The Tempting Touch Of Fire (Elemental Awakening, Book 1) (5 page)

I shook my head, dumbfounded, and then tried to figure out how to climb over the fence. It looked impenetrable. With nasty spikes dotted along the top of each wrought iron post. No pain, no gain. I grasped one of the iron railings, brushing my fingers against some of the leaves of the Norfolk Pine. It shivered, as though being woken up, and then slowly one of its thick branches bent down towards me in a fashion that should not have physically been possible.

It creaked and groaned and I thought it might just set off alarms inside the perimeter fence, but nothing happened, except I now had a way to clamber over to the other side. I snorted in disbelief, but didn't waste any time taking advantage of the opportunity.

As soon as I climbed a way up the branch, it moved. Making me collapse along the length of it and grip its circumference tightly with my arms and legs. Then with a finesse that was not mine, I slipped from the end of the branch and landed in a crouch on the other side of the fence. The tree creaked back to its former position.

He is inside, he is aware you are here,
the tree whispered.

"Well, thanks," I said a little sarcastically. What use was a network of spying trees if they couldn't get me on the property undetected? I might as well have hit the buzzer at the gate.

He is attuned to you
, the tree defended itself.
We were not aware you were his Thisavros.

His what? And it hadn't failed to register with me that the trees were easily reading my thoughts. Why hadn't they before, back at my home? I wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that I now
believed
. Doubt had still festered in my mind when I first thought my question at the Rimu Tree. I had no doubt now that the trees and I could communicate. What I doubted was my plan to confront Theo Peters.

Well, here goes nothing. I was here. He knew I was here. I might as well come out guns blazing.

Or come out trees blazing.

"Those plants closest to the building, please get his attention," I instructed, taking off at a run towards where the trees all pointed, and had to be the location of the house itself. They parted as I ran, herding me in the right direction. Without their guidance I would have gotten lost, so thick was the foliage. It was a veritable forest here. I kind of loved it.

After several seconds I heard the noise. Tree branches creaking, setting a beat that the tinkling of the leaves accompanied. A musical of nature, none ever before seen nor heard by man. It was magnificent. It was magical. It was so freaking unreal I kept shaking my head.

Lights blazed from every window of the three storey brick mansion. Lit up like a Christmas tree, but I wasn't fooled by its festive façade. Did a monster live within those walls? Prepared to kill me? Who had killed my potted plants?

I came to rest beneath the tree-line that bordered Theo's house and realised there was a rather large flaw to my plan. No tree or plant came within twenty feet of the building. And it wasn't surrounded by grass, but paving stones and gravel instead. It stood in a moat of concrete and stone, not a plant in sight. Well damn. I could hardly use pavers against the man. What now?

Theo slowly walked down the steps at the side of the house where I stood, looking composed, dressed in his suit still. Looking too bloody good, it was completely unfair. I reached out and wrapped my hand around the leaves of the closest tree, seeking courage and comfort, and maybe a hint of an idea of what I should do next.

The plant was silent. I guess my network of spies was fresh out of ideas too.

"You trespass,
Gi
," Theo said in that silky, accented voice of his. I felt it wrap around me, fill me with warmth, set my blood alight.

I gritted my teeth, felt the branch I was holding wind around my wrist... and then stab me with a thorn on its side.

I gasped, trying to hide my painful reaction, and watched as a drop of my blood slipped down the side of my arm and fell to the soil at my feet.

And then all hell broke loose.

The gravel began to rattle where it lay, the concrete paving blocks shuddered from an unseen force. The ground made a deeply horrific groaning sound, the trees joined in, turning the miscellaneous sounds into a cacophony of unnatural noise. Some plants creaked and moaned, some leaves shattered the night air with high pitched tinkling sounds. And the earth beneath the concrete that surrounded,
protected
, Theo and his house, heaved.

He lost his footing, landing on his side in an undignified heap. And swore a litany of unspeakable words in Greek. I ran at him. No freaking idea what I would do, but the ground continued to move in a jerking wave that unsettled him, but somehow aided my footing, so I just kept going. I would wing it, but the bastard would pay for hurting my plants and being a git to me.

I leapt on his back and kicked and scratched and punched - ineffectually - all the while we rolled around and bucked with the movement of the earth.

"Are you mental?" he yelled in my face.

"Murderer," I shouted back and kneed him between the legs.

More Greek swear words. It was impressive.

And then a wall of fire erupted from nowhere and headed towards the line of trees.

"Call them off, Cassandra. Or the plants burn."

Holy freak. He caused the fire. Theo made fire from nothing and would barbecue the plants to get me to comply. I hated him. I really, truly did.

