Dangerous (Element Preservers Series, Book 1)

by Alycia Linwood

  “That will take too much time.” I shook my head.

  “Well, we have eight hours from the moment when Ted’s shift starts,” Michael said. “He’s a guard there.”

  “Awesome,” I said. “When exactly are we going?”

  “Umm, you’re not coming with us,” Michael said.

  “Of course I am,” I said, surprised. “You can’t expect me to let you and Paula go there alone.”

  I was a little bit worried that someone could recognize me there, but I didn’t want them to go alone.

  “No, you’re not,” Paula said. “You have the magic disease. We can’t risk you going there and something going wrong. If we got caught, they would…”

  “Michael, you can’t do this to me,” I said angrily. “I’ll be fine. I want to come.”

  “Sorry, Ria,” he said. “I love you too much to let you come. The decision has already been made.”

  “If you truly love me, then you’ll trust me when I tell you I can do this,” I said, looking straight into his green eyes.

  “No,” he said. I looked at Paula, but she just shook her head.

  “Fine,” I got up, smiling bitterly. “I hope you don’t find anything.”

  With that, I turned around and headed back inside. Michael was yelling my name behind me, but I was too angry to face him. I didn’t want him to try to convince me how it was better for me to stay away.

  I found myself going to Adrian’s room even though I hadn’t planned on it. But my conversation with Michael and Paula had made me angry, and I was afraid I could snap at anyone who dared to come near me. I needed a break until I calmed down, but even that had become hard with Adrian.

  “Hey,” I said to Adrian as I came to lie down next to him. He raised an eyebrow at me.

  “You’re angry,” he said.

  “Is it that obvious?” I sighed.

  “Yes.” He smiled. “Who pissed you off? Your dear little boyfriend?”

  “Michael and Paula refused to take me with them to find the files,” I said.

  “So?” he said. “They’re going to the wrong place anyway. It’s better for you not to go.”

  “Yeah, but that’s not the point,” I said. “They don’t know it’s the wrong place and they don’t know I’ve already been there. Yet they don’t want to take me with them because they don’t trust me enough! They think I can’t control myself.”

  “Well, you can’t.”

  “But they don’t know that! They didn’t even ask me,” I said. “They simply decided for me.”

  “I’m not sure I see your point,” he said. “But we could go find the real place.”

  “What do you mean?” I looked at him.

  “While they are wasting their time, we could do a little investigating here,” he said. “If you are willing to take a risk, of course.”

  “I am,” I said. “But how are we going to do that?”

  “Easy. We just have to ask someone to check in at the hotel for us,” he said. “And then we can freely roam around.”

  “I don’t think it’s that easy to find. Maybe that secret room can’t even be accessed through the hotel,” I said. “The hotel may be above it, but that doesn’t mean they’re connected.”

  “We can check,” he said. “It’s not like we have better things to do.”

  Sure we did have better things to do, but I’d probably be worrying too much about Paula and Michael to be able to function normally. I needed something to distract me, and this was it. Besides, how dangerous could walking around an expensive hotel be? We probably wouldn’t find anything anyway.

  “Alright,” I said. I didn't feel angry anymore, and I realized that Adrian had his arm around me again. It was strange how accustomed to that I’d become that I didn’t even notice it.

  “Good,” he said. “I’m going to pay someone to get us a room there.”

  “What are we going to do if we really find something?” I looked into his eyes and saw a spark of amusement.

  “How can you even think we won’t find anything?” He smiled.

  “Ok, we’ll find something,” I said, not really convinced. “But what are we going to do? The security probably isn’t as bad as it is in the Council’s building.”

  “I don’t think they’re really expecting someone there,” he said. “So I guess it’s less guards, more technology.”

  “Ah, great. Then we’ll have to kill someone and get his eyes out in order to enter,” I said. “Perfect.”

  “You watch too many movies,” he said, making circles with his finger on my arm.

  “Maybe, but you watch too many movies too if you think we’re going to break into a high tech place without special equipment.”

  “Who says we won’t have special equipment?”

  “I do.” I smiled at him. “And even if we had the special equipment, it wouldn’t help much since we’re not trained thieves, spies or whatever we’re supposed to be for this kind of thing.”

  “You’re right,” he said. “I’m actually hoping for low security since no one expects a break-in.”

  “Great.” I rolled my eyes. “What a plan!”

  “At least we can bring some color spray for the cameras,” he said.

  “Huh, that’s so cool,” I said sarcastically. “Are we going to dress up again?”

  “No, we’re going as ourselves to the hotel,” he said. “Later we’ll need some kind of a disguise. But nothing similar to what we had worn that night.”

  “As ourselves?” I frowned. “No way. Then everyone will know we’ve been there! They’ll connect it with us immediately!”

  “Why? Because they know I have the magic disease?” he asked.

  “Yeah!” I said. “Besides, it would be suspicious as hell that we appeared there, but didn’t check in under our names!”

  “Of course that would suspicious, but we’d have a perfect explanation,” he said. I sat up and turned to look at him. He was insane. People were going to recognize us and then we’d be in lots of trouble.

  “What explanation?”

