Blown (Elemental Series Book 2) Read online

  Nate’s eyes fell to his feet. He suddenly felt like an idiot as he grumbled, “I was on a date.”

  Lillian settled on the loveseat, smiling at her husband as he stood and crossed the room to join her, before returning her attention to her son and saying, “Don’t wear that face. You had no way of knowing what would happen today, and even if you’d been home, there wouldn’t have been anything you could have done.”

  Nate sighed and set his mug down on the coffee table, in front of the tray, before he said, “I know.”

  Silence returned for a moment before Lillian again shifted her attention, an honest, grateful smile on her lips as she looked at Vaughn and said, “Thank you very much for what you did today.”

  Vaughn inclined his head, saying, “I’m just glad I could help.”

  Christopher took a deep breath and clapped his hands together, letting his voice return to its normal volume as he declared, “All right, that’s enough of that. Everyone knows what’s going on now. We have to assume that Emma’s just as involved as Eric is, so obviously they’re not to be trusted. But I don’t want anyone trying to play the hero and going over there kicking down doors, got it?”

  Blatantly frustrated, Dean asked, “And what are we supposed to do instead?”

  “For now,” Lillian replied, her eyes slightly downcast but her voice steady, “we do nothing. We’ll talk to Angela once she wakes up and see what else she might be able to tell us, but otherwise we’re going to act as if nothing has changed.”

  “Your mother’s right,” Christopher added immediately. “We need to play this smart. Keep staying in touch, try not to wander off by yourself, and we’ll get together to figure this all out as soon as we can.” He focused his eyes on Nate and added, “Also, you should talk to Kirk. Let him know the news.”

  Nate nodded, understanding his father’s point, before something occurred to him and he cringed slightly. “Before we get going,” he began, “there’s something else you should all know.”

  All eyes turned to him, clouded with concern and curiosity.

  “I sort of had to tell Madison,” he admitted. Before he could get the lecture, he added, “The cliff edge crumbled under her feet and she fell over. If I hadn’t done anything she would have died. And she swears she won’t tell anyone—even her mother.”

  His parents nodded in slow acceptance and Christopher said, “Then you’d better update her, too, just in case.”

  Logan spoke up a beat later, his voice steady and low. “We shouldn’t assume Eric’s family won’t up the stakes now that they know we know who they are.”

  “I think I’m their main target,” Angela declared, her voice still weaker than usual, as she trudged into the room. Everyone looked over at her and she managed a small, honest smile. She strode deliberately toward the couch, adding, “Scooch,” as she neared her brothers.

  They shifted until there was just enough room between Nate and Logan, and as Angela dropped into the opening, Logan reached over and wrapped an arm around her. “How’re you feeling, Angie?” he asked quietly.

  Angela let her head land on her brother’s shoulder and mumbled, “Like an idiot.”

  “So it’s true, then?” Christopher asked carefully.

  Her gaze flicked to Vaughn, who was watching silently, and she nodded. “Yes. He was using me to get close to us and keep an eye on us. And he said…” Her voice choked and she had to swallow as her eyes went back to her parents and settled on her mother. Quietly, she added, “He said that his father and uncle are responsible for what happened to Uncles Trevor, Nicholas, and Gregory.”

  Lillian lifted a hand to her lips as Nate and the others processed Angela’s words. No one spoke.

  “I’m sorry,” Angela finally choked, her voice watery. “I should have known … I should have figured it out. Maybe some of these things wouldn’t have happened.”

  “How would you have figured it out, Angie?” Nate asked gently, his hand landing on her knee and squeezing reassuringly. “Did you see him use his powers before today? Did he ever suggest he thought they had good reason for attacking us?”

  “No,” Angela admitted. “I just … I feel so stupid!” Her voice was raised as she finished, her tears slipping free. She lifted one hand and tried to wipe her tears away with the heel of her palm, continuing, “I just let him use me! And it’s my fault that all of this has been happening, because I let him in! I told him about Brooke. I pointed out that both Brooke and Madison work at the diner. I told him about Kirk when Kirk came back to town! It was all me!”

