Embraced by Embers

by Kasey Mackenzie

  I sent him an image of me laughing my ass off just to lighten the mood and opened my eyes to update Jake on the plan. A physical peek ahead revealed that we’d closed in to less than a quarter-mile behind the goons hot on the commercial truck’s tail. Good. That was well within my magical hijacking range.

  Jake pursed his lips when I revealed the plan. “You sure that’s a good idea?”

  My brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t you think a flash flood that sweeps six motorcycles off the bridge might be a bit...flashy?”

  “Flashier than two Harleys getting flat tires at the exact same time only to have six other Harleys crash for no discernible reason?”

  “Touché,” he murmured with a smirk.

  I shrugged. “That’s a valid question, actually, but I think you missed one little detail.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah. Cell phone signals aren’t the only thing these goons jammed. There’s not been another vehicle to pass us since these guys attacked. And it’s prime road-tripping season.”

  Jake’s jade green eyes lit in realization after glancing across the grassy divide to where the opposite-flowing lanes were eerily empty. “They arranged a complete shutdown along this stretch of interstate?”

  “Looks that way. But it’s going to benefit us just as much as them. Nobody to see what’s about to go down.”

  “Anything I can do to help?”

  I wiggled my eyebrows. “Yeah. Don’t run us off the bridge, Evel Knievel.”

  “Your wish is my command, milady. Also, bite me!”

  “Maybe later! Busy now.”

  Bantering was a form of therapy for us, especially in stressful situations. Another key sign that we were perfect for each other.

  Traveling a mile at this rate of speed took less than a minute. The bridge loomed just ahead, my cue to hijack the Selkie’s abilities and reach for the flows of Water permeating the wide river twinkling in the August sunlight. Nic used his own powers to send a monstrous stream of Water arcing through the air, slamming into the closest cycle, and sweeping it up and over the bridge railing. Both Harley and cyclist plunged into the river a dozen feet below. I followed suit with borrowed powers just milliseconds later, catching the slowest cyclist on the driver’s side of the truck and sending them plummeting on the opposite side of the bridge. My tactic had the benefit of not immediately alerting the goons ahead of my victim, but Nic unfortunately wasn’t so lucky. His two opponents caught on to the danger right away and began channeling Elemental magic in a fury.

  I gritted my teeth when I realized that the Selkie whose abilities I had hijacked was the second Elemental on the driver’s side. This meant that I’d probably lose my grip on their powers pretty quickly. We had already traveled half the distance across the bridge, so speed became even more necessary.

  This time I siphoned as much Water as I could handle without magical backlash knocking me out. An enormous wave swept across the bridge, and I kicked in a tiny bit of Spirit to make the Water more malleable to my will. Both victims washed over the bridge’s railing so easily that I hoped Nic was having equal success. A quick glance to his side of the vehicle dashed those hopes.

  Both his assailants turned out to be Gryphons. They’d pooled their abilities to redirect Nic’s Water into a harmless spray showering around them rather than sweeping them overboard. No sooner did they redirect that attack than they went on the offensive. My mouth dropped open when Nic’s door careened open and his seatbelt whipped into the air. Thick flows of white energy heralded a tandem attack by both Gryphons, although I couldn’t figure out why they were attacking my brother instead of Liam if they wanted to commandeer the truck and their missing colleagues.

  Which was when I realized that once again, I’d wrongly assumed their intentions. They weren’t after the truck—they were after Nic.

  Something confirmed when a squirming Nic’s legs flew out of the truck as bands of Air tugged him forcefully. He held his seat in a death grip as a third band of white energy tried to pull him back inside. Liam struggling to save Nic without losing control of the careening vehicle. Despite his tremendous strength as a Gryphon, two against one when he also had to focus on driving meant he was starting to lose the battle.

  Time to even the odds.

  I leaned out the window and grimly reached for the abilities of the nearest Gryphon, only to feel tremendous pressure and a flood of glittering black shards stabbing into my brain. I felt the slimy touch of a psychic presence I knew all too well.

  “Drew is invading my mind!” I choked out in warning. “Please help Nic and Liam!”

  Jake shot me a worried glance but nodded grimly, embracing Earth to take over my intended attack of the nearest Gryphon. Leaving me free to focus on Drew’s psychic summons.

