Serin took it and stood. Gia embraced her, then bowed in turn to the Agunte.
Sharp senses were part of Serin’s gift, but her sister was older—the senior Elemental. Gia could mask her arrival and departures with the greatest skill, far better than any witch, shifter, or other Elemental for that matter.
For the better part of a century, Gia could sneak up on Serin, scaring the crap out of her. And then Gia would giggle like a two-year-old.
Serin smiled at her sister, wishing for more time to dawdle.
“Remember when we used to paint the town red?” Gia asked, reading her mind and the nostalgic turn she’d taken.
“You mean when we used to rumble with an out-of-control black coven at dusk, then knock over a shifter bar in the evening?” she replied with a smile.
Gia grinned. “Then we’d have a nightcap with the wood fae, drinking all their best mead—the centuries-old stuff.”
Serin sighed, the longing for those carefree days suddenly intense. Though they still saw each other and collaborated on cases regularly, there was less and less time for fun. “I wish we could relive old times, but…”
“I know, I know,” Gia said with understanding. “Jordan is waiting.”
“Yes.” Neither spoke. They simply stood side by side, their arms touching.
Then Gia raised her hands, using her powers of Earth to shift the ground beneath them. Deep in the borehole, the soil responded to her call, moving and rolling like a wave until the opening was sealed.
Serin could have dynamited the hole shut, but she wanted to make sure the ground appeared undisturbed—as if the mining work had never even begun.
That had been her plan all along. Serin had spent most of yesterday afternoon laying the groundwork. She was framing Sayer for embezzlement—a crime he was guilty of, albeit on a much smaller scale.
According to the new and carefully hidden records, the reports on this area had been faked. There was no oil reserve for hundreds of miles. The employment records, progress updates, and payroll were a sham. Sayer pocketed the funds allocated by the company. At least, that was what they were going to think.
Gia knew her plan. It resembled many of the others she and Serin used in the past when their marks were human. Greed was one of the classics. When the relentless drive for profit ruled a company or organization, legal or illegal, their job was half-done for them.
“Where will you go next?” Serin asked, savoring the night’s warmth before she had to make her way down to the sea.
“Home, for a time.” Gia was the oldest Elemental, but her ties on this earth were as binding as Serin’s. Though her immediate family was long gone, her blood lived on all over the world, but most was still concentrated deep in the heart of Mexico in the village she called home.
Like their sister Logan, Gia was blessed. Their homes were places of rest, where time with their families provided a respite from their work. For Serin, home was…different. She was a Water Elemental.
“I should go,” she said.
Her sister stopped her with a hand to the shoulder. She pulled Serin into another warm embrace.
“It’s date night, isn’t it? What does Jordan have planned for you tonight?”
“Candlelight dinner, and a romantic drive up the coast to a new nightspot to dance under the stars.”
“He always goes the extra mile, doesn’t he?” Gia mused as they walked a few miles south, downhill away from the dig site.
Between the trees, crickets sang their nightly serenade.
“Like always,” Serin replied, tasting the night air.
They reached the ravine at the base of the hill. Gia dug her hands into the earth, swirling it around the way a child splashed into the ocean. She felt for the ripple of water buried deep, tapping it and drawing it to the surface. The formerly dry stream bed became a torrent, one that would eventually reach the sea.
With one last embrace, Serin parted from her sister and went to meet her mate, wondering what dress she should wear. The red was Jordan’s favorite, but she preferred the green.
Less than an hour later, she reached the Caislean Hotel in Cabos San Lucas, the beachfront five-star hotel Jordan had chosen for their stay in Baja California.
The room was a mess. The rosewood and teak coffee table and chairs were smashed to pieces. Cotton filler from the plush couch cushions littered the room, and there was broken glass everywhere.
An ominous splash of blood was in the center of the shards. A quick search revealed nothing was missing—nothing except her bonded mate, Jordan.
