Elemental Hunger

Chapter Sixteen

When I woke up, my face was pressed into Isaiah's chest. He held me like a lover, his breath cascading over my neck. Hanai was nestled right up behind me, his left arm draped around my waist.

I stiffened as I sucked in a breath.

Adam chuckled. "Looks cozy."

I couldn't move, though I desperately wanted to. Isaiah's arm weighed as much as my whole body. As I struggled, Hanai snuggled closer.

"I'll help," Adam said. "Hanai, wake up, man. Time to go." He nudged Hanai with his boot. Hanai groaned and mumbled something rude. His grip on my body tightened.

"Sorry, I tried." Adam laughed again, moving away.

I maneuvered my hands up to Isaiah's chest. I pushed as hard as I could, infusing my hands with heat. He moaned and rolled onto his back. That allowed me to slip out from under his arm. As I did, I felt the cloak. Ice cold. No wonder they had latched onto me.

I poured more heat into it and found Adam in the corner, stuffing cans into his backpack. He shifted away from me as I sat next to him, blowing on his fingers, his breath fogging in front of us.

"I can help." I traced my pointer finger down the zipper of his coat. The metal blazed with warmth. Though I didn't see Adam smile, I felt the heat of it in my face.

I didn't think I could survive another night of trudging through the snow. When I told Adam, he agreed.

"Plus, we're leaving tracks," I said. "Felix and Alex won't have any trouble finding us."

"They're not looking."

"What?"

"They'll just head to Gregorio. They know that's where we'll go. They know that's where the rogue Elementals are hiding."

"How do they know that?"

"They downloaded everything I knew. It's not like I wanted to tell them." His voice carried that annoying sentry tone.

"Of course not." Mine sounded forced. "Maybe we should go somewhere else."

Adam exhaled, and I couldn't read his eyes in the fading twilight. "Well, we need your friend Cat. Real bad. With her, we'll have a full Council. Alex won't be able to touch us without major consequences if we complete the chartering."

"Alex is crazy," I said. "No way she'll approve our Council." I didn't like the way the words sounded coming out, but I knew they were true.

"Doesn't matter," Adam said. "She doesn't get to approve the magical bond. She might never give us an apprenticeship or a city, but at least we'll be alive."

"We'll have each other," I murmured.

"We can protect each other," Adam added.

I studied him and found as much earnest desperation in his expression as I felt coursing through my body. "So we try to get Councilman Davison to charter the Council."

"With things as politically unstable as they are in Gregorio, anything is possible," Adam said. "Maybe we can sneak in and complete the charter without anyone knowing."

I thought about that for a minute, wanting to act my part but not knowing how. "Yeah, but Alex and Felix are probably already there, telling Davison how awful I am." A flicker of fear made my breath catch. "Or looking for Cat." I hoped she was still alive, that we'd find her in Gregorio first. She was smart; she'd know how to lie low until Isaiah came for her.

"Nah. Gregorio is far," Adam said. "At least a couple of days by vehicle. It took me nine days to get to the Outcast settlement on foot."

"I knew you'd been there before," I said, interested in hearing the story of how he found the Outcast settlement.