by Kate Kelley
Aiden quirked a bored eyebrow. “Here to get shackled. Cute. Why now? You’re four years late.”
Wolfram shrugged. “You’re two years late.”
Aiden nodded, somewhat absently, as he looked beyond Wolfram. “And if you’d been here, you’d know that I had a mate, and she died three years ago.”
Wolfram went pale, and I mentally took back the punching thing. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly. He didn't acknowledge me.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” Wolfram ground out, his face red.
Aiden invaded his personal space. “We aren’t going to go out of our way to make sure the one who abandoned his family is caught up on our affairs. The way I see it, you’ve proved you are no longer a part of this family.”
A man of medium height and build approached us, wearing a wrinkled green T-shirt that read ‘I know the guacamole is extra’, skinny jeans, and sneakers. “Now, now, Aid, don’t be so....like yourself.” He looked like a teenager, on second glance. There was definitely a boyishness about his features although a ruggedness as well, as if he was on the cusp of full manhood.
Aiden’s cold gaze slid to the new man. “Go back to your governess, Brand.”
Brand reared back, a comical expression on his face. I would have laughed had it been different circumstances. “It’s nine-thirty at night, you dolt. What kind of governess did you have? Sounds more fun than mine.” He swiped a goblet off of a passing butler’s tray and took a gulp, grimacing. “Ah, that burns. Who’s this?” he asked, nodding to me as he took another large gulp. If he was a teenager, he had lenient parents.
“I’m Rai.”
“Miss Peterson,” Wolfram said at the same time.
I glared at Wolfram, then turned back to the kid. “My name is Rai, actually. I don’t like to be called Miss Peterson.”
The kid looked like he had stepped into something he didn’t want to be involved in. “Alrighty, then. Gonna stay awhile, Auggie?”
The laugh that erupted out of me was far louder than I intended, but I couldn’t help it. I watched Wolfram’s face turn beet red. “Auggie? That’s amazing.” I slapped my knee and Brand grinned and wiggled his eyebrows.
Wolfram growled. “I told you not to call me that. I find it annoying.”
Ironic shit, right there.
Brand pfshawed. “If a little brother can’t be annoying, then I’m on the wrong planet. Maybe I should try out Earth. How is it, Rai?”
I bit my lip, my smile fading. Wolfram and I hadn’t exactly planned out who I was supposed to say that I was. “It’s good,” I said finally, thinking of nothing else.
Wolfram stepped in, clearing his throat. “Rai is a lesserborn Fire from the city. She enjoys visiting Earth once in awhile, which is where I met her.”
Brand sniffed and I couldn’t tell if he believed us or not. “I still don’t know why you live there, bro. Your Fire must be shit by now.”
Wolfram paled again and my eyes flew to his. Wait, what now? That would need an explanation.
“If you’ll excuse us, we’ve had a long day and will be retiring to our--separate--chambers now.” He grabbed my upper arm and steered me away.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, ya crazy kids!” Brand called after us.
We ascended the steps again and down a long hallway to the right. I recognized the records room at the end of hall to the right, but we turned down the left instead, into a hallway with only three doors and an oblong stained glass window at the end.
He jiggled the first doorknob and it opened into a breathtaking room, large and full of thick, mahogany furniture, velvet and fur throws, and a giant four poster bed.
“You can stay in here, and I’ll be the next room over. Bath--no shower--there, behind the curtain. Toilet in separate room to the right.”
“Okay. Wait, where are you going?”
Wolfram was striding toward the door. I ran and slammed it shut.
“I don’t have time for games right now, Peterson.”
“Stop with the Peterson shit.”
Wolfram swallowed. “It’s best if we distance ourselves from each other.”
I blinked at him and asked the question that’d been burning me inside all night. “What’s a mate?”
He sighed and crossed to a table near the door where a carafe of dark liquid and a glass was laid out. He poured a healthy glassfull and downed it.
“Wolfram, it’s ten in the morning.”
