SeducetheFlame (5 page)

The scent of burned leather filled his nostrils. His shoes
melted on his feet with a sting. He hissed.

The fire he could sense like a real being, that no one could
see within the relative safety of the cabin, yanked as if to make a break for
it. As if it spun from a spool toward a hot coal, the fire pulled like a wire
connected to his belly. The seductive lure teased at him. Dancing like steam
from a hot water mage and licking along that taut wire back into him, the fire
sought and seduced until it seemed to wrap around his cock and stroke.

He groaned.

A hot splash of water hit his face.

His eyes snapped open to the angry visage of a water mage,
her eyes shimmering pools of deep blue shot through with swimming streaks of
ocean’s green.

“Pull it back in,” she commanded with a voice so compelling
his mind reached out and like a snuffer over a candle, extinguished the flame
in a snap.

Clarissa gave an arch look, an eyebrow raised, her lips
pursed. Then she jerked around on her heel and sank into the seat next to him.
The snap of her buckle gave him permission to unclamp his hands from the
armrests.

“What was that about? Why’d you play with it instead of put
it out? The pilot was screaming at you. He said we were gonna crash.”

“I didn’t hear him,” he murmured over his aching vocal
cords.

“On our landing approach now, boss,” the pilot announced.

“He sounds fine. Not like he was screaming at me.” Ray
rolled his shoulders and glanced down at his feet. His loafers were a mess of
melted textile on the floor and his feet were pale and ugly in the middle of
that mess.

“I’m sure he’s used to you,” Clarissa answered.

“Like you.”

She chewed on her lip instead of replying.

Ray stared at his fried shoes. This had happened because
he’d feasted on the most delectable pussy he’d ever tasted. And at his feet,
the result of that uncontrollable passion. “I’m used to you. You’re one of my
best friends.”

Clarissa made a scoffing sound. With a click of the seat
belt, she pushed out of her seat.

“I’m going to check on Vince. He was your friend too.”

Her voice shook at the end and as she left, the scent of
fresh water trailed her.

The sweet air of hot and humid Savannah had never been so
welcome—even with the gnats surrounding her. Clarissa hated gnats, but she’d
rather deal with them than be stuck with Ray in such a small space for one more
minute. The plane’s cabin had smelled like burned tar with Ray’s shoes still
melted onto the floor.

She stood on the dock at Jonah’s river house and borrowed
the calm of the water. The surface was placid and it helped defuse the
unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach. A hint of a coming storm sent
ripples against the current, but for now, the river flowed in a quiet rush.

They’d landed and Jonah had been there to transport Vince in
his SUV. Instead of going with them to get the patient settled, she’d taken one
look at Jonah’s empathetic expression and headed to the dock. She needed
fortification before she faced her old friend.

“Jonah asked if you’d like to come in,” Ray called from the
shore. This is the first he’d spoken to her since he’d given her the death
knell.

Friend
.

She was a friend. His
buddy.

Ray halted at the end of the dock. Barefoot, he stood there
in his slacks and button-down. It opened at the neck and exposed a tantalizing
peek of chest hair. Shifting one foot to the other, he appeared
uncharacteristically frazzled. She could’ve done that to him, knocked him off
his carefully arranged center. Or it could’ve been Vince. That their former friend
had tried to destroy them had hurt them all. Only Ray hadn’t shown it before.

A shock of wind blew a lock of hair into her face. She
tucked it behind her ear and Ray’s brown gaze, edged with hungry red, followed
the action. She resisted the urge to run her hands through her hair to watch
that feral response again. Instead, she had to keep her distance. If he
couldn’t put aside his fear of their powers not balancing, or their joining
creating a one-sided vacuum that will kill the weaker of them, then she had to
move on. Same as she’d left her ex when the reality of their doomed future had
finally hit. It was time to cut the strings.

“I’d rather stay out here. On the water.” She gave him her
back and kept it straight and her shoulders level.

“Let me rephrase.” His coolness came at odds with the heat
that had licked across his features. “Jonah is ready to check your physical
condition. Now.”

He emphasized the last with slight lifting of his voice. Not
so cool after all. She whipped around.

“I’ll go in. If only because I want to visit with Jonah, my
friend
,
anyway.” The emphasis on the word friend actually made Ray wince.

No. Not so cool at all.

At the end of the dock, she paused a step away but Ray
didn’t move aside. Normally, he’d be gracious, give her a half-smile and
perhaps take her elbow to lead her inside. Now his rigid jawline ticked as he
ground his teeth. His eyes glistened, sparks of yellow jumping in their depths,
and fever emanated from him as if he were a furnace on a low boil.

