Exhale (32 page)

Damn.

He tried to roll onto his knees, but the excruciating pain in his arm stopped him. Definitely dislocated. Or worse.

Hawthorne peered over the top edge of her glasses at him. Why did he have a feeling she needed those glasses like she needed strength training?

“Still not ready? We could do three out of five if you want.” Her smile finally achieved lift-off. Sparkling white teeth. Reminded him of—

Biting back the pain, he forced himself to stand. Didn’t bother dusting off. “I’m taking the dingo anyway.”

She stared motionless at him, jaw set, hand on a hip.

Harriet limped to his side and leaned against his leg. What a pair they made. Two dirty, beat-to-hell dogs.

Hawthorne glanced at his arm. “I can fix that.”

“I know.” He turned away, back aching, muscles spasming, arm dangling. Harriet nuzzled his hand. Hawthorne’s gaze burned cold on his back as he and his new friend staggered out of the forest.

He’d have to secure lodgings for the night, hide a bloody, smelly, and illegal dingo, and avoid Scarlet. Business as usual. But worth it.

He patted Harriet’s head. “You can stay with me, but you’re sleeping on the floor.”

She uttered an accepting moan and licked his palm.

A tiny spring of Water welled within him.

Chapter Thirty-two

Zoe closed the door behind Jack, leaned against it, and brushed away her tears. Gavin rose from the couch awkwardly and rubbed hands across his jeans.

“I’m sorry for the drama,” she said. “Funny, I never cried before I got to Hervey Bay. Now I seem to do it all the time.”

Half-smiling, he took a couple steps toward her. “I started it. And finding out after so many years that you have a father who cares gives you license to cry as much as you want.”

Despite the lip ring, earrings, tattoos, wild black hair, and grungy clothes, his expression was soft. He reached a hand to her. She left the safety of the door and took it. They stared at each other for a moment, then he pulled her into his arms. She laid her head against his chest. His steady heartbeat grounded her.

“Thank you.” She squeezed her eyes shut to hold the gathering tears at bay, but a couple stubborn ones snuck out of lockdown and stained his shirt with jet stripes. He rubbed her back in circles with a big hand and rested his chin on top of her head.

God, she needed this. Him.

She sniffled, pulled away, and checked her watch. “What’s your plan with Iri?”

“You and I first. What’s the plan with us?” His eyebrows drew together.

She wiped an arm across her nose. “You can’t stay here tonight. Or any night, by the looks of it. Maybe we should take a break?”

He lowered his head. “Do you
want
to take a break? We just got started.”

“No, but how do we keep doing” —she waved a hand between them— “whatever this is, when every force in the universe works against us? We’ve just been told you can’t sleep near me anymore. I have a time-intensive job that requires me to be mentally focused. You have to practice with your band and save the world in your free time. I need to find…
her.
”

“We still have the Dreaming. I can visit you there at night and watch over you while you sleep—”

“Our dream relationship is fun, but I want something real.” Had she just said that?

He grasped her upper arms. “We
have
something real. But it hasn’t had a chance to grow. I can come to your window and see you off to dreamland every night, then leave when you’re asleep. If it’s only an hour or two, it’s better than nothing.”

True, but how could she maintain a relationship—yes, that was what she wanted—with a man she couldn’t sleep next to? Even though she’d woken up tired with him the mornings before, at least he had been there
.
The thrill of seeing and feeling and smelling him the moment her eyes opened had been amazing.

Could she live without it? Of course. Did she want to? Hell, no.

She needed time to think.

“We’ll talk about it when you get back from Sydney.”

Gavin’s Air tattoos lit up like a yellow torch. He frowned and rubbed his arm. Someone knocked on the door.

Zoe lifted a brow. “Guess we know who that is.”

She opened the door, propped her arm inside the frame, and leaned against it. Gavin’s heat radiated against her back.

I must speak with Gavin,
Iri said in her mind.

She stepped out of the way and swept a wide flourish with her arm to invite him in. “When you’re done, get your stuff and leave. Don’t come here again.”

He nodded and came inside. She closed the door and made for the kitchen, but Gavin grabbed her hand and guided her to the couch with him. “You should hear this too.”

