The Call of Fire: A Natura Elementals Novel

by Sloane Calder

  Her eyes glistened in the fire’s glow. He blinked away a rush of moisture, his body tight with apprehension, his soul a wide-open space she could destroy.

  She tugged at the towel around his waist. Goddess, he’d forgotten he’d come from the bath to pull together his genius idea of doing something special.

  “Undress me,” she whispered, her expression open and raw and innocent.

  Damning his nerves, he slipped his fingers beneath the thin straps of her chemise and teased them down her arms. Slid the stretchy fabric over her breasts and hips, the wisp of material a soft crush against the carpet.

  Words from his inner vault returned to him, his father’s words, about how he’d know when he found the right one. He’d not only found her, he longed to claim and keep her, build her a pyre only they’d light.

  He took her to the floor, putting his back against the rug and easing her gently over his body, her mouth inches from his.

  “I feel it.” Her eyes closed, her nose flaring with a deep breath.

  His finger traced the lovely angles of her cheekbones, crested the soft rise of her nose, and glided over the V of her mouth. “Feel what?”

  “The call of your Fire.” Her eyes opened, their green a straight pin piercing his heart. She grinned, and something teased at his elements, her energies beckoning him. “The allure of your Air.”

  Heat simmered beneath his skin. His heart struck his ribs. The last of his doubts descended back into the memory tomb he kept tucked far away, the place buried deep beneath his elements, where he hid his last good keepsakes of recollection.

  He kissed her. Not the assassin. Not the elements. Him. Curling his fingers through the silky strands of her hair. Sucking her bottom lip into his mouth, the plump flesh tenderly caught between his teeth.

  Closing his eyes, he focused on the flame in his mind, the gentle stirring of his hair, awakening his smoldering Fire and nudging the newborn breeze of Air to life.

  Her irises shifted to a faint orange, the little threads of lightning splintering bright white. Her scent filled him. Rose and the newness of spring in the air. The errant thought came he had no clue how his new power would react or if he could control the exchange. She smiled down at him like he was her whole world, and his worry disappeared.

  “Take me inside you.” He didn’t recognize the need in his voice, something so much more than desire, something he’d never known existed, much less could have. “Your Fire’s dominant.”

  “Is that good?” She sat up, her breasts beckoning him, full and ripe, in a gentle sway.

  His breath rushed in at the glide of her fingertips over him, at the point of him against her softest skin, the push inside, and the beautiful, final breach, his eyes rolling back as she took him in fully.

  “I’m still Fire dominant.” His mouth opened at the slow rise and soft sheath of her tightness. “It means…we’re the best match.”

  He reined in his element’s need for fuel, willing himself to build her up to a slow, breathless burn. The desire in her gaze shot through his veins, and his skin colored a medley of sunset hues.

  “So good.” Her eyes glazed over, the drunken pleasure of energy a heady rush of sensation. She moaned, going all the way up and slowly down, her hips rolling, her hair spilling all around her.

  He sent a wisp of cool air across her breasts, and her nipples hardened to tight, pink buds. Desire swarmed him, a need to claim all of her. Body, mind, and element. He yearned for all of her, every scrap she’d feed him, wishing for more than a few hours to tend her. He grabbed her waist, stilling her.

  “Wait, baby, or it’ll be over.” She was going to kill him, especially if the untold levels of power he sensed swirling around them went any higher. His death would be a slice of erotic heaven.

  “Too excited, Mr. Foussé?” She tensed her muscles around him.

  “Don’t do that. Yes,” he wheezed, his beautiful death certain.

  He slid his hand near where they joined, his fingers teasing the spot urging her forward on a broken breath.

  “Yes. Right there.” Her rasped confession surrounded him.

  “Tell me when you’re close. Together is best.” He prayed he could hold out long enough.

  His body and brain were reduced to primitive function at her slick, wet heat. He circled two fingers, feeling her tighten, her soft moans hardening him to painful fullness.

  A breeze tossed her hair, feeding the flames in the fireplace, the whoosh growing.

