Crush (Elemental Hearts, #3)

by Morgan, Jayelle

  What might their children be like? Would they look like him, or her?

  She had a quick vision of a boy and a girl, about the same age, and drew in a sharp breath. They shared a lighter shade of his brown skin and her green eyes. The girl with a long fall of straight blue-black hair like hers, and the boy with dark curly hair cut close to his head. And then they were gone.

  That couldn’t be real, could it? But instinct told her the vision wasn’t random, wasn’t an overactive imagination or wishful thinking.

  She was learning to trust her instincts, and they were saying that someday she would give Micah twins. She pressed a hand to her abdomen and took a deep breath to steady herself.

  “You okay?” Micah leaned down to whisper in her ear.

  “Yeah,” she answered, and that was the truth. Because her instincts also whispered, not just yet. She looked down and threaded her fingers with his.

  They had plenty of time between now and then. Plenty of time for mining, for fighting Chaos, and for loving.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  THE NEXT DAY, WALKER called for a meeting in his office. Micah left Jade with Brooke and Emory and the sleeping babies, to take his place in front of his desk with the rest of the Warriors.

  “So I take it by Dickweed’s presence at the base that your visit to the Premiers went well?” Ajax said, addressing the commander.

  “His name is Rowan, Ajax.” Walker’s jaw tensed, his eyes lighting from behind with blue power. “And it went... okay,” he ground out.

  Everyone was silent for a moment, digesting the fact that it couldn’t have gone ‘okay’ for Walker to look so pissed. But, there was a new Warrior here and one on the way, so they must have ultimately agreed.

  The Premiers were the strongest of their race, the oldest. The ones who decided which Elemental became a Warrior, which ones took other roles.

  And, the Warriors were starting to see clearly, they were the ones most out of touch with everything that was happening here in the mortal world.

  Walker drummed his fingers on his desk. “It took a lot of talking, a lot of convincing, but they agreed to more Warriors.”

  “What did they say about everything else?” Levi asked Walker, him and Ajax sharing a tense look. They were previously the ones most concerned with the Premiers finding out about their families. Who knew what decisions they would make about that.

  “I did not lie to our rulers.”

  Micah saw the look the other men exchanged, and now he deeply understood them and the fear they felt, the determination. The defiance, should the Premiers try to separate them from their families. He understood because it was rising within himself like molten lava.

  Chaos was affecting them all. Loss had touched them all. Fear followed them all.

  And they were all risking everything for love.

  “But neither did I tell them the whole truth,” Walker continued. A collective sigh went up. “They know about Brooke and Emory’s presence here, but not the nature of it,” he said, looking back and forth between the two, and then turning to him. “They are not aware of Jade yet, considering I only found out once I returned.”

  Micah nodded his understanding.

  Walker dragged his hand down his face and rested his forearms on his desk. “I don’t know what they will say when I have to go back to ask for another.”

  “Forgive me if I’m wrong, Walker, but I thought we were all doing a pretty good job keeping up with our duties, despite our families.” Levi’s voice was more argumentative than beseeching. “Recent events aside,” he then added, deflating. He hadn’t been on normal rotation since before Brooke went in to labor.

  “You are. You all are. But your private life has a way of eventually and repeatedly impeding your duty, and vice versa.” The quick wince around Walker’s eyes as he spoke seemed to escape the notice of the others, but Micah saw it and wondered.

  “And,” Walker continued, “I think you Warriors sometimes forget that we are not permanent residents here, that our home is in Elementium. And that there may be a day the Premiers demand we return.”

  Levi, tight-lipped, fists at his sides and Fire in his eyes, said, “We don’t ever forget that Walker, not even for a minute.”

  After a moment, Walker looked away. “Fair enough.” He was quiet a few seconds, and then looked at them all in turn. “Sometime soon, we need to have a frank discussion about what happens when the Premiers find out everything. They’re woefully out of touch with our mission, but they’ll have to catch up at some point. There’s a storm coming, and we need to be prepared.”

