Page 63 of Fire Touched

‘Nope. And I don’t want to.’ Something wet splatters on my cheek. I stare upward. ‘I guess she was right.’ The sky is dark, lightning flaring in the distance. ‘Storm’s coming. We should head back.’

Ten minutes later, Ella and I are already soaked, and rushing inside. As we enter the house, dripping all over the kitchen floor, Ella slips, and luckily, Carter catches her as he comes to greet us. Well, her. I hide my smirk-eye-roll. That was too cute.

‘Woah, did you guys fall in the pool?’ Carter quickly rights Ella, then releases her.

‘No, it’s raining a lot.’ I get a look in the mirror. We look like drowned rats. Eugh.

Carter glances out the window. ‘Oh. Wow.’

‘Are the others here?’ I ask.

‘I think Elijah and Moira were having lunch with Prescott, and I don’t know where Killian is.’

‘Sounds about right.’ I glance down at the slippery tiles. ‘I think we’re making an indoor pool.’

‘Let me help.’ Carter disappears, returning a moment later with a pile of towels. ‘How did you guys go with Elga? Did she help you out?’

Ella starts towel-drying her hair, which is much easier for her because it’s shorter, a frown pinching her brows. ‘I’m not sure. She seemed… out of sorts.’

‘She was acting a little crazy,’ I admit, feeling bad. I am fond of the woman, but it was hard to make much sense of her today. I hold up the bracelet and blink. It isn’t wet. ‘Did she just make it waterproof?’

Ella checks her own. ‘I hope not.’

‘This isn’t helping.’ I set the towels on the floor to help mop up the water, but my hair and my clothes are sopping. ‘I’m going to go clean up.’

‘Me too. Then I’ll make us something hot for lunch,’ Ella offers with a shudder.

I start upstairs just as Ella slips on the wet tiles again. This time, Carter catches her full Romeo-style, her dipped, hair tossed back, their faces nearly touching. I can’t stand this anymore. ‘Just kiss already!’ I shout over my shoulder with a laugh. I ascend the stairs, hoping I didn’t startle Carter into dropping her.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Katie

After I’ve showered, and used my fire power to quickly dry myself, I climb into warm, dry clothes. For a moment, I’m tempted to crawl into bed, exhausted by the possibilities of our near-future.

I want to help unite the four packs, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be down to hold hands and pretend there haven’t been losses and betrayals. How do I convince people to let the past go, and move forward together?

I perch on the edge of my bed. I’m going to need an elevator pitch if we’re to approach air-sucky-happy wolves. I can’t put the others in danger. Maybe I could leave them somewhere nearby, and I could approach Air Pack alone? I bite my lip. That’s possible, though I doubt Killian would go for it. For all his progress on letting me make my own choices lately, I can’t say I’d let him do something that risky either.

I sigh and flop back on the bed, listening to the rain pounding down outside.

Maybe I should brainstorm with the others. I have dinner with Killian tonight—assuming the storm has passed by then. I’m reluctant to go downstairs now, though. The last thing I want to see is Carter and Ella making out, slobbering all over each other.

The thought of them together makes me happy though. Amidst everything they’ve both endured, it would be nice to see something good come of it. I think they would make each other happy.

Instead of heading downstairs right away (though I’m wondering if Ella would make toasted sandwiches, or even soup!), I pick up one of the books we brought back from the town centre yesterday and read a few pages, which reminds me.

We need to prepare. We don’t know where, or how far, Air Pack is from here. Or even what their home, their territory, is called. They’ve always seemed sort of mythical. The fourth pack. We’ll need maps. Clothes. Supplies. Hell, some decent tents would be amazing. I wonder if I should talk to Prescott about that. I don’t want to leave anything until the last minute. We’ll need some food, too, and I would want to make sure the barrier lines are clear. The last thing I want is for us to leave Terran and accidently break their no-hunting rules. We need to know the territory better.

After about half an hour of trying to read, my mind too full to really focus on the story, I finally give up and head downstairs, encouraged when I smell something cooking. They wouldn’t be making out while cooking, right?

I tiptoe down the stairs, following the rich, creamy smell of tomato soup, and stick my head around the corner.

Carter sees me first—notably, without an Ella on his face—and laughs. ‘Um, hey. Is this how we enter rooms now?’

Ella turns. ‘That’s how she came down yesterday morning,’ she says with a smile.

I walk in like a normal person. ‘What’s for lunch?’ I have to raise my voice a little over the pounding rain. ‘Wow, that’s a lot. Are we supposed to drain the pool or something?’

---