Chapter 17
Aiden
I sat on a picnic table, kicking my feet back and forth while Skye braided her damp hair in front of me. Today, she’d popped us over to one of the smallest atolls, with a shallow lagoon in the center.
The lagoon water was a sparkling, clear blue, revealing hundreds of colorful fish and even a shark below the surface.
Brightly colored coral lined the shore we were closest to, and there was a shallow pool close by, leading to a mangrove forest. It all looked like something right out of a travel catalog.
“Remember when I asked if there were sharks down here?” I asked, nodding toward the hammerhead that was checking out the shallows.
Skye snorted. “They’re literally everywhere around here. The lagoons are the perfect place for them.”
“Right,” I muttered. I knew that, of course. I’d grown up along the West Coast, but it was colder there. Sharks weren’t seen too frequently, not like whales, even though I’d only seen some once myself.
Skye finished braiding her hair, then stretched, making her bikini cover ride up and reveal a sliver of her taut stomach.
I was suddenly very hot.
Skye had edged me for over an hour this morning, and I was still horny as hell. Being in the islands was not a good idea long term. My dick could not handle being around Skye in bikinis this often. She was gorgeous, with the type of body they would have made sculptures out of back in the day.
“What are you looking at, angel?”
I coughed, clearing my throat quickly. Skye raised an eyebrow at me.
“Nothing,” I said, my voice a bit too high. “I’m ready to practice my new affinity.”
All playfulness dropped from Skye’s expression. “Good,” she said. “I uh…I invited Rafe to help us in exchange for dinner at the apartment. I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course,” I answered easily. Ever since Skye had almost let Rafe come to bed with us, I was feeling differently about him. I’d never had a problem with him before, not like Wyatt, but Skye had been apprehensive, so I followed her lead.
I was doing that a lot lately.
Skye let me make my own decisions. She never told me what to do. But it was nice to let go and not have to think about things sometimes. If she thought Rafe could help me with my affinity, who was I to argue with her? I’d certainly never had that idea before.
Part of me had just assumed the affinity was a fluke. Like maybe it wasn’t really lightning I’d caught, but some type of electricity from the fire. Wildfires created their own weather all the time. It was possible.
Rafe materialized out of a shadow beneath a patch of mangrove trees, then sauntered over to us.
He looked a little ridiculous, wearing his usual ripped black jeans, black t-shirt and black boots.
He stuck out like a sore thumb. It was a good thing this atoll was mostly inaccessible, at least according to Skye.
“Good morning, love.” The Prince practically purred every time he spoke to Skye. And it definitely had an effect on her. He nodded to me and I only gave him a tight smile in response.
Skye cleared her throat. “Where’d you leave Wyatt?”
Rafe’s lips twitched. “Do you care, darling?”
Skye scowled. “I guess not,” she clipped.
I agreed. Especially after I’d caught Wyatt hanging out with fucking Carissa the other day.
Although…they hadn’t been hanging out. If I wasn’t mistaken, I’d actually witnessed a breakup. But that was also weird, because Wyatt had been broken up with her for a while, or so I’d thought…
Rafe had pulled Skye into a hug while I was lost in my thoughts, and I really resisted the urge to sidle up behind her. The three of us had fallen together so easily at the club, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
“It’s alright if it bothers you, love.” Rafe said quietly. “You don’t have to explain your feelings to me.”
“Or me,” I chimed in.
Damn that smooth fucking prince. He always knew what to say.
Rafe’s dark eyes flashed in the sunlight as he looked over Skye’s head at me, and I almost gulped.
He was pretty intimidating.
He whispered something else in Skye’s ear, and she shivered before batting him away. He only chuckled.
“You’re here to help Aiden, remember?” Skye said, putting her hands on her hips.
“Of course,” he said easily, waving a hand at me. “Aiden, let’s talk.”
I raised my eyebrows as Rafe hopped up onto another picnic table opposite of me. He looked at me for a moment while he worked his jaw. Finally he propped his elbows on his knees.
“Who in your family shares this affinity?” he asked.
“No one,” I replied easily. “The Brandts are all fire affinates.”
“All of them?” Skye asked.
“Lucille isn’t,” Rafe said. “Right?”
“Well, Harper has some, but she never uses it. The last time she tried, she set fire to some drapes.” I explained. “My mother–”
I wasn’t prepared for how my voice shook from simply referring to her. I’d had my moments of panic here and there, but this was new.
Skye took a step forward like she was going to comfort me, but I only shook my head. I didn’t want to look weak in front of Rafe, no matter how understanding he seemed.