She brushed past him. A low rumble sounded and she jerked
her head to the side, but he hadn’t moved or said a word. He simply stared out
at the river. She ached to touch that straight line of a mouth and feel it on
her pussy again.

As if he’d read her thoughts, Ray jerked around to stare at
her.

She whipped around and focused on putting one foot in front
of the other until she reached the back patio of Jonah’s house. Her friend gave
a wave and opened the sliding glass door. Wearing a long canvas black kilt and
an open vest, he didn’t exactly give off the air of a typical doctor,
especially with the long, braided white-blond hair and beard. Vaulting herself
up by stepping on his leather biker boots, she threw herself into his bear hug.
“You look the same as always.”

He patted her back and murmured, “So do you. So do you.
Gorgeous and free with affection. Just how I like my women.”

She slapped at his shoulder and pushed free of his hug to
stand on the floor.

“How is Vince? We need to question him.” Clarissa’s smile
felt frozen to her face.

Jonah scowled. “I still can’t believe he tried to start a
rogue faction of para-talents. Much less try to kill Sean and kidnap Daisy.”

“He’d been a friend for so long and I never even got a
hint.”

“You didn’t know him as long as you’ve known me.” Jonah
chucked her under the chin. They’d grown up in the same neighborhood, so many
years ago. He was like a brother. He knew all her secrets. All of them. So he
knew exactly what it’d cost her to work with Ray all these years and hide her
true feelings. He brought her into him again for another tight hug. “You look
tired. My only treatment room is full. How about we go get some tea?”

“Sounds good to me.”

As Jonah started the water, he updated her on Vince. “I
settled him and found that he’s just mentally turned in. I nudged him in the
right direction and gave him a boost of energy. He should come around by the
end of the day. Hopefully he can answer all your questions then.”

“Okay,” was all she could manage. She dreaded questioning
Vince. It would be hard on her and devastating to Ray.

They sat at the table in his open and airy kitchen. It
overlooked the dock where Ray still stood. He hadn’t moved. As they sipped
their tea, Jonah took her hand and using his ability to follow and adjust
biorhythms, he closed his eyes and read her health signals. She’d never been
quite sure how it worked, but she trusted him completely.

Jonah’s eyes popped open. “You sly girl.”

“What do you mean?” Her heart lurched and thundered in her
chest. The tea in her mug sloshed on her wrist and she carefully put it down.

“There’s nothing wrong with you that completing your mating
won’t cure.” Jonah patted her hand and sat back in his chair. Contemplatively
staring at her, he sipped his tea. Hers, she left where it sat as her stomach
now flipped so much she thought she might lose what she’d already had.

“Completing it?” she croaked.

Jonah quirked a blond brow, highlighting the silver-loop
piercing there. “Everyone. Absolutely everyone has known for over a decade
exactly where you two were headed. It was always a matter of when and…well,
okay, when.”

“It’s not going to happen.” Clarissa’s chair screeched
across the tile. She stood there, leaned on the table toward Jonah and spoke
through her teeth. Her rage was sudden and consuming. The tea in the cups
swirled in a whirlpool. The water in the house’s pipes groaned, and the river
outside pulled at her. The seductive energy of it called, reaching her even in
her anger. “Whatever might have been, it’s over.”

“There never was anything,” Ray said from the door.

The whirlpools in the tea cups turned to boiling,
overflowing chaos. The liquid shot up in the air, steaming, and erupted all
over the kitchen. The dainty cups exploded, sending shards of glass everywhere.
A piece streaked across her forearm and left a shallow scratch stinging.

“Take it down a notch,” Jonah grumbled, arms over chest and
glaring at Ray.

“You see why.” Ray pointed at the broken cups on the table.
“Our powers resist each other. They aren’t a complement. They’re a nightmare.”

Clarissa balled her fists and turned on Ray. Her mouth
dropped open to tell him he was the last person on this earth she’d be mating
with.

“Listen,
friend
…” she started.

“You aren’t quite as powerful as I am,” Ray insisted softly.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to kill you.”

“Kill me?” She scoffed. “You’re a right bastard, you know
that? I can wipe your ass to hell in back in a power struggle. You are in no
way in a position to bleed off my power. It’s the reverse. I won’t stand for
more lies between us. I will not pretend to be what I’m not.”

Clarissa flung out her hands and with a sweep of her palm,
threw moisture from the air at Ray’s face. A ball of water the size of her fist
slammed into his forehead. He staggered back and snarled. “I made you weak on
that plane. I’m sorry for touching you. It will not happen again.”

