Water.
Fire.
I basked in the familiarity, lost to the soothing sensations.
Until my eyes flashed open to find the sky looming above my head.
And two very pissed-off male mates.
Titus
Energy hummed through the air, seeming to zap Claire’s body back to life.
And her eyelids flew open.
I gaped at her, shocked by the sudden change.
Cyrus, however, growled low in his throat before saying, “I need you to stop fucking doing that, Claire.”
“I second that statement,” I said without missing a beat. Her lack of breath had scared the shit out of me. If Exos hadn’t been absolutely certain her spirit still thrived…
No, I couldn’t think about that right now. We had more important things to worry about, like the Earth Fae stirring around us. An earthly essence filled the air, reinvigorating them and causing several of them to moan.
Although, Claire didn’t make a sound. Her brow furrowed as if confused. Then she bolted upright. “I have to stop Elana!” She tried to launch to her feet, only to be wrapped up in Cyrus’s arms.
“You need to tell us what the hell is going on,” he corrected, his bedside manner as on point as always.
She shook her head, shoving him away, only to collapse back into him. Her chest heaved as she sucked in fresh breaths, her pallor a bit too pale for my liking. “Easy, Claire,” I murmured.
Cyrus steadied her, his expression smoothing into lines of concern. “Your body needs a moment to adjust. You know, because your spirit somehow detached. Again.” He brushed a kiss over her cheek, the spot glowing blue with his element as he gave her the power she needed.
I knelt beside them and grasped her hip to lend her some of my fire. It slowly breathed color back into her features, heating her otherwise cool skin.
“Elana,” she managed to say, her voice hoarse. She cleared her throat to try again. “She has Ophelia. She’s draining her. Draining them all.” She swallowed and tried to stand again. “Need to go. Now.”
“You need to absorb more energy,” Cyrus said, wrapping his arms more firmly around her.
Earth Fae began to whimper all around us, their heads shifting as questions spilled from their lips. None of them were coherent, all lost to the plague that’d taken them down.
“They’re recovering,” Cyrus said, eyeing the Earth Quad with interest. “What did you do, Claire? What did you find?”
“Elana.” Claire shoved away from us with far more force than Cyrus or I anticipated, allowing her to leap to her feet. She bolted before either of us had a chance to grab her.
“Claire!” Cyrus shouted, his voice catching on the wind as I took off after her in a dead sprint. I sensed him following on my heels. I had no doubt he was as frustrated as me. Our mate had a tendency to run toward danger without thinking. I wasn’t going to let her leave my sight.
We worked our way through the recovering Earth Fae. Roots and vines wound over their limbs and lifted them up, the males seeming to grow larger and the females sprouting blossoms in their hair.
“Is this your doing?” I asked Cyrus. He’d been trying to infuse life back into them while we guarded Claire, but without much luck.
He shook his head as he kept pace at my side. “No. Whatever was infecting them disappeared.” He paused to head right, following Claire. “I felt the dark presence lift right before Claire woke up.”
Sprouts formed in our mate’s footsteps as she sprinted, suggesting that she might be the one healing the Earth Fae.
I frowned, unsure of sure how I felt about that. She couldn’t save everyone. If she expended all her energy, she’d have none left for herself.
We reached Elana’s mansion—or what was left of it—and found Sol ripping chunks of rock from the earth. A boulder bigger than my head flung past, and I ducked. “Hey!” I shouted. “We have Claire. You can stop digging.”
“There’s something down there,” Sol grunted, tossing another boulder over his shoulder.