“Goddamn Tedran,” Lea snarled up at him, giving a new thrash that only tightened the wires around her wrists and ankles. “There’s a reason we kept you locked up.”
Xavier just stared down at her. Nothing moved except the twitching corner of his top lip.
“Don’t listen to her,” Cat told him.
He lunged for Lea. She squeaked and tried to shrink away. Xavier bent over and scooped her up into his arms. Where he found the strength, Cat didn’t know. Barely able to stand by himself, his arms shaking from strain, he started back to the great room. He deposited Lea onto a section of couch opposite Sean.
Still not saying a word, he went back to the kitchen and started rummaging through drawers.
“Jase’ll be back soon,” Lea said.
“Good,” Cat replied with a smile, and Lea glanced with fear at the front door.
“That’s right. We got a little help from him. Weren’t expecting that, were you? But what I want to know is, what exactly did you want from him? He’s not Ofarian. He doesn’t fit into your revenge scheme.”
Xavier came back around the couch, holding a roll of silver duct tape. He pulled out a section, ripped it off with his teeth. Cat held up a hand to him. “Let her answer first.”
Lea eyed her captors then sank further into the couch. “I didn’t want him. Michael did. He was our first. The rest were mutually beneficial.”
“Why?”
Lea just laughed again. “Fuck you. Fuck you, too, Xavier.”
He made a sound of disgust and slapped the duct tape over Lea’s mouth. He went over to Sean and knelt beside him. He covered Sean’s mouth, too, but much gentler. Xavier tilted his head to look into Sean’s unconscious face. “He was a decent fighter,” he said, almost to himself. “He fought because I went after him. He
split
to protect himself, but I could tell he didn’t want to. It took a lot out of him. Wore him down faster. In the end, I kicked one of them in the face, made him go down. He
reabsorbed the second, but by then it was over.” He exhaled and placed a hand on the cushion near Sean’s head. “I don’t think he wanted to be down there any more than the Ofarians.”
Cat threw a fearful glance at the basement door. “Are they…alive?”
Xavier nodded shallowly. “They’re restrained, unconscious. Jase must’ve tied up Shelby to keep up appearances. Their allegiances are twisted. I think we should keep them like that until we know more.” Xavier sighed. “Sean was stalling, taking his time, I think. I saw vials of
nelicoda
nearby. Looks like he got some of the syringes into them, but I don’t know how much…how much it takes to burn out the magic. There was other stuff down there. Poison, maybe. I don’t think he got it in them.”
“I think we should call Gwen,” she blurted out.
His shoulders curved inward and he nodded. “I think so, too. I have no idea what to do with all this. If she doesn’t know, Griffin will.”
She didn’t really want to ask, but did so anyway. “Why didn’t you call them earlier?”
“Cat.” He looked up at her, his heart in his eyes. “All I could think about was you.”
There was a phone on the wall next to the mini wine fridge. A laminated piece of paper taped to the wall above explained how houseguests would be charged for long-distance phone calls. She easily remembered Gwen’s number—heck, she’d studied it for hours before actually dialing it.
Her hands shook from the dying adrenaline. Gwen answered on the second ring, and the sound of her voice instantly made Cat cry. The enormity of the past few days plowed into her. She sank onto a stool at the kitchen island and let it all out.
She told Gwen everything. What had happened to her since they last talked. How Xavier had saved her. The caged fire elemental and the turncoat air elemental. The fates of the two missing Ofarians and…the role of her sister, Lea.
Gwen went so quiet Cat thought she hung up. “Hello? Gwen, are you still there?”
“It can’t be Delia,” Gwen whispered.
“Delia?” On the couch, Lea stiffened, her blazing eyes boring holes into Cat. “I think it is her. Short, maybe five foot
three. Blond hair, brown eyes.” Cat lowered her voice. “Married a Primary named John.”
And then it was Gwen’s turn to cry.
“Hold tight. Be strong,” Gwen said after she’d steadied her voice, and Cat might have told her the exact same thing. “We’re coming.”
She hung up the phone and turned to Xavier, who was watching her with such pride…and such strain. She knelt next to him on the floor and took his face in her hands. When his eyes lifted to hers, the hardness and pain and torment in them melted.
There was no “he kissed her” or “she kissed him.” They came together at the same moment, with the same high level of desperation and relief. The blood didn’t matter. The physical pain faded away. The fear over what came next lifted up and escaped her body. It would come back, but for now—for now—they’d be together. Taste each other.
