by Kat Adams
Pushing off the floor and calling the bedspread every name I could think of, then cursing again when I banged my elbow on the upended nightstand, I faced Clay. We stood there, panting and staring at each other. Suddenly, he sprang across the bed and crashed into me. We laughed as, together, we went down, knocking the other nightstand on its side. He kicked the mattress, sending it sliding off the bedframe.
We couldn’t seem to avoid any of the obstacles in our way, not that we really tried, and kicked things out of the way when we did hit them. Clay pulled me back into his arms and settled me on the mattress resting on the floor, since we’d somehow overturned the bedframe. He dove for my neck and feasted on my throat as he yanked the clothes from my body.
I was so turned on by the animalistic way we’d attacked each other and destroyed my room, I could barely see straight from all the energy centering around my lady bits. This was what I’d been craving, a way to release all my pent-up frustrations, a way to just let go.
He undressed the rest of the way and once again attacked my flesh, kissing and licking, taunting and teasing. Turnabout was fair play. I knew exactly what he liked and ran my nails up and down his muscled back as I delivered sharp little nips to his shoulder. He hissed in a breath through his teeth.
“Jesus, woman.” He kissed his way to my mouth. “I love it when you do that.”
“You also love it when I do this.” I wrapped my legs around him, locking my heels and rocking my hips. His cock was perfectly positioned to slip past my slick entrance. He plunged deep, and I dug my nails into his shoulder for purchase. “Clay!”
“Ouch,” he stated in a growl and did it again, thrusting even deeper than before. He slammed our hips together, shooting us off the mattress and onto the throw rug in front of where the bed used to be. That was going to leave a mark.
He scooted us back onto the mattress without breaking our connection, sitting up and having me straddle his lap. I grabbed his shoulders and rocked in time with his plunges, letting my head fall back as the orgasm building inside me tightened. We kept perfect time, his steady strokes in pace with the way my hips rolled like waves crashing on the shore.
And then I crashed hard, the climax so swift, I cried out. “Ah!”
“Montana,” he grunted as his release took over. He pumped his hips, drawing peak after peak from my body, only slowing when I could no longer move from the intensity of the orgasm—that and the fact I was pretty sure it’d shattered every one of my bones when it crashed down on me. “Holy…wow.”
“Holy wow is right.” I lifted my head from his shoulder and glanced around, my heart sinking as my mouth fell open. “Oh my God. Look at this place. It’s like a tornado hit.”
“A fucknado.” Clay snorted, drawing a giggle from me.
All hail the fucknado.
14
After Clay and I had destroyed my room in a rather vigorous therapy session, we’d searched the barrier for the counter ward until neither of us could keep our eyes open before we called it. The ward was gone. Was it ever there? Did I imagine the whole thing? Or was it so weak that the other wards—the good wards—destroyed it? How could I go to Stace or any of the other professors and tell them about a ward I’d created without permission and had since disappeared?
There had to be another reason why the barrier was breaking down. It couldn’t have anything to do with an invisible counter ward. I had to believe that.
I only slept a few hours so I’d have enough time to sneak in a visit with Leo before tribunals. I wanted to apologize for being the reason he’d spent the last two days in the infirmary.
Cressida’s statue didn’t call to my senses as it usually did, reminding me she was stuck in her human form inside the ruins. I made a mental note to stop by after today’s tribunals to check on her.
I walked into the infirmary and fully expected someone to stop me as soon as I entered the building. When no one greeted me, I eagerly hurried through the waiting room and down the hall to the patient rooms. It didn’t take a locator spell to find Leo’s room. Not only did Syd have his name scribbled on a mini whiteboard outside the door, it was also the only room with the door closed.
Pushing the door open as quietly as possible, I stopped in the doorway when I spotted Leo’s visitor. “Mom?” I whispered fiercely. She was back in her pleather Cat Woman suit, her chestnut hair pulled back in a tight braid. She would have never worn anything so…so…tacky when I was a kid. “What are you doing here?”
“Just checking to make sure he was okay.” She barely eyed me, then returned her attention to Leo, lying motionless in the bed, so many wires and tubes attached to him, it pained me to see. The steady beep of the various monitors filled the otherwise silent room. I’d done this. I’d called my hellfire or wherever that purple fire stemmed from. “He’s going to be okay.”
“Are you sure?” I asked hopefully and stepped into the room. “You’re not just saying that?”
She took his hand and squeezed. I stared at the gesture, unsure how I felt about that. It was her maternal instincts kicking in, it had to be, and not any number of alternative options. “He’s strong. The magic inside him will protect him.”
I took a step closer to the bed and rubbed my sweaty palms on my skirt. Blisters still covered Leo’s gorgeous baby face. His skin was red and angry where the blisters didn’t cover. I wished I could say he looked peaceful there in his sleep, but no one would be peaceful with that much damage to the body. “You say that like you know.”
“I do.”
“How?” I desperately wanted to know. Maybe if she explained it to me, I’d feel better.