  ((How many times do I have to tell you and Daddy Dearest to stay out of my mind, Baby Brother?))

  ((Hello again, sister dear. I’m surprised you haven’t learned nothing can make us stay out of your mind unless we want to. Your skills in Spirit are no match for ours.))

  I laced my mental voice with every ounce of the sarcasm I felt. ((And I’m surprised that you haven’t learned that my skills in the other elements more than make up for whatever edge in Spirit you might have. Not to mention the advantages I gain from my liegesworn. Tell me, has Daddy Dearest figured out you lost over a dozen of his Elemental minions yet?)) Not to mention the human lives lost; not that either of them gave a damn about mortals..

  ((He and I have both been a little preoccupied with a side project. There’s this fascinating book we’re trying to track down. A little similar to all the reading-up on Hikaru I’ve heard you’re doing. And I plan to take back what you’ve stolen soon enough. You’ll be up to your eyeballs in new minions any minute now.))

  I sent mocking laughter across our mental link. ((You mean the eight I immobilized behind us, the four whose Harleys we swept into the river we just passed, or the two Gryphons whose asses are even now being kicked by my bondmate and liegesworn?))

  Uncertainty echoed from his psyche. ((What Harleys?))

  I internally rolled my eyes at his attempt to deflect. As if he weren’t the asshole behind this attack trying to distract me from the fight. ((I’m not in the mood for games, Baby Brother. You have about five seconds to get to your point before I evict your ass.))

  ((We don’t need to be enemies, Cassidy. Surely we can find enough common ground—))

  ((If this is the part where you try to recruit me onto Team Evil, please don’t even bother.))

  Exasperation echoed loud and clear from his mind. ((You see things in such shades of black and white. As if anything in life is that simple.))

  ((Okay, well, here’s the part where I evict you from my mind because you’re boring the shit out of me.))

  ((You won’t be so bored when my minions arrive to play.))

  ((Didn’t we just go over the fact I already wiped the floor with most of your minions? You get bonus points for sending so many for little ole me and that souped-up paint, but demerits for sending such weak-ass Elementals that I defeated the vast majority by myself.))

  Confusion seeped through our temporary link again. ((It would be great if you could start making sense, sister dear.)) A flash of realization swept from his mind to mine. ((My people just told me there’s a roadblock preventing them from catching up to you as planned. Whoever attacked you, they were not sent by me. Do not give her to them.))

  Her? Sounded like we were finally getting somewhere. ((So you do care about your fallen minions.))

  ((Don’t play games, Cassidy. Those minions were little more than pawns. I only care about getting Father’s precious Flower back in one piece. It’s not my fault she decided to play that day.))

  ((Now you are the one making no sense. I have no clue what you’re talking ab—))

  Pain exploded inside my head, this time coming from the outside-in rather than the reverse. Drew’s presence immediately faded away as I cri
ed out and clutched my head. My eyes blinked open blearily and I touched the side of my head, wincing at the sticky feel of blood and the sheer agony trying to suck me under. Our car swerved to a halt along the shoulder, just a few feet from the commercial truck that had pulled over while Drew had been distracting me.

  Liam and Nic had already climbed out and were running toward our car. The two Gryphons were nowhere to be seen, which left me wondering who the hell had slammed me in the head with a jackhammer. But then I saw that a perfect circle had torn through the convertible top and realized another weapon entirely was responsible for the excruciating pain in my skull.

  “Holy shit,” I mumbled to Jake, swaying in my seat. “Someone shot me.”

  “Hang on, sweetheart. We’ll get a fire going right away. Just don’t die on me.”

  “Too late,” I mumbled, closed my eyes, and did just what he told me not to do.

  Chapter 3

  The blazing embrace of embers and flame enticed me from inky blackness. My eyes popped open and a gasp escaped my lips as disorientation caused by all five senses going back online hit. Dying may have become a little less scary, but it sure hurt like hell every freaking time. Still, nothing beat the sheer intoxicating pleasure of a Phoenix bathing in Fire.

