The Chilling Change Of Air (Elemental Awakening, Book 3) (25 page)

"
Oraia
," he breathed, swaying slightly as though he longed to reach out. But Theo was leaving this entirely up to me. My move. My decision. He stood tall and waited for me to reach for him.

"I can't stop loving you," I whispered, tears filling my eyes. "But I also can't stop trying to fix what is wrong in this world." His eyelids closed and his head tipped back, face to the ceiling, his chest rising and falling abruptly. "I'm not sure if this is just the person I am, or if it is some sort of compulsion tied in to being
Aether
. But this
is
who I am now."

His head tipped down and there was such pain and heartache and fear in his eyes it almost made me take the words back, reach out and soothe him, tell him I'd tie myself to the bed, just to stop seeing that haunted look on his face.

"I'm telling you," I croaked, "that I love you, no matter what. From the beginning. Through any hell we have to traverse. Until the end of time."

His lips parted as a panted breath of air escaped. I reached up and held a finger to them, before he said whatever he was preparing to say.

"I'm asking you to do the same for me," I whispered, the words barely audible now, my throat constricted with emotion to such a degree, I could barely talk. "No matter what hell we have to traverse until the end of time."

That was it. I was done. A hitched and painful sound left my lips as my body shook and the tears fell down my face. I couldn't do this alone. And I'd realised I couldn't do this without him. But I had to do it. If he asked me to pick him over this battle stretching out indefinitely before us, I'm not entirely sure what my answer would be.

I just prayed it wasn't a question he asked of me. I just prayed he loved me no matter what.

"My sweet, sweet little
Gi
," he rasped, husky and sexy even if it was from the type of emotion that did not lead to those illicit thoughts. "Don't you realise," he added. "I have loved you even when I couldn't remember you. I've loved through my own type of hell. And I will love you for eternity."

"Even if I do monumentally stupid and dangerous things against all reasonable
Athanatos
advice?"

He started chuckling, a rumble emerging from his chest.

"Especially then."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Does that mean you'll help me?" I needed him. There was no denying it now. I needed him with me if I was going to do this.

"
Aetheros
," he breathed. "You drive me crazy. You make me feel emotions I haven't felt before. Good, bad, frightful, alarming. You never stop pushing for more and I will never stop giving it to you."

"Ah, was that a yes?"

"Yes, it's a yes," he growled, finally reaching across that last distance between us and hauling me into his arms. His lips smashed down onto mine, his hand fisted in my hair tipping my head at exactly the right angle, his tongue delved in and took control, directing me, feeding me, lighting me on fire.

Then against my mouth, when he had me at his complete and utter mercy, he whispered, "But, you
will
promise me you will do these monumentally stupid and dangerous things only with
me
at your side."

He pulled back and looked down into my eyes, daring me to argue.

Silly man. That's exactly what I'd been after all along.

"I promise," I whispered in reply.

"Why is it I think you had this all planned?" he muttered.

"Maybe because you're a very astute
Athanatos
who has, more often than not, seen it all before."

"
Oraia
," he drawled. "You took me completely by surprise and continue to do so every single day."

"And don't you forget it," I shot back. "I wouldn't want you to get bored in your old age."

"Oh, my old age, is it? Well, in that case allow me to demonstrate my youthful prowess." His face fell into the curve of my neck and shoulder, his lips tickling me enough to make me laugh. Then he walked me back towards the wall beside the fireplace and penned me in with his hands up beside my head and his body pressed against me and his lips and tongue sending me into another dimension and making me forget completely where we were.

"Mmm," he purred against me. "Convinced yet?"

"No," I breathed as his lips dipped lower and my t-shirt collar stretched as he moved his attention to the upper curve of my breast.

"Yet?" he breathed, licking a trail up my cleavage.

"Ah," I managed as his hips rocked against my centre and I melted against the wall.

"How about now?"

"Um." My leg somehow found its way around his hip, my centre seeking more delicious friction as I arched my back and rubbed when he thrust, making more unintelligible sounds emerge from my lips.

"Casey," Theo pleaded.

Yes. Yes, it was time. I needed this.
We
needed this. Despite everything we'd been through, despite everyone who had come against us, despite a world on the brink of annihilation, I was still his and he was still mine. And I wanted what was mine now.

"Yes," I breathed. "Please," I begged.

Theo made a sexy growling sound as his hands finally moved from their position beside my head, flat against the wall, and shifted to my rear, lifting me up and wrapping both legs around his waist, as he rocked forward, his teeth nibbling at my nipple through my t-shirt, making me throw my head back, my body quake, and my breaths to come in little pants.

"Theo," I begged.

"Yes," he agreed, sounding as on edge as me. "I've got you. I'll take care of you. Oh,
Oraia
, I need this."

We both did. It was time.

"Now," I demanded as his hand went to the buttons on my jeans and he deftly undid them and pulled the zip down.

"
Aetheros
," he breathed against my lips, kissing me passionately, putting everything into the moment to show me how much he wanted me, how much he was going to give me, how good it was going to be.

He pulled back only long enough to kiss my cheeks, my jaw, my throat and begin to pull my jeans and underwear down.

I could feel him straining in his trousers, feel the hot, hard ridge of his erection just there. Feel the heat flow off his body, feel the trembling in his fingers. I could scent his arousal. I could hear his harsh gasps for air. I could see his determination and the lust and love that showed in his eyes.

