Born Into Fire (12 page)

“You enjoyed fucking the man.” Aiden’s sneer sent her heart on an erratic beat. “You merged with his air.” Aiden thrust his cock against her. “Now you’ll feel my fire.”

She forestalled a cringe. If he sensed her weakness, sensed Marshall so nearby, both their lives would be over. She lifted her chin. “Never. I chose Erion over you.”

“I’ll have you one way or the other. All at once, or little by little.” Aiden flattened a palm on her ribs and began sliding the hand toward her breast.

“Erion will kill you.” Kenna cursed the tremor in her voice.

The hand stopped, and Aiden lowered his mouth to within an inch of hers. “Our combined fire will easily defeat him.”

“You’re insane. I’ll never merge with you the way I did with Erion.”

He laughed. “Fight me. Taking it will be far more pleasurable.”

Heat coiled in her stomach, then burst through her body.

A satisfied smile curled the edges of his mouth. “Very good.”

Warmth emanated from him. Her mind raced.
Stay human and be raped, or shift and let him claim my element
. Tears burned behind her eyes. What if he forced the change? What if she forced him? Kenna envisioned her grandmother’s house ablaze. She would gladly sacrifice the house, but not Marshall, to keep her fire from Aiden.

“Resist,” he soothed. “It will heighten the energy when we merge.” He shifted so that his arms caged her head and fisted a hand in her hair. “Your colors are brilliant.”

His breath warmed her face. He smiled the handsome smile she’d seen the first time they met, and her stomach turned. “I will enjoy you, then savor the memory once your fire is mine.” His eyes darkened. “The longer the taking, the better the memory.”

Her core bubbled. Terror ripped through her in a heated frenzy that fed the fire.
No! Not now. Not ever.

He leaned closer. She twisted her head aside, but his fingers tightened on her hair and forced her face back to his. She jammed her eyes shut, calling forth Erion’s face, dark eyes, easy smile. Just as when Erion thrust into her, the feeling of imploding into flames spread through her.

No!

Memory of his firm touch was displaced by Aiden’s lips touching hers. Kenna bit down on his lower lip. He grunted and crushed her in a brutal kiss. She clamped her mouth tight, but blood seeped through her lips, the metallic taste warm on her tongue. A palm gripped her breast with steely strength. Heat—
Aiden’s fire
—shot through her nipple and warmed her center.

No
, she mentally commanded, and the sensation vanished. Aiden shoved a knee between her legs. Fear froze her. He was trying to ignite her fire by fucking her as Erion had. Kenna locked ankle over ankle. He wedged his other knee between her legs. She strained with the effort to keep her ankles locked while twisting in an effort to displace him.

He seized her hips and straightened her. She grunted as his full weight abruptly centered on her chest. Tears choked her. If she ignited while Aiden was inside her, he would enslave her, then kill Marshall. His final revenge would be when he destroyed Erion. Aiden released one hip and pinched her nipple. Needlelike pain pierced to the bone.

“I will have you, then deal with Erion,” Aiden hissed. “Never fear, sweetheart. The memory of these moments is what he will take with him into oblivion.” Aiden reached back and seized a calf, yanking the leg free of the ankle hold.

Aiden would claim her—as Ormond had predicted. What did that mean? Was Airiana enslaved by Erion? She
lived
inside him. Kenna began to tremble. Would she become imprisoned inside Aiden? What about Erion? Once he learned what Aiden had done, he wouldn’t rest until Aiden was dead—or die in the process. Could Erion—her kind—die? Kenna choked back a sob. She would be helping Aiden kill Erion. She had to get away from the house, from Marshall. Lead Aiden as far away as possible, then kill him so he couldn’t return for Erion. Could she? Did she have any other choice?

No.

Heat erupted in her core.

Kenna fell in on herself. Scorching pain ripped through her. She cried out. Aiden’s weight pushed her downward as they spiraled into nothingness, their bodies locked in an obscene death battle. She gasped against the intense sense of stretching into tiny fragments, then breath-stealing tearing that pulled her apart at the very core. Aiden’s weight vanished, and she shot outward as a tiny, blazing shooting star.

