His Name

[Ayla’s POV]

I ignore Aera’s protests as I begin to move, rushing out of the kitchen and then up one flight of stairs to another until I find myself standing in front of Celia’s room.

Sucking in a breath, I barge in and stop dead in my tracks as a wave of power slams into me.

Cursing, I take in Celia’s hunched-over form and the circle of flames that surrounds it.

"Celia!" I gasp, attempting to take a step forward but stopping as more power hits me. "Celia, you have to stop!"

Since turning sixteen, Celia and Isbalella had developed elemental abilities that were passed down to them through Aunt Lennox’s bloodline. However, since no one knew much about that side of their lineage, it took a bit to learn to control them.

Usually, the twins had their abilities under control, but when their emotions took over, things like this tended to happen, especially when it came to Celia.

"Stay away," Celia growls, fixing her red gaze on me. "I don't want to see you!"

Didn't want to see me? Christ, was she really that into Aera? If that was the case, why didn’t she say anything when he asked me to dance?

"Why is it you?" She continues, the fire around her growing stronger. "Why is it always you?"

"Celia," I sigh, taking a few hesitant steps forward. "Please calm down so we can talk about this, okay?"

"NO!" Celia shrieks, sending her power slamming into me again.

Huffing, I hold my ground. Fine, if she wanted to use power against power, I’d oblige her, even though I knew it was dangerous to tap into it. If I were to slip for even a moment, then there was a good possibility this whole fucking room would be destroyed, but I was willing to risk it to calm my cousin down.

Slowly, I creep forward until a suffocating heat is pressing against my skin, willing me to stay away, but I continue to push until finally I’m inside and kneeling in front of Celia.

"Hey," I sigh, reaching out and touching her shoulder. "Remember what your mother told you. You’ve got to stop this before you destroy the whole place."

For a moment, Celia silently stares at me as if she doesn’t quite recognize me. Good, at least she wasn’t lashing out anymore, but for how long would she be like this? Usually, when her abilities got to this point, it was hard as hell to get her to reign them in. Most times, it would take Brian sedating her, but on rare occasions, she could manage to stop what she started.

"Why was it you?" she repeats, tears beginning to stream down her face. "You’re nothing more than an orphan and a monster."

Celia’s words are like a slap in the face and leave me both shocked and hurt. Was this how she thought of me this whole time? I knew it was how Crimson Tides saw me and even how my future pack, Midnight Rose, saw me, but I didn’t know it was how she saw me.

"Is that how you’ve always seen me?" I ask quietly, trying to keep my emotions in check out of fear of slipping up and killing us both. "That’s okay." It was a lie, but right now the biggest concern is calming Celia. "I’m used to it, so you don’t have to worry about hurting my feelings."

"Why is it always you?" Celia continues, ignoring what I said. "Even when it comes to mom and dad, you’re the better-liked one."

Better liked? Not hardly. I wasn’t their flesh and blood, and my parents attempted to kill them in the past. Sure, I didn’t doubt they cared for me, but favoring me over their own child was a bit of a stretch.

"That’s not true," I try, hoping that it won’t cause her to flip. "They love you very much; everyone does."

"He doesn’t," Celia hisses, baring her teeth at me. "Just like my parents, he chose you! I’ve liked him since the moment I first laid eyes on him ten years ago, but he never looked my way, but on your first meeting, he…"

She doesn’t finish her sentence as the floor beneath us begins to bend and groan. Shit, this wasn’t working. I had to think of something quick before she took the whole place down, but what...

"I what?"

My eyes widen as Aera’s voice drifts toward us.

No, this was bad. If he was here to witness all this, I just knew that he was going to make matters worse.

Feeling my anxiety flare even more, I take in Celia’s shocked expression.

Wait… Was his presence actually helping to calm her? There was no fucking way, was there?

"Sorry to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t just stand by when I could feel something dangerous happening near me," Aera continues, remaining in place. "Celia, was it? Stop with this foolishness. Don’t you know how to act like a reasonable adult?"