  “We’re having an affair, darling,” he said. “We come to the hotel because they have discovered us at the university already, and you can’t let your boyfriend find out. So, of course we don’t check in with our own names. Besides, we’ll spend all the time in our room.”

  I opened my mouth to say something to that, but I didn’t know what. This plan was the stupidest thing I’d ever heard.

  “Not going to work,” I said. “Even if I agreed to something as stupid as that, they’d see us coming out on cameras, and if we didn’t find anything, we’d have a scandal to deal with. That’s totally crazy, reckless and stupid.”

  “Doesn’t it make you want to do it then?” he said, and I had a moment of realization. I lowered myself down so I could watch him carefully, my face only inches away from his.

  “What are you trying to achieve?” I said. He just looked at me, but I thought I had a good idea of what was really going on.

  “You’re trying to get Michael to break up with me,” I said, and he actually flinched.

  “Why would I want to do that?” he said, but there was an edge to his voice.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “But that’s what you’re trying to do.”

  I got up and went to the window. Adrian was silent. I couldn’t figure it out why he would try to split me and Michael. It didn’t make sense. Maybe he was jealous that I had a boyfriend and he didn’t have a girlfriend, but he could get one if he wanted to, so that couldn’t be it. Was he jealous because Michael loved me so much that he’d actually forgiven me? Or was it all because Michael and he couldn’t stand each other? My head was spinning from all the possibilities.

  “We’re going there, but not like ourselves,” I said after a long moment of silence. “And there’s nothing you can do to convince me the opposite.”

  “Fine,” he said, but didn’t sound too happy, probably because his plan hadn’t worked. I wasn’t even sure wha
t kind of plan he’d had and I didn’t want to spend any more time on thinking about it.

  “Are we going shopping then?” I turned to look at Adrian, and he smiled.

  “Only if I can choose what you get to wear.”

  I eyed him suspiciously. When we’d gone shopping during our trip we hadn't had much time to choose things, so it was all done without much of thinking or trying out various outfits. This time we’d have lots of time, and I was a bit curious what he’d choose for me.

  “I’m not sure you’d know what to choose,” I said.

  “Oh, trust me, I would,” he said. “Besides, we can make it even more fun.”

  “How’s that?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

  “I choose something for you and you choose something for me.”

  “Ok,” I said, amazed that he’d actually let me pick his clothes. “What kind of look are we going for?”

  “Business look,” he said. “There’s some kind of a convention going on this weekend. It won’t look suspicious.”

  “Ahh,” I said. He’d known this all along, but clearly chosen not to tell me while he was going with his little plan to make a scandal.

  “Now you know what you’re looking for,” he said, getting up from the bed and walking over to me.

  “Yeah, but don’t we look too young for business people?” I said, feeling a little bit uncomfortable because he was now standing in front of me and licking his lips. Damn, why did I immediately have to remember how good his kisses felt?

  “I don’t think so,” he said, reaching out with his hand and moving a lock of my hair from my face. “I own a company, remember? And if I didn’t have the magic disease, I’d be definitely attending some meetings.”

  “Umm yeah, I guess,” I said. It was still a bit hard to believe that we were technically adults now. I could actually ask my father to give me a spot in the Council, but I’d probably have no power whatsoever.

  “Why don’t you just leave Michael?” His sudden change of topic caught me off guard. I stared at those gray-blue eyes and didn’t know what to say to that.

  “It’s none of your business who I’m dating,” I said.

  “You’d be better off without him,” he said. “He only makes you worry and lose control.”

  “Oh, really?” I said. “And why would you say that? Do you want to be my boyfriend or what?”

  He didn’t say anything, but instead leaned in closer to me. I could smell his cologne and my lips parted a bit. My heartbeat became irregular as I tried to concentrate on anything else but him. It didn’t work. His lips were getting closer and closer to mine, and then someone knocked on the door, making me jump.

  “Come in,” Adrian said, taking my hand in his before I could register what type of element did the person outside have. He probably knew already who it was. I heard the door open at the same time as I saw a satisfied look on Adrian’s face. And then it was too late to let go of Adrian’s hand because Michael had walked into the room.

  “Ria, I came to…” He stopped in the middle of the sentence as his eyes fell on us. I knew Adrian and I were standing too close to each other for Michael’s liking and holding hands just worsened the situation. I tried to let go of Adrian’s hand, but he didn’t want to let go of mine.

  “We can go to my room if you want,” I said.

  “No,” Michael said, confused. “I just… wanted to check if you were fine.”

  “Oh, she’s great,” Adrian said. “She’s with me.”

  “You’re not that good company, you know,” Michael said, his anger almost palpable in the air. Now I was afraid to let go of Adrian’s hand because Michael’s element was probably all over the place.

  “Better than you are.” Adrian smirked. “She enjoys every minute she spends with me… and sometimes even more than that.”

  “If you say one more word I’m going to break your neck,” I said, glaring at him. I pulled my hand out of his and walked over to Michael. It seemed like I was walking into the sea, but I tried my best to ignore it.

  “Michael, you element,” I whispered. “Please.”

