Page 7 of Fight Fire With Fire

I kept my answer simple before I tried to dart around him, but he didn’t let me go so easily. Wrapping his fingers around my wrist, he barked, “Don’t run away so quickly. There’s a lot I can teach you about fire, little witch.”

I tried to tug my arm away from him, and his hand heated. My heart felt as though it was going to pound out of my chest, and my magic gathered in my body. I wasn’t sure how well I could defend myself from a demon who was sure to wield flames better than I could, but my magic was coiled and ready to be called up if I needed it.

5

Dawson

As I walked into The Abyss, the last thing I expected to see was a demon with fire swirling in his black eyes as he stared down at a beautiful blonde with wide blue eyes. The scent of her fear filled my nostrils, and my dragon roared his fury inside my head, urging me to destroy the man who’d dared to corner the pretty witch. I wouldn’t hesitate to step in to help any woman who was being treated wrong, but there was an urgency inside me that I didn’t understand as I hurried in their direction. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough to prevent what happened next.

The demon lowered his head, his mouth next to her ear as he said something. His voice was too low for me to make out the words, but there was no missing her horrified reaction to them. Her eyes widened, and her skin went dangerously pale as she tried in vain to free her arm from his grasp. When that didn’t work, she took a deep breath before her lips began to move as she cast a spell. It wasn’t a complicated one and wouldn’t cause much harm, but the flames that raced down her arm were enough to surprise the demon into loosening his grip so she could step away.

As small as the spell had been, nobody had missed the witch’s use of magic. She’d broken one of the cardinal rules of The Abyss, and there would be hell to pay for it. Since I was here on official shifter council business—and my first damn mission for them—I should keep out of the showdown that was bound to happen with the demon I’d come to see at Seth’s request. Instead, I found myself picking up my pace at my dragon’s urging.

When I drew near, I heard the demon hiss, “You’re going to pay for that, stupid bitch.”

“That little spell was nothing. Let me pass, or I’ll do a heck of a lot worse to you,” she muttered, her small, curvy body braced for battle.

“You’re dumber than I thought if you really believe that you can get away with using magic at The Abyss.” The demon’s answering smile was filled with malice. “I won’t even have to lift a finger to see you burn worse than that. I can just sit back and enjoy the show while Adan deals with you. Never thought I’d see the day when I’d come to appreciate his fucking rules.”

It shouldn’t have been possible, but the stunned expression on the witch’s beautiful face made me wonder if she hadn’t known that the use of magic was forbidden at The Abyss. Whoever was responsible for sending her here without making sure she knew how to handle herself should be the one who paid for her mistake. Not that I expected Adan to see the situation that way, but I sure as fuck planned to suggest it.

“Back off,” I growled when I reached her side, aiming a deathly glare at the demon.

“Mind your own damn business, shifter,” he retorted even while he instinctively took a step back.

Empyreal demons were good with fire, but that wouldn’t do him any good against my dragon. Even if he called upon the very flames of hell, my scales would protect me. Now that I knew he didn’t present an immediate threat, I turned my focus to the witch at my side.

Our gazes met, and she gasped in shock, her attention shifting to the black tattoo of flames on her wrist. From what I’d heard about witches, it was in the exact spot where a female’s consort mark appeared when she found the person she’d been paired with by their goddess. While I was grappling with an unexpected sense of loss at the fact that she’d been claimed by another man, I felt a spark of pain in my bicep but couldn’t seem to force my gaze away from the pretty witch to figure out what had caused it. Then her fear drained from her scent, and I finally realized what my dragon already knew—the gorgeous witch was mine.

She smelled so damn sweet, making my cock ache and my fangs lengthen with the need to sink into her shoulder and mark her as mine. It took every shred of my control not to grab her, shift into my dragon form, and fly her delectable ass out of here so I could find somewhere private to fuck her until my come dripped down her thighs, tying her to me forever.

I was thinking about doing just that when a tall, dark-haired demon in a bespoke suit joined us. Between the way everyone else kept him in their sights without approaching and the power emanating from him, I knew the demon had to be Adan Deville. He looked pissed as fuck, and my little witch trembled at my side as he glared at her. “Miss Brandt, you need to come with me.”

“Not so fast, Deville.” I tugged her behind my back and faced off with him. “She stays right where she is.”

“You have no authority at The Abyss, Veles.” He moved to circle around me to reach for the witch. I stepped in his way again, and he glared at me. “Just because I’ve had dealings with your hold before doesn't mean I won’t—”

“This has nothing to do with your connection to my hold and everything to do with your oversight in not implementing a third rule at The Abyss to prevent assaults against women.” I didn’t give a fuck how powerful the demon was. If he didn’t see reason, I’d fight until my dying breath to get my fated mate out of here.

His head reared back in shock, his dark eyes going wide. “Assault?”

The fiery demon who had stopped my mate from leaving held his hands up with his palms facing Adan. “The shifter got it all wrong. I wasn’t doing anything wrong when she attacked me. I’m not sure what set the witch off, but maybe she had too much to drink. I could smell the alcohol on her breath. If she says she used her magic because I was assaulting her, it’s her word against mine, and she’s lying.”

“Except this isn’t a he said, she said situation.” I crossed my arms over my chest as I glared at the lying bastard. “I witnessed the tail end of your encounter and would have stepped in, except she beat me to it.”

The demon turned toward Adan. “C’mon, you can’t possibly believe them over me. I’ve been coming to The Abyss for decades and never caused any trouble. Why would I start now?”

“That’s an excellent question, Ozul.” Adan reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a state-of-the-art tablet. “Luckily, I don’t have to take anyone’s word at face value since your interaction with Miss Brandt was caught on video.”

“What? No, that can’t be possible,” Ozul sputtered. “There aren’t any cameras down here.”

Adan’s eyes bled to black as he muttered, “I do not need to rely on human technology to see what is happening in my domain.”

Now that Adan’s attention was on his tablet, I didn’t stop my mate when she moved to my side. I aimed a reassuring smile at her, confident that the truth would come out and she would be spared from punishment when Adan realized her use of magic had been defensive.

As he watched whatever was playing on his screen, two demons appeared out of thin air on either side of Ozul. When they gripped his biceps, he started to struggle. “What the hell, Deville? Why are your men on me? I didn’t break any of your rules.”

“As the dragon pointed out, I may have been remiss in not making it painfully clear that any woman beneath my roof has my protection.” He turned the tablet so Ozul could see the screen. “Did you really think I wouldn’t mind you putting your hands on Miss Brandt and lying to me about it?”

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