Page 33 of Wildfire Witch

I smiled despite our surroundings. “You just have to be yourself. I haven’t had a man interested in me in…” Far too long. I’d spent lifetimes without attracting the male gaze, most of the times purposefully because of my volatile magic.

But looking back with a new perspective, I missed it. Ceridor had awakened me to the pleasures of being in a man’s arms, and that’d been stolen from me. Another injustice inflicted by the curse.

Seth’s responding smile was gentle. “Well, I’m really interested. Just putting it out there.” He ran his fingers over my cheek and I leaned into his touch.

“Even with two other men around?” I asked.

Somehow, I had three men now, if we could escape this facility intact. If I hadn’t completely forgotten how to please a partner,I was eager to explore the connections between us. For pleasure, certainly, but also to see if I could borrow icy air from Ceridor, cool water from Seth, and moldable earth from Rusty. Attraction met the promise of relief and experimentation in my hopeful headspace.

“Yeah, I learned how to share a long time ago, and I’ve known that I would cross paths with you for most of my life. I know it’s still kind of weird, but I came to accept that you would be mine and I’m going to do everything in my power to make it so. Though I’m getting the feeling I should get some real combat training.”

I nodded slowly in understanding. The sounds of fighting were dying down, now that he mentioned it. I crouched to take a look. Between them, Rusty and Ceridor had left bodies strewn across the corridor and were still going. Some shifters were in the process of retreating, cowering away from the angry dragon. Others threw themselves at Ceridor, sensing an easy target and getting eviscerated by near-invisible blades for the mistake.

“We can probably make a run for it,” I told Seth.

He took a peek too and made a sound of agreement. “Probably smart, before they get reinforcements.”

We stepped into the corridor after a couple of false starts. I waited until the ringing in my ears died down from the last gunshot and stepped carefully over fallen fire bros.

Rusty noticed us first, turning green-brown dragon eyes my way. “Hey, wind guy. We’re moving,” he called.

Ceridor glanced back in a flash of silver before knocking down the remaining fire bros with a low sweep of his staff. Rumbling, Rusty pounced on the downed men and killed them as efficientlyas a hunter with his prey. He was covered in blood, soaking through the scraps of clothing still desperately clinging to the thick ripples of his scale-covered muscles. Though he breathed heavily, it didn’t seem like any of that blood was his. Earthen dragon scales were next to impossible to pierce, it seemed.

Falling into step with us, Ceridor kept his staff in motion and limped along from an injury hidden under his full-body glamor. Wind cycled around us, pulling at my hair and clothes. “Are you all right?” I asked with hushed urgency.

“Just a flesh wound, my firefly. What of you?” It was odd to have a stranger look at me with the same unshakeable devotion that Ceridor reserved for me. I missed his true form and its devastating fae beauty.

“Fine. Better than expected,” I answered dryly. There hadn’t been time yet for the needles, pain, and death I associated with the fire bros. “Thank you for rescuing me.”

“I had it handled,” Rusty said over his shoulder, his voice a low grumble. “You two are the reason this has become so bloody.”

Ceridor turned his head to snub him. “I will always come for you. Your enemies are mine and I shall not rest until you’re free of pursuit,” he said to me.

My heart quivered in my chest. “Let’s just settle with free from my curse. I need all three of you for that.”

“Anything you need,” Rusty said.

“Glad to help,” Seth added.

And Ceridor added, with a gleam of obsession in his eyes, “Always.”

After so long on my own, except for Aodhnait, I was so grateful for their support that it bordered on uncomfortable. My ultimate fate rode on their shoulders and twined with their intentions. I felt myself redden as I mumbled an inadequate, “Thanks.”

Rusty hushed us as we entered another corridor, winding toward the promise of freedom and the warm glow of sunlight. We reached a bay of windows and he muttered a curse.

“What is it?” I whispered.

“There’s a group still heading out to back up a mission,” he whispered back. He pointed a claw at a distinctive figure in the middle of the parking lot. Lance Drakkon himself, waving vehicles on while speaking animatedly into a phone on his ear. I ducked out of sight once I realized who he was, and the men joined me. “He’s going to know we killed everyone back there. We have to leave now.”

“My car’s right there on the curb,” Seth said.

“Ever drive down an earthen dragon tunnel?” Rusty asked.

Seth blinked. “Uh, no.”

The shifter rubbed his temples. “At least tell me you backed into the space.”

“Oh, yeah, definitely. We expected to be tearing out of here.”

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