Just Breathe (22 page)

“We’re preparing to execute bombings in the most populous sections of every major city in Australia. The Fyres will set explosives in the early morning, then detonate them at noon on the twenty-second. The bombings should produce plenty of panicked Wyldling Fire to consume, which will make our follow-up attack on the Dreaming that much easier. The Fire yield there will be exponentially greater.”

Eidan nodded. “Even if Lana manages to pull out a substantial tithe to Aqua, the Wæters won’t be able to match this strong of a surge in Fire the day before the equinox. The twenty-third of September will be a day for the history books. The day Incendius claims Australia. Elementals across the world will see our rise to power and cringe in fear of us.”

Scarlet smiled. Maybe, but Eidan would get none of
her
Fire. She’d disappear with Gavin to someplace safe just before the tithe. And after the equinox, Eidan would be weaker than she’d been when he raped the Fire from her chest for her failed attack on the Dreaming. That’s when she’d pounce on him.

One more week. She’d have Gavin bagged by then. His Fire would be all the backup she’d need.

In the meantime, she had a whale biologist to fry.

“Might I suggest, Archelemental, that for insurance, you put a Fyre on Zoe Morgan’s trail? She’s proven to be quite a troublemaker where the Wæters are concerned, and since the prophesied whale candidate didn’t assume the Archelemental position, there’s a chance the Dreaming might keep her involved. She’s a risk to our plans. I think we need to get rid of her.”

Eidan raised a brow. “Gavin Cassidy is a bigger threat, but you don’t seem to mind keeping him around.”

Bastard. “I’m working on him. I think he could be a valuable ally if we convince him to join us.”

“I suspect your interest in him has nothing to do with assisting this Council. Rather, you wish to keep him as your plaything.” Eidan waved his hand. “Zoe Morgan doesn’t interest me.” Then, almost as an afterthought, he turned glowing eyes to Sinnder. “Why don’t
you
have the Wyldling? See if you can get any information out of her, and kill her when you’re done.”

Deep red burned thick in Sinnder’s gaze, and he licked his lips. “As you wish, Archelemental.”

Scarlet bowed her head to hide her smile. Though she had no firsthand knowledge of Sinnder’s table manners, she’d heard the rumors. Voracious, twisted, unaffected by boundaries. And very thorough.

She didn’t trust him, but after seeing him size up Zoe at Shaggy’s the night Just Breathe played, she was quite certain Sinnder would find Zoe’s flavor to his liking. And there was little chance he’d leave any crumbs.

Chapter Twenty-three

Zoe was in major big-time trouble.

Warm shower spray beat her chest, washing away evidence of the messy but deliciously awesome sex she’d had with Gavin. She looked over her shoulder and backed into his embrace. His erection laid its head just above her ass. She grinned. The man was insatiable.

Tattooed arms wrapped her in strange, but soothing Elemental comfort. Cool blue, thick green, wispy yellow, and hot red greeted her fingers as she traced the beautiful patterns. But the Water serenaded her like a lullaby. It called to her—same as the whales. “I can feel the Elements under your skin. Does it hurt when they light up?”

He nuzzled her neck and spoke against it. “No. It’s more of a shock, really. If I expect it, the buzz isn’t so bad.” The low vibrations from his vocal chords tickled her.

Her hand lingered on the blue tattoos.

She’d said the magic words. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t, but they slipped out in the heat of passion. Yes, the declaration of love was true, but like all top secret information, it should only have been uttered on a need to know basis. And Gavin didn’t need to know. It made her too vulnerable.

But now that the cat was out of the bag, she felt lighter. Relieved. She wouldn’t have been able to keep the truth from him much longer anyway. She was a terrible liar.

She tugged his chin onto her shoulder and held his cheek to hers. The rough black stubble under her fingers was enough to get the juices flowing again. How pathetic. Turned on by stubble? Jesus, she was more whipped than she thought. He shook his head like a dog, flinging droplets against the shower curtain.

Laughing, she turned around and spied a thin, brown line heading for his nipple. It’d be a shame to waste perfectly good chocolate. She licked it.

He twisted his hips to the right, and the erection bounced out of range. Damn it. “We have some things to discuss before we get distracted again.”

So, maybe bed was still on the agenda. “Okay.”

