CRYSTALLUM (The Primordial Principles Book 1) (33 page)

"I have absolutely no idea what I was thinking before," he whispered. "Because...I don't want to just be your friend. I want to be with you."

Her heart sped. "I want that, too."

She gasped as his hands eased up her bare thighs, over her hips, and he pulled her toward him, wrapping her legs around his hips.
Kade's
entire body sizzled as her hands went to his shoulders. Cole lifted her chin, guiding her mouth to his. Warm lips parted hers, their
tongues touched, and her stomach dropped.
He tasted like fire and heat. Intense and consuming. She tugged him closer. He was
pure adrenaline, a rush she couldn't get enough of.

Kade had only kissed one other guy in her life when she was fifteen. Three seconds of awkward teeth hitting, nose bumping, and wet tongues. Nothing about it had been good. Kissing Cole was nothing like that. Energy poured out of him like an electric charge and lit her up.

His hand gripped her hip, the other trailing over her jaw, down her neck, over her bare ribcage, and a moan hit the back of Kade's throat. He grinned against her mouth, his teeth gently tugging her lip, as the kiss slowed. Her hands skimmed his shoulders, fingers
trailing down his back, and she froze. He let her go and backed up.

“Cole?" She shifted to the side, trying to see his back, but he angled his body.

"Sorry." He shook his head slightly. "It's nothing."

"Turn around."

With a sigh, he turned, and Kade couldn't stop her release of breath. Cole's back was covered in faint jagged lines. Burns. From his shoulders, to the curve of his waist, down to his hips, they spread out like a web. A web of scars. Her fingers traced over them with the gentlest of touches, and Cole sucked in a breath.

She pulled her hand away. "Do they hurt?"

"Not anymore." His voice was low and steady.

"Cole, this is…" Kade was shocked, appalled, and furious. "What happened?"

"I needed to be trained. It was a long time ago."

"I don't care what you needed or how long ago it was. Cole, your dad made you do this? They look like lightning strikes."

He didn't answer. He didn't have to. Kade knew. He'd told her enough stories about his dad while she was at the Kinship for her to know. Her hands went back to his shoulders. The tip of her finger traced one of the white scars down his back and her hand ran over the hard muscles on his side, above his hip bone.

"I'm sorry this happened." She pressed her lips against his shoulder blade and ran her fingers through his wet hair. He had the same kind of tattoo Lindsey did on the back of his neck. Black wings.
His hair covered it so she'd never noticed it before.

"Don't be sorry." He turned to face her, holding her hips. "I'm okay."

"Are you?" She stared up at him.

He only stared at her, and without a word, he guided her mouth
to his and kissed her gently. She tasted the pain on his lips, his tongue, the sweetness mixed with arrogance, the cocky attitude he always showed, and the heat that radiated out of him as if he burned from within. The unbridled power sizzled through his veins like blood. He wasn't okay, but neither was she, and maybe that's what
created the
need between them. The desire that sparked the instant she looked into his eyes the first time they'd met. Maybe that was all that really mattered. Maybe that was what real love was. Two people
understanding each other. Being able to see the fire in each other's eyes and not being afraid of it. Knowing it wasn't dangerous, but something pure, and real, and true.

The kiss slowed and Cole eased back. "Sorry, I didn't mean...I didn't bring you here because I thought we could...you know..."

Kade put her finger to his lips. "I know that."

He lifted her out of the spring and sat her on the edge, her feet dangling over the side, before hoisting himself out and sitting beside her.

"You don't have to carry me all the time." She nudged his leg with hers, and he grabbed it, pulling her closer so their hips touched.

"I like to." Cole threaded their fingers together. "So, the reason I brought you here," he started. "Besides the nice, hot water. Is because I thought we should talk, really talk, without all the distractions."

"Okay." She liked the sound of that.

"Ask me anything, and don't tell me you don't want to. I know you do. Fledglings always have questions."

"What can you do? Primordials, I mean?"

"Good starting question. We can run very fast." He drew circles
over her knee with his free hand. "Because we're able to bend
magnetic fields and move with light."

