Just Breathe (25 page)

Gavin dusted off. Reassembled the ashes of his brain into some semblance of organized intelligence. “You’re dealing with a Sentinel who had a sanity hiccup. I’m good, mate. Sorry for freaking you out, but I got my shit together. It won’t happen again.”

From the other side of the Veil, Zoe’s song caressed him, tamed the Fire. He embraced the blue. She would save him from Scarlet. And from himself.

Jack folded his arms across his chest. “Care to shed some light on what triggered it?”

Gavin sighed. “They kicked me off the Council yesterday. Things got heated. Add to that the stress of seeing people dying everywhere, the excessive workload, and generally feeling totally fucking helpless, and I went a little nuts.”

Wariness framed Jack’s posture. He clearly didn’t believe Gavin’s story. “They have pills for that kind of shit. You’re not in a position to be losing your marbles, Sentinel. If you can’t handle simple day-to-day crap, the equinox will kill you.”

Lips pressed together, Gavin nodded. How right Jack was.

* * * *

Shortly after ten that night, Sinnder lay on the floor in his lounge room. Crackles and pops issued from the blaze in the fireplace before him. Harriet, the dingo he’d rescued from a near-fatal beating at the hands of teenage thugs, rested her head on his chest and stared at him. He stroked her ears gently, and her eyes drifted shut for a few seconds.

“You remind me of a wolfhound I used to have. Sorcha. She was a beauty. Kept me company when I traveled on cold nights, far away from home.”

Harriet sat up and yawned, flashing a mouthful of sharp teeth over a soft whine. She patted at his arm with a long, tan paw.

He rolled to his side, using an elbow as a pillow, and gazed at the fire. So bloody cold. Burning for centuries, yet never warm enough. His Fire was a cruel master, an icy reminder of lost love in a sea of insatiable, passionate lava.

He tugged the blanket at his waist up to his neck. Harriet stood, stretched, and turned a circle. Then she curled into the curve of his body. He laid an arm over her. Warm.

But not the kind of warmth he craved.

“I didn’t always burn like this, you know.”

Harriet whimpered. She did that when he told her stories. He pretended she didn’t understand, and humored her with ‘good girl’ words a master would say to his dog, but deep down, he knew she got him.

And his tales of the past bored her.

Stupid dingo.

He was tired of being a coward. He’d been after Scarlet for over a thousand years, set on vengeance he could have claimed twenty times over. It was long past time to let the dead—including the man he used to be—rest.

Harriet twitched and stared at him through eyes too intelligent to be purely animal.
Yes. Let the past go,
they seemed to whisper.

Deep down, she was a predator like him. But after what she’d been through, maybe she’d learned that killing wasn’t everything.

Jet Hawthorne had taught Harriet that lesson when she brought the dingo back from the brink of death with her healing hands.

Maybe she’d taught Sinnder something, too.

Though Elementals didn’t dream, Hawthorne visited his thoughts more often than he cared to admit. He didn’t usually remember what happened in his musings, but the twin ghosts of her ever-present eyes haunted him long after he broke from his reverie. So green.

Like Eileen’s.

The fire stoked with a growl. He jerked up, Harriet right next to him.

“Sinnder,” Zoe Morgan’s voice called through the flames.

He patted the dingo and stood, the promise of his impending visit filling him with sudden anticipation. “I gotta run. Keep my spot warm.”

Harriet moaned, laid her head between her paws, and watched as he stepped into the fire.

Sinnder’s atoms scattered into dancing energy and traveled through a fiery wormhole that homed in on Zoe’s house. His pieces squeezed through the filter of the lit candle on her dresser, which pushed him out in a stream of flame. Elemental Fire rebuilt his human body from the feet up. Zoe covered her eyes with an arm as if staving off the brightness of the sun. The kinetic energy settled, and the heat slaked. He was once again Sinnder.

And he was hungry.

He stalked toward the slender blonde backing away from him.

“You rang?” He stopped inches from her and sampled the scents lingering on her skin. Sex and a faint hint of…chocolate? He tipped his head right and raised a brow. “You and Gavin have been busy. I’m a little jealous.”

Cheeks red, she crossed her arms, brushing his chest in the process, and stared up at him. Defiance sparked in her eyes. “I wanted to know if you’d heard anything since we last talked. I have some news.”