  Eyes soft with sadness and understanding, Brooke said, “Emma knew I was at Georgia’s when my apartment burned down. Emma knew I would be going out the day I was kidnapped. That’s not on you.”

  Nate spoke up next, quietly adding, “And Eric already knew Kirk. It was only a matter of time before he realized Kirk was back in town.”

  Angela said nothing to their arguments, sniffling awkwardly, her eyes downcast.

  Dean cursed and tightened his death grip on his coffee mug as he declared, “I say we give ‘em a taste of their own medicine. I could drive over right now and burn the house to the ground.”

  “Absolutely not,” Lillian instructed firmly, her hands returning to her lap. “I understand the temptation, but we will not resort to their methods. We will not risk endangering anyone unnecessarily.”

  “Whether we like it or not,” Blake began, “on that, we may not have a choice. If they corner us in public we have to fight back.”

  “That would still be different,” Lillian amended.

  Dean released a heavy breath, slumping back into the sofa, and said, “Fine, I won’t do it.”

  “There’s nothing more we can do right now,” Christopher declared with a frown. “Why don’t we all regroup tomorrow, after we’ve had a couple of hours to unwind and wrap our heads around all of this, and then see what plan we can come up with?”

  “Yeah, fine,” Dean grumbled. Beside him, Logan nodded silently. Angela was still leaning in to her brother’s side, wiping at her steadily falling tears, so she only sniffled and bobbled her head.

  Lillian looked back to Vaughn and said, “Vaughn, thank you again. I think it would be best if you went home now, but please let us know if anything strange happens to or around you or your family.”

  Vaughn inclined his head. “I will. And if there’s some way I can help in the future, I’d be happy to. Good luck.”

  Angela tugged free of Logan’s arm as Vaughn stood. “Vaughn.” She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Thank you.”

  Eyes slightly widened, Vaughn awkwardly lifted his arms and returned the hug for a moment, saying, “Don’t mention it.” When she stepped back, arms hanging at her sides, he nodded again to her family and quietly let himself out.

  Lillian stood and moved up to her daughter, pulling her into a tight embrace. “I’m so happy you’re all right.”

  The brothers stood as well, gathering closer to them, and Blake let a hand drop on the back of Angela’s head as he said, “We all are.”

  ****

  “I still can’t believe it,” Kirk declared, a shocked and slightly dazed expression still dominating his face. Nate and Logan had headed straight to Kirk’s apartment to tell him the news. Jacob—who they were now assuming was Eric’s older brother—had already made a move against Kirk once, and they’d been concerned he might be targeted again. And, as they’d expected, Kirk was suitably floored by the revelation.

  “I think most of us are in that stage right now,” Nate admitted from his seat on the other end of Kirk’s couch. His elbows were resting on his knees, hands clasped tightly in front of him, eyes staring unseeingly at the long coffee table.

  Kirk slumped back against the couch, his head falling back to stare at the ceiling, and he absently said, “I always knew I didn’t like that kid.”

  A short, bitter chuckle rumbled past Logan’s lips, but he said nothing.

  “So what are yo
u going to do?” Kirk asked after a long moment, rolling his head forward to glance between the somber siblings.

  “Right now,” Nate began quietly, “we don’t really know. Angela’s still too rattled to really go over everything that happened. We haven’t figured out how to react yet.”

  Kirk nodded thoughtfully before saying, “Well, if I were you, I wouldn’t wait too long. Whether or not you have a better idea of who your enemies are now, they still know your habits better than you know theirs. Eric and Emma were acting, so the people you thought you knew probably don’t exist.”

  “Yeah,” Nate agreed on a sigh, sitting up and dragging a hand through his hair. “That’s part of the prob—” His words were interrupted by the unexpected ringing of his phone, earning both Kirk’s and Logan’s attention. A frown dipped his lips as he pulled the device from his pocket, and it remained in place when he recognized Madison’s smiling face looking back at him on the Caller ID. “Hang on a sec,” he said as he dragged his thumb across the screen and put it to his ear. “Maddie?”