Iri remained standing.
Today I Airwalked to the hospital in Sydney where Whetu is being held by Fyres in the burn unit. I manipulated a security guard and one of the nurses. They will help us get to my daughter. They are both on duty tomorrow.

“What do you mean, you Airwalked?” Zoe asked.

“Elementals can teleport by forcing their atoms through the medium of their Element,” Gavin said.

She swept her cheek, and her heart sputtered. Scarlet. “So, if I were to light a candle, a Fyre Elemental could use it as a kind of portal to get into my house?”

“Yes. Gas stoves, candles, fireplaces—any open flame.”

Zoe turned to Gavin, an awful shiver of dread clawing her spine. “Then Scarlet didn’t burn my face in the Dreaming. She actually entered my house through a candle I left burning a couple weeks ago. She touched me. For real.”

An ominous frown clouded Gavin’s face, and he turned to Iri. “I’m going to kill that bitch,” he said through clenched teeth.

Iri nodded.
The Tongans created a public stir in Sydney tonight. Several witnesses saw them destroy two Fyres. Both male.

Gavin straightened. “What the hell brought them into the open? Elementals aren’t supposed to reveal themselves to Wyldlings.”

Golden flecks in Iri’s yellow eyes glittered.
The Tongans won’t come out unless they feel threatened. But they have no regard for Sentinel rules. They follow their own paths.
He turned to Zoe.
The Tongans are three powerful Wæter Elementals.

“Maybe you could use them to break your daughter out of the hospital.” Seemed like having Wæters around would be a good way to neutralize Fyres.

Gavin snapped his gaze to her. “Zoe’s right. Having the Tongans as back-up would be a penultimate show of force. We’d have no problem springing your daughter with them at our backs.”

Iri nodded.
Agreed. Perhaps it would be best to seek them out tomorrow to allow enough time to convince them. Assuming we can find them.

“I’ll catch an early flight out and meet you,” Gavin said.

Zoe sighed. No sex tonight.

The corner of Iri’s mouth quirked up. The gesture might have been the closest she’d ever seen him come to a smile.

She shook her head slowly.
You can get out of my head now. No need to spy anymore,
she thought at him.

He’s thinking the same thing.
Now Iri did smile. His bright teeth barely shone through his lips, but it was a smile for sure. Zoe’s cheeks heated.

Maybe the guy wasn’t as bad as she thought. They stared at each other for a moment. He may have lied, weaseled, and deceived her, but everything Iri had done during his stay at the research house had been for his daughter, hadn’t it? Maybe even Elementals went to great lengths to protect the ones they loved.

Would Jack have done the same for her if he’d thought she was in danger? Would he have emerged from hiding to help her? Would he have risked his life for hers?

She knew him no better than she did Iri—even less—but something told her Jack would have thrown himself in front of a Mack truck for her had the need arisen. Mother, on the other hand…

“Once you secure Whetu and give me the location of the door, I’ll have the Sentinels launch an intensive search for Fyres in the Dreaming and smoke the bastards out,” Gavin said. “The Dreaming will be free inside of a month, and I’ll be able to concentrate on other things.” He shot her a sideways glance.

Zoe slid her hand under his and clasped his fingers. “I have a good feeling about this.”

Iri’s expression flattened. He said nothing.

* * * *

After they finalized plans and Iri left, Gavin followed Zoe to her bedroom and shut the door behind him. The girls would be back soon, and he had to update Jack before it got too late, but he wanted a few more minutes with her.

Though her aura had displayed a rainbow of scattered emotions earlier, now it beamed a steady mix of green and blue—Earth and Water. Good.

He hated leaving her on such short notice, but if Scarlet was in Sydney as he suspected, Zoe should be safe here without him.

“While I’m gone, it’s best to stay close to water and avoid anything with fire. Don’t let anyone in your house. Be sure to—”

“I’m a big girl, Gavin. I’ll be okay. You have to take care of yourself too.” She poked his chest and leaned into him. “These Tongan guys sound almost as dangerous as the Fyres.”

Maybe more so, depending on who you talked to, but no need to worry her about that. “I’ll be careful.”

He smoothed a hand over her long hair. She closed her eyes, turned her cheek into his palm, and kissed it.

“I want to sleep with you again,” he said.
And hold you all night long.