  “She’s back,” Breena murmured nearby. I shook my head to clear it and zeroed in on where she stood inside the flames just a foot away. She reached down to caress my hair and that tender gesture just about did me in. It was the first time the prickly woman had shown me such pure love. I finally felt like what she and Wen had been calling me since Jake and I bonded. Her daughter-in-law.

  Jake was unsurprisingly the second to speak, channeling green flows of Earth to grant him immunity to Fire so he could squat, take me in his arms, and stand in one of those showy demonstrations of strength that often made me display googly eyes of my own. Minus the broodiness.

  “Wh—where are we?” I managed to choke out after glancing around a strange workroom. The walls were designed of characteristic stone to withstand magical catastrophes, and Elemental candles flickered at the room’s four cardinal points, but other than that nothing was familiar.

  Jake’s voice spoke soothingly, “We’re at the monastery.”

  Dia stepped forward with a long robe, agitation and affection warring across her features as she tapped her foot impatiently. Obviously signalling that my bondmate should carry me outside the fire so she could also fuss over me. And I would show my own affection by letting her.

  Jake keyed in to my sister’s impatience and strode out of the firebath, taking a seat on a stone bench along the wall and easing me to a standing position in front of him. I wobbled slightly, but his hands steadied me while Dia helped me into the robe. Months ago, I might have been mortified to find myself naked as a jaybird in front of others; even if they were all related to me by blood and Elemental marriage. Now, it was just another moment in my life.

  Seeing one of my siblings had my pulse racing when I remembered the attack on the other. “How’s Nic? And Liam?”

  “They’re both okay,” Dia reassured me, relenting enough to give me a quick bearhug after she finished tying the robe’s sash. “Thanks to you.”

  I thought back over the last moments I could remember prior to my most recent death. “I may have played a part, but Nic helped save himself. And so did Liam and Jake?” My voice ended on a questioning tone.

  Once Dia stepped back from our hug, Jake tugged me to a sitting position at his side. “Yeah, I used the asphalt against the last two goons’ motorcycles to melt their tires to the highway. We drove another few miles before pulling over. Just before we did, I heard a pop and that’s when you said someone shot you. Never saw who.”

  His voice was filled with both rage and ice at the same time. Maybe it wasn’t such a shock his brother could pull off broody and lovestruck simultaneously.

  Breena plopped down on my other side. “Jake mentioned Drew invaded your mind just before you were shot. Was this another of his feints to test your weaknesses?”

  I tilted my head and considered. “Honestly, I don’t know what to think. I’m not even sure he was behind that attack.”

  All three of my companions made their skepticism abundantly clear by twisted lips, arched brows, and head tilts of their own. Dia was the one to verbalize that disbelief. “Why? Did he tell you he wasn’t behind it?”

  Her what-are-you-stupid? tone had a grin cracking my lips. “Kind of. He said that he was sending minions after us, but the fact the highway was shut down came as a complete surprise to him.”

  She rolled her eyes. “And you just believe him?”

  “Yeah, I do. It’s really hard to fake emotions mind-to-mind, Dia. Like really hard. So far, when he or Daddy Dearest have tried to misdirect me, it’s been way more subtle. Drew was honestly surprised to hear that there were attackers riding Harleys and that the road was shut down. He also didn’t seem at all interested in Nic, when our actual attackers were all about trying to yank him out of that truck. Oh! And he mentioned he couldn’t give a crap less about his minions that we took captive, except for maybe one?”

  Jake leaned forward. “Which one?”

  I frowned. “I’m not 100% sure. All he said was her.” The three of them mulled these words over, but they didn’t seem any more clued-in than me. “No wait. He also said something about it wasn’t his fault that she decided to play that day. Let me see if I can remember this right. ‘I only care about getting Father’s precious flower back in one piece.’”

  This time, Dia let out a gasp and her eyes widened in recognition. “Holy shit. Lily!”

  I blinked as my brain shifted gears to catch up. “Lily...as in our other sister, Lily? As in Garrett’s favorite daughter?”

  She tapped me on the shoulder with more gentleness than she normally would have displayed at such a silly question. “What other Lily would I mean?”

  “Right, right. I’m just mentally picturing all of our captives. None of them seemed to fit the descriptions you and Nic gave of her. And wouldn’t you have recognized her among the captives?”

