Read Online elemental 01 - whirlwind by Larissa Ladd - Free Book Online Page B

for how it would continue. Aira was fiercely independent, a trait Aiden could appreciate and would normally have enjoyed, but her independent spirit could get her into trouble under the current circumstances. He had never again tried to impress upon her the limits of her abilities, particularly since she hadn’t come into her full power as an elemental yet. But he had been tempted with every argument they’d had since that first day.
    Dylan was the more suitable person, Aiden told himself, as he settled in on the couch in the living room. She was meeting with someone she knew already. If the ‘new client’ was someone suspicious, Dylan could handle the situation. If he wasn’t, then he and Aira could come up with a decent cover, a reason for him to be there. When Aira came down from her bedroom ready for the meeting, Aiden tried not to stare. She was utterly professional looking, in a pair of dark wash jeans, a subdued blouse, and a fitted blazer; but somehow in spite of the fact she was dressed conservatively, Aiden couldn’t keep his eyes from tracing her curves. His gaze lingered at her full bust, the way her hips moved as she walked across the floor in a pair of low heels. For a moment he was tempted to ask her to get something for him from the kitchen, for the sole purpose of seeing her from behind. He conquered the temptation and turned his attention firmly back to the hockey game he was watching, even though he wasn’t interested in the least.
    Dylan came out of his room in a suitably professional looking outfit and he and Aira discussed what the cover would be. Dylan would be her assistant. Aira produced a notebook for him to write in while they met with the clients. They went over their cover story and Aiden thought to himself that it stood as good a chance as any of working. Aiden got involved in the planning just before they left, taking Aira’s phone from her and programming his own cell phone into it as one of the quick-dial contacts.
    “Dylan’s got me on his phone too,” he said. It was an obvious precaution they took with every phone either of them ever owned. “If anything goes down, call me. Even if you can’t talk. If I get a call from you, I’ll know there’s something going on and I can track you down from there.” He didn’t tell her he had a barely-legal program built into his phone that would trace the location of her cell phone once it received her call. It wasn’t important. He could track any number that called, and if Aira and Dylan were separated, it would do no good if Aira couldn’t call.
    Aira said the meeting shouldn’t last longer than an hour and left with Dylan in tow. Aiden tried to settle back into watching the game, but found he felt anxious in spite of the precautions they had taken. While Dylan had never had any problems dealing with similar assignments in the past, Aiden understood from his conversations with Aira’s grandmother they were up against some heavy hitters—something Aiden and Dylan hadn’t really contended with before. The client they were seeing wasn’t an elemental, and had no idea Aira was. Aiden knew there was no reason to suspect anything was out of the ordinary. In addition to the phones, Aiden and Dylan had invested in fail-safes. They carried backup contact methods, so in the worst case scenario, they could always find each other.
    One of Aiden’s fire-aligned talents was tracking. He was a quintessential hunter, like the animals his fire abilities gave him the ability to control. Dylan had limited psychic abilities, which would doubtless become strengthened when he came fully into his power, but at the very least he could lock in on Aiden’s mind anywhere in the world. As teenagers they had tested the ability, increasing the distance gradually. He was able to “read” Aiden and some other people he was close to, in a limited sense, but didn’t have any ability to communicate. Aiden thought if Dylan got sufficiently close to Aira,