In the cold of the room, Xavier was heat. In the stress of this house, Xavier was calm. Facing a future of the unknown, Xavier was the present, and Cat absorbed him. She kept her lips to his, her tongue taking him in. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gasped when he crushed her to him.
When they separated, he was trembling. No, they both were.
Something crashed outside. It sounded like stone falling on stone, with that telltale hollow
clink
.
Xavier surged to his feet. “Stay here. I got it.”
He grabbed a knife from the kitchen block and padded to the front door. There was a pause, then Xavier called back to her in surprise, “It’s Jase.”
The door opened and closed as Xavier went outside.
And then, from the garage, came a huge
groan
and a series of heavy thumps.
Cat rocked to her feet and looked to Lea, whose wide eyes watched her. Without second thought, Cat marched to the fireplace mantel, reached into the little pot sitting next to
Ocean #2
, and removed the key to the fire elemental’s cage.
It really was a cage. A bizarre cage of some sort of thick,
translucent material. Scorch marks striped the inside walls and little scraps of burned cloth littered the corners. Smoke leaked out of small holes at the top of the box, and a fan tried to dissipate it, but the old fire stench stung Cat’s nostrils.
A woman appeared from the billowing smoke, parting the plumes like an ancient goddess standing on top of a cloud. She was dramatic in every sense of the word, from her muscled naked body, to the shiny streams of black hair, to the exotic tint of her skin. The best features of at least three different races granted her a powerful type of beauty, made all the more intimidating by her piercing stare. Cat didn’t think she’d ever felt so inadequate, and this woman was
caged
.
The fire elemental wiped away some of the soot with her forearm and peered out. “Who the hell are you?”
“I’m Cat. Michael took me, too.”
“Did he now?” The fire woman crossed her arms over her full breasts. “Another one of his kidnapped minions? Come to feed me or try to keep me company or something? Get on in here and try, beautiful.”
Cat blinked. This wasn’t going at all like she’d imagined. “No, I’m, uh, here to get you out.”
“Nice try. I’m not fucking working for him. Or that Ofarian.”
“Michael’s dead. Or at least, part of him is. This is his blood all over me.” Cat ran a hand over her sticky, reddened hair. “I escaped. I’m trying to help you do the same.”
The fire woman moved closer, her movements smooth, absolutely no fear on her face. “And that bitch Ofarian?”
“You mean Lea?”
“Yeah, that’s the one.”
“She’s inside, right through that door. Tied up. So is Sean. The other Ofarians are drugged in the basement. Jase just returned, but he’s on our side.”
The fire woman pressed her palms to the wall. Her lips formed an
O
, and for a second the tough warrior demeanor dropped away and she was just a captured woman, overjoyed by the good guys’ victory. The hardened look rolled back. “What are you waiting for then? Get me out of here.”
A ladder leaned against the far wall of the garage and Cat glanced over at it. “Lea said you’d burn me to ash if I let you out.”
The fire woman smiled, blinding white teeth against her dusky skin and the smoky backdrop. “Now, why would I do that? You didn’t put me in here, did you?”
Cat relaxed. Somewhat. She had no idea where this woman’s magic came from, how she wielded fire. Could she really burn someone to ash? “No, I didn’t.”
The two women stood there, watching each other. An unease prickled over Cat’s skin, but she chalked it up to the fear Lea had tried to plant in her. This poor woman was as much a prisoner as she’d been, and Cat hadn’t been the one to take her. “What’s your name?”
“Kekona,” she replied at length. A tiny smile. “The ladder?”
“Oh. Right.” Cat walked over to it, saying, “I’ve called the leaders of the Ofarians. They’re on the way.”
“The Ofarians.” Kekona’s voice was strangely flat, but maybe Cat was hearing things, given the banging and clanging of the aluminum on the concrete floor.
“They’ll know how to clean this up, straighten out this mess. I’m sure they’ll take you wherever you need to go.”
“I’m sure.”
As Cat set the ladder against the cage with a loud clatter, she caught Kekona’s intense, doubtful expression. “Lea’s not one of them. Well, she used to be, but she’s gone rogue.”
Kekona raised an eyebrow. “Is that what she told you?”
Cat started to climb. “You don’t need to fear them. We…I trust them.”