  Thunder rumbled in the distance, an odd occurrence at this time of fall.

  “Speaking of a storm, our sixth member is Lightning.”

  Almost comically, Ajax looked around the room, as if they had failed to notice another person, another Warrior, hiding on the fringes.

  “He’s not here yet,” Walker said, annoyance in his voice. “He’s late.”

  A rumble of thunder trailed directly behind his words.

  And then another, louder. And again, until the thunder was almost continuous and each flash of lightning outside the windows was lighting up the room.

  Walker shook his head and smiled. “There he is,” he said. Then he threw back his head and laughed, a laugh of affection, familiarity.

  Expectantly, Walker and everyone else turned to the door. Moments later, the elevator door dinged.

  Out walked their newest Warrior, electricity spider-webbing over his dark skin and clothes as he walked toward them, eyes glowing white with power.

  Micah lifted a brow.

  “Show off,” muttered Ajax. For once Micah’s thoughts echoed Ajax’s words. The display of power was completely unnecessary in present company.

  Seconds later, Emory marched into Walker’s office, pale and fearful.

  “Walker, what’s going on? What’s happening?”

  “Everything’s fine, Emory,” Walker said reassuring her. With equal measures of annoyance and humor in his voice, he continued, “Everyone, please meet Terrel. He’s the one responsible for the lightning and thunder.”

  The guy lifted a hand in greeting, a smug grin on his face.

  Welcomes floated in from around the room, and Micah added his own.

  But Emory, face red and jaw set, marched up to him and put a finger in his chest. “There was no need for you to do that, cause all that noise. You scared us to death, and you woke up the baby!”

  “Baby?” Shock on his face, Terrel looked to Walker.

  Walker sighed and unfolded his arms. “Please forgive him, Emory. Terrel has not been briefed about everything that’s going on at Topaz Ridge yet. Terrel, we need to have a discussion. Everyone else...” Walker made a pushing motion with his hands. He clearly wanted them to leave so he could talk things over with the newest addition to their team.

  Micah and the rest of the Warriors walked out, grasping wrists briefly with their newest member. Ajax greeted him quickly and walked past, apparently nothing inflammatory to say to Terrel the way he had with Rowan.

  “Also, before you leave...” Walker added. Micah and everyone else stopped and turned to look at him. “We have another new person coming to base.”

  Walker hadn’t mentioned a seventh Warrior. He’d made it sound like an additional Warrior might be impossible right now. So who was—

  “A cook,” Walker said, to everyone’s great surprise. Then he looked at Micah. “When I got back, Ajax told me about the ‘mission’ he sent you on for food.” Walker’s gaze slid over to Ajax.

  “Sorry, not sorry,” Ajax said, shrugging.

  “While things certainly would have gone differently had I been here,” Walker said to Ajax, mouth tense, “I recognize the need we have for someone to handle the human side of the base’s nutrition requirements, especially if circumstances don’t make it easy for one of them to prepare their own meals. Like the current situation, and with Jade joining us as well. So I invited a cook, an Auxiliary who
seems like a good fit for our special dynamics here.”

  Auxiliaries were Elementals too weak to be Warriors. Instead, they were the support staff that made the Warriors’ work here in the mortal plane easier. The cooks were in charge of making the energy bars they consumed to feed their powers. How Walker found one willing and able to cook human food was a mystery.

  “Her name is Tansy,” Walker continued, “and she’ll arrive from Silverthorne in a couple of days. I expect you will all give her a warm welcome.”

  Everyone murmured their agreement, but Micah saw Rowan stiffen beside him at her name. Did he know her? And why the look of unease?

  “YOU OKAY?” JADE ASKED as she walked hand in hand with Micah to his suite. He was acting... well, normal for him. Quiet, withdrawn. Not the looser, freer, happier Micah she’d been seeing lately. Something was up. “How’d the meeting with Walker go?”

