Page 31 of Wildfire Witch

An odd sound rose from her chest, like the humming of something vibrating inside her ribcage. My possessive rumble hit the same frequency, droning on in harmony.

“Wow,” I agreed, riding out the instinctive pressure to fuck and claim her before we left. I still needed to build her a nest and give her a feast, then we could skip the whole fight for dominance part—I would clearly win, after all—and get straight to knowing one another in a tangle of limbs.

My imaginings were interrupted again, this time not by my rational side. I think all the bits of me that were human and sensible were melted into slag the moment Nix kissed me. No, the moment ended when a pair of shifter recruits rounded the corner of the hallway and spotted us.

I lifted my head, my growl becoming a dangerous warning. I knew these two morons, unfortunately, and they could barely tell their asses from their heads. How they survived first initiation was a mystery. One lifted his hand, jabbing a finger in accusation. “Get away from her!” he called, voice full of a lot more anger than he had any right to feel.

“What are you two doing here?” I demanded.

The second man grabbed the first’s arm, making the universal gesture for ‘let me handle this.’

“We’re, uh, here to take Nix to the boss. Just pass her to us and we’ll be on our way,” he said.

I pushed her behind me, scales rippling up to form iron plates over my body. These two chucklefucks picked the wrong time to attempt to separate a dragon from his treasure. I bared my fangs as my tail burst into existence and finished my half-shift. “Like fuck you are,” I rumbled, preparing to slaughter them both for daring to think they would deliver Nix to an execution.

NIX

That kiss.Wowbarely covered the feeling tingling in my chest. Part of that was Aodhnait, gloating that we’d found a third man with an interest in me. And what a man. His dragon form was dense with the earth element, and I’d sensed the earth in me dancing harmoniously with the motes coming off of him when he was partially shifted. But when we kissed—that dancing magic became a shimmer of energy and potential zinging through every inch of my body.

Like called to like, a common theory for a shifter’s fated mate. In the time of my first life, how the instant and mind-obliterating attraction to another person on sight worked dwelled in the realm of speculation. With Rusty and me, the theory was correct. Our connection was elemental. Even now, I craved more of him.

“We have air, water, and earth. Everything we need to complete a ritual to separate us,”Aodhnait said.

I bit into my bottom lip. If—when—I saw Ceridor again, I’d have to explain why I was bringing another person into our marriage.The stars and prophecy had led him to Seth, but it was pure luck and fate that’d gotten me Rusty.

Too bad he was a fire bro. Yeah, he could say he worked for the government or whatever, but that was a too-convenient excuse. Rusty had to switch sides if he wanted to protect me. At some point he’d believed in something about the fire bros, enough to sit for the tattoo. It was bright against the black designs that sleeved his arms, brand new and healed cleanly.

“I still think he’s telling the truth,”Aodhnait interjected.

I made a soft sound of annoyance, not wanting to debate with her right now. I loved her, but I had not forgiven her for forcing my hand earlier. My thoughts were cut off by a more brutal growl as Rusty turned away from me to bare his teeth at a pair of shifters who were coming down the hall toward us.

One of them pointed angrily at Rusty. “Get away from her!”

The dragon shifter’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. “What are you two doing here?” he asked.

“We’re, uh, here to take Nix to the boss. Just pass her to us and we’ll be on our way,” the other shifter said. My heart dropped in my chest, and I turned to see Rusty’s reaction.

This was the real moment of truth for him. Would he hand me over to Lance and prove he was a true fire bro, or would he betray the gang? He was already in motion, taking on a partial shift to gain the scaly armor and long tail of a half-dragon. His workout clothes tightened with the extra bulk, the seams practically groaning.

Rusty nudged me behind him and took an aggressive stance. “Like fuck you are,” he said in a dragon’s deep boom.

The first shifter sighed and reached behind him, producing what looked like a tree branch pruned of its smaller limbs and leaves. He drew breath to speak, but Rusty took an impossibly long leap and hurtled straight toward him, claws extended to kill.

With the grace of a dancer, that shifter sidestepped and swept his branch downward to hook Rusty’s ankle, attempting to trip him. He stumbled, correcting quickly with the aid of his tail. I didn’t realize what was happening until the shifter spun the branch in an all too familiar way and said something to Rusty a little too quietly for me to hear from here.

The dragon roared, shaking the ground with his furious response. “Yourwife, shit stain? Impossible. That’smymate!” Rusty charged and his opponent dodged again. He slammed his hand into a bar of the nearest cell, rattling it.

While they fought, the other shifter made a mad dash toward me. “Seth?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t wrong.

“Yes, and that’s Ceridor with a death wish. C’mon, we have the car running. This way!” He grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the two fighting men.

“We have to take the earthen dragon with us,” I said.

“Wehaveto?” he echoed with reluctance.

The dusty air was starting to swirl around Ceridor’s glamored form. He faced down Rusty without a hint of fear, even when his blades and razors of sharpened air either slid right off his dragon scales or only left chips in the dark brown armor.

Rage had taken the shifter completely. His mouth was open to display an impressive amount of fangs, his slitted eyes narrowed to furious lines as he aimed every blow to kill.

---