Forgotten Elements

“Ow,” I muttered as I limped into the clearing. Clenching my teeth, I removed the throwing star from my leg and tossed it to the side. My thigh, side, and upper back stung from the healing wounds, and that wasn’t taking the bruises into account or how utterly exhausted I was.

The coarse grass dug into my skin as I lay on my back, staring up at the cloudless sky. Sweat soaked my skin and had my clothes clinging to my body. My chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, and I attempted to slow my heart rate.

“Starling, your mate is a sadist,” Jade panted as she sprawled out on the grass a few feet away from me. Blood was smeared on her upper arm, but the wound had been shallow enough that it was now barely a scratch. It came as no surprise when Koa came over from where he stood off to the side, surveying her body for more possible injuries.

Starling’s laugh was pained and breathless as she massaged her right shoulder, wincing as she did so. “Hey, he’s your best friend.” Like Jade and I, she hadn’t been spared and even had dried blood caking one of her thighs.

She and Ander had been officially mated for over three months, and yet I sometimes still found myself amazed by it. Not only because of how he acted around her at first, but because of how adamant he’d been that he would never take on a mate. I’ve never been more happy to be wrong in my entire life, because I’d been sure he would never break that promise he made to himself.

Watching the way his eyes lit up every time she was around was something I’d never get over seeing. I just wished getting a mate would’ve made him less of a hard ass when it came to our training sessions.

I would’ve told Starling to grab one of the tinctures from my bag, but Ander came up behind her and began moving her shoulder around and massaging it. His entire focus was on her as she hissed and groaned at the movements.

Today had been particularly brutal and left me with countless scrapes to heal. Lying on the earth and allowing the connection to flow between me and the ground helped ease the stinging scrapes coating my skin as I listened to the musical cadence of nature. Many of the injuries I received were due to my mind being elsewhere. Last night, I slept like shit—no surprise there with how Parker wound me up only to leave me hanging. I’d yet to see him today and I was debating between slapping him or ignoring him and pretending like last night never happened when I saw him next. Slapping him would be way more satisfying.

The sounds of Alora throwing up pulled my attention to where she stood in the tree line, holding onto a tree trunk. She’d been hit pretty hard in her abdomen, and had she been human, would’ve been cause for concern. As it stood, she had to be in a great deal of pain for her to be unable to hide the effects.

“Reed, can you give her the purple thermos from my bag?” He was the only one still standing, and I wasn’t in the mood to stand just yet. With a small nod, he retrieved the thermos that contained a simple tea made from some healing herbs and would help aid in her natural healing abilities.

I didn’t like how heavily Alora leaned against the tree as she straightened up. She gave Reed a small smile that was marred by her grimace as she accepted the thermos and took a sip.

“Are you alright? Do you need to see a healer?” Ander asked, looking over at Alora.

She waved away his worry, as she did every time she was injured. We still didn’t know if it was due to not trusting healers she didn’t know, or if it was something else, and we hadn’t wanted to push her. She’d been light on the details about everything she went through growing up in the necromancer’s region. We knew the basic structure of their society, which made us uncomfortable, and had our dislike of Kain increasing, but I knew she held back a good deal of what she went through. I could see it in her hesitation when she spoke about her past, and the way she sometimes shifted around when she became uncomfortable with certain topics.

Reed knelt in front of her, lifting her shirt to expose her midriff. As his fingers grazed her stomach—the skin red and already bruising—Alora flinched, followed by a grunt. My exhaustion forgotten, I sat up with worry weighing in my stomach. “How bad does it hurt?” I wasn’t the only one to climb to my feet and move closer.

Alora waved away my concern. “I’m fine, his hands were cold,” she panted, pushing a stray strand of dark hair out of her pale, sweaty face. I didn’t need to be Ari to know she was lying, no one ever described Reed’s hands as cold.

“I’ll take her home and have someone look over her,” Reed said as he stood.

Alora shook her head with a pinched expression. “No, I’m fine—”

“No, you’re not,” Reed interrupted, gently circling his hand around her wrist and stopping her from moving away.

“Call Gemini,” I suggested before Alora could respond.

While she appeared reluctant, she didn’t argue again. She’d met Gemini in the other realm and somewhat trusted the sorceress. Over the past few months, we’d come across her a couple of times, and she’d never been anything but nice to Alora.

Yes, I could’ve and should’ve suggested Parker since Alora knew him and was comfortable around him, but I’d rather not deal with him today. It took Alora a while to become comfortable around everyone in the house, and there had been a bit of an adjustment period, but now she didn’t even flinch when one of us touched her without warning.

Reed nodded as he stared down at Alora, a frown creasing his forehead. After sending a message to Gemini, he scooped Alora into his arms, his movements slow and careful to avoid jostling her. Her complaints at being carried cut off as she hissed and closed her eyes. Reed hurried from the clearing, making sure to keep his arms as still as possible. Based on her reaction, it was clear she’d been downplaying the severity of her injury.

“Nice going Ander,” Ari said as she wiped the sweat from her face using her shirt. She’d been quiet all day and in a bit of a grouchy mood. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who had a tough time sleeping last night.

Ander didn’t take Ari’s comment personally, we all knew shit happened when training. It was why I brought salves and teas to aid in healing. Unfortunately, most of the stuff I brought was for surface wounds. I wasn’t trained to deal with internal injuries. That was the job for skilled healers, which I wasn’t.

