Fire And Ice (The Elemental Order - Book 1)

Chapter Three.

Everything around me was black. I couldn't make out anything in my surroundings. It was like standing in a room full of nothing but shadows.

Suddenly, like a flame emerging in the middle of the darkness, Rowan appeared in front of me, glowing like a fire, lighting up the space around us. I was momentarily awestruck by his appearance. He looked just as gorgeous as always, except his eyes were burning a bright amber, no filter hiding his emotions. I could see the desire in his eyes; the longing; the need; the love. He wasn't leashing his control like he usually did. He had let go and didn't seem to care that nothing was stopping him from doing whatever he wanted.

He stepped towards me until he was standing right in front of me, our faces only inches apart. I could feel the heat radiating from his body, soaking into every pore of my skin, as if he were a fire that was intent on burning me to ashes.

Before I could say anything, he was suddenly kissing me, his lips hot and intense on mine, one hand buried in my hair as his other hand gripped my hip and pulled me closer.

I gasped, surprised at the intense emotions that were suddenly assaulting me. I felt like I was burning alive, but I couldn't bring myself to stop. I kissed him back urgently, with a need that I'd never felt before in my life. I tangled my hands in his hair before trailing them across his broad shoulders and over his muscular chest and stomach, before I trailed them to his back, digging my fingernails into his skin as he kissed me harder, devouring my mouth with his.

I couldn't think about anything but him and this incredible kiss, though I knew that there was something in the back of my mind that I desperately needed to remember. Something urgently important. Every time I tried to grab onto the thought, it slipped away.

Suddenly, the heat of his embrace was unbearably hot, burning every inch of my skin with an intensity that struck me breathless. I pulled away from Rowan, finally recalling what I'd been trying to remember, but it was too late.

As soon as I released Rowan, he stumbled backwards before falling onto the floor, gasping for breath and groaning in pain. I still felt as if I were burning, even though we were no longer touching. When I glanced down at my arm, I could see flames licking against the inside of my skin as if I were burning from the inside out. I shoved my own pain away and looked at Rowan, horrified as his lips turned blue, quickly followed by his face and throat. it continued to spread across the entirety of his body until he was completely frozen. He was nothing but a sculpture of ice, lying on the ground, his face frozen in a horrified expression, his frozen eyes staring at me as if saying that this was all my fault.

As I screamed for the both of us, the fire inside of me consumed me, leaving nothing but a pile of ash in its wake.

~

I sat up in my bed, gasping for breath, my hair sticking to my face with sweat, the sheets sticking to my bare legs. I couldn't breathe. All I could see was Rowan frozen in front of me, staring at me with blame in his eyes.

It only became harder to breathe as I struggled to calm myself down, but I managed to regulate my breathing after a few minutes as I leaned back against my pillows, pushing my damp hair out of my face with my hand.

I couldn't get the image of Rowan's frozen body out of my head. It kept replaying itself through my mind over and over again, only making me feel worse with every passing second. If I stayed here, I'd fall apart. I had to get out of here right now and do something to get that image out of my head.

I glanced at my phone on the bedside table and noted that it was 5am, which wasn't too bad as I had fallen asleep pretty early last night. My head throbbed slightly, which I knew was courtesy of the alcohol I'd drunk last night.