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“I saw you moving the vines at the beach. It’s just incredible—what you can all do.”
“It is.” Calder flicked his fingers at the water and a small arc of water rose out of the bucket. The arc danced in the air. “I’m still getting used to this whole ‘powers’ thing.”
“Can you pull water out of the air?” Clay asked. “Have you tried that yet?”
Calder pushed the water arc into the bucket, then held his hand up in the air. He narrowed his eyes and seemed to grow frustrated as nothing happened, because he scowled. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but surely I can.”
“It’ll probably take practice. I couldn’t shift from one animal to another at first, not until I did it over and over.” Baer ran his hands down his jeans.
Calder dropped his hands and shook his head. “Nope. Can’t do that yet.”
Clay dipped his fingers into the bucket and flicked them at Calder. “Can you catch these droplets?”
Blinking water out of his eyes, Calder frowned at Clay. “Maybe if I’d had a little warning you were going to do that.”
“Gotta be quick around here.” Baer chuckled as Clay laughed.
“I’ll show you quick.” Calder pulled a water ball from the bucket and splashed it into Clay’s face and darkened the neck of his blue T-shirt.
Clay wiped his hand down his cheeks, still grinning.
“You know, I’ve always had an affinity for water,” Calder mused. “I even like to take baths over showers.”
“We’ll make sure to get you some bubble bath on the next grocery trip,” Baer teased.
“Strawberry scented, please.” Calder said it with a straight face. Cort laughed, shaking his head at him. Calder was clearly fitting in just fine.
Lucien walked closer to the group, a grin on his face. “I have no doubt there will be strawberry-scented bubble bath in the next batch of groceries.”
“I’ll use it,” Calder replied. “There’s nothing like a good, long bubble bath.”
Lucien shuddered. “Can’t stand them myself. I’m a quick shower man.”
“Me too.” Baer stood and in the next moment, he shimmered, then shifted into a tiger. He stretched and preened, prancing around the clearing before letting out a roar.
“He prefers big cats,” Grey said. He’d sat in the grass near Clay.
“He’s a tiger. A huge one.” Cort held his breath as the tiger came up to him. Logically, he knew it was Baer, but his fight-or-flight instincts still kicked in—mainly flight. Instead, he slowly reached out his hand and touched the fur on the tiger’s head. It was softer than he’d expected, and he laughed when Baer licked his palm, the tongue raspy. Baer bounded off into the trees. Ruby followed.
Lucien walked toward the bucket. “Calder, why don’t you try putting out my fires quickly? Aim those water tentacles of yours at them.”
“What are you going to burn?” Clay growled. “Because I’m not down with you torching the plant life, you know that.”
“How about I just aim for the dead trees?” Lucien pointed at a group of them. “There are a bunch.”
“You up for this?” Clay asked Calder. “The last thing we need is a forest fire.”
“I’m up for it.” Calder stood and brushed his hands over the legs of his jeans.
Flames snapped to life, and Lucien aimed them at the nearest dead tree, which caught fire instantly. Calder waved his hands, and a ball of water shot out of the bucket and put it out. Laughing, Lucien did it again and again, and each time, Calder extinguished the fires. It didn’t matter how fast Lucien burned things; Calder was just as quick.
Cort watched them, amazed by what he was seeing, his heart thumping hard.
“Damn, you’re good!” Lucien yelled as he aimed his fire at another dead tree.
Calder easily put it out, shrugging as he extinguished the flames with a calm smile.
Baer came running out of the forest as a tiger and in midjump shifted into an eagle before taking off into the sky.
Cort’s mouth dropped open as he watched Baer fly overhead; then Cort plopped next to Grey and looked at him. Grey had his eyes closed as he tilted his head and listened to everything going on. He looked so gorgeous in the sunlight, and Cort couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and touching his leg. Grey opened his eyes, his hand coming to touch Cort’s. Cort turned his hand over and threaded their fingers together. “What do you usually do out here?”
“Try to read minds mostly.” Grey batted away a stray fly with his free hand.
“Are you doing that now?”
Grey smirked. “I’m getting bits here and there.”
“He does more than just read minds,” Clay said from where he was sitting next to Grey. “He helps us find balance, the peace within the storm of power. We also work together as a kind of battery for each other. In fact, let’s try that now. Can you tap into my power, Grey?” Clay shifted closer to Grey and extended his arm.
