Just Breathe (16 page)

“I know exactly where I stand with you. Get your fucking paw off me.” He wrenched free but stepped closer. Flames danced over his skin and cried out to her.

The arrogant bastard. But damn it, his hatred was positively orgasmic. She bit her lip and swallowed the saliva filling her mouth.

Let him simmer for a day. He’d taste even better tomorrow once he had a chance to torture himself properly over what he did.

“Why don’t we celebrate our new partnership with a kiss?” She angled her head up and caressed his lips with her breath.

His mouth lowered and hovered just above hers.

Dear gods. She closed her eyes.

“I said I’d fuck you. Kissing wasn’t part of the contract.” The black fuel burning up the wick from his chest into hers brought her to the cusp of release.

A swirl of cold air tickled her trembling lips. When she opened her eyes, her beautiful mate was gone.

But he’d left a taste of his fear behind in the Fire that now joined them. She sampled it, sucked on it, turned it over to inspect it. This wasn’t a fear of her. It was fear of what he’d done to Zoe by joining with Scarlet.

Scarlet tossed her head back and laughed. She might not have to kill Zoe after all. Once the bitch found out about Gavin and Scarlet’s union, she’d suffer right alongside him.

Best. Wedding gift. Ever.

Chapter Seventeen

September 14

At ten o’clock p.m., someone tapped lightly on Zoe’s window. Her heart took off at the speed of light, leaving her staring at the curtain in shock.

She hurtled out of bed and shoved the drapes aside. Squinting to sift through the darkness, she whispered, “Gavin?”

The pool of light beaming from her room revealed the beautiful face of the person she least expected to see outside her window. Her shoulders fell.

“Sinnder. What do you want?”

His long, reddish locks tilted with his head, and a hint of a smile curved one side of his mouth. “To talk.”

Zoe’s hand trembled on the window frame. “I have nothing to say to you. And I have to be up early in the morning. Leave me alone.”

“I was hoping for a tour of your bedroom. Maybe a sleep over. Unlike a Sentinel, I could stay all night. Keep you warm.”

His hot cardamom breath tickled her nose and instant-messaged a wild surge of heat from her stomach to her aching core. She struggled to remain upright. Jesus. Christ.

“Take your Fyre tricks and hit the road. I’m not interested.” She started to close the pane, but he touched her hand. His Fire called to her. Easy to see how people got sucked in by Elementals. She knew better, and she found it hard to resist.

Gavin
still
couldn’t resist.

She closed her eyes.
Uncalled for, Subconscious. Not his fault.

“I need your help.” The seduction left Sinnder’s voice, replaced by something akin to cold determination. What was this about?

Glancing around the neighborhood, she said, “I’ll come out there.”

“It would be…bad if anyone saw us together.” His eyes lost all signs of manipulation or trickery. No flickering red, just warm brown. Tempting, but not for her.

She pulled away from the opening and waved him through, hoping she wasn’t making a terrible mistake. But Sinnder had had plenty of opportunity to hurt or even kill her and hadn’t done either.

Yet.

The Fyre brought along a gust of heat as he crossed the threshold. The combination of his big body and larger-than-life ego devoured the empty space in her tiny room. He glided over to the bed and picked up the wrinkled piece of paper peeking from under her pillow. “What’s this?”

Shit. She snatched the song Gavin had written for her out of Sinnder’s hands. The same tune that had played while they’d had sex in his car the other night. She pounded back the memory with a giant mental hammer. “None of your business. Now, what do you want?”

His eyes narrowed on her. “You miss him.”

She folded her arms over her chest, fled to the corner, and faced him. “So?”

Sinnder bulleted across the room in a streak of crimson and stopped inches from her. She gasped. How did he do that? Pulse racing and eyes wide, she let out her breath slowly.

A strong, dangerous predator leaned in, close enough to kiss her. Or rip out her throat. His nostrils flared, and he turned his nose to her neck. He must have smelled her fear. Her excitement. He filled his lungs and shut his eyes. When he snapped them open, they were red.

Zoe shook all over. “Why are you here, Sinnder? Aside from Fire, I don’t have anything you’d want.”

“Wrong, Translator.” His breath smelled so divine, she was tempted to stick her tongue out for a taste of it.
Damn, Zoe. Focus.

“Well, you certainly don’t want my Water.”