A hiss of shock escapes Celia as her eyes flit to Aera and then back to me. As she eyes me, I can see scorn and accusation flash across her features before her eyes narrow.

"You did this on purpose!" she hisses, sending me crashing backwards. "YOU WANTED HIM TO SEE ME LIKE THIS, DIDN’T YOU?"

As she speaks, she gets to her feet and reaches out, creating a fiery rope that wraps around my neck.

Gasping, I find myself being lifted from the ground, and then I’m being thrown through a window.

Cursing, I brace myself for impact as a large figure erupts from the room I was just forcefully removed from.

"Ayla!"

Aera’s voice is filled with concern as it reaches me, but anything more he may have said is lost to me as my body slams into the ground and red-hot pain shoots through me, causing my world to slowly turn black.

However, before I lose consciousness, a single face flickers across my mind as a desperate need to see him in this moment hits.

"Barren."

[Aera’s POV]

I didn’t mean to interrupt the twos argument. I didn’t mean to escalate matters, but the look on Ayla’s face before she rushed off after her cousin left a sour taste in my mouth.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was moving, following her scent, until I found myself standing in a doorway watching Ayla try to calm Celia, who was clearly out of control.

From what I could make out of what was happening, it seemed like Celia was extremely jealous of Ayla, and after seeing her with me, she had lost it. It was all juvenile and ridiculous since I didn’t even know Celia, but I guess that was how things like this went.

By this point, I was used to it. All the women whose eyes hungrily watched me. Their disgusting mouths the turned up in fake smiles as they tried to win my favor. They were all the fucking same everywhere I went.

All they wanted was my power and my body; they didn’t want me, and that, in the end, was fine.

Since being forced to take over Caelum after my brother’s accident, I had given up on things like a happily ever after. My world was consumed by keeping my father happy and avoiding his wrath over what happened to my brother.

"He doesn’t," Celia hisses, snapping me out of my reverie. "Just like my parents, he chose you! I’ve liked him since the moment I first laid eyes on him ten years ago, but he never looked my way, but on your first meeting, he…"

"I what?" I demand, unable to remain silent any longer.

Who was she to say what who I did or didn’t like, chose, or whatever the hell it was she was angry about? Just like my father, she was deciding for me when I hadn’t given a single fucking clue or inkling toward her claim!

For a moment, neither woman speaks as they try to process my presence. But when Celia’s expression darkens and her immense power slams into me, I know that I may have stepped on a landmine and made matters worse.

"Sorry to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t just stand by when I could feel something dangerous happening near me," I continue, remaining in place. "Celia, was it? Stop with this foolishness. Don’t you know how to act like a reasonable adult?"

"You did this on purpose!" She hisses, sending Ayla crashing backwards and ignoring me entirely. "YOU WANTED HIM TO SEE ME LIKE THIS, DIDN’T YOU?"

As she speaks, she stands and extends her hand so that a fiery rope can erupt from her palm, wrap around Ayla’s throat, and sends her flying through the window.

Not thinking, I begin to move, shooting a glare at Celia, whose face is suddenly filled with shock and fear, then leaping out of the now shattered window that Ayla had been thrown through.

"Ayla!" I yell as she quickly plummets toward the ground below. "BRACE YOURSELF FOR LANDING YOU FOOL!"

I don’t know if she hears since she doesn’t react, but before I can say anything else, she hits the ground, and a large shard of glass erupts through her side.

Cursing, I flip myself around so that I land on my feet beside her. Dropping to my knees, I take in her injury as her expression shifts from shock to yearning and her lips move.

"Barren."

It is a single name, but it sends a wave of fury through me. Who the fuck was she trying to call, especially when I was the one who was here with her?

"That isn’t my name, you idiot," I hiss, ripping her shirt enough to take in the extent of her injury. "And don’t you dare go to sleep!"