Page 59 of Surge of Fire

He stiffens beside the fireplace and looks back at me with such desire that I actually take a step toward him. To my surprise, he rises and takes a step toward me, too. A weird pulling urges me to come closer to him, but the strength of it is enough to send me sprinting away to the bathroom.

It’s a small room, but I don’t care. Just closing the door between us makes it easier to breathe. And harder. I miss him.The pulling feeling inside of me grows more intense, and I grit my teeth, trying to ignore it.

I start stripping, then turn on the water. It’s freezing cold, but I step eagerly beneath the spray. It hits me like chunks of ice, and my teeth instantly start chattering. I’ve never liked the cold.

The water warms with time. Not very much, but enough to make it more bearable, and I take advantage of the shampoo and conditioner and scrub my hair and my body until I start to feel clean for the first time in what feels like a lifetime. No doubt the standard products will make my hair even frizzier and more wild than usual, but I can’t bring myself to care about it.

I also unbind the bandages on my leg. To my surprise, the wound is gone. All the little wounds, too. I’m starting to think something about shifting helps us heal. Why? I don’t have a clue.

When I’m done, I dry myself with the towel, then step in front of the mirror and stare in shock. Shifting the necklace from the professor around, I stare at the marks on my neck. They’re dark.Fardarker than I ever imagined. And they’re quite obviously caused by someone’s mouth. I feel embarrassed as I turn around and see the bite mark on my back. It wasn’t quite enough to break the skin, but it’s definitely going to be sticking around for a while.

Unless my shifter abilities hide it. But it seems the marks aren’t seen as an injury to my shifter body. Damn weird dragon physiology.

I don’t know what to do. Looking at my crumpled pile of clothes, I loathe the idea of putting them back on.There has to be some clothes here.

Picking up the pile, I open the door and head out. I forget, if only for a moment, about Evander. Unfortunately, the instant I step out of the door, I smell him, stronger than ever before. He smells like himself, but also like sex, and me. It’s so strong, and so obvious, that I feel a wave of embarrassment.

His gaze finds me as he sits by the fire, apparently having built it up to roaring flames. He unfolds himself from the floor and rises, walking toward me. That pulling feeling intensifies, and I feel a flash of anger that my instinctual desires seem to be warring with what I actually want.

“How long do you think it’ll take for these marks to fade?” I ask, pointing to my neck.

He frowns. “Why would you want them to fade?” He seems to read me like a book. “The non-boyfriend?” I can see his mind working. “Are either of these ‘friends’ we’re going to save your non-boyfriend?”

I want to say something clever. Instead, my mouth opens and nothing comes out.

And, oh man, he’s pissed. “Figures. Fucking figures.” There’s a flash of something dangerous in his gaze. “If we save these assholes, you better bet that neither of them are touching you.”

What the hell gives him the right…?“You don’t get to tell me anything.”

His jaw tics. “You’re a dragon. A dragon who is probably going to keep being hunted by that green dragon unless we get help from Specter Inc. and find a way to dull your scent. What possible future do you think you have with this man? He’s a human. He can’t be a part of your future. You have to understand that, right?”

“You don’t understand anything.”He’s my family.

He draws himself up taller. “Specter Inc. is a good place in every way. It’s actually beautiful. The compound is huge, overlooking the ocean. And there’s this incredible beach you can walk on nearby. You’d like it. It’d make a nice home.”

“Sounds lovely,” I tell him dryly.

He runs his hand angrily through his hair. “Is your problem with Specter Inc. or me?”

“Both,” I admit without hesitation.

I don’t trust the company, and I don’t trust him.

“Well, this might be hard to hear, but you don’t have a lot of choice on either front. Not only did you give your word to return to Specter Inc with me, it’s the only place with the knowledge and resources to help you.”

“The Phoenix Institute could help.” I didn’t think before I spoke, but now I wonder why I hadn’t thought of this before. Dragons aren’t their specialty, but they’re geniuses. They could help me with this.

Maybe.

He smirks, and I get the feeling I’m not going to like what he has to say. “Specter Inc.fundsthe Phoenix Institute. Working with them is basically working with Specter Inc.”

I’m shocked. “They do? I don’t remember ever seeing their name on any of the paperwork I signed when joining their summer program.”

His eyes widen and sweep over me. “You’re one of their nerdy scientist students. I wouldn’t have figured that.”

I cross my arms in front of my chest and lift my chin. “Damn right I am. Not that any of that matters.”

His gaze holds mine. “You’re right. No matter who you are, we need to go to Specter Inc. That’s that. And as far as you and I… you’re a female dragon. I’m a male dragon. We can’t possibly have other partners now that we know what we are. Besides all that, we clearly want to be together, so you’re fighting this just to cling onto a life you no longer have.”

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