Just Breathe Part 12

Scarlet's mouth simmered into a smug smile. He resisted the urge to slap it off her face. If he didn't need her secrets so badly, he'd have hosed her a.r.s.e into oblivion then and there. The fantasy of her long, torturous death would have to suffice.

"Give me a day to prepare and to contact Incendius for his blessing. We'll complete the binding ceremony tomorrow night."

He squared his shoulders. "And you'll show me the door into the Dreaming."

"You're not getting the door until you f.u.c.k me." Her face lost all pretense of playfulness, and she curled her red talons around her hips. "No condoms. I want all of you, Gavin. I've waited long enough."

His gut dropped like a cue ball on a collision course with his nuts. Elementals didn't carry human STDs, but what if he got her pregnant? It was unlikely, as they had to keep their Elements fairly Balanced in order to carry a baby to term, and Scarlet wasn't the motherly type. But she was as mad as a cut snake. No telling what sorts of delusions held her mind captive. He couldn't discount the possibility she wanted a child.

No way. He would not father her baby. Maybe he should look into vasectomies. He cringed.

"Once we swear the oath, we'll not be able to hurt each other," she said.

Disappointing. He didn't think Scarlet knew Zoe was still alive, but he'd save that tidbit until tomorrow and make her swear not to hurt Zoe. He might be selling his soul, but he'd fight to retain every last shred of humanity he had. Taking Scarlet's power away would ensure Zoe's safety in the wake of his choice. It was the least he could do after everything he'd put her through.

With grim acceptance, he nodded and resisted the urge to drown Scarlet with his Water-laden hands again. "I'll bring my list of requirements."

She brushed his cheek and drew her hand away in a hurry.

A half-grin cracked the corner of his mouth. "A little Water get on you? What a shame."

Her gaze cooled, froze, and cracked. "The quicker you accept this, the easier it'll be. The Dreaming could return to the Sentinels' control tomorrow. All you have to do is give it up." She paused and circled him slowly. "You must admit, the s.e.x at your house in Sydney was delicious. I promise to make it even better than last time. And you can fill me up over and over again. As often as you like." Scarlet stopped in front of him.

Cinnamon-scented pheromones saturated the air. His head was so full and sick of that smell. He swallowed over a gag. She took her b.r.e.a.s.t.s into cupped palms and hefted them. The red bra under the thin straps of her cami stretched in protest. A hard pink nipple peeked from the top as if to wink at him.

I hate you. He couldn't think it enough. I f.u.c.king hate you.

Fire slipped past the boundary of his skin before he could s.n.a.t.c.h it back home. There was no more l.u.s.t left in him, only bitter, pure contempt, tempered by wave after wave of love for the one he'd never have again.

"Desire me or despise me. Either emotion brings Fire. And tomorrow night, it'll be all mine." Scarlet's laughter-the same pleased cackle she'd shrieked after he killed Zoe-chilled his marrow. She held out her hand for a shake on their deal. Long red nails glinted in the moonlight.

He closed his eyes and saw Zoe's tear-streaked face from the car. She stared down at him through the blond hair surrounding them, silently pleading for him to stay as he came inside her.

He never even kissed her goodbye.

Forgive me, Zed.

Gavin exhaled hard and accepted Scarlet's burning hand. The Fire dancing between them consumed the image of Zoe's sad face in one quick flare.

Chapter Fifteen.

September 13 Shortly after midnight, Gavin met Jack at their usual spot near the ocean in the Dreaming.

"What's wrong with you, Sad Sack?" Jack said.

Gavin laughed bitterly. "What isn't wrong with me?" He shook his head. No need to mention what happened tonight with Zoe or Scarlet to Jack. He'd rip Gavin a new one, for sure. "Never mind. Have you got any updates?" Please. Something. Anything.

"Maybe." Jack studied him for a long moment, probably a.s.sessing the whirlwind of his aura. Gavin attempted to smooth his colors into submission, but a glance down confirmed he failed miserably.

Jack withdrew an apple from his pocket and s.h.i.+ned it on his s.h.i.+rt. "I talked with some of my Sentinel buds back home about the Dreamweaver. Some new information turned up, but it's probably going to lead us to more questions than answers."

Great.

"Apparently, our mystery lady has made a few-albeit rare-appearances in history. The European Sentinels faced the threat of a ma.s.sive information leak in the 16th century when a guy called William Shakespeare came a little too close to exposing the truth about the Dreaming to the Brits. Seems an Aer Elemental named Ariel spilled the beans and told him of a lost door that led into a parallel, metaphysical world. When Billy Boy hit the Dreaming with a fresh new perspective, he found the portal in a matter of weeks.

