Just Breathe (27 page)

He’d said that same word when he first rescued her from drowning in the Dreaming.

There was no point in trying to maintain a sense of decorum in this situation. She’d done remarkably well, dealing with the crap life pelted her with up to this point. The universe would have to deal with her losing her shit now.

Saliva thickened in her mouth. Gavin held her. Shoulders and knees jerked. Gavin smoothed her sopping wet hair. Inhuman sounds choked from her throat. Gavin kissed her forehead.

Sloshing thumps of mismatched footsteps came up behind them.

“Zoe?” Adriene said. Her crutches dropped to the wet ground. “Is she okay?”

Gavin nodded. “She will be. What did the police say?”

As if he didn’t know who was behind the fire.

Another hand joined Gavin’s on her back. Adriene spoke near Zoe’s ear. “No suspects. Neighbors didn’t see anything. They can’t figure out how the fire could have burned so hard and so fast. By the time the firemen got here, there was nothing left but smoke and ash.”

Zoe pulled away from the refuge of Gavin’s arms. “Where are Dani and Elizabeth?” She squinted past the spinning red swirls of light from the trucks. “Did anyone get hurt?”

Despite the cast on her leg, Adriene carefully lowered herself to the mud on Zoe’s other side and gestured to a clump of investigators talking to witnesses. “No injuries. No one was home, thank God.”

No injuries
this
time. But who was to say the Fyres—
Scarlet
—wouldn’t pay them another visit tomorrow or the next day?

Zoe grabbed her arm. “Listen to me. The three of you aren’t safe. We need to get you some place where no one will find you.”

“Zoe—” Gavin squeezed her hand lightly.

She whip-cracked her gaze on him. “Adriene knows. Sort of.”

He exhaled and licked his lips. “It’s important we don’t tell anyone else.” He leaned around Zoe to Adriene. “Zoe’s right. You girls aren’t safe. You can stay at my house tonight, and we’ll organize secure accommodations tomorrow.”

“What’s going on, guys? Who did this?” Adriene’s fear-streaked expression bounced back and forth between Zoe and Gavin.

“You left the TV on again, didn’t you?” Zoe said. “Jesus Christ, I always tell you not to waste electricity, but this time it might have saved your life.” She laughed to try to contain the panic swirling up her throat. “She must have heard voices from the TV and assumed we were there.”

Who’d be next? Jack? More whales?

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

“Who is ‘she’?” Adriene leaned closer. When Zoe didn’t answer, she looked at Gavin. “She must be in shock.”

He shook his head. “No. My ex did this. Scarlet.”

Adriene rested her arms on her bent, good leg, and scowled. “What the hell kind of company do you keep, boy? Arsonists? Is that bitch out of her mind?”

“Yes,” Gavin and Zoe said in unison.

“Which is why we need to get you out of here,” Gavin continued. “She probably thinks everyone’s dead, though we shouldn’t assume anything with Scarlet. Come on.” He grabbed the fallen crutches, helped Zoe to her feet, and offered a hand to Adriene.

In her dazed state, Zoe took in the crime scene with curious detachment. The burnt stench of wood and plastic mingled with anxious voices. Lights flashed. Gavin subtly swept the crowd, most likely looking for Fyres.

Everywhere Zoe went, trouble followed.

“I’ll grab Dani and Elizabeth and meet you at the car.” Adriene tucked the crutches under her armpits and hobbled off.

Zoe lifted her head from its weighted tilt and met Gavin’s worried eyes. Some part of her inner workings snapped out of place, severing the link between heart and mind—depriving her emotions of oxygen. Airy clarity set in.

Scarlet was still here somewhere. “She’s out there, watching. Isn’t she? Feeding off the fruits of her creation.”

He bit his bottom lip and held it for a moment. Gaze stuck to his feet, he said nothing.

“She won’t stop until I’m dead.”

His dark lashes flipped up, revealing a cold splash of vengeance beneath. “She’ll be gone long before you are. I fucking swear to God.” He tugged her into his embrace, clamped his arms around her shoulders, and laid a kiss on top of her head before resting his there. She buried her face in his warm, wet chest as another bout of tears welled.

She was all out of Fire. Only the dull thrum of loss remained. Once again, Scarlet had taken everything. “What are we going to do?”