“So do I. Scarlet wants me to kill you.” He slid a finger up her arm, over her shoulder, and rested his hand loosely around her throat. Her pulse raced under his thumb. “But I’d rather do other things to you.”

Yes
, the dark red Fire whispered.

Her breath stuttered, and she raised her chin. “Gavin wouldn’t like that.”

Gods, her fear was sweet. And something else lurked inside, buried below the fear. A low note of suspicion. He couldn’t tell if it was directed at him or Gavin.

“He doesn’t have to know.”

She shrugged out of his grip and stepped back. “I need some help tracking down a Dreamweaver. Do you know what that is?”

Did he ever. He eased onto the mattress, swung up his booted feet, tucked an arm behind his head on the pillow, and patted the space next to him. “How about we discuss it in bed?” His Fire unfurled its flaming wings and flapped them.

Nose wrinkled, Zoe waved away the pheromone scent. “Cut the bullshit. I don’t have time for your games.”

He sat up and sizzled his gaze down her chest to where her Fire cowered beneath flesh and bones. “I like you angry. Maybe you should let off some steam.”

Me, too
, the growing desire said, though he wasn’t sure which part the Fire agreed with.

She crossed her arms. “The Dreamweaver?”

Sinnder averted his gaze and licked his lips. “I don’t know anything about her,” he lied.

“Then how did you know she’s female?”

“I’m a good guesser. Is that all you wanted? If you’re not gonna feed me, I’ll have to be on my way. So many Wyldlings. So little time.”

“You said you’d help me.”

“That was before you and Gavin kissed and made up.”

She straightened, and her ponytail swung like a pendulum across her back. “So, you’re
jealous
? I’d expect that kind of juvenile horseshit from Scarlet, not you.”

The Fire tensed at the jab and retaliated with an inflamed, threatening tone. “Our agreement didn’t cover Dreamweavers. You get the Wæters sorted. I take care of Scarlet. That was the deal. For any other matters, you’re on your own, Wyldling.”

Zoe came at him in earnest, fists at her sides. “After all the trouble you caused for Gavin and me, you can’t be bothered to lift a finger beyond what suits
your
needs? Or even
apologize
?” Her voice skipped an octave, and blue Water collected at the corners of her eyes.

Regret flash-frosted his searing heart. Had vengeance burned him for so long that he’d become like…Scarlet?

He couldn’t answer Zoe’s question or his own.

“You ruined us, Sinnder. Yes, Scarlet did the dirty work, but you had the power to stop her. Instead, you sat there and did
nothing
while she destroyed our trust.” Pain marred her beautiful face with jagged lines, and she pushed against his chest. “How can you live with yourself?”

He covered her fists with his and stilled them. The Fire deflected his suicidal urge to plunge into the deep Water coursing through her. “I can’t.”

She wrenched free of his grip. “Good. I hope you suffer long and hard for what you did. Get out of here. Big jerk.” She pointed at the candle and turned her back on him.

Suffer, he would.

The Fire laughed its agreement.

He dipped his finger into the flame and allowed the Element to usher him home. Zoe’s sharp inhale burrowed into his ears and fused into his memory on the way out.

Chapter Twenty-seven

September 19

The storms in Realis continued to keep Scarlet away from her lover, which thoroughly ruined her sex drive. On top of that, she still reeled over how Gavin had snubbed her summons last night in the Dreaming. Stuffing their shared Fire into a tiny, cramped space with no wiggle room, no pipeline to the outside world. The nerve. Fire had to move. Stillness was unacceptable.

But she’d almost had him.

With the side of her palm, she buffed a path through the steam on the inside of Porsche’s windscreen and scowled at Gavin’s rental house. The bastard was so bloody careful to keep away from open flame, she couldn’t Firewalk to him, and she refused to travel in the rain unless she had to. So, here she waited, parked at his curb under cover of darkness, hoping for a break in the storm. With the Wæters scurrying to collect their Element before the equinox, chances for clear skies were nil.

Let them hoard all they wanted. It would be for nothing in a few days.

The time for the attack drew near. If she didn’t win Gavin over by the twenty-second, she’d venture into the godforsaken waterworks to claim her prize.

Speaking of rain…

She straightened and squinted through the glass. No more falling droplets. No more disgusting plops blurring her vision.

No holds barred.

Perfect.