"Arsehole!" I spat, whacking him across the side of his head. His hand came up and grasped my wrist, the other wrist had been immobilised early on. He flipped us, somehow timing the motion to match a lull in the wave of pavement beneath us. So I landed with a thud, but was cushioned by a spring-like feeling that was impossible, in a normal world, to expect when being hurled at concrete.

"Oraia,"
he said between clenched teeth. "Call off your pets. Now!"

Stop!
I thought and it miraculously worked. Theo's wall of fire dissipated immediately, making me think it took something out of him to sustain such an incomprehensible thing.

In the wake of such upheaval, both Theo and I were breathing heavily. In the silence that followed my mental command, it sounded so very, very loud.

"You are trespassing," he said in a way too reasonable voice.

"You killed my plants," I ground back at him. He frowned.

"What plants?"

I sucked in a slow breath, trying to get my heart to still so I could concentrate better. I searched his face for the lie. But all I saw was curiosity and a lingering sense of anger.

"My plants at home," I finally managed to whisper.

Something wasn't right here and part of me was already aching for it to be true. For Theo to not be the person who had destroyed my home.

But was he acting? I'd thought before it might have been an act. Was it now?

Oh dear God, I don't know how I would deal with the disappointment and pain if everything he'd ever done and said was a lie. Which made me realise that's exactly what he had been feeling too. Was he as scared as me of being let down?

His head tilted slightly to the side, an eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Your home," he said in a flat voice. Then immediately sucked in air. "Someone's been in your home? Already?"

I couldn't talk. I could hardly breathe. Please.
Please
let this be real. Please don't let it have been Theo.

"Casey," he said with a shake of his hands on my wrists to get me to focus. "Have you met any others like me?"

Like me
. My mouth opened to answer him, but no words came out.

Was this the truth? It wasn't him? Could I dare hope?

I swallowed my fear and managed to murmur, "I did meet a doctor at the Emergency Room last night called Dr Peters."

Theo's face clouded briefly. I held my breath. "I see," he said, voice low and heavily accented. "Did she recognise you?"

Something in his tone told me this was the answer I'd been seeking. Dr Peters
had
recognised me, why else did her eyes flash gold and the curtains burn in her wake? I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek as I waited for his reply.

He let a long breath of air out. "Why have you not heeded my warning and left? Can you not see now, how important it was for you to escape while you still could? Xanthe's husband is in the Guard," he added, eyes deadly serious. "The next time it
will
be your head."

God, this was hopeless. I'd gotten what I wanted, an answer to who destroyed my flat, killed my plants. But instead of feeling relief, I was petrified. At least with Theo, I knew him. But the doctor's husband, a member of Theo's Guard, I did not know at all.

Fear skittered along my spine and I lost the ability to contain it.

"Casey?" Theo prompted, and something snapped inside.

"I'm getting a little sick of that threat," I replied, on a rush of frustrated air.

"I have your best interests at heart," he pointed out, but his jaw was set hard.

We stared at each other for a long moment. I was acutely aware he was still moulded above me; body to body, chest to chest. Hell, even our breaths were intermingling. But the sensations caused by his physical proximity had
nothing
on the gamut of emotions swilling inside me right then.

"I am
not
your enemy," I finally managed to say. It did come out much firmer than I had intended, but I was past caring how I sounded now. My body was tired, my head ached. I was about to break apart.

"What planet do you live on?" he scoffed, not helping my temper in the slightest and proving he was just as on edge as me; snapping back with equal rashness. "Since when has it been legal to enter another's territory without invitation or permission? We are well within our rights to respond with force."

"Whose permission do I need to live in my place of birth?" I demanded; the snapping had escalated into a snarl. "And who the hell are you to
police
this city?" That was almost shouted, the snapping was officially done; anger now fuelled every harshly spoken word.

Freaking hell, I was sick of this roller-coaster ride of confusing reactions to this man,
to my life
. One minute I'm desperately wanting him to be more than he appears, the next anger at his behaviour has taken root inside my mind. I was so weary of the confusion. I just wanted an answer to what I had become.

So, I started to struggle. Of course I did; it was the least sane thing to do. God knows
what
I thought I would achieve, but all the pent up rage and fear and confusion and incredulity at what was happening to me combined to make a boiling pit of desperation deep down inside. Like a wild, unthinking animal I lashed out.

In my efforts to get out of his grip, I writhed and bucked, threw my entire body into the battle, making my forehead come within an inch of his nose. He shifted at the last minute, avoiding a bloody scene. But the movement made his thigh slip between my legs. We both hesitated, surprised by the intimate contact. But then, with a cunning and calculated smirk on his lips he took advantage of our new position, and rubbed.

His eyes never left my face, looking for a reaction.

Thankfully, I was too pissed off to react.

