Crush (Elemental Hearts, #3)

by Morgan, Jayelle

  When they got to the steep part of the trail, she had to lean over and put her hand out for stability. Micah kept holding out his hand to help her, but she ignored it.

  Then, after one small misstep, the rock she’d stepped on started sliding down the mountain, her right foot surfing away from the rest of her body.

  But before she could correct herself, before she could do anything at all, two big hands caged her upper arms and pulled her upright, back on two feet.

  Jade took one tiny, minuscule second to appreciate the strength it took to handle her that way before she turned to glare at him.

  She didn’t need to be handled.

  “Thank you, but I’m fine. I’ve made this trek several times on my own, and will probably do it a hundred times more. I don’t need help.”

  Micah seemed a little taken aback, but he needed to know the boundaries from day one. She could take care of herself. “If I need your help, I’ll ask for it. Otherwise, hands off.”

  Micah’s eyes slid to the side, and for a moment Jade thought he was embarrassed. But a familiar sound drew her eyes. The rock her foot had been on, the one that slid away, had unsettled several more on its way down. There was a steady trickle of small rocks down the hillside. Which meant, if she had gone with it, she probably would have slid pretty far down before recovering her footing, possibly injuring herself.

  But she’d been walking over shifting stone most of her life. She would have regained her footing on her own. “I’m fine,” she repeated and then turned back up the trail.

  MICAH FOLLOWED JADE up the mountain trail, forcing himself to focus on the rocks under his feet more than the female in front of him. But faded, worn jeans clung to tight curves, presumably sculpted by lots of time doing just this—climbing up a mountain with a heavy pack—and those curves kept drawing his eyes back over and over. He forced himself to look away, to focus on his mission. It was the only thing that was important.

  Gravel turned to rocks and rocks turned to boulders while he used all his senses to search for signs of danger, whether natural, human, or Chaolt.

  Finally Jade stopped and turned to him. She dropped her pack with a heavy thud, and put her hands on her hips, breathing hard. She smiled and threw her hands up. “Here we are!” Her eyes sparkled, greener than they’d looked since she’d first jumped out of her truck.

  He took a moment to survey above and below for any signs of movement. Reaching out with his powers, he enveloped the mountain, searching for anything unnatural.

  Other than the shift of rock on the steeper faces, all was quiet.

  He nodded to her and faced toward the portal, rooting himself in the mountain for the first sign of disturbance, and crossed his arms. So his original mission had expanded. Guard the portal, keep the Erratic woman from wandering near it, drain her, and watch for Chaolt interested in the destruction within her blood. And supposedly, anyone interested in her mining claim.

  But anyone else would have trouble getting close enough to be an issue.

  Jade stopped unloading her pack, and he felt her gaze on him.

  “What are you doing?”

  He spared a glance at her. “Security.”

  Her mouth widened in another smile. “Yeah, okay. You know you don’t have to stand like that the whole time, right? You’ll be able to hear any claim jumpers coming up those rocks for quite a ways before they show up.”

  She had a point. But he wasn’t just listening with his ears, and he wasn’t just guarding against claim jumpers.

  He stayed just like he was and turned back in the direction of the portal.

  “Suit yourself.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her shrug. “Just watch out for the rocks,” she said, right as one went tumbling down the mountain in front of him.

  Jade would pick one up, look at all the sides, and then toss it away. Gravity took care of the rest.

  He backed up a good ten feet so she could do it safely, and then resumed his stance, every sense on high alert.

  There was more danger to her than he’d anticipated.

  When her foot slipped on the rocks earlier, he’d grabbed her out of instinct. He’d felt the rocks shifting below her feet and reached out to pull her back. He’d only had a second to drain a drop of her power before she shrugged out of his hands.

  But watching the rocks slide away from them made his heart rate spike, made him cold. Chances were good that she would have recovered her footing by herself if he hadn’t been there. But what if she hadn’t? What if it happened again? What if it happened when she wasn’t as quick, wasn’t as clear-minded?

  Micah examined the mountain with new eyes. It had always been a friend at best, and a refuge at the least. Never had he seen it as a threat in itself, like the Chaos portal nearby. But now, he picked out the many dangers Jade could face. What she did was dangerous, for a human.

  He peeked at Jade again, shiny black braid reflecting the sun with bluish light, and his jaw tightened. He wouldn’t be draining her quickly. It wouldn’t be safe to drain her at her claim or on the trail. He couldn’t leave her alone here afterward, with her confusion and memory loss. It was a good thing she’d asked to hire him. He’d signed the contract initially as a way to get close enough to her to drain her, but now he must stick around and do it slowly. He didn’t know much about her, but her determination meant she would be right back here, trying to mine afterward, even if she felt weak from the extraction of her Erratic powers. Draining powers caused symptoms, symptoms he could not mitigate. Symptoms that sometimes cost lives.

  The image of a boy, gray, laying on rocks, formed in his mind, but he pushed it forcefully away.

  How long would he have to drain her before a Chaolt tried to come or go through the portal again and noticed her presence? Gritting his teeth, Micah looked beyond Jade to where the portal was, hidden from his eyes in a cave, but not hidden from his powers. No signs of Chaolt, but he and Jade hadn’t been up here long.

