AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Finn resolved to himself to push her away thoroughly. If she ever tried to kiss him again, he would prevent it. If she pursued him, he would make himself repulsive to her. They were bad for each other, and they would be even worse for each other when Alma came into her full abilities. Both of them unstable, neither of them willing to compromise or give in. It was a recipe for disaster. Maybe he should court some elementals, form his own attachment and encourage Alma to do the same. Finn thought about it, turning over once more and pulling his face free from the sweet-smelling pillowcase. He took a deep breath and told himself he would broach the topic with his brother the next day. Alma would take the suggestion better from Dylan than she would from him.
Finn finally fell into a light sleep, plagued by dreams of the woman he knew he couldn’t have. Images of rescuing her again and again and again fluttered through his mind; instead of kissing him and then berating him, however, in his dreams Alma didn’t stop kissing him. She spurred him on, the flames of Finn’s desire consuming them both until they were completely satisfied.
He awoke during the night, covered in sweat from a vivid dream. Deciding he wasn’t likely to get back to sleep soon, Finn headed downstairs for a midnight snack and maybe to get some reading done. He stopped on the stairs between floors when he heard voices.
“You were a lot more important than you realize,” Alma was saying, her voice softened. “I should have kissed you, not your jerk of a brother.” Finn heard the familiar sound of his brother’s chuckle.
“I can’t say I would have minded if you did. Considering how you two were going at it, you must be a good kisser.” Finn felt bile rising up in his throat. He told himself if Dylan managed to attract and hold on to Alma, it would be good for both of them.
“How is it the two of you grew up in the same household, but you’re a joy to be around, and he’s a constant pain in my ass?” Finn was certain that Alma was flirting with Dylan.
“He’s the older brother; he’s always been that way. But he’s really a good guy, Alma. I know you don’t see it, but he is.” Finn forced himself to turn around and move back up the stairs, his heart burning and his head aching as he realized the two people downstairs were establishing a rapport he could never manage. He turned on a bedside table lamp and read in bed until he was too exhausted to stay awake. He was more determined than ever to make sure Alma would find someone worth attaching herself to. And Finn decided out of pride, and just a little spite, that he would find someone himself. He would never let Alma know how intensely attracted he had been to her in that one moment—how easily he could have given himself to her. He knew it was better that way.
nine
Alma woke from a sound sleep—her entire body jolted as if she had fallen out of bed. She opened her eyes as the power surged through her body. The darkness of her room was evidence that dawn was still hours away.
She groaned in annoyance. The surge didn’t hurt. Instead, every nerve in her body felt as though it were cranked to the max. The wind picked up outside and she grimaced, knowing it would take all of her focus to subdue it. She felt every thread of the sheets as they touched her body, heard the hum of electricity throughout the house. As the power surge continued, the wind blew harder and beyond her control, even as her sensory overload intensified. She covered her ears and tried to curl in on herself, but it was useless; the elemental power working its way through her body was building.
She heard movement downstairs in Dylan’s room and in the guest bedroom next to hers. Finn should have been sleeping, instead she was uncomfortably aware of his tossing, turning, and muttering in his sleep. Not to mention Dylan’s faint snoring. The wind rattled the windows and whistled along the nooks and crannies of the apartment building. Alma tried to focus, tried to assert the control that her grandmother had taught her over the years. It wasn’t working.
As the energy igniting her system peaked, Alma screamed uncontrollably, unaware that she was. The energy was too much—she couldn’t handle it. Her mind felt fragmented in millions of pieces. A thousand thoughts whirled through incoherently. She wasn’t sure which was worse—the wind, the sensations in her body, or the visions invading her mind. She was so overwhelmed that she barely registered the sound of her bedroom door opening among the sounds of the building creaking, the wind howling, and the sound of footsteps racing up the stairs. Still screaming, ignoring the pain in her throat, she tried to rid her body of the sheets.
Outside, the wind grew more intense. Alma tried to focus, the part of her mind not dealing with the onslaught of power knowing that a windstorm would be a rather conspicuous thing in her suburban town, that she should be more concerned about the possibility of creating a small-scale natural disaster than the unendurable sensations she was experiencing.
Her screams heightened in pitch as she felt hands gripping her shoulders tightly. She didn’t want to open her eyes, terrified of what she might see. In spite of her return to normalcy after her kidnapping two weeks earlier, Alma had been jarred to the core by the experience. The iron she had been exposed to had taken more than a day for her air-aligned body to recover from. Her usual self-confidence had been shaken.
When she opened her eyes to the sudden bright light of her bedroom, she expected to see a stranger, someone ready to cart her off to yet another suitor—or to someone who wanted her dead because of her abilities. The touch of the hands on her shoulders burned, and for a moment Alma’s panicked mind couldn’t process what she was seeing. The wind blew harder, and a crack of lightning exploded outside. Bright blue eyes bore into hers, medium brown hair rumpled with sleep, and as another loud crack of lightning reverberated overhead her mind realized it wasn’t an attacker holding her against the mattress. Alma recognized that Finn had her by the shoulders and was pinning her down. Looking around wildly, she saw Dylan hovering behind his brother. The intense light burned her eyes, just as Finn’s touch burned her skin. Alma closed her eyes tightly, turning her head away from the deafening sound of Finn’s voice shouting to be heard over the wind.
