Autumn Storm (11 page)

Like it was dead.

She took a step onto the trail, and the
world fell silent and still. Outside the dead corridor, it was
snowing. Inside, the air conditioner was set too low, and the air
didn’t move.

The cloud continued down the silent path.
Fear trickled through her, without her understanding why. She
trailed the cloud as fast as she could go. Snow fell outside the
strange corridor through the forest. The trail ended at a clearing,
but the corridor continued, cutting a path through snow.

Her eyes took in the field. She didn’t
remember any of this place. It was like Decker- a hole in her mind.
If she came to the school before, had she simply never gone this
route or met Decker? Or were they blocked, like the trail was from
snow?

Across the clearing, the cloud entered
another path through the forest, also immune to snow. Her leg began
to ache from the cold. Sonya’s pain patch was fading. Autumn slowed
without stopping. Her instincts – and the elements – wanted her to
go this way. She wasn’t sure what she expected to find. So far,
there was nothing unusual, outside of the path where no snow
fell.

Crossing the clearing, she entered the
forest once more and saw it open to the white-gray sky a short
distance away. The dead corridor ended with the woods. Her fluffy
guide dissipated where the trail ended. Snow covered the area
before her, and she breathed in the cold air, marveling at the
view.

The world seemed to fall away at the cliff
ahead of her. In the distance, she saw sugar-coated trees on the
other side of the massive canyon. She moved forward carefully,
afraid to slip in the snow. As soon as she left the corridor, she
heard the earth grumbling and the air murmuring. The breeze and
snowflakes returned.

She neared the edge of the canyon. Its floor
was covered in white. The whole world was white, pure,
beautiful.

Her breath hung in front of her. Snow fell
silently around her. Air magick’s lonesome wail pushed at her,
nudging her away from the cliff. Autumn breathed in deeply, trying
to pull it into her again.

It let her. She closed her eyes, unnerved by
the cool magick in her body. She shivered. Where the earth had been
tentative and gentle, the air raced through her. It made her feel
almost giddy, exhilarated.

“What’re you doing here?”

The soft, low voice made her heart flip.
Autumn opened her eyes and turned.

Decker was like a streak of night against
the snowy surroundings. Dressed in black, his dark eyes were
piercing, his muscular frame tense. Whereas the girl in her room
had been traced by shadows, Decker’s body was blurred by them.
Autumn had the instant impression of power- and danger.

“Exploring,” she managed.

“Down a forbidden path?” He crossed his arms
and stepped towards her.

“I’m just curious.” Autumn resisted the urge
to move away, aware of the canyon at her back.

He stopped in her personal space again, as
he had at the football game. She held his gaze despite her unease.
He was close enough for her to feel his body heat and the cool
shadows that turned to fire as they entered her body.

“Primarily air magick,” he assessed.
“Secondary earth.”

“Yeah,” she replied.

“Interesting combination.”

Decker circled her, his warmth and proximity
stirring her body in ways she didn’t like. His magick was too
intimate, skimming her blood the same way her elements did. They
didn’t have to learn her body as hers did. They explored her as if
they already knew her and were reacquainting themselves. They
welcomed her.

The strange sense threw her into confusion.
She hated being unable to control his invasion of magick but still
found herself captivated by his dark allure. His touch had sizzled
at the game, and she was almost able to imagine what it would feel
like for his hands to move over her body.

“What are you?” she asked to distract her
thoughts.

“Fire.” He paused in front of her. “You
can’t tell?”

The husky timbre of his voice and the
intensity of his gaze made her face hot. Fleeting amusement crossed
his features. She sensed he knew the effect he had on people. Where
his twin seemed uncomfortable with his magick, Decker was a part of
it, a hunter with no second thoughts about toying with his
prey.

“I’m also water and spirit,” he added.

She absorbed the words, recalling what she’d
read in the orientation program. “Passion and intuition without
balance.”

“I take it you read the book.”

She smiled faintly at his look. “It fits
you.”

“Does it?”

“Impulsive and unrestrained. Good in a dark
alley, as I learned the other night,” she paused. Her instincts
prodded her. “Probably not so good in normal relationships. Too
much potential for collateral damage.”

