The Beginning: A Natura Elementals Novella Duology Read online

  The Beginning, A Natura Elementals Duology

  Copyright © 2020 by Sloane Calder

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover design by Hang Le

  Formatting by Champagne Book Design

  The Mistake

  Copyright @ 2020 by Sloane Calder

  Editing by Christa Desir

  Copyediting by Manuela Velasco and Joyce Lamb

  The Birthday

  Copyright @ 2020 by Sloane Calder

  Copyediting by Joyce Lamb

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission from the publisher and author, except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or places, actual events or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher and author acknowledge the trademark status and trademark ownership of all trademarks, service marks, and word marks mentioned in this book.

  Title Page

  Copyright

  The Mistake

  The Call of Fire

  Epigraph

  The Beginning…

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Playlist—Aleron Foussé

  The Birthday

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Playlist—Elspeth Lennox

  About the Author

  Does love stand a chance against a lifelong quest for revenge? Read Elspeth and Aleron's story in The Call of Fire.

  The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury

  —Marcus Aurelius

  Unimaginable burning surrounded Aleron. Heat gave way to choking pain. Adrenaline flooded him and sent his mind somewhere else, his thoughts fewer. Simpler. Clearer. He couldn’t sense the stone floor beneath him, wasn’t sure if his lungs were drawing air or if his eyelids could close.

  Nothing in his eighteen years had prepared him for the unleashed power of an Alpha Fire.

  He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t anything.

  Fires fry each other. Crisp, like potatoes.

  The truth overwhelmed him. He wasn’t sure if he was dead or about to be incinerated, but his assumptions of his future power proved to be laughably inadequate. His wildest imagination of becoming a steward of the earth hadn’t involved them frying the fuck out of one another.

  A pop sounded.

  The ring hanging against his chest heated as if strong-arming the threatening red mist that promised to reduce him to ash. The bloodied fog cleared, pushed by something unseen, and the surrounding air cooled in a snap. Something coated his body as if he’d been dipped in wax then shoved in ice. The thump in his ears returned, the sound stuttering like his heart was on the verge of flatlining.

  A voice—calm and cool and without an ounce of remorse—said, “You have disappointed me, Bill.”

  Bill. His dad. In trouble.

  Then, through the frantic pounding of his heart, Aleron heard his father plead, “Please, no.”

  Northern Louisiana—One week earlier

  “Don’t make me come up there!”

  His mother’s voice carried up the stairs, the tone not yet at DEFCON levels, so Aleron reached for his cell phone.

  Stretched across the navy comforter on his bed, one hand tucked behind his head, he looked at the screen and smiled. Caitlin. His Caitlin in another photo. Good Goddess above, her pics were going to kill him. Tits stacked. Cleavage ripe. Images both heart-stopping and dick-starting.

  Miss you, he texted.

  Miss you more.

  “Be right down,” he yelled before his mother escalated to the full three-name warning: Aleron Jacques Foussé.

  He returned to the photo. Fate hadn’t just smiled on him. She’d gifted him with Caitlin.

  Can’t wait to talk soon !

  Talk a lot, he replied, adding a smiley face.

  Talk. Their code word for sex. She was ready. Finally. Not that he’d rushed her. Not at all. Sex was a huge fuckin’ deal for both of them. First time, all around, and he didn’t give a damn that his best friend teased him for limiting himself to just one girl instead of playing the field. He laughed to himself. Naturas didn’t hold prudish human views of sex such as waiting until whenever or saving themselves for whatever, but Cait wasn’t a casual fling, so he’d been reading up to make their first time magical.

  Only one more week. One whole week until everything changed.

  “Aleron Jacques Foussé!”

  Uh-oh.

  He buttoned up the fly of his jeans and tugged down his Tulane sweatshirt. His mom ruled four boys with grace and grit, but she didn’t need to know he’d been about to rub one out.

  “I’m gonna kick your—” A crash and a shriek cut off the scream.

  His live-wire twin brothers were at it again. Like they ever stopped tagging each other in the head, the arms, or the balls. Better rescue his poor mama. Professional boy wrangler or not, the woman needed a break.

  He sauntered down the stairs, reached down to give himself a quick adjustment, and made sure his footfalls announced his impending arrival.

  “Here he comes,” Zeph tried to whisper, the younger of the twins unable to keep his voice down.

  Aleron tensed his arms and his gut, waiting for the attack. Little dudes knew better than to clock his nuts. Still, with fourth graders, he prepared for the worst. Punks didn’t know their own strength, and hey, there were two of them. Even at six-five and one-ninety, he could take only so much. If his other brother, Emeric, put down his book long enough to help them, Aleron would actually have to work to pound his brothers into the carpet.

  Good thing none of them had powers yet. Naturas looked human but packed element power: Earth, Air, Fire, Water. He smiled to himself. Little terrors better watch out. Six years would pass before they knew it, and he’d light their punk asses on fire when his power showed up. At the bottom of the stairs, he rounded the corner, certain that shit was about to go down.

  “Y’all better think twice about jacking around with me or my first fireball will have your names on—” He stopped short at the edge of the dark dining room.