Gavin gazed down at her, his expression unreadable aside from a spark of retaliation that retreated as quickly as it appeared. “You take the girls to my house. I’m going to do a little investigating here and in the Dreaming. Meet me at Jack’s in an hour.”

She nodded. “Don’t do anything stupid. Please. I can’t afford to lose you, too.”

Sparkles of his unshed tears reflected dim light from the waxing moon, defying the shadows. With the softness of a baby’s breath, the quiver of a newborn foal’s wobbly legs, and the determination of a tidal wave, Gavin caressed her lips with his and held her as if he’d never let go.

The unbearable weight behind his kiss whispered to her heart,
Goodbye. Forever
. When Zoe opened her eyes to protest, he was gone.

* * * *

After leaving Zoe with his ruined heart, Gavin shoved an arm across his wet cheeks and scanned the shadows behind the remains of the research house.

I’m coming for you, Scarlet.

Her Fire swelled and wound up like a coiled snake in his gut, ready to strike, but his Water tempered it. The deep sadness pouring off Zoe moments ago had been a gift and a curse. Though he hated seeing her so dejected, her Water provided the only ammunition strong enough to fight the likes of Scarlet.

He swallowed another rush of Fire threatening to overtake him. Scarlet’s actions had forced his hand. Today’s death count: four people burned alive in a freak cooking mishap at a mental health facility in Rockhampton. Twenty kids, ranging from infants to preschoolers, along with their caregivers, died in a gas explosion at a nursery school in Bundaburg. Another twelve souls lost in the Dreaming. And those ‘accidents’ were just the ones Gavin had heard about locally. Nationally, casualties for today alone had inched toward a thousand.

The members of Zoe’s research team had no idea how lucky they were to be breathing.

Gavin should have been seething with hatred, furious at Scarlet, but all he felt was hopeless, Watery sorrow.

And responsibility he had to accept.

He
had
to do this. She’d left him no other choice.

Gavin’s Dreamsense homed in on a pulsing red glow in the shape of a human body behind a thicket of trees. He snuck past police and went to her.

“You’ve finally come to your senses, I see.” A wave of Fire smashed into him and connected with the tendrils inside his chest, nearly bowling him over. “Let’s go.”

He said nothing as she followed him to his car. An Elemental battle raged inside. He had to keep his fury contained.
Don’t give her any more Fire than you have to.

“My place or yours?” She slid into the seat, and the scent of cinnamon saturated the stuffy air, choking him.

“Neither. Hotel.” If he kept her occupied elsewhere, she wouldn’t be able to follow Zoe and her friends. Scarlet didn’t need to know where they’d be staying.

God, what the fuck was he doing? He rubbed his forehead. Torn between unquenchable, pure blue love for Zoe and the duty to the Wyldlings embedded in his DNA, he was paralyzed with dread.

“We could get started here and finish later. Or make a night of it if you like. I’m nothing if not…exuberant.” She ran her fingers down his arm as he switched on the Monaro’s ignition. His skin crawled under the jacket.

“I remember.” Foul-tasting saliva filled his mouth.

The engine roared in sync with his quavering resolve, and he put the car in gear. He headed to the cheapest, sleaziest hotel in Hervey Bay, though Scarlet didn’t even deserve that.

Her hand navigated the folds of the leather sleeve, down to his lap, and slithered over his lifeless cock. It didn’t even twitch.

Her breath hot in his ear, she whispered, “Stop thinking about
her
. Tonight is about us. I guarantee you won’t remember her name by the time I finish with you.”

A bitter laugh escaped him. The gall, the pure arrogance was so Scarlet. Stupid bitch hadn’t a clue how preposterous her statement was.

“Zoe’s none of your business. Let’s talk about what you’re gonna do for me when this is over. The door to the Dreaming. Tonight. As soon as the deed is done.”

She stuffed fists under her arms and huffed. “Fine. You’ll come around. And if you supply me with plenty of Fire, I’ll be Archelemental after the equinox. Then we can leverage our relationship to initiate peaceful negotiations between the Fyres and the Sentinels.”

“Don’t talk shit to me, Scarlet. You and I both know I’m no longer on the Council. Your informant already told you by now.” He reached a stoplight and faced her. “Who is it? And what did you promise them?”

Her eyes flashed red.

“Keeping track of the countless lies you’ve told is becoming hard, isn’t it?”

