Page 24 of Wild Fire

She looked at him with what she knew was a bleak stare. “I know what you mean about the blood of your enemies. I killed two men with my bare hands and shoved those girls in the van and got them out. Later, I found out the other girls at the house, as well as the husband and those he’d hired who hadn’t turned on him, had been brutally murdered. I leveraged my way onto the task force and then made sure I worked harder and longer until I was given the lead. This is my case, Warrick, and I won’t stop until I know I’ve gotten justice for those people.”

He nodded and pulled her close. “I will keep the nightmares at bay. You are safe with me, and nothing and no one will harm you again.”

Dani nestled against him, knowing he spoke the truth. They would end the slavers once and for all. What would happen after that wasn’t something she allowed herself to think about. For now, finding the justice she sought might have to be enough.

CHAPTER 11

WARRICK

Listening to the pain and the desolation in her voice and watching as her body went still was enough to break his heart. He’d long ago decided his heart had been encased in ice and nothing would ever thaw it again, but this little human had done just that. Something about her grit, determination, intelligence, and beauty had chipped away at the frosted exterior and made it come alive again.

He needed to make her understand that her fight was now his fight regardless of whether or not the Shadow League was involved, regardless of the stance of the Phantom Fire. She was his eternal flame and she needed to understand to the depths of her soul what that entailed.

Warrick wanted no secrets between them, and he needed her to know he would respect her wishes, but only up to a point. If he deemed the cultists were a continuing threat to her, he would not settle for justice; he would burn them alive to ensure they could never harm her again.

“You’re being awfully quiet, except for this weirdly soothing rumbling I hear coming from you. At least I think it’s you.”

He nodded. She was too clever by half. “It is. You know that I am immortal.”

“You told me. You told me your father gave you no choice but to join the Phantom Fire.”

“It is the way the brotherhood was designed. Before dragons could shift from one form to another, we were all immortal. After a great battle where our losses were many, but we believed we had defeated our enemy, the original twelve clans of dragons banded together and made a deal with a great sorcerer. The Age of Dragons was waning, and the Age of Man was on the rise. We knew from past experience that humans feared what they did not understand and killed what they feared. The sorcerer gifted us with the ability to shift between dragon and human.”

“But all magic has a price.”

“Yes. The price of the gift was to give up our immortality. But the sorcerer feared we might be needed again and one warrior from each clan was able to retain the gift of shifting as well as the burden of immortality. We live separate lives in service to our kind and eventually to shifters as well and answer to no authority other than our own.”

“So, your Council formed the Shadow League.”

Warrick nodded. “We live without the comfort of mate or family. But if the fates deem us worthy of our soul or fated mate, which we call an eternal flame, the warrior can give up his immortality to build a life with her, but the Phantom Fire must remain, so…”

“The warrior leaving has to give up his firstborn son. That’s horrible.”

“It is tradition, duty and honor.”

“It’s bullshit. Who would condemn their child to a life of loneliness?”

“We are not lonely, and we do not do without the comfort of a woman…”

“Ah yes, the aforementioned naked women.”

He grinned. “Yes. But each of us hopes that one day we will be deemed worthy of the gift of an eternal flame.”

“Why tell me?”

“I think you know,” he said softly.

“Yeah. No. That’s not going to work for me. Can you even get a human pregnant?”

“It was not thought possible until recently, or at least, not until she becomes drakaina. Generally, if the warrior’s eternal flame is not born drakaina, she is transitioned prior to beginning their life together.”

The color drained from her face. “I’m not looking to give up my humanity.”

“I could force you to do so.”

“Not if you want to sleep with both eyes closed,” she threatened.

He shrugged. “I am merely asking that you not reject the idea out of hand. I suppose you could remain human, but when your belly grows round with our child, we will discuss it again.”

---