"What else?"

"We can create storms, wind, move anything we want. Rip trees from the ground, shift cars across parking lots, create explosions."

She grinned, having seen Cole do some of those things the night he found her in the snow. "Impressive."

He chuckled.

"You guard the Mortal Plane. How, exactly?"

"We protect the planetary grid." Cole continued drawing on her leg. "The Leylines and gates. Make sure nothing unwanted tampers with them, which is nearly impossible, honestly. We hunt down Nefarius, who are the Black Guard, if you're still up on your Latin, and the Devil's Children. We destroy their Hives when we find them. Unblock Leylines if we can, shut down the ones that have been blacked by negative energy so they're impassable. Maintain all the vortices over the megalithic sites in the world, guard the entire grid as best we can, and try to stay one step ahead of everything the Daemoneum do. It's nonstop."

"And what's the threat to the Leylines?" Kade leaned back. "You told me some of it at the Kinship. What else?"

"Well, if the Daemoneum black enough gates, reroute them into the Infernal and Nocturnal Planes, the Mortal Plane, along with the Celestial Plane, will turn into hadean planes, and destroy
everything."

"Hadean?"

"Hellish. The grid that covers the Earth is its protection. That grid also spans out into the universe, encompassing other planes. Without the electromagnetic field's protection, the solar winds will create fire planes. A virtual hell."

"So, the Daemoneum want to create some kind of hell?"

"Yes."

"I'm confused. Can't the Primordial just leave? You aren't from this planet?”

He grinned. "Neither are you."

She still found that hard to grasp.

"This is what we do," he said. "What we've always done. Even before humans inhabited the planet, we were protecting it. The Celestial Plane is connected to the Mortal Plane, among others. Everything in the universe is connected in some way. Everything runs on electromagnetism. No magnetic field...no Earth, no Celestial Plane, and
no Primordial."

"Oh." Her chin dropped. "And the Daemoneum would survive? Don't they use magnetism, too?"

"They do, but they gather strength from negative energy that exists in the universe. They want everything to be blacked. It makes them stronger."

"You really are a good guy, aren't you?"

"Sometimes." He smiled. "Anything else?"

"What happened to your face?"

He averted his eyes. "That's not a fledgling related question."

"No," Kade said. "But I still want to know."

His hand stilled on her leg. "It's not a story you'll like."

"Tell me anyway."

"Danny and I were investigating an abandoned mine, a coal mine, for Daemoneum activity. They use mines and caves and such to stay undetected. In this one there were about ten Leygates at the end of the shaft. I was able to shut the first two down," he said. "And
I thought that the third one was a Leygate into the Hive, that's what we call a large collection of Nefarius or Devil's Children. Alveare in Latin."

Kade nodded.

"And the gate turned out to be Sheol access that led to the Infernal Plane."

Kade's mouth dropped open. She'd heard enough stories about the Infernal Plane from Dracon. Lost souls trapped forever with demons.

"It sucked me into it." Cole traced a little circle on the top of Kade's hand. "Just like when I was eight years old. I should've
known better. I
do know better. I was distracted."

"Cole." She touched his mouth where the cut stretched over his skin.

"And Kyle was there."

"Kyle? Kyle was where?"

"At the other end of the gate, waiting for me. We got into it, he fled like the coward that he is, and now he's disappeared off the radar." He let go of her hand and leaned back.

A shiver ran through Kade's body, and she was sure Cole felt it because he immediately sat back up.

"Hey, don't worry. I won't let Kyle anywhere near you."

"I'm not worried about that. I can take care of myself, but you, if this, you being friends with me, or you standing up for me that day in the parking lot is causing this, then—I can't."

"You aren't causing this." He squeezed her hand.

"Then what is?"

"Kyle said he was working with, or for, Dracon. I don't know if I believe him, but he, he shifted into a Shadow."

"What?" Kade's voice echoed off the cave walls.

"I didn't want to tell you." Cole stared at her. "But there is a threat. Danny's been watching your house while I've been in the infirmary, and Giselle's been keeping guard at school."

"For how long?" Her voice shrilled. "How long have they been doing that?"

