Air: Elementalist Book 1 by Rebecca Wolf (christmas read aloud .TXT) 📗

There was a long pause after I said that, but I didn’t really mind since his fingers continued doing delicious things to me. I guess he had forgotten about that part.  “Babe,” Aiden whispered hoarsely in my ear,  “I AM your own kind.”

My whole body suddenly went still. It felt like I had been plunged into a vat of ice water.

“You’re what?” I said, my voice sounding strange to my own ears. I withdrew his hand from inside my panties and stumbled away from him without making eye contact, “don’t touch me.”

“Babe, please-" he said, his hand outstretched to reclaim me.

“I SAID, DON’T. TOUCH. ME.”  I screamed. The window panes exploded out, and the wind howled and raged, tossing furniture about and slamming Aiden against the far wall. He groaned in pain.” You knew how I felt about elementals, you tricked and manipulated me!”

“No, sweetheart. No-" he said shaking his head, eyes pleading with me to listen.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.” I said brokenly, stricken. Before he could respond, I turned and flew out of the window, the glass shards cutting into me as I left. I didn’t really have a destination in mind, I just knew I needed to get out of there. The windstorm swirling wildly in my wake. I couldn’t go home, I was too out of control. I might accidentally destroy my neighborhood if I didn’t calm down first. I flew up as high as I could, too shocked by everything to actually cry.

Nothing made sense, and yet, as I thought back, everything kind of did.  It took a half an hour for the wind to calm down, and another half an hour before I felt safe enough to head back. I left a message for Penny saying I was sick and would need her to cover for me at the bar. I got into my pajamas, curled up in the fetal position, and screamed into my pillow in despair.

Chapter 11

I wanted to have a pity party. I wanted to bum around in my pjs, eating ice cream, and watching sappy romcoms. Unfortunately, the day before I had agreed to do another smuggler run for Jerry. Jerry represented some very wealthy clientele, and while in the face of Aiden’s betrayal I wanted to shun all elemental business I needed the cash. Anyway, it was more satisfying to charge them double. I  also needed to pick up a new batch of meds and bandages for Sara Lee’s wound. The last time I had checked on her, she had smelled like sweet rot, and despite her best efforts, the bandages had been dirty.

I left for the elementalist sector at two-thirty in the morning. Right after my shift ended I went to the bathroom and changed into a black hoody, and thick leggings. After taking the trash out the back door I took off.

One of the most glorious things about being an air elemental is that I don't really need to breathe because I AM air. I could fly as high as I needed to without being spotted by those around me. It was one of the things that made me such a good smuggler. My ability to go places that people normally couldn’t go, and my speed getting places without the assistance of a vehicle. I smuggled small things that I could easily fit into a back pack.

Some people thought smuggling was immoral. I personally thought it was immoral that the people in my neighborhood didn’t have access to basic amenities, like medication, or hygiene products, without paying exorbitant prices. The people who were doing the judging were mostly the elementalist elite, and frankly they had a double standard of their own. While they frowned upon my business, they often used me to transfer funds that they didn’t want electronically trace, or to do business with people who were officially their enemies without seeming to do dealings with them. When they had feuds with other families, they themselves didn’t suffer, just the people who lived in their jurisdiction did.

It was a quick, uneventful run. I had left at two-thirty from the bar and it was now four. As I flew back over the countryside, I had a knee jerk reaction to fly a bit lower and look for the field I had seen on fire a few months prior. The sun had just started rising when I passed over it. Looking down, I realized there was a man in the field again. He was lying on his back, looking directly up at me, almost as if he’d been lying in wait.  I felt the air surrounding me heat up and dissipate as the fire from the elementalist below ate away at my reserves. Just great. A replay of that night, except now I had apparently lost the element of surprise. As I got closer, I was able to make out his facial features, and I realized with a pang of betrayal who it was.

“Aiden.” I said as I landed, keeping my voice cold and remote, “I should have guessed the elementalist I met that night was you.”

“I want a chance to explain. You owe me that much,”  he demanded, his voice heated.

“No Aiden, actually I owe you NOTHING.”

“Zephyr, you love me, I love you, the only thing that is keeping us apart is your ridiculous prejudice against your own kind.”

“I’m not prejudiced. My opinion of elementalists is based on fact.”

“Yeah, facts of select members in our society. The only reason your opposed to being with me is based on my status as an elementalist.”

“No, the reason I want nothing to do with you is because you manipulated and deceived me, THE EXACT behavior I have come to know and expect from your kind.” I glared at him, fury growing inside of me. “And the ONLY reason you even want to be with me is BECAUSE of my status as an elementalist, Mr. Hypocrite. Don’t you dare try to invalidate my