Exhale (28 page)

He shook his head.
Focus
.

“Care to explain what the
fuck
you’re doing in my girlfriend’s house, arsehole?”

Scarlet sent me to spy on Zoe,
Iri said in Gavin’s mind, his eyes vortexes of yellow and black.

Shocker that Scarlet was involved.

The
moko
on Iri’s face bled free of their invisible bonds, turning into dark, airy swirls. A cool breeze brushed across Gavin’s skin and ruffled his hair. He squinted against it and tightened his grip around the Aer’s throat. Fire burned through his arm and danced along the tips of his fingers, anxious to get out. Iri’s subtle flinch brought a smile to Gavin’s lips.

“Spill it.” Gavin loosened his hold enough to let Iri speak, though he doubted the Aer would use his voice box to do it.

Scarlet has my daughter. If you want me to tell you what I know, you will help me get her back. Or kill me, if you please. Without my daughter, I do not wish to live.

His face unreadable, Iri fixed his gaze on Gavin. He made no move to break free. No hint of deception crossed his eyes. But Aers were like that. Highly intelligent manipulators, they could coax a person into violating long-standing vows, heart-felt promises, and rigid codes of honor, leaving no trace of deceit until the damage had been done.

Gavin let a spark of hungry Fire out for a taste of Iri’s Air. On Gavin’s tight leash, the flame pulsed across Iri’s skin, sizzling his neck for a split second. Angry yellow blisters rose in reply, and a growl escaped Iri’s throat through a wall of clenched white teeth.

“Why would an Aer Elemental, who’s working for a Fyre, suddenly switch sides to join forces with a Sentinel? What does Scarlet want with Zoe? And why the fuck would I trust a traitor like you?”

Some of the yellow faded from Iri’s eyes.
I know where the door into the Dreaming is.

That got his attention. He dropped his hand, took a step backward, and crossed his arms over his chest. “How do you know?”

I use it. I meet Scarlet there to talk about Zoe Morgan.
Iri straightened. His unmoving glare sent a shiver up Gavin’s spine.

Fire raced from his gut and burst out his mouth. “You used her to get information about the Wæters and gave it to Scarlet. What’d you do, squeeze it out of her dreams? Sneak into her mind on the boat every day?” Gavin punched the wall an inch to the right of Iri’s head. Iri didn’t shrink.

I did what I had to. My daughter’s life is at stake.
Iri tilted his head.
Surely you understand the need to protect those you love.

“How much does Scarlet know?” No way he’d help Iri if it was too late to salvage his mission to restore the Wæters’ Archelemental. If the Fyres had already found
her
, she was as good as dead.

Lily is safe. For the time being.

Fuck. So he did know about
her.

Iri stepped around Gavin, went to the window, and peered out between the drapes. He tugged them closed and turned back.

Scarlet and Sinnder are looking for her in Sydney. They will soon figure out the truth. I can take you to the door to the Dreaming and assist with locking the Fyres out for good, but only if you help me rescue my daughter, Whetu. It would be best to do it now, while Scarlet is occupied.

Gavin sighed. Dreamsense told him Iri had no malevolent intentions. The bloke’s aura was mostly yellow with hints of blue on the fringes. “Why did you set Scarlet on the wrong trail? You could have given her what she wanted—delivered the mother whale—and gotten your daughter back.”

Iri flipped his gaze to Gavin’s in slow motion, his black eyelashes framing blue-rimmed irises.

“She had no intention of returning Whetu. I know that now.” His spoken voice came out louder than the one he projected mentally. “Once Whetu is safe, I intend to kill Scarlet.”

Gavin nodded. “Queue up, mate. I have a score to settle with her as well.” He glanced at Zoe’s door. He didn’t need to involve his muse in a rescue mission. She’d be safer on the boat while he took care of business. “Where is your daughter?”

Under Fyre guards at Concord Hospital’s burn unit in Sydney. She is in a coma but may have limited access to the Dreaming. She is a Wyldling on the cusp of the Elemental change.

“I’ll help spring her. Once she’s safe, you’ll deliver the location of the door the Fyres are using to get into the Dreaming. And then I don’t want to see your face again. Do we have a deal?”

Agreed.

Iri paced the room slowly. After a moment, Gavin realized he was being circled like a shark’s prey. Iri stopped and met his gaze with yellow-eyed cunning.
As a gesture of goodwill, I will tell you one more thing. Scarlet enlisted my services to deconstruct Zoe Morgan’s psyche. I pick through her brain, gathering information about the whales, but I have also profiled your lover and turned over personal information to Scarlet.