He grinned humorlessly at me. “Not here it isn’t.”
“What’s a mate?” I repeated, taking a seat at the table.
He set his glass down loudly and sat across from me. “A wife, obviously. A partner”
“Okay. What was the whole age significance thing?”
“We usually find a mate by the time we are thirty--in human years. It’s especially expected of the Tungsten clan, and even more so for royals. My brothers and I are behind, although Brand is too young yet. A mate is like a perfect partner in every way. You feed from each other as your bond grows, and your powers strengthen. Mated couples are the most powerful elementals.” Suddenly his eyes flashed deep guilt and he rubbed his forehead. “Aiden--his mate--I didn’t know about that.”
My heart pinched for him. “Why don’t you just tell them about Wildfire? That they practically forced you to move to Earth because of their harassment?”
“Because it makes me look weak.”
I was quiet, because I hadn’t expected him to answer, and certainly not with something so truthful.
I poured myself a drink in the empty glass and took a swig. It tasted like whiskey, and burned on the way down, but I found I liked the burn. “Why did Brand say your Fire would be shit now?”
He looked me in the eyes. “You just have all the questions, don’t you?”
I swirled my drink and took another sip, keeping eye contact with him. “I did major in journalism, you know. It’s kind of my thing to ask questions.”
His eyes dipped to my lips as I licked a drop of whiskey from my glass.
He sighed and looked away. “Elementals don’t like to go to Earth because it weakens their powers.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You don’t seem weak to me.”
“I used to be much stronger. Much, much stronger.”
“Will being here restore your powers? Will you be able to stand up against an entire Wildfire clan?”
Wolfram stared into his empty glass, tilting it around the curve as if it would reveal the future. “I don’t know.”
My eyes widened. More truth. He looked at me again, his eyes picking up the copper light as his gaze slid to my mouth, my throat, my chest. His nostrils flared again. I felt my nipples harden and knew he could see them through my shirt--hello, no bra.
He picked up the carafe and began to pour again, but set it down prematurely and pushed his glass away, then stood abruptly. His fingers tapped the table nervously. “I can’t be in your room anymore, not while I’m looking for a mate. A lady’s maid will help you shortly. If you need anything, I’ll be in the dining room every morning for breakfast.”
I stood with him, thoroughly confused. “What about Wildfire? The whole reason we are here? Are you really going to waste time doing this mate thing?”
“It’s the perfect cover up,” Wolfram said with a shrug. “My mother has been wanting me to take a mate for a long time.”
“Stefani--?”
“A friend, I told you. Human.”
I let out a pent up sigh. “Why is the mate thing so important to your mother?”
Wolfram walked slowly backward toward the door, stopping in the door frame. “Because I am a Prince. And one day, I will be King.”
Chapter TWenty
The King thing was utter fuckery, but what did that matter to me? I was a ‘lesserborn’ apparently, according to everyone. And now, I had to be. They’d defined me, given me an alias, and now I had to live up to it. The good news was that once our mission was done, I could go home.
That hollow feeling
opened in my chest like a cavern at the word ‘home.’ I didn’t have one. Didn’t know what a proper one looked like. Maybe that’s why I insisted on joining Wolfram on this suicide mission. I was just looking for somewhere to belong, and Wolfram was the closest thing to home I’d ever had. I wrinkled my nose at that thought.
Don’t get sappy on me, Rai.
I sat up in bed and screamed.
A woman in black stood at the end of my bed, staring silently at me.
“Sorry, miss. I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m here to help you dress and do your hair.”
What the actual--?
I looked around the room for any other lurkers while my heart returned to a normal rhythm. “No that’s quite alright. I--I can manage,” I replied breathlessly.
The door broke in, splinters flying and then the maid and I both screamed.
Wolfram stepped over the carnage, thunder on his brow. He was shirtless and in lounge pants. “What’s happening?” he asked roughly.
I pointed to the poor maid clutching her throat at the end of the bed. “She was just staring at me when I woke up, scared the shit out of me.”
