Elemental Fae Academy: Book One Page 20

  I gaped after the Royal Fae as he disappeared through a door, leaving me unable to argue.

  Titus chuckled. “Yeah, he does that. But you’ll get used to him.”

  “I can’t mentor her,” I blurted out.

  “And why’s that?” Titus asked, cocking his head to the side.

  “I… It’s just… I have Sol and classes and…”

  He arched an auburn-tinged brow. “I don’t know what a Sol is, but so far, all I’m hearing are weak excuses. Sort of disappointing, if you ask me. Exos is clearly wrong. Claire requires someone stronger. Don’t worry; I’ll talk to him. I mean, he won’t fucking listen, but if you’re not up for the task, then he’ll have no choice. Right?”

  “No, that’s not what I mean.” Fuck. He’s right. They’re all just idiotic excuses. I shook my head and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Her power calls to mine.” The truth sort of fell out of my mouth on a breeze of words I couldn’t catch. But what else could I say? Another bullshit excuse? No. She deserved better than that. And so did I.

  Titus smiled. “Well then, welcome to the team, Vox. I hope you enjoy cold showers.”

  Exos

  I ran my fingers through Claire’s thick hair, reveling in the silky texture while I slowly removed my hold over her elements. Manipulating others was the darker side of my ability, and that included being able to put someone to sleep at will.

  For Claire, it’d been necessary. Her eyes had been unseeing—wild—and her powers had taken on a will of their own. She probably didn’t even realize the sheer force with which she’d pulled Titus down onto the bed or the way her fire engulfed him in a sea of hot desire.

  Clearly, all of us had some pent-up passion issues at the forefront of our minds.

  I sighed and joined Claire on the bed, wrapping my arms around her as she began to stir beside me. Hopefully, her nap had cured the drunken spell Aerie had woven through Claire’s mind.

  I could kill that Air Fae, I thought, furious. She’d attacked Claire in a moment of weakness, after she’d taken down that maelstrom.

  A maelstrom Claire absolutely did not create.

  I’d felt the presence of another just before it erupted, stirring chaos throughout the room. There’d been a dark note to it, a sense of spirit that I didn’t recognize.

  But I knew with certainty that it didn’t belong to Claire. My power had tuned into hers over the last few weeks, braiding our essences together and merging our spirits. I knew her now. And that destructive energy dancing through the room had possessed an entirely different elemental pattern.

  “Exos?” she murmured, her eyes still closed.

  “I’m here, princess.” I pressed my lips to her forehead and held her tighter. “How do you feel?”

  She seemed to consider for a moment before saying, “Hungover. Like, really, really hungover.”

  I chuckled and reached for the water I’d left on the nightstand for her. “Here.” I pressed the rim to her lips and helped her take a few sips while brushing my spirit over hers in a way that had become second nature these last few weeks.

  She stretched beside me, a low moan of approval emanating from her throat. “Thank you,” she whispered, snuggling into me more.

  I returned the glass to the table and folded my arms around her again. “You did well today, Claire.” Unfortunately, while I believed that, the Council would disagree. The incident on Air Quad had Claire’s fingerprints all over it, which they would most likely use to banish her from the Academy.

  “Today?” she asked, her voice sleepy. Then she went stiff. “Oh no…”

  “Shh,” I soothed. “It’s going to be okay.” Because I’m going to figure out who actually created that spiral and break the culprit’s neck.

  It occurred to me as well that the other incidents may not have been Claire at all, but the person who had interfered today. The fire and water episodes happened before I fully understood the extent of her powers, so it was hard to say for certain. But given the events on Air Quad, it seemed likely.

  “I didn’t do it,” she blurted out, squirming backward to stare at me. “I mean, I thought I did. I created the spiral, but I don’t know how it blew out of control. And when I tried to stop it, I couldn’t find my essence inside of it. Like… like… you know, yesterday? With that energy ball in the courtyard? You told me to wrap my fire around it, remember? And I could because I recognized my own powers. But this time…” She trailed off, her expression falling. “I sound crazy, I know, but I swear it wasn’t me, Exos.”

