Scorched_Earth_B_N Read online

  “Ah…aren’t you hungry?”

  He growled in assent and released her fingers. Threading his hand though her hair, he kissed her hungrily, taking his sweet time. She hadn’t known a man could be both intense and gentle, and it made her head spin. He lifted her and settled her astride him, making her whimper. His hands stroked her back, drifted over her arms like an artist stroking canvas. Her hands rose to his shoulders, then brushed against the rough stubble on his head. She moved against him, desperate for relief, and he helpfully arranged her skirt so it wasn’t in the way. His hands trailed over her spine as he murmured encouragement, purring against her lips.

  Suddenly, there it was. She cried out into his mouth, her pleasure shaking her body. It was followed by more, making her dizzy with pleasure. She sagged against him, weak with aftershocks.

  Tremor gathered her close and sighed in deep satisfaction. “Still got it,” he murmured.

  She shuddered.

  He held her for a long moment and then shifted her in his lap so he could feed her. “Got to keep up your strength,” he admonished, giving her a bite of a tiny sandwich. “I’ll thoroughly debauch you later.”

  She huffed, scandalized, but too sated to remove herself from his lap, even if he’d have allowed it. She had a feeling his hands would wander if she tried, and she was tempted to try it. Instead, she took another bite. “I didn’t say you could do that.” She sounded sulky.

  He laughed and continued to feed her. He waited until she’d set down her coffee and trailed his hand up her inner thigh. She instinctively grabbed it, but couldn’t stop him from stroking her dangerously close to high ground.

  He slowly shook his head, his gaze wicked. “It’s one thing if you don’t want me, love, but we will be honest. If you want me, you acknowledge it. If you’re frightened, say it. If you’re wet…” His hand moved up and moved aside her silky boy shorts. “You tell me. I’ll take care of it.” He lightly stroked, taking his time. When she was breathing shallowly, moving against him, he slowly inserted a finger.

  Cara moaned and released his wrist to grab the chair. She couldn’t help wanting him, wanting what he did. It was sweet and hot, and suddenly her breasts felt confined, chaffed by her dress. She wiggled against the mounting pressure. “Tremor!”

  “Hm? What do you want, darling?” he purred. “Would you like me to kiss you here?”

  She climaxed hard, bucking against his fingers. She wanted, wanted, wanted. Oh, how she wanted him!

  Tremor growled against her neck and slowly withdrew his hand. He eased her panties into place and patted her naughtily. “Keep it warm for me, love. We’ll talk about this later.”

  She opened her mouth to protest, but forgot what she wanted to say when he slowly licked his fingers. She jumped off his lap instead, nearly bumping the coffee table. “Y-you…”

  “I know.” He winked and stood. “Ready to visit your house?”

  No, she wasn’t ready! She felt thoroughly tousled, though he’d managed to make her climax multiple times without mussing her hair. “You want to go now?” she wailed. She didn’t know if she wanted to run from or to him.

  His mouth curled invitingly. “It’ll be better if we draw this out, love. Sweeter, hotter.”

  Beads of sweat dampened her brow. God help her.

  Her parent’s place was as she left it. Distracted by Tremor’s presence, she had a hard time focusing on gathering her things. The shades were drawn, but she could tell it was nearly dark. Strange how it was darker in the human world than under the luminous earth. She grabbed her cell, purse, laptop and clothes, shoving them into a backpack. She hesitated over the toiletries, unsure what things were relevant for her new skin. Should she use lotion or mud to keep her skin hydrated? She finally consulted Tremor, who grinned.

  “Leave it, beautiful. You don’t need a thing.”

  She frowned. “There must be cosmetics an elemental woman needs.”

  “Ask Rosestone,” he advised. “I’m happy to buy you anything you need.”

  She huffed in frustration. “We’re not married, Tremor.” It was bothering her, but she didn’t want to think about why. She gave up on the bathroom and looked at her open suitcase on the bed, thinking about what she’d like to bring. Tremor examined one of her bras thoughtfully, and she quickly slammed the lid shut. “Do you mind?”

