AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah.” I nodded and placed my hand over hers. “I think it is.”
She smiled. “Good.” She reached for another chip and met my eyes. “How was your day? Other than the fistfight.”
It felt so good to have someone to confide in. I’d never had anyone I could share everything with, and never imagined I’d like it, but with Ruby, I had a partner. “I called General Sloan, and he knew about Hinterland and Bloodstone. He said they have supernaturals working within the law firm. If they hired someone to find you, they’re not going to stop coming.”
She nodded, keeping her attention on the chips. The server came over, and we placed our food order. When she left, Ruby lowered her voice. “I learned more about the witch and the werewolf who were banished. It’s…not good.”
She filled me in about the witch, Sienna, being an Energy Elemental. She could control lightning, and her union with the werewolf Alpha must’ve scared both the coven and the pack. They would’ve been a powerful couple even though she wasn’t his true mate.
“There’s something else, too.” Before Ruby could tell me anything more, our food arrived. She took a bite of her burrito and moaned, and suddenly I was thinking about taking her home and getting her naked. This need to touch her and be near her was new. The mate bond was no joke.
But Ruby wasn’t a wolf. She didn’t have the instincts I did. She could walk away anytime she wanted. I hadn’t even known her for a week yet, and it felt like the invisible web between us pulled tighter with every second I spent in her presence. But did she feel the same? I had no fucking clue.
She swallowed her food and met my eyes. “Lillian told me something about my mother that I never knew. I guess I’d been repressing the memory. I don’t know, but…” She rubbed her forehead, breaking eye contact. The scent of fear came off her in waves.
I laid my hand on the table with my palm up. “Don’t forget we’re in this together.”
She put her hand in mine. Her skin was slick and clammy. I scanned the restaurant, trying to figure out what had her spooked, but nothing seemed off.
“My mother was an Earth Elemental.”
She said it as if it would be a huge revelation, but I wasn’t sure why. “She was more powerful than you realized?”
Ruby sighed. “Definitely. It means she had a higher concentration of Fae blood, and she could command the earth, and anything rooted in it without any verbal spells.”
“Okay.” I still didn’t understand why she looked so concerned.
“I’ll start at the beginning.” She lowered her voice and leaned forward. With the music so loud, no one else ever would have been able to hear her, but I had no trouble. “When I was maybe six years old, we were camping by Spring Pond…”
Where Zack had drowned…
I forced myself to focus on her story and not allow memories of my brother’s death to creep in.
“A woman walked me into the water, and lightning flashed overhead. Suddenly, the ground shot up underneath me, lifting me out of the water. It rolled like a breaking wave, taking me back to the tree line. Then branches reached down and picked me up. The shock of it all apparently left me catatonic for a few days so my mother made Lillian promise to never tell me my mother was an Elemental. My mom thought the memory would surface when I was older, and then she could fill in the blanks.”
I took a sip of my beer and shook my head. “But the fire took her before she ever the chance… So you remembered all that today?”
“Yeah, but that’s not the only reason I’m keyed up.” She tightened her hold on my hand. “An Elemental’s power passes to her daughter when she dies.”
She searched my eyes as I gradually put the pieces together. “You have your mother’s powers?”
“I guess so? That’s why Lillian chose me to be her replacement as high priestess.” She shook her head. “But so far all I’ve done is cause a small quake under the store and it only happened when I was upset. I’ve tried all afternoon and into the evening to tap into it and…nothing.”
I reached across the small table to lift her chin until she met my eyes. “You’ll figure it out. This is a good thing. Maybe we can change that vision you had.”
She nodded. “I hope so.”
We ate the rest of our food in silence. When she finished, Ruby looked over at me. “The woman who walked me into the water that day, calling the lightning… It was Sienna.”
I frowned. “Sienna? But why would she care about a little kid?”
“What would be the easiest way to kill a powerful Elemental?”
Then it all clicked. “End her before she gets her mother’s powers.”
Ruby nodded. “Exactly.”
The wolf in my soul bared his teeth. “You said lightning caused the fire at your house.”
