Page 4 of Dark & Dreadful Brutes

“You need to run!” I called to them. If the bear wasn’t so damn tall, I would’ve tried to get off its back. But it was massive—and the fae had said he was looking for me, which meant he wasn’t going to just sit by and watch me run away from him.

Even if he did, the bastard could catch me easily.

The bear I was riding took off down the hall.

I shrieked, gripping its fur even tighter as it skidded around a corner.

It ran hard for a moment, roaring loudly as it burst through a set of doors. The smell of burning fur met my nose, and it occurred to me that I might be burning the creature.

Panic hit me hard, and I let go quickly.

When I let go, I lost my balance, and flew off the creature’s back.

My world tilted before I could scream.

I landed hard on my side, and then rolled.

My back slammed into a wall, and I saw stars for a long moment.

Somewhere off to my side, I could hear the bear and fae roaring and snarling. Humans were yelling, too.

When I managed to crack my eyes open, though, the only thing I saw was my thick red-orange hair, my undergarment, my body, and my flames.

Somehow, my bad luck had even managed to wreck the fae’s rescue.

Granted, I wasn’t sure he considered it a rescue. Perhaps he was abducting me.

There were worse things in the world than being abducted by a gorgeous fae man, though.

Like being locked in a dirt and stone cellar for ten years.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath in.

My flames didn’t burn away the clothing I was wearing when I caught fire, just as they never burned me. I supposed I needed to consider that a blessing.

But when I got worked up enough to actually catch fire, that fire wouldn’t vanish until it managed to drain my energy completely. It knocked me out for most of a day while my body recovered from the intensity of the magic.

Since the fae had touched me, I felt… different, though.

As I leveled my breathing, I opened my eyes again so I could watch my flames begin to shrink.

They’d only been open for a moment when a gorgeous, furious face leaned over me.

I blinked up at the fae man.

He glowered at me. “Stop your fire and end the pull on my magic.”

I blinked again.

“She can’t stop the fire,” Gora said from somewhere behind the fae.

I didn’t turn my head to look at her.

Something inside me said that looking away from the man who was legitimately soaked with other people’s blood would be a bad call.

The fae turned his glower on the couple I’d been forced to live with for far too long.

Jern cleared his throat. “She can’t control her magic. It drains her when it wants—and when she catches fire, she burns until it knocks her out.”

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