“I was wondering if I could beat you in a fight,” I replied honestly.
Aiden choked on his soda, leaning over and hiding his face while Skye made a sound of outrage.
“Why the hell were you thinking about that?” Skye demanded.
I smiled at her a little indulgently. “I’m a man. We think about these things.” She scoffed in disbelief. “You don’t believe me? Ask them, they’ve definitely thought about fighting each other.” I nodded toward Aiden and Zephyr.
Skye looked to Aiden, who was trying very hard not to laugh. “You’ve thought about fighting Zephyr?!”
“Not like that,” Aiden said, choking on another laugh. “I was actually worried he’d kickmyass.”
“What?! Why?!” Skye cried.
“Because he fucked my sister,” Zephyr deadpanned. “It’s a man thing.”
Aiden chuckled. “I don’t fuck your sister, dude. She fucks me.”
Zephyr gagged dramatically, and Skye’s cheeks and chest flushed a pretty pink. She looked like she wanted to disappear, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
Things were strained, but getting better. I could work with this.
“You know Zephyr teleports,but he’s also a Healer. I think he has some air, too. Fuck, this is stupid,” Aiden muttered from beside me. I only chuckled in response, deciding now was not the time to argue about Zephyr’s affinities. Aiden was only telling me what he knew.
Aiden and I were down at the nearest empty beach. Thunder had been rolling steadily as the sun set before dinner, but now, there was definitely a storm coming in. The wind had picked up, palm trees and mangroves waving in the breeze while Aiden’s red hair flew into the air.
As soon as the heavy thunder had started, I’d only wiggled my eyebrows at Skye, and she sent Aiden and I out for practice. Aiden was not happy about it. He’d pouted the whole way down here, and now stood with his arms crossed, looking like an overgrown toddler.
It was moments like these that made me wonder exactly what Skye saw in him. Was my Key a brat tamer?
“It’s not stupid. I told Skye I’d help you, so here we are.” I looked up into the sky, in awe of the flashing of light from lightning within the clouds.
Mother nature was intense.
Waves crashed up against the pier, and Aiden winced before rubbing his glowing arms.
“I thought the islands weren’t supposed to get cold,” he said petulantly.
I snorted. “Warm yourself up, kiddo. It’s almost time to catch some lightning.”
Surprisingly, Aiden groaned in frustration, and not at my nickname.
“We don’t even know if its lightning related or electricity related,” he practically whined. “And I burnt the shit out of my hands last time.”
“It’s normal to have to train affinities, Aiden,” I said, a little exasperated. I considered sharing the story of how my shadows had awakened, but something told me it’d traumatize him, so I kept it to myself. I needed him to keep an open mind, even though…yeah, one or both of us could totally get hurt.
“Yeah, and then there’s Wyatt,” Aiden snarked.
“Yes, inducing a migraine during memory manipulation is hardly enjoyable.” I said dismissively, looking up into the clouds as I counted the next roll of lightning and thunder.
“Inducing a migraine?” Aiden said slowly. “Rafe, doesn’t he–”
“Ah!” I said sharply, wagging my finger at him to cut him off. I already felt guilty about shit-talking Wyatt even though he deserved it. We definitely didn’t need to be discussing rumors about what was wrong with his memory scrambling.
“This is stupid,” Aiden whined again. “I’m kind of embarrassed that you’re the one here with me. Skye should have been here.”
“If we’re to be in a family Chain together, you’re going to have to get used to me.” I drawled. “Skye won’t always be here to glue us together.”
“Right,” Aiden said slowly. He had a strange look in his eye as he looked me over. “About that–”
