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Not an assassin. Got it.
‘Til tomorrow.
Isaiah receded from his second’s mind. When the sounds in his bedroom stopped, he took a second to collect himself. Last night had been truly untenable, but she’d requested it of him, and he’d reluctantly accepted.
Tonight, however, felt more intimate. More personal. Perhaps it was because she was in her right mind, and she would be sleeping in his domain. In hisbed.
He needed another cold shower.
Sighing, he finished toweling off before he manifested a loose t-shirt over his torso and a pair of basketball shorts over his lower half.
He knocked twice on the door, and when she didn’t answer, he twisted the door handle and stepped through the doorway. There, underneath the down comforter, was the curled-up frame of the Elemental, peering at him. Without a second thought, he used his telekinesis to shut off the light and close the curtains.
Rukia’s snicker sounded from underneath his covers. “Magic man.”
“I’m glad I amuse you,” came his droll reply before he rounded the bed and slipped between the sheets behind her.
Freshwater and sea salt tickled his senses, the sweet scent of her serving to heat his blood by her mere proximity. Even as desire pulsated through him, he clamped down on the primitive response, a denial he’d practiced repeatedly over the centuries.
Grasping her waist, he slid her across the coolness of the sheets and into the protective nook of his body. Rukia made no move to deny his possessive hold, but nestled into him and let out a contented sigh.
“Go to sleep, Rukia,” Isaiah demanded without infliction.
To his surprise, there was no objection. Behind her, Isaiah’s breath tickled through her long ebony mane, across the elegant lines of her neck and shoulder. Minutes later, she’d softened into sleep, somehow relaxed in his company.
Here, in the center of his territory, Isaiah psychically checked the borders of his land and the safety of his people. It was a task he did continually, unconsciously. Thankless, but necessary.
And now, with this Elemental cocooned in the safety of his arms, it’d never seemed more important.
After confirming all was well, Isaiah succumbed into the nothingness of sleep, hopelessly ensnared by the woman asleep against him.
Chapter Thirteen
Rukia’sbarefeetconnectedwith a slap against the earth, sprinting toward the lake with an excited grin. She’d managed to slip out, her mother and father asleep after a hard day’s work and her older siblings far too interested in their own musings to take notice of her.
The chill of the air nipped at her face, her hair flying wildly behind her in a tangle of ebony strands. There, before her, was her haven, her second home.
Against the darkening sky, the waters undulated peacefully in the stiff breeze, vibrant magentas mixing with vivid violets and deep azure in a watercolor tapestry on the horizon. The fading yellow of the sunset reflected in the pinks and ochre on the surface of the water, an inviting palette of colors that teased her senses.
Glancing around, she stripped to her undergarments before diving into the cool lake tides and paddling out to deeper waters.
With a sigh, she floated contentedly on her back, gazing ruefully at the coming night. She’d been unable to come to the lake in days, her time caught up in chores and essential tasks her mother had abandoned as she’d grown older.
Rukia exhaled deeply before gulping in the air needed to fill her while she dove to the depths of the lake.
Eyes open, she pivoted in the water and submerged. Due to the weak dusk light, the waters under the surface had limited visibility, and Rukia squinted and blinked into the darkness to maintain her orientation.
As she descended, the water became an eerie inky blackness enveloping her, suggesting far more sinister threats. She threw her hands out in front of her for something tangible.
Rukia panicked when her fingers found no purchase, her heart beginning to kick at the unfamiliarity as her lungs suddenly burned for oxygen. She thrashed in the water, her arms flailing as she tried to get her bearings.
In her panic, she aspirated water into her lungs, the burning sensation ripping through her chest before it suddenly abated.
Everything changed. Rukia relaxed and her heart stopped palpitating in her chest. Instead of icy cold, she found warmth in the liquid that held her in a maternal embrace. The water around her licked at her skin, responded to her thoughts, welcoming her into the depths.
Against all knowledge, Rukia began to breathe through the element, her lungs inhaling and exhaling the water with such serenity it defied understanding.
For the first time in her life, she had peace. A complete and total tranquility. She was home.
