Shards of Ecstasy

by TJ Michaels

  The moment her elemental gift left her control it expanded to encompass anything and everything that contained the slightest bit of water. The clouds above them. The molecules in the plants in Faison’s living room. The water lapping at the sand a mile away in downtown Seattle near the piers. Hell, she could even imagine the sweat being pulled from Faison’s pores. And all of it combined to make one hell of a water spout. A mini-hurricane barreled toward his home, straight for them. The only thing that kept her from freaking out and yanking her powers back into herself was the all-encompassing peace and control that emanated from the crystal.

  Dee’s heart stuttered as the sound of shattering glass filled the deep eerie night. Mobilized into action, she loosely grabbed the reins of her energies while still managing to let the elemental magic do what it wanted. She felt Faison join with her. Just as the column of water flew into the penthouse apartment and tore out the floor-to-ceiling window panes, Dee saw Faison in her mind’s eye, saw him join his gift to hers. Saw him manipulate the air around them in conjunction with the chilly liquid under her own control.

  *Focus on the crystal,* She instructed. *Imagine your powers channeling through it.*

  Dee and Faison nodded at the same time—he must have heard She’s voice? Dee couldn’t marvel at that fact right now. After Asmo was out of here would be soon enough to wonder at how her nature entity now seemed to be their nature entity.

  The waterspout grew along with the gale force winds that shaped it, molded it and redirected it until it surrounded Asmodeus completely; held him immobile as if he were a stick figure trapped inside a solid glass ball.

  Dee yelled to Faison, “Now, squeeze!”

  Then the sphere constricted and squashed its demonic contents until Asmo-what’s-his-butt twisted and thrashed. Finally the thing released a high-pitched, pissed-off, demonic scream as his human skin melted away leaving nothing but a dark mist in its place. Within seconds even that was gone. The globe of water popped. The wind subsided, but unfortunately the water didn’t. It hit the floor with a loud crash, soaking the carpet, the furniture, even the walls.

  “God, what a mess,” Dee declared. “How are we gonna—” It was as far as she got when the elemental energies that had been unleashed returned home and slammed back into their wielders with enough brute force to toss them into an unconscious tangle of arms and legs.

  * * * * *

  When they next awoke, the sun had not yet begun its ascent into the thankfully overcast skies. Luckily for Faison’s neighbors, he and his elemental match were able to discreetly draw out the excess water in the building and command it all back into the surrounding air. It would rain for a day or so, but that was preferred to people knowing what really took place here.

  They’d even combined their skills once more to gather and blow all the debris out of the apartment, though Dee had been hard-pressed to think of where to throw the stuff.

  By the time the sun rose if anyone had overheard the commotion they might not be able to explain any of the eerie and terrifying noises that had come from Faison’s apartment, but at least there was no evidence of an epic water and wind battle…well, except for the broken window, which could be attributed to a stupid decision to practice golf in the house.

  So an hour after waking, touching each other tenderly and discovering that neither had any long-term injuries, followed by a whirlwind—literally—of cleaning, they collapsed once more. Only this time it was into a nice comfy bed.

  * * * * *

  “Okay, give us the skinny,” Kenna demanded. “You’ve had a whole day to rest up from that little soiree of yours and we’re not letting you off the line until you spill, Dee. Oh and you too, Fai-dude.”

  Dee could only hunch a shoulder with a “what can ya do?” expression. This was just the way Kenna operated—straight to the point with little room for bullshit. He’d either have to deal with it or, well, deal with it was really the only option if he wanted to be part of their family. Considering there were only eight Chosen in the whole wide world, Dee figured Faison would want to stick around for awhile. Well, that and the fact that he’d confessed his love for her during a skin-melting orgasm only twenty minutes before.

  In fact, when they’d woken up this second time, Faison and she were running to catch up to life. Faison’s manager had gone ape shit with worry and had pretty much called the cavalry in to find out why the hell he hadn’t shown up for their scheduled rehearsal the day before. Of course they couldn’t mention that Faison had intended to be there but had been put under a sleeping spell by a demon only to get attacked that night. So the story was they’d gone out of town and got stranded when Faison’s car broke down. It was an easy enough tale to corroborate with a bit of elemental magic unleashed for a few seconds beneath the hood of his car.

  As for Dee her phone had started humming the second her and Faison’s crystals had merged. But she too had been under the sleeping spell. Only She’s constant pressure against Dee’s subconscious had helped pull her up and out of the spell, then got her groggy self moving in time to get to Faison when they realized that she’d spent the whole day in an unnatural sleep. All she’d had time to do was answer the phone and tell her sisters that Asmo was on the scene, her mate was in danger and she’d have to fill them in later. Thankfully she’d had sense enough to ask them to send some positive thoughts and crystal power her way before she’d hung up. After all, there was no doubt that they’d need all the help they could get. And boy had she been correct.

  “I’m waiting, Dee.”

  “Impatient little imp, aren’t you, Lil Mizz Kenna?”

  To Kenna’s hard-assed credit, she hushed—something only one of her sisters could manage to bring about. Dee felt Faison’s chest wiggle as if he were holding in a chuckle but knew better than to let it out just now. Smart man.