  The lights came on.

  “Surprise!” came a resounding chorus.

  His three brothers and his parents stood behind their usual chairs at the massive round table.

  “It’s family dinner? Did I miss something?” Man, he hoped he hadn’t screwed up.

  He walked over to his seat, and his stomach nearly roared at the massive amounts of food staged in the middle of the dark wood.

  “We’re celebrating your decision to attend Tulane and your perfect score on the intermediate Fire exams. I’m proud of you, son, so damned proud. We all are,” his father said, his smile in full effect.

  Emeric, next in line after Aleron, managed to pull out his chair, sit, and continue reading.

  “I’ll be lucky to survive the beginner lessons,” Em mumbled but didn’t look up, his glum face almost hidden by the spine of Fundamentals of Fire Energy.

  Man, the kid needed to lighten up. Spontaneous combustion might be an urban legend with humans, but it was all too real for uptight Fires.

  “Dude, nose outta the book. You’re in sixth grade, not a PhD program,” Al
eron said, keeping his tone light.

  “Can’t waste time.” Em drew his face closer to the page and scowled.

  Poor kid. Only twelve but the oldest soul in the family.

  “Dad and me’ll teach you everything you need to know about Fire, and Mom’s gotcha covered on Air.” Aleron had tried to ease Em’s nerves since the revelation he’d be a Dual—having two complementary powers versus just one—but the kid wore a perma-frown. “No worries, li’l bro. We got you.”

  Aleron pulled out his chair and sat, remembering midnight on his twelfth birthday when he learned about the Fire element power he’d get at twenty-four.

  Emeric looked up, his eyes heavy. “I don’t want two powers. One’s hard enough to learn.”

  “If anyone can handle being a Dual, it’s you and your genius brain. You got this, bud. I promise,” Aleron said, his heart a weight in his chest.

  Emeric took everything too seriously. His schoolwork. His family. His role as a Natura. Without power until age twenty-four, kids still had to study their element so when the energy manifested, they could control themselves around regs. Concealing the Naturas’ existence kept them alive, as good ol’ regular humans killed what they feared.

  “You’ll be an excellent Dual.” His dad gave Em one of his attaboy chin thrusts then glanced around the table. “Right now, we’re not worrying about anything. Tonight’s about Aleron.”

  He scanned the feast before him. Fried chicken. Mashed potatoes. Green beans with bacon. Sourdough bread. Salted butter. All of his favorites.

  He blinked out whatever had just flown into his eyes and looked to his mom. Warmth spread in his chest at her wink. Though he’d never say it out loud, his mom was the freakin’ best.

  “My oldest baby’s heading to college, and he’s top of his Fire class.” She met his gaze, her blue eyes shiny. “The sky can’t even limit you.”

  His response stuck in his throat. He was so ready to go, get out of their tiny-ass town, be on his own a bit, test-drive being an adult. It wasn’t like he’d ever know true freedom. Naturas had to tend the earth, fix humans’ environmental fuckups, and patch up the planet so its core elements could function properly. But he was eighteen and still had six years before he had to take up the mantle he couldn’t avoid.

  “Did Caitlin make her decision?” his dad asked.

  His dad’s tone gave away nothing, but Aleron knew. His parents liked Caitlin, liked her family, but they wanted him to go to college unattached.

  “She chose Tulane,” he said, wanting to shut down the convo pronto. His body stirred at the thought of the two of them, on their own. No curfews. No sleeping apart.

  Goddess, Cait could sleep over. Every. Night. He could wake up beside her. Have sex. So. Much. Sex. Since his dick never took a hard-on vacay, he put his napkin in his lap and leaned forward to peruse the food.

  “Just have fun. If she’s the one, you’ll know.” His mother reached toward his dad.

  His dad lifted their joined hands and pressed her knuckles against his mouth. The guy was always coming up behind Mom, hugging her, kissing her. Ugh. Aleron full-braked on that train of thought. Forget that to fuel up, Naturas needed to hook up. He wasn’t about to consider sex and his parents in the same sentence.

  Still, as his father’s gaze softened and he didn’t let go of his mom’s hand, Aleron’s gut knotted. Man, they loved each other. Like hardcore, I-got-your-back, forever devotion. His mom? What she’d done to marry his dad? Kissed her inheritance, her friends, her family goodbye. Unlike humans, when it came to social class, Naturas stayed in their lane. Period. The upper crust didn’t fall and the lower didn’t rise.

  Yet, she’d given up everything for love by marrying his working-class dad.

  “Whatcha thinkin’, boy?”

  His dad’s deep voice broke through his thoughts.

  One day, I’ll be married twenty-five years, just like you. Have a table full of kids. Have someone who loves me like Mom loves you.

  “Nothing,” Aleron replied, cutting his gaze to the mass of platters stacked with food, “except how much I’m about to chow down.”

  His stomach growled at the scent of deep-fried chicken goodness mingling with the green beans’ bacon. His mom cooked a grocery store’s worth of food every day to fuel four growing boys and a monster truck of a husband.

