Just Breathe (17 page)

Sadness surged. Happiness receded. Water was Water, regardless of the variety, but man, she wished things could be different. When the time came, she’d fight Fire with the Water of desperation and regret.

And emptiness.

She grounded her turbulent emotions with a righteous dose of Air and shifted attention to her number one priority: saving Australia from descending into hell on earth. Since she and the leader of the Sentinels were no longer speaking, she figured she’d better tell Jack about Sinnder’s warning of another Wyldling attack.

Never having visited her father’s pad, Zoe had no idea what to expect. She rapped on the door, which flew open before her knuckles got to their third tap. Jack yanked her inside and locked the deadbolt behind her. Must’ve been expecting her.

“Hey, Zoe. Glad you made it. Come in and meet my team.”

“Team?”

He ushered her to one of the bedrooms. Female voices flowed out and then silenced when Zoe got to the threshold.

A pink-haired girl who couldn’t have been more than twenty-three smiled and waved from her perch beside the full-sized bed that split the room in half. She reminded Zoe of a flamingo.

Another woman sat in a chair on the other side and met Zoe’s gaze through a pair of glasses. Hard emerald irises practically glowed from behind them. Fragmented memories fired off in Zoe’s brain. The Erthe Elemental who saved her after…

“I know you,” Zoe said.

The dark-haired woman stood and held out her right hand. “Jet Hawthorne. We’ve met.”

On most intimate terms. Jet had seen Zoe from the inside out—reorganized her broken skull bones, glued them back in place, and got her heart pumping again.

Zoe eagerly accepted the offered hand and shook. Holy crap, Jet had a strong grip. “Thanks for putting me back together. I don’t remember much, but…thank you.” She glanced at Jack, who said nothing.

Jet nodded and resumed her seat. A woodsy scent followed her. A little like Gavin’s yummy cedar soap.

The younger woman bounced—literally bounced—to her feet. From either side of her head, pink and black pigtails bobbed, thick as yak fur. She blew a bubble the size of a cantaloupe, sucked it in with a loud pop, and shook Zoe’s hand.

“I’m Vexx. You’re Zoe Morgan. With Cetacean Research Network. Come to see about Whetu, huh?” She looked down at the girl tucked beneath the covers. “Well, join the club. She’s a cute kid, no? So sad what happened to her dad. You knew Iri, didn’t you? I never met him, but I heard about him. Quite a legend among my kind. Such a shame.”

Barely able to keep up with Vexx’s fast talking, Zoe just nodded. The air between them swirled with the same, bubbly animation that poured off Vexx. It kind of made Zoe dizzy.

“Aer Elemental?” she asked.

Vexx made a gun with her fingers, pointed, and winked as she pulled the trigger. “Yep.”

“Whetu’s still not responding,” Jack said from behind her.

Zoe shot a look at Vexx. “I gathered.”

The front door opened in the other room, and the temperature in the house rose. Heavy steps thundered down the hall toward them.

Uh-oh. This couldn’t be good. Zoe turned.

A gorgeous guy with gleaming red eyes and a hard-cut, shoulder length man-bob flamed into the room, the ends of the red-streaked blond hair splaying outward as if possessed by static. “Behold the cock that launched a thousand screams. And that was just last night.”

Zoe tripped over the grinning Jack to get away from the Fyre Elemental. Jack caught and steadied her.

“Oi! Children in the room, you asshole.” Vexx scowled at the guy and gestured to Whetu. The rising pink in her cheeks almost matched her hair.

“Oh, excuse me. Behold the penis that launched a thousand screams.” The Fyre flipped her off and rolled his eyes. Heat and cool wrestled for control of the Elemental thermostat, but Fire quickly gained the upper hand. Vexx threw out a hand. A fierce wind whipped up from nowhere.

Jet shivered, frowned, and then stepped between the Fyre and Vexx. Some of the heat slaked. “Back it up, Byrn.”

He didn’t move.

Matching his height, Jet leaned her chest into his and herded him to the wall.

“I’d love to be your slave. For just one night.” He blew her a kiss.

Amusement hid beneath Jack’s hard expression. The left edge of his lips twitched as if he were trying to keep from bursting out laughing. “Knock it off.”

Byrn’s grin widened, and one of his brows hopped when Jet turned around. He made a show of following her ass with his entire body. Jack slapped his shoulder and guided him to Zoe.

“Byrn, this is my daughter, Dr. Zoe Morgan.” He stressed the ‘Doctor’ part.

