Garrett was a doctor who had made certain she was given a warm shower and plenty to drink. He seemed a little out of place on a boat of cutthroats; he was friendly, even nice, but Flame wondered if he was hired in case the children became ill. Flame kept up a steady stream of babbling—sane one moment, loony as a mad hatter the next. She had insisted on showering with the survival kit. The second she had a private moment the gun was placed at the back of the toilet. When they had entered the room, Garrett had leaned to whisper something in Barkley’s ear that made his eyes widen momentarily before he waved him off.
“You can put the box down; I assure you no one will steal it,” Barkley said, his attitude condescending and smug, no doubt he had been informed she was missing a screw.
Flame perched on one of the leather chairs, the survival kit remained in her lap. The tips of her fingers caressed the box in a loving gesture; the gesture did not go unnoticed. Barkley admired her beauty openly. Flame was wearing a simple yet elegant short blue dress, no doubt it had belonged to his wife—or a mistress.
Barkley uncrossed his ankles, leaned forward and in a quiet tone asked: “Does your box have a name?”
Flame leaned forward too and replied: “That would be insane.”
Barkley sat back. Flame sat back. “How long were you in the raft?”
“I think it was forty days and forty nights,” Flame said in a musing fashion. Her look then brightened. “Oh no wait, that was in the Bible.”
“What happened to the vessel you were on?”
“It was dark,” Flame said, purposely screwing up the features on her face to have him think her mind wandered back in time. “People were screaming.” Her hands flew up to cover ears. Her body pressed forward onto the survival kit, crushing it between her thighs and chest; she squeezed her eyes tight—then they went wide. “Abandon ship. Abandon ship.”
Barkley shifted from his chair and knelt before her, he removed her hands from her ears. “What’s your last name?”
“Um, Barkley sounds familiar.”
“That’s my last name.”
“Oh, what was your last name?”
“Barkley.”
“I know who Barkley is! He’s the big puppet dog on Sesame Street.”
Barkley sighed dramatically. “Call me James.”
“Thank heavens,” Flame said widening her eyes. “If you had said call me Ishmael, I would have jumped overboard again. You know,” she whispered. “Moby Dick is out there.” She nodded, trying to look as eerie as possible as she leaned back, once again cradling the survival kit to her chest.
Frowning, Barkley moved to sit in his chair. His finger tapped on the arm rest as he gazed at her. “Flame is an interesting name.”
It was on the tip of Flame’s tongue to tell him he was about to be burnt, instead she just shrugged. “A friend gave it to me as a nickname and it stuck.”
“So what’s your real name?”
Flame gazed at him stupidly. “Flame. I think you’ve had too much sun.” Barkley looked like his mouth was about to hit the floor. He scratched his head.
Jag entered the room with another man. It took only a glance before Flame summed the new man up as one of Barkley’s high-priced lawyers.
“We have two of your packages,” the new man said, he was smiling and looked very pleased. “Two very pretty packages.”
“Really?” That caught both Barkley’s and Flame’s attention.
“Jag, will you please take Flame to her cabin?” Barkley jumped up from his chair, his Cheshire look made Flame’s skin crawl. “We’ll be headed out soon. And make certain our new guest doesn’t wander, we wouldn’t want her to fall overboard.”
Flame was pulled to her feet feeling stunned. From Barkley’s look, she was already forgotten. What the hell just happened? The new man made it sound like Barkley’s wife and children were found. How could that be? Fire was watching out for them—no wait, he was watching out for her, so were his brothers, all but Fumus. The Alpha elements can’t be everywhere at once. Her heart sank; in trying to aid Melinda Barkley and her children, Flame had taken away their protection.
As Jag led her to her cabin, Flame’s mind worked at a furious rate. She needed to stall for time, she needed to talk to Fire and send the woman and children more protection. If Barkley got them on this boat, they were as good as dead—at least his ex-wife was. Who knew what would happen to the children.