Wolfram frowned. “It’s just your lady’s maid. I told you she was coming.”
“I don’t need someone to help me dress, Wolfram, I’m not a princess.”
Wolfram’s jaw clenched. “It’s customary.”
“I’m a lesserborn,” I replied tightly as I threw the covers off of me and sauntered to the bathroom. I wore nothing but an oversized t-shirt that barely covered my ass, but I didn’t care. I was angry now about the lesserborn shit, and the dumb maid shit.
“Should I--should I leave then?” I heard the maid ask Wolfram from the bathroom. Wolfram grumbled something at her and I heard some stumbling.
I sighed. Now I didn’t even have a door. Why did my doors always end up destroyed? It had to be a bad metaphor for something.
I washed my hands and face and left the bathroom, surprised to see Wolfram still standing in my room, glaring at me. “You going to fix that door?”
“Don’t scream over stupid things.”
I gave him a face. “Get the hell out of my room unless you have something constructive to say.”
“She brought you clothes.”
I sat on the bed and crossed my legs, hoping it wasn’t obvious that I wasn’t wearing underwear. “I’m not interested in wearing gowns.”
“They’re not. Jeans, tights-thingies, and shirts. I just bought whatever the sales lady said was in style.”
I snorted. “Tights thingies? What about underwear and bras?” I willed myself not to blush. Wolfram’s eyes flicked to my legs and I crossed them more tightly.
“There should be something like that in there,” he mumbled.
“What’s the plan for today?” I asked, standing and crossing to the dresser.
“Wolfram stepped forward. “I need to find out if they’re in the same location. Something tells me they are. I also need to find out how many soldiers they have, what their routines are like.”
“How do plan on figuring that out?”
“I’ll scope the area.”
I pulled on the drawer and stilled. Every single pair of underwear and bra was the same violet color. I rolled my eyes but refuse to rise to the bait. “They’ll recognize you.”
He grinned. “But not you, when under glamour.”
I pulled a pair of underwear out. It was silky, and ridiculously soft. I looked him in the eyes before slipping into them slowly, careful not to show my nether regions.
Wolfram visibly swallowed and looked away. “Do you understand? Since you’re Air, they won’t be able to see you under glamour.”
I turned around and slipped my shirt off, then wrapped my arm around my breasts and pulled a violet bra out of the drawer .
“Peterson…” Wolfram’s voice was low, a warning.
I smiled as I turned my back to him again and clasped the bra in the front, then turned it around and slipped my arms into the straps. It was a push up, lacy, with a little gem at the cleavage. And it fit me perfectly.
I turned around casually, even though my heart was about to explode out of my chest. If he wanted to taunt me with this violet shit, well I would taunt him right back.
“If you aren’t going to listen, then I’ll just take my leave,” Wolfram ground out as he swiveled to the door, but I noticed his eyes kept dragging back to my body.
So he wasn’t as unaffected by me than he let on. Good.
“I get what you’re saying, but I don’t know how I’m going to accomplish that when I have Fire too,” I said as I walked casually toward him. I had to keep the conversation going or he would bolt.
Wolfram looked up at the ceiling. “We will have someone train you.”
I lifted a brow. “How, without spilling our secret?”
“What secret?” A deep, rough voice sounded beyond Wolfram.
Shit.
Baal jumped over the remnants of the door and then stopped when he saw me, swaying on his heels. He glanced sharply to Wolfram, then back to me, taking his sweet time perusing my body. Well, now it was getting awkward.
“Nice touch, the matching panties and bra,” Baal said. He looked impressed. “Never seen that eye color, actually. Contacts?”
“Yes,” Wolfram practically yelled at the same time I said “No.”
Baal took a deep breath, smiling a wide smile on his devilish face. His eyes flashed red as he approached me.
“Is it true you’re a demon?” I asked him.
He barked out a laugh and I struggled to keep my giggle from escaping my lips.
“Tell me what secret you were discussing and why you need training, and I might tell you.”