“I’ll offer you something to sweeten our deal. After you prove you’ll continue to feed me Fire, I’ll tell you who the traitor is. We can expose them together, and you can reclaim your position.”

“You’re more daft than I imagined. I don’t want to be on the Council. I don’t want
any
of this.” He fixed his gaze on her. “And I sure as fuck don’t want
you
.”

The temperature inside the car cooled. She settled into her seat. “After tonight, you will.”

He drove onward in silence. No point in arguing with a delusional megalomaniac. He needed to get this over with before anyone else got hurt.

Zoe will never forgive you.

No. She wouldn’t. And neither would he. But
they
didn’t matter.

A wave of nausea roiled his gut. He rubbed his stomach and clenched his teeth.

It’s for the Wyldlings. It’s the only way. The longer you wait, the more people will die. You’re doing the right thing.

He was. He should’ve done it a week ago.

Gavin parked the car at the shitty hotel, paid for lodgings, and led Scarlet to the door of room number 101, smeared with a questionable red substance below the handle.

His Water protested. This was wrong.

Tough shit,
his Air said.

He slid the key in and went inside. The musty stench of mold and cigarettes permeated the dark room. He switched on the light. Ratty, stained covers lay across the full-sized bed. As distasteful as the repulsive setting before him, Scarlet’s heat clung to his back.

The door closed, and she slipped around to meet him face to face. The Fire binding them ignited as she shoved the jacket off his shoulders to the squishy wet carpet underfoot and pushed him against the wall.

Incendius’s primal Fire demanded his full attention.

“You promised me everything. It’s time to deliver, lover.” With a wild lunge, she locked her lips on his.

A barrage of memories and sensations assailed his mind. Zoe’s crestfallen face after the house fire tonight. The dulcet tones of her beautiful laugh and her whale song as humpbacks frolicked around her in the Dreaming. Her soft lavender scent and the rich flavors of chocolate and skin when they’d made love in his bed. The way Zoe’s Water welled and filled him every time they were together.

Returning to the present, he watched Scarlet kissing him and felt…nothing. No Fire. No arousal. No hint of desire.

The cinnamon scent rolling off her increased in potency as her lips roved hungrily over his. Her tongue darted in his mouth. She tore at his shirt.

The Fire remained dead quiet.

Strange.

Snarling, she pulled back. “Kiss me, damn it.”

He stared at her, but his mind saw only Zoe.

Water flowed in a rush from his heart to his extremities.

Scarlet squealed with disgust. Her hands twisted into balls. She shook them as if in pain. “By the gods, I
will
have you tonight, Gavin. Put that little bitch out of your head, and love me the way you were meant to.”

Emboldened by Zoe’s Water, he stepped closer. “Love?
You
? You can’t be serious.”

She backed away, her eyes flaming crimson.

“Fyres can’t love. You wouldn’t know what to do with all this blue.” He brandished his now-glowing Water tattoos at her. “You’re full of hatred. There’s no place for love inside the likes of you.”

Her lips slammed together. Heat erupted from her skin. “You can’t hurt me. Incendius won’t let you. Put that arm down. Now.”

He lowered his hand and smiled. There was nothing intentional or premeditated in the Watery threat. He couldn’t control his feelings or his body’s natural reaction. Zoe held power over him that Scarlet could only dream of.

She stomped her heeled shoe into the wet carpet, spraying tiny droplets. “Ugh!” Her lip curled as she glanced at her feet. She spun around, trudged to the bed, and sat. Glaring, she pointed to the spot in front of her as if directing a defiant dog. “Get over here.”

Gritting his teeth, he paused for a few breaths, then stepped forward. More Water pulsed through his body, brightening the light beaming from his arm. Red-nailed fingers tore at his belt buckle, ripped open the top button of his jeans, and lowered the zipper. She reached in and cupped his balls, then stroked his cock with quick, violent jerks.

Nothing.

What the…?

He tried to coax his Fire from its cage with the promise of getting off under Scarlet’s able command. She had tripped his trigger three, sometimes four times a day when they dated. It wasn’t like sex with her could be
bad
.

Focus on that
, he told himself.
Remember the crazy fucking you used to do with her? The time on the tour bus when she brought her friends? Or how about the bathroom backstage in Sydney? When you came out of the stall fresh from banging her, thirty people were engaged in a massive fuckfest, thanks to Scarlet’s screams and pheromones…