Page 47 of Fire Dragon
Yet another deluge made both of them roar.
Santos had his own reasons for wanting his warriors on good terms with each other. He carried the load for the entire region. No doubt he saw any discontent between dragons as a big waste of critical time. He wasn’t wrong.
Liam turned his back to Logan. He needed to think, something he’d been avoiding since his falling-out with Emma after they’d made love. Worse, she’d talked the whole thing over with Logan. He didn’t like his private affairs bandied about, yet here he was.
Logan had called him an idiot.
The thing is, Liam had never thought of Emma as an insensitive person. So why had she blurted out something about his wife right after they’d made love?
More to the point, Logan’s words rang in his ears, “Why does it matter so much after all these years? Wouldn’t Vinia have wanted you to know love again?”
She would have. That could never be in doubt. Vinia had been generous to a fault, on every level, her entire life. She would never have denied him love.
His attitudes had been solely on him. He’d shunned getting involved again, with any woman, because he didn’t want the pain of losing someone again. He hadn’t even understood how much he’d loved Vinia until after she’d died.
He knew he was part of the problem between himself and Emma. He was dragging his heels. Hard. He suspected she had issues as well, but what did it matter? What did any of it matter? He didn’t want a relationship with Emma or anyone.
The real problem was that he hadn’t been able to bed another woman since he’d been with Emma and he was about to go batshit crazy. He didn’t owe her anything, yet the moment he started to chat a woman up at a bar with all signals on ‘go’, all desire vanished.
Emma was what he wanted, what his dragon craved.
Stay out of my business, Logan.
The next thing he knew, Logan’s tail whipped him hard and sent him hurtling against the side of the building. Fortunately, the structure was reinforced with more steel than a skyscraper.
That hurt, motherfucker.
Santos sent another deluge, but it was too late. Despite the pain, it was game on.
Liam whipped around and blasted Logan in the face with flame. Logan streaked away from the heat and caught him with his tail-horn in the center of his back. Blood flowed.
Liam rolled into Logan and Santos added another icy torrent. The freezing water was rising.
He charged through the slush which sent waves flowing in front of him. He rose into the air and punched at Logan with his heavy feet.
Logan punched back.
Liam leaped above the slush and threw his weight at Logan. But Logan was already countering with a roll in the ice water and a powerful upward rise which caught Liam hard in the gut.
Liam was in the process of preparing to launch his wings when a sudden grinding overhead froze him in place.
Oh, shit.
That sound brought his irrational, battling dragon brain to a sudden halt. Santos opened the flood gates.
The powerful flow of water shoved him to the far end of the space, Logan right alongside him. The water level rose so fast, he could barely get his head above water. Dragons weren’t meant to swim.
Santos’s deep voice came over the loudspeaker. “You two ready to call it quits because I swear to God you can both drown for all I care.”
It was the combination of Santos’s hostile,I’ve-had-itwords and the full submersion in freezing water that finally penetrated Liam’s temper. He bellowed then shifted to his human form. Treading the freezing water, he shouted, “I surrender.”
Logan wasn’t far behind him.
Liam shook in the bone-aching frigid lake. He began swimming toward the platform and stairs near the viewing room. But his muscles struggled to move. He thought it possible he could drown.
He kept moving anyway and eventually reached the stairs and began the painful climb. Every bone in his body ached and his muscles felt like immobile pieces of concrete.
He shivered head to toe. Logan, as well.