She’d never liked bad weather days until she met Gavin. Now she half-wished for a week of them. His wet, black hair…the smell of his cedar shampoo on both of them… She glanced down at the thick lines of muscle in front of her. The body that wouldn’t stop.

So
freaking whipped.

She tipped her head to rinse her hair and to give him a look at her breasts, should he be inclined to notice. The faint red outline of Gavin’s handprint there reminded her of the sudden, exciting turn sex had taken. She had no idea what all the roughness was about, but she liked it.

He stepped closer, cupped her lower back and set his teeth gently upon a nipple. His tongue looped around it in slow circles. Shivers lit up her skin.

She raked his hair, clutched him to her chest, and moaned. “You do the most amazing things with your tongue.”

“You make it hard for me to keep it in my mouth,” he mumbled against her breast, then returned to sucking. A flick of metal from his bottom lip on the sensitive peak shot another surge of desire through her gut. He straightened and aligned his gaze with hers. His soft breath teased a kiss out of her.

Water joined them—not the stuff coming out of the showerhead—but the Element itself. She actually
felt
the blue between them. It was stronger than superglue.

When the kiss ended, she opened her eyes and stared into his. The magic words ping-ponged around in her mouth again like superheated electrons dying to go radioactive.

Instead of speaking, she thought at him really, really hard.

I love you.

He smiled.

Shit. Her aura, or whatever, must have betrayed her. Her cheeks heated. He leaned forward, inches away from her face but not touching anywhere, and turned off the faucet behind her. “I’m sorry, were you going to say something?”

A droplet coursed down his cheek, over his lips, and fell on hers. She passed her tongue over the spot. “Me? No. Just enjoying the view.”

He pushed the shower curtain aside and offered her a hand out of the tub. “Ditto.”

Zoe dried off quickly, then tossed the towel around his shoulders and wiped him down. Grinning, he stood before the steamy mirror looking like one of those Greek god statues, hot and naked, hair and body glistening. He shoved a toothbrush in his mouth, bit down on it, then opened a drawer and rummaged around. He held up a packaged toothbrush for her.

She smiled and accepted it. “You have overnight guests often?”

“Nope. I bought this one with you in mind.”

Gush.

She opened the plastic wrapping. He gave her a squirt of his toothpaste. Brushing commenced side by side, each of them sneaking glimpses at the other’s reflection in the foggy mirror.

This was what couples did. They brushed their teeth and had conversations before they went to work. They shared breakfast and kissed each other goodbye.

She’d never been part of a couple. Yes, she and Randy had a thing for a while, but they never did…this. He was usually gone before she woke up.

She caught Gavin’s eye in the glass. He didn’t seem the ‘couple’ type either, but standing beside him now with toothbrushes scrubbing and white foam gathering at the corners of their mouths, she wanted nothing more.

Don’t be stupid. You can’t keep him. It would never work out.

True. For more reasons than she could count.

She spit out a mouthful of minty bubbles and splashed her face. He glanced at her and did the same.

She’d only be in Australia through the end of October, and then it was back to the States until next August. The whales dictated where she lived at any given time. Randy had pretty much told her she’d wrapped up the Vice President job, and after this wildly productive season of tagging, the Board would have no choice but to endorse her promotion.

Though she’d love to stay in Australia with Gavin, the lure of the whales was too strong, and his jobs—in Realis and the Dreaming—wouldn’t make it any easier for them to be together outside of Hervey Bay’s whale season.

Overriding it all was the whole no-sleeping-together thing. An occasional night of not dreaming might be okay, but more than a couple at a time would impact her health.

It was best to take what she could get and make the most of what they had for now. She wanted to create memories with him, not bring home guilt souvenirs.

“What are you worried about?” He stepped behind her, covering her naked body with his vividly colored arms.

“Nothing.” She stretched her neck, kissed him, and wiggled out of his embrace.

Zoe headed to his bedroom. Gavin followed.

He slipped on a pair of faded jeans. Her clothes from yesterday now dry, she dressed, too, and grabbed a corner of the chocolate-smeared linens.

He arched a brow. “Tell me.” Shirtless, he helped her dismantle the bed.

