to do so.
Gabby had no idea how long she let herself fall apart. Eventually, out in the open of the training field, exhaustion allowed her to escape her agony, and the oblivion of sleep overtook her.
Chapter 1
Liam's gut hadn’t stopped churning since the moment he’d watched Gabby leave through a portal to head back to Crimson Academy. It was irrational, but he had wanted to grab her by her sexy pigtails and pull her back to him. There was a part of him that knew she belonged by his side. The thought of her out of his sight, let alone thousands of miles away at her own academy, made him crazy. It didn’t matter that she was really just a portal away. It still felt too far.
He’d not slept longer than two hours the entire night. He wasn’t sure when he’d see Gabby again. With the new information they had received from the royal elementals concerning the witches and demons plotting against them, and the earth plunging into a freaking ice age, he wasn’t sure if the inter-academy training would continue. And if it did, would they still meet at Terra Academy? Would he still see her during the training sessions?
Liam was pretty sure if the answer to those questions was no, then he was going to be raising some serious hell over it. The moment he’d laid eyes on Gabby, he’d known there was something different about her. He’d never reacted to a girl the way he was reacting to her. It wasn’t just that she was beautiful, hot as hell, feisty, and crazy. It was something more. When he was around her, he felt complete, whole, and settled.
The craziest part was that he hadn’t even realized something was missing, at least not consciously. He’d always been restless, but he’d just tossed that up to having a touch of ADHD. It was his personality type to stay on the move, constantly doing something. Did he like stirring up a bit of mischief? Absolutely. Life was too short to be boring. But until he’d met Gabby, he hadn’t realized that none of that stuff really satisfied him. He just yearned for more as soon as the high wore off. Now, his restlessness came from an entirely different sort. A girl—one single girl—was causing his distress, and that’s where things took a turn for ‘what-the-hell-ville.’
He dressed quickly for the day, knowing he and the others would meet for breakfast. How the hell he was going to keep from teasing Ra and Elias, he had no clue. The fact that they’d gotten some lovin’ had him seriously jealous. He prayed to Mother Gaia that Gabby would be there. Liam was desperate to see her again, even if she wouldn’t look at him or only gave him scathing remarks. He didn’t care. He’d take any crumb she graced him with. He’d wear her down eventually. It might take some time, but he could learn to be patient. Especially if she was what he suspected—his soul bonded. How in the seven levels of hell had he managed to get a soul bonded? He certainly didn’t deserve one, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Sporting his school-issued training uniform, he descended the stairs to Hydro Academy’s training rooms. There, a portal that had been set by the professors for those students training at Terra Academy awaited him. He went through and headed for the dining hall of Terra Academy, the school for earth elementalists. He figured if he wasn’t supposed to be there, an oh-so-helpful professor would let him know.
Liam didn’t see his crew, so he took a seat at a table and waited. He forced himself to sit still. He tried talking himself out of teasing Tara and pissing off Elias. It was a tossup who would win: the devil on his left shoulder or the angel on his right.
Shelly tried not to blush as she stood in Ra’s dorm room, waiting on the clothes he’d gone to retrieve for her. She didn’t know if she’d ever be able to look at him again and not feel her skin heat with embarrassment. She knew that he knew … well … everything. At least about her body anyway. And as awkward as that was, she didn’t regret it at all.
Last night had been the most amazing night of her life, and she’d felt his emotions for her. She knew his love and adoration were real. She knew he found her