  Breena pushed to her feet and gave a sardonic smile. “Not if she were in disguise.”

  Not one of them uttered duh!, but it reverberated silently in the air all the same. I stuck out my tongue and stood, wrapping the robe more securely around me. “Look, being mostly dead takes a lot out of a person. My brain is still playing catch-up.”

  Dia gave a saucy wink and took enough pity on her big sister to wrap an arm around me. “I’m going to be nice and ignore that perfect setup you just gave me to help you get dressed instead. After we get you enough food for a football team, we have some investigating to do before this evening’s ceremonies.”

  Jake slipped his arm around my other side to help steady me. “Don’t worry, she’s just jealous.”

  “The hell you say! Jealous of having Garrett and Drew trying to kill her ass every other day? Jealous of psychos setting her on fire and shooting her and god only knows what else all the time? No thank you!”

  He winked. “Obviously I meant jealous of being bonded to a...what was it I overheard the other day? Fineass specimen like myself.”

  That had her rolling her eyes. “I can neither confirm nor deny saying any such thing.”

  Jake glanced at his mother, who was just shaking her head. “We’ll let you two do your thing and go make sure lunch is ready. The ceremonies are going to be held as early as possible this evening, after we’ve revived and given our captives their ultimatums. Given these latest shenanigans on the part of your brother, we need to get that out of the way ASAP and figure out whether Lily is, in fact, among our prisoners.”

  He and Breena took off in one direction, while Dia led me in another. I snorted as we walked. “Look what you started. Fineass specimen indeed.”

  “Hey. I don’t want no lip from the girl who nicknamed Isaac Tall, Dark, and Handsome.”

  I snickered. “Touché, sis. But he really likes that nick
name.”

  “No shit he does. Do you know how annoying it is that he won’t kiss me until I call him your nickname at least once?”

  “That is amazing!” I exclaimed. Her expression changed from mock annoyance to true annoyance in a heartbeat, but I knew that second emotion wasn’t for me. “He still hasn’t called or texted you personally?”

  She shook her head, leading the way along a dark, narrow hallway and down an equally dim flight of stairs. The stairs opened out into a much wider and better lit hall that was surprisingly short given how large I knew the monastery’s main buildings were from our previous visit. Only five doors lined the walls to each side, and Dia led us to the most ornate door set into the far end of the hallway. It reminded me of the engraved doorway leading to the throne room dedicated to the Elemental world’s last liegelord, Hikaru. The Spirit-wielding Dragon who had sacrificed his life by committing magical kamikaze to end his own evil Mindbending mother’s reign of terror.

  This door was etched with silver instead of gold, and it bore stylized waves and swirls that represented the four physical elements. At the top lounged a figure that appeared to be a five-tailed fox at first glance, and then a vulpine-faced man at second. A kitsune from Japanese folklore, representing those who could channel the fifth element.

  Dia sketched a mocking curtsey and beckoned toward the door with a flourish. “Your personal quarters await, my liege!”

  I made gagging sounds and pulled the door open without waiting for her to mock me further. “Look, sister, I didn’t ask for any of this...holy shit!”

  The lush living room we stepped into would have put a suite at the Ritz-Carlton’s finest location to shame. It definitely seemed out of place in what was billed as a Buddhist monastery; although to be fair, they couldn’t exactly claim it was an Elemental monastery dedicated to magical training and combat. Pretty sure Uncle Sam didn’t have a checkbox for that one.

  Gorgeous silk fabrics in vibrant hues draped the walls in tapestries depicting Elementals from every human culture, most engaged in magical combat through the ages. A few scenes showed more peaceful scenes like liegebonding or Clan oathtaking ceremonies. In contrast, comfortable modern furniture made up a seating area near a large fireplace—currently holding hundreds of unlit candles since we were knee-deep in August heat—on one side of the room, with a humongous flat-screen television hanging from the wall. The other side of the room contained a fully-functional kitchenette and dining table with chairs. The wall opposite where we now stood held several doors, only one of which was closed. The door in the middle revealed an elegantly-appointed study and the door on the right opened onto a decadent bedroom with a king-sized bed currently holding the overnight bags Jake and I had packed just hours earlier.