I smirked and crossed my arms over my chest. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”
That elicited another laugh from Baal and I joined him. Wolfram clapped a rough hand on Baal’s back, and steered him toward the door. “This is none of your business, brother.”
I crossed to the dresser and pulled out a dark green sundress. It was incredibly soft and glided over my skin as I put it on.
“Shame,” Baal said as I turned around. “You should walk around in your underwear all the time. Or nothing at all.”
“You aren’t welcome in the lady’s room,” Wolfram clipped out, hands behind his back.
Baal chuckled darkly. “She isn’t a lady. She’s a lesserborn, isn’t that what you just told me? Tell me, brother, what’s a lesserborn doing with you if you aren’t fucking her?”
“I thought you didn’t care why I was here?” I retorted, my anger rising at the crude way he talked about me, and the way he was onto us. I could tell he didn’t trust us.
He reached out and touched my hair and I batted it away, surprisingly strong enough to do so. “I care now,” he said, ignoring my attack.
“Drop it, Baal,” Wolfram commanded--and it was a command. I cowered a little inside at his tone. It wasn’t a growl or a roar--it was steel, or tungsten, rather.
“It’s okay. I’ll find out. And, uh, come visit me sometime, I don’t bite--hard,” Baal said to me, winking. I rolled my eyes as he made his way out.
Wolfram rounded on me. “Keep your voice down and your clothes on next time.”
“Fuck you, Auggie.”
He flinched. “Don’t use my given name, especially not a nickname. It isn’t proper. I’m next in line to the throne.”
“See your way out, King boy, if your head will fit through the doorway. And fix my damn door.”
His voice was cool. “Meet me in the courtyard in an hour for training.”
I whirled around to tell him to fuck off, but he was gone.
So now he wants to train me. Alright. Well, if he was offering I would learn.
And I will learn that stupid vanishing trick just to mess with him the way he messes with me.
Chapter Twenty One
Sweat dripped down the side of my face, which I knew looked hideous from this
angle, but I didn’t care. I grunted as I pushed my katana against Wolfram’s sword, inches from my face.
Was he trying to kill me?
I tried to think of how to get out of the situation, and my hand slipped on my hilt, jerking Wolfram forward an inch, the blade of my katana grazing my bottom lip.
Something snapped in me as I stared at his black eyes--yeah, he wasn’t even angry, the sociopath--and I put Air behind my push.
Wolfram flew backward, landing squarely on his ass, shock on his face.
“You trying to kill me, Auggie?” My voice was a breathless, pitiful thing, and I put my hands on my hips. Apparently I could still sweat, which was unfortunate. I thought those days were behind me since I was part Fire.
Wolfram strode towards me across the grassy field, purpose in his gait, and tossed his sword on the ground before grabbing the back of my head gently,. His fingers curled in my loose ponytail, and he brought his face in close, our foreheads an inch apart.
I inwardly squealed and my stomach dropped as his sweaty male scent intoxicated me. My lips parted in anticipation of his kiss.
“Don’t use your fucking Air magic here, you idiot,” he growled at me.
Well, that killed the mood.
I braced my hands on his upper biceps and kneed him in the groin. “No one is here, you ass!”
He grunted and somehow grabbed my arms, twisting them behind my back and then pulling me backward against his chest. His free arm locked across my collarbone.
I swung my head back, cracking his nose, and he let go. I ran to my katana and wielded it, swinging it in a crisscross motion in the air for good measure.
It was day nine of training with Wolfram, and so far, I was doing pretty damn good, if I said so myself.
Somehow, these things came naturally to me. I was a clutz in the streets, but a freak in the sparring field. The weight of the katana, though slight, felt right in my hand. I tossed it to my other hand, twirled, and swiped it downward and diagonally through the air in perfect form.
Wolfram wouldn’t let us surpass weapons and hand to hand combat, but I was itching to use my magic. That pent up energy came out in other ways--I was vicious with Wolfram, and he with me. “Thanks, Auggie.”