  “Do you remember Mr. BMW?” Madison asked, her voice hushed and urgent. She didn’t actually wait for a response before she continued, “He’s outside my house right now. He came up and knocked on the door, and when I didn’t answer he knocked louder.”

  Nate felt his heart lurch, his eyes snapping open wide, as he was suddenly bombarded by a mental image of Madison hunkered down in her bedroom closet with a baseball bat in her other hand. “Where are you?” he asked quickly, springing to his feet as he spoke.

  “In my room,” Madison replied, voice quieter. “But I’m having diner flashbacks, and all of a sudden it hit me that my bedroom shares a wall with the kitchen. I really don’t want to blow up again.”

  “You’re not going to blow up again,” Nate vowed, hoping he sounded more reassuring than he felt. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Logan push smoothly to his feet. “Try to stay out of sight. I’m on my way.” Logan strode past him as he spoke, keys already in his hand. Nate paused to offer a silent goodbye to Kirk, but his feet never fully stopped, and Kirk only waved his hands in a dismissive gesture.

  “Okay,” Madison promised.

  They disconnected and Nate dropped his phone into his pocket. He and Logan were both outside by now, and he glanced over to his brother, saying, “It’s the father. Meet me there.” Logan nodded as he swung into the truck, and Nate shoved off of the ground, not bothering to transform first. Kirk’s apartment wasn’t far enough from his house to justify the drain in power, especially when he figured he’d probably need the strength if he managed to get there before the elder Matthews ran off. It was dark out already, so Nate wasn’t too worried about being seen, but the truth was that he didn’t particularly care if someone saw him, anyway.

  He flew as fast as he could, his gut clenching tighter with each passing second. If anything happens to her… He couldn’t even finish the thought. He’d been sick enough at the idea of the injuries she’d sustained from the attack on the diner, but for her to be hurt again, now, would be so much worse. I have to fly faster.

  Chapter Nine

  Madison was ducked behind the foot of her bed, since her bed backed up to the window. From her angle she could see out the bedroom door without moving, and she had barely to lift her head and turn it to glimpse the window. Her curtains were still parted, as she only closed them when she was turning in for the night, and since the light was off she could see beyond the glass. Not that there was anything to be seen. The knocking had stopped while she’d been on the phone with Nate, and now heavy silence was the only sound ringing in her ears. Did he leave?

  She pulled one hand from her cell phone and wiped her sweaty palm against her jeans. A part of her wanted desperately to go investigate, but she would have been lying to claim she wasn’t also somewhat terrified. From what Nate had told her, it was incredibly likely that this was the man responsible for the destruction of Earl’s Diner. And if he was willing to do that to an occupied building full of innocent bystanders and potential witnesses, she didn’t want to think about what he might be willing to do now. On the other hand, if he had left, she could call Nate and tell him not to rush. But there was no way for her to know if he’d gone unless she abandoned her poor hiding place and looked around. Okay, she decided, switching hands and wiping her other palm across her jeans. I can do this.

  No sooner had the thought flitted through her mind than the window above her bed shattered unexpectedly.

  Madison cried out, throwing herself away on reflex and nearly dropping her phone. Before she knew it she was on her feet, her back against the far wall, breathing heavy and clinging to her phone as she stared at the window. A large rock rested on her bed and an even larger hole now dominated her window. But there was nothing else to be seen. Is he trying to herd me somewhere? More importantly, if he was, then where was he trying to chase her to? And how could she make sure not to go there?

  A flutter of movement, too dark and fast to be clear, brushed past her now-useless window, startling her. Madison reacted without thought, turning and bolting from the room before pulling the door shut behind her. And then, with her back to the door, she found herself wondering what she should do next. Her first thought was to go to the kitchen and find a weapon—she had a frighteningly sharp butcher knife beside the fridge—but then she remembered what had happened the last time she’d been in a kitchen with him around, and she vetoed that idea. She was scared, yes, but she wasn’t stupid.