It consumed me. Filled me. And he hadn't even entered me yet. But I knew if he didn't I would surely die.

"Mine," he rasped against my shoulder while unfastening his trousers.

"Mine," I breathed back making him growl in satisfaction.

A part of me hoped that this would do it. This would bring our
Thisavros
connection back. A part of me I didn't want to assess too deeply. Didn't want to trust too deeply. But couldn't help feeling in any case.

I felt him free himself, my hand darting down immediately and wrapping around his hard silken length, as though called there, unable to stop myself, needing that tactile connection, when the spiritual one may let me down.

"Casey," Theo groaned rocking his hips. "Now," he begged, still rocking.

"Yeah,
now
would be a good time to find your own room," my brother drawled from over on the mattress. "That's my sister you're about to..."

"Don't finish that sentence if you wish to survive," Theo barked out, his entire body statue still, shielding me from view, but I still felt way too exposed just then.

I closed my eyes, removed my hand from a certain part of Theo's naked anatomy, my body shaking, my heart pounding, my face flushed bright red.

"And if you don't mind," Theo added. "I think we will."

And then he lifted me off the wall, making sure I was suitably covered, and stormed out of Mark's bedroom and down the hall to the one we'd been sharing. Thunder and lightning in his intent gaze, a palpable feeling of pending explosion rolling off his body. His intention very, very clear.

I held my breath and waited for him to kick the door closed behind us and lower me to the bed before I spoke.

"Now the whole house will know what we're doing," I whispered as he hovered over me, frustration and longing on his face.

"Bloody fucking hell," he muttered and then collapsed down the side of me and covered his face with the back of his forearm. "I don't suppose you can pretend we're on a desert island and it's just the two of us, could you?" he asked, hopefully.

I let out my own frustrated breath of air, and said, "Want to go for a drive?"

His head turned towards me and he slowly smiled.

"No reason to stay here," he murmured. "Your brother is clearly recovered. The others are resting near their
Stoicheio
. It would be wise to see what's happening in the city, from a purely strategic and overall safety point of view."

"Absolutely," I agreed, wholeheartedly.

He jumped up off the bed displaying his youthful prowess beautifully and announced, "I'll bring the car around the front, you bring the blanket."

And then practically ran out of the room, that same thunder and lightning in his focused gaze, but now mixed with a little hope and excitement.

I just prayed it wasn't Genesis' turn to cock-block us this time. Mark had managed to do an excellent job, I'm not sure we'd survive the interruption of the End of Days as well.

My brother was bad enough.

The tension in the SUV was thick and electric. I was momentarily relieved not to have our
Stoicheio
able to join in the fun right now. Had
Pyrkagia
been available to draw on, I was sure the temperature inside the vehicle would have surpassed the hot of right now and exploded into blistering.

To take my mind off the impending and much wanted upcoming activities, and the logistics of actually finding a safe place to carry them out, I focused on the roadways and buildings and people we passed. In the short amount of time since the earthquake, the humans had rallied. An organisation of sorts was noticeable on the streets.

Big blue porta-loos dotted the cracked pavement, large piles of rubble were being added to with wheelbarrow loads from nearby properties. A truck stood at the intersection of the roads at the end of our street, on it large clear flagons of water being handed out along with plastic wrapped care-parcels full of foodstuffs and survival essentials.

The earthquake in Christchurch a few years back had certainly put a rocket up the Civil Defence's backsides, their rapid response to this disaster was commendable. But they didn't know this wasn't the end. And there was no point warning them.

Of course the doomsday preacher on the end of another street, standing on an upturned wooden box and yelling at the top of his lungs about God's fury and the penance of mankind was a foreshadowing. Just the wrong god and wrong crimes to be paid for. I'm sure the balance of the Elements had nothing to do with greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, gluttony or wrath.

We made our way through the upheaval and evidence of humanity's desire to survive, and wended up the curved road of Mount Victoria, coming to rest in a thankfully abandoned carpark. The clean-up of the city's streets having not made it this far, some off-roading had to be undertaken just to reach the summit.

The cooling tick of the engine filled the space as we looked out across Wellington and its harbour. From here we had a panoramic view of the entire city, covered in a haze of smoke from open fires, mired in a pall of broken civilisation and cloaked in an elevated level of fear. They may not have known more was to come, but the humans knew this was a disaster on a scale never witnessed globally before. It wasn't natural, even though it appeared to have taken form in a natural way. Earthquakes, the earth's unspoken temper tantrums.

"Come on," Theo encouraged, opening his side of the car and pulling the blanket out after him, and a little soft sided chilli-bin I hadn't noticed he'd had stored on the back seat until then. I followed to where he took his time laying the woollen rug out, in a spot of still intact grass just beyond the tarseal of the carpark.

It was too open for my liking, but no one was around to see. Too busy picking up the remnants of their lives down in the shattered city beneath us. And there was something about this place. If God had always appeared to live in a heaven in the sky,
Aetheros
existed around us. On the highest available peak in our newly adopted town.

Theo held out his hand and I didn't hesitate to grip it, letting him guide me onto the blanket beside him. We had a spectacular view of utter mayhem. Somehow it fitted the mood.

He began rummaging in the chilli-bin, pulling out a bottle of wine and two glasses and a Tupperware container full of Aktor-style cheese and crackers, fruit and nuts. My eyes welled and I glanced up at Theo's face.