Page 11 of Echoes of Fire

“Adaptation requires time. You’ve given me nothing but vague threats and …” My gaze flicked to the bed platform, its silks shimmering with invitation.Damn it.“Theatrics.”

His nostrils flared, the piercings along his brow ridge glinting as he leaned in. “You want data, scientist?” His breath scorchedmy temple. “Your pulse is elevated. You’re sweating. And your scent …” A low growl rumbled through my shoulder where his claw brushed my tattered sleeve. “Betrays more than your words.”

I jerked back, the table’s edge biting into my thighs. “It’s about a thousand degrees in here.”

“Liar.” His tail lashed. “You reek of …” His tongue flickered out, tip grazing my collarbone. My knees almost buckled at the sensation—a thousand nerve endings igniting under that brief contact. “Curiosity.”

An echoing knock shattered the charged silence like a stone through glass. Rath’s growl vibrated through me once more as he stalked toward the door, his tail lashing a warning pattern against the tiles. I sagged against the table, my fingers trembling as I pressed them to the spot his tongue had touched—skin still buzzing as though he’d branded me with electricity.

He wrenched the door open with a snarl. “This is not?—”

Terra stood framed in the archway, her green eyes sharp as broken bottle glass. She didn’t flinch at Rath’s bared fangs, her gaze sliding past him to lock onto me before she pushed past him and entered the room. “You’re alive. Good.”

I straightened, tugging my shredded sleeve over the scratch marks on my arm. “Mostly.”

Rath tried to further block her path, wings flaring. “Leave.”

“I just spent a half hour listening to my mate describein detailwhat he plans to do to you. Do not test me right now.” Terra cocked her hip, hand resting near the plasma pistol at her thigh. “We need to talk.”

The standoff crackled—two predators sizing each other up. I edged around the table, hyper aware of Rath’s scales flushing crimson along his spine.

“It’s fine,” I said.

His claws flexed. “She’s?—”

“My friend. Let her in.”

Rath’s pupils narrowed to slits, but he stepped aside with a hiss that made the heat crystals dim. Terra strode in, her boots leaving ashen prints on the polished stone.

“Cute love nest,” she said, surveying the weapon-lined walls. “Very … dungeon-core chic.”

I choked back a laugh. “He’s going for murderous hermit aesthetic.”

Rath made a rumbling sound in the back of his throat. “As I said, this mating was unplanned.”

I looked over at my … mate. The word felt strange in my head. “Can we have some privacy?”

He opened his mouth, and I could almost hear the denial. Then he nodded. “Anything for you,shyrarva.I shall go see that your things are moved here.”

“Don’t call me that.” But I was speaking to his retreating wings and then the closed door.

That left Terra and I alone.

“So they’re all like that,” she muttered. “Karyseth’s work?” she asked, nodding towards my torn shirt. Her voice stayed neutral, but the set of her jaw betrayed her anger.

“Priestly hospitality.” I forced a smile, leaning into the familiar routine of banter—Terra’s no-nonsense words, the faint citrus scent of her soap. Grounding. Human.

She clicked her tongue. “I expect Selene will be breaking down that door as soon as she hears. You’ve still got cracked ribs that never fully healed. And this—” Her fingers brushed the crescent marks on my wrist where Rath’s claws had gripped too tight. “The Drakarn aren’t gentle, even when they try. I don’t like this.”

I stared at the wall of weapons, their edges catching the light in prismatic shards. “It kept me breathing.”

“For now.” Terra stepped back, her gaze sharp as a scalpel. “It wasn’t just Rath that Darrokar was yelling about. This situation with the Forge Temple could get bad. Some on the council are far more sympathetic than they are to us.” Her tone softened. “He called youshyrarva. That’s a mating name; he spent time thinking about it. Whatever’s going on with him?—”

The alien word prickled my skin like sunburn. “It’s just part of the act.”

“You think this is an act? Is that what he said?” She launched herself up so she was sitting on Rath’s—our?—table.

“You think he’s for real?”

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