2
Three Weeks Later
The roar of the ocean filled Serin’s ears. She blinked against the bright sunlight, wondering why it was so much louder out here on the bluffs of T’Kaieri than it was on the beach itself.
Not a big hand-holder, Diana, her Fire Elemental sister, pressed against her side. The pressure was comforting, although Serin couldn’t feel her heat. Not today.
“I’m so sorry about this,” Diana murmured as the pallbearers brought the coffin down the winding path from the temple.
They were carrying Jordan’s body.
After Serin discovered her bonded was missing, she had crisscrossed the globe in a frantic search. Failing to find even a trace of him, she came home to the island to discover their archives had been raided. Many dangerous artifacts had gone missing. The exact number was unknown. The archivists were still compiling a list under the direction of Diana’s mate, world-renowned archeologist and scholar Alec Broussard.
Alec’s presence made the islanders almost as anxious as the Fire Elemental did. It was the first time a vampire had ever set foot on T’Kaieri.
The line of mourners broke as Uncle John approached. He’d found Jordan’s body at his parents’ house. There had been poison on the kitchen table, along with a note containing a single word—sorry.
The body had been prepared by John, Jordan’s only living relative, according to his family’s traditions. Jordan’s body was going to interred in the ground instead of being buried at sea. It was a break of a millennia-old island tradition.
“Thank you,” Serin replied in a low voice as the men marched past them.
Uncle John paused to touch her arm before skittering away. Diana raised a brow and jerked her head, silently asking if she should step back so the mourners could access Serin more easily.
Serin reached down, surreptitiously taking hold of the hem of Diana’s shirt in an unmistakable don’t-go-anywhere sign. The Fire Elemental’s presence was an effective deterrent against the flood of funeral goers spilling into the valley. Her sister-in-arms made people nervous, something useful at times like this.
Even Serin’s parents were giving them a wide berth. It wasn’t that they disliked Diana, but the Fire Elemental didn’t go out of her way to make people comfortable. She liked it better that way‚ with a few exceptions.
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait for Gia to come back?” Diana asked as the elders continued their snail-paced shuffle to the open grave.
Serin shook her head, her eyes fixed on the plain ash coffin. “No, she and Logan have to keep on following leads and clearing cases.”
Their mission hadn’t ended just because Serin’s bonded was dead. She was going to have to return to work herself sometime soon.
Her father stepped forward, beginning what promised to be a long prayer.
The service lasted an hour. Offerings of fruit and fresh flowers were laid at the bottom of the grave before the box was haltingly lowered by some of the younger islanders with the help of a few ropes.
Serin winced when one end of the coffin jerked and dropped a few inches. The men struggled to right the box.
Diana leaned closer. “Do they need help?” she whispered.
“They’re fine,” Serin lied as the box resumed its shaky descent.
As the deceased’s bonded, her job was to stoically look on. Plus, there was every chance Diana stepping forward would cause the frail pal
lbearers to panic and drop the coffin altogether.
“Are you sure?” her sister whispered as the coffin careened again.
“They’ll muddle through,” Serin said bracingly. “Although, I think we’ll go back to burial at sea after this.”
“Might be wise.”
Forcing her eyes to stay open, Serin couldn’t stop from sighing in relief when the coffin finally touched down.
John nodded at her. She stepped forward, picking up a handful of soil from the edge of the grave as he’d instructed earlier.
With every eye on her, she opened her fist, letting the soil rain onto the lid of the box. Diana came forward, then repeated the gesture. Then both stepped back to allow John and the others to do the same as the island’s few children began a solemn requiem.
The lengthy line of mourners filed past. One of the elders came forward, circling to Serin’s far side to keep a small buffer between herself and her sister.
“You must be devastated,” Elianne said, her withered hands covering Serin’s own. “But you must be strong. She has a plan. Even Her chosen cannot always know what it is.”
