Spark of Fire Read online

  “I’m Brenda.” When she approached and shot out her hand, I stared at it, not sure who to trust at this point. The last stranger I’d met today had just tried to kill me.

  “Why am I here? I didn’t do anything wrong.” Yet, deep down, guilt gnawed at my shallow confidence. I’d destroyed a cadaver lab. I’d barely come into my powers and already screwed up, potentially exposing our world. On top of all that, I still had a paper to write for my physics class.

  She withdrew her hand and forced a beauty-pageant smile, but the gesture never reached her cool gaze. Yep, definitely didn’t like her. “I’ll be your extractionist.”

  “My what?”

  She ignored my question and went on. “I’m pleased to see you weren’t harmed in the attack.”

  “We were lucky one of her security detail was there,” Ms. Wilkerson added. “But it still wasn’t enough. I specifically requested all four elements to protect her.”

  “We’re here.”

  The atmosphere changed as four guys entered the room and stood shoulder to enormous shoulder, blocking the door and damn near taking up the entire wall. They all had to be over six feet, roughly around the same height, give or take a couple of inches. The air charged, and the overwhelming pressure sank into me, making it hard to take in a full breath. I recognized the tall, dark, handsome one leading the pack. He’d changed into a fancy black suit that matched the others. Seeing him dressed like that crushed me.

  “Rob? What’s going on? Why are you dressed like that?”

  “It’s required attire on extractions,” Brenda answered, as if I was talking to her. “Now, how about you boys introduce yourselves.”

  I couldn’t pull my gaze from the row of deliciousness, and it was more than them all being ridiculously beautiful. I couldn’t see any of their full faces courtesy of the dark sunglasses each of them had on, but that didn’t stop me from imagining what they each looked like. Still, I didn’t trust anyone when I couldn’t see their eyes.

  Rob stepped forward and offered a curt nod, his lips tipped up at the corners of his mouth. I noted that he made even something as simple as a nod and smile look good. His five o’clock shadow was even darker in combination with the suit, and when he turned his head, I knew without a doubt that midnight gaze rested on me from behind those sunglasses. “Rob Emmett, fire.”

  And, oh my God, do I feel the heat.

  He stepped back and the one to his left stepped forward, this one with neat sandy-brown hair and bangs that fell onto his forehead when he nodded. A barrel-chested man with large, powerful shoulders and narrow hips, he knew how to fill out that suit. He didn’t smile as he regarded me. At least, I think he regarded me. It was hard to tell with those damn sunglasses hiding what were sure to be gorgeous eyes if the rest of him was any indication. “Bryan Gunderson, earth.”

  I’ve never wanted to get dirtier more than I do at this moment.

  “Leo Jackson, water.” The one with wispy blond hair in need of a comb nodded. The well-defined muscle on his athletic frame strained the material of his suit. He barely acknowledged me before returning to his original position.

  Please let me swim in your pool.

  “Clay Williams, air.” He had hair as dark as Rob’s but wore it short on the sides and wild and free on top. A thick beard covered his chiseled chin, and I realized then and there how much I really liked a man with a beard, especially short ones. He was broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted, hard-bodied, and solid muscle. All my favorite descriptions.

  Blow me away, airman.

  As I stared at them, uncertainty pricked my flesh, dancing across my neck like an unwelcome breeze. I scratched at it, and the thick smell of sulfur consumed the already heavy air.

  “Ma’am?” Rob, the apparent ringleader, addressed Brenda.

  “I’ll take care of it.” Brenda spiked her perfectly shaped eyebrows as she regarded me. “Challenging us isn’t the best way to start things off, Katy. Every element is covered. You will lose should you choose to battle one of the quad squad.”

  I studied the quad squad. Did I want to battle them? Did I want any or all of them to advance on me, challenge me right back, and get super close?

  Yeah, I kind of did.

  “Well, Ms. Reed?”

  Not her too. I didn’t want to go by my mother’s maiden name. Way to kill the mood. My irritation grew, sparking something deep inside me. The room heated to a stifling temperature. “How am I challenging you?”

