Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) (6 page)

“
Sweet
,” I say
sarcastically
. “I better hurry up and eat before it becomes a monsoon.”

**

Standing in the
heavy
downpour on the beach, I let
rivulets
of water stream
down my face, dripp
ing in torrents from my
b
o
ttom
jaw
. I angle my chin downward and slightly to
the left s
o that I can see any movement Reed
might make toward me.

Th-
t
hump…
th-
thump…
th-
thump
...my heart wants to increase its beat, but I’m trying to control it as I wait like a statue for him to make a move. The clang of swords bein
g clashed together near me fades
to the background because I know the lethal threat is the one just
ahead of me. My finger
s
twitch
on the
long-handled dagger
in my l
eft hand while my hand tightens
on the sword hilt in my right.

I take
a deep breath
,
and as I begi
n to exhale
Reed
makes
his move, instantly cutting in half t
he distance between us. I tense
for a millisecond, waiting for him t
o get closer before I spri
ng forward, running at
him with all my speed. I jump
up and over the swing of the sword in his right hand, plan
ting one foot on his arm. I feel
the whistle of air from the dagger in his left hand blow upward, inches from my chee
k as my other foot steps on his shoulder. I launch
into the air,
using my planted foot to kick off
from
his shoulder, and hopefully, knock him off balance. Stretching my crimson wings out and
gliding back to the sand, I spi
n around, facing my opponent again.

As I stare
into Reed’s dark g
reen eyes, a slow smile twitches o
n the corners of his lips, causing me to nar
row my eyes at him. Then, I feel
the severed left strap of my tank top slip from my shoulder.
The fabric of my shirt slouches over, but still cli
ng
s
to my wet body.
Looking at it, my eyes narrow more before I lift
them to Reed’s
face again. Both his eyebrows ri
se quickly before he let
s
them fall
, making his face go blank.

I wait
a half a second
,
and then, as if on cue, the
front pocket of
his t-shirt droops over and fa
ll
s
to the ground
at his feet
.
Reed looks
down
at it
and then
over
at me.
I lift
my eyebrows quickly before letting them both fall.

Reed’s charcoal-
gray wings
unfold
from his bac
k menacingly, as a frown touches
his lips. Tensing, I wa
it
for him to make another move toward me. In an instant, he sho
o
t
s
s
traight up in the air and seems
to dematerialize. Turning
in circles, my heartbeat kicks
up as I try
to see where he went, and more importantly,
from
which direction he’s going to pounce. Pulling e
nergy to me rapidly, I whisper
words quickly, erecting a
transparent wall
of energy
around me as a
shield, I feel
safe for maybe a mi
l
lisecond
.
Then, w
arm arms wrap
around my waist, start
ling a scream from me as Reed co
me
s
from behind me, pulling me against
his chest. Shifting in his
arms
, he grins
down at me in triumph
before l
eaning down and kissin
g my lips
.

“How did you
get through my shield?” I ask
breathlessly
, feeling my heart
beat increase as his warm lips
trail lower
.

“I was already here by th
e time you employed it,” he says
, reaching out and tapping on the invisible energy field around us. “But, it was impressive, nonetheless.”

I drop
my weapons to the sand, putting my arms around Reed’
s neck lightly
and touching his dark brown hair
.
It’s dripping wet from the rain.
“I should’ve built
a wall
around you instead,” I whisper
, brushing my lips against his jaw
and over his cheek to his lips, tasting the salty water on his skin.

“That would’ve been a
better strategy,” he agrees
, his fingers t
racing a path from my waist up
my side. “One I would’ve had to outrun.”

“As if you
could outrun my magic,” I reply
sarcastically, kissing his lips gently.

“As if I c
ould,” he agrees
, deepening our kiss.

Tap, tap, tap
…K
nocks sound
on the invisible barrier surrounding
us, startling me. I look
over to see
water dripping from
Zephyr’s disapproving f
ace staring down on us. His startling-
blue eyes narrow as my cheeks redden
.

“It does not appear to be dinner time
,
yet,” he says
, showing us his watch and reminding us that we have more training time left before Reed and I can have
some
private time together.

“Uh…sorry
,” I mutter
, pulling
energy
back to me so that the shield I
erected around us melts
away to nothingness.