  He smiled and sat on her bed, which sagged dangerously. Well, he was solid marble. “Pretty as it is and as much as I’m looking forward to your wearing it, I should be a gentleman and point out that your human clothes won’t shift with you when you travel as dust. You’ll arrive at your destination naked, I’m afraid.”

  She stared at him. He’d used a portal to bring them here, explaining that only old, powerful elementals could form the doorways. She had no plans to travel as dust ever again. “Why can’t we use the portal?”

  He raised his brows. “If I were human, would you expect me to learn to drive?”

  “Of course. You’d need the independence…oh.” She sighed. “I suppose it would be irresponsible of you otherwise.”

  He nodded. “And when you went out with friends, they’d wonder why your overbearing husband didn’t want you able to travel.”

  Cara glared and grabbed her suitcase, determined to bring it anyway. She might have serious doubts about wearing any of it now, but she wanted familiar things. “We’re not married.” Her mood soured, she put it in the living room and looked in the fridge for leftovers that might spoil, dumping them. She needed to take out the trash.

  “I’ll remove that,” he offered, nodding to the garbage while she started the dishes. “Where does it go?”

  “There’s a can out back,” she grumbled. “It needs to go out to the curb so the trash man can pick it up tomorrow morning.” She had a sudden thought. “Maybe you shouldn’t go outside.”

  “Because of the Oracle? Don’t worry, we have elementals on watch here,” he assured her.

  “The security team you discussed with your uncle?” She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. It was a lot of fuss and bother, but these were extraordinary circumstances. “It sounds expensive,” she fretted.

  He grinned and kissed her nose. “I’m wealthy, sweetheart. If nothing else, compound interest has been very kind to me the last few centuries. You won’t bankrupt me.”

  She scowled. “I just…those men who attacked last time…I’m not used to that.” She remembered how she’d sensed danger last time and cast her senses out, looking for the security team. Instead, she encountered the remains of the assassins buried under her parents’ lawn. She recoiled in horror. “Tremor! There are bodies under the lawn!”

  He looked at her warily. “Yes. I put them there.”

  She sputtered. “They could be found one day! Someone could dig them up and think my parents were murders! We can’t leave them there. Besides, what if they had families? They’ll never know what happened to those men.”

  He laughed in disbelief. “The Oracle knows very well what happened to them, I assure you. I can’t believe you care what happens to the bodies of men who tried to kill you.”

  She shook her head, about to explain, but he held up a hand for peace. “Never mind. I’ll move them.” He focused, and she could feel the earth shift as he moved the bodies far away, 100 feet under the nearby road. “There. Problem solved.”

  She stared at him. “They’re buried under a highway. I’m going to think about that every time I drive over them. Do you know how gruesome that is?”

  He shrugged pragmatically. “Dust to dust. Strange, isn’t it? The only time we have anything in common with humans is when they decompose.”

  Cara gaped, then turned back to her dishes. “You are so insensitive,” she fumed.

  He sighed heavily. “I’m in the doghouse, aren’t I?”

  “Yes!”

  “Eight hundred years, and women haven’t changed a bit,” he grumbled as he took the trash out.

  Cara seethed. She thought of a dozen argumen
ts while she finished up and drained the sink. She would point out that humans had feelings and families. She would make him acknowledge them as people. He wasn’t going to get away with dismissing her race.

  That’s when she noticed the water had cracked her hands and nails. She stared in horror, shocked. She looked like a monster.

  It sank in then, how different she’d become. She wasn’t human, except perhaps her heart. Well, not her physical heart. Hers was probably a rock, if she had one at all.

  Tremor returned and saw her staring at nothing. “What is it?” He looked around and saw no sign of danger. “Did something happen?”

  She wordlessly held out her hands.

  He winced. “I was afraid of that. Let me fix it.” He opened a hole in the floor and drew up a rich mix of clay, bathing her hands. The cracks closed, leaving her skin smooth and whole. When he was done, he closed the floor, leaving no trace of damage. “There.”

  Somehow, that made it worse. “I’m a monster,” she whispered. “You were right; I’m not human.”

