.
Kazumi flounced in with a pair of strappy sandals hanging from her fingers. “No one says no to Prada, especially not at sixty percent off at the Barneys closeout. We’ll play Cinderella, and I’ll slip on the shoes.” She waved a come-here hand at Aleron. “A little help, please, new best friend. Can I call you my hot friend? Get it?”
“We’ve formed a temporary alliance.” He came over and held out a hand, staring down at Kazumi like she was butter and he was a frying pan.
“Easy-Bake’s too much work. I’ll shorten it to EB. It’ll be our secret.” Kazumi earned a long sigh from Aleron.
Elspeth took Aleron’s hand and lifted one foot to let Kazumi do her thing, then the other. His hold tightened, not like yesterday, but a grip strong and warm and soft.
Kazumi’s mouth opened in a joyous O. “I am a genius. If you look this sexy as hell in jeans, when you put that dress back on, you’re gonna set eyeballs on fire.”
She gave Zum a cut-it-out scowl.
Aleron let go of her hand and returned to the sofa. A fire lit in the fireplace, his gaze on the flames, which suddenly burned higher and brighter.
The Jaws theme blared again.
“I’ve got to go. Mom’s going cyclonic. I’ll call you tomorrow, and we’ll make gala plans.” Zum shot her a stink eye. “I’m officially repeating I’m not happy with this Russia disaster, but I’ll always have your back.”
“Nothing’s going to jeopardize what I’m doing for Lach.” Anger rose at the idea of that Astrux interfering with her plan. Buying her brother time was her only trump card, and no one—even an invisible power—was going to ruin it.
“And they say Fires are stubborn.” Kazumi rolled her eyes. “Be safe, chickie.”
Walking down the hallway, she waved a hand at Elspeth’s, “I will.”
“I’ll protect her,” Aleron interjected.
“You’d better.”
The front door clicked shut.
Aleron closed his eyes and held up his hands. Orange light baked into the walls, drawing up the windows, across the ceiling, and sealing every crack.
“I’ll order pizza, and you can do whatever it is you do until tomorrow night. I’m overriding my orders, and we’re not leaving this apartment until then.” Aleron headed hastily into his room.
Elspeth turned to the fireplace, her gaze going long, her instincts aflame that things were about to get worse.
Tension had filled the last day and a half as she and Aleron had engaged in a fierce battle of let’s ignore each other. Of course, not talking to someone whom she was dying to talk to only made her want to talk to him more as her thoughts fixated on what they’d done two days ago when they hadn’t been talking. She could close her eyes and conjure the feel of his mouth on hers and imagine his kiss moving lower…
Elspeth stopped a few feet from the open double doors and took in the palatial candlelit ballroom. As usual, Ross and his sidekick Egan, had done a mind-blowing job with the details for the gala. No expense had been spared in the decadent space at the St. Regis hotel.
> Filled with round tables, the room glittered with centerpieces of opulent greenery surrounding gold and bronze taper candles. Hundreds of yards of sheer tulle hung from the ceiling, tied back with cording, giving the effect of the room being surrounded by sparks. The chair covers had been perfectly pleated so each seat mimicked a miniature throne. Every piece of silverware and stemware had been precisely positioned, and every one of the room’s fifty guest tables had a perfect view of the dais in the room’s center.
She glanced at the platform draped in cascading swaths of gold fabric and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The evening was meant to honor Jon Costa and his promotion to Northeast lieutenant, with the ceremony more like a coronation than recognition of the man’s loyalty and service. The Costas held the patents to several fuel-injection processes. If it involved heat or combustion, a Natura family probably owned the business. Rich beyond belief, those attending tonight had garages full of fancy cars and lived at even fancier addresses.
In addition to New Yorkers, the New England crowd had garnered invites, all old-money Naturas who loved their galas.
Still, everyone in attendance knew who the real guest of honor was. The person turning heads from conversations in the lobby and drawing attention from the open bars. A woman about whom they wouldn’t dare whisper or publicly complain was upstaging the Costas’ evening.
Her.
The woman marrying into the Russian syndicate.
“Ready?” Aleron stood off to her right.
“I’m never ready for these Goddess-damned things.” She met his brown eyes.
“You look incredible.” He kept his gaze on her face, his expression uniform. Anyone looking would have seen a guard doing his duty. “Someone pisses you off, let me know.”
“Thanks. I will.” A pang resonated in her chest at the admiration in his eyes and the resolve to protect her in his voice. What had she done to insult the Goddess that she met a man like Aleron literally a day after she agreed to marry a total stranger? “You don’t look so bad yourself.” She smoothed her dress, hoping he wouldn’t see the interest in her eyes.
The Call of Fire: A Natura Elementals Novel Page 13