  “Kill your call,” she ordered, her expression still unkind. I had no idea how to call my call, let alone kill it. “Kill your call,” she repeated with a sharper tone and brought up a hand. “Or I will.”

  “What are you doing?” I stared at her hand, scared to see what element she had the power to control. Staggering back, I searched for my quickest escape route. I couldn’t go through another battle. My head pounded. My ears ached. It even hurt to blink.

  Bryan stepped forward, his hands up as if approaching a rabid dog. The way I felt right now, I wasn’t that far off from completely losing my shit and biting everyone I could sink my teeth into before they put me down. “It’s okay, Katy. We’re here to help.”

  Clay pushed from the wall and casually strolled to my right, while Leo did the same to my left. Then Bryan disappeared behind me as Rob approached. Goddamn it, they were surrounding me. I turned in every direction, facing a different opponent no matter what. Maybe I could take one, possibly two, but not all four. They were huge. I didn’t want to fight them, I really didn’t, but until I understood why they closed in around me, I’d brace myself for a fight.

  “She’s about to call fire,” Rob stated, drawing my attention.

  I spun around, confused how he knew which element I was about to call when I didn’t even know. “How do you know?”

  “I feel it.” He stepped closer and removed his sunglasses. That dark, dark gaze shadowed by a heavy brow homed in on me. God, how I loved brooding foreheads, and I hadn’t even known it. “Would you like me to teach you?”

  More than ever, but I wasn’t about to agree to anything until I knew what the fuck was going on.

  “I feel her air,” Clay pointed out. I spun to face him, confused and annoyed at the lame—and ridiculously effective—line. Just like Rob, he stepped closer and removed his sunglasses. I was immediately assaulted by the greenest eyes I’d ever seen. When they danced mirthfully as he tilted his head, I couldn’t stop staring. Not fair. No one should be allowed to have a gaze as amazing as that, along with his other amazing features. “She’s about to call air.”

  “You’re both wrong.” I turned again as Leo spoke up. Taking the lead from the first two, he removed his sunglasses as he took a step forward. His crystal-blue gaze was intense as he kept it focused on me. It danced—dazzled, really—as he regarded me. And, in return, dazzled me. “Water is trying to come to her, but she’s blocking it.”

  “Earth,” was all Bryan said, pulling my attention. His sunglasses were already off, revealing a mesmerizing hazel gaze that kept me focused. He nodded as if we’d just come to some sort of agreement. If we did, I had no idea what we’d just agreed to, but if it kept him looking at me so intently, I swear he saw into my soul, I’d say yes to just about anything at that point. It was the first time I didn’t feel like I needed to defend myself.

  “It’s okay,” he repeated and took another step. I didn’t stop him. “We aren’t here to hurt you.”

  “Why are you here?” I turned my head to try to keep them all in my periphery. “Why are you surrounding me?”

  Ms. Wilkerson approached and rested her hand on my shoulder. The air lightened enough for me to take a breath. “They’re your security detail.”

  “Why do I need a security detail?” It was a ridiculously dumb question considering what’d just happened.

  “It’s standard protocol,” Brenda—the beyatch I already hated, though I didn’t really know why—interjected. “We bring students from Clearwater when doing an extraction.”

  I turned back to the guys, whipping my head around to make sure I knew where each of them stood. “You’re all from the academy?”

  They glanced to Rob, who nodded. Yep, definitely the ringleader.

  “Having each of them sense your element confirms you’re a quad.” Brenda kept her palm squared on me like the barrel of a loaded gun. When she caught me staring at her hand, she gave me a smug look. “How strong of a quad, we won’t know until you’re tested.”

  I felt much better now that I knew the guys were all from Clearwater. Even though there were four of them, I already felt safer, more trusting of them than I was of Brenda.

  She clapped twice. “This isn’t a social call. Let’s get on with it. We haven’t got all day.”

  A hand on my shoulder drew my attention. I glanced up, meeting Bryan’s warm expression. There was something about that look, something that immediately calmed me. Maybe it was the crooked grin. Maybe it was the way his touch warmed me. It didn’t matter. What mattered was the fact I didn’t feel like losing my shit. “This isn’t a punishment. You’re coming with us to the academy.”