His eyes went molten red, and her core clenched. The raw
sexual hunger that slammed into her was nothing like she’d experienced before.
She panted. Her nipples hardened. Her pussy swelled and throbbed.

“I said take it down a notch.” Jonah came between them and
broke the stare down contest. His concern calmed Carissa slightly, but she
still wanted to pummel Ray with her power. Just to prove to him he was being
blind. Then she wanted to fuck him into the tile floor.

The side door of the kitchen slammed and all three of them
whipped around to stare at the disappearing back of a gray-haired man in a
hospital gown.

“Shit,” Jonah spat.

“Call Griffin,” Ray yelled and headed back the way he’d
come, through the still open slider.

“Can you…” She skidded backward in the other direction and
gripped the backdoor knob.

“I’ll call,” Jonah insisted. “Be careful.”

Ahead of her, sprinting full-bore down the dock, Ray left
sizzling footprints behind on the wooden dock. Fire spread along the surface
and reached out to her in a seductive call.

“Damn.” Calling on the water to calm as the clouds darkened
and the river churned, she ran as fast as she could.

At the end of the dock, Jonah’s small yacht moored. She’d
been on it a number of times but had forgotten it was there. Her breath caught
as Ray leaped from the dock. An oar swung at his head. A crack rang out and he
dropped to the deck.

Clarissa screamed.

Ray groaned and came up on his hands and knees. His head
pounded and his eyes blurred as they watered. The hair on the back of his neck
rose. In a blink, he rolled to the side. A foot whooshed by his ear and his
surroundings finally registered.

“Cut it out, Vince.” Ray leaped to his feet and winced. He
was going to have a nasty lump but he should be grateful the older man had been
laid up in a hospital bed for weeks at this point. The whack upside his head
would’ve knocked him into next week otherwise.

“I don’t know how I got to Savannah, but your reign is over.
I will rule the para-talents now. I will take us into the future. Let the
humans see our superiority.” Vince waved the oar around in the air. His color
was back, but his usual dignified manner was gone, not to mention his clothes.
If there was one thing Ray had learned from his former mentor, it was how to
dress the part of a leader.

Ray’s dull headache sharpened into a pulse that he’d
describe as knives slamming into his brain. The boat rocked and his stomach lurched.

“You helped build CTF. You gave me advice. Helped the
talents who needed it. You know what we’re about. How could you suggest I’m
trying to rule our people? I’m just a guy who has the resources to help those
of us who ask for it, or who have nobody else.”

“Like me?” Vince snarled. His face went ugly.

“At the time, I thought so.” Ray didn’t ask about Vince’s
ex. He hadn’t known about her until Astrid, his new sister-in-law, had filled
them in. Astrid had tried to infiltrate CTF, misguided by Vince into believing
CTF were the bad guys. She’d not only found that to be a lie, but she’d fallen
in love with Griffin and they’d mated. Ray had only then learned that Vince had
been in a para-talent partnership with a weaker power. His wife had died.

Vince had hidden that part of his past, which was even more
devastating to Ray since it’d happened while Vince was at CTF. He’d been
married, had a child, and hidden it all from them. The power Vince wielded was
like a powerful computational ability in his head. It manifested itself in an
innate ability to develop and follow unbreakable strategy. But something had
gone wrong with Vince.

“We were all a family,” Ray continued.

“Not hardly. I’ve used you for decades. To learn the powers
out there, all the para-talent families. I don’t have your charm or your
innocence. If I’d tried to create the movement to bring para-talents to power,
I’d have failed. Now you’ve created the springboard. I no longer need you.”

The oar whistled next to his ear. Ray ducked. The boat moved
beneath him, tilting toward the side in a sudden jolt. His knees slammed into
the wood surface. He hissed.

The strategist had distracted him to take another swipe. But
Vince couldn’t have planned on the boat going topsy turvy. Vince skidded back,
arms flailing as the oar flew out of his hands and into the water. The splash
was lost in the whipping wind and the massive swirling of water lapping at the
boat.

Ray tried to rise but fell again when the yacht vibrated and
shot out into the river. The wind lashed. The craft vibrated with movement. He
had no idea what was going on. Vince shouted and hurled himself at Ray. They
fell to the decking in a tackle. Ray sucked in a breath, drew his arm back and
landed a solid punch in Vince’s gut.

“Get off him, Vince,” Clarissa shouted. But damn it to hell,
she shouldn’t be on this boat.

Immediately, heat licked along his limbs. Fighting Vince had
been one thing, but with Clarissa in harm’s way, rage nearly suffocated him.

The wood beneath his feet caught fire.

