At first Nick saw nothing along the stretch of Ritchie Highway. He peered into the darkness, looking for Quinn, finding only trees. Down the road a bit, the Jiffy Lube sign threw light into space, but here it was pitch-black. He rolled down the window to listen, but the diesel engine made that impossible.

Worry danced with exasperation in his head. It had taken him only ten minutes to get here from Adam’s apartment, but that felt like a long time when you were hiding from Tyler Morgan. He knew from experience.

What had she been doing with Tyler, anyway? He’d just seen her two hours ago! Safe at home!

Just when he was about to turn off the truck to go looking, Quinn burst through the trees into the path of his headlights, lit up like a beacon.

Her legs were scratched to hell, long stripes of red crisscrossing her thighs. But more concerning was the bruise on her jaw, cut through by one long scratch that was still bleeding. Her eyes were red and tear-filled.

Then she was out of the light and climbing into the truck.

Fury stole Nick’s exasperation. “Jesus, Quinn, are you okay?”

“Do I look okay?”

“No! Did Tyler hit you? I’m taking you to the cops—”

“I’m not going to the cops.” Quinn flung her tangled blond hair back from her face. “Drive, Nick, all right? Drive the fucking truck.”

He took a long breath and blew it out through his teeth. She punched him in the arm. Hard. “Drive!”

He shifted into gear. “You want to tell me what happened?”

“No.”

Nick listened to the air threading through the cab, cataloging her injuries as his element fed information to him. Mostly cuts and bruises, nothing more serious than that.

As he thought it, his senses picked up on something else, an unnatural heat making the air jitter around her.

She was cradling her arm.

“He burned you?” Nick asked.

“How did you know that?”

“It’s his MO. He’s a Fire Elemental. I’ve felt the effects before.” More than once, too. Tyler and his best friend Seth used to wait to trap Nick alone. They’d pin him down and threaten to burn his skin off, knowing Nick wouldn’t use his abilities to stop them.

Only they didn’t always stop at threats.

Nick should have let him suffocate in the driveway.

“Fire, like Gabriel?” Quinn snorted. “Why is that not surprising? They should just burn the crap out of each other.”

“Not like Gabriel. Nowhere near as strong. Give me your hand.”

“He seemed plenty strong to me.” But she held out her hand, snatching it back at the last moment when he went to take it. “Don’t touch it, okay? It hurts like a bitch.”