  Another hand on my other shoulder turned my head. Leo studied me intently. “Your life is about to change for the better, I promise.”

  Clay reached for my hand, taking it in his. The weight crushing me lifted. “Let us help you.”

  “All of you?” I asked, finally turning my attention to Rob, the only one not touching me.

  When he took my other hand and licked his lips, I stared at his mouth and swallowed thickly. “All of us.”

  Having their hands on me—and not in a weird, sexual way—calmed me and settled my nerves. I nodded, surrendering to my fate. With students like this by my side, I could totally do this. I could totally at
tend an academy designed for elementals. No problem. The longer the guys touched me, the calmer I felt, like I’d taken the world’s strongest downer.

  “Katy, I’ll be coordinating your extraction.” Brenda stepped forward and nodded at the guys. One by one, they removed their hands until only Rob held mine. She thinned her lips and cleared her throat. Hesitantly, he slipped his fingers away and stood off to the side with the rest of the guys. I felt the loss of their touch almost immediately and breathed in shallow gasps as the air grew heavy with the distinct smell of sulfur once more.

  “Boys?” was all Brenda said for them to rejoin me, each one placing their hand in the same place as before. She faced Ms. Wilkerson. “We aren’t going to be able to use conventional transportation, not with her being this unstable. We’ll have to go back the way we came.”

  Ms. Wilkerson shook her head. “You can’t use teleportation on her. She just came into her powers. Teleporting her will be too much.”

  “Too much? We found one elemental completely reduced to ash. She’s strong enough to handle a simple teleport.”

  “That was Onyx—uh, Alec.” I bounced my gaze between the guys now staring at me. “What? That wasn’t me!” I wasn’t going down for the death of that creepy asshole. Did he deserve to die? Yes. Did I want to be the one to do it? Yes again. But was I going to take credit for it and wind up in some elemental prison? Absolutely hell to the fuck no.

  Rob stepped forward. “She’s right. It was Alec von Leer. He killed Franklin. I saw it happen.”

  “Franklin? He was a low-level scout. Why would Alec send him?” Brenda asked in a huff.

  “Probably testing her strength.” Rob turned to Bryan. “Right, bro?”

  Reluctantly, Bryan nodded. Everyone in the room stilled as they waited for him to go on. I didn’t understand the significance, but I did understand there was significance. “It’s what I’d do.”

  There was a collective sigh I felt more than heard. Studying Bryan as he dropped his head, I wondered what, exactly, the significance was in his affirmation. And why, exactly, he seemed ashamed of it.

  “We don’t even know how he found her,” Ms. Wilkerson went on. “She was listed as Katy Valentine on all the school rosters. He’s been looking for a Reed.”

  “He kept calling me Katy Reed,” I pointed out. “Like my name meant something.”

  Brenda thinned her bright red lips as she glared at Ms. Wilkerson. “Really, Mindy? You didn’t even teach her about her lineage?” She sighed as if talking to me was a chore. “At least you’ve finally come into your powers. It took long enough. You are out of your teens, after all.”

  “One month shy of twenty-one,” I pointed out and stole glances at the four guys still resting hands on me. Usually, I didn’t like to be touched, but right now, I needed the contact. Their touch kept me calm, kept me balanced with them pushing their calls to me—or maybe that was vice versa. Either way, it worked. Who knew which element I’d call if I didn’t have them keeping me calm.

  “It’s time you join our world. Now that the dark elementals have found you, it’s the only way to keep you safe.” She regarded the guys. “Which one of you is the trio?”

  Rob squeezed my hand as he nodded. “That’s me.”

  “Which elements?”

  “Fire, air, water.”

  She turned her attention to Bryan. “And you’re earth, right?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “You other two can stand down. You and you.” She pointed at Rob and Bryan. “Each take one of her hands.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Ms. Wilkerson insisted.

  “No, you’re not.” Brenda squared her slender shoulders and thrust out her chin. “My orders were to extract the girl. You will stay here and clean up this mess you’ve created by trying to hide a Reed in the Nelem world.” She regarded me. “Are you ready to start a new life?”

