Fearless

By Brigid Kemmerer

Being a force of nature doesn't keep you safe.

Hunter Garrity is used to watching his back. The kids at school sense something different about him. And they're right.

Hunter has powers that have nothing to do with how hard he can throw a punch.

Maybe that's what Clare Kasten is picking up. She's shy, quiet, and intense, but she's sought him out. There's no telling what she wants from him.

But Hunter knows enough to sense a secret when it's close. And getting close to Clare is a danger he's ready to face. . .

"Plenty of romance and non-stop action. . ..Elemental is the new series to watch." --Inara Scott, author of The Marked

Praise for Brigid Kemmerer and The Elemental Series

"Magic, suspense, and enough twists to keep you reading until sunrise. An incredible start to the series!" --Award winning author Erica O'Rourke

"Overflowing with action, snappy dialog, and hot guys--The Elemental Series will take your breath away." --Kim Harrington, author of Clarity

Brigid Kemmerer finds time to write between her family and her day job, but sometimes she ends up mothering her coworkers and managing her family.

11,000 Words

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kensington Books
• Release date: Aug 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9780758285522

Brigid Kemmerer

Brigid Kemmerer is the author of the New York Times bestseller Defy the Night, the New York Times bestselling Cursebreaker series, which includes A Curse So Dark and Lonely, A Heart So Fierce and Broken, and A Vow So Bold and Deadly, and Forging Silver into Stars. She has also written the contemporary young adult romances Call It What You Want, More Than We Can Tell, and Letters to the Lost, as well as paranormal young adult stories, including the Elemental series and Thicker Than Water. A full-time writer, Brigid lives in the Baltimore area with her family. www.brigidkemmerer.com @BrigidKemmerer

Book preview

Page

C

HAPTER

1

Hunter Garrity ducked behind a copse of trees and waited. The last week of school, and those jerks were still pulling this crap.

He held his breath and listened. Nothing.

But someone was still back there. He could feel it. He’d been feeling it the entire walk home, but sometime during the last fifteen minutes, they’d drawn close.

They’d never be able to wait him out. He knew that from experience. He had patience in spades and could sit here all night, letting the air and the earth feed him information. His talents weren’t strong enough to demand answers from the elements—yet—so he had to wait, to pay attention to what they were willing to offer.

But if he missed dinner again, his dad would be pissed.

A branch snapped underfoot about twenty feet behind where he was hiding.

Hunter eased out a breath and waited. Another branch, a rustle of leaves.

It seemed like one person, which was surprising. None of them ever had the guts to face him alone—not anymore, anyway. Freshman year, sure, before he’d come home with one bruise too many and his father had taught him to put up a fight.

This year had started differently. Jeremy Rasmussen had been the first one to find out the hard way. On the second day of school, he’d walked into the boy’s bathroom and slammed Hunter face-first into the tile wall.

Hunter had slammed him face-first into a mirror.

Jeremy had earned a broken nose, stitches across one cheek, and a chipped tooth. Hunter had earned two days’ suspension and some greater regard from his classmates.

But they didn’t leave him alone, though they wouldn’t mess with him at school. No, now his walk home was a challenge. A gauntlet. They kept coming up with more creative ways to screw with him.

He kept coming up with more creative paths to travel.

Like this afternoon. He’d turned his walk from one mile to three, cutting through the dairy farm at the end of his road, easing between fence boards until he reached the acre of corn that led to the woods backing his parents’ property.

Just because he could fight didn’t mean he wanted to.

The crunching underbrush stopped, but Hunter couldn’t look without giving away his hiding place. He held his breath again, wondering what their weapon would be this time. Bricks? A two-by-four? Once they’d actually thrown cow manure at him. Idiots. Maybe one day they’d shock him with something effective.

He let a breath out, drew one in, and held it.

Another step, another snap of underbrush. A breeze kicked up and whistled through the leaves overhead, whispering across his cheeks. He focused, waiting for information about his pursuer, but the wind cared for nothing more than the sunlight and the trees. He touched his fingers to the ground, and the earth confirmed it was one person.

One person, drawing close.

Hunter braced himself. Time slowed down, an eternity passing before the next crunch of leaves.

His eyes registered movement beyond the edge of the trees, and then he was all motion. When he fought, his brain tracked the activity like stop-action photography. The toe of a boot, a denim-covered knee, a powder-blue shirt, a flash of brown hair. His arm, flying out to block any weapon. His leg, hooking an ankle to bring his attacker to the ground. A gasp and a shriek and an oof.

And a bright pink backpack, sailing through the air to land somewhere nearby. Papers fluttered into the wind and scattered.

Pink.

He stared down at the person he’d pinned. Clare?

Ow. She grimaced and put a hand to her head. Strands of her hair were tangled in the dead leaves littering the ground. That kinda hurt.

Clare Kasten was in his fourth-period government class. Cute, in a gentle way,

Reviews for Fearless

[amdrane2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A book about firefighters that actually has them working fires and doing work at the firehouse. It also has the romance I need in a story, so it was a perfect blend of the two. I'll definitely be reading more by this author.Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

[candyh_64 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of Anna and Christina, Mandy, Jen and Mona, and Ryan. I’ve read most things Fern Michaels has written and this just wasn’t as good as her books usually are. It was hard to follow in the beginning but got some better with continued reading.