Page 43 of Cleansed By Water (The Nature Hunters Academy 3)

“As soon as the lava is in the air,” Frost said, her voice loud enough for them to hear over the roar of the building eruption, “Gabby, you need to focus your power on it just like you would a flame. That’s all it is, liquid fire. We want it all to be funneled down into the riverbed Liam has made. Liam, you need to start running back down the mountain, making sure your water is carving it in the right direction.”

“I’m back,” Josie said, suddenly stepping out of a portal right next to Liam. “I realized he was going to need a little help with the direction for the lava river.”

Frost gave Josie a thumbs up.

“Let’s go, big guy,” Josie said to Liam as she headed for the river he’d started.

“Why are we going to the river?” Liam asked. Instead of moving with her, he walked back over to Gabby.

“We’re water elementalists, Liam. We don’t travel by land if we don’t have to,” Josie said.

Liam shook his head. “You’d think I was a novice. I was about to run down the bloody mountain.”

“You’ve just soul bonded with your mate on the side of an active volcano,” Josie pointed out. “You have permission to not think clearly.”

Liam stepped up to Gabby. She was sweating more now, constantly blinking to keep her vision clear. Her arms were raised in the direction of the mouth of the volcano, waiting for that first eruption. She was afraid to drop them even long enough to wipe the sweat away. If she and Frost were a few seconds late, that lava could end up on the wrong side of Liam’s man-made river. It would head toward civilization instead of the ice bath waiting for it.

“Let me help,” he said gently as he did his sponge thing, only this time she felt the water evaporate from her body.

“Thanks,” Gabby said as she looked into his eyes. She couldn’t understand her feelings, but she knew she didn’t want anything to happen to Liam. She could sense his magic and soul inside of her and knew, though she hadn’t wanted to admit it, that he was her soul mate. Gabby didn’t really know what would happen after this, but she at least wanted there to be a choice. And if something happened to Liam, there wouldn’t be one.

“Try to be okay, please,” she said, not really sure how to express her concern for his safety.

He grinned at her. “You like me.”

Gabby rolled her eyes. “I don'tnotlike you. So, just don’t die.”

His smile widened. “You got it. I’ve got too much to live for, now.” His countenance sobered and he took her face in his hands. “I’m not doing this because we might not see each other again. I’m doing this because I want you to know what’s to come when we finish this thing.”

Gabby didn’t have a chance to ask him what the hell he was doing because his lips were suddenly on hers. And this was no quick kiss. This was a kiss that took no prisoners.Whatever the hell that meant.She’d read it in a book once. Maybe now she understood. His body pressed close to hers, and he tilted her face up higher. She felt his tongue push against her lips, and she opened her mouth. Later, she’d tell herself it was instinct, but for now, she was going with the fact that his tongue was just that strong. That didn’t sound ridiculous at all.

As soon as the taste of him hit her tongue, Gabby groaned. She pressed closer to him, and she wished she could drop her hands. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and bury her hand in his blond hair. She also wished he’d drop his hands from her face and put his strong arms around her.

A heartbeat later, Gabby was wrapped so tightly she almost couldn’t breathe. Liam had one arm around her waist while the other was around her shoulders with his hand gripping the back of her neck. She felt completely protected. He slowed the kiss but didn’t back off. His lips were pressed just as tightly, but his tongue was moving as if to savor her instead of devour her.

Gabby sunk into him. She let herself believe he could one day love her. That he would find her worth it. She kissed him back with an intensity she thought she was only capable of when fighting. She was rewarded with a moan from Liam, and a “Damn woman” breathed out of him when he pulled back long enough to say it. But then he was right back on her, kissing the breath from her lungs. Her lungs weren’t complaining. At all.

“I’m not going to say this isn’t hot as hell. But then we are standing on a volcano so my words could be interpreted many ways.” Josie’s voice interrupted Gabby’s bliss and for a microsecond she considered shifting the hand that would direct the erupting lava toward the little female water elementalist.Bad Gabby. She forced herself to pull her lips from Liam. He tried to follow, but Gabby turned her face so that his mouth ended up on her neck. He wasn’t deterred in the least.

“Lia-ahhhh,” Gabby moaned when his teeth latched on to the tendon in her neck.

“It’s Liam, baby. Not Leah,” he whispered against her ear and then gave her neck one last kiss before stepping back. “I’m glad it’s you,” he said. “Wouldn’t want it to be anyone else. If you let anything happen to yourself, I’ll hurt a puppy or something.”

Gabby’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

He shrugged. “You seem like the self-sacrificing type. I don’t want to lose you, so I figure making sure I don’t kick a puppy will motivate you to stay alive.”

“I’m not sure if that’s disturbing or worrisome,” Josie said.

“Both?” Gabby offered.

“But also a little sweet,” Josie said.

“He said he’d kick a puppy,” Gabby pointed out.

“Yeah, but it’s because he doesn’t want anything to happen to you. See. Sweet.” Josie snapped at Liam and pointed to the river he’d made. “Let’s go, Casanova. Worry about kicking puppies only if your woman doesn’t show up at the bottom.”

He and Josie jogged a few feet, and then Liam turned around and started walking backward. Gabby watched him as he looked at her.

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