“This is it,” I whispered, straightening my shoulders. I pushed up the sleeves on my arms, shook out my hands, and returned my palms to the stone wall. Squeezing my eyes shut, I cleared my head to pull forward a certain element I hadn’t had to use in quite some time.
The short chant slipped from between my lips. The muscles in my arms shook, the power transferring from somewhere within, rushing through my blood, to the tips of my fingers. For the briefest moment, my head swam with the rush of adrenaline, fortifying my being. The wall groaned as it inched back and to the left. I dropped my head over the stone, feeling lightheaded all of a sudden. It had been too long. Starting a fire, creating a wind storm, unlocking a deadbolt, moving water, it was all easy because I had the Heathens to channel through for twenty-six years. I had to learn the Earth element on my own.
Fallon’s hand laid on my back. “You okay?”
I rolled my forehead over the stone, tilting my head to look into her cloudless blue eyes.
Something jump-started my being.
Her eyes. There was always something about her eyes.
“Yeah,” I said through an exhale. “We’re almost there.”
I pried the hidden door open the rest of the way, and we took narrow stairs down until we were officially in the tunnels. Darkness fell around us, and Fallon clutched my hand, walked closer behind me as I led the way in the damp cold. “How do you know where you’re going?” she asked, her small voice sounding much bigger down here.
“I have night-vision goggles,” I joked, squeezing her hand.
Fallon smacked my arm. “No, you don’t.” It came out like a question.
“I kinda do. Built-in ones. I can see in the dark.”
She was silent as we walked, her abusive hand clutched my forearm.
“So, every time we—in the dark—you—”
“Saw everything,” I confirmed, looking back with a grin. Fallon dropped her head, and I knew she was blushing. I squeezed her hand again and reached my other arm behind me to hook her back closer to mine. The tension I felt before was long gone, and now I didn’t think I could have done this without her. It was almost as if it was meant to be this way, her and me against time, the town, everything, everyone.
After a short walk, we reached a barrier, and I froze.
“What is it?” Fallon asked behind me.
“This gate, it’s steel,” I felt around the edges, shook my head, “It’s not supposed to be here.”
There was no lock to magically click open. Manmade, no natural Earth element to move out of the way. I needed Phoenix’s heat to sear through it. It wasn’t the same as lighting a fire. I needed more for this. I wasn’t expecting this. I couldn’t do this without him.
On the far right, there was a blue blinking light. Beside it, a card scanner.
“Shit,” I groaned. I couldn’t fry the electrical panel or destroy it with water. I couldn’t risk an alarm going off. All we needed was two bars removed for us to slip through.
Pushing my hand through my hair, I turned to Fallon. “This is going to sound really bad, but I need you to get me off.”
Her eyes widened in the pitch black. “Youwhat?”
“I’m serious. I need to pull pure magic out of me to get through something like this on my own. I don’t have Phoenix to burn through it, so I need pleasure or pain to exhume that level of magic.”
“I’m curious. What would you have done if I weren’t here?”
“Jerk off,” I stated, and Fallon smiled, tapped her finger over her chin. “That’s ridiculous when I have my girl standing right in front of me, who, by the way, would do a much better and quicker job. This is serious, Fallon. A matter-of-life-and-death serious.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh,okay. If it’s life and death.”
“Look, I would never use you the way I’ve been used,”no one should ever be used the way I’d be used, “so I needyouto useme. However way you want.”
A breathy gasp escaped her lips. She crossed her arms. Un-crossed them. “That’s a lot of pressure.”
“There’s literally nothing in this world you could do wrong, I promise. See,” I grabbed my aroused cock, “You’re only standing there, and I’m already hard. You just have to … back into it. Easy.”
Her cheeks flushed around her incredulous smile. “Back into it?”
