Free elemental 06 - the best man by Larissa Ladd Page A

of energy that crackled between them. “Just … think about it. Meet our mom. She might back off a bit once she knows we’re not breaking up any time soon.” 
    “Don’t count on it, Aira. Mom’s fondest wish for the last, what ten years has been for Aiden to settle down and give her grandkids.” Dylan grinned as Aiden groaned, bringing his forehead down to rest on Aira’s arm.
    “Dylan, you are not helping,” Aiden said, turning his head to shoot his brother a baleful look. Dylan fought back the urge to chuckle. He knew the pressure wasn’t only on Aira, and it wasn’t simply a matter of parental meddling. Aiden had latched onto the idea of marrying Aira shortly after they had bonded, wanting to make their position official—not only to the elemental world, but also to their families and to himself. Aiden had been an inveterate bachelor before he had started watching over Aira, but there was a deep undercurrent of romanticism in him that Dylan knew Aiden kept carefully hidden.
     

    Aiden had admitted to Dylan, one night while Aira slept, that he was hungry for a more “settled” life with the mercurial air elemental. It wasn’t that Aiden wanted to stop the work he did with Dylan and now with Aira, or even that he wanted her to assume anything resembling a subordinate role; Aiden wanted the comforts of a real “family” with the woman he loved. 
    “You know,” Aiden had said, tilting his head back and looking up at the stars, “I feel like she won’t be ready to have kids until long after she’s married. And … I never thought I’d say this … but I really want to have kids with her.” Dylan had shrugged, wondering just how much Aiden had actually consulted Aira on his thoughts and plans.
    “Does she want kids?” he had asked his brother bluntly.
    Aiden had made a face at Dylan’s question.
    “Eventually, she says. She feels like it’s her responsibility, especially now that she’s the ruler of her element. But I think she’s scared of the idea. It’s another thing that would interfere with her independence.” Aiden had smiled to himself, and it sent a lurch through Dylan to see the pure, unadulterated affection on his older brother’s face. “I feel like she wants to be tamed—she wants someone to grab hold of her and not let go—but she also wants to be able to come and go as she pleases.”
    “You bonded with her—you started the process before you even had any idea of what you were doing. There had to be something you saw in her that made you swap energies with her.” 
    Aiden’s smile grew wider as he reflected. “Oh yeah … I saw plenty in her. Mostly that she got on my last nerve,” Dylan laughed along with his brother. “But in a good way. She’s not afraid of me in the slightest.”
    “Neither am I,” Dylan said, raising an eyebrow.
    “Yeah, but you’re my brother, you’re not supposed to be afraid of me. She saw right through me the first time we ever spoke. She might have actually beaten me in that first tussle we had if Lorene hadn’t come through and made us stop.”
    Dylan laughed out loud at the thought of it.
     “Leave it to you to fall in love with a woman who could kick your ass.”
     

    Aiden and Aira were practically thrumming with the energy between them as Dylan thought about his conversation with his brother, about what he knew of Aira. He knew for a fact that they would end up married; it was a foregone conclusion. But he also knew that it would happen only on Aira’s terms. She had to come around to the idea on her own, she had to believe that she was getting married because she wanted to—not because people expected her to. Dylan watched the couple in front of him with an odd mixture of hunger and bitterness; he didn’t want Aira for himself. He knew that he and Aira, while they had an excellent understanding of each other, were just not right for each other as a couple. He liked the idea of Aira being part of his family—and admired