When Water Burns: A new extract.

"WHEN WATER BURNS" Book Two in the Telesa Trilogy, coming in March 2012
An extract.

"Leila! Leila, where are you?"

Daniel. He had come looking for me. Wildly I looked from Keahi in flames and back down again to my singed clothing. What to do? But it was too late to do anything because Daniel stepped into the clearing and his gaze took in everything. Keahi in full fire mode, me with charred clothing and behind me the still-burning evidence of Keahi's attack.

Daniel's reaction was instantaneous. "What are you doing? Get away from her!" Without hesitation, he charged at a fiery Keahi and tackled him with all the fury of a two hundred pound plus rugby player. Caught off guard, Keahi was knocked to the ground, his flames dimmed but still alight. Still enough to burn. Still enough to harm.

"Daniel no! Get off him." I shouted as I ran forward to try and pull Daniel away from a stunned Keahi. "What are you doing? He's burning at magma temperatures, you're going to get burned, who does that? Who tackles a fire god? Oh no…" My voice faded as the air filled with the smell of burnt cloth and burnt flesh. "Daniel! No…"
Daniel slowly raised himself to a seated position, ignoring the burns on his face, chest and arms. He shook his head at me "I'm fine. But he's not going to be by the time I'm finished with him." He pushed me aside and stood , walking over to where Keahi was pulling himself to a standing position.

Keahi saw him coming and laughed. "Oh yeah? And just what are you going to do to me?" He flexed his shoulders and lit up his hands again, summoning flame from his feet to -…But before fire could reach his upper torso, Daniel had reached him. Reached him and hit him in the face. "This." A blow so swift that I barely registered it. Fist smashed against flesh. Bone jarred against bone. Keahi's head snapped back and he fell back to the ground.

Daniel stood over him. His voice was low, venomous. "Keep away from my girlfriend. Don't ever try to hurt her again. Or I'll kill you."
Keahi lay in the dirt, all flames knocked out of him as he shook his head dazedly, bringing a hand up to wipe the trickle of blood from his cut lip. His nakedness screamed at me in the night. He made no attempts to cover up. Or to fight back. He just lay back on the ground and laughed some more. His voice dripped with satisfaction.

"I wasn't hurting her you fool. I was kissing her. And she was loving it."

Daniel didn't even blink. Didn't even entertain a question, a thought, a fleeting moment of doubt. Only shrugged dismissively and turned away, throwing back over his shoulder. "You're pathetic." His trust, his complete confidence in me, cut me with guilt. He walked over and took me gently in his arms. His voice was soft. "Hey, are you ok? Did he hurt you?"
I shook my head. "No, I'm fine." Over his shoulder I could see Keahi sitting up on the ground, staring at us with a sardonic expression. He caught my gaze and rolled his eyes, his face contemptuous. I pulled away and checked out Daniel's injuries. Blistering flesh showed through burnt patches of fabric and the skin of his forearms was burnt raw. "But you're not. Come on, lets get out of here."
He winced as I took his hand and smiled somewhat shamefacedly. "Yeah, I guess I wasn't really thinking things through." His face paled and he half-stumbled and swayed against me in the moonlight. The burn damage was starting to take its toll on him. His pain pierced me with guilt.

Who does that? Who tackles a fire god? Who reacts instantly and risks everything to protect you? A boy who loves you as much as Daniel does.