Just Breathe (35 page)

The world was about to end, and the big, bad Fyre was worried about a dingo? He was just full of surprises. Jet nodded. “Sure.”

He locked his gaze on hers and held it tight for a good fifteen seconds. “Thank you, Hawthorne.” With the
snick
of a cigarette lighter, a flame erupted near his thumb, illuminating his deadly, handsome face. He melted into the fire and disappeared.

Jet rubbed a hand across her chest. Every time he called her ‘Hawthorne,’ her tough, steady heart stumbled out of rhythm.

* * * *

Gavin lay behind Zoe on his bed, the voices of his new and abundant ‘roommates’ beyond the door rising and falling with jokes and gibes. With a sigh, he shut them—and the latest news report he’d seen of fifty more deaths in Queensland—out of his mind. There would be no peace until after the equinox.

After he dropped Vexx off at the house that afternoon, he’d worked up the nerve to go to Scarlet again, only to have his dick stick up another ‘Do not disturb’ sign by the time he tracked down her Fire at a local swingers club. He didn’t even bother to get out of his car. No point in angering the bitch further with his impotence.

Numb. He’d reached a point of being fucking numb.

He fanned Zoe’s long, blond-streaked hair across his naked chest, and let the soft strands tickle his skin. Lying beside her refilled his Water stores and soothed a little of his worry.

But not all of it.

Sinnder had undoubtedly recognized Scarlet’s Fire an hour ago in the lounge room. Why hadn’t he said anything? He could’ve exposed Gavin’s secret—could’ve
ruined
Gavin and Zoe once and for all—but he kept quiet. Sinnder didn’t strike Gavin as the generous type, so there must’ve been a motivation behind it. Another layer of lies to worry about on top of the shit-pie Gavin had buried himself under.

“Stay with me until I fall asleep.” Zoe stretched into him.

Switching the channel of his thoughts, Gavin tightened his arms around her lithe body, brushing a tight nipple in the process. Instant hard-on. He shifted his hips to keep from poking her.

Scarlet’s Fire stirred.

No. Go back to your cage where you belong, bitch.

He dropped a kiss on Zoe’s bare shoulder and tapped into the Water flowing through her body. The Fire simmered down.

He’d been on the verge of a full-blown mental meltdown a couple days ago. What had changed? Scarlet was still alive inside him and kicking like a mule. But the more time he spent with Zoe, the easier Scarlet was to control.

His best guess was that Zoe’s love—her Water—had grown stronger. He didn’t want to jinx his luck by assuming that he was the cause, but it seemed a logical conclusion. And he couldn’t deny, the thought of her loving him more each day made him giddy as a tween at a Bieber concert.

Whatever the reason for his new ability to handle the Fire better, one thing was clear. Zoe was his lifeboat in the sea of chaos trying to claim him. Without her, he had no chance of keeping Scarlet down.

Zoe draped an arm over his lightly glowing tattoos and caressed his skin in slow circles. “What do you dream about, Gavin?”

“I don’t dream anymore.” One of the disadvantages of being a Sentinel. His dreams were Wyldling creations, not his own.

“That’s not what I mean.” She turned in his arms and gazed at him. “What are your hopes for the future? What do you wish you could have?”

Where to start? The list was a kilometer long. “Aside from you?”
And getting this psycho Fire bitch out of me?

She smiled. “You already have me.”

“Not forever.”

“Is that what you want? A forever with me?”

Fuck, yes, forever with her. “I want you to be happy. Whatever that means.”

“Disregarding everything that might keep us apart, what do you want?”

“More hot fudge sundaes.”

Blue laughter welled from deep in her chest and shook the bed. “Okay. Sundaes are good. I want to go furniture shopping with you at Ikea for stupid, kitschy stuff to put in the fixer-upper house we buy together.”

He jerked back. “What? No boat? I’m ashamed of you, Dr. Morgan.”

Her eyes sparked under the dim light from the bedside table. “Ooh, yes. A boat instead of a house. We could keep it docked here in Hervey Bay when we’re not trolling the high seas together like pirates.”

God, that dream was so far from his personal hell of a reality right now, it hurt to think about it. He let his imagination run wild anyway.

“I want you to introduce me to your whales,” he said. “No business, only pleasure.”

“You’d probably be bored to tears.”

“I’d love it.” To see her worry-free in her natural environment would be the best gift ever.

