Sea Haven 02 - Spirit Bound

has no idea what he’s messing around with. Damn that man.” Because she always woke up, no matter how soft the sound in the middle of the night. “Secret recipe, my ass,” she muttered. “Who do they think they are? Sea Haven is our home. Some psycho comes here and threatens us, our men, or Jonas, we’re not little sissy girls cowering in our houses. Damn that man.”
    With each condemning word, the interior of the car pulsed with her mounting fury and terrible fear. Glass shattered on the passenger’s side.
    “Hey!” Blythe raised her voice, taking the turn into Sea Haven on two tires. “Breathe or something. Don’t destroy the car.”
    “I’m sorry,” Judith hissed, “I’m just so . . . so upset. Angry. Afraid. I have no idea what’s happening to them. Do you, Rikki?”
    Rikki rocked back and forth beneath the weighted blanket. She shook her head. “He’s telepathic, not me. I don’t know how to keep the connection if he isn’t reaching for me, not over such a distance. But I know he’s really hurt.”
    Out on the ocean, a tower of water rose, spinning, racing toward the bluffs. A second and then a third joined it. The inside of the car bulged outward. Judith gulped air, desperate to control her anger and terror. Rikki fed her and she fed the others and amplified Rikki’s fear. It was a vicious circle and she tried to concentrate on Blythe’s voice.
    “We need a plan.”
    “That plan is going to include calling Jonas,” Blythe stated, “the moment we know for certain what is going on.”
    “Agreed,” Lissa and Airiana said aloud.
    Lexi nodded her head. Rikki just rocked and stared straight ahead.
    Judith pressed her lips together. She had shared glimpses of Stefan and Levi’s childhood memories and she feared that Jonas would be out of his depth with a man as perverted and sick as Petr Ivanov.
    “We can park the car and go on foot; we’ll have more control that way,” Judith decided. “Rikki and I can locate the men and assess the situation. Call Jonas when we know if the danger is real and we’ll do our best to help them. We’ve got enough power between us, if we can keep it under control.”
    She’d never tried to weave all five elements together when she was upset and angry. She felt every bit as angry as the sea crashing against the bluffs. The street seemed completely deserted as Blythe pulled the car over on the main street of town and hastily parked.
    “Get out, all of you. And for God’s sake, Judith, try to tone it down. You’re all over the place. You’re boosting the other elements until they’re completely out of control.”
    The howling wind caught the cars doors and slammed them closed, rocking the vehicle and rushing down the empty street in a fury. A shelf cloud, ripples of various colors spread across the sky as the black, boiling clouds merged together and burst open. Torrents of water poured down, drenching the streets, pounding them in an uncompromising fury.
    Judith knew Blythe was right, but now they were all feeding one another, trading intense emotions that Judith couldn’t rein in. Rikki’s storm gripped all of them, and the sheer force of it was shocking.
    Where are you? Judith demanded, searching for Stefan.
    She reached out, pushing her spirit further than she’d ever consciously tried before. Power swept through Sea Haven, rattling windows and shaking buildings. The ground buckled.
    Judith?
    She could feel Stefan’s instant rejection, the impression of great danger, pain cut off, and fear for her. She knew at once that he was wounded. For a moment the world around her disappeared and there was only Stefan. She caught glimpses of blood, thick and congealed on his shoulder and running down his arm. Her heart stuttered in her chest and for a moment the edges of consciousness blackened. The earth buckled and a narrow crack raced down the shoulder of the street closest to the ocean.
    Oh, God, you’re hurt. Nothing else mattered. No one else mattered in that moment. She saw him and she saw her brother, fallen, bloody, lifeless.
    Thunder crashed and lightning struck the street, exploding a small shrub, setting flames dancing and blackening the earth around it. The flames should have gone out with the drenching rain, but instead, they took on a life of their own, growing and spreading until they were a long train, rushing down the middle of the street as if the water was jet fuel.
    Get out of here now. Ivanov is at his most dangerous when he’s