“Alma! Focus!”
Instead of giving her an anchor, however, the energy from Finn’s fiery grip only increased the power surge—heating her body, intensifying her sensations. She screamed again, struggling to get away from him.
She didn’t notice Dylan push his brother away, but she felt the sudden coolness of Dylan’s hands on her shoulders. He held her down and, instead of yelling, she heard his whispers as an undercurrent of the screaming wind. She felt herself weighted down. Everything calmed down. Her screams eased and were replaced by gasps for breath instead. Cold invaded every cell of her being and, with no effort on Alma’s part, the wind began to gradually die down until it was a mere gust against the window. As the cold infected her body, Alma felt her senses attune to the sensations she had found unbearable only moments before. With deep breaths, Alma felt her racing heart slow. The moments of sensory overload, when she hadn’t been able to think straight or turn her mind to the point of actually understanding what was happening, diminished and allowed her to assume a level of coherence. She heard Finn’s voice, his words, where before she had only heard sounds. When he had held her down, he had been shouting for her to focus, for her to calm down, telling her she was safe.
Alma opened her eyes slowly, taking another deep breath. When she realized she was half-naked, the sheet wrapped around her the only thing keeping her from being indecent, her face burned with embarrassment, and she pulled the sheet to cover her completely. Dylan released her shoulders and stepped back. Finn hovered behind him.
She sat up slightly, smiling sheepishly. “So,” she said, not meeting either man’s gaze, “how about that crazy weather we’ve been having?”
Finn squinted his eyes curiously and Dylan stared at her as if trying to decide whether or not she was serious. She was somewhat relieved when Finn laughed and both men relaxed. Dylan sat down on the edge of her bed and Finn sank at the foot, both of them continuing to chuckle in relief that the crisis had apparently passed.
“Power surge?” Finn asked finally, raising an eyebrow. Alma nodded slowly. She hadn’t experienced anything like it before—or at least, nothing so intense—but she knew what it was immediately. Her arms and legs continued to tremble, an electric sensation rushing through her nerves. Dylan’s intervention had slowed things down, had subdued the powerful elemental energy thundering within her, but it wasn’t done with her yet. Alma wondered how much more of the changing she would have to take, if the sensations in her body would become her new normal. Would she ever not feel constantly distracted, alerted by random movements of elemental energy in her body? Alma had been looking forward to assuming her full abilities as an elemental, but the prospect of more moments like the one she’d just had wasn’t exactly enticing.
“Yeah. Hey—why didn’t anyone warn me that could happen?” Alma felt her fear transform into annoyance. Even though she knew anger wouldn’t solve anything, and if she let it go too far, she’d likely start another windstorm, she couldn’t help feeling resentful that something like that could happen and no one had thought to warn her.
“Well, you are a powerful elemental. For most people going through the adjustment, it’s not that…intense,” Dylan said. “Finn only lit his bed on fire accidentally twice before he came into his full abilities.” Dylan threw his brother an amused grin.
“At least I’m not likely to flood the house,” Finn shot back. “Or wet my bed.”
Dylan rolled his eyes. Alma was suddenly uncomfortably aware of just how naked she was under the sheet. Plus the fact that the two men sitting on her bed had seen at least her upper body exposed. While she had grown accustomed to a certain level of unavoidable intimacy in sharing her house with the two bodyguards, she hadn’t considered the possibility of them seeing her naked in any capacity. Aside from the moment she had, in an ill-timed impulse, made out with Finn. She fidgeted, glancing down at the sheet as her face burned.
“Why don’t you get dressed. We’ll have some coffee. It’s technically morning and I don’t think any of us will get any more sleep anyway.” Dylan gave Alma an understanding smile and stood, glancing significantly at his brother. Finn glanced at Alma once more before following his brother out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him.
Alma sighed, taking a moment to absorb the mortifying situation and all of its implications. She ran her fingers through her hair, shaking her head. She still felt the influence of Dylan’s calming magic, but she was—as he pointed out—wide awake and unlikely to get any more sleep. Fortunately, she thought, the freelance nature of her work meant that if she was exhausted in the afternoon, she could take a nap.
She slipped out of bed, trying not to think about how exposed she’d been or the two very attractive men who had seen her basically naked. They could infer the rest from what they had seen. She pulled on a pair of pajama pants and a T-shirt, roughly finger combing her hair before she pulled it back into a messy bun. Alma considered not going downstairs for a moment, cherishing her solitude in the room and avoiding the awkwardness of the situation, but she had never been a coward and she didn’t intend to start. She took the stairs slowly, still experiencing the tingling in her body, and still hesitant to be around the two men, despite her hype about courage. The aroma of coffee brewing urged her on.
Finn sat at the breakfast bar and Dylan moved about the kitchen, doing something while the coffee brewed. Alma sat down, feeling self-conscious and graceless. Finn glanced at her over his shoulder and sat back, giving her an understanding smile. “Dylan’s right, you know,” he told her. “I literally lit my bed on fire twice in the week before my birthday.”
