“Since arriving in your world, we are each discovering the fulfillment of our latent abilities,” Aerolus added.
Your world. My euphoria at finding kindred spirits, people who would understand what it meant to be different, faded. Marcus might understand my mental mojo, but he was completely out of my league.
I could deal with the whole royalty angle. I mean, I considered myself the queen of weird. But I couldn’t compete with another world. I ignored an odd wrenching emptiness that yawned before me.
“Then you all have different abilities?” I clutched at the thought, anything to distract me from an unwelcome attachment to Marcus. As if he sensed my withdrawal, he frowned, and I hurriedly continued. “I’m just wondering if I’ll be able to pick up on you guys, like I did Marcus.”
“Can you focus on any individuals and deliberately pull their power?” Before I could answer Aerolus, he added, “Try me.”
“And what is it you do beside channel the wind?” I hedged, not as comfortable with Aerolus as I was with the others. Despite the fact he’d seen me half naked, which I was still coming to grips with, Aerolus seemed somehow set apart from his brothers.
“Just try it, Tessa.”
“I’m not sure—” Marcus said.
“Okay,” I interrupted, not wanting to come across as weak. “But control has never worked for me in the past.”
I closed my eyes and looked inward. As I did, I sent out a piece of my being, a tendril of thought to grasp at Aerolus. Something clicked, and I felt heavy, as if a sudden weight pulled me down.
“Now think hard about Marcus’ bed. Envision it in your mind. Don’t question it, just do it,” Aerolus ordered, as if from a great distance.
The minute I did, my body and mind snapped free of Aerolus. A large pressure squeezed, making it hard to breathe. Everything grew dark. A flash of light blinded me. Then…whamo.
I stared in astonishment at Marcus’ bedroom.
Footsteps sounded, and the door burst open. Marcus and his brothers raced inside.
“Excellent, Tessa.” Aerolus grinned widely.
Caught off guard by his enthusiasm, I smiled, trying to relax. My heart continued to pound from the odd experience of being squeezed between places. And that didn’t even make sense.
I had so many questions. If I only knew where to start asking.
“Nice going.” Cadmus gave me a thumbs up.
When I turned to Marcus, his expression was downright icy.
Wait. He’s mad at me?
“That was foolish,” he said, his words clipped. “I’m surprised you didn’t land on the other side of the state.”
Still unnerved by what I’d done, I clapped back, “Oh really, prince charming?” I didn’t need his help to wonder what might have gone wrong. “Want to show me how to do it better?”
He enunciated each word and closed the distance between us. “I don’t teleport. And neither do you. You’re merely borrowing Aerolus’ talent. Don’t forget it.”
Gone was the lover who’d fulfilled my every desire. Marcus Storm had returned with a vengeance. The golden boy from the office never far from trying to remind me of my place.
It shouldn’t have surprised me, but I felt betrayed by the return of his distant personality.
Did the smug bastard have to sound so degrading? At least if we’d been alone, I might have handled it better. But he’d insulted me in front of his brothers, and I could feel my temper spiking.
Mess with a redhead, feel the burn.
“You know, Marcus, you might be hot shit at the office, but having met your brothers, I can see you’re not as special as you like to think. To me, you’re just a…” I paused as energy slithered over me.
“Pray continue.” Marcus folded his arms over his chest and watched me, looking bored. “I’m dying to know what you really think.”
I grappled with the foreign sensation running through me. “Don’t you feel it?”