Outside, the sky was darkening and Jag looked up as the first stars began to appear. He seemed agitated and began moving her more physically. They made their way below deck. The lock clicked in place as Jag practically tossed Flame through the door and slammed it behind him without a word. She sat perched on her bed chewing a fingernail. The man had said two pretty packages; he no doubt meant mother and daughter. But where were the two boys? Had Fumus been able to keep them safe?
There was no way Barkley would dock, he would have his wife and daughter brought to him. No doubt he would remain just out of legal reach; Flame wouldn’t be able to serve the warrant. She hadn’t had time to disable communications. Even if she did manage to break out of the cabin and serve the warrant, she had seen at least ten men aboard. Garret was the smallest, the rest were like Cro-Magnon, all armed and huge. If there was a shootout between Sam’s vessel and this one, Melinda Barkley would no doubt be killed conveniently by her husband. Lisa could be killed. If Fire burst onto the scene with an explosion and sank the vessel, the people who had Melinda and her daughter might have been given orders to kill them immediately. The only safe thing to do would be to keep Barkley alive. This changed her plans. She needed back up—now. She needed to get Fire here somehow before he burned the vessel.
Think.
Flame immediately opened her survival kit and glanced about the room. She grabbed up her blankets and sheets and ran to the bathroom with them. Back into the bedroom she raced, and casting a quick glance around, she yanked a few magazines from a small bookcase, shredding them as she ran back to the shower stall.
Dropping to her knees Flame opened the kit and removed the lighter. Her hand was shaking as she struck down with her thumb. She could see Fire’s face appear for only a second.
“Keep calm,” he said.
Flame was anything but calm; her mind raced with gruesome scenarios. Her hand shook, as did her fingers and the lighter went out before it was really lit. Taking deep breaths to settle her nerves, Flame struck against the clicker again. This time the flame remained lit and the paper caught in the little shredded bundle and the blankets began to smolder. Fire’s voice became louder as the blaze grew in intensity. It was just a matter of time. Flame scooted back, dropping the lighter as the heat from the fire became intense, it wasn’t burning her, but she knew in seconds Fire would burst from the bundle of flames.
Fire appeared from the blaze, stepping on the ash that billowed under his feet and swirled upwards around his calves, thighs and chest in a controlled inferno. Flame shot to her feet, turning the knobs full blast to douse the flames. She needn’t have bothered, the flames followed Fire, rolling and billowing under his command, there was no smoke to send up warnings. The little flames left seeped into Fire, dancing across his skin. Flame was then pressed back against the door; Fire trapped her arms at either side. He looked worried.
“They have the Barkley woman and her daughter,” Fire said divulging Flame’s worst fear.
“But how?”
“My brothers and I were watching you. Fumus was supposed to be keeping an eye out for Barkley’s men, but both boys were outside when four men burst into the cabin. Fumus spirited the boys away, concealing them in what appeared to be foggy smoke, the woman and girl weren’t as lucky.”
Flame could feel the motion of the yacht under her feet, they were on the move. She pressed her body against Fire’s warm skin.
“Now I really need to disable the boat. We can’t let him get close to dry land or any other vessel until we have Melinda Barkley and Lisa back. Where are James Junior and
Dominic?”
Fire seemed to search his mind. “They are safe, they’re with my mother in a garden Terra made for her. The children will suspect nothing; she is with them in her human form.” He seemed surprised they were with his mother. Then, after a moment, he nodded. “It would appear Mother has sent Fumus out in search of the Barkley woman and Lisa, she’s none too happy with him.”
“How can smoke look over the ocean?”
“Fumus can roll over the top of the water like misty fog; you’ve seen it often enough, early morning, late at night, dawn, dusk. It was his way to play hide and seek when we were young, or to stalk his brothers. He was able to obscure hiding places, it was damned annoying. I don’t think he’ll ever outgrow that. He likes freaking humans out when they suddenly find themselves alone surrounded in his highness’ creepiness.”
Fire was right, she had seen the mist hover over the water, or hang in the air. Who knew elements could play? And for a split second, she smiled at the way Fire spoke of his younger brother. For now, she had a more pressing issue.