  Her living room window went next. She watched in horror as another rock from the cliff-side went flying through the glass, tearing down one of the curtains in the process. And this time, as the glass fell to the floor and scattered across the couch, her eyes locked onto the dark, sinister eyes of Mr. BMW. It was too dark for her to see him clearly, but she recognized that glare. It was a darker version of the one he’d given her before.

  All at once indignant anger surged past her fear and Madison stomped several paces forward, demanding, “What the hell do you want with me?”

  He looked almost amused at her question and he replied, “Every action has a consequence, Ms. Price. The further you involve yourself with the Hawke family, the heavier your consequence becomes.”

  “So, what, are you just here to threaten me? Are you just trying to scare me?” Madison pushed, standing in the center of her living room now. She glared at her vaguely amused tormentor and snapped, “That’s pathetic! And from what I’ve heard, pathetic might just be the perfect word. All you do is try to scare your enemies, but then what? You back off and go and hide like a coward for a week or two. Why should I be afraid of someone like that?”

  His amusement seemed to fade at her words, and his thin lips curved into a severe frown. “Little girl,” he began, “you know not what you involve yourself in. Yes, I want to scare them before I kill them, but rest assured. I will kill them—all of them—and very soon.”

  “You talk like a B-movie mob boss,” Madison returned. “You know, that old guy in the chair with the ridiculous cigar who’s half in shadow. The one nobody takes seriously.”

  One eyebrow arched high on his forehead and he replied, “You think I can’t take action? You fool.” White-gold light sparked off him as he spoke, lighting his eyes and offering flickering illumination of his features. The energy traveled up his arms and circled his shoulders, crackling audibly.

  Crap, Madison cursed silently. Maybe insulting the lightning-throwing bad guy wasn’t my most brilliant idea. Could she dodge lightning? She had a sneaking suspicion she was about to find out.

  He rolled his neck, as if deliberately stalling to draw out her fear, and then the energy gathered and coiled down his right arm. Almost as if casually pointing to something of interest, he raised his arm and held his palm toward her. The crackling light allowed her to see his slowly curving smirk as he held her gaze, wanting to see her reaction. But then her remaining curtain began whipping around in a fierce wind and his arm relaxed slightly as he r
edirected his gaze up, toward something beyond her vantage point.

  Nate! Madison thought in the heartbeat before her adrenaline kicked in and she surged forward, using her opponent’s distraction to her advantage. The rock he’d thrown through her window had rolled slightly beyond the trail of glass, so she hefted it up with surprisingly little effort and cried, “Hey!” She waited only until his widened eyes snapped back to her, and then she hurled the rock forward with every ounce of power she could muster. Finally, high school baseball pays off!

  Mr. BMW pointed his arm toward the oncoming rock, the almost-faded energy sparking to life again and arching forward before flying from his fingertips. Madison threw herself back and to the side as the lightning collided with its target and the rock exploded. She landed half-behind her chair and rolled until she was entirely behind it, using it as a shield.

  It was a moment before she realized that she could hear something going on outside.

  ****

  Nate landed in time to see a flash of lightning arcing into Madison’s living room and his heart tripped. “Madison!” he cried automatically, her name tearing from his lips without thought.

  The man before him, the one they knew only as Jacob’s father, turned slowly and offered a small smirk. “Such a lovely evening, isn’t it, Nate?” he asked with an eerie nonchalance.

  Nate could feel the air around them changing drastically. The temperature was dropping and clouds were suddenly swirling overhead. But this time he was prepared. So he threw one arm out and up violently, directing a powerful gale straight up before expanding it in all directions. The gathering clouds scattered with the force of the wind.

  “Ah, yes,” the older man began, “such a pesky ability. Do you suppose I should commend you for thinking of that trick?”

  “I suppose you should leave Madison and my family the hell alone,” Nate returned harshly.