  “I feel it.” She resumed her slide, up and down, increasing the speed, waves of crimson rippling from her skin, the air around them blustery. “I need it.”

  “Take my hands.” He threaded his fingers through hers, his arms straining as her head fell back.

  “Almost there. Almost.” Her mouth dropped open, and she rode him hard, losing herself in the rapid build of elemental power.

  A tight twist coiled inside him, building, burning. A blowtorch of flame shot up the chimney. Candlewicks flared, wax spilling over the table. Her hair lashed her face. Air shoved into his ears, his nose, his mouth.

  “Aleron.” She came down on him, hard and frenzied, a long, soft groan filling his ears. Her back arched, and she froze, all sensation reduced to a rapturous lock-and-release around him.

  Glass shattered. The air swelled and retracted with a slap. A wall of power wrapped tight around them.

  Fire and Air pummeled him. A breath punched from his lungs. Bursts of bright light blinded him. His hips jerked, and he came so hard, tears leached through the tight pinch of his eyes.

  As if they were in the very cave he’d craved, they were engulfed, surrounded, encased in a cage of flame. As wave upon wave of orgasm shook them both, Fire consumed them, taking the offering of their union and giving back an inferno of power.

  A brutal squall of Air funneled a vicious vortex around them, the power terrifying and terrific and beautiful. Flames licked over their skin in a frenzy of fiery tongues. An orange fog stirred thick in the room. He sensed his back leaving the floor, her body hovering just above his, the tornado of energy cocooning them in light, in air, in the perfect state of grace.

  It took moments, eons, but the heat slowly receded, and his body met the rug again. A grave sense of loss plagued him at the departure of their elements, but he looked around wildly, sure the apartment would be a three-alarm blaze.

  No.

  It was just her. And him. His Fire sank deep and warm in his skin, his breath filling his lungs with the purest Air. An unfathomable satisfaction fanned out inside him, an indescribable satiety seeping into his muscles, his bones, his blood.

  He blinked, his nose near hers, the full weight of her body a balm. The mist blanketed them, arcs of static forking through the orange fog, the air laden with the scents of smoke and ash.

  She tried to sit up.

  “Stay.” He tightened his arms around her. “It’s a halo.”

  “Halo?” She slumped against him, her nose stroking along the side of his neck.

  “Elemental fallout. It’s a blessing.”

  “I understand now. You must crave this.”

  He shook his head. “I’ve never transcended. I never believed in the mystical enlightenment stuff they teach in Natura sex ed.”

  “I understand why they call it a blessing.”

  “I don’t count myself in the blessed category.” He kissed her forehead and breathed in the rightness of their mingled scents. “At least I didn’t used to.”

  He wished for a do-over, a taking back of all his sins, a return to when hope and a single dream filled his heart. He’d wanted a family. Wanted to find a wife, to make a home, fill it with kids, and take care of them. Love them.

  Damn it, why did his mother and brothers keep reappearing in his mind? He’d banished their memories, committing them to ghosts, who kept returning to haunt him.

  “Let me sit up, and I’ll show you a Fire communion while the elemental afterglow’s still here.” He quick-kissed her hair an
d helped her rise, getting them situated so they faced each other, their knees touching. “You’re definitely Fire dominant.” The fading pink in her gaze thrilled him. “We wouldn’t have had a halo if you weren’t. Most Duals will tell you that while their powers are balanced, one of them takes the lead.”

  He tried to blink back the disorienting hangover that followed what they’d done, but he had no way to process that nuclear-level regen. In all the locker room talk at Elite One, nobody had ever bragged about the whole universe spreading out before them after sex.

  “Is it always like this?” She looked up at him.

  He pushed the sweat-matted hair from her face and took her chin, dragging his thumb along her jaw. “I don’t know. It’s never been that way for me.”

  A smile tore across her face, her laughter low and sultry. “Can we do it again?”