“Alora needs to learn to speak up when she’s hurt,” Starling said with a sigh as she held Ander’s hand and rubbed along his forearm with her free hand. There wasn’t any condemnation in her tone, nor had she said this to place blame on Alora or judge her. It was a simple fact. Alora took on too much sometimes and was hesitant to complain or appear weak. “She should’ve stopped as soon as she was injured. How were we supposed to know it was more serious?”

When Alora kept going after being hit, I’d just assumed it was one of those things that appeared worse than it was.

Ander dipped his head to kiss the top of Starling’s head, and a sense of longing filled me. Someday, I wanted what he and Starling had, or even Koa and Jade. By that, I meant at this current moment, not all the shit they went through before their bonds were complete.

My parents had a fated mate bond and growing up seeing the love they had toward each other and for their children made me want that for myself. It didn’t have to be a fated mate bond, I didn’t care if the fates paired us up or not. I just wanted someone who would be my partner and love me the way my parents loved each other.

Some might say I was going about it the wrong way with one-night stands rather than relationships. But with how long-lived our species was, I had more than enough time to find the one. I’d only recently turned twenty-eight, the age that my physical aging stopped. I also knew love wasn’t something you could force. It was something that could happen when you least expected it.

“I know one thing for certain,” Ander said, yanking my attention back to him. “Just because Alora is hurt, doesn’t mean I’m letting you fuckers off easy. Break time’s over, time to get your asses back out there.”

A chorus of groans followed. “I hate you,” Jade grumbled as we took off running.

Hours later, I limped in through the front door and found Gemini sitting on the sofa in our living room, and unfortunately, she wasn’t alone. Parker was sitting in the armchair in front of her, swiveling around in the chair as I entered. His gaze scanned my sweaty body before making eye contact with me. A smirk lifted his lips and my entire focus zeroed in on them, remembering how soft they felt against mine. It was as if he could tell how shitty I slept last night because of him.

Fucker.

Heat surged through my already hot body and settled in my core. Based on his stupid smug expression, he knew exactly what he was doing to me and that pissed me off. I was still on the fence about whether or not I should rip him a new one for the stunt he pulled last night.

I didn’t lash out even though I wanted to and reined in my irritation, using the air around me to center myself. Once I was confident I had my temper and burning desire under control, I moved further into the room.

“How’s Alora?” I directed my question at Gemini, my gaze sliding over the light-colored bag on the table.

“I’ve healed her; she’ll be fine after a deep healing sleep.” Gemini hesitated, a worried expression making an appearance, along with a hint of anger. “She has an unnaturally high pain tolerance, and I’m not saying this as a compliment.”

I didn’t miss her meaning, or why Alora would have such a high pain tolerance. Anger was palpable in the air behind me, and I had no doubt the other’s faces showcased a whole range of anger. In the months Alora has lived with us, we’ve all become quite protective of her, thinking of her as one of us. So the thought of her going through enough pain and torture growing up that she had a high pain tolerance had us all seeing red. I personally wouldn’t mind going back to the creature’s realm and kicking Kain in the junk and punching both of her parents.

“Thank you for coming all this way to help. Alora has a tough time trusting others,” I said, heading toward the chairs. Parker patted his lap, looking my way with a hint of a smirk pulling at his lips. Ignoring his suggestion for me to sit on his lap, I plopped into the furthest chair away from Parker. Through my peripheral vision, I watched as his smug smirk grew. Asshole.

Gemini waved away my gratitude. “It’s no problem, it’s nice to feel useful. Seriously, anytime you need help, just call.”

Any response I had died when I heard footsteps coming down the hall. I could tell from the rhythm of the steps that they were Reed’s. He entered the living room a few seconds later, his expression unreadable as he headed for the stairs, giving us a small nod of acknowledgment. I didn’t ask how Alora was since he didn’t seem in the mood to talk and I doubted he’d leave her alone if she weren’t alright. He didn’t offer any explanation as he headed up the stairs to his bedroom.

After catching up with Gemini for a few minutes, I excused myself, both because I was tired of sitting around in my gross, sweaty clothes and because I needed to get away from Parker. I was acutely aware of him and every move he made. I had to get out of here before I spontaneously combusted from the heat building in my stomach.

As soon as I entered my bathroom, I stepped out of my exercise clothes and tossed them off to the side. Strands of my red hair were sticking to my neck, and I could only imagine how messy my hair was. Based on how the ponytail holder had slid down to the ends of my hair, the odds of it looking presentable weren’t good.

The lukewarm water of the shower had me near moaning at how it cooled my heated skin. After cleaning all the sweat and blood from my body, I soaked in the cleansing energy from the water as I dropped my forehead to the tile under the shower head. Desire was still thrumming through my body, reignited by seeing Parker.

I knew I needed to take the edge off. It was either that or calling Parker to finish what he started. As I touched myself, I couldn’t help but be disappointed that it was my fingers brushing against my clit and curling against my g-spot. My body craved a specific set of hands, and another body part. But even though I kept wishing Parker was in here with me, I did manage to take the edge off.

Did I think about him as I brought myself to a mediocre orgasm? Possibly.

Despite taking the edge off and cooling down my flaming desire, there was still a restlessness boiling under my skin. If this dry spell kept up, I might end up sucking up my pride and begging Parker to fuck me.