“I need to get to the engines,” Flame said. “I have to get this vessel disabled now.”
Fire captured her face between his palms when she tried to duck out from under his arms. “No, when we get to dry land and dock I’m going to blow this entire floating matchstick up.”
“He won’t risk dry land. Now that his cronies have his wife and child, he won’t risk anything. If Barkley gets his wife he’ll beat her until she produces his sons, which she can’t since they’re with Mother Nature. If you blow up the boat, the only ones who will be safe are you and me. There’s also a doctor on board who just doesn’t seem to appear to be one of Barkley’s cronies. I think he was brought aboard for the children.”
“Barkley has no idea who you are or you would have been thrown overboard by now. No doubt he is heading out to intercept with another vessel to meet his wife and child. He’s taking a risk going closer to land, but he’s willing to chance it for the bigger prize. The doctor you speak of is as much a crony as the others. Perhaps more compassionate, but nevertheless, he works for Barkley.”
“But.”
“No buts. There is no doubt the woman and child will be waiting at a dock, or in a smaller craft waiting to board. Barkley is just too impatient to have them. The bastard can smell revenge. Nimbus and Ventus will find the woman and child first. I’m cutting Barkley’s escape route off and you will be settled safely onto dry land with your warrant in your hand—not plastered to your boobs. First, Nimbus can toss Barkley’s sorry ass around the water for a while and maybe introduce the bastard to a few pet sharks.”
“So you just expect me to sit around and wait? Melinda and her child are in danger, if anything suspicious happens to Barkley before they are found, it could very well mean their deaths,” Flame said astounded. “We jumped through hoops to get that warrant and it might not even stick. Barkley’s lawyers are bound to find a loophole. Hopefully, it will give us enough time to get his wife and kids to safety and procure a restraining order. You have no idea how powerful this man is in my world, how dangerous.”
Fire cupped her chin. “Barkley wouldn’t dare harm his wife on dry land even if the warrant is tossed out. He would never be able to travel again if his passport is taken and he doesn’t want to be stuck somewhere—he’s a control freak and wants to come and go as cockily as he pleases. No, he’ll wait until he has them both out in international waters where his wife will accidently fall overboard from too much drinking after their joyous reunion. That won’t happen. Trust me.”
The blood drained from her face, Barkley had a plan; his wife was as good as dead. Fire may have some legal knowledge, but the elements normally had no need to get involved with the intricacies of human life. Money was power, and Barkley wasn’t just rich, he was filthy stinking rich. No doubt there were a few judges in his pockets. Flame felt so helpless, they were deluding themselves to think any of this would end without the loss of life; whose life remained to be seen.
Ducking around him, Flame went and perched on the bed. Fire locked the door from the inside and strolled over. The bed dipped when he sat beside her. He reached to stroke her fingers and smiled at her.
“What we need to do is wait and bide our time. Once we have the Barkley woman and her child on board or found, the elements will step in. Do not ask me not to interfere. This changes everything, your life is too precious to me and once Barkley has his family, he will be doubly dangerous. It’s time the elements stepped in for real.”
“So what are we supposed to do in the meantime? Go insane with worry?”
Fire trailed his finger down her cheek suggestively. “No volcano this time,” he said cheekily.
“We’d burn the bed. I know you, this is too confining.”
“Not if you teach me how a human makes love.”
“Oh, Fire. I’m so worried, and I can’t even tell Ray what’s happening, they’ll see the boat in motion and think I failed.”
“You haven’t failed, I’m proud of you.”
“But I haven’t served my warrant, I can’t. If I do, Barkley might be so furious who knows what will happen. We can’t get in a shootout right now, so far from land. We’d be separated unless we rode a lightning bolt. How would I explain that? Every scenario ends up in flames…literally. Melinda Barkley and Lisa must be terrified. I should have made you tell me where they were so the police could have protected them.”
“For all you know Barkley could have the cops under his thumb, or the mayor. Besides, little one, do you think you can force an element to do something? Let me take care of things now.”
