Page 45 of Wildfire Witch

“Wow. Seth hit you with thestrongstuff,” I remarked. “Do you remember fighting a dragon yesterday?”

He shook his head no, now looking in my general direction with all the love and devotion of a puppy. “You feel colder than usual. Are you catching ill?”

“No, I’m fine,” I promised him. My teeth sank into my bottom lip as I hesitated, grappling with a sudden wave of guilt for what I’d done while he was unconscious in the next room over. “I bonded with Seth. His water cooled me down.”

I braced myself for his reaction, but he didn’t have any kind of outburst. Instead, he continued to smile sweetly as he said, “Oh, good. I approve of Seth. If any other man tried to fuck you, I’d rotisserie his liver and make him eat it.”

There was a draconic snort behind me.

“Oh, um.” Not even pain meds could dull his intensity. Wow. “What about Rusty?” I asked for his benefit.

“I’m not sure about him. Perhaps I’ll find you another earthen dragon with a smaller ego,” Ceridor mused.

“Good luck with that!” Rusty called.

The fae blinked sluggishly. “Have I told you I love you very, very much, Ver?”

“I love you too, Cer.”

I was sitting by his bedside, reassuring him it was alsovery, very muchfor the depths of my devotion, when Seth arrived with the medical bag. I got out of the way and hovered in concern, watching Seth check the bite wounds and burns. The green witch blessed burn salve had already done its job, removing any sign that he’d been charred in Benedict’s mouth. But the sealed crescent of fang punctures on either side of his torso promised to leave over a dozen gnarly scars.

For a wind fae who fought with agility and precision, this would slow him down significantly. I wrung my fingers, knowing he would not be so happy-go-lucky when he woke for real and brought up Benedict’s knowledge of Spells Hollow.

“Just blame me. You know it’s my fault,”Aodhnait whispered.

“Your words, my actions. We are both at fault together,”I said.

Benedict would’ve come for us regardless, but now Lance and the rest of the fire bros would also head to Spells Hollow. I’d put all of us in danger by revealing our destination to my worst enemies. And I hadn’t even mentioned it to the guys yet.

A warm hand landed on my shoulder. “Hey. Want to get breakfast?” Rusty asked. Seth was helping Ceridor to the shower, to clean his wounds again more thoroughly.

“Let’s get it to-go,” I suggested. “There’s, um, something you should know.”

Once Rusty heardthe news that the fire bros knew where we were headed, he agreed to a quick in-and-out at the closest house of breakfast foods. He didn’t seem to blame me for the circumstances, at least, which I appreciated. While we stood waiting for our order to be made, he put his arms around me and tucked me to his front, leaning down to sniff my hair.

“What are you doing?” I murmured.

“Sorry. Too much?” Since we were in public, he kept his dragon to a subtle rumble in my ear.

There was a hint of strain on his face. He might’ve been clenching his jaw under the full beard he was growing in. Unlike Seth, who’d trimmed his facial hair before bed, Rusty was letting his go. It grew in evenly, black and thick, and I had to admit, I really liked it.

“Touching this much is a shifter thing?” I asked in a low voice. I didn’t mind it when he was warming the chill off my skin.

He nodded, nuzzling into my crown to get another good smell. “It soothes my animal side. It’s going a little crazy, leaving you unclaimed and sharing you with two other men,” he whispered. “Most shifters mate with other shifters and tumble straight into bed. This much uncertainty is…I mean…I’m not usually like this. I’m a gentleman, I promise.”

“You mean, you will be once we bond?”

He tightened his lips to hold in all but the vibrations of an eager growl. “Exactly, mate.” I barely hid the shiver that coursed down my spine from the promise in those two words.

We returned with breakfast for everyone. Seth picked up on the mood and ate quickly, while Ceridor struggled to chew, but did so through sheer willpower. By the sluggish way he moved, it wouldn’t be too long before he was unconscious again.

He managed the walk to the car and half a glamor. His magically blunted ears were uneven, and his hair more silver than blond, but we got him tucked in the backseat before he slumped back and snoozed. “We’re taking turns driving today,” Rusty said as he got into the front passenger’s seat and held his arms out to me. Seth responded with a noncommittal noise.

There really wasn’t another place for me in the car, with a pile of bags in the back next to Ceridor. I sat in Rusty’s lap and held still while he threaded the seatbelt around us both. Once Seth had the car in motion and followed the navigation’s instructions to get his way overburdened car on a main road, he cast a curious glance over at us. “I’d say where’s the fire, but you’re holding her,” he said, only half-joking.

Rusty rubbed up and down my arms. “Fire’s pretty chilled today,” he replied with the same energy.

“The fire bros know where we’re going,” I blurted. It felt good just to get it out there in the open.

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