“Thank you,” Serin said stiffly, squeezing Elianne’s hand in return. The woman’s thin lips parted as if she were about to launch into more platitudes, but Diana shifted her weight. A flicker of red lashes and Elianne excused herself, hobbling away with a little more speed than was typical.
The setting sun dipped below the horizon. People began to leave, returning to their homes for the evening meal.
Uncle John broke away from the crowd.
“Would you excuse me, my dear?” he said to Diana. “I would like to have a word with my niece-in-law.”
Diana stayed where she was, glancing at Serin for confirmation.
She gave Diana the tiniest of nods. John waited for the Fire Elemental to walk away before offering his arm, one of the charming, old-world gestures that had endeared him to everyone on the island.
“Your sisters are very protective of you my dear. That’s good. You need to lean on them now. I know how hard this must be. I can only imagine how it was, feeling him go like that.”
Serin pressed her lips tighter, nodding as they stopped before the end of the bluff. Below them, the sea lapped at the rocks. It was far quieter now that the coffin was in the ground.
“He was a very devoted mate.”
John patted her hand. “Yes, he was. I’m so sorry you had to experience that. I know how terrible it must have been for you.” He trailed off, wiping his eyes.
“Yes,” Serin whispered, refusing to say anything more.
An Elemental knew when their mate was in trouble. When Gia’s mate Marco died, Gia said she’d felt the devastating blow halfway around the world. The same had happened to Logan when her werewolf had been hurt, though Connell had been lucky enough to survive his wounds.
“Yes, he was so in love with you. My heart will always be heavy when I think of all that might have been…” John’s voice roughened. He blinked rapidly, turning to the sea. “I hope you don’t mind my insisting on a burial. I understand your connection to the ocean, but I just wasn’t comfortable with him out there, all alone. I’m afraid I’m one of those people who love the beach, but find these depths too vast and cold. I don’t want him to feel lost wherever he is.”
Wrapping her arms around her middle, she said nothing.
He twisted his head, checking over his shoulder to make sure they were alone. His cloudy yellow eyes were wide and red. “I know what people are saying about Jordan, trying to tie him to the thefts. They stop talking about it whenever I get too close, but I’m old, not deaf.”
He broke off, swiping at his eyes. “Things look unbelievably bad, but I swear he would never take part in anything that would hurt you. Not willingly.”
Serin took a shaky breath. “I will discover the truth. You have my word.”
“I know you will,” John said, hesitating. “You and your sisters are the most dogged and determined creatures I’ve ever met. It’s simply that… Well, it seems much more likely now that Jordan was involved.”
He turned away again. “I don’t know what he got up to those last few months of his life. Someone must have threatened or blackmailed him. Whatever it was, I want you to know I don’t blame you for not seeing it. I certainly didn’t, and the boy lived with me for years after his parents passed on to their reward. I should have known he was in trouble.”
He was being far too generous. She had been the one who’d lived with Jordan. For much of their union, he’d followed her all over the world on her missions, although that tapered off at the end.
“It’s not your fault,” she managed in a tight voice.
Everyone knew where the blame lay. It was just that everyone was too polite to say anything to her face.
John sighed, mopping his brow with a handkerchief. “Darling, I want to be here for you, but I’m afraid I can’t be. This has been too painful. Jordan was the only family I had left. I’d hoped for grand-nephews and nieces in a few years, once you were finished with your service, but I suppose some things just aren’t meant to be.”
She kept her eyes on the surf. “No, I suppose not.”
John smiled wistfully. “You two would have made beautiful children. You’re so lovely, and Jordan was such a handsome young man.”
“That he was.” With his dark hair and sea-green eyes, Jordan Kincaid could have graced magazine covers or starred in Hollywood movies.
She had looked forward to seeing those eyes in the faces of her children, too…
John sniffed loudly. When he spoke next, his voice cracked. “I’m going to go away for a while, to clear my head. I’ll leave in a few days, once the dust settles here.”