  Considering, Micah crossed his arms. They’d struck a deal, so Jade wouldn’t be suspicious if he hung around. And if possible, he’d drain her in a few days, and then pull out of their agreement and go back to just guarding the portal. Her claim wasn’t really in any danger. Despite what he’d said, what she’d thought, there was no one else up here. Hadn’t been since he came and closed the main hiking trail with the rock-slide.

  It was just him and her, the whistle of the wind, and the whisper of the earth. Maybe he could have Jade drained soon, and go back to his spot and his solitude and his singing.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  DAYS LATER, MICAH KNEW things wouldn’t be returning to normal anytime soon. Jade resisted his help at every turn. She didn’t trust him.

  And she was digging in the wrong spot.

  Micah watched Jade work while he sent a steady stream of power down the trail and up to the portal. But there was not another soul around for miles, hadn’t been since Jade had shown up. Only mountains and trees and rivers. And Jade.

  She didn’t really notice his presence at all while she worked. Not that he minded. Being with Jade was almost as good as solitude. She never bothered him or tried to fill the silence, while he listened to the mountain.

  Maybe she heard it, too?

  He studied her, her dark hair in a thick braid hanging down her back, shirt clinging to her curves. She looked so fragile compared to him, but there was a hidden strength in her. Micah had thought all women were like Brooke and Emory, the mates of his fellow soldiers. Both were wonderful humans and were so tightly bound to Levi and Ajax, that it made them better Warriors. But he couldn’t see either woman out here digging and pounding and chipping away at a mountain.

  He could only wonder what drove Jade to do it.

  Perhaps the Earth in her gave her an advantage that others didn’t have, despite that if she was looking for anything of value, she was digging in the wrong spot.

  She’d need heavy machinery or a great deal of time. But she brought nothing but a few hand
tools, and he sensed a desperation in her with how hard she worked, that she didn’t feel like time was on her side.

  And she was right, if she kept digging in that area. It would take her far too long for her to dig out anything of value. Neither of them had that kind of time. He needed to get her drained, and she needed to get her gems before the bad weather months.

  If she would just trust her instincts, her latent powers would help her find better spots. She trusted her eyes and her brain to find where to dig, but they were no substitute for understanding Earth. She was close though. He could see her knowledge at work. She was following the signs, but she would fail.

  That she made any kind of living at all doing this was impressive. What would it be like to search the Earth without his full powers? It was a kind of blindness that was uncomfortable for him to imagine.

  He wanted to help.

  Which made him shake his head at himself. He was helping plenty by guarding the portal and fighting to keep the mortal world from getting destroyed by Chaos. He was helping by draining her, ensuring she’d never have to face the Chaolt.

  But he wasn’t draining her, was he?

  He hadn’t thought it would take this long, but she wouldn’t so much as accept his hand to help her in or out of her pit. He’d drained only a few drops of her power total when there were gallons of it to go. How was he supposed to keep her safe from the Chaolt when she still possessed her powers? And how could he reduce her powers, and her risk, if she wouldn’t let him touch her?

  Frustration made his shoulders tight. There had been no more signs of the Chaolt, but how long would that last?

  Maybe he should do as Ajax suggested; corner her, drain her all at once, and contain her in her trailer until he was sure she’d be okay to mine.

  But the inevitable and justifiable human investigation afterword would cause more problems than it would solve.

  He hadn’t encountered this issue before. Ordinarily they drained Erratics as fast as possible. The only real delays they encountered were making sure they were out of sight, and that the target was in a safe place for their recovery. He hadn’t had a drain take this long since...

  Since his first. Since Tokoni.

  Expelling a rough sigh, Micah closed his eyes. If he were alone, he’d let the pain and frustration out in song. He would sing, and the song would echo back to him in the breeze and the rocks and the sunlight. A symphony of Earth.

  But he wasn’t alone. Instead, he pushed a little power into the ground, envisioning it like roots holding him steady.

  Grumbling curses made him open his eyes.

  Jade shoved at a large boulder in her way, and it gave him a grain of an idea.

  She needed help. He needed her trust. But so far, she’d turned down every offer of help he’d made, no matter how small. She would never accept his offer to move the boulder, so he would wait until she needed help so bad, she had to ask.

  He must get her to trust him, so he could touch her. To drain her, save her. It was imperative.

  With a silent apology, he anchored the boulder to the ground with his powers for a small bit of insurance.

  JADE WORKED CLEARING her claim for several frustrating days. A hundred or so rocks had gone rolling down the hill, and she’d cleared a large area down to the bigger boulders and soil. But she’d yet to see a single promising sign, a single geologic breadcrumb to follow. Sure, there were little tiny crystals on a few of the rocks, small and shiny as glitter in the sun.

  And worth about as much. Dammit.

  She needed a lot more than glitter to pay for her mother’s nursing home and health care. Her geology teaching job paid for the necessities, but it wouldn’t pay the thousands she needed for her mom. But, it came with a convenient summer break where she could come up here and mine. There weren’t many other jobs in the world where one might make a year’s income in a few months. If they were lucky.