"Get this. Shakespeare told Ariel the door was actually 'a lovely G.o.ddess with multicolored eyes' who had the ability to lead souls from a realm of flesh and blood into a wonderland of thought and being. The details are fuzzy, but somehow he captured her, brought her to Ariel, and the Elemental used her powers to walk right in.

"Luckily, the Sentinels had been watching Ariel for some time, and they managed to catch him before he did too much damage in the Dreaming. They kicked him out, restored the 'G.o.ddess' to her place, and wiped Shakespeare's mind. Shortly after the incident, the bard began writing plays." With a grin, Jack tossed the apple to Gavin.

Dumbfounded, he somehow managed to catch it. "f.u.c.k."

Jack continued. "Elementals don't dream, therefore, they don't have their own personal entryway into the Dreaming like each Wyldling does. The Sentinels have done random checks on Wyldling doors, and they're airtight. One traveler per portal. To get inside, the Elementals have to go through a different channel."

Gavin bit into the apple and chewed thoughtfully. "If the Dreamweaver really exists, and her job is to keep order in the Dreaming, there's no way she'd be intentionally unavailable during a time like this unless a) she turned traitor; b) she's a lazy b.i.t.c.h; c) she doesn't want to be found; or d) someone's preventing her from being found."

"Exactly. Maybe the door we've been looking for isn't a door at all. Maybe the Dreamweaver is the door-"

"-and the Fyres got to her the same way Ariel did. f.u.c.k, Jack, I think you may have something here."

Gavin's pulse hammered. This new info wasn't the solution to the puzzle, but it was definitely an important piece. It armed him with a little more direction than he had before, not to mention, it provided a thin ray of hope in a sky of eternal night.

Considering what he was supposed to do with Scarlet the following night, every little bit helped.

With a renewed sense of purpose, Gavin faced Jack. "Doors open both ways. One of us should scour the Dreaming for clues to where the Fyres are coming through, and the other should hit Realis to look for hotbeds of Fyre activity there. The Dreamweaver has to be on one side or the other."

Jack nodded. "I'll take Realis. I'm hunting for someone else there anyway, so may as well kill two birds with one stone."

"Okay, then the Dreaming is mine." Gavin paused. "Knowing we're most likely looking for a person instead of a door puts a whole new spin on things."

"It sure does."

A chill whispered up Gavin's spine. "So, Yileen was right."

Jack nodded. "I've never known him to be wrong."

Man, Gavin could've used some more of his old friend's guidance now, but he had only his gut, which told him not to put all his eggs in one basket. Bonding with Scarlet was still his best bet-the only guaranteed route to the door/Dreamweaver. He'd go through with the binding ceremony and hold off s.e.x with Scarlet as long as he could while he looked for the Dreamweaver and Jack's team worked on Whetu. If the Dreaming continued on its descent into h.e.l.l as expected, he'd have to make good on the deal.

But at least now that he knew what to look for, there was a slim chance luck would be on his side. He'd take those odds.

After the bittersweet car s.e.x last night, followed by an evening full of nightmares, Zoe begged the whales to keep her busy this morning. But even with the non-stop action on the ocean, the only thing she could think about was the break-up.

Panic wound its way up her spine again. Her lungs sputtered.

She leaned over the side of the Zodiac, pole in her shaking hands. She willed her body to still with some slow, measured breaths. Calm down, cowgirl. Focus on your job.

A whale buoyed to the surface, and Zoe popped a digital tag on her back. She turned to Adriene behind the wheel. "Let's find yesterday's tags."

Her best friend nodded and flipped on the radio direction finder resting on the small dashboard. Dani and Elizabeth took their seats on the bow, and Zoe swung around the side b.u.mper to sit with Adriene.

When the two whales they'd tracked moved out of range, Adriene restarted the motor and headed northeast toward Platypus Bay. She snuck a sideways glance at Zoe under the arm of her sungla.s.ses. "You and Gavin break up?"

"Yep."

"Any chance of getting back together?"

"Doubt it."

Adriene nodded. "You gonna be all right?"

Zoe looked her square in the face and lied, "I'm all right now."

"No, you're not." Adriene slung an arm around Zoe's shoulder and leaned into her for a quick hug.

Zoe returned the embrace, then gave Adriene's long, black ponytail an awkward fiddle. "If I asked you to help me do something seriously nuts, would you do it?"

Another sideways glance, but this one lingered a bit longer. "I'd follow you into a fire if you asked me to."