  He leaned down, cradling her face and kissing her mouth like she’d break. “We can absolutely do it—”

  He sensed the ribbon curling toward them from the fireplace. Their heads jerked toward the hiss of flames, surprised gasps coming from both of them.

  “Hold out your hand and watch.” He stretched out the arm closest to her.

  She followed his lead, and he shortened his reach, hooking his pinkie with hers.

  The light spooled a solid orange with little flickers of yellow along the edges. The bright band tapped her thumb, bouncing to the next finger, leaving an arced orange trail as it kissed each tip. The thin band flattened, widened, the ribbon a bracelet racing around their wrists. He stared at the circle of light, watching it whip and dance and spin, as if Fire was performing for them. Gently, the light slowed and fizzled, disappearing into their skin. The budding essence of Air whirled inside him, stroking his Fire, an invigorating effervescence traveling the length and width of him, his skin showered in sparks.

  A long, slow breath left her. Her head rested on his shoulder as their joined hands lowered to his leg. They stared at the now calm embers, his temple leaned against hers, watching the soothing flicker of light.

  He wasn’t sure how long they knelt there, not saying a word, sitting still in the presence of an otherworldly form. He couldn’t explain how he knew, but he obeyed the unspoken order and pulled her to her feet.

  “Come to bed with me.” He kissed her knuckles. “Let my Fire and Air feed yours again.”

  He didn’t know what to do with the adoration sparking in her green eyes. He followed her into the bedroom and spent the next hour upon hour losing count of how many times he entered her and how long it took for her cries of his name to turn hoarse. They slept and they woke, and he brought her to bliss, again and again, until his muscles begged for rest. He curled his body around hers, bringing his arm over her, her full breast filling his hand.

  And fell into the deepest sleep.

  Elspeth stared up at the gorgeous beach house, wishing she could stay inside the Mini Cooper. She’d driven this time, to have something else to focus on besides impending death, and had peppered Aleron with a barrage of questions so she wouldn’t have to face a cold, hard fact.

  Even coming into all four energies, it’d taken the ritual with Kazumi and the halo in the sexual afterglow with Aleron for her to accept what they were—living, breathing elements—at their core, that they were other.

  Seeds of element power planted and matured to ripeness in the confines of a human body. An “other” meant to return to its original form.

  They climbed from the car, heading up the stairs and taking the wraparound deck to the boardwalk.

  As they crossed over the dunes and reeds stretching down the beach, the line a sandy sentry between the sea and several jaw-dropping homes, the wind whipped at her navy maxi dress and long cardigan. She focused on the horizon at the ocean’s edge and considered their final destination, the infinite bounds of the universe where all Naturas once floated freely, shuddering at the idea of leaving her human body now that she knew what wonders her people felt every day.

  She stepped onto the beach, her Fire energy keeping her nice and toasty, the sand pushing between her toes. She needed a diversion from what awaited her. “Why do you think Seanair’s tapped Graham as his replacement so soon?”

  “I’m sure it’s not a good reason.” He toyed with the chain around his neck, his polo shirt and dark slacks plastered against a muscular body she now knew so well. “Seanair’s great at the shiny-object trick. The transition of power will draw attention from whatever his real goal may be.” He moved toward the firmer sand at the water’s edge. “When I’m in the situation like you’re about to be in, the one thing I’m sure of is I’m saving others, even the humans who don’t deserve what we do for them. The reason we tolerate their disrespect of the planet while we try to teach them to do better is we’re responsible for their evolution. Once we get them to a place where they know how to heal the environment, we can return to our original element form. Essentially, the earth will return to a human Eden, but for us, it will be Natura paradise again.”

  “That’ll be a while. They have a lot to learn.”

  “True.” He stopped and put his hand on hers. “Listen, I know it’s hard to believe, but what you’re seeing today isn’t a sin to our people. I respect the hell out of Rob for handling a situation that only ends one way. Once he immolates, all three elements will return to the source, and he’ll be healed. Our afterlife is one of elemental unity and spiritual joy, which is why we commune, to feel and pay respect to pursuing purity. It takes guts for him to go out on his own terms.”

