They talked half the night. With every new thing he learned about Farren, he wanted more. But he was still so confused over whohewas, he couldn’t give her the one thing she wanted. A promise to stay.
It was close to 3:00 a.m. when she nodded off during a long lull in the conversation. Eli had been working up the courage to ask her about the pack members she’d lost. He’d held off, not wanting to cause her pain, but if they expected to fully trust one another, he had to hear the story from her.
Well, shite. Now what?
He didn’t think sleeping in her bed was wise. Not again. Not until they’d established some ground rules. Like, no sex. Or sex only if it wouldn’t seal the mating. They’d danced around the subject more than once, but Farren had backed away every time.
As gently as he could, he carried her to the bed and drew a blanket over her. “I’ll bunk on the couch downstairs,” he whispered, then tiptoed out of the room and shut the door.
He’d fully intended to sleep. To stretch out and let the pain and frustration and uncertainty of the day ease from his shoulders, but the moon bathed the large expanse of yard in an ethereal glow, and he found himself barefoot in the grass, soaking up energy from the earth.
The marks on his chest stung, like fire ants were nipping at his skin, and he peeled off the shirt to find them...moving.“Fuck me. What now?”
His father’s voice whispered in his memories.“Air can bend the mind. Enough of it can hide even the brightest light from view.”
Brightest light. Farren had told him he’d was the light in the darkness. Or at least that’s what the old man had told her.
He’d never called air before. Or fire or water. He’d never thought to try as a child. His mother had explained the four elements to him, but he was earth.
“What can the others do, Mum?”
“Don’t worry about the other elements, Eli. Earth is enough. Earth will keep you safe.”
“Let the boy try!” his da’ said from behind him.
“No. We agreed. This is the way.”
What way? What did his father want him to try?
Staring down at one of the larger symbols right over his heart, he held out his hands. The breeze stirred a lock of his hair, and he focused on the sensation. When he used his power, he only had to picture the end result in his mind. If he wanted an earthquake, he pictured the land around him shaking. The spire from this morning—or yesterday, he supposed—had been fully formed in his thoughts before he ever touched the ground.
He pictured his hair whipping about in the wind. Warmth bloomed in his chest, spreading out from his sternum. Then, the gale almost knocked him off his feet.
Fuck me. It worked.
Fire next. Mara had held it in her palm, and he tried to do the same. It took so much of his focus, his headache returned with a vengeance, but the spark was bright enough to penetrate his shuttered lids, and he shouted, “Yes!” when he saw the flame.
Last...he needed water. The wind was still swirling around him and the fire bounced and flickered in his left hand. In his right, he tried for two spinning droplets, like Mara had done.
The deluge sent him onto his arse. For several seconds that felt like an eternity, he couldn’t breathe from the impact—or the shock.
Behind him, the french doors clicked open. He struggled to his feet, expecting to see Farren, but instead, found Mara walking towards him. Her eyes were wrong. No longer green, but almost blood red.
“Mara? Are you all right?”
She didn’t answer, passing him silently. Like him, she was barefoot, and dressed in a pair of gray sweatpants and a loose t-shirt that flowed around her baby bump.
“I don’t think you should be out here by yourself.” He was a full head and shoulders taller than she was, and caught up to her easily, and when he tried to take her arm, she tensed.
“No.” The hoarse word sent chills down his spine, and he jerked his hand back as a wall of water formed between them.
She wasn’t just losing time. Caitlin had been right. This was a completely different woman in Mara’s body.
He couldn’t let her leave the property. “Help me!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, hoping to wake someone in the house.
The liquid wall followed behind Mara, and Eli prayed he had enough control to stop her but not harm her. Squeezing his eyes shut, he threw his hands forward, then drew them sharply apart, and the water split in two.
“You...cannot...stop...this...” Mara rasped, and a circle of flame rose up around her.