Chances were Kekona’s trust was lying in ash on the floor along with her clothing. Cat didn’t blame her, but she felt the weight of Xavier’s word and Gwen’s vows in her bones, and she wanted to get that across. She would see Kekona free and prove Lea wrong.
As Cat awkwardly pulled up the ladder, Kekona eyed it hungrily. Cat was starting to feel her own lack of strength. She should have eaten when Sean had brought her food. She needed about three days of sleep.
“I’m sorry,” Cat said. “I didn’t bring you any clothes. I didn’t know you were…Maybe we could find you something inside. Lea’s a lot shorter than you though.”
Kekona looked in confusion down at her body. “Sorry if I make you uncomfortable.”
On top of the box, Cat stuck the key into the lock and flopped open the hatch. Heat billowed out. She wrestled with the ladder, pulling it up off the floor then sticking one end into the hole and sliding it down to land right at Kekona’s feet. It made a terrible noise and slipped from her grip, but Kekona didn’t even flinch.
Kekona put one foot on the bottom rung, her hand on the ladder, and started to pull herself up. “Why did Michael want you? You’re a Secondary, I presume?”
“Yes,” Cat replied, thinking it might grant them some sort of solidarity. Thinking that she’d never had difficulty speaking to people, except when it came to this most unusual woman.
“Well, what are you?”
The ease and speed with which she climbed the ladder left Cat agape. Kekona crouched next to her, awaiting an answer.
Cat wondered if she should say. Lea was responsible for Kekona’s capture, but Lea didn’t represent the whole race. However, Kekona was a victim here and she deserved faith.
“I guess I’m Ofarian.”
Kekona’s pupils and irises were nearly indistinguishable they were so dark, and Cat could have sworn she saw a tiny flame flicker across them. But then it was gone and Kekona’s direct, enigmatic gaze set on her again.
“You guess?”
Cat swallowed. “I only just learned I was. Days ago. I don’t even know how to use my…magic.”
A muscle in Kekona’s jaw ticked. How could someone who’d spent God knows how long in a fireproof box look so healthy and strong and focused?
“Where are we?” Kekona asked. “Where did they bring me?”
“You’re in Colorado. White Clover Creek.”
“Colorado? Shit.” Her eyes shifted back and forth in thought. “Is there a car here? Anything to get us away?”
Cat started to pull up the cumbersome ladder, her muscles screaming that they’d had enough. Kekona leaned down and yanked up the ladder with one arm. She slid it back down over the side of the box.
“No, sorry,” Cat said, thinking of Jase and how he’d said he was going to return Michael’s rental car. She hadn’t seen any other vehicles on site. She frowned at the garage door. How had Jase gotten back? Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t heard the telltale sounds of a car prior to his reappearance out front.
“The Ofarians told us to sit tight,” Cat said as she started to climb back down.
Kekona didn’t bother with the ladder. She jumped off the box and absorbed the concrete landing with her muscular legs, straightening immediately. She tossed back her long hair with a shadowy smile.
“Come on. Let’s get you inside. Find you some clothes.” Cat had to skirt around Kekona to move toward the door into the house. Kekona didn’t move aside, just followed Cat with her eyes.
“No, Cat the Ofarian. I’m not going inside.”
A bolt of flame shot straight across Cat’s path. With a scream she stumbled backward. Whirled around. Kekona was sitting into one hip, a thin trail of smoke leaking out from between her lips.
“And neither are you. You’re going to sit right here with me,” Kekona said with a terrible smile, “and wait for your people.”
That crash Xavier had heard while inside the house had been
the leftover Christmas tree, toppling from the dry fountain and knocking off one of the stone angels. There was no wind.
Jase stood next to the splintered angel. Alone. No rental car
or taxi in sight. His skin was pasty, his lips tinged blue. He was trying to hide his shivering.
Xavier jogged down the front steps, the Colorado nighttime cold hitting his damp, bloodied shirt and making it feel like he wore a sheet of ice. “How the hell did you get back so fast?”
Jase didn’t respond, but his eyes flicked to the snow-speckled night sky.
“The car?” Xavier prompted, not caring if Jase was a Popsicle. “Everything go okay?”
“Taken care of.” Jase shoved his hands into his hair. Gone was the indifferent air elemental who’d so casually thrown Xavier around the basement room with little more than a thought. He was anxious now,
invested
in events. And, if Xavier wasn’t mistaken, on the verge of tears. “Tell me; I’m dying here. What happened inside?”