After making love to me once again we are both lying sated, my head on his chest, listening to his heart, while one of his hands strokes my hair and the other plays with the green tourmaline stone so like the one he’s wearing.

“We need to get up soon,” he murmurs in a husky voice.

“Are you hungry?” I tease, my finger circling over his abs. It still amazes me how my life has changed. I never thought that I would one day have a man in my life. Now I have not only a lover and a friend but a soulmate who is always there to protect and take care of me. Not to mention a body that can make a woman drool.

“Not for food, but I don’t want to tire you out. After all it takes practice to keep up with all this vigour,” he teases pulling at my hair playfully. I laugh at his playfulness; I have been teasing him about his age ever since I heard how old he is. It is quite amazing how old they get and how good they look.

“Well then we better practice, I wouldn’t want you to lose any of that vigour you brag about.” I have been thinking about this for a while, and even though I’m worried that I might freeze or have a panic attack, I want to do this. After being forced to put up with unwanted attention for weeks, nearly dying and being a hair’s breath away from giving up, I won’t let my fears hold me back.

I start by kissing his chest, my hand stroking his abs. I can see his cock twitch as my hand lowers to his waist. I lower my head kissing and licking down his muscled stomach, I feel him tense as my finger circles the head of his cock.

“Aria?” he groans, his hand on my hair holding me still. “Are you sure?”

“Shh,” I whisper, pulling my hair loose from his grip; I take his cock in my hand. My fingers barely close around it; stroking up and down gently I feel him lengthen as I move my hand. Lowering I place my lips to his tip, blowing gently, he groans from behind me his hand again on my hair but this time holding my hair loosely.

“Fuck Sunshine!” he moans as I take his engorged head into my mouth. I feel panic start to engulf me, but I push it back. This will not beat me; I twirl my tongue around the groove just under the head feeling him tense even more. My hand makes it way down until I have his tight balls in my hand, squeezing lightly I move my mouth further down on him and then up. His breathing is laboured as he holds himself still under me, somehow knowing that if he had to start moving I might just not be able to finish.

“Fuck … enough, come here!” he growls in a gravelly voice. He lifts me under my arms and pulls me up until I’m straddling him. “I want to be in you.” And then he’s plunging into me with such force that it takes my breath away. I ride him wildly, our groans mingling while driving us higher. He moves his hand over my clit stroking, pinching, until I feel my walls tightening around him. He takes hold of my neck pulling me down against his chest, while he still pumps up into me. “Drink!” he commands just as I feel the sticky feel of his blood on my lips and then his teeth are sinking into my neck as I hear him roar in release. The slight pain of his bite is driving my orgasm higher, until I’m sure that I’m going to pass out.

After what feels like hours, but couldn’t be more than a few minutes my mind starts to calm. My breathing is still erratic. I’m pleased to hear him breathing just as hard as I am. I had asked him before what would happen when we got bored with each other from being together for centuries. He had laughed at me, saying that as Elemental’s we don’t get bored. If anything, it just gets better between mates.

“If … this, gets any better … you will kill me,” I say breathlessly.

“With pleasure,” he chuckles, breathlessly hugging me closer.

Our breathing has calmed, and we are holding each other when Brandr’s phone starts ringing. “Yeah!” he answers. I can feel him tense under me as the person on the other end speaks. “We’ll be there in ten!” he snaps, disconnecting the call.

“Get up Sunshine, the cops are out front wanting to talk to you.” At his words my heart jumps in alarm. What could they possibly want with me again? I had already told them everything that I could. “Look at me! Don’t worry, nothing is going to happen, I will be with you all the time.” He is up, and is now standing in front of me stroking my cheek as I’m still sitting on the bed. Looking up at my very sexy naked mate my nerves calm knowing that whatever the cops might want, he will never let them take me away from him.

“Okay, let’s do this,” I say calmly.

