The mattress shifted next to him, and a dim light flickered on. “Awake, are ya’? About time.”
Farren. Her gray eyes held concern and exhaustion as she pushed up onto an elbow.
“How do ya’ feel?”
Eli looked around. He was very obviously in Farren’s bedroom. A deep blue comforter rustled beneath him. Heavy curtains in the same shade hung from a burnished silver rod, and there were only a handful of personal touches scattered about. A photo on her dresser. A mug with“In my defense, the moon was full”in block letters. The rest of the space was clean and almost empty. Minimalist, he supposed others would call it.
“Eli?”
Her voice helped him focus. “Shattered. And confused. What happened? Why am I here?”
“Ye’re here because this is the safest place for ya’ right now. As for what happened...I don’t know that ye’re ready to hear it yet.” She rose, and thank God she’d put on a robe. He had the distinct memory of her being quite naked the last time he’d seen her. “I’ll get ya’ some water.”
When she disappeared into an attached bathroom, Eli sat up, and the room spun around him for a minute before he took a couple of deep breaths.
She didn’t sit next to him. Merely handed him the glass along with a couple of painkillers and curled up in a chair in the far corner of the room.
“Those two on the beach?” he asked.
“Practitioners. They wanted ya’ because ya’ have earth in ya’, and we killed their last one.”
She sounded like she was describing the weather.We killed their last one.Who spoke that casually of murdering another human being? Suddenly, it didn’t matter that she’d probably saved his life. That she’d taken care of him. He had to get away. Right bloody now.
“I’m going to go.” As soon as he set the glass down, he was on his feet and racing for the door, but Farren beat him there and blocked his way.
“I can’t let ya’ do that. Not without knowin’ how to protect yerself.” She paused to meet his gaze. “And how to protect the rest of us.”
“You can’t simply keep me prisoner here.” Eli reached for the door handle, but even though it turned, Farren had dug her heels into the floor, and try as he might, he couldn’t budge her. Fuck. How was any woman that strong?
“Werewolf, remember?” she said with a hint of a smile. “Ya’ can’t best me, Eli. So ya’ might as well sit down and listen.”
Maybe if he trulywerean elemental, he’d be able to take on the woman in front of him. But since that was a ridiculous notion—and even if it weren’t, he had no idea how to use these supposed powers—he went back to the bed.
“Fine. Explain.”
Farren rolled her eyes. “I’ve tried more than once, ya’ know.”
“I’m an elemental. I can control earth. There are practitioners who want to use me to get all four elements. Yes, you were quite clear on all of that. The problem? I don’t believe you. I’m not an elemental. I can’t be.”
“Ya’ said ya’ were an orphan, yeah?” Her voice softened, and she took her seat in the chair again, snagging a soft gray blanket from the arm and wrapping it around her.
“My parents died in a car accident when I was fourteen.”
“And ya’ have no memory of them.”
The reminder stung, even though he’d lived with the missing knowledge for more than twenty years now. “No. Vague feelings. Sometimes, I think I hear my mum’s voice when I’m dreaming. But I can’t know for certain.”
“Elementals are born, Eli. Werewolves and vampires can be made. Practitioners study their craft, though they usually have some innate ability from birth. Fae...well, those tricky bastards sprang into existence at the beginning of everything, and they’ve been runnin’ amok ever since.”
“You think I was born an elemental. To elemental parents. And they convenientlyforgotto tell me?” He snorted. “They had a will. They chose the boarding school I was to attend, set up a trust to pay for University, and appointed a legal guardian.”
“All that, and an accident killed them? Don’t ya’ think it a mite convenient that yer entire life was planned out for ya’?” She arched her brows and stared at him, daring him to contradict her.
“They were careful.” Tension gathered in Eli’s shoulders, and he tried to force it away. Getting angry with this beautiful and beguiling werewolf wouldn’t do him any good until he got the answers he needed. And secured her promise she’d let him out of this room.
“Oh, I don’t disagree with ya’ there. Not a bit. Theywerecareful. I think they bound yer powers when ya’ were fourteen and that’s why ya’ have no memory of them. It’s entirely possible they’re still alive.”
He couldn’t breathe. No. No fucking way. “You have no proof of that.”
