Peta (An Elemental Series Novella, 3.5) Read Online Free

would she survive me and my bad luck? Even I could admit my track record was less than stellar.
    The image of her going under the water, her blond hair sucked down and her eyes closing slammed into me like a runaway avalanche.
    One day of bonding, and the thought of losing her shook me to the core. Trembling, I stumbled into the Enders barracks. It was empty, not a single Ender walked through the training room.
    Breathing hard I searched through the various rooms, looking for Coal while my mind raced. At least I would be able to tell her the truth; the Ender she sought was nowhere to be found.
    Dirt Girl could not know how my feelings for her were growing stronger. She would use me, and leave me out on a spindly dead branch to fall from when I needed her most.
    With that firmly in mind, I headed back to the prick’s house. Curled up like children in the forest, the two of them were wrapped around each other. The innocence of how they lay struck me.
    Indeed, they were like children. Neither had even seen their first century yet, while I’d seen two and a half. If she wasn’t careful, I doubted she ever would see her first century.
    I leapt up onto the bed, and she opened her eyes. I held her gaze, hoping she couldn’t see the truth behind my words.
    “The Ender you’re looking for is nowhere to be found, Dirt Girl.” I pushed myself under her jaw, curling into the space between her chest and chin so I could rest my head in the crook of her neck. I yawned. “Perhaps he is one of the Enders you killed.”
    I knew he wasn’t but I didn’t want her to go against Coal. He was tough, even for an Ender. An idiot to be sure, but still very tough.
    The last time that someone challenged him, he’d broken their back and then thrown them into the lava. I did not want that for the Terraling.
    I’d been hoping we would sleep awhile, but Dirt Girl stood, holding me tightly to her chest.
    Prick swatted her ass.
    “Keep your hands to yourself, Prick,” I snapped, feeling more than a little protective. The last thing Dirt Girl needed was to get her heart messed with by him.
    I bared my teeth at him to make sure he got the point. No one touched my charge unless she was okay with it. Even if I wasn’t sure of her, I knew my job and what it entailed.
    As we walked, heading for Brand’s yet again, we ran into a Salamander I would have wielded the Lava Whip on myself if I could have.
    Fay had been Loam’s on again, off again girlfriend. When we’d gone to the Deep she’d taken up with his cousin.
    I shifted to my leopard form, and stepped between Fay and the Terraling.
    “I’m watching over her, Fay. Leave the Dirt Girl to me.”
    Fay let out a low laugh. “Oh, then she’ll be dead within the week. Well done, bad luck cat.” She patted my head—harder than she had to—and strolled away, still laughing. That people would think I had deliberately let my charges die . . . it was the insult of all insults.
    Dirt girl reached over and ran her fingers over my head.
    “Don’t listen to them.”
    The growl that slipped out of me was out of my control. “We are not friends, Dirt Girl. Not by a long shot. I do this because I must.” I shifted back to my housecat form and stalked away, my emotions ranging from the need to be beside her, and the desire to be away from her. To be free of watching over anyone.
    Yet I knew that at some point I would have to come to terms with what my life was. One way or another.
     
     

CHAPTER 4

     
     
    irt Girl and Cactus headed for the Pit, and of course I went with them.
    At the Pit though, things shifted yet again.
    “Lark, do not walk to the edge. Go to your belly. If you get a waft of fumes, you could pass out and fall in,” I said, a shot of worry slipping through me.
    She did as I told her, going to her belly. I clung to her back, staying with her. Where she went, I went.
    Hanging onto the edge, she peered into the pit.
    “Hypnotizing.”
    “No swimming,” I muttered softly into her