She turned to him with parted lips. Uncle John had been a fixture here for so long she couldn’t imagine this place without him.
“Where will you go?”
“I’m not sure. I think I’m simply going to take a walkabout as the Australians say.” He shrugged through his tears. “I’ve been gathering moss here long enough.”
Reaching out impulsively, Serin threw her arms around him, hugging him tight. “Don’t stay away too long. You know we can’t get along without you.”
She let go and leaned back, jaw stiff. “When you return, I will have answers for you. Whoever drove Jordan to do what he did will pay.”
A tear slipped down the older man’s cheek. “I know you will, my dear. I know you will.”
3
Serin tried to let the bickering of the elders wash over her like an ocean wave, but it was easier said than done.
Now that the funeral was over, the entire island of T’Kaieri was in an uproar over the missing artifacts. Some of the elders had only just discovered that the Elemental’s ancient archive repository had been raided. Recriminations had been flying back and forth for hours, but at this moment, Noomi, the head archivist, was facing their collective wrath.
Since the artifacts had disappeared on her watch, they felt she should shoulder most of the blame—and she was. Willingly.
Mother save us from the inconveniently selfless.
Serin and her sisters didn’t hold Noomi responsible. How could they? If anyone was to blame, it was them. Serin most of all…
It was difficult to believe they’d been burgled. T’Kaieri was an impregnable stronghold…to outsiders. But who could have foreseen deception from within? What did human detectives call it?
An inside job.
Breathing deeply, Serin stifled the rush of adrenaline and anger that came with the thought of being duped, but she betrayed her emotions by scowling at the elders. That was against her training as a Water of T’Kaieri. She’d been taught not to flinch in the face of tsunamis, but she couldn’t stop from glaring daggers at the elder Wanat as he called for Noomi’s removal.
The council was out for blood, and they didn’t much care who got the ax as long as someone paid for the theft. But her sisters had already cleared Noomi.
&
nbsp; Despite her exhaustion, Serin parted her lips, ready to defend the innocent archivist, but her sister Diana beat her to it.
“That’s not fair,” Diana cut in, her anger flaring as red hot as her hair. “Noomi has been nothing but honest throughout this entire affair.”
The Fire Elemental’s gift was sensitive enough to detect even the minutest fluctuations in body temperature. Combined with her background and years of training, she was like a human lie detector—a nearly infallible one, provided the right questions were being asked.
Diana was just getting going. “The junior archivists haven’t lied either—and I would know. I’ve questioned them all about the missing artifacts. They are innocent of the theft. Place your blame elsewhere. Let Noomi and the others continue their inventory. We need to know how many things are missing.”
“I thought your mate the vampire was doing that.” Wanat sneered, his hook nose wrinkled as if he could smell Alec now. He turned to the others, muttering, “A vampire in the archives. What will this world come to next?”
“Alec is helping,” Diana said. “And he’s compiled quite a list already. But that archive is thousands of years old. It has more scrolls and antiquities than the fucking Smithsonian, so he needs all hands on deck if we’re going to figure out what’s missing.”
“I agree that a detailed inventory is necessary, and I thank your mate for his help,” Caimen, her father, interjected. “But the archive is thousands of years old, and it has never been violated before now. Someone needs to be held accountable, and Noomi was the one in charge.”
“She was in charge of the archive’s day-to-day running, not its security because you didn’t fucking have any,” Diana snapped. “It wasn’t deemed necessary because who in their right mind would steal from us?”
Who indeed? Serin raised her head to find everyone but Diana staring at her. The mixture of pity and suspicion in those eyes was too much to bear. She murmured something unintelligible, then left the council chamber.
Outside, the warm night air of T’Kaieri burned her lungs. She walked a few meters to the left, to the tiny spring that ran from deep within Siba, the mountain peak that formed the heart of the island. Splashing inside, she let go of her corporeal form, letting the water carry her all the way down to the beach.
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