Her beautiful blues opened, and her aura sunk into deep purple with bouncing red highlights. Lust-tinged emotion he dare not label ‘love.’ Too soon. Too presumptuous. Too tempting.

She grabbed either side of his face, lunged at his mouth, and dipped her tongue inside. Greedy fingers slipped through the spikes of his hair, and he pulled her by the hips into the erection that had popped up. Fuck, she could just look at him, and
pow!
—like the spring on a trap.

She pulled back with a sexy as hell grin, tugged his shirt up and off, and clawed his belt buckle open. In seconds, his jeans lay in a tangle around his ankles. He bent to unlace his boots, wrestled with the goddamn strings for way too long, and toed them off. Four stamps of his feet, and the jeans were history. Zoe grinned at the results.

Fire roared in his ears.

He let it out.

He spun her around and maneuvered her to the dresser. Standing behind her, he dipped into the front of her pajama bottoms and slid his fingers inside. Wet. She moaned. The pants dropped, his cock pressed against her arse, and he rubbed her with one hand while kneading her breast through the blue cami with the other. His teeth skittered down the back of her neck, and her scent blossomed in the room. In and out his fingers glided. She opened further and further with each stroke. Her hurried breaths mingled with his. He brought slick fingers to his mouth and groaned at her taste.

Fiery frenzy took hold. He wanted everything at once—licking, fucking, sucking. His hard cock throbbed against her backside. She looked over her shoulder and grabbed it. Straightening to her full height, she pushed her back to his front and roughed him up with quick jerks. Goddamn, so fucking ready for her. He dropped kisses down her neck and shoulders. Amidst the intoxicating swirl of desire, she was the only thing that made sense.

She turned and laid hands on his shoulders. Her lips and nose bumped into his. Exhales mingled.

She palmed his cock, dropped to her knees, and flicked her tongue over its head. Holy. Fucking. Hell. He leaned against the dresser for support, muscles tensing. Lips covered a little more than half his length, and the tip hit the back of her throat. The moan that barreled out of him was so loud, he didn’t recognize it as his own. She retreated, slithering her tongue up and down the underside of his shaft while stroking his balls. He lowered his head, combed a hand through her blond hair, and grabbed a hunk of it.

The point of no return stared him down, daring him to cross the line. “I’m gonna come if you don’t stop, Zed.” He hissed the words—more reptilian than human—through clamped teeth.

Her gritty moan vibrated through his sensitive flesh, deepening the Fire-laden well inside him. She met his eyes and kept going, ignoring the warning. Christ, the way she looked up with her mouth full of him…

His grip on her hair tightened, twisted. “Zed…”

She paused long enough to whisper hot words on his cock. “Do it.”

His head fell back. God, he wanted to orgasm in her mouth, watch the come drip down her chin while she stared up at him with those sultry blues—

But he couldn’t. She was no groupie whore. Farthest thing from it.

“Fuck.” He stepped back and choked his dick into submission. He’d been seconds away.

“What’s wrong?” She swept two fingers across her glistening lips. A hurt expression played over her features as he tugged her to her feet.

He shook his head. “Not going there with you.”

“Then let’s go somewhere else.” She ran her hand up an arm, across the shoulder, and cupped his cheek. “Condom.” Her throaty voice caressed the skin beside his mouth.

Fucking hell, he’d fallen so deep into the whirlpool of her, he hadn’t even considered a condom. Where had his mind wandered off to? Zoeland, where the simple
promise
of sex was a guaranteed busted nut with one or two more trailing behind.

He pushed her against the dresser, lifted her, and put her arse on it. He opened her legs and kissed the wetness between them. Her stomach muscles tensed, and a hand sifted through his hair again. The taste of her and the little whimper she made while staring down at him through streams of blond nearly brought him to orgasm again.

“I don’t have any condoms.” He blew gently on her, and she trembled. “You have two options: tongue or bareback. Either works for me.”

He spread her folds with one hand, swirled his tongue around her clit, and eased two fingers inside her while waiting for the answer.

“Oh, my God,” she whispered. Her legs drew up, and her back crashed into the mirror behind her.

He drove the fingers in and out while lapping her up. Best thing he’d ever tasted, and she got wetter the longer he kept at it. He kissed her in erotic waves, subtle dips, and deep eddies.