Exhale (29 page)

A watery hand brushed his wrist just as the paper caught, and he burned out of existence.

* * * *

Gavin peeled off the Band-Aid stuck to the crook of his elbow and slipped it in the kitchen rubbish bin while Jack wasn’t looking. It’d be a week before he got the HIV results back, but he was confident they’d be negative. He wasn’t as sure he could wait that long to be with Zoe as he had in her dreams. Biting his lip to quell the commotion in his gut, he opened the fridge and handed his trainer a beer.

Jack twisted open the bottle and flipped the top to Gavin. “Sorry I missed training last night. Had to help with a situation back home. You guys think the Elementals are bad here.” He shook his head, took a swig of beer, then wiped his mouth with his forearm. “Man, you have no idea.”

“No worries, mate.” None at all. He grinned and tossed the cap into the bin.

One side of Jack’s mouth curved up. He whistled, crossed his arms, and leaned against the wall, beer resting on his elbow. “Okay, what gives? That girl you been seeing did a hell of a number on you. How serious is it? Your aura’s bleeding blue, man.”

“Fuck if I know.” He sat on the lounge and kicked his booted feet on top of the coffee table. No beer. He started to get back up. Hell. He didn’t need it. Too much to do tonight to get pissed. He settled into the cushions.

“How do you work out the not-sleeping-together thing?” Jack glanced around the room. He gulped down half of his gold. “I gather you keep separate houses. Probably a good idea.”

Gavin frowned. “What do you mean, ‘not-sleeping-together thing?’”

Jack waved his bottle around in a circle. “You know, so she can dream?”

Gavin straightened and leaned across the table. A nagging tickle swept the inside of his skull. Fragmented pieces of information flew out of random hidey-holes in his brain and smashed together like metal to an electromagnet.

Shiiit…

Zoe said she didn’t dream their first night together in Brisbane. Every morning he woke up beside her, she’d been out of sorts, grumpy. Gray circles darkened the skin around her eyes. She yawned a lot.

“Fucking. Hell. She’s not dreaming.” He stood up and trampled a path into the carpet with his pacing. Head down, he drew his forefinger across his lips. He lifted his gaze to Jack. “I’m blocking her from the Dreaming?
I’m
the reason she’s so tired in the morning?”

Jack’s playful expression dropped with an almost audible thud. “I thought you knew. Yileen should have told you. Sentinels block the Wyldling neuropathways that facilitate dreaming. There’s no harmful effect while a Wyldling is awake, only when they sleep. Sorry, man. You can’t sleep with her anymore. She could go nuts from dream deprivation.”

Goddamn Sentinel ‘powers.’ More like curses. What was he supposed to do? He barely had enough time for her as it was. If he left her every night, they’d only have a couple hours a day together.

Unacceptable. There had to be some way to get around it. He could not spend his nights away from the woman he loved. Besides, it wasn’t safe with Scarlet running around.

Blue flared in his aura, and he stupidly tried to cover the spiking color with a hand over his chest. As if Jack wouldn’t notice.

“Sentinels and Wyldlings—we don’t mix. It’s a lonely life sometimes, but you take what you can get, then move on.”

“Oh, that’s what you do? Just walk away when the going gets rough?” Shit, he shouldn’t have said that.

Jack stood up and met his stare. “Yes, that’s what I
did
. Because if I hadn’t, my kid would have suffered. You think you’re the only one who’s ever felt pain?” His head twisted, and he popped the bones in his neck with a quick snap left. Aura haloed with red, he rolled his shoulders and squared off with Gavin.

“Being a Sentinel means you
live
pain. So stop your petty whining and suck it up like a fucking man.” He shoved Gavin’s chest.

Heat coursed through Gavin’s veins as he righted himself after the unexpected push. What the hell had gotten into Jack? He concentrated on settling his anger with a dash of Water. No need to start a fight over who the Dreaming had shit on more. “I’m sorry. Just wasn’t ready for that newsflash.”

Jack stepped back, aura cooling from red to yellow. After a moment, he nodded, then polished off the rest of his beer. “People like us aren’t built for families. Word of advice: keep your distance. Sex is fine. Love is not.”

Gavin clenched his teeth. Fuck that. “I hear you.”

Uncomfortable silence descended as they resumed their seats. After an extended symphony of chirping crickets and mental grumbles, Gavin spoke up. “It seems I’ve got another problem. An Aer Elemental needs my help to rescue his daughter who’s being held by Fyres.”