"Just since Thursday night. After I got hurt." He rubbed his forehead. "It's still sinking in for everyone, and the Warden has us all on high alert. It's sort of a waiting game at this point since we have no idea what Kyle will do."

Kade stared, immobile. She wasn't mad at anyone, they were
only looking out for her, but the fact that she didn't know that they were, and they were treating her like a child by not saying anything...

"Kade." Cole rubbed his forehead again. "Don't get mad. I asked them to do it. Get mad at me if you want to be mad at someone."

"I'm not...mad, but I'm not helpless, either. I know you all think I am, but I'm not. I've been fighting the Shadows all my life. I can take care of myself."

"No one thinks you're helpless, least of all me. I've seen what you can do," he admitted. "At least some of what you can do, but that
doesn't mean I want you going head to head with Kyle, or anyone for that matter. You've had no training and you're running on pure
instinct."

"What do you mean you've seen what I can do?" Fear spiked in her chest and she wanted to scoot over, away from him.

Cole groaned. "The reason I asked Danny to watch over you was because I couldn't," he said. "I was in the hospital, so I couldn't, but I have been. Watching you." He met her accusing stare. "I have been since the night we met at Crystalline."

"You've been watching me?" She did scoot over that time, all the way over. "Why?"

"Because...shit, Sparrow, I was worried." His voice rose. "You freaking tackled me in a club full of people. I didn't think you had any idea what you were, and to be honest, even though you keep saying you know some of this Primordial stuff I've told you, there
are still too many weird connections that aren't making sense." Cole stared at the ceiling, resting back on his hands. "The Shadow at Crystalline that I killed said, 'he would come for her.' It said something about the Patriarchae. I'm still not sure who that is, but I was afraid that it meant you when it said, 'her.' It was hunting you in the club, Kade, and I wanted to make sure you were safe, so I
tracked Lindsey's car to your house afterward and made sure Giselle had taken you home like I'd told her to and nothing had followed you home."

She stared at him. He'd done that? For her? A complete stranger? He'd been worried about her? Someone he didn't even know?

"Nothing had followed you," Cole went on. "But I still didn't feel good about it. It kept haunting me, so I went back to your house on Sunday, and on Monday, and that's when I saw Dracon stalking the woods under your bedroom window."

She let out a shaky breath.

"And after you fell and hit your head in the woods, I stayed with
you. All night. Even though I knew I was breaking the Doctrine by doing it, protecting someone who wasn't one of my own, but I
couldn't just leave you. I didn't want to leave you, and I told the Warden that when he summoned me because of what I'd done."

Kade couldn't speak.

"And I've watched your house every day since," Cole went on. "Waited until your dad got home every night before I left, and Danny watched it when I couldn't, and you can be mad all you want, but I'm not apologizing for doing any of it, because I would do it all over again. I would do it all over and more just to keep you safe, and I know that sounds insane. I get it. Danny tells me every chance he gets that the way I feel about you is something that I need to get over, that it will never work, that I'm breaking the biggest rule of all by wanting to be with you, but I can't get over it, and I have no idea why that is, or why you're so deep under my skin, because I've never felt this way about anyone before, so I don't know how I'm supposed to just turn it off, walk away from you, pretend I don't—"

Kade launched herself at him. "Shut up," she whispered, kissing him. "Just shut up. You are all I want."

Cole's arms wrapped around her, his mouth pressed hard
against hers, and they tumbled off the edge of the pool, into the bottle green swirling water, sinking toward the bottom, and Kade didn't care if it was the last breath she ever took, as long as her last breath was mingled with Cole's.

THE SUN WAS SETTING
as they walked back toward the Jeep, Cole's hand holding Kade's. "Can I see you tomorrow?" he asked in his sweet, shy voice.

"What about the 'rules'? You aren't allowed to..." Kade stopped. "Not that that's what you meant...I mean…"

Cole faced her, holding her hips. "Let me rephrase that in the proper way. I want to date you, Kade. Not just make out with you in some hidden cave in the middle of nowhere, but date you. Just you and just me."