“This one…” She rested her hand on his forearm and patted it gently. “He likes to touch. He’s maybe not so connected emotionally, but physically, he is. And he loves you. I feel it.”
I ignored the embarrassment over her comment and inched closer. How’d she know that much about him? Sure, he was detached with his feelings, but he more than made up for that in so many other ways. I wasn’t about to admit that to my mom. I took another step, not understanding why I was so hesitant to approach, and yet, I was. Something about this situation didn’t sit well with me—probably because my boyfriend was lying in the hospital bed thanks to me. “What else?”
“There’s something inside him, something he can’t fight.”
“He’s been running a fever.”
Syd walked in cleaning his glasses on his shirt and froze when he saw me. He replaced his glasses. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to check on him.”
“You could have checked in with me. I would have told you how he’s doing.”
Why was he being so mean? I hadn’t done this on purpose. “I wanted to see for myself.”
“I’m going to need you on the field today.” He checked on Leo before facing me. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“No.” I refused to let his attitude push me away. It wasn’t my fault he woke up in a bad mood. “Are we having a problem?”
“We?”
“You and me.” I purposely avoided my mom’s gaze. She’d probably just encourage me to tell off yet another one of my mentors. I still hadn’t forgiven her for pushing me to say such terrible things to Stace, who still wasn’t talking to me because of it. Gee, thanks, Mom.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand. Are we having a problem?”
Was he being serious right now? I couldn’t tell, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt as payment for him getting Dean Carter to postpone my tribunal.
“You seem, I don’t know…annoyed.” With me.
“I am,” he answered honestly. “I’ve not slept. I’ve barely eaten. I can’t figure out what’s happening here.”
My heart skipped. “With Leo?”
“With Leo,” he agreed. “With two other water elementals that have odd fevers. I don’t usually get water elementals with fevers. Their element keeps their body temp down. Usually.”
Now my heart raced. “W
hat do you mean?”
“He’s hot.”
“How hot?”
“Like he-should-be-dead-if-he-didn’t-already-have-powers sort of hot. His fever is something I’d expect from a fire elemental, not a water elemental.”
I blinked back tears. “H-he’s not…” I couldn’t finish and swallowed thickly. The blisters looked angry, as did the glowing red in his cheeks. “Is he going to be okay?”
“Let me give you a bit of advice.”
“I don’t want your advice. I want answers. What’s wrong with him?”
“Katy,” he said softly, gently, as he kept his head down. “We can’t save everyone, no matter how much they mean to us.”
“I don’t believe you.” I clenched my teeth and turned away, refusing to let him see my emotions. Healers didn’t show emotions. Prophecies, both current and past, didn’t show emotions. I had to remain detached like my water elemental. That was how I’d get through this without completely losing my shit.
“Katybug,” my mom said softy. “Go ahead and go. I’ll stay here with him.”
How wildly inappropriate. What right did she have to stay here over me? I might not be the prophecy any longer—not like that had granted me any special favors anyway—but I was his girlfriend. If anyone needed to stay here with him, it was me. “I’m not going anywhere. This is my fault.”
“Well, yes.” My mom shrugged when I nailed her with a glare. “It is.”
Way to make me feel better. Mom of the Fucking Year, everyone.
“She’s right.” Syd agreeing with her didn’t help the situation. “You lost control out there, called fire while you were still in contact with a water elemental. You’re lucky you didn’t kill him.”
I darted my wide, shocked gaze between the two of them. Were they seriously ganging up on me right now? I backed away, shaking my head. “It was an accident.”
“Was it an accident when you set Trina on fire? She’s a fire elemental and couldn’t counter your attack, that’s how strong it was. It’s no wonder Leo’s in the state he’s in.”
My mouth fell open as I staggered back as if he’d physically struck me. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
“That’s not how it looked from my angle,” my mom said, her tone dripping with accusation. “There’s another reason why I took the prophecy from you. You’re out of control. You need to take a step back and really think about how your actions affect those around you.”
I snapped. Of all the people to lecture me about my actions and how they affected other people. My short temper spiked as heat engulfed my skin. “You can say that to me?”
“That’s not fair. I already told you why I left.”
“Like that makes up for the fact I’ve spent the last six years wondering what I did wrong to send you away. Six years, Mom. Six years I’ve been going through the same thing over and over, replaying every minute of our last days together, wondering what I could have done differently to stop you from leaving.”
“There’s nothing you could have done,” she admitted. “I would have left even if you’d known. It was just easier this way.”
“For who? You?”
She didn’t deny it, and I hated her for it. The room heated, the air growing hot, humid. My breathing became labored as I pulled in rancid breaths, the air thick with the smell of sulfur. If I stayed here, I’d wind up setting the room on fire, so I hurried out. Leo would be here when I finished tribunals for the day, and I needed time to get my head in the game.
I kept my attention on the pavement under my feet as I marched across the grounds toward the training field. What the hell was happening to my life? Rob was angry with me for messing up Leo’s tribunal. Leo was incapacitated because of me. Clay would probably blow me off. Bryan, well, I didn’t know what he’d do. He’d become a bit unpredictable since returning from the void.