Ten minutes later Brandr guides me into the bar. As soon as we walk in I see Draco and Wulf sitting with Detective Thompson. Ceric, Bjarni and Bion are at the bar drinking and talking to Gloria who is behind the bar serving drinks. When they see us they nod then go back to their drinking.

“Miss Dell!” Detective Thompson greets when he sees us approaching. Standing up, he extends his hand to Brandr and nods to me. “I’m sorry to be here without contacting you first but you see we have a man who we think could be involved in what happened that day at the farm, and would like to ask you to identify him.” I open my mind, trying to hear his thoughts to see if there is any hidden objective to his visit.

When I’m close to Brandr other thoughts are quiet unless I want to hear them. I figured that out when I had my first confrontation with Lidia. She looks unhurt, and she’s here out of her own free will. Contrary to him; who is tense and glaring at me. He is protective of her. I hear him think.

“Sure Detective, when do you need me to come in?” I ask, placing my hand over Brandr’s closed fist. Instantly I feel him relax and open his hand to hold mine.

“Oh, no need to come in. I have brought some photos that I would like you to look at. Before I show them to you I would like to apologize. You see we found him in a ravine a few kilometres out of town. It seems like he was beaten before he was killed and tossed in the ravine.”

“You want her to look at photos of a dead guy?” Brandr growls angrily as he stands up. “Do you know how long it took her to heal after the beating she got? She still has nightmares at night and you want to add to that.” I can feel the heat building in his hand as his anger grows.

“I’m really sorry about that, but as the only witness I’m afraid she’s the only one that can do this;” Detective Thompson says apologetically as he looks up at Brandr’s angry glare. I hope that this is the guy we are looking for, and then we can close the damn case. From what we heard the other three were killed when the Keres clubhouse was burnt down.

“It’s okay, I want to do this. I want the men caught for what they did.” I squeeze Brandr’s hand looking up at his angry face to let him know that it really is okay. After a minute, Brandr looks over at the detective and nods reluctantly.

Four photos are laid out in front of me. Instantly I recognize the man on the photos. He wasn’t one of the men who had come to the farm, but he was the one who had been at the clubhouse when I arrived. “Yes, he’s one of them,” I say quietly. The man had been beaten badly before he died. His face was swollen, and his arm looked like they were broken, but even with the swelling I recognize him.

“Are you sure Miss Dell?” he asks.

“She fucking said so, didn’t she?” Brandr roars. I discreetly take my hand away from his as I can feel my skin start to blister with the heat radiating from his hand.

“Yes, I am,” I say before the detective can answer.

“Great, I shouldn’t have to bother you anymore as we have information to prove that the other three died in a fire at their clubhouse. Therefore, the case is now closed, seeing as the last one has been identified,” he says as he picks up the photos.

A few minutes later he’s making his way outside hopefully never to bug us again, Bjarni escorting him to his car. “What the fuck Dude, you nearly roasted our asses!” Ceric grumbles, as he comes to stand next to us. “The only reason why I’m not standing here naked to cool down is that I was afraid that Aria would see what she’s missing,” he quips, stepping back hurriedly when Brandr takes a swing at him.

“Let me see your hand Sweetheart!” Bion calls out as he crouches next to me taking my hand in his.

“Fuck, did I hurt you?” Brandr gasps as he sees that my hand is red and blistering in some places. His expression filling with anguish at the damage he sees.

“It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt at all,” I lie, trying to appease him.

“Motherfucker!” he roars, not believing my lie. The anger he’s feeling for himself plain to see. “I’m sorry.” He’s about to stroke my face when he pulls his hand back again hurriedly “Fuck!” He turns towards the wall that’s behind him and punches it, making a dent in the brick wall. His knuckles instantly start bleeding.

“Brandr!” I moan. Shooting out of my chair I stretch my good hand to touch his chest as he turns back towards me, but he moves away quickly before I can touch him.