Byrn straightened, smoothed his flyaway hair, and checked his breath in a curved palm. Then he snagged her fingers between his and brought them to his mouth for a kiss. At least, she expected a kiss. The heat of his exhalation lingered on the back of her hand, teasing her Fire to the surface, testing it.

She pulled back and turned to Jack. “I don’t like him.”

Now Jack laughed out loud. “Nobody does.”

Byrn shook out his arms like a boxer before a match, bounced on the balls of his feet, then gathered the hair at the nape of his neck and tied it in a loose ponytail. “Got that right. Nobody likes Byrn. Except the
lay-days
he gets down with every night. And sometimes the mens, too.”

Vexx sighed loudly.

Byrn centered his gaze on Zoe, and her skin heated again. “You wanna get down with me, Dr. Morgan? I’ll show you some shit you ain’t
never
seen.” He licked his lips over pearly whites, then flickered his tongue like a pit viper testing the air for heat signatures.

Oh boy. Zoe had known plenty of guys like him in college. She couldn’t imagine all that energy and self-adoration combined with the intensity of Fire. The poor
lay-days
probably slept with him just to shut him up. Though, if he’d had a personality to match that hot bod, she might have looked twice.

Byrn nodded. “I see you checkin’ me out.” He grabbed her by the elbow as if to lead her away.

Jack’s hand stopped him. “She’s taken.”

Zoe whirled on Jack so fast, her hair fanned around her. “No, I’m not.”

Byrn raised a brow. “Who got your number, you fine piece o’ ass? Maybe me and him need to have a discussion.”

Shit, way to lure the maniac closer. “
So
not interested.” She stepped over to the bed where Whetu lay and swept a hand across her cool brown cheek. The girl’s locks–the color of dark wood underneath, but veined with gorgeous yellow highlights—glowed like a halo on the pillow. Reminded Zoe of sunlight. Brilliance.

“I’m terribly sorry about your father,” she whispered. “I knew him. He loved you very much.”

Whetu gave no indication she heard the words, but Zoe felt as if she had. If the girl was anything like Iri, she probably heard the loud thoughts in Zoe’s head, too.

Zoe faced Jack. “So, what do you guys do? I heard something about the Librus Group”—from Gavin, but no need to mention his name now—“but I never got a straight answer about your mission.”

“Pretty much the same as the Sentinels: to maintain Elemental Balance.”

“How does that make you different from them? Are you more specialized?” The fact that Jack worked with Elementals freaked her out a little. He seemed so casual about it, like it was no big deal to be hanging around with a Fyre. Zoe didn’t know how he could stand it.

“We’re not exactly sanctioned by the Sentinels. They subscribe to the same sort of dogma that most Elementals do. We prefer a more direct approach. We keep Balance. Whatever it takes.” He crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. “That’s why we have teams of five. One of each Elemental type and a Sentinel to keep them straight.”

Byrn leaned toward Zoe and stage-whispered, “By that, he means ‘to lord over like a cruel master.’ Did you know your daddy-o is a Dom? He loves to crack his whip on my hot ass. Makes him feel like a man.” He pressed a glowing red finger to his butt and burned a hole through his jeans. “Sizzlin’.”

“No, what Jack really means is the Sentinel keeps the Aer, Wæter, and Erthe from ganging up on the Fyre and killing him.” Jet rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck with a quick jerk left, then right. Her pretty brown hair cascaded down the tight muscles under her tee shirt.

Zoe glanced around. “Where’s your Wæter Elemental?”

“Xanthos is entertaining some visitors from out of town. He’ll be at the meeting tomorrow night,” Jack said. “Though, you probably won’t see him. He’s a bit…shy. Rarely shows his face.”

Visitors. Zoe raised a brow. The Tongans, perhaps? “So, you’re defectors, working a secret operation against your respective gods?”

“We’re not necessarily against the
gods
. We’re against Imbalance. If our mission puts us at odds with the Elemental deities, we do what we have to in order to set things right.” Jet’s nose twitched. She gave Zoe a curious look. “Have you been around another Fyre Elemental today?”

Zoe glanced at herself, half expecting to find a big red bulls-eye in the middle of her shirt. “Yesterday. Why?”

Jet leaned forward intently. Sniffed. “Who was it?”

Zoe took a whiff of her arm, but didn’t notice anything weird. “His name is Sinnder. How did you know?”

