Just Breathe (32 page)

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From the early morning shadows between buildings at Urangan Harbour, Sinnder kept tabs on a couple of Fyres he suspected Scarlet had sent to harass Zoe. He’d told her he would take care of Morgan, but after the argument in Zoe’s bedroom, he didn’t have the heart.

Stop talking shit. You wouldn’t have done anything to her regardless. She’s too much of a study.

The pull—it was the only word that fit—between Zoe and Gavin had always fascinated Sinnder, from the first time he met Gavin pining for Zoe outside her window. All the passion of Fire, but tempered by a strong swell of Water. How did they manage to keep the desire so strong without the love burning out?

Most people had surges of lust that spiked when they engaged in intimate activities. These two were different.

He was jealous of them. They had something he wanted. Something he once shared with Eileen. Something he could never have again, thanks to the Fire.

The Element rumbled low and deep in his gut. Sinnder swallowed.

A rustle ahead signaled the approach of someone new. “I’m looking for information. Maybe you boys can help me.”

Jet Hawthorne.

Sinnder’s pulse raced.

She stepped between the two Fyres, skin almost glowing in the muted light. The last time they met, she’d gone to work on Sinnder, dropping him flat on his back with zero effort. The same hardened Elemental strength had also brought his dingo back from Death’s door. You had to respect a woman like her.

“If you need information, Google it,” one of the Fyres said.

Her hand snapped out, snakebite fast. Fingers curled around the Fyre’s neck. Blood rushed to the bloke’s face. The other Fyre jumped on Hawthorne’s back. Instinct jolted Sinnder’s legs, urging him to join the fray—whose side, he wasn’t sure—but he stopped himself. Might be more beneficial to see how she fared when the odds were against her. This could be interesting. He licked his lips.

She moved like a character in an action movie, as if every motion was negotiated and pre-arranged before skin met skin and Earthy strength snapped bones like twigs. Beautiful to behold her perfect form and the total lack of expression behind her eyes as she delivered jaw-breaking cracks.

Every hit landed with deadly precision. She bloodied the first one’s nose with a roundhouse kick. Punched the second straight in the eye. A spray of red decorated the wall behind them in a starburst pattern as her victim spun from the force. She head-locked the first bloke and twisted his neck with a pop. He yowled and pawed at the thigh curled around his. Another snap, followed by a blood-curdling scream, indicated a broken leg.

Within a minute, Hawthorne had incapacitated both Fyres and stood over their bodies as they heaved for breath. She never broke a sweat.

A soft breeze fanned her dark hair. She leaned down and spoke close to their faces. “Google was down for maintenance. I’m looking for Scarlet. Where is she?”

The first Fyre turned his head and spit on Hawthorne’s shoe. She hauled him up by the hair and dragged him toward the dock. When the other saw her, he struggled to his feet and took off with a pitiful hobble. Sinnder let him go.

The first Fyre dug his heels into the wooden planks, twisting his bloodied sac of flesh in her unyielding grip. “No, not the water!”

“Yes, the water.” The cold calm in her voice and the way she manhandled him taunted Sinnder’s Fire. A maddening, aching desire to experience her strength up close again rooted at the base of his spine. He could almost taste the unfortunate Fyre’s fear. She paused and adjusted her hold.

Keeping to the shadows, Sinnder slipped from the safety of his foxhole. The thrill of the hunt was too tempting not to witness up close.

The growing Fire inside him agreed.

“I don’t know where Scarlet is, bitch. But you’ll be sorry if you hurt me. Eidan will come after you—”

“Eidan’s not coming after me for a lowlife, inept nugget like you. You’re nothing to him.” Hawthorne had reached the edge of one of the wooden slips. Holding the Fyre by his short red hair, she spun him around, face toward the water. She placed a foot in front of his and tripped him to his knees. She straddled the backs of his calves and dangled him over the blue. His hands curled over the lip of the wood in a death grip, and he froze, eyes wide. Waves licked below the dock, a foot from his nose.

Hawthorne dipped in from behind and spoke softly in his ear. Sinnder struggled to hear. “Last chance. Crowd will be here soon, and you’re only the first item on my very long To Do list. Let’s get cracking, sonny. Where’s Scarlet?”

Fire rising too high for comfort, Sinnder stepped out of hiding. He couldn’t resist the lure of this scene anymore. “I know where she is,” he lied.

