Page 24 of Stormbringer (Tracthesian Academy #1)

Wave had to give it to Elena, she was excellent at causing a scene and garnering attention. It might even have stung if she gave a fuck about any of them. As long as Elena was shouting at her and Irishen, then Irishen wasn’t wandering off to cause trouble for Diana.

Elena kept spewing more of her accusations, most of them true, and Wave noticed interest in Irishen’s eyes every time she brought up one of the Powerhouses. And he still kept shielding her from Elena’s outbursts.

Why? Wave didn’t trust anything he did, however nice. Sure, she would have to act like Elena’s power was bothering her if he didn’t keep the shield up, but it just felt wrong to let him shield her in any way.

Wave let her eyes wander and noticed that pretty much all eyes in the room were on them. Someone had even turned the music down. Wave didn’t have any way of knowing when Ginny got Diana out of the blast zone, but she doubted it had happened this fast. Getting out of here wasn’t an option yet.

Elena apparently picked up on her disinterest in her ranting, because she turned toward Wave and tried to slap her. Or maybe rake her eyes out.

Wave had told Marc and Grant the truth about her poor attack qualities. She didn’t do any of it gently or small. Even while Elena’s palm approached, Wave’s own power sprang to life. Years and years and years of training had made her default power come from her stormbringer side.

While her siren part wanted to sing Elena’s mind to pieces and make her kiss Wave’s feet, her stormbringer powers preferred brute force when pressed. No single blades of grass, only avalanches.

Elena’s hand connected, and Wave punched back. Her fist sank into the woman’s stomach with an audible whomp, and then little poor Elena was flying through the room. Non-lethal force, that’s all that mattered.

Shaking out her arm, Wave touched her warm cheek but was otherwise unharmed. She, in turn, glared at the slumped figure and then at all the staring partygoers.

“Nothing to see here,” she ground out and then turned to Irishen. “I’d appreciate it if you got your girlfriend under control,” she snapped. Really, what had the little bitch thought? Did she go around slapping people all the time?

Irishen’s cool palm cradled her cheek, and she felt the little sting ease. From outside, the gesture probably looked caring and worried, but Wave could see the calculation in his eyes.

“You become more and more interesting with every passing second, morsel.”

“Not interested,” Wave said, trying to step away.

“Elena is heir apparent to the fire clan throne. You don’t seem to be any more bothered by her than you are by me. Why is that, morsel?”

“I have a thick skin?” Wave pulled her face free. “Your girlfriend is bound to get up soon. You should go check on her.”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“She seems to think otherwise.”

“She’s my betrothed, sure, but that doesn’t give her any right to dictate what I do with my time.” Irishen lifted his hand to stroke her cheek again. “I’d very much like to do you .”

“Get your fucking hands off of her, before I make you,” a voice growled, silencing the room again. Wave blinked as a furious Hellion stormed to her side and smacked Irishen’s hand away.

Where Hellion usually seemed to be full of fun, laughter, and light, he now pulsed with dark power. In a few seconds, there was plenty of space around them, and it seemed like the party was officially over. Now, this only needed the rest of the Powerhouses to be a perfect shit show.

Like her thoughts had summoned them, Hazard strolled in with a smirk on his face. Then Yash, Xuan, Sinister, and Grant. No one was breathing.

Yash gave Wave a smooth court bow. “My lady, are you in need of assistance?”

Wave waved her hand dismissively. “I’m fine. Elena was having a fit, and Irishen was just checking the damage.” Several glares turned to Elena, who was coughing and trying to find her feet on the other side of the room.

“In all honesty, I was offering to do a more thorough checkup,” Irishen said, clearly goading… everyone. “You didn’t answer me yet, morsel.”

“Why are you still talking?” Wave groaned and shook her head. “No, Risha. I’m not interested.” Wave noticed Chrissy waving in the doorway and took that as her sign that all was clear. “Anyways, boys. Not that this wasn’t fun, but I think I’m going home.”

“You bitch!” Elena’s shriek cut off Wave’s smooth exit.

She didn’t have time to brace, but she didn’t need to either.

Whatever attack Elena threw at her got blocked seven times over.

The powers crashed, and waves of their echoes rolled through Wave.

The shielding Marc and Jarred had tried to teach her would have been pretty useful right about now.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

So much power in one room, and she hadn’t been braced against it.

None of them had Jarred’s precision either, so the echoes kept bouncing at her.

They were all pretty close to Jarred’s level of power, or even stronger; she could taste the ash of hell in the mix.

So much power and all for her defense, she could appreciate their efforts despite the power building and burning up in her veins.

Wave had to bite her lip to keep her whimpering in check. She needed to get out of here, fast. Her stormbringer power was slumbering, and her siren side was perking up, curious with all the maleness around. Pangs of hunger and need threatened to wreck Wave’s body.

Out, she needed to get out .

Sinister gave her a speculative look when Wave just spun on her heels and walked out. That, more than anything, made cold shivers run down her body. It took only one of them realizing what she was to end it all.

With every step, Wave debated packing up and running. She had been so, so reckless here. Not only had she made friends and let things slip, she had… lovers. Boyfriends? Some sort of unholy attachment that could only end in tears.

So, she was leaving. Right?

And go where? Back to hiding? A little growl slipped free from her throat.

She didn’t want to go. Part of her accepted the risks, and the other part of her screamed in fury and fear.

This evening was a perfect example of how it didn’t matter how much raw power she held alone.

There would always be more than one coming after her.

There was always someone more powerful. Someone with more resources. Or someone with just better timing.

She would slip up, make a mistake eventually. If she stayed, she would have to be more careful. No more flaunting of power. No more testing the waters. She would need to figure out a way to blend in more. Keep herself under control.

Or go out with a bang. Wave snorted. The latter had always been the more likely scenario of her life. In Mother’s calculations, her going down in flames held the highest probability.