She let go when they came to the first giant boulder, blocking half of the road. And then another. And then a giant landslide of rocks and dirt that seemed to block the way.
Somehow he navigated around it, even in the mist. But when they got to the forest fire, it was too much. The mist and rocks had been replaced by smoke and flames, and fallen trees smoldered in the road.
“Levi?”
He grabbed her hand again, squeezing. “It’s okay Brooke. Even if it doesn’t seem like it, this is the safest place in the world.”
“Why would any sane person want to have a base out here?” she asked as he navigated through the fire.
He gave her a lopsided smile as he glanced at her. “Because no sane person would bother going this far before turning around.” He was not wrong about that. She would have turned around when the fog got thick. “These Elements protect our base from the lost and the curious.”
Minutes later, the smoke lifted almost instantaneously, revealing a large multi-story industrial warehouse.
It looked abandoned at first glance, but as they drove closer across a massive empty parking lot, she noticed that there wasn’t a single broken bulb anywhere on the brightly lit building, and windows that she first thought were broken out were simply painted black.
“This is your base?” Brooke asked, breaking the silence that was as heavy as the mist had been.
Levi looked up at the large building, and gave a curt nod.
They pulled up to a smaller dark green building with hangar doors. This time he pressed some button on a console, and the doors rolled open. Overhead lights illuminated several tough looking cars. She had no idea what they were, but they all looked expensive. They pulled into a parking space and got out. He didn’t even bother to lock his doors.
As she came around the back to him, his outstretched hand was waiting for her. She took it gratefully.
They walked to a thick door, and Levi waited for a click before he pulled it open, taking his hand back and directing her through ahead of him.
He hadn’t said a word since they’d left the car, but he held every door for her and gently guided her with his hand everywhere they needed to go.
His hand on her lower back warmed her and made her nervous at the same time. Her nerves were already jangling with stress and probably fatigue. She had no idea what time it was, but it was late. Their sunset walk seemed like ages ago.
When the last door opened, she stepped through and her eyes widened. The inside of the warehouse looked almost like a hotel, a huge common space with large windows and widely spaced pillars. It was dimly lit in places by the warm glow of lamps, revealing several living areas with plush furniture and shiny electronics.
He led Brooke with a gentle hand on her elbow towards an elevator in the wall opposite of the door they had entered. They walked quietly down the darkened middle, past a massive professional kitchen with tables and benches that was separated from the rest with a glass wall.
It was gorgeous, but obviously some kind of institution. An expensive, exclusive, secret institution.
“Do you work for the government, Levi?”
He scoffed. “No.” But he didn’t elaborate. So much for that theory. And she could see that he was probably telling the truth, because of the expense put into everything she’d seen so far. Government jobs weren’t usually luxurious.
The elevator door opened and they stepped in. There were only three unmarked buttons in the elevator, and as Levi pressed the top one, she had a sense of being disconnected from reality. She was in some fancy compound with the man who had rescued her from a fire. A man with powers. Powers she apparently had inside her as well, and an ex-neighbor who was trying to kill her because of them. What. The. Hell.
She decided once again that she really didn’t have a choice. Charlie was a crazy guy with a knife, and he had been after her. She could scarcely believe it, but the look in his eyes… She couldn’t hardly remember a single other trait about him, except for the cold hunger that had been directed at her. She shuddered at the memory.
When the doors open, they walked down a door-less, thickly carpeted corridor. In contrast to the downstairs, every light was on. Someone was expecting them.
The narrow hallway opened up into a waiting room before continuing on, and they stopped in front of a large pair of wooden barn-like doors, gleaming with quality and care.
He led her over to some plush chairs and told her to wait. He gave her a strange smile, and turned away. He didn’t look at her again, not even when he pressed the button and announced himself, nor as the wide doors slid open.
The same was not true for the sandy-haired man behind the desk. He looked a bit like a surfer, except his eyes burned her with an icy glare right before the doors slid shut.
Chapter Seven
"So let me get this straight." Walker’s expression gave nothing away. For once Levi didn't know whether to expect a kick in the ass, or a medal. "Neither you or Ajax could pinpoint any of the Chaolt?"
"Correct." He stared at the large painting of waves above Walker’s head, waiting in tense silence for him to say something more.
"And where is Ajax now?"
"He's on his way here."
Walker picked up the receiver and dialed the phone. When Ajax answered, he told him to come to his office as soon as he arrived. Walker hung up and then steepled his fingers and stared at him. "So you apparently can't pinpoint Erratics anymore. Or the Chaolt. They can somehow still find the Erratics."
"Correct."
"And you brought the Erratic here?"
"Yes.”
Walker pinched the bridge of his nose. "She can't stay here. We'll drain her power and then you need to take her back home."
"But sir— "
Walker's hand dropped onto the desk with a thunk, and then he pointed a finger right at him. "As long as she's here, this whole mission is in danger. If the Chaolt have any idea where to look, they will follow her presence here, right here," Walker said, tapping the desk.
Levi swallowed.
"Look, you were right to save her. I understand why you brought her here. But we have to take action right away and drain her.”