“I scented his dingo on you.”

“Uh, he didn’t have a dingo when I saw him, and I took a shower since then.” Then Jet’s words sunk in. “Wait, he has a dingo?”

Jack straightened. “What were you doing with a Fyre Elemental, Zoe?”

“He came to my house last night. Said the Fyres are planning another attack on the Wyldlings at the equinox. There are a lot more of them than we expected—like a hundred or so. That’s why I’m here. I thought I’d better tell…you.”

“Shit.” Jack’s forehead creased. “It’s not a surprise, but I’d hoped the Fyres would be less organized.” He stuffed a hand in the pocket of his colorful board shorts and removed a ring of keys. “I’d better go and have a word with Gavin. You wanna come with?”

Zoe’s heart skipped a beat. Hell, yes. She swallowed. “I can’t. I need to get home. Tell him—”

Tell him what? That you miss him so bad it hurts? You
love
him? What would that change?

Nothing.

She shook her head. “Never mind. I’ll check in with you tomorrow.”

* * * *

Whetu lay on the soft, squishy bed, listening to the grown-ups talk about her as if she weren’t there. She preferred it when they chattered about the weather or what to eat for dinner. When they discussed strategy, she wanted to pay attention, but the maze wouldn’t let her.

She was obsessed with it. Papa must have known she would be, which was why he trusted her with its secrets.

Vexx tried to dip into her mind again. Whetu went through her protocols. First she put up a wall. Then she redirected Vexx to what Whetu called her ‘removable hard drive mind’ where random autonomic brain functions ruled, without much else. Once Vexx was busy sifting through weak brain signals, Whetu settled into processing information from the maze, and half-listened to the conversation in the background.

When she caught something about the Fyres planning an attack, her thought flow hiccupped, breaking her concentration.

Fyres had killed Papa.

A second later, she felt Vexx’s stare on her face.
You don’t want to come out and play yet? That’s fine. Hide for now, but the longer you wait, the more people will get hurt. If you’re not ready when we are, I’ll find you.

Chapter Nineteen

September 16

The ocean tide rolled beneath the black sky draped over Hervey Bay. The new moon brought no illumination to the beach, only a plethora of unanswered questions, mystery, and worry. Alone, Zoe drew out her flashlight and shined it on the GPS she’d borrowed from the CRN equipment stash. She shivered as a strong breeze blew her hoodie back.

She’d refueled the Zodiac after work today and paid for it with her own money. Still hadn’t worked out how she’d explain the need for more gas tomorrow morning, but she couldn’t worry about that now. Using CRN’s property without permission was a huge no-no, but she didn’t have any other choice. Lily and Lana—and a host of Wæter Elementals, including the notorious Tongans—were waiting.

Zoe stepped off the dock onto the Zodiac. The boat bobbed beneath her, and she plopped into the driver’s seat with a sigh. It was dangerous to go into open water alone in the middle of the night. Not to mention a little scary. With no light to see by, she’d have to depend solely on the GPS and her trusty flashlight.

Movement from the dock startled her. She ducked under the console as best she could. She’d worn black clothes over her wet suit, hoping to blend into the night. Holding her breath, she waited.

Quiet steps headed her way. A long stride by the sound of it.

Shit, shit, shit.

The steps halted a few feet away.
Please, don’t be the police or a serial killer or a Fyre or—

“You going it alone tonight or do you want some company?”

—Gavin.

Breath fled her lungs in a great rush. Squashing the instinct to jump out of the boat and squeeze him to death, she popped up her head. Shadows hid his expression, but the irresistible pull between them yanked at her reluctant heart.

She squinted at him. “I was planning to go by myself.”

Even folded in darkness, he was beautiful. The dull ache in her chest flared.

He removed something small and shiny from his pocket and held it out to her. “Then at least take Mike’s boat. It’s bigger than yours. You’ll be safer in it.”

She stared at the keys and stood. He started to help her onto the wooden planks, but then scratched the side of his head and stepped out of her way.

“I can’t take your friend’s boat. Thanks anyway.” Close to him for the first time since they had goodbye sex in his car, she yearned to touch him again. His cedar scent wafted over her skin. “Why are you here, Gavin?”

He lowered his chin. Jagged lines tightened his face on the way down. “Because I needed to see you. Because I had to know you’re okay. And I—” He shook his head, then raised it. Calm control took over, and he went back to being the emotionless automaton she wanted to strangle. “I hope your meeting goes well.”