elemental 02 - blaze by Larissa Ladd Read Free Book Online

from fire elementals. It wasn’t normal for a member of the site to take a sudden intense interest in a newbie the way Alex seemed to have taken in Aira. While she had been discreet, and Dylan knew he could trust her to do so, there had been some verification of her lineage as part of the sign-up process. There was no way to be sure how many people knew she was not only an air elemental, but that she was a staggeringly powerful one whose grandmother was possibly the strongest water elemental currently living.
    “I think you should be very careful,” Dylan said slowly. “I mean, obviously Aiden and I can’t cover you in bubble wrap and expect you to ever find a mate. That’d be pretty conspicuous, and I’m not sure you could pull off the look.” He grinned. “But from my experience, it seems strange that someone would be so interested in a newcomer so quickly.”
    Aira nodded, looking thoughtful.
    Dylan continued. “I wouldn’t be against your meeting them just generally, but you should both be prepared in case something does happen.”
    Aira glanced down at her mug. “I’m kind of between a rock and a hard place,” she said wryly. “I need a mate to keep people from trying to force me into marriage or kill me, but I have to deal with those very people in order to find a mate to protect me from them.” She laughed, the sound slightly bitter. “I just wish I could have been a run-of-the-mill elemental, nothing too extraordinary—like my cousins. Not a one of them has this problem.”
    Dylan shrugged. “Yeah, but not one of them can knock out a window with a sex dream either, I bet.”
    “Good point.” Aira blushed a deep red, but she was chuckling. “I think I might finally be warming up! Ahh, the powers of hot chocolate and alcohol.”
    Dylan shared her grin, but he couldn’t quite shake his sense of unease about the planned meeting the next day, even though he knew without concrete evidence, it wouldn’t make sense to openly oppose it.

Chapter 5
     
    Aira woke up with the tremors still dancing up and down her arms and legs, the lingering evidence of her late-night power surge reminding her that she’d come into complete possession of her abilities as an elemental in less than twenty-four hours. In some ways, she was excited—in others she was filled with dread. She knew her entire training as a child had been aimed at making sure she was able to maintain control when she became a full elemental. But the power surges she had experienced were a portent that made Aira uncertain of how much she could realistically control herself once the full elemental power came into her. She wanted to be out drinking and having fun the eve of her birthday, because on the day of, she had no idea what she would be like.
    On the forum, she had read some of the stories elementals told about their final transition. While most of them were able to laugh off the power surges and other symptoms, Aira thought there were some situations she wouldn’t know how to handle. What if she developed a fever? Or went into a coma? Those things could happen. What if the power overwhelmed her, and she was utterly unable to control it?
    At the back of her mind, in the part not occupied with worries about the possibility of a near-death experience during her transition, her lustful urges were beginning to spike. While she had found Dylan and Aiden attractive enough since she had known them, it hadn’t been too difficult to be around them. That changed after she woke up on the living room couch. Only hours after her conversation with Dylan, where she had joked that her life would be so much easier if only they were attracted to each other, those words came back to haunt her. As she tried to work on an assignment, one of the last two she needed to complete, she found herself uncharacteristically hot and cold all over, distracted by Dylan walking across the living room to the kitchen, and again by Aiden in nothing but a pair of pajama pants.