  I touched her chin, gently nudging it upward to capture her gaze. “I know, baby. I felt it, too.”

  She must not have remembered the part where Vox also claimed it wasn’t her. How fascinating that he could sense it without a bond. Either it proved him to be a potential mate for Claire or it was related to his own incredible gifts.

  Regardless, it made him perfect for her team.

  Which was why he would be joining—with or without his approval.

  “You did?” she whispered.

  I kissed her softly before pressing my forehead to hers. “My spirit knows yours, Claire.”

  “Because of the bond,” she translated.

  “And the last few weeks of training. But, yes, mostly as a result of our connection.” I licked her bottom lip and continued to stroke her spirit with mine, eliciting a contented sigh from her. “It’s deepening,” I told her on a hush of sound. “Can you feel it?” There were different levels to the mating bond, and ours was teetering on the edge of something more permanent.

  “I don’t really understand it,” she admitted softly. “But yes, I can feel it. Is sex what pushes it over the edge?” Her cheeks flushed beautifully with the query, her blue eyes sparkling with life. “That came out wrong. I just… I’ve wondered if that’s why you and Titus are holding back—so we don’t accidentally intensify the link.”

  Her confession surprised me. “You think we don’t want to take this to the next level?” It applied to both sex and the mating.

  “I, uh, well, yeah.” She swallowed. “I mean, I get it. There are two of you, and that just makes this even more confusing, right? And you never really had a choice in our bond, since I kissed you without permission. Not that I knew this would happen. Oh, wait, that came out wrong, too. I don’t regret it. What I mean is—”

  I captured her mouth with my own, silencing her little rant. While it was adorable, I didn’t want to hear her second-guessing the nature of our connection.

  Was it my choice? No.

  Did it bother me? At first, yes. But now? No.

  No, now I wouldn’t have this any other way. Her gift for spirit rivaled mine, making her an ideal princess in my court. Apart from the other competing elements, what we had was so unique, so different, so much more powerful than anyone would ever understand.

  And it was with that knowledge in mind that I rolled her to her back and worshiped her with my mouth. I unleashed all the emotions I hid from the world, including how I felt about her. Oh, Titus had an idea of how badly I ached for her. But his knowledge only skimmed the surface to the depths of what I kept locked away inside.

  A warrior couldn’t afford a weakness.

  Yet, at some point, Claire had become mine.

  She gave new meaning to my heart.

  My hips settled between hers, my cock throbbing against her hot center. “Sex is a merging of the bodies,” I murmured, my lips moving across her cheek. “The connection is between the elements, and ours is a dance between our souls.” I pressed my arousal into the sanctuary between her thighs, providing an introduction to my lustful cravings, and smiled at her resulting moan. If only we were naked, then I could truly demonstrate my yearnings.

  Alas, I had a task to complete. One that would hopefully secure her place here and pacify the Council.

  To find the one framing my Claire.

  My teeth grazed her pulse on my way up to her ear. “You can deepen a bond without sex, Claire. It just has to be a m
utual agreement between the fae to continue exploring opportunities. I think, in your terms, it would be the equivalent of going from a few casual dates to dating seriously, or maybe even an engagement. Because once our elements move on to the next phase, it’s showing a promise for the future and speaks of a serious intent to mate for eternity.”

  “How many levels are there?” she asked, her nails scratching down my back as she arched up into me.

  I smiled against her neck. “Four.”

  “And we’re on the first?”

  “Yes.”

  “But close to the second?”

  “Yes.” I took her mouth again—because I could—and slid my tongue deep inside, possessing every inch of her. She groaned, her body vibrating with need beneath mine. I longed to give in, just for one more moment, and so I did.

  I gave her everything.

  My frustration.

  My yearning.

  My adoration.

  My worries.