Water sloshed over the side of the boat and doused the
flames. Steam rose in a billowing cloud and Vince screamed. The traitor
stumbled back, shaking his hands out and blowing on them as they turned bright
red. He’d been scalded by Ray’s fire.

“Leave him alone, I said.” Clarissa’s demand boomed, shaking
the boat as the river shivered.

Vince turned on her. “You were to join me. Leave this weak
excuse of a leader behind. He couldn’t balance your power and you know it.
You’re stronger than he’ll ever be.”

“You taught him to control his power to a level that made
him cold. Nearly put out his fire, and you dare to say his talent isn’t
beautiful and dangerous, and extreme?”

The way Clarissa stood up for him, saw the weakness beneath
his façade, and still thought his fire beautiful, struck him more senseless
than that oar did. His mouth dropped open and he hesitated, not knowing if he
should answer the plea buried in there or keep all his attention on Vince.

“Vince.” Ray straightened and looked into Vince’s eyes. His
old friend may have been like a father to him, but the pain of betrayal had
dulled. It was as if a scrape had scabbed over and the feeling had dampened.
The strategist probably didn’t have it in him to love a son, as his putting his
own son in danger had proven. “I don’t understand how you fooled me for all
those years, even if you’ve been managing the most extreme endgame I could ever
imagine, but it’s over now. The rogues you tried to bring together are
disbanded. Your son tried to hurt Astrid and Griffin, but he was caught and
dealt with. There’s nowhere for you to go. The game is over. Checkmate.”

“Fine.” Vince circled around. His expression remained
placid, one like he usually wore when they’d planned missions to find
para-talents who’d gone rogue, or who’d tried to disappear after misusing their
powers. “Have the water mage get us back to shore. I’ll be on my way.”

“You know we’ll have to have Susan or Astrid see you first.
Let’s go back to Jonah’s and send for one of them.”

“No way in hell you’re going to remove my powers,” he
snarled.

“They’ve already been deadened by Susan. Or can’t you tell?”
Ray circled around to Vince’s blind side and the former strategist didn’t
reposition himself—proof that his full ability to deduce and adjust plans
accordingly wasn’t quite up to par.

Striking out, Ray gave a kick to Vince’s legs. The man fell,
as Ray had planned. But then, the spry CTF traitor rolled and with a leap, dove
overboard.

“No,” Ray shouted.

“What is he doing?” Clarissa joined him at the rail and
leaned over it. Her hands spread wide and she added in a strained voice, “Grab
the life raft, I have him.”

Vince bobbed out of the water, his hands flailing while the
waves around him seemed to lift him on a liquid platform.

Clarissa’s brow furrowed and her frown deepened. Normally,
this wouldn’t be difficult for her. She could even command the water to bring
him back, not just hold him up to keep him from drowning. “Where’s the life
raft?”

He’d been friendly with Jonah for years, but he’d never gone
out on the yacht. For obvious reasons, Ray usually avoided large rivers, lakes,
oceans and streams. Hell, even swimming pools. Water was his opposite. And
opposite powers were what led to the strongest para-talent partnerships. He
glanced at Clarissa. The strain was telling as her arms started to shake. She
hadn’t answered.

“Clarissa,” he called in soft insistence, below the shrill
wind that whipped about them. He knew she heard him this time. “Where is the
raft?”

“Built into the bottom of that bench.” She shrugged a
shoulder in a move that indicated the direction but didn’t turn from where
Vince struggled in the water.

Ray scanned the deck and found a locker with a cushion seat.
He knelt in front of it and banged his knee on the damn thing. His knee
throbbed and rubbing it, he swore under his breath, “Damn it.”

Luck was finally with him. Apparently unlocked, the top of
the chest swung easily. Tucked into the bottom of the seat lay a carefully
folded yellow raft. He banged his fingers. Hissing with the pain, he ignored
the loss of skin as he yanked the raft out and onto the deck. A cord dangled
free, and though he avoided boats all his life, he knew what to do. He yanked
on it.

With a hiss, the small, packed rectangle filled with air
quickly and the raft took shape, quivering on the deck with the force of the
wind and the rocking yacht. A long rope was also stashed in the bench seat. He
attached one end of the line to the bow of the small craft and the other to
Vince’s boat. To secure it, Ray wrapped a hand around the hook attachment and
concentrated on the metal. It melted together, making the clasp useless. The
only way Vince could get away in the boat would be to swim for it or cut the
line.

The little raft was completely empty. There’d be no way for
Vince to cut it.