“I would, too.” She fell silent and stroked his cheek with the backs of her fingers.

The tenderness in her touch was more than he could stand. “Take the job, Zed. You have to follow your heart.”

The colors in her aura fractured and shifted, unable to settle. “What if my heart doesn’t know what it wants? It’s split down the middle. I don’t trust this wishy-washy ticker to make the right decision.”

“You can’t throw away a lifetime of work for a fuck-up bloke you can’t even sleep next to. You’re too smart for that.”

“You’re not a fuck-up.”

His heart clenched. She didn’t know the half of it.

“What would staying with me get you? You’d be miserable without your career.”

She angled her head up and stared at him, a sad expression warring within her gaze. “And you’d be miserable without yours.”

Maybe, but he would give it up for her. If he had to. But for now, it was easier to feed the lie than bleed needy desperation everywhere when he should be encouraging her. “Yep. I would.”

She readjusted and curled her hands under his chin, against his chest. There was that lovely Water again. But a shade darker this time. “Can we go back to our dreams now? I don’t like reality a whole lot at the moment.”

Neither did he. “All right. I wish we could sleep together every night, on our houseboat, surrounded by whales, with a lifetime supply of hot fudge stocked in the cupboards. How’s that?”

“Yes. And we could slurp Ramen noodles, huddled under a blanket on the deck, stargazing while Just Breathe songs play on our kickass sound system.”

He laughed. “That would be the life.”

“It would be perfect.”

They lay silent for several minutes, bodies and minds entangled. He thought Zoe had fallen asleep, but then she lifted her head and looked at him through heavy-lidded eyes. Her hair was a jumble, her breath soft. The most beautiful goddamn thing he’d ever seen.

“I love you, Gavin.”

His heart twisted behind his ribs and released a flood of Water that could have knocked over a telephone pole. He laid a soft, lingering kiss on her lips and whispered against them, “I love you, too.”

Gavin dropped his head to her shoulder and inhaled her lavender scent, drank in the Water lazing beneath her skin. The missing piece of the fucked up jigsaw puzzle of his life snapped into place with a quiet click. He was complete. If only for the moment.

Chapter Thirty-six

September 22

Several hours later, a sudden vibration in Gavin’s chest brought him to a stop in the Dreaming. Second time tonight. Frowning, he looked around for possible sources, but found nothing.

Earlier, he’d been wandering the fringes on his usual, unproductive search for the Dreamweaver, when a weird, crackling sensation overcame him—like someone tuning in to a distant radio station, just out of range. It only lasted a few seconds, then stopped. He blew off the feeling as a Dreamsense blip.

Until it happened again.

Heat ignited his rib cage. Instead of snuffing it with Water, he took a big chance and tightened his concentration on the link between him and Scarlet. At this stage, he had little to lose. With some minute adjustments to the dial, he homed in on a few intermittent words.

Jackpot.

Much as he hated the unholy connection with Scarlet, tonight it might work to his advantage. He sat on the blackened dream beach, willing his racing heart to quiet, and eavesdropped on a one-sided dialogue.

“…Dreamweaver is safe and sound, all tucked in her bed.”

Silence while the person on the other end of the conversation spoke.

“Don’t worry about that. Her new guard proved himself worthy in the Dreaming. He claimed four Wyldling souls last night and six the day before. Add that Fire to your stores, and Incendius will glorify your name forever, Archelemental.”

Holy fucking shit. She was talking to Eidan! Finally, some information Gavin could use.

“Nobody will
find
her, let alone get her to open the door. They’ll never get past the—”

The connection severed as a massive, unseen
force
violently yanked Gavin out of the Dreaming and chucked him back into his body in Realis.

He opened his eyes to blinding yellow light, itchy skin, and Dreamsense screaming in his ears.

“Fuck!” He sat up, squeezed his eyes shut, and felt around the lounge for the blanket that must have fallen off him in the night. As soon as he found it, he wrapped the thick woven material around his upper right arm.

The raven gemstone on his necklace thrashed like a bird trying to navigate a hurricane.

What the hell? His Air tattoos glowed bright enough to light a sports arena. Urgent voices down the hall propelled him to Whetu’s room. He started to open the door, but something inside forced it shut.

Wind. Shitloads of it.