Draining her powers would make her safer. One of them would use their powers to draw out hers, removing the reason the Chaolt were after her. But it would also make her forget their walk. And maybe even their first meeting at the rental house.
“If you drain her powers tonight, she’ll forget I visited her. She’ll still be looking for me. She might put my picture back in the paper—”
Just then Ajax buzzed in, and Walker held his hand up.
He resisted the urge to turn and look at Brooke as the door opened, even though he wanted to. Walker, however, seemed to stare out the door at her until it shut behind Ajax, who strolled in with a casual air that got under his skin on principle.
Ajax nodded to Walker in greeting.
“Tell me about the Chaolt situation earlier,” Walker commanded.
“Well… ” Ajax started, dragging out the word. “I was on my patrol. I sensed Levi there—” Walker’s stare switched to him again, and he resisted the urge to squirm. “—and I was curious, so I waited for him to be done. While we were talking, we both sensed the Chaolt. Neither of us could precisely pinpoint them.” Walker scrubbed a hand over his mouth as Ajax continued. “We fought two, and were alerted to the presence of two more.” Ajax jutted his chin in Levi’s direction. “He went after the one attacking the woman. I took one out in the valley behind the houses. When I joined him, he was having control issues, so I took over.”
He clenched his teeth. Ajax could have left that part out; it was irrelevant to the outcome. But it was Ajax, so of course he wouldn’t.
“The Chaolt got away,” he reminded Walker. It hadn’t just been his own failure this time, no matter how Ajax wanted it to sound. He stared hard into the other man’s teal eyes. Ajax just shrugged, and then turned to Walker. "There's more, sir."
&n
bsp; Levi looked at Ajax. More what?
Walker put his hands on his hips. "More?"
"Yes." Ajax looked sideways at him, smug smile gone. "I'm beginning to have less control of my powers, too." Levi’s head snapped back to Ajax. "When we were having our little… discussion. I felt some power slip."
"You sure hid it well, " he muttered. He'd totally thought he was just being an asshole.
Ajax just shrugged again, and he took a calming breath. It was both validating that he wasn't the only one… and scary. They were the best of the best of the best. What would happen if they all eventually lost complete control?
Chaos.
Levi inhaled sharply. They had to be related. "Walker— ."
But he was already nodding. "I was afraid this might happen. The Chaos in this world is affecting us."
And that's why the guy was their leader. He could see threads far beyond what the rest of them could. Walker began to pace, and that kept him from saying another word.
He was usually so… unreadable. Unflappable. Composed. And here he was pacing back and forth across the carpet like a human.
Shit was serious.
He and Ajax shared a side-eye moment while Walker picked up the phone and dialed.
“Micah, Walker here.” Micah, the Earth Warrior, was the fourth member of their team. “Are you out mining? I need you to come to my office as soon as you can. We’re having an emergency meeting and you need to be here.”
Whatever response Micah gave was good enough for Walker, because he hung up and they stood there without another word until Micah buzzed in. Thankfully it wasn’t long, which meant he’d been at the compound already, instead of out on the mountain.
Walker waited to begin until Micah joined them in front of his desk.
"Okay. Here's the situation, Micah." He leaned against the front of his desk and crossed his arms. "It appears the Chaolt have found a way to disguise their location. Ajax and Levi can still sense their proximity in a general sense, but can't pinpoint them. So next time you're out hunting, don't depend on being able to do it. Also… " Walker pushed a hand through his hair. "Ajax is just starting to experience some of the same control issues as Levi. We think the two things are somehow related." He met each of their eyes in turn, stopping on Micah. "I haven't experienced anything yet, but it's reasonable to expect that whatever this is, will eventually affect all of us."
Micah was the epitome of the strong silent type, and he only nodded in response to these big revelations.
Walker turned back to him. "Levi, you're back on duty. Try not to kill anyone."
"He's still a risk,” Ajax interjected.
Levi's jaw clenched at his words.
Ajax just shrugged, and he sighed around his teeth. Because that was the problem, wasn't it? Ajax was right. The Chaolt nulled the rest of their powers, but not his. Nothing had changed. He looked to Walker, wondering how he was going to address that.
"Assuming we all eventually experience issues, we're going to have to find a work around. For now, Levi, you'll be going on all patrols with one of us." He looked to the other two. "We're going to have to figure out a strategy. If you run across some Chaolt, let Levi run in and do the hand-to-hand, and you stay back far enough to be able to use your powers to mitigate any unintentional damage from his fire. Walls," he said looking at Micah. "Or suffocation," he said, switching to Ajax. "Whatever you have to do."
Levi wasn't exactly comfortable with that, but they nodded in agreement. Hopefully he would never lose control that badly.
"Now, about that Erratic. The female from the fire." Walker's eyebrows arched as he looked at Levi, but he stayed silent. Barely. "She can stay here for tonight, but tomorrow, we drain her and she has to go. We can't afford to give away our location. The longer she's here, the bigger that risk."
"What Element?" asked Micah, looking between the three of them.
If he saw her and she was Earth, he wouldn't need to ask. And she wasn't Air or Fire. Levi stared at Walker, and when all eyes were on him, he nodded.
"She's Water."