  His dad nodded toward the table’s center. “Guest of honor starts us off. Load up. There won’t be anything left for seconds.”

  Aleron took the first platter and added a thigh, two breasts, and a leg to his plate, and the somewhat controlled free-for-all began. The usual small talk ensued with Em describing his stress about his science project. Laz and Zeph sought credit for avoiding the principal’s office two weeks in a row. They ate and listened and laughed. He gazed around the room at the candles, their warm glow lighting the dining room, and the roaring fire in the fireplace, no matter the season.

  The conversation lulled as the mashed-potato overload kicked in and mellowed everyone out. His thoughts scattered, and he found himself lost in his own head.

  He wanted to graduate, and yet, a small part of him didn’t want to leave. His gaze dropped to his plate and the chicken he didn’t know how to cook. Pressure built behind his eyes. Fuck, he wasn’t going to lose it over homemade fried chicken.

  He put his napkin beside his unused spoon and sat back in his chair.

  “Did you all get enough?” his mother asked, her tone warning that no one had better leave the table hungry.

  A string of yes, ma’ams sounded.

  “I’ll be right back.” The blue in his mom’s eyes swirled with mischief.

  He ground his jaw and willed his sappy thoughts away. He was a grown-ass man, and there were hundreds of fast-food chicken joints in Louisiana. He’d survive on Popeyes.

  His mom’s footsteps came up behind him. “Make room, please.”

  He pushed his plate toward the table’s center. A cake came to rest in front of him. His mouth watered at the lemon glaze. Congratulations, Aleron took up two lines with four candles above the red script.

  “Thanks, Mom.” Aleron met her gaze over his shoulder then had to look away as she returned to her seat.

  Aleron clenched his jaw to keep it together. Unlike most eighteen-year-olds, he wasn’t annoyed by his parents. Not that he got all sentimental and gushed about how great they were to their faces or anything, but still, he loved them. In fact, their only fault was making it damn near impossible to live up to their example.

  But he would.

  The only thing that mattered was making his family proud.

  Aleron’s dad nodded toward the cake. “Go on, make a vow.”

  Fire erupted across the four candle wicks, one for each element. His parents had taught their sons to honor and respect all four energies, as the earth wouldn’t exist without each power’s efforts. The golden glow of his father’s element flickered. His mother’s Air energy fueled the flames, the fire dancing and alive with sparks. He often wondered which of his parents held the most power. As he looked across the table, the question no longer mattered.

  His parents stared at each other like they were the only two people in the room.

  In that moment, he knew his vow. He wanted what his parents had. Wanted someone to look at him like he was her whole world. Wanted to burn for a woman. Wanted a family. Not terrors like his brothers. Girls, maybe. They had to be easier.

  Aleron stared at the flames then closed his eyes, the light bright on his lids.

  Goddess, let me be a good man. Honorable. Dependable. Wise. Let me become a man who’ll lead by example like my dad. Make me just like Bill Foussé. Give me one person to love. I only need one. And let her love me back.

  He inhaled deeply and wondered if Cait was the one. She had to be. He thought about her constantly, they texted all the time, and man, every part of him woke at the sight of her.

  Yeah. OTP, for sure.

  Opening his eyes, he scattered a stream of breath over
the candles, snuffing them all.

  “That’s my boy,” his father said, his tone full of pride.

  That was Bill Foussé. Warmth and strength and honor. Acting as the right hand to the North American leader and heading up the Elite One enforcement unit, his dad worked for the good of their people.

  The kind of man I’m going to be.

  His mother came around the table, cut the cake, and served everyone a slice. Aleron shoved his manners aside and forked a big-ass bite into his mouth. He closed his eyes, chewed a little, and savored the awesome marriage of lemon and sugar.

  Cake.

  Icing.

  Goddess above, lemon anything had to be something holy.

  His mom didn’t ask, just smiled the smile that made everything right inside him and served him a second slice, bigger than the first.

  “Boys, you need to shower and get to bed.” His mother leveled a get-going glare at his brothers’ protests.

  The twins sighed like they’d been asked to clean toilets. They backed from the table, took off, and thundered up the stairs. Emeric left, his nose still in his book, reading and heading toward the kitchen and somehow missing the wall.

  “Son,” his dad said, his tone light but odd. “We need to speak with you in my study.”

  “This won’t take long,” his mother said, her tone lacking its usual cheer. “We need your help with something.”

  Excitement lit his insides. They needed his help? Sweet.

  They went down the picture-lined hall toward the study. As Aleron passed photo after photo of him and his brothers, curiosity burned bright inside him, his nerves alight with anticipation. Lawn mowing or gutter cleaning didn’t require a meeting in the study. He caught the firm press of his father’s mouth as his mom entered the room. The door closed with a snick.

  Across the room, fire blazed up the chimney.

  “Bill.” His mother closed her eyes.

  The windows opened. A breeze circled through the room and carried the rising heat out into the night air. Although Aleron didn’t have his powers, he could sense the energy of others, especially Fire. He paused at his father’s rare lack of control. Last time he’d seen his dad this frazzled was when the twins decided they wanted to “play with Fire” in the garage using matches and gasoline.