  “Basically, it happened just like it did with Mem and Marco, but faster. It was as if Asmo knew that he had to move quickly if he was going to take us out. Instead of giving us a few days after our crystals fused he came after us almost immediately. In fact, the last time I spoke with you all and was in such a hurry was because Asmo had somehow put me under a sleeping spell, something ya’ll had better watch out for. I don’t think it had been more than six or eight hours after our crystal fused—which didn’t happen the first time we made love, by the way, but during the time when we were expending the greatest amount of energy.”

  “Greatest amount of energy? Sorry to get so personal, but when was that?” Charlotte asked quietly.

  “When we were working with our elemental powers together for the first time and making love at the same time.”

  The phone line exploded.

  “Elemental energies? Both of you?” Charlotte gasped.

  “You’re kidding me?” Kenna piped in. “Is he a fire elemental, Dee? Fire is cool!”

  “Holy shit on a stick! Him too? Does he have a She too?” Memory wondered aloud. Loud enough for every word to be heard by the neighbors and anyone else within earshot. Geesh!

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Dee insisted. “One at a damn time, ladies. First, yes, both of us. Second, no he’s not a fire elemental.”

  “And he can speak for himself,” Faison reminded Dee. Sitting up, he pulled her into his lap and the phone slipped. She immediately put it on speaker and set it on the nightstand.

  “So, he,” Kenna insisted. “What’s the skinny?”

  This time Faison did laugh.

  “The skinny is that I look forward to meeting all of you sometime soon. I’m an air elemental. Combining our skills is how we managed to sap Asmodeus of some of his power and send him packing, but he’s on to us now so we’ll have to be ready for him the next time, of course.”

  “I’ll be ready for him when he comes at me, nasty-assed, perverted son of a b—”

  “Kenna!” all three women exclaimed at once.

  “Sorry.” And interestingly enough, the little warrior sounded contrite. Faison bet she was the spoiled on
e of the bunch being the baby and all. He absolutely adored her already. Not to mention he’d be happy to have her on his side in any fight according to what the sisters had shared of McKenna.

  Faison continued, “So I don’t have any ability with fire. As for the She part of the equation, it seems my crystal joining with Dee’s has also linked me to Dee’s spirit entity. I can hear She as clear as a bell in my head, when she chooses to speak to me, that is. So I’ve picked up a nature companion in addition to this wonderful woman at my side.”

  “Yep, he’s a keeper, Dee,” Marco yelled into the phone. Memory must have put her phone on speaker too.

  “Hey, Marco! How are you, stud?”

  “Great. Mem got some great shots of my mom’s new studio. Made the local paper.”

  “Congratulations! How fabulous!” Dee exclaimed.

  Faison butted in. “There’s one more thing I need from all of you.”

  Dee turned to him and looked up into his face, clearly unsure of what he was talking about. Silence across the phone line said all of the sisters, and Marco, Memory’s mate, wondered as well. Good.

  “I’d like all of your permission to ask for De’alla’s hand in marriage. I know her family is very important to her so I’m doing this the old-fashioned way and asking your blessing.”

  Again the phone blew up with ooh’s, aah’s and holy shit’s.

  And Dee was, for the first time since he’d met her, speechless.

  “So what do you say, Dee? Will you have me, sweetheart?” Faison’s gazed deeply in her eyes and wouldn’t allow her to look away as she thought about what he’d said. If she was going to say no, she was going to say it straight-out like she said everything else. He wouldn’t allow her to do it without being bold and upfront about it. Besides, anything less and she wouldn’t be who she was.

  Rounds of congratulations, well wishes and genuine happiness spilled across the phone line. But the one person whose voice mattered most hadn’t said a word.

  “Dee? Do I need to give you some time to think about it?”

  “B-but I’m not arm candy?” she wailed. “I forget stuff when it’s not related to my business. I’m all flighty sometimes. I have a shoe fetish!”

  Faison could relate. Elementals had it honest—just part of who they were to be fickle at time. But when it came to important things they were as solid as any deep-rooted tree. That included relationships. Oh and shoe fetishes.

  “Dee, you are all the arm candy I could ever need or want. You’re beautiful, caring, strong and meant for me. So what do you say, sweetheart?”

  “Oh Faison, yes! Yes! Yes!”

  Faison wrapped his arms around the woman who was already in his lap in her big bed. He pulled her closer for a kiss to seal the deal and as usual that kiss went from sweet to seductive to flat-out raunchy in seconds.

  The last thing that penetrated his brain before Dee had sense enough to pant out that she’d call her sisters later was McKenna promising to come to Seattle and kick some sense into anyone who gave either Dee or her brother-to-be a hard time.

  About the Author

  Born into a musically eclectic family, TJ’s first love is music. But reading is a close second. You’ll find her with her head buried in a book every day of the week, whether it’s her own creation or something snagged at the bookstore.

  With an imagination expanded beyond belief as a result of raising her two children, spinning life’s experiences into tales is a blast!

  Writing like a madman, er, woman, TJ hasn’t lost steam. Her mind? Yep, that’s gone, but steam there is aplenty. A true Taurus, TJ isn’t slowing down and she’s definitely too stubborn to stop when she sees the fence!

  TJ welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

  Tell Us What You Think

  We appreciate hearing reader opinions about our books. You can email us at Comments@EllorasCave.com.

  Also by TJ Michaels

  Caramel Kisses

  Egyptian Voyage

  Gift Wrap Optional

  Jaguar’s Rule

  Primed to Pounce

  Spirit of the Pryde

  Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.

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