  “Fine,” he said, answering both questions as he opened his door.

  Jade sighed. She would have to coax it out of him. But, she loved him enough to do just that.

  As soon as they closed the door, he sat on the end of the bed and beckoned her to him. She went, of course, and he pulled her between his legs and wrapped his arms around her. She brought her hands up to stroke his hair, his face pressed into her shoulder.

  “Micah?” she asked softly. He was worrying her.

  “I just love you so much,” he grumbled against her.

  That was all he said, but it was enough. Their love was almost a tangible thing, something she could nearly see when her eyes were closed, but something she could always feel. A shining, golden thread, the same color as the glow of his eyes, twining around and through them, binding them together. Forever.

  “I know.” She tipped his head up and put a gentle kiss on his lips, on his cheeks, on his eyelids. “And I love you so much, too. More than anything.”

  She knew what he was afraid of. He loved her like she loved him, and at times that was scary. To belong, heart and soul, to each other. The same fear she had invaded her thoughts sometimes, too. What if she lost him? To injury, or to the Chaolt, or to his home-world?

  But as she’d learned with her other losses, the only way to deal with that fear was to love more, not to pull away. No one ever regretted spending too much time with the ones they loved, it was always the opposite. So the only answer was to be present more, to enjoy more, to spend more time together, and make more memories.

  To make love more.

  Micah’s hands had moved to her hips, tightening when she went back to kissing his lips. That simple gesture let her know he wanted her, and she smiled through the kiss, a thrill starting in her toes and zinging to the top of her head. He was totally on the same page.

  He put his hands behind her thighs and pulled her legs on to the bed until she straddled him, never breaking the kiss.

  She tended to be a short and fast kisser. He was a long, slow, and deep kisser. But he was definitely bringing her around to his way of doing things.

  He laid back on the bed, her on top of him, hands roaming forcefully over her body and fingers gripping her curves. She was getting used to him handling her now. And she even liked it, because it was him.

  It wasn’t long before they were both naked, panting, eyes and hand and lips feasting on each other.

  But then a thought pierced her haze of pleasure.

  “Micah... so you know and in case Walker asks, I’m on birth control. You don’t have to worry about me getting pregnant.” Yet, because she’d had that vision of the twins and looked forward to it happening at some point in the future. She would keep her secret for now, of her vision, because she didn’t want to rush things between them. It was all still so new. She was in love with an Elemental, and he with her. Her soulmate was a being from another world.

  He pulled back from kissing her neck to look at her. “Okay.”

  She could tell he had no idea why she was bringing it up now. She didn’t really know why she was, either. “Emory told me that you guys not being sterile is a new thing, and their babies were a bit of a shock. So you don’t have to worry about any surprise babies. From me. And hopefully there aren’t any from any exes, either,” she finished, only half joking.

  “Actually...” His cheeks reddened slightly as he looked away.

  Jade couldn’t miss the slight lowering of his forehead and her stomach jangled. She wanted to be the first one, the only one, to give Micah the joy of babies of his own to hold and love and sing to. But if that wasn’t the case, she could deal with it. She put her palm on his cheek to get him to look back at her. Then he dropped the bomb on her.

  Just not the one she’d been expecting.

  “I’ve been celibate.”

  “Oh, wow.” Micah had been celibate before her? “For how long?”

  “Long,” he said with a little smile, a bit of red still barely visible on his cheeks.

  Wow indeed. He was celibate before coming to the mountain, before meeting her. She was half flattered and half intimidated. Was she... good enough... for a man to break his celibacy for? She had to be, right? Otherwise, why would he?

  But what about her body? Jade looked down to her toes, picking out all the flaws along the way. How was this good enough to tempt a man like Micah away from long years of celibacy? Surely he’d been tempted by more than this before?

  His arm tightened around her, and she came back from her thoughts to look at him.