As if from deep inside a tunnel, his gasp echoed back at her. His roar of fury blasted through the barrier, causing a ringing inside her consciousness beyond anything she’d ever heard. Dizziness disoriented her. A shimmering wall of heat sped toward her like a tsunami.
Breathe
. She couldn’t breathe. She rolled across the air as if a helpless feather on the wind.
Wind
. She needed air. She needed Erion. No. She had to lead Aiden
away
from Erion. Away from Marshall, from the world and into whatever oblivion he had intended for Erion.

“Come with me.”
The angelic voice of the Air Element whistled in Kenna’s mind.

A force propelled her across open air.

“Come with me.”

“No!”
Kenna fought the force.

Scorching blue flames singed her edges.

She had to get away. Kenna spun toward the window and raced forward. An instant before she shot through the glass, Fiera screamed.

Chapter Twelve

Erion tried focusing on the figures displayed on the computer screen, but memory of Kenna persisted, hazel eyes bright, skin glowing as if lit within from the sun, her hair the color of a thousand suns as it had been after her transformation. He could envision her beneath him on the rug in front of the fireplace that smoldered with embers, his cock inside her, her eyes hazy with desire. They could spend weeks in his secluded cabin. He’d never get enough of her.

He jarred from the erotic picture. “Isn’t one woman’s death on your hands enough?” he snarled.

Erion reached for the Scotch sitting untouched on his desk, then paused. She needed him.

He allowed his hand to drop onto his thigh and gave a harsh laugh. “I need her.” He leaned back in the black leather office chair and raked fingers through his hair.

For millennia, Elements had emerged and thrived without his help. Fiera wasn’t the first. She wouldn’t be the last.
But none of them had been his mate
. It didn’t matter. She would be the last for him. Kenna’s existence as Fiera depended on him keeping as far away from her as possible. She deserved the chance for a full life. He would focus on Global Enterprises, leave the
Giris
—and mating—to others. But that didn’t mean he would forget her. Forget the sweet taste of her soft lips or the way she clutched at his shoulders as he filled her hot sheath with his cock. No, he’d ache for her, ache for her breathless sighs after orgasm. Ache for eternity. He’d never forget, because he’d never feel as good as he had in her arms, in her body…in her fire.

The phone rang. Erion swung his attention to the sleek black earpiece sitting on his desk. The number flashing was his London office. Miriam Weatherbee, his manager. She would want to discuss his newest project—the importation of classic cars to the UK. His favorite was the 1969
Mustang Fastback
390 with a V8. Not in the popular red, but rather a soft, olive green with a thick black stripe down the middle of the car.

Kenna belonged in a car like that. He could see her, red hair flying wild as they raced down the highway, windows all the way down. She would flash that heart-stopping smile at him, and he would take her anywhere in the world she wanted to go.

But he would never again see that smile, feel the rush of excitement that tightened his chest at the sound of her husky laugh. Another man would experience all that—and more.

The picture vanished, and the ringing phone blared. He snatched up the receiver. “Miriam—”

A crash through the window to the right of his desk brought Erion to his feet. The chair hit the carpet with a thud. A baseball-size ball of fire smoldered on the carpet. He threw the phone to the carpet alongside the chair. This wasn’t simple fire. The blue-hot flames were Element.

Aiden.

But the Fire Element had been destroyed in their joining. Erion started to give way to the weightlessness of his element, then stopped. The figure taking shape in the fire wasn’t Aiden.

He drew in a sharp breath. Kenna—no—
Fiera.

She rose to her full five-feet-six-inch height, and the fire evaporated with a whoosh, leaving only a naked woman. She clutched at the air, as if off balance, and collapsed. Erion caught her before she hit the carpet. He hugged her trembling body close. She gasped for air.

“Slow, deep even breaths,” he ordered. “It’s always jarring the first few times. Concentrate on your breathing.”

She clung to his shirt, dragging in air. “I don’t understand,” she wheezed.

“I know.” Erion tightened his hold on her. “It’s not the same as when we merged.”