“Interesting,” he said. She thought she saw
anger in his gaze. “Beck doesn’t usually date girls who can
think.”

“We’re not dating, and at least he tries to
be sweet.”

“Or he’s taking pity on you. You’re not his
type.”

This time, it was anger that made her face
warm.

“Sucks when someone reads you like that,
doesn’t it?” Decker asked.

She dropped her gaze to his chest,
repeating, “Like I said. Collateral damage.”

“Collateral damage implies innocence.” He
tipped her chin up to meet her gaze again. He traced his thumb
against her lips. A charge tore through her. Her breath caught at
the sensation of yearning that skimmed her blood and settled at the
base of her belly. “Innocent people don’t react like you are.”

Pain in her temple. His husky voice and
charged touch, fire, a cabin in the woods. The memory faded,
replaced by another that tugged free of the depths of her mind.

She’d visited a zoo once and paused in front
of the cage of a growling panther. It paced back and forth behind
its enclosure, eyeing the onlookers in a way that said it was
choosing which one to eat first when it escaped. Decker was as
sensual and strong as the great cat, unafraid to use that power and
magick, and there was no cage between them.

Autumn lifted her chin to break the
connection, anger burning alongside the desire and fear in her
body. She’d felt helpless too often to let anyone wrest her control
from her, no matter how aroused she was at the idea of discovering
how deep his passion ran.

“That usually works,” he said.

“The last thing I want is to be burned or
boiled or whatever might happen next,” she replied.

“Some other time then.”

Though he stayed in her personal space, the
magick around her shifted, releasing her. The heat in her blood was
replaced by the chill of the snowy morning. She shivered.

“My spirit magick can’t read you,” he said,
studying her with less intensity and more genuine interest.

“Maybe she’s immune to assholes.”

Decker didn’t flinch at his brother’s tone,
as if already knowing he was there.

Autumn took a step to the side, exhausted by
the effort of resisting Decker’s draw. Beck stood at the edge of
the forest at the end of the corridor. He was dressed in a cream
jacket, boots and jeans, though his gaze was intent.

“You look cold,” Beck said to her.

She nodded. He unzipped the coat to display
a light blue sweater that almost matched hers. He left the
corridor, pulling off the jacket as he went. Decker turned at his
approach. Beck faced his brother and handed the coat to Autumn.

She took it and huddled into it, grateful
for its warmth.

The brothers were staring at each other.
Autumn glanced up from zipping the coat, her gaze lingering.
Side-by-side, she saw how much they looked alike and how different
they really were. Beck’s magick was a white mantle, and it rendered
his features and the air around him brighter. Decker’s magick, on
the other hand, was black.

“This is the second time I’ve had to find
her for you,” Decker baited.

Autumn sighed, her blood agitated by
Decker’s magick and soothed by Beck’s. The sensations warred within
her while the testosterone and magick between the twins was like
the tension before a storm.

“I can’t be everywhere at once,” Beck
snapped. “None of us are allowed down here.” This he addressed at
her with a pointed look.

“Just don’t knock this one up,” Decker
said.

“At the rate you’re going, you’ve probably
gotten close to a hundred girls pregnant.”

The twins stepped closer to each other in a
sign Autumn knew was not good. She didn’t want to be the one
nearest the cliff when their fists started flying. She breathed in
deeply to pull at the air magick. It filled her.

“She’s smart, Beck,” Decker continued.
“Smarter than you. Didn’t think smart, crippled girls were your
type.”

“Leave the poor girl alone, Decker. She’s
been through enough.”

Her face flamed. Decker toyed with both of
them on purpose, and Beck was too stupidly honest to think before
speaking. She released the air magick without really knowing what
it’d do.

It shoved them away from her and away from
one another with enough force that both gave her startled
looks.

“Oh, no,” Beck said with a shake of his
head. “You can’t use magick against
us.
”

“Stop talking down to me,” she snapped. “I’m
not poor, crippled invalid.”