“I’m responsible for this.”
“Shh, it will be alright.”
“How do you know? How can you possibly know? Damn, this sucks. You can’t just burn the boat. How could I explain everyone drowning and me disappearing into thin air? What if your brothers don’t find Melinda Barkley and Lisa first? What if we don’t go near dry land? What if—”
Fire leaned close and kissed her, stopping her tirade. Flame felt the tickling of his essence as it danced across her lips. For a second, her gaze fled to the cabin door then she relaxed. She knew Barkley wouldn’t bother with her if they were headed to get his wife and child; no doubt the bastard was planning each detail to a fault on how to make her death look like an accident.
Fire touched her breasts and Flame squealed in protest. “Don’t set fire to my warrant.”
He chuckled as he undid her bra and peeled the spaghetti straps of her dress down. “The bastard has nice taste in clothes, you look—hot.”
She was feeling hot. Insecurities fueled her desire, needing an escape. Flame knew she was safe; she knew that for now Melinda and her daughter would remain unharmed, especially with the element brothers looking for them. If Flame concentrated on just one thing maybe she would get her head on straight. Fire wasn’t alight with his passion and yet she felt his searing caress as his fervor floated down her throat. Her insides tingled as he claimed her, making the fire dance in her veins and throughout her belly. Outside, he remained a normal-looking man, but inside he was burning hotter than an explosion. When their tongues collided, the moistness sizzled and steamed, bathing their faces in a misty fog.
Large hands lifted Flame up and across to settle on the bed, Fire lay over top of her. Flame could see the embers of his eyes sizzle; sparks hit her lashes and cheeks as though beautiful tears had come to life. Flecks touched her eyes, sending flickers of heated desire through the many sensitive nerves. Tiny ashes floated to the bare mattress, steamed then died. They looked like dancing grey snowflakes falling all around them. Nothing dangerous enough to start a fire, but the room was soon alight with the multitude of seeming admirers as the cinders spun round and round looking like gorgeous, mysterious fairies.
Flame gasped, her back arched when Fire entered her as a human man would. Only his searing muscled cock invaded her sizzling wetness. Fire rocked against her, sliding deeper with each powerf
ul fueled thrust. He tempered his encompassing strength making him seem stronger.
Fire pulled out. “I want to see you.” His voice was ragged. When he lowered his body down past her waist, Flame gasped when, with a wave of his hand her mound was bare and glowing pink. “That’s better.”
Large fingers spread her petals exposing her to him. Before his mouth closed over her, Flame cried out as his tongue changed form and invaded her like a slippery fire cock. He was so hot her legs shook and her body trembled. He had said he would love her like a human in human form, but though he kept his body from a physical fiery eruption, the rest of him succumbed. From between her thighs, his essence burned its way straight to her belly. Fire growled and crawled back up her body. His tongue invaded her mouth while his cock plunged deep. Flame could utter no sound; she wanted to scream.
With a growl deep in his throat, Fire lifted them both from the bed. Rolling, twisting, he surrounded them in a cocoon of flames in the middle of the room. Flame watched as the lamp melted into a puddle. The room shimmered with heat while everything steamed, but nothing caught fire. The door’s handle glowed red as the wood gave off the stench of a sauna. A short blast was cut off as the fire detector leaped to life then died, melting to the floor.
Flame’s entire body was loved by many flaming tendrils. They invaded her body everywhere at once, leaving no area untouched. As Fire stroked within her, the sensation of fingers caressing her bald pussy aroused her further. She was coaxed into a demanding seduction by an element. Both Flame and Fire’s hair mixed as the strands blazed, sweat sizzled and dried.
The orgasm caught Flame unaware as it washed over her, seizing every inch of her burning body. The window in her room cracked when Fire roared his release after tossing his head back and away from her panting lips. The thickness of the firewall kept their noises a secret. It was a good thing, Flame thought, as she was lowered back onto the mattress. The room looked like it had been bathed in liquid lava sweat.
Fire's Flame [Elements Book 1] Page 8