“We are switching partners,” Ze
phyr says sternly to Reed
as I pick
up my weapons from the sand. “Yo
u go train with Russell,” he
orders
Reed
,
while his
light brown
wings unfold
in agitation
.

“Naw, Zee, I’l
l train with Evie,” Russell says
from behind him
, his face growing dark
.

“That will not work
, since I wa
nt the two of you to learn how a
ngels fight,” Zephyr argues
. “I want you to study what to look for in an angelic opponent. You cannot learn that from Evie.”

“C’mon, Zee,” Russell says
, scowling at Zephyr.

“We need to bring Evie up to you
r level, Russell,” Zephyr explains
. “She had no real training in fighting while she was with the Gancanagh.”

“Uh…I trained a little…”
I trail off when I see
the frown on Zephyr’s face.

“Th
ey trained you to fight like a F
aerie. We will have to break you of all the bad habits
they taught you,” Zephyr replies, sounding superior. He lifts
hi
s wicked broad sword and looks
down the hilt of it
as he points
it at me
. “You cannot concentrate with your current partner.”

Looking at Reed,
he
give
s
me a se
nsual smile. I lose
my train of thought
for a second as my mind wanders
to the way he kissed me just a
few
secon
d
s
ago. In the next moment, I am
jolt
ed
out of my revelry by Zephyr again. “Did
you hear what I said?” he asks
.

“Uh…bad
F
aerie
habits?” I ask
, looking as
his
eye
brows draw together, indicating he probably said
something I completely missed.

“Reed,” Zephyr says
in a stern tone
as water drips
from his brown hair
.

Reed steps
reluctantly forward
, putting his arms around me and hugging me to his chest.
“We’ll have time alo
ne together tonight, love,” he
w
hisper
s
in my ear, and I nod
.

As
Re
ed walk
s
over to Russell, each
of them begi
n
s
s
izing
the other one up. They haven’t been training together, not really.
They barely speak to one another
,
as the bond between them that had formed when I was a cap
tive of the Gancanagh
keeps dissolving
by the day.
Brownie and B
uns have both noticed it. We’ve
discussed it
a few times when I took
my flying lessons with them in the evenings after dinner. It wor
ries me to see them
spar now,
like this is a r
eal battle over a coveted prize
.

“Zee,” I murmur
, watching Russell’s sword cut dangerously close to Reed’s neck
. “Is this a good idea?”

“Time will tell,” he replies
, picking a position on the beach in which to start instructing
me on u
sing the broad sword he holds
.
I’m having a hard time focusing on anything he’s telling me, since my eyes keep drifting to the intense fighting taking place between Russell and Reed.

“That’s not—
s
shheeeeze
,” I inhale
between clenched teeth, seeing Russell’s sword cut a t
hin line in Reed’s cheek. I make
a move
toward them, but Zephyr grabs
my upper arm, holding me back.

“Do not even think about getting in the middle o
f that fight, Evie,” Zephyr says
. “It has been coming for too long now and there needs to be some lines drawn.”

“What lines?” I ask
numbly, trying to make him let go of my arm.

“Dark, thick ones with
pain and menace,” he replies
. “Perhaps y
ou should go now—
you do not need to see this.”

“See what? What are you talking about, Zee?” I a
sk
, fear oozing into my tone.
I glance
over to see Reed’s sword cut a large gash in Russell’s upper ar
m, causing blood to course from it
in rivets with the rain.

“REED!” I shout
, feeling Zephyr’s arms go around me to lift me off my feet so that I can’t run to them.
Reed ignores me as his features remain
blank, not giving away any of what he’s thinking.

In an instant, Russell begi
n
s
to morph, his bright red wings being replaced by the orange and black stripes of a ju
n
gle tiger
as he spri
ng
s
toward Reed, his jaws going for Reed’s
throat. Reed manages
to avoid being bitten by the tiger’s fie
r
ce teeth, but he
does
n
’t avoid the sharp claws that di
g into his back, dragging jagged lines of blood into his flesh. A
millisecond later, Reed morphs
into a pa
nther, pouncing on the tiger as they roll
around on the shore
.

“THE
Y CAN’T DO THIS, ZEE!” I plead
, trying to make
him let me go, but he just shakes
hi
s head. Picking me up, he tosses
me over his shoulder, hauling me off the b
each in a blink of an eye. He ru
n
s
t
hrough the lush foliage of his South P
acific island toward his sprawling plantation house.