“I’m worried about the Wyldlings and the Wæters.” It wasn’t a lie. Her dreams last night had been the most disturbing ones yet. The Fyres had resorted to downright vicious tactics. Bullying had transformed into pack-mentality hunting. The brutality bordered on pure evil. “The Dreaming is getting hotter by the night. I haven’t seen any Sentinels around in weeks. What’s going on with Whetu?”

He let go of the sheet hem. “I don’t know.”

“There must be another way into the Dreaming.”

Gavin’s gaze lost focus. He worried his bottom lip between a thumb and forefinger, then paced.

“You found something?” Zoe’s heart tripped.

He paused. “I—” He shook his head. Dropped hands to his hips. He stared past her, his expression bouncing between hopeful and discouraged. Almost as if he were arguing with himself. Or grappling with some truth he wasn’t sure he should disclose.

His entire demeanor shifted from that of the sweet, loving guy she’d just showered with to a closed off, cold man she’d never met.

An invisible door slammed between them. Even his voice cooled. “I’m searching for…another option.”

“What kind of option? Maybe I can help.”

For a moment, she thought he wasn’t going to answer. But he finally did. “There’s a legend about a Dreamweaver—a dream goddess, if you will. I have no idea whether she’s real or not, but if she is, she controls all the doors into the Dreaming.” Gavin kept his gaze on the carpet as he rushed to and fro.

Zoe tossed the ball of linens to the floor and stood in front of him, blocking his fevered path. “Okay. That sounds like a great lead. She must know how the Fyres are getting in. Where do we look for her? It feels like we’re spinning our wheels here, waiting for something to happen. We’ve got to be proactive.”

He nodded, sucked in a hard breath, and sat on the edge of the bed. She settled beside him.

“About—” Brows furrowed, he opened his mouth to say something else, then shut it.

“About what?” What the hell was going on with him? “You’re not still upset about last night, are you?”

A hint of pink flared in his cheeks.

Embarrassment? Zoe wove her fingers between his and drew the knot of their hands to her chest. “Gavin, we’re starting fresh. The past is behind us. We need to focus on the future for the Wyldlings and Wæters. We can’t change what Scarlet did, so there’s no use dwelling on it. I told you I forgive you, and I mean it.”

Heartbreak cracked the veneer of his worried expression for a split second, then cold, hard cement filled it in. “You’re right. The past is the past.” He didn’t look at her.

She didn’t like the thickening distance creeping in between them again. “We’re in this together. As a team.”

He sucked on his bottom lip.

“Let’s head over to Jack’s house and see how things are going with Whetu. After we check in, you can hit the Dreaming in search of this Dreamweaver person. Screw Scarlet and the Fyres. We’ll find a way around them.”

With a wince, he nodded.

A desperate flash of panic lit his eyes as his gaze fell to the floor. He ironed the wrinkles from his expression a millisecond too late.

Chapter Twenty-four

The moment Gavin parked in Jack’s driveway, his Dreamsense freaked the fuck out. His tattoos lit up like neon signs—all four Elements—red, blue, green, and yellow. Dinging clappers beat loudly against the inside of his head.

Jaw set on a hard edge since they left his place, he pointed at the house through the heavy rain streaks smearing the car windows. “Elementals in there.”

Zoe nodded. “Yeah, Jack keeps some strange company.”

Indeed. Gavin had no idea who the Fyre and Wæter might be, but he’d met Vexx, and of course Jet Hawthorne, the Erthe who’d saved Zoe’s life after Gavin ended it. The two mystery Elementals must have been the other members of the Librus team Jack brought to Australia.

The storm spat rain in uneven, fast bursts. Aqua showing her displeasure about something? Maybe. His Fire tattoos had been itchy all morning. Not to mention his conscience.

“You coming?” Zoe asked.

“I’ll say hello to Jack and then shove off to look for the Dreamweaver. You can ring me when you’re done, and I’ll pick you up.” He was supposed to go to a Sentinel Council meeting, but fuck that. They’d know in an instant something was up with his Fire.

And he definitely couldn’t stay here. He’d put everyone at risk if Scarlet overheard something she shouldn’t.

“It’s a date.” Zoe smacked his cheek with a kiss, popped open her door, and ran through the rain to the house.

Gavin got out of the car and followed. The combination of the Fire and lies detonated another round of explosions in his gut. He rubbed his stomach. This shit was eating him alive.