  “I wish there was a way to save him.”

  “If Rob doesn’t do this, his elements will overtake his mind, and he’ll lose his memory of anything earthly. Whole families have been killed by an out-of-control tripowered.” He shook his head. “Damn, I wish you didn’t have to do this.”

  She wouldn’t stress him further by admitting she wished the same thing or conceding that she actually saw Seanair’s point. If Lach decided on a similar end, she had to know what she was dealing with, because no way would she let her brother die alone. The thought of gaining experience with essentially putting someone in a Natura Faraday cage until their elements broke free of their body nearly crippled her. Aleron would help her today if she needed it, but he couldn’t bear all the responsibility, and Goddess, she could not screw this up.

  If becoming Judex meant she’d order death, then she needed to see the result of her actions. She hoped to change the job’s responsibilities and allow families more control rather than ordering Elite One to handle the problem like Seanair had done for years. But she couldn’t worry about her new role right now. Nor could she think about Lach. Her only concern had to be honoring the wishes of a dying man and helping him, if need be, leave this world with dignity and grace.

  “I don’t want to be sheltered from what we are.” The ocean’s saltiness pushed into her, the sweet tang of turbulent waters riding the wind. Aleron’s Fire and Air vibrated at a higher frequency, the timbre of being fully charged, but beneath the smoke of his steady rumble of power were the fumes of an emotionally exhausted man. “Life’s not always beautiful, and we can’t ignore the parts that aren’t pretty. Rob needs us, so we’re here.”

  He pulled his cell from his pocket, frowning at the screen as they crossed onto dry sand, heading toward a dense thicket of trees.

  “Elite One’s reporting an odd energy in the city, elemental in nature but off. I don’t like this Astrux thing. It’s been quiet for too long, so I’ll teach you about shields when we get back to your apartment. Yours combined with mine is the level we need. That thing wants you, and I sure as hell don’t like you being exposed out here.”

  “We have to accept the risks.” She couldn’t think on it now, and great Goddess, they didn’t need one more thing to worry about. So much had happened, the attack in the alley seemed like ages ago. Her biggest concern now, though, was the fear Seanair had set her up to fail with Rob.

  But she wouldn’t. Not with Aleron t
here to help if she needed him.

  Rob’s sister emerged from the trees. With every step toward Liz, Elspeth’s anger rose. She wondered again what point her grandfather wanted to prove with this assignment. That Lach had no hope? She wasn’t giving up. She would find another option. The choice hadn’t made itself known yet.

  “Ms. Lennox.” Liz’s long black dress rippled seaward.

  “Elspeth, please. Or whatever you’d prefer.”

  “I’d prefer not to see my brother die. I’d also prefer no witnesses, but Seanair demands his proof, so here you are.” Liz pushed back the fall of her red hair, her fair skin highlighting the dark circles underneath her eyes, her lacy dress not hiding the extreme thinness of her body. “I hope there’s a flare of decency in all that power. He’s to feel no pain. Understood?”

  Aleron stepped forward. “I’ll ensure it’s instant.”

  “I’m sure you will.” Liz cut a piss-off glare at Aleron.

  “You have no need to fear me today or at any other time.” Elspeth didn’t try to ease the moment with a smile or trite sentiments.

  “You’re a Lennox. Forgive me if I don’t take you at your word.” Liz’s glance went from her back to Aleron. “My father may pledge his allegiance to Seanair, but I don’t.”

  “That’s fair,” Elspeth conceded. “I hope, one day, you’ll have a different opinion of me.” She reached for Aleron’s hand, but he stiffened and stepped toward the path leading to the jetty.

  Her heart blamed Aleron’s distance on the stress of the assignment, but her gut shook its head. She wanted to believe he’d withdrawn because they weren’t alone and he was keeping their relationship quiet as they’d both agreed. But she’d caught him watching her along with his intense stares at nothing, as if he searched to solve the world’s problems, or maybe just hers. He thought he knew what was best for her, and if it meant them being apart, he was wrong.