Jet turned. The Fyre jerked his gaze around, too. Surprise flickered in her vibrant green eyes from behind the glasses, then settled into something else. Annoyance?

She tugged up the Fyre to stand and shoved him in front of her like a shield. He howled through clenched teeth. Hawthorne stared over his shoulder at Sinnder. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Sinnder. Thank Incendius. I told her someone would come for me.” The Fyre’s relief was premature.

Sinnder shot forward, fueled not by rage or vengeance—or even the rising Fire—but by some ridiculous, testosterone-driven need to prove himself worthy of Hawthorne’s notice. In half a second, he stood before the frightened prey and his cold lioness predator.

“I’m not here for you. I’m here for her.” He gazed at Hawthorne.

Her head barely tilted and lips parted. Coolness rolled off her skin, shocking at first, but then it became almost refreshing. He didn’t like being cold. This was different.

Sinnder gripped the Fyre’s neck, dragged Hawthorne’s prize away from her, and sent his Fire on a quest for more. Hawthorne could easily have maintained her hold on the Elemental, but she let him go. Why? She couldn’t have known what Sinnder was planning.

No matter.

Red tongues of energy mingled between him and the Fyre, whose startled eyes seemed to register what was about to happen a second too late. Jaw clenching to keep his body from flying apart, Sinnder and the entity within him siphoned the dancing Fire out of the young Elemental with no more effort than it took to blink.

The Fyre succumbed quickly and without much of a fight, probably too shocked by the betrayal to muster the courage to resist. Not that he
could
have resisted. Within moments, the guy was nothing more than ash and rolling wisps of heat over summer pavement.

Sinnder switched his train of thought from appetizers to main courses. He settled his gaze on Hawthorne’s enigmatic face—a mixture of disappointment, piqued interest, and sadness—and couldn’t for the life of him guess where her head was at the moment.

She rested a pair of surprisingly small hands on her hips. “Where is she?”

Sinnder closed the distance between them with one step. She was shorter than him, but innate strength made her taller. Perhaps the living green energy fanning off her had something to do with the larger-than-life vibe. Personal experience had proven she could take him down in a millisecond if she wanted to, but she only returned his stare.

“I don’t know
exactly
where she lives, but I know where she hangs out.”

Dawning rays of light fell across her shoulders, squeezing auburn highlights out of her dark brown hair. Lips pressed into a thin slash cutting her face, she pushed past him. The heavy thuds of her boots filled the air, and a breath of patchouli followed.

He spun around after her. “I can help you find her.”

Inside he winced. Too eager. Accommodating. Though, Hawthorne might be able to help him physically overpower Scarlet when the time came, so the offer was justified. The Erthe could be a valuable ally.

Since when do you have allies?

She paused her steps, turned her head to the side. Her stance relaxed with an audible release of air from her lungs. “How’s the dingo?”

Sinnder almost smiled. “She’s fine. She talks about you a lot.”

Now Hawthorne faced him full on. A wry grin tugged at her full lips. Amusement crinkled the skin around her eyes behind the glasses. “Oh? What does she say?”

His newly fed Fire released a burst of sex pheromones into the air. With it, his hunting instincts jacked up. “She misses you. Wants to see you again.”

He wouldn’t have noticed the slight twitch of her nostrils if he hadn’t been watching for it. With pursed lips, she crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t play with Fire, Sinnder. I’m here to do a job. I’ll be on my way.”

His gaze slid down her tight body, all muscle, no fat—yet curiously un-butch. Strong and feminine at the same time. The Fire approved.

“You played with me last time our paths crossed.” He slunk closer.

What was he doing?

“And I’m sure you remember how it ended.”

He smiled and rolled the shoulder she’d dislocated. It popped. “I’ll never forget.”

“Go home to your dingo.”

He tracked the scent of a spark from somewhere deep within her hard shell and breathed deeply of its heavy, earthy note. Cheeks a little redder than before, she resumed her trek toward the exit.

“You sure I can’t interest you in a hunting expedition?” he called after her. “We could make it a date. Dinner. Movie. Target practice.”

“Unless you want to take me to the door to the Dreaming, we have nothing more to discuss.” She tossed the words over her shoulder without looking back.

His smile widened. “Tempting.” But not yet.

In the wake of her departure, a cool, patchouli scented breeze ruffled his hair. Yep, he was definitely warming up to the cold.