He stared at her silently. A bulb lighted in her brain, and the remains of her fear ebbed away. Shit, maybe he
did
want her Water. “This visit has something to do with Scarlet, doesn’t it?”

The red sparked.

Curioser and curioser. “You want her dead as badly as I do. She hurt you, too.”

His expression darkened, and a crack of pain marred his handsome face. The heat fled his irises. He turned away.

“Tell me what she did to you.”

She stepped in front of him. The Fire tangoing between them cooled. He didn’t answer.

Zoe caressed his warm cheek, and he covered her hand with his.

“Same as she did to you. Took someone I loved.”

The raw emotion in his gaze startled her. It was the first time she’d ever seen him display anything other than thinly veiled Fire.

In that moment, her heart ached for him. For both of them. She clung to his touch for several breaths, and he let her. Nothing sexual, but intimate nonetheless.

They shared a common tragedy and a common goal. Two people with nothing to lose and a hell of a lot to gain by partnering up.

“What do you want to do?”

He released her hand and stepped back. His soft expression reverted to the hard, predatory one she was accustomed to. “I want to kill her.”

“You and me both. How do we do it?”

“If you can handle the Fyres when they launch their attack on the equinox and push Scarlet back into Realis, I can take her from there.”

So, she’d assumed correctly. The Fyres were planning to storm the Dreaming on September twenty-third.

“That’s it? I just get rid of fifty or so Fyres, and give you the glory of snuffing out that bitch on your own? Screw that.” No way she’d let him steal her prize.

“Try a
hundred
or so Fyres, and yes, you’ll want me to handle Scarlet alone. She’s strong enough to kill Eidan himself.”

Zoe hitched her hands to her hips. “Oh, and you are, too?”

His teeth flashed. “I will be.”

“I don’t like not knowing the details. Why should I trust you? We may have a common goal, but who’s to say you aren’t in this to take the Archelemental job yourself? How do I know
you’re
not the bad guy?”

He did that speed demon thing again and suddenly became an intimate occupant of her personal space. He breathed heavily in her face. “I
am
the bad guy,
Wyldling
, and my super power is the only thing that can take out Scarlet. You either want her dead or you don’t. Which is it?”

His
super power
? More mystery. She wished she could spend just one minute digging through his brain. Imagine the secrets she’d uncover. And the desires. She shivered.

Never mind.

Though his aim was to frighten her, her gut told her Sinnder had the power to do exactly what he said. The Fire raging inside him was palpable.

“Scarlet dead sounds heavenly to me. But I don’t want any innocents to get hurt.”

He shook his head. “They’re already getting hurt. And the death toll will continue to climb. Get the Wæters’ Archelemental in place, lead your little army into battle on the equinox, and let me handle Scarlet.”

Zoe lifted her chin. “I’ll keep the whales safe and do whatever I can to help the Wyldlings in the Dreaming, but I’m just one woman. I doubt I’ll be much help to you or anyone else.”

Sinnder’s mouth eased into a loose, rugged grin. He shook the tousled hair out of his eyes like a sated, lazy lion tossing its mane. “You underestimate yourself.” His gaze dipped to the center of her chest, then he refocused on her eyes. “I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to hold your own. And then some.”

Not likely, but she’d damn sure try. With her slowly building reserve of Wæter Elementals congregating nightly outside the Dreaming, waiting for the Veil to open and let them in, and the whales she’d been talking to on the boat every day, she had amassed a small contingent of ‘soldiers.’

Sinnder sauntered to the window.

“Wait. How will I contact you if I need to speak with you?”

His back to her, he said, “Light a fire and call my name. I’ll hear you.”

“You know, it would be a hell of a lot easier if you’d just tell me where the door to the Dreaming is, let me go in, do my thing, and chase Scarlet out
now
, rather than later.”

He glanced over his shoulder. “I’m sure it would. But then I wouldn’t get what
I
want out of the deal: more Fire. Think of it as a compromise.”

A shiver climbed her spine. “What exactly are you planning to do with the Fire when you get it?”

“Take care of Australia’s Fyre Elemental problem for once and for all.”

Oh, hell. She swallowed the lump of dread lodged in her throat. “Wiping out an entire population of Fyres will throw off the Balance in a different direction.”

“Not
all
of the Fyres. Just the two biggest ones.”