“Aria, how about I tend to your hand and you let him cool down a bit?” Bion says as he comes to stand next to me. Draco moves towards Brandr, placing his hand on his shoulder I see him squeeze in understanding. As a fire bender himself the heat coming from Brandr’s skin doesn’t affect him.

“How about you go with Bion, so he can tend to your hand Aria?” Draco calls out not looking at me but keeping his eyes on Brandr who is now breathing in deeply, trying to calm himself. His eyes focused on me, anguish filling them. From what I have come to know about all these Elemental men, hurting a woman is a big no for them, but hurting your own mate is inexcusable for them, even if done unintentionally.

“It’s okay Brandr, it really is,” I say as I follow Bion out of the bar area. Before we reach the corridor, I hear another crash and then Brandr roar. I’m about to turn around when Bion takes hold of my upper arm guiding me away.

“I have to go back!” I cry, trying to pull my arm loose but Bion won’t let me.

“Let him cool down Sweetheart, trust me it’s the best thing you can do right now. I will heal your hand, so that when you see him again it won’t look so raw,” he says, pulling me after him.

“I can feel his anguish,” I whisper, the tightness around my heart making me cry in sadness.

“Once he lets off some steam he will be fine. Still feeling like shit for hurting you but fine,” Bion says as we walk into the infirmary. “Now, let’s look at that hand.” He guides me towards a chair. Sitting opposite me he opens a drawer of a cabinet, pulling out a tube that I saw him use on Gabriela when she burnt herself. “This won’t hurt at all, it will cool the sting and the pain that you are feeling. By tomorrow there will be no more pain just a little redness.” He tells me as he starts to spread the clear gel over my hand.

Instantly, I feel a soothing coolness spreading, when he finishes his treatment one of his hands holds mine still while the other hovers a few centimetres over my injured hand. His grass green eyes start to shine with a haunting light as I feel a light swirl of movement on my hand, but looking down I see that he’s still not touching me.

“How are you doing that?” I ask surprised at the feeling of calm that is surrounding me, the pain forgotten.

After a few minutes he takes his hands away, smiling at me he says, “I was just calming your energy a little, also moving the water around in your hand so the burn won’t be so severe.” I’m sure my mouth must be hanging open. As a water bender, I guess he would be able to bend any water, but I had never imagined that they would be able to bend water within people’s bodies.

“Wow!” I say in awe. He starts to laugh at the look of surprise on my face, tapping me playfully under my chin with his finger.

“Now don’t go telling your man how awesome I am okay. We wouldn’t want him to know that you don’t see him as a God anymore,” he teases, making me snort playfully.

“Yeah right, like you could compare,” I tease.

A few minutes later as Bion and I make our way towards the kitchen I stop in my tracks as I see Brandr striding towards us. A frown is marring his forehead, worry filling his eyes, his hands are bleeding, one of them with the knuckles terribly swollen. The tight blue T-shirt that shows off his muscular body ripped at the shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” he says pulling me against his chest he buries his face in my hair. “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he whispers. I can hear his accelerated heartbeat against my ear, his wonderful essence surrounding me, calming my worry for him.

“It’s really okay handsome. Bion is a magic worker; I don’t feel any pain at all,” I say, looking up at him, his eyes penetrating my soul, making sure that I’m okay.

“Well I see that you need my attention as well,” Bion says from behind me. “Let’s go back to the infirmary and let my magic do its work,” he quips. I hear Brandr let out a breath as I pull back and take first one of his hands in mine and then the other.

“Silly man, look what you did to yourself,” I grumble. The knuckles of one hand look like they could be broken. “Let’s go get you fixed up,” I say as I pull him back the way I had just came from. I noticed that Bion had already left probably preparing everything he might need.

“Wait, look at me Sunshine,” he says gruffly. I turn back to him looking at his tense body. “I need you to promise that if I ever hurt you, no matter how slight you will tell me.”

I lift my hand stroking his unshaven jaw. “I promise,” I say. Lifting onto my tip toes I kiss him lightly on the lips. “Now come along, let’s get you looked at.”