  He shook his head, but declined to point out that’s not what he said. He’d certainly implied it, and he’d been hammering it home since the beginning. Maybe he was the one who’d needed to hear it. “I was insensitive. Your soul is human.” He winced, hating to acknowledge it. He was married to a human, and hated it. Not her, but the taint she carried. Humans were ignorant and superstitious about anyone they considered supernatural; they did horrible things in the name of eradicating perceived evil.

  He shook his head to clear it. No, she was elemental now. Her dual heritage was difficult, but he could work through it. Maybe he would start by acknowledging the truth. “I couldn’t take that from you if I tried.”

  She looked at him, desperate hope in her eyes.

  He had to help her. Heaven knew he hated what the Fates had done to both of them. “Your parents are human, your tastes are human. You like…” He stumbled here, unsure of what she’d liked as a human. They’d known each other for such a short time. “Your favorite color is the same, your eyes shine like polished tiger eye, your hair…” He ran his fingers through the soft strands. “Your hair is beautiful.”

  She exhaled in release. “You think so?”

  “I know so,” he said firmly. “Don’t let what was done to you taint your confidence.”

  Cara took a deep breath. “Okay. I’m okay.”

  He nodded and collected her things. “Let’s take this back and get you settled. I have plans for this evening.”

  “What plans?” She wasn’t completely calm, but she was thinking clearly again. He was right; she wouldn’t let the Fates destroy her confidence.

  “It’s a secret.” He winked as she joined him.

  “Uh huh.” She didn’t feel like seduction today, but he’d figure that out. The last thing she wanted was allow herself to become more attached when she wasn’t sure how she felt. The man was going to get her in trouble.

  The beach was warm and sunny, and Cara loved feeling the sand between her toes. “I thought Hawaii would be cool in the winter, but this is great.”

  Tremor smiled. They walked along the beach, admiring shells and enjoying the sea. “You aren’t affected by heat or cold anymore, so it feels good to you. Thankfully, people rarely come to these little islands. I was craving some privacy.”

  “Overwhelmed?” she asked. She knew she was.

  He nodded thoughtfully. “I thought I would never want to be alone again, but crowds can be overwhelming. Besides, you needed to practice making sand castles.”

  She laughed. “I do? I haven’t done that since I was a kid.”

  “It will be even more fun now,” he promised. He focused on the sand and it swelled, forming a six-foot castle on a hill complete with moat, detailed stones, drawbridge and tiny knights. A dragon wound around one tower.

  She gaped. “That’s amazing! I didn’t know you were an artist,” she exclaimed, circling the castle.

  “I’ve had practice,” he said, pleased. He waved a hand, dissolving the sand, to her dismay.

  “You should have saved it,” she protested.

  “I’ll make another later. Right now it’s your turn.”

  She shook her head. “There’s no way I can make something that good.”

  “You’ll be amazed what practice can achieve,” he assured her. “I’ll help you focus.” With his guidance, she managed to make a large, less detailed version of his castle. “It’s lopsided,” she lamented.

  “It’s practice,” he reminded her, forming a rearing stone hippogriff. “Keep playing. Try basic shapes, like a sphere or a pyramid.”

  She made a teddy bear, a respectable cube and a snowman. At one point, she looked up and saw Tremor shaping a centaur whose naked torso looked exactly like Cara. She glowered at him.

  He winked, hopped on the centaur’s back and sent it into a trot.

  Cara gasped. She’d had no idea such a thing was possible. What else could he do? She remained frozen in wonder as he cantered back to her, then lifted her one armed and swung her onto his lap. “How?” she demanded.

  He smirked. “Years and years of practice. I’m a bit rusty, though. We’ll have to wait a while before we make love on centaur-back.”

  She made a strangled noise of disbelief. “I’m not making out on a centaur! Are you nuts?”

  “It’s not alive, darling. The rhythm is fantastic, believe me.”

  She glared at him. “Had a lot of practice, have you?” She didn’t need to be reminded of the vast number of lovers he’d probably had in his long life.

  “Not with you,” he murmured, slowing the centaur to a walk. “You’ll be my only riding partner from now on.” The construct slowly dissolved, lowering them to the beach in a swirl of sand.