He frowned and instantly a warmth rushed through me, melting all resistance and making me gasp out loud. I then, so embarrassingly, writhed beneath him in an entirely different fashion than before, seeking more friction,
there
.

He chuckled. I growled back. Fuck him!

"So, you are not immune to my charms," Theo purred, his voice deeper, rougher than before.

Within seconds the dynamic of our conversation had shifted and I had no hope of understanding how or why. No hope of fighting my reaction to this man. No hope of keeping up with the trajectory of our dialogue.

Theo breathed in languidly and shuddered above me as the air seeped out between his parted lips. I couldn't deny that it was the most sensual thing I had ever witnessed.

But I had no freaking idea what was going on.

The only thing that made any sense was the familiar feeling of confusion.

Suddenly thin vines crept up around our bodies. I hadn't consciously asked them to. I'd been severely unable to think clearly since that warmth invaded my body. Theo had his eyes closed, a look of utter bliss across his face. He didn't notice them at all.

I watched stunned as they wrapped around our bodies, then wrapped around his arms and legs.

His eyes flicked open. Gold washed my face.

"You are delicious," he breathed, still not registering his dire plight. The vines crept on further, ensnaring us both. I noticed a green tinge to his skin then. It wasn't his, it was all mine. "Beautiful," he husked. And despite my confusion, I was transfixed. "I like the green. I like that I can bring it out. You are so controlled, Casey. The green lets me know, I can breach that shield of yours. Make you feel. Give you passion. Light a fire deep inside."

Oh dear God. What was with this man? He infuriated me. Confounded me. And admittedly, totally turned me on. I wasn't sure which was winning right now, but it didn't matter. The vines were ready to announce their presence. Everything tightened. I watched as they shifted, stretched and gripped his muscles tight.

"Casey!" Theo shouted. "You little..." He didn't get to finish his statement, a vine wrapped around his face, like a rag over someone's mouth. A muffled sound came out with a decidedly angry gleam from his golden eyes. I think he might have threatened me with something. I was glad I couldn't make out the words.

But for once, I felt like I had the upper hand. I smiled up at him. Effected my best innocent look, and said, "It wasn't me."

A frustrated sound came out of the back of his throat, but I ignored it. "You and I need to have a little chat," I said, giving his body a small shove. The vines responded, lifting him up off my frame.

I instantly felt colder.

"Now I have your undivided attention and you can't interrupt," I said, and instantly the cold vanished, replaced by a fire deep inside, that heat I'd felt earlier washed through me again, making me moan before I could stop myself and reach out to brush my hand over his arm, his shoulder, his chest.

Then in the next second the fiery tingle vanished. Like a switch being flicked off.

Fuck!

"You did that?"
I asked, amazed, turned on and freaking scared all at once.

His shoulders shrugged. His eyes held my gaze, a message clearly evident there. Theo could make me feel lust with just a simple thought. Like I could make the plants attack.

I sucked in a breath at that realisation, at the knowledge that I was well out of my depth. Holy freaking hell, what world did I now live in?

"Don't ever do that again," I scolded softly, somehow the conviction of my thoughts was not relayed in my tone.

Theo blinked once, slowly. Then maybe because he couldn't help himself, or maybe because he just didn't like being told what to do. Or, maybe because he'd heard in my voice what my words failed to portray. For whatever reason, a wash of molten heat shimmered through me, from head to toe.

My body responded, my back arched, lips parting on a sigh, fingers curling with the need to stroke flesh. It was sublime.

But it was not me.

"Stop it!" I said with force. The vines, thinking I was commanding them, suddenly unravelled.

And Theo landed in a hard splat on my chest.

Air was pushed from my lungs with a star-burst of light from behind my eyes. Theo rolled off me immediately. I was thinking for his own safety, not because he was concerned my stomach contents were about to come rushing out of my mouth. I groaned and rolled into a ball, looking up at him, as he stood several feet away. His eyes were darting around the concrete at his feet. I noticed he'd placed himself in the middle of an intact large paver. No chance of vines creeping up through that. I realised Theo Peters was indeed a little scared of me.

I cocked my head and stared at him. He looked a little rumpled, his suit not handling the earthquake and confinement of the vines too well. He had a scratch across one cheek and a rip in his trouser leg. His shoes were covered in dirt.

I had never seen him look so sexy before.

I cleared my throat and glanced away. But not before I caught his smug smile.

"What are you doing here, Cassandra? We are enemies," he pointed out, his voice though was soft. "You are in
Pyrkagia
territory without a pass. You must know the penalty is death." We were back at the beginning, it seemed. Full circle bringing us 'round to familiar death threats.

I sighed.

"I know
nothing
, Theo," I said with no small amount of frustration. "I woke up in a pit of dirt, having missed two days of my life. And walked into this mess."