Kenna shook her head. “No.” She gulped air, then coughed. “I—” She coughed again. “I didn’t want to change into human form.”

He leaned back and looked down at her. “Why not?”

She dragged in another breath. “I was trying to turn around and fly away.”

He stiffened. What had he expected?

Kenna twisted and looked over her shoulder at the shattered window.

“Don’t worry about the window,” he said.

She looked back at him, eyes wide. “I have to turn,” a coughing fit nearly doubled her over, “to fire.”

Erion swept her into his arms and strode to the sofa in front of the fire. He sat down, settling her on his lap. She pushed from his chest and looked in the direction of the window again.

“Forget about the damn window,” he said. “Concentrate on your center. Bring your human form into harmony with your element.” She tried pushing off his chest. Erion seized her shoulders and gave her a shake. “Kenna.”

Their eyes locked. Fire blazed within her irises. The shift back into human form had disoriented her. He gave her another small shake.

“Focus, baby. Stay with me.”

She frowned. “I am here with you. That’s the problem.”

His heart twisted. He didn’t blame her for wanting to get as far away from him as possible, but he couldn’t allow her to shift while in this state of flux. She had to learn to control the metamorphosis or risk chaos. An Element out of control could cause havoc on the environment without being conscious of the destruction.

“Easy,” he said. “Once you’re centered, you can shift back into fire.”

Her buttocks warmed over his cock. His body pulsed, and his mind numbed. He jarred with the unfamiliar feeling, then fear tightened his chest. Their
sparks
. He was responding to her as a mate. He yanked back, despite the pain.

“I need to be fire again,” she said. “
Now
.”

“Dammit, Kenna, do as I say. Shift fully into human form.” How long could he resist the compulsion to experience the wholeness of being inside her? If he didn’t get her to shift back fully into human form—”Let your body reassemble,” he ordered. “Then you can shift back into fire and get as far away from me as you want.” And he would speed in the opposite direction.

“I tried that,” she snapped. “But something drew me here.”

Realization gave way to anger. “
Airiana
.” He cursed again. “Close your mind to her.”

Kenna frowned in confusion. “No.”

“Kenna—”

She looked at the window again.

“What is your obsession with that window?”

She seized his shoulders. “The little ball of fire I became when I traveled here was nothing like the blaze I became when you were inside me. I need to be that blaze again.”

“What are you—”

Kenna shifted, straddling his hips. She began unbuckling his belt, her nimble fingers making quick work with the loop. Her breasts were inches from his face, nipples rosy and erect.

Erion gritted his teeth against the throb in his balls. He grabbed her hands. “What are you doing?”

She gave him an impatient look. “I told you. I need to be that intense fire again. We need to merge, join, whatever you call it. I need you to fuck me.”

He shoved her hands away from his belt. “There’s not a chance in hell I’ll risk your life by having sex with you again.” Pain scalded Erion’s heart.
She needs someone who won’t hurt her. She needs someone who can protect her.
Erion forced back the pain that was squeezing his chest like a massive vise and focused on Kenna.

She glanced down at his bulging jeans. “I think that’s open for debate. You look ready to me.”

“I gave into that desire once. Never again.”

****

Kenna leaned close “Then we’ll both die. Is that what you want?”

“What are you talking about?” Erion grasped her shoulders, and she realized he intended to shove her off his lap.

“Aiden followed me,” she blurted.

Erion’s expression turned to stone. “Aiden’s dead.”

She shook her head. “He isn’t.” She forced back the memory of Aiden on top of her, his body pressing into hers. “He’s alive and well, and he wants me
and you
.”

“He was destroyed when we—”

“No, he came for me.” Erion’s grip on her shoulders tightened. “That’s why I’m here—I mean, I didn’t intend on coming here. My only thought was to get away. I didn’t care where I was going, anywhere away from Marshall.”

“Marshall?”

“I didn’t know I’d found you until I crashed through that window.”

“Who the hell is Marshall?” Erion demanded.

“My mentor. He came to help prepare for the upcoming show. When Aiden showed up, I had to make sure he didn’t find Marshall in the bedroom. He—” Her voice broke.