  “Oh, sorry,” he said, taking a shaky breath. The feel of his element was weaker but still strong enough to bother me. I closed my eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and came to stand next to him. When I was sure I wouldn’t attack him, I slid my arm around him. Adrian was glaring at us from the other part of the room.

  “Come on, Michael,” I said, looking at Adrian. “There’s nothing for us here.”

  Adrian crossed his arms and kept looking at me. Michael took my hand, and we went for the door. I glanced back at Adrian and saw something like anger and hurt flash through his eyes, but it could have only been a shadow. I wasn’t sure and I definitely wasn’t ready to think about what he was feeling… or what I was feeling. It was much easier to let Michael take me out of there.

  My mobile phone vibrated, and I fished it out of my pocket. Of course, the message was from Adrian and it said it was time to go shopping. He gave me two hours to do it, but I knew I’d have to go earlier and faster in order to avoid problems. Being with Michael already made me feel tired, and a mall full of people surely wasn’t going to improve my control.

  I gave Michael some lame excuse and only a few minutes later I was going through things in one shop. A few people gave me strange looks because I was at the men’s department, but I did my best to ignore them… and the guy who was trying to flirt with me. I picked dark gray jeans, a white shirt and a black suit jacket. Adrian would look good in it, I was sure, because there wasn’t really anything he looked bad in.

  I was done way before my time of two hours ran out, but so was he. We met in his room again, and he looked very pleased. That couldn’t be a good sign.

  “Let me guess,” I said. “I’m not going to like what you chose.”

  “No, you’re going to love it.” He smiled.

  “Oh, I didn’t know you’re turning into my best gay friend,” I said, but his smile didn’t falter.

  “Don’t be silly, Ria,” he said. “I wasn’t going for some bad-looking, fancy clothes. I was going for sexy.”

  “And that’s different how?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Only a lover would buy you something like that,” he said.

  “I’m starting to feel nervous,” I said. “Can you show me what you got me or I can go straight to screaming at you for buying something obscene?”

  “Why don’t you try it out?” he said, a wicked grin on his face. He offered me a huge, black paper bag, and I took it, eyeing him suspiciously. I went to the bathroom and locked the door behind me just in case. I could swear I heard Adrian laughing at that. Oh, well. Better safe than sorry.

  I placed the bag down and slowly opened it. There was a yellow rose on top, and I picked it up to smell it out of habit. Maybe Adrian had gotten it with the clothes, but I doubted it. But why would he get me a rose? A yellow rose out of all? I placed the rose down on the sink and pushed my hand back in the bag without looking.

  I pulled out a smaller bag which contained something black, and as I inspected it, I realized it was lingerie. Really sexy, lacy lingerie for that matter. I wasn’t really sure should I go straight out to scream at him or reach for the rest of the clothes first. I figured if I went for the rest, it would save me the trouble and I could just scream at him for both at once.

  The dress I pulled out was completely black and, for a heartbeat, I thought it was quite normal. But when I put it on I realized why it required careful underwear choosing. It was a pretty tight dress that felt on my body like a second skin, and if the panties weren’t some soft, plain material, they would show underneath. The lacy bra had another purpose of course, because the front of the dress was rather open, and I was sure that the bra would show if I bent down or something. I looked at myself in the mirror.

  Well, it didn’t look that bad actually. I looked a bit older and more serious. The dress was a good mix of sexy and professional, because while it l
ooked pretty plain, the way it hugged itself to my body made it sexy. And it came just a bit above my knees. I looked back at the bag and saw a box I hadn’t even noticed before.

  Opening it, I found a pair of black high heels. Great, now I was completely ready to crash a business party. I changed back into my clothes and came out of the bathroom with the rose in one and the bag with the stuff in the other hand. Adrian cocked an eyebrow at me expectantly.

  “I like it,” I finally said. “But I’m not quite sure what’s the rose for.”

  “The rose’s for you, Ice Queen,” he said. I didn’t like a bit the smile that appeared on his face, but that was nothing new.

  “For me? I don’t see a reason for you to give me a rose, so what’s the meaning of it?” I said, walking over to his closet to place the bag in there. My room wasn’t safe enough for things like that, and it was better to have all we needed in one place.

  “Infidelity,” he came behind my back and whispered into my ear, sending chills over my body. I turned around to stare at his gray-blue eyes. Why was he trying to remind me of the fact that I’d cheated on Michael?

  “You’re such a jerk,” I said. “But you know that already, don’t you?”

  “I have something else for you,” he said, and I frowned.

  “I don’t want gifts from you.”

  “It will go nicely with the dress,” he said and reached for something in his pocket. I gasped as he pulled out a gorgeous crystal necklace.

  “I want you to have it,” he said, taking my hand and placing the necklace in it. I stared at the small round crystals, which were put together into the most beautiful piece of jewelry I had seen. It just had an unusual shine to it as the light hit the crystal. And it looked very valuable too.

  “Adrian, I can’t…” I said.

  “Yes, you can.” There was a catch in his voice and then he turned away from me, walking towards the window. I stared at his back as he walked away and bit my lip.

  “Who did it belong to?” I said after a moment of silence.

  “My mother,” he said. “She kept it in a safety deposit box. It is one of the rare things I have left of her.”