“What do you care about helping an Aer? You’ve got much bigger problems with the Fyres right now.”

“This Aer knows where the door to the Dreaming is.”

Jack lifted a brow and stared at him for a moment. The yellow in his aura rippled.

“I’m heading to Sydney. If everything goes as planned, we could have the Fyres out of the Dreaming by week’s end.”

“I’ll go with you. The two of us should be able to handle anything the Fyres throw.” The lines in Jack’s face smoothed. “And it’ll give you some target practice with your new powers. I wanna see if all this work has paid off.”

Relieved Jack’s fury from a moment ago had passed, Gavin rubbed his chin and nodded. The sooner they got rid of the Fyres, the sooner Jack would go home, and Gavin could suss out what to do about Zoe. He was beyond ready for this business with the Elementals to be settled.

And so were his oblivious band mates. Mike had left another voicemail last night, asking where the hell he’d been. Gavin was running out of excuses and couldn’t put the band off much longer. They were supposed to be rehearsing for the new album. Yet another responsibility he’d shirked.

“You find out any more about the Archelemental?” Jack interrupted his thoughts.

“No, but Scarlet and Sinnder think she’s on her way to Sydney. The Aer threw them off track and bought us a little time. This whale candidate’s sending everyone off their tits.”

“I’m not privy to the inner workings of Elemental politics, but if they’re anything like us, it’s probably pure ignorance that divides them. Humans don’t want a different species running things. It’s awkward, pushes people out of their comfort zones. And of course, there are language issues.

“When dealing with animals, translators are the best options. Some Aer Elementals can communicate mentally, which makes it a little easier for them, but animals don’t have the equipment to form human words the other Elementals can understand.”

The million dollar jackpot sign lit up inside Gavin’s head. Alarms ding-ding-dinged. Neon arrows activated and flashed, pointing to one word.

Zoe
.

He’d known all along she spoke to whales, but he’d somehow failed to string the obvious pieces together. Gavin resumed pacing and ran a hand through his hair. “Who are these translators?”

Jack propped his ankle on his knee, beer-free arm stretched across the back of the lounge. “They’re very rare. Female Wyldlings. The translator gene expresses itself on an extra chromosome.”

Jesus Christ, it was true. He stopped and turned to Jack, wiggling his lip ring with his tongue. “Let me guess. They’re socially awkward and have language problems.”

Jack’s eyes widened. “How’d you know?”

Gavin straightened. “I think it’s time you met the missus.”

Chapter Twenty-nine

The Just Breathe ringtone on Zoe’s phone identified Gavin as her caller. After the crazy morning, she started to worry he’d gotten sidetracked with the Iri mess and might not call after all.

“Hello?”

“Hi, love.” His voice sounded forced. Distant. “You up for visitors?”

She glanced out her open bedroom door into the living room. Dani and Elizabeth lay sprawled over each other on the couch. Adriene hopped crutch-less into the kitchen with an empty coffee mug in her hands. “Uh, it’s a full house at the moment. What’s up?”

“I’ve got some important news. Can you meet me somewhere? Or send the girls out for an hour?” He paused. “I just—need to see you.”

Shit. She needed to see him too. Hadn’t been able to focus at all today. Thoughts of him and what he’d done to her last night ruled her mushy brain like a megalomaniac dictator with a Little Man complex.

Totally. Whipped.

She shut the door and sat on the bed with one leg drawn up. “Can you give me thirty minutes to get rid of them?”

“Yeah, no worries.” His voice lightened. “I’ll see you then.”

The call ended, and she went into the living room. “How are the tags coming?” She nodded toward the state-of-the-art computers humming along on the floor under the work desk.

Dani shifted to a sitting position, tossed Elizabeth’s legs off her, then stood and stretched. Elizabeth scowled at her.

“Got four downloading now. They should be finished by the time we wake up. If we keep tagging at this rate though, we’re gonna run out of DTAGs. You snagged eight whales today. Ten gigabytes a pop is a hell of a lot of data, and with only four computers, we’re down to six tags for tomorrow.”

Eight tags today? Wow. Maybe she should sleep with Gavin more often. A wave of heat rushed between her legs. He was on his way over. Second time might be even better than the first.

“I’ll try to pace myself,” she said. “In the meantime, why don’t you guys go and see a movie or something? Take a little break and enjoy a night off. I can finish up the fluke IDs.”

