Fathom

Nobody expects the eldest Morrow brother to do much against a menacing magical beast. They’re about to find out how very wrong they are.

Fully human, non-magical, but Special Forces to the core…

Deke is the designated heir to an ancient legacy that he doesn’t fully understand. Being non-magical in a family of powerful water elementals hasn’t always been easy, but he loves his brothers and sister and will do anything to help them defeat the leviathan – including risk his own life to find and use a legendary magical artifact.

A wood nymph with no real idea what she is…

Magical and mysterious, Cece has lived alone on her mountaintop since she was eighteen and her parents were killed in a wreck. She doesn’t know much about the power that awakened within her, but she takes her role as guardian of her woodland home very seriously. When Deke asks to search her forest for Poseidon’s Trident, she watches from the shadows, fascinated by the most intriguing and ruggedly handsome man she’s ever met.

Together, they will end the leviathan come hell or very high water…

Pursued by enemies, they fly to Grizzly Cove, there to join forces with the others who have gathered to try to defeat the leviathan once and for all, including Deke’s entire family. He never expected to fall in love with a woman of power, but Deke knows – if he survives the battle to come – he will never love another. Cece is his fated mate, if a human can have such a thing, and he plans to ask her to marry him once the business of the leviathan is well and truly settled. With that kind of incentive, the leviathan won’t know what hit it.

As she flew lower, the storm came upon her more quickly than she expected. She was going to have to land and it looked like the circle of stones was going to be the place.
Tilly aimed with her claws and landed on the grass inside the circle, which was a lot bigger than she’d realized. She took a few stumbling steps as lightning danced in the sky. She wasn’t afraid of lighting. It was one of her powers. She could control it and send it where she wanted it to go. It could not hurt her.
The rain started in earnest a few seconds later and it was strong. Almost torrential. She hadn’t expected that, either. Today was becoming a series of strange occurrences.
As she contemplated shifting to her human form, suddenly, the rain stopped falling on her. She looked around and realized the rain was definitely still falling. Just not on her. It was as if something was shielding her, but she was standing in the open, with no perceivable cover over her. It didn’t make sense unless somehow the ring of stones itself had decided to protect her.
No. That really didn’t make sense. Tilly looked around again and stilled.
There was a man watching her. She sensed he was the one who had kept the rain from drenching her. Why? And how? What was he, a mage? She grew very still. She did not want to be trapped by some mage, forced to do who-knew-what because she’d landed in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“It’s okay,” the man said. “I’m not going to hurt you. Just thought you’d like some protection from the rain.”
He stepped farther into the circle of stones and sat down on the altar slab that was near the center. Tilly noticed that the stone dried as he sat and no rain touched him. What was he that he could control the rain to such an extent?
He sat on the altar and looked up at the clouds. Lightning danced overhead, but she wouldn’t bring it down on him. So far, he hadn’t done anything threatening.
“I like storms,” he said idly, watching the sky. “I came out here to watch it in peace. I’m sorry if I interrupted you doing the same. I’m new in town. My name is Jim.” His gaze shifted downward to her once more. “I assume you’re a shifter, though I’ve never seen one exactly like you before. I’ve known a few hawks and even worked with an owl one time in Europe, but I didn’t know there were any eagle shifters in Grizzly Cove. If you want to shift, so we can talk, feel free.”
He wasn’t a shifter. That much she gleaned from his words. Tilly didn’t really feel comfortable shifting in front of a non-shifter. Other beings got weird when you showed up naked, though most shifters just took it in stride. Yet, she would like to talk with this strange man. She looked around the empty circle to see if there was any cover she might’ve missed, but there was nothing besides the stones themselves. Hmm. Maybe…?
Tilly went behind one of the stones, standing just outside the circle and let the change come over her. He couldn’t see her, but she could be heard. She tried talking to him.
“I’m Tilly,” she told him, peeking just her head out from behind the stone. “I’m not from around here.”
He stood from the altar and started unbuttoning his shirt. She got alarmed until he spoke.
“Sorry, ma’am. I just assumed you were male. Can’t always tell with birds, you know?” He smiled as he shrugged out of a green canvas fatigue shirt that had buttons down the front. He was wearing a form-fitting tan T-shirt beneath it. “You can wear this if it makes you more comfortable.” He stepped closer to the stone and held out the green shirt at arm’s length where she could grab it.
Tilly took it, surprised by the offer, though she welcomed it. This Jim seemed a thoughtful man and his manners impressed her.
“Thank you,” she murmured as she accepted the shirt.
He walked away as she shrugged into his shirt, buttoning it up hastily before she stepped out from behind the stone. She tried really hard to ignore the delectable scent of the man that clung to his shirt. Clean, fresh and so very masculine.
His shirt fell nearly to her knees and hid the essentials. She walked into the circle, her bare feet enjoying the feel of the soft grass beneath them. Though the storm raged outside the ring of stones, inside it was dry and even the wind didn’t penetrate.
“You’re not a shifter, then?” she asked him.
He’d gone back to sitting on the altar slab. She stood in front of him cautiously, trying to gauge who, exactly, he was, and how he fit in to this surprising community. He claimed to be new in town. Why was he here? Had the wind blown him in, as it had her?
“No, ma’am. Though I have worked with the men who settled this town in the past. Often, in fact. Big John, the mayor, trained me in strategic planning and analysis. He’s one of the best in the world,” Jim told her and she heard the honest admiration for the mayor in his tone.
“I don’t know anything about this town,” she admitted. “I’ve never been here before.”
He looked at her quizzically. “Then what brought you here today?”
She gestured to the sky. “The storm. I’m a thunderbird. I go where the wind takes me.”
He seemed to think about that for a moment.
“That must make it hard to plan. You don’t know where you’ll land, do you?” he asked.
“Not always,” she admitted. “I figured I’d wait out the storm, then fly back to where I started.”
She wasn’t going to volunteer the fact that she had left her vehicle not too far away from here. She didn’t know this guy and had learned to be cautious with new people. Especially when she still didn’t know what kind of magic he wielded.
“Thunderbird, huh?” He seemed to consider her words. “That’s a Native American thing, right? I’ve heard the term, but I didn’t know that was a shifter species. I’d have guessed you were an eagle.”
She didn’t take offense at his words. His tone was merely curious, not judgmental in any way, so she decided to humor him.
“Oh, I am an eagle. A golden eagle, in fact. But my size and my beast’s spirit make me a thunderbird. I’m drawn to storms. I’m a herald of the oncoming deluge and lightning is my friend.”
She held out one hand as a flash of lightning shone overhead. She considered bringing it down to earth, but didn’t want to seem threatening to the man. So far, he’d been calm, and even considerate, with her.
He looked up at the sky and nodded. “Impressive,” he said simply. “Whereas water is my element.” He held out his own hand and a ball of water formed out of a tiny column of rain he allowed to fall, floating above his hand, swirling like the blue energy in his eyes.
She gasped. Was he an honest-to-goodness elemental? She’d never met one before, but she had heard about them. They were said to be beings of immense power over one particular element. If water was his domain, then it made total sense that he could direct it as she had seen, so far.
“You are a Water Lord?” she asked, her words a whisper of sound.
He nodded his head slightly. “And you are a Sky Lady.”