Just Breathe Part 23

"You rang?" He stopped inches from her and sampled the scents lingering on her skin. s.e.x and a faint hint of...chocolate? He tipped his head right and raised a brow. "You and Gavin have been busy. I'm a little jealous."

Cheeks red, she crossed her arms, brushing his chest in the process, and stared up at him. Defiance sparked in her eyes. "I wanted to know if you'd heard anything since we last talked. I have some news."

"So do I. Scarlet wants me to kill you." He slid a finger up her arm, over her shoulder, and rested his hand loosely around her throat. Her pulse raced under his thumb. "But I'd rather do other things to you."

Yes, the dark red Fire whispered.

Her breath stuttered, and she raised her chin. "Gavin wouldn't like that."

G.o.ds, her fear was sweet. And something else lurked inside, buried below the fear. A low note of suspicion. He couldn't tell if it was directed at him or Gavin.

"He doesn't have to know."

She shrugged out of his grip and stepped back. "I need some help tracking down a Dreamweaver. Do you know what that is?"

Did he ever. He eased onto the mattress, swung up his booted feet, tucked an arm behind his head on the pillow, and patted the s.p.a.ce next to him. "How about we discuss it in bed?" His Fire unfurled its flaming wings and flapped them.

Nose wrinkled, Zoe waved away the pheromone scent. "Cut the bulls.h.i.t. I don't have time for your games."

He sat up and sizzled his gaze down her chest to where her Fire cowered beneath flesh and bones. "I like you angry. Maybe you should let off some steam."

Me, too, the growing desire said, though he wasn't sure which part the Fire agreed with.

She crossed her arms. "The Dreamweaver?"

Sinnder averted his gaze and licked his lips. "I don't know anything about her," he lied.

"Then how did you know she's female?"

"I'm a good guesser. Is that all you wanted? If you're not gonna feed me, I'll have to be on my way. So many Wyldlings. So little time."

"You said you'd help me."

"That was before you and Gavin kissed and made up."

She straightened, and her ponytail swung like a pendulum across her back. "So, you're jealous? I'd expect that kind of juvenile horses.h.i.t from Scarlet, not you."

The Fire tensed at the jab and retaliated with an inflamed, threatening tone. "Our agreement didn't cover Dreamweavers. You get the Waeters sorted. I take care of Scarlet. That was the deal. For any other matters, you're on your own, Wyldling."

Zoe came at him in earnest, fists at her sides. "After all the trouble you caused for Gavin and me, you can't be bothered to lift a finger beyond what suits your needs? Or even apologize?" Her voice skipped an octave, and blue Water collected at the corners of her eyes.

Regret flash-frosted his searing heart. Had vengeance burned him for so long that he'd become like...Scarlet?

He couldn't answer Zoe's question or his own.

"You ruined us, Sinnder. Yes, Scarlet did the dirty work, but you had the power to stop her. Instead, you sat there and did nothing while she destroyed our trust." Pain marred her beautiful face with jagged lines, and she pushed against his chest. "How can you live with yourself?"

He covered her fists with his and stilled them. The Fire deflected his suicidal urge to plunge into the deep Water coursing through her. "I can't."

She wrenched free of his grip. "Good. I hope you suffer long and hard for what you did. Get out of here. Big jerk." She pointed at the candle and turned her back on him.

Suffer, he would.

The Fire laughed its agreement.

He dipped his finger into the flame and allowed the Element to usher him home. Zoe's sharp inhale burrowed into his ears and fused into his memory on the way out.

Chapter Twenty-seven.

September 19 The storms in Realis continued to keep Scarlet away from her lover, which thoroughly ruined her s.e.x drive. On top of that, she still reeled over how Gavin had snubbed her summons last night in the Dreaming. Stuffing their shared Fire into a tiny, cramped s.p.a.ce with no wiggle room, no pipeline to the outside world. The nerve. Fire had to move. Stillness was unacceptable.

But she'd almost had him.

With the side of her palm, she buffed a path through the steam on the inside of Porsche's windscreen and scowled at Gavin's rental house. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d was so b.l.o.o.d.y careful to keep away from open flame, she couldn't Firewalk to him, and she refused to travel in the rain unless she had to. So, here she waited, parked at his curb under cover of darkness, hoping for a break in the storm. With the Waeters scurrying to collect their Element before the equinox, chances for clear skies were nil.