“That jealous bitch can’t stand the thought of me caring for someone else. So typical of her—”

Iri stood directly before him and held him tight in his disturbing yellow gaze.
Perhaps you do not understand.
Scarlet covets information about Zoe because she plans to
become
her. She intends to trick you into her bed.

Gavin’s mind reeled. So, Scarlet was a shifter, which explained a fucking ton, not the least of which was her ability to mask her aura from him. She could change her appearance to look like anyone.

But she couldn’t fool him into thinking she was Zoe. He knew Zoe—and Scarlet—too well.

Didn’t he?

Suddenly, shadows eclipsed everything he believed to be true. How did he know Iri wasn’t Scarlet in disguise? What about Zoe’s friends? Had Scarlet appeared as one of them? Perhaps found her way inside their home? Zoe said Scarlet followed her out of The Whale & Whistle, but his Dreamsense never picked her up. His heart raced. Fucking hell.

He couldn’t trust anyone anymore. Jack, Zoe, not even his band mates. Dreamsense flipped wide open and reached for Iri, running its feelers across the bloke’s face and body. Air. Only Air. Gavin wasn’t sure if he should be relieved or more worried.

Iri’s eyes narrowed.
Good. Now you see. Scarlet has many faults, but she has perfected her mimicry skills over the centuries. It may be the reason she has survived so long.

Mental cogs turning, Gavin swept a thumb across his lip. “Would you be willing to continue feeding Scarlet information about Zoe and the whales? I don’t want her to know I’m onto her. If we can throw her off the real whale target, we might be able to buy some time.”

I have already sent her on a chase that should lead to a dead end. The whale you seek for Archelemental is north of the bay. She and her calf are safe for the moment. I cannot say for how long though. Time is of the essence. For both of us.

“Give me ‘til tomorrow. If your daughter is in a coma, one more day won’t make a difference. As long as Scarlet believes you’re still on her side, she’ll leave Whetu alone. I have to finish a bit of training, and I’ll be ready.

“In the meantime, I’ll ask Zoe to let you stay here a little while longer. I’ll speak with her about Scarlet’s plans. I think she’ll cooperate.”

Have no doubt. She will do whatever she must to protect the whale.

Gavin started to ask what Zoe thought about him, since Iri appeared to have a direct line to her brain, but decided against it.

Iri’s head ticked almost imperceptibly. His strange eyes focused on Gavin. Yep, that bloke knew Zoe’s deepest, most private thoughts. No question about it. But Gavin needed to unearth her feelings on his own. Didn’t seem right to ask Iri to spill.

You are wise, Gavin Cassidy.
Iri offered his open right hand. Gavin clasped his palm, and a gust of wind blew over him, whipping his hair and clothes. The air stilled when their hands parted.

“In two days, you’ll have your daughter, the Wæters will have a new Archelemental, and Scarlet will be dead. Then the Sentinels will snuff the Fyres from the Dreaming for once and for all.”

Iri inclined his head.
Let us hope so.

Chapter Twenty-eight

Sinnder scowled at Scarlet’s back as he followed her down the alleys of Kings Cross in Sydney. She had shot three whales in two days—two mothers and a calf. Whether they lived or died remained a mystery. He hoped it had been quick deaths for them. He and Scarlet hadn’t gotten close enough to tell whether they had been Elementals or common beasts, but the question of their lineage didn’t concern him. They had been sentient. He had felt their consciousness.

He was an accomplice to murder.

Wasn’t the first time, and wouldn’t be the last, but the uncomfortable sting of his actions bit hard into his skin.

Once again, Scarlet had contributed to his ongoing descent into hell on Earth. He curled his lip to contain the Fire stoking in his soul. He had waited centuries for revenge. Even had the perfect opportunity to finish her off after Eidan nearly drained her of Fire, but he’d clammed up. What the hell stopped him? Fear that after chasing her for so long, he’d have nothing left to live for when she was gone?

Or maybe it had been Fate, as Yileen had predicted.

Scarlet paused in her tracks and twisted her head to the side. Her grin sent an uncomfortable chill across his skin. “What are you up to, Sinnder? I can feel you.”

She reached for his cheek, but he stepped back. Her eyes narrowed to slits. She licked her lips and drew circles around an erect nipple poking through her flimsy camisole. “You want some of my Fire, don’t you?”