  The Council would be meeting later tonight, and if I didn’t give them a sound argument against expulsion…

  No.

  I refused.

  That was not going to happen on my watch.

  Claire’s arms wound around my neck, holding me tightly as she reciprocated in kind, her feelings exploding across her tongue. I felt her confusion, her strength, and, most importantly, her craving not just for a physical connection but also for an emotional one.

  With me.

  A sign of her mutual affection.

  She couldn’t know that was what it meant, but my power reacted in kind, dancing with hers on a plane only spirit had access to. “That’s it, isn’t it?” she whispered, awe in her voice.

  “Yes.” Apparently, that was my word of the night because not only did I keep saying it out loud but my soul repeated it as well.

  Claire’s energy swirled around mine, causing the hairs along the nape of my neck to stand on end. This was why we didn’t need sex to graduate to phase two. The bond required elemental compatibility, coupled with the passion for more.

  And there’d never been another fae more for me than Claire. “You’re sure?” I asked her softly, nuzzling my nose against hers. “Because if we push this one inch forward, we’ll be in the next level, Claire.”

  “Dating exclusively, right?” she asked, sounding dreamy. Then the words seemed to register, because she froze. “Meaning I can’t see Titus…”

  “No.” I cupped her cheek, pulling her back to me before panic could truly set in. “It would mean you can’t see another Spirit Fae. This is about elemental bonding, Claire. You would essentially be declaring your spirit as betrothed to mine.”

  “Like marriage.”

  “It’s similar, but different. Consider it more of a long-term commitment to ensure that our pairing is what we truly desire. By escalating to the next phase of the bond, you’ll have more access to me. To my mind. It requires trust, Claire. And then from there, you move into the third stage, in which our elements mingle and flourish off one another—where you could borrow energy from me as I could from you. And the final level is eternity.”

  She swallowed, some of the alarm melting into curiosity. “Were my mother and Mortus a three or a four?”

  “A three,” I murmured. “When you reach that phase, there’s no going back. The elements are locked into one another—indefinitely.”

  “Then why the fourth stage?” she asked.

  “It’s more of a formality, a pledge of fealty that binds the souls. To join your elements, but not the souls, can be quite painful.” Which explained Mortus’s rage. But I didn’t add that part. I could see from the flare of her pupils that she inferred it anyway.

  “The third step is binding, similar to an engagement without an escape route if you get cold feet,” she surmised. “And the second is a more serious level of seeing someone, like moving in with them. While the first is temporary—like dating—to see if the person your power is attracted to is someone you might like as well.”

  I kissed her gently, loving the way she’d gone pliant and soft again beneath me. “Very accurate summarization, princess.”

  “And we’re already living together,” she continued, her mouth moving against mine. “So, we should move up a level.” Her tongue licked across my lower lip. “Right?”

  “If that’s your desire.”

  “Is it yours?”

  I pulled back to meet her eyes, my palm still resting against her cheek. “Yes.” There’s that word again.

  Her blue eyes brightened. “Really?”

  I pressed my arousal into her hot center and cocked my head to the side. “You can feel how much I want you, right?”

  She slapped my shoulder. “You said this is about emotions.”

  “It’s about everything, Claire,” I replied with a laugh. “Do I want to deepen our bond? Yes. Absolutely. But I also very much want to fuck you. The two are not mutually exclusive, but again, the connection isn’t about sex. It’s about power. And it also happens to heighten the sensations, or so I’ve heard.”

  “You’ve never connected with anyone?”

  “Only you, Claire. On any level.” I went to my elbows on either side of her head, wanting her to see the sincerity in my expression as I gave her the ultimate truth. “I never wanted to bond with anyone. Nor did I think I would actually find someone who suited my power. I’m one of the strongest fae in the world, and that’s not me boasting; it’s a fact. Finding a partner who can handle my gift, one my spirit is actually attracted to, was a very impossible notion. Until you.”

  Tears pricked her eyes, causing me to frown.

  That was not the response I wanted. At all.