Let them h.o.a.rd all they wanted. It would be for nothing in a few days.

The time for the attack drew near. If she didn't win Gavin over by the twenty-second, she'd venture into the G.o.dforsaken waterworks to claim her prize.

Speaking of rain...

She straightened and squinted through the gla.s.s. No more falling droplets. No more disgusting plops blurring her vision.

No holds barred.

Perfect.

She grabbed her Bic, yanked out the ashtray, and lit the votive candle inside. Then she slid the lighter up her raincoat sleeve. It would be the fastest source of ignition, should she need to make a hasty retreat.

After checking once more for the all clear from the sky, Scarlet darted out of the car and up the steps to the door, dodging puddles along the way. A few splashes grazed her, but the pain was nothing compared to what Elemental Water would have inflicted.

Her stomach growled at the promise of a Fire feast. The Element flickered hot and eager in her chest as she rang the bell.

The door swung open. Gavin leaned against the jamb, his expression cool. The glowing red Fire tattoos along his right forearm called to her. So did their blended Fire inside his chest.

She smiled. "You look like h.e.l.l. Is the Fire a little too hot for you? I can help you slake the heat."

He looked at his watch. "It's nine-thirty. Past my bedtime. What do you want?"

"You've been avoiding me." She slithered close, brushing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s against him.

He cast a glance inside, pulled the door shut, and herded her down the steps to the paved walkway. "And you've been sitting outside my house for two hours. Are you that desperate, Scarlet?"

"You know I hate the rain." She fussed over her ma.s.s of red curls. "After that sumptuous hard-on you had for me in the Dreaming last night, I reckoned you might be ready to talk. Or f.u.c.k. Either will do." Scarlet licked her lips suggestively and blew him a barely-there kiss.

Something blocked the fiery reaction she'd hoped to elicit from him. Something very...wet. She fixed her gaze on the door behind him. "Who's in there?"

He didn't answer.

So, Sinnder hadn't finished off Zoe as he'd said he would. Why was she not surprised? She covered her snarl with a forced grin. "Does she know you and I are Fire-bound? That you're going to f.u.c.k me like a wh.o.r.e to save your precious Wyldlings? G.o.ds, I'm gonna love owning you." Scarlet skimmed her gaze down to the erection pressed against the underside his jeans. Playing coy, she bit her lip. She flapped her lashes, grabbed that delicious hunk of meat, and stroked.

Furious sparks of red shot out of him. He shoved her hand away.

Not the unbridled l.u.s.t she'd hoped for, but she'd settle for anger. Desire would come later when she got him alone. Once she had his Fire's undivided attention, his infatuation with Zoe would die in three seconds flat.

She swayed at the heated memory of his mouth latched on to her nipple and moaned softly. "Did you tell her how we did it in your bed in Sydney? How you unleashed your Fire on me like a shark in a blood frenzy? You practically raped me, you were so hungry for a root. Then again, she witnessed the really good stuff firsthand-"

"Scarlet-" His Water warmed, simmered, boiled. The heat between them swelled. Firesight revealed deep, b.l.o.o.d.y red tendrils ribboning from her chest to his. Their Elements danced like writhing snakes in a primal mating ritual.

Soon their physical bodies would join in that dance.

"Give in to your urges. I can make you forget her." She pressed her palm to the warm center of his sternum.

Gavin sucked in a full breath and slowly blew out the flame. He stepped back.

"I love Zoe. No matter what I have to do to, no matter how low I have to stoop, no matter how many times I have to f.u.c.k you, I'll always love her." The lines in his forehead smoothed. The muscle twitching in his cheek settled. The darkness evaporated from his eyes.

And his Fire retreated into his breast like a whisper on a dying man's lips.

G.o.ds, how she hated that b.i.t.c.h. And her f.u.c.king Water.

With a great deal of mental effort, she focused her Fire-their Fire-on cracking the beastly egg she'd lain in his chest.

Nothing. His Water held it down.