She grabbed her Bic, yanked out the ashtray, and lit the votive candle inside. Then she slid the lighter up her raincoat sleeve. It would be the fastest source of ignition, should she need to make a hasty retreat.

After checking once more for the all clear from the sky, Scarlet darted out of the car and up the steps to the door, dodging puddles along the way. A few splashes grazed her, but the pain was nothing compared to what Elemental Water would have inflicted.

Her stomach growled at the promise of a Fire feast. The Element flickered hot and eager in her chest as she rang the bell.

The door swung open. Gavin leaned against the jamb, his expression cool. The glowing red Fire tattoos along his right forearm called to her. So did their blended Fire inside his chest.

She smiled. “You look like hell. Is the Fire a little too hot for you? I can help you slake the heat.”

He looked at his watch. “It’s nine-thirty. Past my bedtime. What do you want?”

“You’ve been avoiding me.” She slithered close, brushing her breasts against him.

He cast a glance inside, pulled the door shut, and herded her down the steps to the paved walkway. “And you’ve been sitting outside my house for two hours. Are you that desperate, Scarlet?”

“You know I hate the rain.” She fussed over her mass of red curls. “After that sumptuous hard-on you had for me in the Dreaming last night, I reckoned you might be ready to talk. Or fuck. Either will do.” Scarlet licked her lips suggestively and blew him a barely-there kiss.

Something blocked the fiery reaction she’d hoped to elicit from him. Something very…wet. She fixed her gaze on the door behind him. “Who’s in there?”

He didn’t answer.

So, Sinnder hadn’t finished off Zoe as he’d said he would. Why was she not surprised? She covered her snarl with a forced grin. “Does she know you and I are Fire-bound? That you’re going to fuck me like a whore to save your precious Wyldlings? Gods, I’m gonna love owning you.” Scarlet skimmed her gaze down to the erection pressed against the underside his jeans. Playing coy, she bit her lip. She flapped her lashes, grabbed that delicious hunk of meat, and stroked.

Furious sparks of red shot out of him. He shoved her hand away.

Not the unbridled lust she’d hoped for, but she’d settle for anger. Desire would come later when she got him alone. Once she had his Fire’s undivided attention, his infatuation with Zoe would die in three seconds flat.

She swayed at the heated memory of his mouth latched on to her nipple and moaned softly. “Did you tell her how we did it in your bed in Sydney? How you unleashed your Fire on me like a shark in a blood frenzy? You practically raped me, you were so hungry for a root. Then again, she witnessed the
really
good stuff firsthand—”

“Scarlet—” His Water warmed, simmered, boiled. The heat between them swelled. Firesight revealed deep, bloody red tendrils ribboning from her chest to his. Their Elements danced like writhing snakes in a primal mating ritual.

Soon their physical bodies would join in that dance.

“Give in to your urges. I can make you forget
her
.” She pressed her palm to the warm center of his sternum.

Gavin sucked in a full breath and slowly blew out the flame. He stepped back.

“I love Zoe. No matter what I have to do to, no matter how low I have to stoop, no matter how many times I have to fuck you, I’ll
always
love her.” The lines in his forehead smoothed. The muscle twitching in his cheek settled. The darkness evaporated from his eyes.

And his Fire retreated into his breast like a whisper on a dying man’s lips.

Gods, how she hated that bitch. And her fucking Water.

With a great deal of mental effort, she focused her Fire—
their
Fire—on cracking the beastly egg she’d lain in his chest.

Nothing. His Water held it down.

Fine. If her Fire couldn’t break him, the deaths of millions of Wyldlings would. When the terrorist attacks began, he’d come back, begging to fuck her. Chaos would smash the egg wide open. Once the dragon inside got its first taste of Fire, he would be hers. Forever.

Then, alive or dead, Zoe Morgan wouldn’t matter anymore.

Rhythmic rustling among the leaves signaled the return of rain. Another bane of her existence. Tensing, she turned to the sound and snapped the hood over her head.

Gavin grinned. “It’s time for you to leave. I’d invite you in, but I was about to join Zoe in bed.”

How easy it would be to push past him, rip that bitch’s precious skin open with flaming claws, and tear into the veins and Watery filth beneath. Oh, to bathe in Zoe’s blood. And make Gavin watch. Scarlet wanted to taste her innards. And feed from his tortured Fire while she did it.