“I didn’t mean-“

“Shut up, B-“

“You’re both assholes.” Her words silenced
them. She limped towards them, fed up and ready to go back to her
warm room. “If running into both of you is why this path is off
limits, I totally get it.”

Neither spoke, and she reached the corridor
without sliding in the snow. Her back was stiff and her leg swollen
again. Sonya’s magick had worn off. Autumn gritted her teeth as
each step grew more painful. She made it halfway across the
clearing when she heard someone trotting after her.

“Hey,” Beck said, slowing as he joined her.
“Sorry about that.”

“You can have your coat back when we get to
the school.”

He chuckled. “I’m not that bad, am I?”

She said nothing.

“Hold on.” He took her arm to stop her and
moved in front of her.

Autumn barely held her tongue, anxious to
get back for painkillers. His aura soothed her, as gentle as
Decker’s was intense. Beck’s teal eyes scoured her face.

“Thought so,” he said. He held out his
hands.

She glared at him.

“Asshole or not, I can take the pain away,”
he said with a smile. “Trust me.”

Grudgingly, she placed her cold hands in
his. His were large and warm. His earth magick floated through her,
finding its way to where she hurt most while replacing the cold
chill of air in her blood. Autumn sighed and wobbled on her feet,
leaning into him. She rested her head against his chest.

“I’m good for something,” he said softly. He
released one hand to drape his arm around her, steadying her. “You
okay?”

“Yeah.”

“My brother scare you?”

“Not really. Made me mad.”

“He’s got that effect on me, too.”

Beck’s lightness was contagious. Her sour
mood faded.

“I don’t think of you as a poor, crippled
girl,” Beck added. “I’m sorry if I come across as kind of …I don’t
know …insensitive?”

“Arrogant,” she supplied.

“Maybe that.”

“Thoughtless.”

He laughed. “Okay, okay, you win.”

Autumn smiled and leaned away, meeting his
gaze. She’d resisted Decker only to fall into Beck’s subtle spell.
He raised an eyebrow, as if asking if she wanted to lob anymore
insults at him. His eyes were sparkling again.

“C’mon,” he said when she was quiet. He
released her and held out his arm.

She took it. He wrapped his arm beneath hers
and gripped her hand to keep from breaking the healing magick. As
sweet as he was being, her mind was on Decker and the fire he
stirred in her blood. The skin on her chin burned where he’d
touched her, and she couldn’t forget the heat in his gaze. Fire and
water, two elements capable of consuming …

She shook her head. Women that fell for bad
boys rarely seemed to end up happy, if television was any
guide.

“Can I ask you something?” she asked.

“Sure.”

“Who’d you knock up? Please don’t say
Dawn.”

“You learned fast how pleasant she can be,”
he said with a grimace. “Yeah, she’s the one.”

“You should’ve known better,” she mused.
“But I guess the blond hair did you in.”

“I like me some pretty blonds.” He replied
with a wink.

Despite his easy answer, she sensed he was
troubled. She didn’t have to ask why; he wasn’t comfortable using
his magick. He probably wasn’t comfortable with the idea of being a
father. For once, she pitied someone else and didn’t press the
issue.

“The snow is beautiful,” she said as they
stepped from the forbidden corridor onto the gravel road.

“At first, until Amber makes me shovel,” he
replied. “When the lake freezes, we can go snowmobiling.”

“Oh,” she groaned as they reached the edge
of the Square. “I left my iPad on the picnic table!”

“No worries. If it doesn’t survive, I’ll get
you a new one.”

“Um, those things aren’t cheap.”

“My dad owns the school. He won’t think
twice about ordering a few more.”

His wink made her flush. Both twins were
charismatic. Any other place and time, she’d be floored they gave
her the time of day. With Beck’s gorgeous eyes and body, the subtle
magick and his awkward attempts at being gentlemanly, he was a
cross of sexy and endearing. His brother was right. In a normal
world, Beck wouldn’t be anywhere near her. He’d be with girls of
Dawn’s caliber: the kind beautiful enough to be models.

After a hesitation, she spoke. “I don’t get
you.”

“I’m easy. What you see is what you
get.”