Page 171 of Elemental Becoming

“Look at me!” he orders, his hands sliding upward to cup my face. His skin burns against mine, searing and real. “Youare in control! Not the power.You!”

I shake my head, my body trembling, my veins screaming with fire and wind and light and fury.

“I—I don’t know how to stop it.”

The admission breaks something in me.

The fear. The truth. I am afraid. Afraid that I am not strong enough. Afraid that this is who I am now—nothing but power without control.

Thane’s eyes narrow, fierce and absolute.

“YES, YOU DO!” he shouts, his voice a command rather than a plea.

His presence bleeds into me, a beacon in the storm of my unraveling mind. The bond pulls taut, two hands locked together inside the gale.

I cling to it.

To him.

“BREATHE WITH ME!”

His voice booms over the howling wind, cutting through the roar of battle like a blade. His forehead presses against mine. His breath comes ragged and hot against my lips while dark strands of hair lash wildly across blood-smeared skin. There’s a gashalong his cheek, blood pooling in the hollow just below his eye. The sleeve of his tunic hangs torn where claws ripped through the fabric wrapped around his arm.

He’s bleeding.

His hands are rough, shaking slightly as he cups my face, holding me together even as the world tears itself apart around us. The Elements are a torrent inside me—wild, erratic, fighting for release.

Thane doesn’t flinch.

“YOU’RE HERE!” he shouts, his voice as fierce as the storm tearing through me. “WITH ME!”

His grip tightens, fingers threading into my hair like he’s afraid I’ll slip away. With our foreheads pressed together, I see the golden flecks in his eyes burn like embers in the darkness.

He wipes away the tears streaming down my face.

Red.

Not tears.

Blood.

Panic claws up my throat, but his voice tears through it instantly.

“Come back!” he demands, as if he can will me back by force alone. “I love you! I need you to come back to me!”

The words crash into me harder than the storm.

I love you.

Wind howls, clawing at my body.

I need you.

Fire burns, licking up my arms.

Come back to me.

The Elements rip through me, tearing me apart from the inside out.