She barely had time to catch her next breath, and he was gone.

* * * *

Gavin had been searching about six hours for the Dreamweaver in the Dreaming when Fire reared unexpectedly inside his chest. He stumbled to a stop. Two seconds later, heat warmed his back. What the hell?

He whirled to face the Fyre behind him, his Water guns cocked and targeted on the bloke’s heart. It was the male Elemental who’d killed three teens a few nights ago and narrowly escaped death after Gavin’s Water bomb had misfired.

He eyed Gavin’s weapons and raised his hands in surrender. Good. He bought the bluff.

Gavin didn’t have shit for ammo. Again.

“Why are you following me?”

The Fyre licked his lips. “I’m hungry.”

“Yeah? Have you had my specialty? Here, try a bite of this fuck you steak.” Gavin decked the guy with a crack to the jaw that launched him a good three meters and ended with a crash landing. His body skidded through the ashes until friction and a half-exposed tree root stopped him. At least Gavin’s Earth was working.

There was that damn flare again. Dread sunk his gut like a doomed ship as he pressed a palm against his hot sternum. Flames leaped within. Recognizing the cinnamon bite, he swallowed hard. Fuck.

Scarlet’s mocking laughter echoed in his ears. He’d been experiencing these hot flashes since he made the oath. The truth he feared could no longer be denied. He wasn’t just bound to her. Part of her Fire was lodged deep inside him, attached to his. Their Fire was one.

Finish him off
, Scarlet seemed to say.

Gladly, but not for her. Gavin trudged to the Fyre’s prone body, a cloud of gray dust announcing his arrival. He leaned down. The Fyre must’ve been pretty young. He didn’t have much—

The Elemental’s eyes snapped open, and he yanked Gavin to the ground, crushing his face into a patch of glowing embers.

Pain and rage took control and promptly handed the reins over to instinct, which unloaded a volley of vicious blows to the Fyre’s face and neck. An Elemental tap opened and unleashed his fury in full spate, Scarlet goading him on. Anger consumed him, stained his vision red. He didn’t realize the extent of his frenzy until he paused to catch his breath.

The Elemental’s face was a red crater. Gavin held up his hands. They were sticky with gore—brain matter, meaty chunks of skin, even a few shards of bone. Lacerations sliced deep into his knuckles. Spatters of blood coated his arms and lips. He wiped his mouth and crawled off the body. What the fuck had he done?

But even as he stared in horror at the damage he’d inflicted, the craving for more swelled behind his ribs. Bloodlust filled him, occupied every available space within his body, consumed him.

And he liked it.

Scarlet’s laugh softened to a tickle in his chest, like a lover’s caress. His Fire sunk into hers, wound its tendrils around her. Fucked her. They fed each other, teased with playful jabs, back and forth. His cock stirred, a battering ram against the wall of his pants. Their collective flames stoked and rose together like a long-awaited climax after hours rough sex—too intense to describe.

A long, sad note of music in the distance broke the fever. Gavin shook his head free of Scarlet’s thrall. Her Fire protested with a long, furious hiss. The writhing flames scrambled to regain control, but it was too late. Zoe’s whale call had shattered the spell.

Gavin stood and faced the ocean. Fuck, Scarlet had more power over him than he realized. Stupid fool. He should’ve known better than to take their oath so casually. This was Scarlet. She never did anything half-arsed—least of all playing the role of the jealous, psycho ex-girlfriend.

Closing his eyes, he focused on Zoe’s song and let it wash over him. After a few moments, the Fire retreated, and Scarlet all but disappeared from his mind. He glanced at the bit of blue pulsing in his hands. Water restoration to boot. Gavin smiled. Still his muse. Maybe now more than ever before.

Frantic pleas for help from beyond the forest snagged his attention. He trotted in that direction, glad for Zoe’s Water refill, but fearful of what he might do if Scarlet sunk her claws in again. As long as Fyres were on the other end of his rage, he’d be okay. He just prayed no one else got in the way the next time she decided to blow.

Chapter Eighteen

September 15

Zoe dropped Adriene, Dani, and Elizabeth off at the research house after work and headed to Jack’s. She had somehow navigated the trials of another day, but waking up without Gavin every morning had become harder, rather than easier, as the week wore on. Shouldn’t she be healing by now?