  With nothing left for me here in Montana and everything waiting for me at the academy, I squeezed both Bryan’s and Rob’s hands, then glanced over my shoulder at Leo and Clay. I slowly slipped my hands from Bryan and Rob and returned my attention to Brenda.

  If I was going to do this, I needed to do this on my own. “What are we waiting for?”

  5

  I had to admit, the academy’s private jet was traveling in style. The inside of this thing was like one of those top-of-the-line luxury jets I’d only ever seen on TV. Plush tan seats separated by shiny wood tables, an awesomely comfortable couch long enough to stretch out on, a little office area in the back that Brenda had taken over, and even a fully stocked minibar.

  As nice as it was on the plane, I was little disappointed to be traveling like some Nelem. I kind of wanted to know what it felt like to teleport.

  While my extractionist sat alone at the back of the plane staring at a laptop screen and returning phone calls, the guys and I sat as far away from her as possible. Bryan and Rob flanked me on the couch, while Leo and Clay sat opposite on chairs they had turned to face us. They’d all lost the black blazers and were less intimidating in white dress shirts. Bryan kept his tie knotted at his neck, while Leo loosened his. Clay and Rob removed theirs.

  “I’m glad we didn’t teleport,” Leo said quietly, his head resting on the back of the chair. “I don’t like throwing up every time I’m assigned an extraction.”

  Rob, who’d kept his hand over mine since takeoff, shook his head. “That’s because you don’t know how to relax, bro.”

  Leo lifted his head and rested his gaze on Rob. “This from the guy who loses his shit over a piece of pepperoni.”

  “That was one time,” he growled and shot me a sheepish look, his cheeks darkening. “I was extra hungry that day.”

  “You set my pizza on fire.”

  Rob’s color deepened as he scratched the stubble on his chin.

  “What about all the other times you lose your shit?” Clay prodded, earning a glare. He laughed and spun in the chair like a little kid, his gaze on the ceiling. “Rob Emmett, the hottest head at Clearwater.”

  “With the shortest fuse,” Leo added. They both laughed when Rob flipped them off.

  Bryan squeezed my hand. Like Rob, he hadn’t let it go since we stepped foot inside the plane. “We’ve got some time before we land at the academy. Do you have any questions?”

  I had so many, I didn’t know where to start. Instead of asking anything to do with me, I chose to keep the focus on them. “Do you four always get sent out on extractions together?”

  “No,” Bryan answered. “One upper-level student is picked by the Council and gets to choose his team. The Council chose Rob for this one. He chose us.”

  “He always chooses us,” Clay added, still twisting in the chair like he had all the energy in the world. I was close to passing out, I was so drained after the attack and adrenaline release. “We’ve got a rep at Clearwater.”

  “A good rep? Or a bad rep?” I didn’t know which was better.

  “They call us the quad squad.”

  “Because there are four of you?”

  “Because together, we control four elements.” He spun in full circles. Where the hell was he getting all his energy?

  “Are there more than four?”

  “There’s light, but it’s restricted, so only those approved by the Council can use it. It’s bullshit if you ask me.”

  “It’s not bullshit, and no one asked you. The rule is in place for a reason. It keeps us safe,” Bryan growled, glaring at Clay. The air elemental laughed, causing Bryan’s scowl to deepen.

  Awkward. “Are you two always this pleasant to each other?”

  Leo returned to his original position. Now that was more my speed right now. “Don’t worry about them. They’re opposites, meaning their primaries are opposing elements.”

  “They’re opposites in everything,” Rob added. “Bryan rarely smiles, and Clay never stops.”

  “Like you’re one to talk,” Clay countered, grinning. “Leo is super chill, and you lose your shit over everything.” He then spun the chair in the other direction.

  It made me dizzy watching him, so I turned to Rob. “Is there an opposing element to light?”

  The guys all exchanged looks but said nothing. It was Rob who answered with a definitive “No.”

  I knew there had to be more to that and tucked it away for another conversation. “Why were you there at the science center?”