His Fire answered with a quick flare. Damn it. They were in public. If he didn’t get himself under control, things could get ugly. He shifted his weight.

“There’s my boy.” She stepped around him, trailing a hand across his chest and back. Heat roared between them. “How come you never asked for a taste of me? We could have wicked sex, you and I.” She scanned the alley. “We could do it right here, though it’d be a pity not to have an audience.”

His Fire popped its head up, intrigued.

Breath left him in a slow swagger. He moved closer, tilted his head, and inhaled her cinnamon scent. Closing his eyes, he loosened the lid on the desire blooming in his chest. It would be so easy to take her now. He focused on her parted cherry red lips. She smiled with shark-like teeth. He imagined those teeth grazing his cock.

She stroked him through his jeans.

Yes. Yes…

A commotion of angry voices rose about a hundred meters from his left, and he whipped his head in that direction. Scarlet turned too.

Fire. Lots of it.

He followed her to the edge of the alley and pressed against her shoulder for a look.

Two Fyres faced a trio of dark-skinned, hulking Wæter Elementals.

The bloody Tongans.

Scarlet’s passion evaporated into panic.

The Wæters were indeed identical. Three blokes with bulging biceps, shiny black hair pulled into ponytails at the nape, and strange eyes that glowed so blue, he could see them from here.

“Fuck.” Scarlet pushed her back into Sinnder’s chest, forcing him out of their line of sight. Sweat beaded her forehead. “We have to get out of here. Now.”

“You go. I want to see what the Tongans are made of.” Too enthralled to bow to good sense, Sinnder poked his head around the corner again.

“You idiot. You’re gonna get killed. Throw the newbie Fyres to the wolves, and let’s make a break while we can. If the Tongans see us, we’re dead.”

He didn’t answer. Scarlet tugged on his leather jacket sleeve, and he shoved her away. This show was too good to pass up.

“You fucknuts don’t look scary to me,” one of the Fyres said. Sinnder had seen him before. His name was Flint, if he remembered correctly. “What do you think, King George?”

The other Fyre laughed. His hand twitched at his side. “No, just a trio of thick-headed mutts in need of an arse beating.”

The Tongans circled the Fyres in a perfectly paced triangulation of death. Feet marched in sync. Slow. Calculating. Eyes continued to glow.

“We’re Fyres. Fight us like men.” Flint’s voice quivered as he pounded his chest with a balled fist. He suddenly didn’t sound convinced of his chances.

The Tongans closed on the twitchy duo, spiraling tighter and tighter, faster and faster, bluer and bluer, until their bodies blurred into a whirlpool. The Fyres turned their heads as if trying to keep track of the movements, but it was too late. The Tongans’ speed increased until only a watery wall remained.

A high-pitched cry rose from the center of the swirling vortex, followed by another. Agony-filled screams pierced Sinnder’s ears. He licked his lips. Too bad there’d be nothing left of the Fyres when the Tongans finished with them. They might have made a half-filling meal.

Like a fountain, Water arched up from the spinning top of Tongans, hovered for a second in the air, then crashed on itself, drowning the Fyres in the center. The screams ceased, the blur slowed, and the three identical Elementals reappeared from the maelstrom, keeping pace in the circle like this was nothing more than a leisurely stroll through the park.

They slowed their steps.

“Oh, my God!” a female voice shouted. A woman and her child stood at the intersection of the two streets. She covered the boy’s eyes with a hand, then whisked him away from the scene.

A few other Wyldlings dotted the sidewalk a ways down. Once the Tongans halted, facing each other in their circle, the people scattered like leaves, probably to seek shelter or call the police.

Interesting. Elementals usually tried to stay under the humans’ radar, but the Tongans didn’t seem to care about being seen. They might have wanted it that way.

“Face us, Fyre,” came a deep, thickly accented voice. One of the Wæters turned to Sinnder.

He reached a hand behind him for Scarlet, but she was gone.

The trio stepped toward him with silent, deadly intent. He straightened.

“Pay for the crimes done to our whales,” the second one said. “Our vengeance will be swift if you cooperate. If not…”

“…you will suffer like never before.” The third Tongan finished his sentence.

Sinnder backed into the alley and cast about for something to ignite. There. A scrap of newspaper. Without moving his gaze from the Wæters, he crouched and scooped the paper up with a super-heated hand. He visualized the gas lamp he’d Firewalked through near Oxford Street. Three pairs of identical, scathing blue eyes leveled on him. He took a deep breath and prayed to the God he no longer believed in for safe passage.