Page 42 of Cleansed By Water (The Nature Hunters Academy 3)

Frost nodded. “Open up your power to the heat and then imagine yourself pulling the heat into you. We want to pull heat from the earth's core up into the mountain.” Frost looked at Liam. “You, make yourself useful and start crafting a lava riverbed down the side of the mountain.”

Gabby imagined her feet as little suction cups, as odd as that sounded, but it made it easier to envision pulling the heat toward her. She kept her eyes on Liam, partly because, damn, he was just too handsome for his own good, and two, because she felt like he would disappear or get himself killed if she looked away for a second.

She watched as he raised his hands into the air and put his palms out as if he were reaching for the sky. His mouth moved, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying. Gabby knew that some of the older elementalists knew the language of the elementals and used it to help wield their particular element. Some even taught it to the students, though it wasn’t a requirement to wield elemental power.

As she watched, his hands began to move, first in a circle and then toward himself, as if he were gathering something in. Her mouth dropped open when she saw a stream of water appear and head straight for Liam. It moved fast, and Gabby was certain it would slam into him. She started to cry out to him, but the water shifted when he pushed his hands out. Instead of slamming into Liam, the stream hit the mountain. Soon, mud began to appear where solid ground had been before. About a hundred yards down, trees began to topple over as their roots suddenly found themselves anchored to soft, flowing mud. The mudslide continued, forming into a moving river of wet earth. Soon, the mud turned to brown water, an actual river traveling down the mountain. It wasn’t deep, but it was moving water.

“Focus, Gabby,” Frost snapped. “And I don’t mean on your mate.”

Gabby’s face would have heated if she hadn’t already been burning up. Damn, when did that start? She’d been unaware she was hot until Frost had gotten her attention. “Why am I so hot?” Gabby asked Frost.

“Some of it’s genetics, baby,” Liam answered before Frost could. “You hit the DNA lottery with that gorgeous red hair and luscious body. It’s really not a mystery, Gabs.”

“If you don’t focus on the heat you’re pulling into your body, and make sure you’re lowering your core temperature, you will burn alive from the inside out,” Professor Frost explained.

“Oi,” Liam growled. “That would have been good information to give her before you told her to become a human torch.”

Gabby had to agree with him. But instead of mentioning it, she refocused on the heat and made sure to direct it away from her organs. She pushed it out of her skin, which meant she was now sweating like a horse in heat. Super sexy.

“Hey.” Liam stepped in front of her, and she looked up at him. He was so handsome, even with his wrinkled forehead and pursed lips. He’d hit the DNA lottery, as he put it, as well.

“Aren’t you supposed to be directing a lava river?” she asked him.

Liam reached up and wiped her brow, then placed his hand flat on her forehead. Gabby felt the moisture from her body being pulled from her skin. It was as if he’d run a magic drying cloth all over her. Suddenly, she wasn’t soaking wet.

When he pulled his hand away, it was closed into a fist. He put it to his mouth and pressed his lips to it. He blew and then smiled as he opened his hand and held it out to her.

She looked down, and instead of a puddle of sweat, which is what she expected to see, there was a shimmering heart formed from the moisture he’d taken from her.How sexy. A sweat heart.As she watched, the heart began to evaporate—tiny droplets rising into the air, holding the shape of the heart until it hovered in front of them. Maybe it should have been gross that he’d just formed a heart out of her sweat as a way to show his affection, but Gabby had to give the man points for wooing her. He blew out a breath, and the tiny droplets evaporated completely.

“That was impressive,” Gabby admitted. “Weird, but impressive.”

Liam shrugged one shoulder. “I’ll take weird over normal any day.”

He couldn’t have known what those words would mean to her, but Gabby felt them pierce her heart and dig in deep.

“Are you okay? You’re not getting too hot?” Liam asked, his voice completely serious and his eyes full of concern. For her.

“Other than an embarrassing amount of sweat, I’m good.”

“You’d tell me if you weren’t, wouldn’t you?” he asked.

“Would I really have to tell you? I mean, with the bond and all?”

He gave her a crooked smile. “True. I’d feel it, but I was trying to give you some privacy. I mean, I can’t hear your thoughts or anything, but I can get a general idea of how you’re feeling,” he admitted. “But I don’t want to intrude where I’m not wanted. I thought asking might be a better idea.”

Gabby bit her lip as she nodded at him. “I appreciate that.”

“Liam,” Frost yelled. “She’s alive and well, focus on that damn riverbed! Our mountain is about to blow.”

It was Frost’s words that made Gabby realize the ground beneath them was shaking and not just a little. Apparently, Liam had the ability to distract her from earthquakes. Good to know.

“Keep pulling the heat up, Gabby,” Frost called out as she opened her hands by her side and began to slowly raise them as if she were lifting something up.

The ground shook harder, and Gabby heard the beginnings of a loud rumble.

Liam cursed under his breath and pressed his lips to hers quickly. So quickly that she didn’t have time to respond, or enjoy it, not that she was about to admit she would have enjoyed it. She totally would have enjoyed it. “Don’t die,” he growled at her.

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Gabby said as she watched him turn back to the riverbed he’d created.

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