But there was one person I could always talk to. I turned and headed toward the ruins. Tribunals weren’t for another few hours. I had time to talk to Cressida.
Stepping around a few new fallen rocks, I entered the dilapidated stone structure. The roof we’d built held through the summer. We’d see if it lasted the rainy season, which, judging by the clouds that’d rolled in today, would be soon upon us, submerging the island in gray and a constant drizzle until next spring.
“Cressida? Are you in here?”
She slowly walked out of the darkness and squinted when she stepped into the light. Shielding her eyes, which made no sense since it wasn’t that bright, she took another step, leaving the darkness completely.
I sucked in a breath at the sight.
Her eyes, once so bright and full of spirit, were shadowed and sunken. Her skin had turned a sickly gray, and her hair had gone limp. Even her robes seemed to have lost their luster.
“Cressida? Are you sick?”
“Hello, Katy. Thank you for coming. I didn’t know how else to reach you.”
“You called for me?”
She nodded slowly and took another step, which seemed to take a great deal of effort. I rushed over and helped her to a large square stone that was part of the original wall and now sat partially imbedded in the earth and covered in moss. Once she sat, she offered a weak smile. “Something is out of balance. I feel myself fading, Katy. Something is draining me.”
I immediately thought of my ward. Could I really be the reason Cressida Clearwater now looked like she was one breath away from death? How did I inevitably mess up everything I came into contact with? I took a seat next to her and sighed as I picked at the moss growing on the side of the stone.
“Something is draining Leo too. He’s still in the infirmary and, according to Syd, it’s pretty much a miracle he’s still alive. My mom blames me. So does Syd.” I paused before adding, “So do I.”
“You hurt him?”
“In a way, yes. I had my hand on him while calling fire.”
She tilted her head to one side, studying me. “Did you call fire? Or did you attack with fire?”
There was a difference? I didn’t want to split hairs. “Attack. I think I may have really hurt him. He’s got a bad fever. Like, really bad. I don’t know what to do.”
A rustling caught my attention. Cressida smiled warmly as she kept her gaze on the entrance. I followed her stare and spotted a few flowers as they sprouted out of the ground, starting as buds before blooming into beautiful colors with bright petals. I called to the flowers. The cluster pulled from the ground and floated through the air, the roots dangling beneath them. The set landed in my open hand.
I petted the velvety soft petals, smiling at the way the flowers seemed to lean into my touch. “Look at you. You started as nothing more than a seed. Isn’t that how we all start?” I tugged at one of the petals. The flower curled into a pointed cocoon, protecting itself. “I wish I could tuck myself away sometimes. Maybe then I’d have the strength to emerge as a beautiful flower instead of this timid excuse of what used to be the prophecy.”
“You are still the prophecy,” Cressida pointed out.
I sighed. “I don’t feel like the prophecy. I feel like…” I couldn’t finish, too embarrassed to admit my failures.
“You feel like you let others down,” she finished for me.
I looked at her. “Exactly.”
“Release the bud, Katy. Release your doubt and fear. Have faith it will blossom into its true nature when the time is right.”
Sending the cluster of flowers back to the ground, I made sure it adequately buried itself so it’d have a nice, long life protected here in the ruins. I glanced down to the stone, lifting a bud the cluster had left behind. It never ceased to amaze me how something as small and simple as a tiny bud had the power to transform into something as big and beautiful as a flower.
I twirled it between my fingers, studying it.
“It’s quite beautiful once you see past its surface,” Cressida went on. “Look beyond what you can see. Open your eyes.”
I stared a
t the ugly wilting little bud, not seeing anything but an ugly wilting little bud. It’d eventually blossom if I put it back into the ground, watered it, and it fed from the earth. Sure, if it had everything it needed to survive, of course it’d blossom into what nature intended it to be.
I stiffened when it clicked. What if Leo’s weakened state had something to do with him blossoming into something else? I recalled how I became a quint. The pain. The fear. Maybe, just maybe, Leo was growing into something more than a duo.
Surely Syd would recognize the symptoms. Still, I couldn’t help but hope…
“Do you think,” I paused to collect my thoughts. “Do you think Leo could be growing into something more? That’s it, isn’t it?”
Cressida nodded slowly. “I believe so.”
I jumped to my feet, a newfound thrill racing through my system. “Leo’s powers are growing. He’s becoming a trio. Thank you, Cressida. Thank you! I’ve got to go. Oh, uh… Will you make sure the bud lives?”
“Of course. We protect life at any cost. Will you be back?” Although she smiled weakly, the fear in her eyes gave her away. She was scared. Frankly, seeing her like this, as if she herself had been infected by the virus and not just the barrier, worried me. Then again, she was the academy. What happened at Clearwater happened to her.
“I absolutely will, just as soon as I heal Leo.” I raced out of the ruins, past the dorms, past the main hall, and back to the infirmary. I’d never run this fast for this long my entire life. By the time I burst through the door to Leo’s room, I gasped to breathe, both from exertion and excitement. I really need to get in better shape.