Fine. If her Fire couldn't break him, the deaths of millions of Wyldlings would. When the terrorist attacks began, he'd come back, begging to f.u.c.k her. Chaos would smash the egg wide open. Once the dragon inside got its first taste of Fire, he would be hers. Forever.

Then, alive or dead, Zoe Morgan wouldn't matter anymore.

Rhythmic rustling among the leaves signaled the return of rain. Another bane of her existence. Tensing, she turned to the sound and snapped the hood over her head.

Gavin grinned. "It's time for you to leave. I'd invite you in, but I was about to join Zoe in bed."

How easy it would be to push past him, rip that b.i.t.c.h's precious skin open with flaming claws, and tear into the veins and Watery filth beneath. Oh, to bathe in Zoe's blood. And make Gavin watch. Scarlet wanted to taste her innards. And feed from his tortured Fire while she did it.

She touched her fingers to her lips to hush the smile forming there. Directing Fire to the tips, she reached for Gavin-hurriedly at first, but then antic.i.p.ation slowed her progress.

Savor it.

Her Fire snaked slowly through the air, curling around the tether binding them together. She pulled on his Fire with sucking draws. Imagined it was his c.o.c.k between her lips.

A drop of sweat inched down his cheek. Flickers of red punched through the blue of his irises. His hands started for her, stopped, trembled. He froze. The battle raging inside bled from his pores, calling her closer.

I want you so badly, it hurts, his Fire confessed, licking desperately at hers. I need you, Scarlet.

I know, lover. Give in to it. Submit to me.

Their flames wound together, caressing, coaxing. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. Mesmerized by the dance, the promise of his submission, she didn't notice the abrupt change in his att.i.tude until it was too late.

His stance tightened, and his eyes narrowed as Water trickled down his arms into his hands.

Forget about Zoe, her Fire demanded.

Never.

Water may have gained a toehold, but the quickening pulse hammering against the vein in his neck betrayed his true desire. Despite his show of Watery force, he still wanted her. His Fire couldn't resist.

She swayed her hips closer. Another heat wave. Gavin shifted weight between his feet, his pulsing blue hand-weapon at the ready.

Scarlet dared him to do it. Begged him.

He swallowed audibly. They stared at each other for a full, tense minute, the Elements warring between them. A standoff.

But then his gaze sharpened with knowing light. The corner of his mouth lifted into a slow, wry smile.

What was he- Scarlet looked down. "f.u.c.k!"

Elemental Water dripped in a steady flow onto the pavement. A puddle pooled around his feet, inching straight for her. She stumbled backward into a sudden downpour.

Scarlet and her Fire screeched at the same time, a shrill, malevolent chorus of agony. Gavin doubled over, but his pained face held onto that crooked smile all the way down. The smug p.r.i.c.k.

Scarlet snapped her cigarette lighter hard. The rain prevented the flint from catching.

"Ahh!" She fumbled with the b.a.s.t.a.r.d thing.

"Enjoy the rain shower," he eked out through gritted teeth. "A little goes a long way." Gavin stumbled into the house and shut the door behind him.

f.u.c.k it. She charged through the cold, pelting h.e.l.l to the car. Water seeped through cracks of her raincoat and soured the sweet smell of her skin like rotten milk. Fury gained momentum when the locked door refused to open. The slippery keys slid to the ground. She had to fish through a puddle to retrieve them. The sting of water blisters bubbled across her flesh.

By the time she got into the driver's seat, she was soaked, chilled to the bone, and tender all over. She yelped and swore. The competing pains from the deluge, the scorn, and the insult upon her person wracked her Fire into a frenzy of revenge. She slammed her hand down on the car's horn and held it for ten seconds. Lights dimmed in the front window of Gavin's house.

Scarlet kicked at the door panel until her foot bruised. She bashed her fist against the wheel, rocking forward and backward. Aiming her lethal gaze at the house, she hit the horn again. Her lover was inside banging that unworthy wh.o.r.e, and there was nothing she could do about it.

That G.o.dd.a.m.n f.u.c.king s.l.u.t Zoe...

Fire demanded retribution. She couldn't sit idle.

She would hurt Gavin into loving her.

Who should she take this affront out on? Scarlet's mind raced. Hunt some children in the Dreaming? Murder a family as they slept? Stalk drunk women in dark alleys?