Gavin channeled Earth energy to his arms and pushed with all his might. Through the crack he opened, he saw books flapping their page-wings, riding invisible currents, smacking into walls. A swath of fabric—maybe a curtain—billowed, then swirled out of sight. The dizzying spin of a mad vortex hammered as loud and strong as a jet engine. He gave another shove. The wind grabbed the door and tossed it into the wall, denting the drywall.

It was hard to see with all the shit flying around, but Gavin made out Whetu, sitting board-stiff in the bed, her hair whipping too fast to track. The streak of pink leaning toward her must have been Vexx. Gavin raised his uncovered arm to shield his eyes from the cutting dryness of the raging Air.

Shit. He could put an end to the insanity with a quick burst of Fire, but that would hurt both Vexx and Whetu.

“Gavin!” Zoe cried out behind him.

He reached back, and she latched onto him. There was nothing to do but close the door and hope Vexx got Whetu under control.

“Is Jack here?” he yelled over the maelstrom, lungs heaving.

Terror lit Zoe’s eyes. “He, Byrn, and Jet are gone. What the hell is going on in there?”

Gavin unwound the blanket from his arm enough for her to get a peek at the shocking yellow blaring underneath. She slunk back, squinting.

“Does that mean what I think it means?” she shouted.

He replaced the blanket. “Pretty sure Whetu’s made the change.”

Guiding her down the hall, he looked over his shoulder to the bedroom. When they got to the kitchen, he took her by the arms. “I’m gonna call Jack. I think it’s best that you get out of here. It could be dangerous for you to stick around. I can handle the Aers.”

“Okay. If the seas are calm, I’ll head out on the Zodiac around seven o’clock. I have my phone. Please call me. I’m worried about Whetu.” Her pleading expression tore at his heart.

He was worried about the girl, too, but for selfish reasons. This might be the break they’d been waiting for. That
he
was waiting for. “I’ll make sure she’s all right. As soon as I get this sorted, I’ll ring you.”

Eyebrows knotted, she nodded and grabbed her bag. The howling wind hit a crescendo, and the house’s walls rattled. Zoe threw her arms around his neck and squeezed. “Be careful.”

“You, too.” Gavin kissed her hard.

The moment the door closed behind her, he jogged down the hall. As his hand reached the knob, all fell silent.

“Jack?” Vexx’s voice trembled.

Gavin flung open the door and strode into the room. It was sheer disaster. Books and magazine remains scattered over the carpet. The curtain rod dangled at a forty-five degree angle from its post. Drapes on the floor. Medical equipment ruined. A windowpane lay in shattered ruin, its shards sprayed across the room.

And there stood Vexx, shaking. If he hadn’t known what had just gone down, he might have laughed. Half of her hair hung in a loose explosion of pink on the side of her head, the other half was barely contained within the rubber band she kept it in. Her eyes glowed lemon yellow. Same as the girl on the bed’s.

He shot to Vexx’s side and offered a hand to steady her. She fell into him, and he lowered her to the floor. “Take a deep breath.”

Vexx tucked her head between her knees and did as he told her.

Whetu sat still as an owl from her perch on the bed. “What happened to me?” Her voice was small, higher in pitch than he expected.

Gavin braced a palm on the mattress and pushed up slowly. The blanket dropped from his arm. Thankfully, his tattoos lost some of their intensity. Whetu’s gaze fell on the swirling birds, bells, and feathers there.

“You’ve transformed into an Aer Elemental.” Instinct sent him reaching for her brow to see if she had a fever, but he stopped himself. No telling what was going on inside her head at the moment.

Whetu looked down at herself. Blood seeped through her gown at the site of her feeding tube, but her face betrayed no fear. Jet would have to take a look at the wound when she got back.

“Papa told me this would happen.”

Vexx lifted her head. Her aura was all over the place—dark blue worry, reddish-brown fear, and not nearly enough yellow.

Shit.

“You gave her your Air, Vexx?”

“I had to. She needed it.” She glanced at Gavin’s necklace, then shifted her attention to Whetu. They stared at each other.

Whetu brought a fist to her lips. “I’m sorry, Vexx. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Vexx clasped the girl’s free hand. Warm, sunny light emanated from the tangle of fingers. “I’ll be okay. It’s important we get you up and moving. We’re racing to meet a deadline.” Leaning against the bed, she winced then crawled slowly over to sit beside Whetu.