  “Tremor,” she said, aching with unexpected emotion. “I’m not…” She blew out a breath, not sure what she meant to say. “The Fates played with us. Aren’t you afraid of being manipulated? Aren’t you angry?”

  He brushed the hair from her face. “The Fates are many things, but they are never wrong. I spent centuries in hell, love. I want this. I want you.”

  “But for how long?” she whispered.

  He opened his mouth to answer and grunted as a spear broke through his chest. The momentum carried it through her, punching through her sternum and out her back. She cried out as the stone creature behind Tremor ripped the spear out, tearing a chuck out of his victims with the barbed tip.

  Cara staggered back as Tremor whirled on the nine-foot giant. Made of roughly joined boulders, the creature was nearly as wide as it was tall. It roared in surprise as sand swirled around its legs and torso and solidified, trapping it up to the neck.

  That’s when its brothers charged.

  Cara stared at the copper blood leaking from Tremor’s back, then looked in horror at the copper leaking from her belly. She pressed her hands against the ragged hole, trying instinctively to stop the flow. When that didn’t work, she bunched her skirt against it as she sank to the sand in shock.

  How was Tremor still moving? He’d done something to stem the flow of copper blood, but he shouldn’t be able to seize the monster’s spear and stab one of the monsters in its glowing green eye. He moved so fast, sending a raging sandstone bull to ram a monster and stomp it to pieces.

  The scene blurred, and she realized she was weeping copper tears. Dear God, this was a nightmare. She tried to rally, to focus her power on helping Tremor, but she was utterly unable to concentrate. Her ears buzzed, and she suspected she was about to faint.

  A flaming spear shot from the sky and struck the remaining stone monster. Instantly it was engulfed in flame. Emitting a sound like boulders rumbling, it backed away and tried to merge with the rocks, but the fire was too strong. Clawing at the sky, it melted into a puddle of black slag.

  She looked up, stunned to see a fire elemental floating in the sky. Where did he come from?

  “You didn’t have enough excitement all those years, Eart
h? Had to anger a few rock trolls to alleviate the boredom?” The fire elemental’s skin glowed, flickered pumpkin and burnt orange like a hot coal. He had short, yellow-white hair and eyes like blue flame. A blue sarong with gold edging was tied at his waist and a wide, armored gold stomacher protected his belly and ribs. A gold medallion with an enormous, square cut ruby hung from his neck on a thick chain. He knelt at Cara’s side and gently removed her hands to look at her stomach. “She needs copper, fast. I have some in my cave or I can transport you home.”

  “We’ll go to your place,” Tremor rasped, allowing Fire to pick her up. Judging by the hole in his middle, if he knelt he might not rise again.

  Cara was hazy on the details. She remembered going through a portal. There was a sand filled bed and hot, molten copper mixed with clay poured in her middle. Tremor did something horribly painful to seal it inside, and she passed out briefly. She woke to hear Tremor swearing as the fire elemental worked on him.

  Tremor was right next to her, lying on the same bed. It must have been a tall one, because Fire didn’t need to bend to reach him.

  “Curse it, Raze! You reek at doctoring.”

  Raze snorted. “You want a nurse, get up and go find one. Hold still.” He shoved something into Tremor’s stomach that made him howl, then stood back and cleansed his hands with fire. “That should do it.” Ignoring Tremor’s pained groan, Raze looked at Cara. “Your woman is awake.”

  Tremor blinked to clear his eyes and glanced at Cara. “How are you, love? Hanging in there?” He took her groan as an affirmative and gently squeezed and released her hand. “I’d hold it longer, but I hurt too much to touch anyone right now.”

  She groaned again in agreement.

  They lay in Raze’s cave for hours, resting and drawing on earth energy as they healed. Finally, Tremor recovered enough to make the head of the bed rise so they could sit up. It hurt, but Cara appreciated it after hours on her back.

  “A TV would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Tremor murmured wearily.

  “This isn’t a spa,” Raze said dryly, entering their room. He nodded to Cara. “I never thought I’d repay my debt so soon.”