Page 37 of Watch Me Burn

“I do.”

“Mm.”

There’s that scowl again. “You don’t trust me.”

He actually sounds a little hurt at the revelation. Because of that, I try not to be rude when I remind him, “I barely know you.”

For a moment, I get the feeling he’s going to just huff, say ‘fuck it’, and pick me up before throwing me over his shoulder. He’s big enough. Probably strong enough, too. Considering how quickly shifters seem to heal, I can burn his back and he’d probably just shake it off if it meant he could carry me back to Dyea.

No wonder Thorn didn’t seem worried about me using my magic on him. Either I couldn’t, or I did and the flames barely affected him. It’s not silver, after all. Decapitation is the only true way to kill a vampire—and a shifter, too, I’m guessing—but if they’re incapacitated with silver first, it’s a whole lot easier to go for their head.

Fire? I can incinerate a human. If I kept the flames burning long enough to combat a super’s regenerative property, I might be able to separate their head from their necks eventually. But since I don’t want tokillConall for the sole crime of annoyingme, I do everything I can to contain my fire magic even as he eyes me with a speculative look.

And then he does the last thing I expect him to do: he sighs.

“Fine. But wait for me.”

“What?”

“You heard me. If you’re heading down to the caves, I’m coming with you.”

“Conall—”

“Don’t go anywhere,” he growls. “I’ll be right back.”

Before I can tell him not to bother, Conall turns around, giving me a good look at his sculpted back and a tight ass—that I’m only checking out because of the burn, of course—before he launches forward, shifting back to his wolf in a snap.

He disappears into the woods, leaving me standing there, clutching my map in my hand.

My map…

I wait until I’m sure he’s far enough not to wheel back around and stop me from doing what I want. Then, wiggling the fingers on my free hand, testing for that weird tingle that warns me a threat is around, I decide I’m good.

Wait for him?

No, thanks.

I have a mystical crystal to find.

I can admitwhen I’m wrong. It isn’t often, but when I screw up, I can say so.

I’m doing that right now.

I have the map. I should’ve realized that, considering how long it took me to find the entrance to the caves in the first place, it might not be all that easy to maneuver through the caves. Onthe plus side, I conjured some fire around my hand to act like a flashlight on the first try, no fear or anger necessary. I just wanted fire, it was there, and I thought my success was a good omen for finding the fire opal.

If only.

So I have no clue what I’m doing. The caves are cold, much colder than I expect, and the darkness is consuming wherever my fire doesn’t touch. It’s dank. Musty. I start wondering what kind of critters and creepy crawlies might be hiding out underground with me, and I’m glad that I can’t really see more than a few feet in front of me.

It’s quiet, too. So quiet, it’s almost stifling. I have this urge to yell out just to hear a sound, but then I remember the critters and the creepy crawlies and I keep my trap shut.

One hand holds the fire. The other keeps the map up by my face. I should’ve brought a pen or something to help mark my path, but I didn’t, and I’m lost almost immediately.

I’m not too worried about that. This cave system is small compared to the biggest ones in the world. Instead of a couple of hundred miles long, the one hidden beneath Dyea is maybe two or three miles, max. It’s why no one except for the witches and the locals even know it’s here, and since it’s near enough to the sanctuary’s borders, I don’t think any of the nearby humans are aware it exists.

I’ll find my way back out. If I don’t, at least two people know where I’ve gone: Conall and Elise. Elise will never leave me in the dark to rot, and if I’ve learned anything about the wolf shifter, it’s that he’d come after me himself if only to lecture me for not doing what he was told.

It’s an observation based on everything I’ve learned about him since we met, and I probably should’ve given myself more credit for how perfectly I got a read on him because it isn’ttwenty minutes after I accepted I was lost that the air shifts, and someone grabs me near my waist.

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