  Taking a break, she wiped sweat from her brow with her forearm, sipping water while she looked out over the valley. She never tired of this view. Up higher than the birds, higher than the treetops, the foothills rolling out like a green carpet until it met the small town of Topaz Ridge. And farther, a paleness on the horizon, the desert.

  Her hired security stood exactly where he’d started, as rigid and still as the surrounding stones. And as silent.

  She’d tried some light conversation a few times with no success. Not that the quiet bothered her, really, she was used to it. Preferred it that way.

  Trustworthy mining partners were few and far between, and the mining season didn’t wait if you didn’t have one lined up. She didn’t have one this year, or last year, or... And that was just fine with her. At least with this guy here, she wouldn’t have to worry about claim jumpers or splitting the take.

  Which was especially important this year. Nursing homes were expensive, good ones were exorbitant. The one her mother stayed in right now drained every one of Jade’s financial resources, and the care was crap. There were too few nurses, too few grant dollars to go around. And the nurses were overworked and overwhelmed.

  Places like that were where people went to die. Every person she’d known of to go to end up in institutions with conditions like that, where the patient spent most of the day alone and didn’t get individual care, didn’t last more than a few months.

  Her only hope to move her mom to a better care home was to hit a big score. There wasn’t anywhere or anyone else that could give her enough care, including Jade.

  Alzheimer’s was a bitch.

  Jade sighed. One week does not a mining season make.

  She still had plenty of time to hit a big strike and felt good about her chances.

  Re-hydrated and full of a high-calorie snack, she picked up her pry bar and stuck it under the edge of one of the large boulders where she’d cleared. She must get down to the soil so she could dig and sift for gemstones, and there were several of these big, heavy bastards in her way.

  With a heave, she pressed all her weight down on the steel bar, trying to nudge the stone out of place. It didn’t budge the first time, but she hadn’t expected it to, really. It was never that easy.

  Ten heaves later, she silently cursed the rock with every bad word she knew. The damn thing wasn’t even moving millimeters anymore. She needed it to move feet, enough for gravity to take over and roll it off her claim. Either it had gotten heavier, or her muscles were tired.

  Jade stepped back from the pry bar, hands on her knees and sweat dripping into her eyes. The air was cool and breezy on this side of the mountain, and she was thankful for it. The wind blew into her hair, cooling the sweat on her scalp and neck. It would feel a lot less pleasant when she had her hands in the cold, wet soil.

  If she could get her hands in the damn soil.

  She glared at the boulder again and sat down hard, forearms on her knees. When she caught her breath, she would try again. Maybe she could find another big boulder to anchor her come-along winch to.

  Jade eyed Big Man’s muscles as she took another drink, the huge ridges that corded his arms, chest, and shoulders as he stood there silently with crossed arms. He looked like a statue, all perfectly molded and completely still.

  I bet he could move that boulder.

  He could probably move any rocks he wanted, especially with leverage, unless they were still attached to the mountain. He was wasting all those gorgeous muscles by just standing there.

  She sighed.

  Somehow he seemed to hear her, turning to look at her just as her eyes traveled wistfully again over his bulging biceps.

  She was too worn out to be embarrassed for being caught staring. It was more uncomfortable to swallow her pride and ask for help. But pride wouldn’t move the rock.

  “Do you suppose you could give me a hand for a minute... ?” Jade held her breath.

  He had every right to say no. She wasn’t paying him for hard labor and he wasn’t a partner. His job description didn’t include moving rocks, o
nly things like standing, looking, watching. Securing. And maybe scaring off any curious people if it came to that.

  But he nodded and climbed up the rocks toward her, so she released her breath and stood. “I’m trying to move this boulder,” she said, standing and gesturing to it, “If you can tip it at all, I will get the pry bar under there, and then if you can lend me some power, it’ll...”

  She trailed off as Micah got behind the boulder, bear hugged it down low, and heaved it down the hill. It didn’t roll far before crunching and sliding to a stop, but it was far enough to be out of her way.

  Speechless, she stared at him.

  That boulder had to be seven hundred pounds, easy, and he’d made it look like it was made of paper mache.

  Her mouth positively watered.

  Nope, the drool had absolutely nothing to do with the sleeves of his t-shirt threatening to rip as he’d lifted the weight. Or the way the muscles of his back had bunched under the thin fabric. Or just the sheer awe at the amount of power that must be in that big body.

  It was only because the thought of the money she could make with him as a partner, moving stubborn obstacles out of the way in a fraction of the time it would take her.

  Definitely nothing to do with imagining what it might feel like to press up against all those hard muscles.

  Money. Right.

  But she would never trust a mining partner again. She’d make due with the rest of the boulders her self.

  “Um, thank you. I’ll... buy you dinner for that sometime.” Depending on the score, of course. She had only enough money right now for the gas to drive out of here when the mining season was over.

  Which was too soon to stand around gawking at him, no matter how much she wanted to. She sat right in the dirt and started with her short shovel, digging through the harder soil, combing through the softer stuff with her fingers.

  “What are you digging for?”

  She looked up at him, surprised he hadn’t wandered back to his post yet. Surprised he’d actually initiated a conversation.