  “I can hear you over-thinking it,” he said. “Don’t.” He pressed his mouth to hers, nibbled her lips, and then pulled back. “After the...” Micah looked away a second, and Jade grabbed his hand. “After the village, it was a decision I made. To focus on my mission first, to not let myself get distracted.”

  Though unspoken, she heard the again at the end of his sentence.

  “The longer it went on, the easier it was to maintain.” He shrugged one big shoulder and reached up to stroke her cheek. “Until you.”

  “Why? Why me?” She couldn’t leave it alone, but wasn’t sure what she wanted to hear. She was no supermodel, so it wasn’t her body. And her skills in bed were just average, maybe less so after a two-year break. Maybe she wasn’t as out of practice as he’d been, but he seemed to have no trouble in that department. Every touch of his lit her up. If hers did the same for him... then why? How?

  Why did he want her?

  The same voice that sometimes told her she would fail her mother was now telling her it was simply because she was the only woman on the mountain, because she was available. And that stung.

  But that stupid voice was a liar.

  “I think you know.”

  Jade looked up at Micah, whose eyes were traveling slowly over her face until his gaze met hers again.

  “Because there has been no one else who tempted me like you. There has been no one else I wanted as much as you.” His eyes got brighter, changing from dark brown to gold as he moved to cover her body with his.

  “Because you’re beautiful to me, and perfect, and I can’t get enough of you.” He began to kiss his way down her body, holding her gaze with his molten eyes. “And because I love you, heart and soul.”

  “For a guy who doesn’t like to talk, you sure know some pretty words,” she gasped as he grazed the peak of her breast with his lips.

  Jade pushed her fingers into Micah’s braids as he kissed her stomach, her hip. She wanted to give the words back to him, to tell him how deeply in her soul he was, how deliriously happy she was to have found him. How ecstatic she was that he found her.

  “Micah,” she whispered as he moved his kisses to her thigh. He looked up again, gold-dust in his eyes, before his tongue touched her core. She clenched her eyes shut, back bowing with the feeling, her words dissolving in her mouth from the pleasure. But he knew how she felt. She’d seen it his eyes, felt it now in the golden thread between them. He knew.

  So she shut off her mind and lost herself in the pleasure of Micah’s touch, of his kisses, of his
tenderness.

  There would be time, after, to tell him again. For him to tell her, again. Plenty of time to talk about it. So for now, she would just feel it.

  And glory in the fact that they had the rest of their lives to experience a love that had moved mountains.

  EPILOGUE

  MICAH SAT ON THE MOUNTAIN, Jade beside him, a crisp wind blowing around them as leaden clouds rolled in overhead. There was still snow in the shadowy areas above them though they looked out over a gray and green valley of budding trees. It was spring, barely. Still too early for mining.

  If you were human.

  But he’d helped her mark spots on her new claim for when the weather finally broke and the frozen earth thawed. He’d offered to just bring the crystals up, but she’d shaken her head with a smile.

  “No, I really enjoy the work. And besides, we can’t flood the market with gems from this mountain or it’ll be overrun by miners.” Her brows dropped and her jaw clenched. “And claim jumpers.”

  “Okay,” he’d said with a secret smile as she’d turned away. She was right... but if it came to the end of the season and she was having any trouble, he’d give things a little nudge.

  Now, they sat together on the rocks, enjoying a silence filled only by the sound of the wind through the boulders. He held her hand, breathing deeply. There was something about sitting in beauty and silence that made one happy and hurt at the same time. He always thought of Tokoni and his village in these moments.

  Jade felt it too. Her eyes were shadowed as she looked over the valley and the town. She must be thinking of her family, feeling the loss of them, the way he was with Tokoni. It was different now though. He wasn’t alone.

  And neither was she.

  He leaned over and grabbed Jade, one arm behind her back and one under her legs, and sat her down between his open knees facing the valley. He ignored her exclamation of surprise and wrapped his arms around her chilled form. She relaxed against his chest, and he gently rested his head on top of hers.