Page 48 of Between Imminent Fates

It was another oddity. Gideon couldn’t recall a single time that Isaiah had ever consented for another person to teleport him.

He didn’t have time to dwell on it.

Key brought them to a point further up the snowy mountain, just out of reach of the sinkhole. Gideon plunged his hands back into the frozen earth, and Rona did the same beside him. They reached the sinkhole’s formation at the same time. Together, they picked apart the supporting rock that held the facility aloft.

“Hold on.”

And then, the mountains shook.

The massive building was swallowed completely in seconds. A cavernous sinkhole yawned open, dust billowing from the depths. For good measure, Gideon buried the ruins beneath a layer of rock.

As he straightened, all of them stared at the black pit. It was one more assurance that theCitizenswouldn’t win—and for the first time, he felt hope rise.

Since the moment of Key’s revelation, Gideon’s every attention had focused on preventing it. Though he wouldn’t do anything without the foreseer’s oversight, he’d slowly begun to build up his stores. Elementals could be sustained fully by their elements, but Paracel had become a haven for all types of immortals.

A tickle of electrical energy made Gideon perk. Key’s gaze was affixed on Isaiah. After a small nod, the foreseer said, “Jax and I will return to Seattle. Your work here has gone a long way toward removing the threat to our lives.”

With a flare of power, Isaiah teleported all four of them back to the dome in Paracel, the lights bright to their dark-adjusted eyes. Blinking to compensate for the change, Gideon looked at his wife.

Her grin ravished him. “I’m going to let the vampire council know we’ve succeeded. You want to come?”

“I’m going to monitor the web for any indication of the sink hole for a bit,” Gideon said, “but then I’ll be home.”

Kissing her goodbye, Gideon smiled thoughtfully as he watched Rukia and his wife head out. Isaiah had disappeared as well, which wasn’t unusual: like Gideon, the Raeth had a community to run. As he headed to his office, his thoughts turned to Paracel.

For the first time in ages, they were building new homes and expanding their footprint into the Iowa countryside. Elementals were no longer the only breed within Paracel’s borders. Aidan, the leader of the werewolf nation, had made his home with Lucy here. Zia, Jeremiah’s mate, was one of several Raeths that’d moved in. Even a vampire, one who’d elected to live outside of their race’s housing structure, had built a home here and loved the community.

It’d become a melting pot Gideon had grown to cherish.

By the time he’d sat down in the warmth of his office, he closed his eyes to contemplate what they had accomplished tonight. The four of them had played their pivotal part in the destruction of the group who’d planned on destroying immortals.

TheCitizenswould have to be oblivious to miss the impact of their moves. They would strike back, and he would be watching.

Gideon opened his eyes to a guest he did not expect.

Isaiah stood in the doorframe, silent and watchful. The Raeth sovereign hadn’t made any noise, nor had he intruded on Gideon’s thoughts. His stance was a study in patience, but Gideon knew a question hung in the air between them.

“Isaiah.” Gideon motioned to the guest chairs before him. “Come in.”

There was a moment of hesitation before the Raeth pushed off the doorframe and settled into a chair in front of Gideon. The dynamic was new; Isaiah nearly always met him on equal ground.

“I haven’t come here to monitor the news.”

“What’s wrong?”

Isaiah’s eyes held a concerning intensity. “When you become your element, what is your process?”

This wasn’t a question he’d ever expect from a Raeth. It threw him off guard. “What do you mean?”

“When you become the earth, Gideon, how do you dissolve? What do you do to return to form? How do you keep your wits about you without a tangible mind to contain them?”

“Where is this coming from, Isaiah? Should I be worried?”

“As I am not an Elemental, you have nothing to worry about.” Isaiah batted away his concern as though it were nothing more than an annoying fly.

Reclining in his chair, Gideon steepled his fingers before him. “For an Elemental, becoming their element is typically akin to true death.”

“But that’s not the case for you.”

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