Page 11 of Flame it Up

“I can see your mind reeling from here, Mazie,” Gerri said. “I’ve got to go and organize this crew to get the event back together. Why don’t you take a few moments to think about this? Don’t rush yourself, dear. You’ve had a great shock as well as seeing a dragon for the first time. Get yourself something to drink and sit for a while.”

“Yes,” Mazie said softly. “That is a great idea. Thank you, Gerri.”

Gerri smiled and hurried away, gesturing, and calling out to people as she went. Even though she was not a tall woman, Gerri somehow had a commanding presence that everyone responded to. She wasn’t overbearing, loud, or rude. She just carried a strong, empowering energy that made people feel valued. It seemed to affect anyone she met, and it encouraged people to go with her cause.

Mazie headed away from all the excitement and found herself a cup of tea and a bottle of water at the back of the medical van. The nurses demanded to examine her, and Mazie sat quietly but impatiently for a few minutes as they listened to her lungs and took her blood pressure.

Her friends had already been released back to their tents and were probably getting ready for the gala. She knew she should have been, too, but she hadn’t been keen on attending even before all this went down. Now she was tired, shocked, confused, and kind of scared.

As soon as the nurses let her go, Mazie took her cup of tea out to her tent at the edge of an open field beyond the main area. It was off the more populated grounds and had a small lake at the back where the plain met the trees. She pitched it here because she enjoyed listening to the silence of the wilderness.

Mazie took small, slow sips of the sweet tea. It revitalized her immediately, and the tension running through her was quickly replaced by a wave of exhaustion.

The wordsfated matestumbled through her mind. Gerri said it meant they were destined to be together, but how? The idea of spending her whole life with a man she’d just met sounded absurd. No matter which way she looked at it, it did not make sense.

Common sense always failed in matters of the heart, though. As the sun finally sank below the horizon, deepening the shadows into dark violet shades, Mazie let herself just think about him.

Pyrus.

Her body warmed in ways it hadn’t for such a long time. Her blood felt like it was threaded with tongues of fire. Flames flickered in her from the inside out, making her nipples harden and pussy throb.

Mazie let her eyes slide closed as she remembered every beautiful, muscular inch of him. The sculpted shoulders, broad arms, beautiful long-fingered hands. His skin was a light tan, a sheen of gold that gave him a glow of good health.

And no tan lines. Almost as if he just walks around like that all day.

Mazie’s mouth watered so much that she had to swallow hard. Bolts of desire ran through her as images of their bodies twisted together danced through her mind.

His face. His eyes.

She gasped, holding her breath as she thought about his eyes. She had never seen a gaze with so much depth. It wasn’t just that he saw her or looked so carefully at her. It was the way he seemed to invite her into him.

Into his soul…

Whatever arguments she could come up with for not seeing him, they wouldn’t hold out for long. Pyrus was a delicious, intoxicating drug … and she was already hooked.

FIVE

PYRUS

Uncertain of how the night would go, Pyrus didn’t bother to put his suit back on. He didn’t want to ruin it by quickly shifting.

He forgot, though, that others wouldn’t accept his nakedness so nonchalantly and was quickly pulled aside by one of the firefighters and given a pair of blue overalls. He thanked the guy and apologized for the fire. The guy told him not to sweat it … most men with any sense of honor would have blasted the creeps.

Pyrus then tried to make his way to the main building, but people flooded his path. He wasn’t exactly thrilled that so many people were seeing him in baggy, blue overalls, but a crowd had gathered, and most people knew he'd saved the day.

“Good job,” a random man said, slapping him on the shoulder. “It was close to being a disaster, there.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Pyrus said. “Too bad I’m underdressed.” He threw a glance back to where Gerri’s car had been, and it had disappeared along with his clothes. “I guess I’ll have to find another tux …”

“Oh, no rush, dear,” said an older woman who paused to give him an appreciative look. “We all know that heroes don’t always wear capes.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said, shaking his head. Pyrus was very aware that his bare shoulders and chest were exposed, with long, loose straps falling across his belly, leaving his hips bare.

Of course, the only overalls the guy has are two sizes too big.

Pyrus kept trying to make his way back to the main buildings but had people stopping him the whole time. Some of the guests had been too far away to see, and they wanted a blow-by-blow account of what had happened, then they had to get Pyrus a drink to congratulate him.

When he reached the office buildings, he maneuvered his way through the crowds of people who were looking at the information displays for each animal looked after at the Sanchez-Hathaway Animal Sanctuary. Pyrus wouldn’t mind checking out the stands for himself so he could see what kind of work his mate was involved in.

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