She might be doing just that. "I need to build a whale army."

Adriene yanked her gla.s.ses off and turned to Zoe. "You're scaring me with the crazy s.h.i.+t you've been talking. What the h.e.l.l is going on? You get out here, jump in the water to swim with the whales, and expect us to put up with your inexplicable behavior from the wee hours until late at night. You're freaking them out"-she nodded to Dani and Elizabeth up front and lowered her voice-"and quite frankly, I'm wondering if you need to start seeing your shrink again."

"I can't give you many details, but..." s.h.i.+t. She should just say it. Out of all the people in the world who might believe her, Adriene was at the top of the list. "You know how I can sort of...speak to the whales?"

Adriene stared at her and let go of a nod.

"Remember when I told you I saw Gavin in my dreams before I ever met him?"

Another nod.

"There's something going on there. In the dream world. Something big."

Adriene raised a cynical brow.

"I know you think I've lost my mind. Maybe I have. But the weird weather we've been having, the upswing in violence, the wild fires-everything is connected to what happens...over there. I don't want to get into the details because I've already told you too much. Suffice it to say, the solution to a huge chunk of the problem lies with the whales. I need to recruit as many of them as possible. To do that, I gotta get close so I can talk to them. This is really important. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't."

She sounded like a lunatic. h.e.l.l, she was a lunatic. But with her and Gavin's relations.h.i.+p over, Zoe was working solo. She had to take matters into her own hands.

If she built a big enough army, when the Fyres came back to the Dreaming, the Waeters would be armed and ready. This time, Zoe would see the Waeters and the Wyldlings through to their respective happy endings.

Adriene sent her gaze skipping like a rock across the water in front of the boat. "What do you want me to do?"

"Cover for me. Let me do my thing while we're out here. Keep an eye out for the Coast Guard. Tell me if you see or hear anything out of the ordinary."

Adriene gasped, straightened her back, and pointed off the starboard side. "You mean like that?"

Zoe followed her line of sight to three hulking black-haired men keeping pace with them under the surface about twenty meters away. Same direction as the Zodiac was heading. Toward Lily. "s.h.i.+t. Yes." She stood up. "Exactly like that."

The Tongans. They had to be. But one glimpse was all she got before they disappeared into the depths. Must've sensed Adriene watching them.

Their attendance at the Waeters' meeting would be huge. But were they here for Lily or Lana?

Zoe reached into her dry bag and produced the notebook she'd been logging data in for the last two weeks. "Keep this on the dash and jot down notes for me. I may need to jump in the water without notice. If I do, be ready to write when I get back. I need a personal secretary, and you're the only one who understands."

Adriene smacked her hanging jaw shut and s.h.i.+fted focus from the dead end of the Tongans' trail to Zoe. "I don't understand, but I believe in you. d.a.m.n skippy, I'll keep notes. Whatever you need. I don't know what the h.e.l.l this is about, but I've never been one to turn down a challenge."

Zoe smiled and draped an arm around Adriene's waist. "It's about saving the world. You up for something like that?"

Adriene raised a brow and laughed. "h.e.l.l. Yes."

Chapter Sixteen.

Almost time.

Fire flared in Scarlet's chest. She smoothed the blood-red gown she'd bought for her special day. Matching elbow-length gloved fingers traced the tiny b.u.t.tons she hoped Gavin would be popping off with his teeth shortly after the ceremony.

The throbbing between her legs intensified. She licked her lips, twisted her neck in a circle, and rolled her shoulders. The smooth satin of her dress caressed her hot skin.

She was ready. Hungry.

A pair of headlights outside brightened the dim lounge room of the house she'd rented for their wedding night. Soft light from fifty or so red candles danced to the beat of her racing pulse.

Heart palpitations? Really? Well, she'd waited for this moment for two years. Why not?

The car door shut.

The burn of antic.i.p.ation opened her lungs wide, spun her desire out of control. A lifetime of pure, perfect Fire at her beck and call. She'd never have to feed off anyone else as long as Gavin lived. They were meant for each other. Her lips trembled as Fire tickled her most private places from the inside, coaxing her toward another climax.

The ringing bell tore the impending o.r.g.a.s.m from her grip. Cheeks hot, she opened the door.

Hands in the pockets of his hoodie, Gavin didn't acknowledge her. He hadn't shaved in a couple days, which normally would have turned her on, but the sunken cheeks and pale coloring did him no favors. His blue eyes had lost their light, downgraded to dull gray. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d hadn't even dressed up for her.