“Stop this shite right fuckin’ now!” There was no mistaking the command in her tone, and the other two men, younger and definitelynotin charge of anything darted to her sides.
“Farren, ya’ know what happened the last time we went up against an Earth elemental,” Liam spat and then glanced back at Caitlin. The connection between the two of them was unmistakable. Mate. That’s the word Farren had used.
“Yeah, and Fergus was off his rocker.” Turning to Eli, she grabbed his shoulders and held him still, but at least the wind died down. He’d started to shiver. “Have somethin’ to tell me, Eli?”
“No! I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. I’mnotan elemental.”
Farren leaned closer and sniffed him.Sniffed? Fuck me. Maybe I did drown and everything since has been the afterlife?
That didn’t make sense either. Eli wasn’t certain if he believed in heaven and hell or any sort of existence beyond this one, but he was pretty damn sure it wouldn’t be this...strange.
“He doesn’t smell like Earth,” she said. “Are ya’ quite sure, Mara?”
“Yes.” She wobbled to her feet, one hand on her belly, and tried to edge around Cade. “Move it, shaggy man. Elemental or not, I don’t think Eli came here to hurt me.”
“Don’t take another step,” Cade growled.
“Um, we had this conversation a few hours ago, remember? Not fragile. Also not about to lose myself. If anything, having Eli here is grounding.” She sidestepped him, shouldering Liam out of the way in the process, and then she was in front of Farren. “I have no intention of hurting him.”
Eli didn’t want Farren going anywhere. Not with the way everyone else was staring at him. Thank God all she did was take one step to the side and release her hold on him.
Mara, quite obviously pregnant, held out her hand. “Go ahead. I won’t hurt you, Eli.”
“Then whatareyou doing?”
Shooting her mate a look that clearly said “shut it,” Mara lifted her other hand as well, and Eli would have hit the ground had he not been pushed up against the hearth. Three new water droplets danced in the air, and in Mara’s other palm? A tiny flame.
“I carry two elements inside me. And it’s going to drive me insane in the end if we can’t find some way to stabilize me.” With a puff of smoke, the flame disappeared, and Mara waited. “I want to touch you because if you do have Earth, then I’ll feel it.”
“I don’t. I’m as human as they come.” Despite his protests, there was something in Mara’s tone that he couldn’t ignore. A desperation. As a gentle breeze stirred his hair, his panic started to abate and he held out his hand.
Wait. What’s happening?
He hadn’t intended to move.
“Caitlin, are ya’ charmin’ him?” Farren‘s outrage shocked the confusion from his thoughts, and he shoved both hands back into his pockets.
“You lot are insane,” Eli said. “I came here to help. To find answers. I don’t deserve to be attacked for something I’m not. You have the pendant. Use it. And leave me the fuck alone.”
Shoving his way through the press of werewolves and elementals alike, he ran for the door, Farren calling after him.
She seemed to be the only one who didn’t want him gone, and even she was pissed. His heartbeat thundered in his ears and he couldn’t think clearly until he was in his rental car, speeding down the driveway.
He had to get as far from Doolin as he could. Tonight.
Chapter Eight
Eli
Blast it. From the moment he’d left London, he’d known this trip would end badly. But what else could he have done? His flat wasn’t safe. The intruders had fled into the night, and the police had no idea who they were or where they’d gone.
Maybe they’d just wanted to nick his laptop?
And somehow ended up with your birth certificate?
He snorted as he turned onto Doolin’s main street. If all they’d wanted were material things, they wouldn’t have been lying in wait for him.
Eli lived simply. His flat was in a solidly upper-middle class neighborhood, but he didn’t care much for material things. The most expensive thing he owned? His mattress. His leather jacket was likely the second most valuable item. Beyond that, he had a four-year-old computer, a handful of knickknacks he’d collected over the years—none of them worth more than twenty euro—and an old guitar his former headmaster had given him.