Chapter Thirty-three

Gavin and Vexx sat in his car outside Sentinel Councilor Wyland’s house on the outskirts of town. With the recent increase in Fyre activity in Hervey Bay, the members of the Council had moved there to police the area. The life of a Sentinel was a nomadic one requiring frequent relocation.

Lucky for Gavin, their move here made spying a hell of a lot easier.

Though Gavin was desperate to get back to the Dreaming to continue his search for the Dreamweaver, it occurred to him this morning that exposing the traitor could lead him straight to her. Whoever it was had to be in league with the Fyres and had most likely given them information about the Dreamweaver. Maybe even handed her over.

Gavin focused his tired eyes on the front door. Camira had arrived at Wyland’s a couple hours ago. He guessed the two were plotting inside, though so far, Vexx’s eavesdropping on their thoughts hadn’t uncovered any evidence. Ready to tear out his hair, Gavin had wasted half the day on another wild goose chase while the Fyres continued to lay waste to the Dreaming.

On top of Wyldling worries, maintaining the undertow necessary to keep Scarlet’s raging Fire submerged had drained his Water levels dangerously low now that Zoe wasn’t around.

He felt guilty for taking breaks from his Sentinel duties last night and this morning, but the choice to be with Zoe hadn’t been a selfish indulgence on his part. He
needed
the Water she gave him. It not only held Scarlet down, but it restocked his Sentinel ammunition.

Meanwhile, his mere presence put her at risk every time they were together. If Scarlet overheard something…

He couldn’t go on like this for much longer. His sanity hung by a thread.

“They’re talking about new Sentinel recruits now.” Rolling her eyes, Vexx popped her gum and kicked a foot onto the dash.

Gavin sighed. He swiped a hand across his sweaty forehead as Scarlet made another attempt at surfacing. He used the dwindling remains of Zoe’s Water to cut her off.
Why can’t you just die?
“Nothing about the Fyres?”

Vexx shook her head. “I told you, I can’t read minds, but I’m not getting a sense of anything untoward. They both seem genuine from here.” She huffed and faced him. “Isn’t there someone else we can creep on? These two are clean. And boring beyond belief.”

Could he have been wrong about them?

His mind shuffled through the other possibilities: Erin, Ellie, Kai, and Seth. He had little reason to suspect any of them, but that was the point. The traitor would’ve wanted his trust.

Urgency to find answers in a world where none existed injected his muscles with another shot of panic. His foot tapped off some of the energy, but not nearly enough. Fuck.

Maybe Vexx was right. Camira and that dickhead Wyland were innocent. They had no more time to waste here.

His fingers twitching, he started the car. He hoped Yileen hadn’t befriended a turncoat, but this close to the equinox, he couldn’t rule out anyone. “Let’s see if we can find Kai. He and Yileen were fairly close.”

Scarlet’s Fire stoked in his ribcage, and he quickly flooded it with Water. God damn it. She was trying to drain him dry. If she kept it up, she’d succeed.

“Right on.” Vexx’s fairy-like face shone with impish curiosity as she dipped her gaze to his chest. “How’s that Fire holding up?”

Guilt stabbing his spine, he headed down the street for Kai’s house. Vexx knew. Of course she knew. She was Vexx.

He kept his eyes on the road. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re packing a hell of a lot more heat than any Sentinel I know.” She picked at a pink fingernail.

“I have anger issues.” He glanced at her, then refocused on the road.

She giggled. “You have bullshit issues.”

He said nothing. Instead, he concentrated on maintaining a steady flow of Water over the Fire singeing his conscience.

Vexx swung a skinny black-and-pink-striped leg onto her seat. “I’ll be straight with you since you don’t want to be straight with me. I’m not gonna say anything about your little…problem. Not because I think you’re safe to be around. You’re definitely not. No, I’ll keep quiet because I know how much you care about Zoe. If she finds out what you did, it’ll kill her, and I’m not for that. Jack wouldn’t be either.

“So, you keep your secret hidden deep inside where no one else can find it, and your buddy Vexx will look the other way. Now that I know what you’ve done, you stupid, impulsive boy, I’ll put a little elbow grease into drawing Whetu out of the coma. I’m certain we can find the door into the Dreaming and save you the expense of having to exterminate any cooties you might catch off that fire crotch ex of yours.”