  But she pulled me down to kiss her, and the sensation she poured from her mouth to mine floored me.

  She didn’t just accept the bond; she kicked the fucking door down and yanked me into the next level with her. I felt it in the way our powers snapped together, as if a lock had tied her spirit to mine, securing her place in my heart and mine in hers.

  “Claire,” I whispered, returning the embrace and worshiping her with my tongue. She clung to me as if she needed me to breathe, her legs winding around my hips, her fingers in my hair.

  This kiss sparked a new beginning.

  It carved her name into my very being, marking my element as hers and hers as mine. Flowers blossomed around us, the creation of life filling the room with the fragrance of our heightened connection and shaking the very foundations of the building.

  That it occurred on Spirit Quad only intensified the moment, bringing all ounces of life back to the formerly dead campus.

  The trees rejoiced.

  The grounds cried out in pleasure.

  And the meadows bloomed.

  That was the power we possessed together—a life energy no one could ever touch. Ours.

  Claire shuddered beneath me, her blue eyes luminescent with vitality. “That’s…”

  “Amazing,” I finished for her softly. “And something we will definitely be exploring more.” I laved her plump lip before pressing a kiss to her cheek. Now more than ever I felt a duty to protect her, and that required me to leave her, to find the one trying to cause her harm. “Vox is here,” I whispered.

  “Why?” she asked, her voice breathy, her expression soft.

  “He knows you didn’t create that windstorm today, and he thinks he can track the energy signature back to its owner.” I drew my thumb beneath her eye, catching the tear she’d shed only moments ago.

  Tears of joy, I realized. I sort of liked that. I licked the drop, deciding to taste her emotional gift—mine. Just like Claire.

  Her gaze widened. “He thinks someone created that thing on purpose?”

  “Yes, to frame you. And I suspect the first incident in the courtyard, as well as the water in the dorms, may not have been you, either. So I’m going to go with him to see if we can find the person who created the tornado.”

  “Me, too,” she said, her hands on my
shoulders as if to push me away.

  I refused to move. “No. You need to stay here with Titus.” I pressed a finger to her lips before she could protest. “Claire. He needs you.”

  This wasn’t about my trying to shelter her. If anything, it would be a good lesson for her to learn how to identify the essence of others—especially as Spirit Fae could control them.

  No.

  This was about Titus.

  “He’s on edge,” I continued. “And to properly protect you, I need him focused. There’s only one way to fix it.” I’d realized it this afternoon after witnessing the true pain in his features, the barely concealed fire.

  While I, too, felt the aching need inside me to claim Claire, my elemental control far outweighed his, and I didn’t have a tendency to burn shit down when in a rage.

  If we were going to go up against someone powerful enough to manifest powers on Claire’s behalf, then I needed everyone focused. Not to mention the general security required to keep our little fae princess alive. Too many people wanted her dead.

  I almost liked that she needed more than one mate. Almost being the key word. But I couldn’t deny that it helped from a bodyguard standpoint.

  “Are you telling me to…?” She trailed off, her brow pinched.

  I bent to kiss the pucker between her eyebrows before dragging my lips lower to her mouth and whispering, “Yes, Claire. I’m telling you to indulge him while I’m gone. I don’t want the details. Although, I’ll likely feel it through the bond.” I flinched at the thought but quickly swallowed my instinctual reaction.

  No one could touch our spirit bond.

  Not even Titus.

  “It feels… wrong… after we just…”

  I silenced her with another kiss, this one coaxing and holding a promise. “You’re still mine, Claire. But you’re also his. And I respect that, just as I know he’ll respect our bond. It’s the way of life.” I tilted my head to the side, amusement touching my chest. “You’re not in the human world anymore, darling princess. We’re fae. Our rules are different.”

  She stared at me for a long moment before yanking me to her once more and rewarding me with her mouth. “Don’t do anything without me,” she said softly. “If you find the person doing this, I want to know. I want to be there.”