Ray carefully dragged the inflatable back to the railing.
The yacht continued to buck and roll beneath his feet. So it took a few tries
to latch the free end of the line to the railing without falling backward onto
his ass. With a grunt, he brought the boat up—it was heavier than it looked—and
flung it overboard.

“Good,” Clarissa murmured. “I couldn’t have held this much
longer.” With one hand, she gave a controlled full-armed wave. The pulse of her
power soothed across his skin and raised goose bumps. She was gorgeous. With
her determined look, the wind blowing her hair, and the clothes plastered to
her body, damp and svelte, he had to rip his attention away or get lost in the
idea of her. He bit his tongue, killing all urges to see if his hands could
mold her body as well as her silky shirt.

The boat skated over the water until it slowed with a jerk.
In seconds, the craft drifted near Vince. The water holding the CTF traitor
hefted and surged, throwing the man into the raft with a splash.

Clarissa dropped her arms and plopped down to the deck onto
her knees. Her chest heaved and her hair, no longer carried on the wind, clung
to her. She let her chin fall to her chest as she clearly sought to catch her
breath. Ray couldn’t go to her. Not yet. He gripped the rail and turned to
check on Vince. At this point, he didn’t care if the man made it back to shore,
but if they had him, he needed to be secured.

Only feet away from the boat, eyes closed, Vince lay in the
bottom of the raft. His color had gone back to that ashen appearance, and Ray
didn’t think he was faking the fatigue and utter stillness. He’d passed out
again.

Ray considered the mage. His elemental powers were cerebral.
He couldn’t create wind, a wave, a fire, a lightning storm or anything other
than what a normal human could do physically.

To top it off, the shore had disappeared. In all the water
surging, rocking, and manipulation, they’d somehow completely left the river
and were now in the Atlantic. Vince wouldn’t be swimming his way out of this
either. Ray had time to figure out what the hell had just happened.

He turned toward the woman now sitting on the deck. Her head
still down, chin on chest, she trembled with the aftereffects of a huge power
outlay, but her gasps had quieted and her skin had returned to normal, no
longer red from exertion. She stiffened a bit, as if she felt his gaze on her.
“It was the best I could do. The power syphoned off me by Astrid severely
hampered my efforts.”

“Are you feeling all right?” A pinch in his chest panged and
his mouth went dry. He knelt next to her and his hand halted above her head. He
let it drop, instead of caressing her. They were friends. Friends didn’t stroke
one another’s hair.

“My power. It’s like it’s a gaping hole in my middle.” Her
whisper came in aching horror.

“It’s only temporary,” Ray tried to soothe her, and without
volition, his hand returned and lightly caressed and stroked over her wet hair.

“Is it?” Clarissa’s chin jerked up and she faced him. The
watery pools of blue captured him and he couldn’t turn away from the concern
lurking there. “Astrid’s only just faced her syphoning power. I like her. I do.
But she hasn’t been taught. Susan just started her training. What if she did
damage while she was in there?”

Para-talents had an innate fear of syphons. They could take
away power temporarily or permanently. All para-talents had that
reaction—including Ray, if he were honest—except for Griffin. Ray’s brother had
taken one look at Astrid and known she was his mate. Ray had protested, worried
for Griffin, a weather mage. If two opposing powers joined together as mates,
they could become more powerful and live even longer. Para-talents lived for a
few hundred years. Joined in a balanced partnership, double that. But if they
didn’t balance, the weaker of the couple would sicken and die. Ray shrugged off
the concern. Griffin had found his mate. He was safe.

For now, Clarissa needed his attention.

Ray knelt, gathered her in his arms, and stood.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting you out of the sun while I figure out where we
are.”

“We’re about twenty miles out to sea.” She slipped her arms
around his neck and tucked her head beneath his chin.

Tightening his hold, he hugged her against him. He’d never
cradled her in his arms like this. The solidness of her body, close, tight
against him, loosened something inside his chest. She belonged here. And this
body was more than happy to have her near. But now was not the time to spring
wood in his trousers. He cleared his throat. “I’ll just call the Coast Guard.
Figure out how to start up that engine…”

“There’s a problem.” She shifted in his arms. But he didn’t
loosen his hold as he walked down the stairs into a small bunkroom beneath the
deck. There wasn’t much under here except the built-in chest of drawers and the
bed. He put her down on it.

“What’s that?” Arms empty, he stepped back. The small room
was intimate. Too much so. He jerked around to face the stairs.

“We’re stranded,” she replied in a dull voice.

“How is that possible?” Reluctantly he turned around.
Somehow, he knew that there was no going back from this moment. That fate had
grabbed him by the balls and tugged.