Adriene teetered into the room, stirred her coffee, and licked the spoon. “Iri already did those. Speaking of…” She glanced to his door. “Where is he?”

“I’m not sure.” Zoe clamped her hands together and rubbed a thumb over a rough-skinned knuckle. She had checked his room when they got in from the boat. His stuff was still there. He wasn’t. Didn’t mean anything though. Gavin would tell her what happened when he got here.

Damn fluttery stomach attacked her again.

Elizabeth stood and wrapped an arm around Dani’s waist. “Maybe we should go out. Give Zoe and Gavin some alone time.” She leaned toward Zoe and wiggled her fingers as if casting a spell at her.

All three of them taunted her with cries of “Ooh!” and “Lovebirds.” Their laughter echoed off the walls in the tiny house. Zoe rolled her eyes, pursed her lips, and eventually joined in. They were so juvenile. Probably why she loved working with them. They kept her young.

“Call your lover boy, and invite him over. We’ll leave you alone for a few hours. Who knows, I might show up with Mike some day soon, and you can repay the favor. Ooh, that man. With his hot little blond dreads. And his eyes are to die for.” Adriene shimmied, lost her balance, and righted herself with a laugh.

She turned to Dani and Elizabeth. “Come on, ladies. Get your shit. We’re going shopping.”

As Adriene started to wobble away, Zoe grabbed her hand. “Thank you. This means a lot to me.”

Adriene waved her off. “Girl, you know I’d do anything to make you happy. Now go put on something sexy and give Gavvy a reason to smile.” Her own smile practically swallowed her beautiful face. Zoe hugged her and followed the girls to the door.

As soon as they left, she ran to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Then she went to her bedroom, opened her dresser drawer, and shuffled through the contents. It was stuffed with work tee shirts, no-frills underwear, and sensible shorts. Nothing remotely sexy anywhere near this zip code. She sighed.

She changed into her pajamas, plumped the pillows, and turned off most of the lights in the house. Oh, wine. There was a bottle in the fridge. She could open that when he got there.

Fifteen minutes later, the bell rang. She slowed her racing thoughts, smoothed her sleep pants, and swung open the door. Gavin filled its frame. A sliver of moon hung behind his head in the black sky, and his eyes almost glowed. She drank in the combined scent of his leather jacket and cedar soap. Dressed in his usual tight-fitting black tee and beat-to-hell jeans, he shot her a boyish half-smile and took a step toward her. Her breath snuck away, but she didn’t miss it.

Standing on her toes, she circled his neck with bare arms and drew his lips onto hers. His hands slid around her waist, eyes closed, and mouth went to work.

Oh, hell, forget about foreplay. She was ready to go. She stepped backward, dragging him lip-locked into the house.

He pulled away, tugged her wrists down to waist level, and held them there. “I hope you don’t mind, but I brought my Sentinel trainer.”

“What?” She peered around his arm. A shaggy, gray-haired guy wearing board shorts and a maroon tee shirt stepped inside, lifted a hand to her, then dropped it suddenly.

Damn it. So much for having fun tonight.

Gavin moved aside, and she got the full view. Self-conscious because she wasn’t wearing a bra, she pulled Gavin’s arm over her shoulder and around her middle. The man’s face twisted into a weird expression like he was in pain or something.

“Jack Weaver, meet Dr. Zoe Morgan.” Gavin gestured to the man with his free hand.

Jack Weaver? What the—

A high-speed train of recognition crashed into her brain and left behind only a few stray bits of gray matter. The rules that governed the universe, like gravity and inertia and momentum—everything she’d ever relied on—shattered.

The blood left her head, filtered down her chest, and pooled in her feet. Lungs ceased to function. Blood pressure spilled out from under her. She clutched Gavin’s arm to keep herself upright. He supported her limp body and stared down at her with round, concerned eyes.

“Dad?” she choked out.

Chapter Thirty

A cool breeze snuck in through the wide open door, bringing a splash of ‘Snap-the-Fuck-Out-of-It!’ to Zoe’s cheeks. She shook her head.

“My God. Zoe,” the stranger said, his gray eyes glistening. “This certainly wasn’t how I planned to meet you. It was supposed to be…different.” He stepped closer.

She raised a palm to ward him off and melted into Gavin’s arms behind her. “Don’t touch me.”