Damn it, they really needed a better way of doing things. She should have had protection since the fire. Before the fire, even. Like could sense like, which was why he'd had no idea she was an Erratic until it was almost too late. Fire couldn’t sense Water. If he'd known she was an Erratic, he would have taken her up on her offer for coffee and kept her out of harm's way—
Walker knew.
The hair stood on Levi's neck as the realization came over him. He went from simmering to boiling in three seconds flat.
"What the fuck, Walker."
Walker stopped talking, eyebrows raised at his outburst.
"You knew," he said, getting right into Walker's placid face. "You knew she was an Erratic! Why the hell didn't we take her to safety and drain her powers right then? Why haven’t you any time before now?"
"You want to back up?" Walker murmured. "And put your shit away while you're at it." The last was said quietly, for his ears alone.
He turned away, clenching his fists, breathing deep. His powers were right at the surface, right behind his eyes. It was a struggle to put it away, especially so close to his fight with the Chaolt.
It would do no good. No good to lose control and burn the fuck out of all of them just because his goddamn commander knew she was an Erratic from the time he saw her laying on the ground outside her burning building.
He'd decide whether to scorch Walker after he heard why the hell he withheld the information.
“If you weren’t such a hothead, you’d know why. First, we didn’t have the time. Firefighters and police were converging on our location. And second, she needed medical attention. Urgently. She was so close to dead, that she barely registered to me at all. She had to survive first, before I could do anything.” Walker jutted his chin, gesturing to the closed doors and the woman behind them. “She registers a lot stronger now.”
Levi knew Walker was right, but it didn’t soothe him.
“And third,” Walker said, gaze going glacial, “Considering she was so weak, I had to let it slide because I haven’t had time. I’ve had to take extra patrols lately.”
Shame did what logic couldn’t, banking the fire inside him with the cold sweat he felt down his back as everyone stared at him. What the hell had he been thinking? Getting up in his commander’s face like that, his control problems on display for everyone to see. Everyone knew he was the reason his commander had been doing patrols. Ajax might be starting to have some trouble too, but his own control had been a problem the moment he got here.
Walker had been talking while he was struggling to control himself, but he returned to attention when he heard, "… her as bait."
"Wait, hold on. What?"
Walker stared at him a moment. "You were right, Levi. We have a rare opportunity to learn more about our enemy, and to possibly neutralize several. The Chaolt escaping is going to be our advantage. They're still looking for her. We're going to set a trap, let the Chaolt come to her, and then take them out as they do. When we’ve taken out as many as we can, then we’ll drain her powers."
Fucking hell.
He paced away and ran his hands through his hair. The plan made sense, it did. He just hated it. She was just healing from one trauma and was about to be subjected to another. The foundations of her world had just been shaken, and now they were going to use her as bait.
“Levi.”
Walker saying his name drew him back to the conversation. “Yes, sir?”
“Since you seem to have some personal interest in her safety, and since she is more familiar with you, you’re in charge of filling her in and getting her agreement with the plan.”
His initial reaction was resistance, but she would be more comfortable learning everything from someone she already knew. And he had certain details he didn’t want her to know yet, like the fact that he wasn’t completely human.
“And,” Walker’s eyes squinted in a thoughtful look, �
��we don't need any extra complications. We can't have any ties to this world. So whatever sent you out to see her again in the first place, get it under control.”
Levi heard the warning loud and clear, and returned a curt nod. “I will.” He’d wondered when Walker was going to address the reason he was there in the first place. Turns out Walker wasn’t going to; he already knew.
He wanted to deny it. But the truth was, he was developing… feelings, for this human in particular. For Brooke.
He just had no idea what they were.
Brooke changed position in the chair for the tenth time. It wasn't that it was uncomfortable, it was just that her exhaustion was warring with her nerves. Tired, but wound up. Every other minute, she was either about to nod off to sleep or wanted to get up and pace. The contradiction was making her sick at her stomach, and there was nothing to distract her. Not even a magazine.
No sound came from behind the heavy wood doors. The angry Viking from earlier had just gone in, a sharp glance in her direction. Each time the doors opened, she looked for Levi, but he never turned her way. It was driving her crazy, sitting out here with no clue what was going on or who the other men were. Remembering Levi’s eyes and when his arms had been bathed in flames.
She pushed her hair back and sighed, resting her elbows on her knees. She’d said she trusted him. Now all she could do was sit here and wait impatiently.
She looked up as another man walked by and then pressed herself back in the seat. He was the first one to walk by who looked truly dangerous. He was massive, several inches over six feet tall and arms as thick as her legs straining the sleeves of a mud-stained t-shirt. Where the angry Viking had long strawberry-blond hair and pale skin, this man was all dark brown skin and black tattoos. He reminded her of one of those Maori warriors like she’d seen on TV, with his hair in a knot of small braids. But when he saw her, his brows went up in surprise and he gave her a small bow.
She gave him a little wave, partly because he seemed nice despite his looks, and partly because she had no freaking clue what was going on. She didn’t really know why she was here any more than he did. He'd simply nodded back before buzzing in.
Burn (Elemental Hearts Book 1) Page 7