“My mother’s affinity is hard to explain. It’s sort of telepathic?”
Rafe watched me carefully. Chances were he already completely understood her affinity, since it was considered powerful.
She’d always bragged about how she had to register with the government when she was only twelve.
That was one of the reasons she considered my fire affinity to be disappointing.
It hadn’t fully awakened until I was almost seventeen.
“What is it, Aiden?” Skye asked.
“She fucks with your brain,” I said quietly. “She makes you think you’re feeling pain.”
Skye’s eyes widened, and she looked to Rafe in outrage, like he was somehow responsible. He blinked, looking surprised by her reaction.
“It’s psychological,” he explained. “It doesn’t actually cause pain, it just makes you think it does.”
“That’s not horrific enough for you?” Skye asked, her eyes wide while she shook her head in disbelief.
“No, love,” Rafe said gently. “It just means it doesn’t leave any physical scars or ailments. The damage is mental.”
I swallowed thickly, looking away from the horrorstricken expression on Skye’s face.
I mean, come on. She squeezed people to death and she was horrified by this?
“Angel,” she whispered. She was suddenly in front of me, and I wasn’t sure if she’d teleported or if I’d just zoned out. She cupped my cheeks, tilting my head to face her. “She did that to you?”
I shrugged, because the answer was obvious, and I didn’t trust my voice.
“Fuck, she’s evil,” Skye whispered. “Aiden, please…”
I shook my head. I knew where this was going.
“I haven’t made a decision,” I croaked. “Please don’t do anything until I’m ready.”
“I would never,” Skye promised at the same moment Rafe asked, “Do what?”
“I’m going to kill Lucille,” Skye announced. “Aiden just has to come around to the idea first.”
“Well, that’s going to be a problem,” the Prince said smoothly before sidling up next to Skye.
I blinked, shrinking slightly under their combined attention. Jesus, it was hot out here.
“Why?” Skye asked sharply, keeping her hands on me while sending him a glare.
“Because I’m going to kill Lucille,” Rafe replied, then looked thoughtful. “Maybe we should kill her together.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, then took a shaky breath as Skye pulled me to her chest.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Rafe murmured, then I felt him move away from us.
“What if I’m never ready?” I asked Skye, even if that wasn’t what Rafe was referring to. She stilled, but then breathed out slowly.
“Then we do whatever you want,” she replied. “Whether or not Lucille dies is up to you. But if it were up to me…”
“It would have to hurt,” I said suddenly, surprising myself. A small trickle of anger had made its way down my spine. Talking about my mother’s affinity seemed to have reawakened some of my darker memories. Times when she’d been practically torturing me in an effort to awaken my affinity.
No, it wasn’t practically torturing me. She’d tortured me, full stop.
She was evil. And if she found out I was alive…
“Skye,” I whispered harshly. “What if she’s looking for me? What if–”
“She’ll never find you here,” Skye said firmly. “And if she somehow does…”
“I don’t want you in danger. You or Zephyr or–”
“Don’t worry about him,” Skye whispered. “Zephyr is just as scary as me, Aiden.”
That almost drew a smile from me as I remembered the day in the kitchen. Skye watched me for a few more seconds, probably checking me over to make sure my heart wasn’t about to pound out of my chest.
“It’ll hurt,” Skye promised finally. “I can do a lot with this affinity.”
I chuckled, because she’d said it a little suggestively in an attempt to change the mood.
“No one’s going to hurt you anymore,” Skye said against my cheek. “I swear, Aiden. You won’t ever know pain like that again.”
I smiled softly before leaning forward and kissing her.
“You’re stronger than you think,” she went on. “Look at why we’re here. You have a second affinity. And it’s…lightning? Electricity?”
“Hell if I know,” I mumbled. I didn’t know shit about my family history, except for how awesome Lucille was. Any of the men in my family could have held this same affinity and I’d never have known. “It could’ve just been a fluke. I mean, what are the odds that I’m connected to you and–”
Skye did not let me finish that thought. She slapped a hand over my mouth, and fucking hell, the horniness came back with a vengeance.
“You cannot be connected to me and be anything less than extraordinary,” she whispered harshly. “Understand?”
Holy shit? I gulped, then nodded. She really meant that. I could see it in her eyes.
“If you insult yourself, you’re insulting me, too. Is that what you want?”
I shook my head frantically as her words settled. No way would I ever intentionally insult Skye again.
“Good. Now let the Prince help you.”