Page 16 of Wild Fire

“Next time,” he said with a cheeky grin.

What he didn’t tell her was that he meant to ensure there would be no next time for her to be playing with herself. Warrick intended to be the only one taking care of that need for her, and he meant to take care of it so often and so well that not only would she find it difficult to walk, but she would question why she’d ever wanted to.

“What’s that look about?” she accused.

She wanted truth? Let’s see how she handles the truth.

“That look stems from my knowledge that I could have seen both of our needs better met had you given me any indication my attention would have been welcome.”

She stared at him, seemingly dumbfounded. “Wow, you really just put it out there, don’t you?”

“I have learned in my long life that many people spend far too much time not going after what they want. As you had saved my life, I thought I was putting your desires and needs ahead of my own, but from what I observed, I made an incorrect assumption. I won’t do that again. Now, come and eat; breakfast is getting cold.”

Dani chased after him. “You can’t just say shit like that to me and walk off.”

He whirled around and stepped into her space—something she clearly had not anticipated. He hauled her into his body, lowering his head and kissing her with his feelings wide open, allowing them to overwhelm her. His tongue dove deep, exploring the recesses of her mouth, tangling with hers. At first her body was stiff and resistant, and then she pushed away her fear—he could feel it when she did so—wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Her tongue dueled with his for supremacy. Warrick was sure most, if not all, of her human lovers would have allowed her some semblance of control, but he was not most men. He was a dragon; she was his mate and his eternal flame; she would learn to yield and follow his lead.

Winding his fingers in her hair, Warrick deepened the kiss, dominating her senses and commanding her body to submit. Dani moaned, tried to pull back, and when he refused to let her go, she bit his lip—not a little love nip, but a full-on, sink her teeth in hard enough to draw blood kind of bite. He tugged her head back in response, wrenching her mouth away from his as he nipped his way down her chin and throat, fisting her hair and keeping her body arched back, but exposing her to him.

He brought his mouth back up to hers, his lips capturing hers as his tongue surged like an invader entering dangerous territory to stake his claim. His tongue slid over and around, dominating the kiss as the hand not tangled in her hair snaked around her waist, pulling her closer, allowing his hard length to throb between them.

Warrick needed to make Dani understand that he wasn’t playing and that he was no schoolboy to be satisfied with any meek offering. He would force her submission from her, and it would be well and deservedly taken. He wasn’t merely kissing her; he was declaring his intentions in no uncertain terms. He would possess her in every way that word could be interpreted.

When she finally sagged against him with a sob, he lifted his head and glared at her. “Do not test or tempt me again. You will find me far easier to deal with if you don’t leave me guessing. Trust me, from this moment on I will assume that you want the same thing I do.”

He turned away but stopped short when she asked, “What is it you want?”

Without turning back to face her, he answered. “You.”

That ought to give her something to think about. The answer was short and succinct and there was really no way for her to misinterpret it, especially given the fact that he had just kissed her thoroughly.

He’d never thought he would have an eternal flame. His father had been one of the first to leave the brotherhood. Warrick had been with them since he’d come of age and that had been more than two millennia ago. He’d fought in every major battle since the first war with the Cherufe, but he’d been there for the second. There would not be a third. Other than Falkor, Warrick had been a member of the brotherhood longer than anyone. He’d seen members come and go; generations of the original twelve had passed before his eyes, but not once had he felt called to a female. He had convinced himself it was not to be his destiny.

And now after scores of dragons had tried to convince him one of their drakaina was his eternal flame, he was called to a human female. Not just any human, a cop. Someone sworn to uphold the law. In some ways they were well suited—they’d both sacrificed a lot to fulfill their duty, but how would it play out? Would Dani feel she needed to report his existence? That he could not allow. Of course, keeping her as his personal captive and bed slave wasn’t the worst idea, was it?

Warrick had no more completed that thought than he recalled his sister’s enslavement and that she had most likely endured the fate he now thought to impose on Dani. He shook his head. Eternal flame or not, he would never allow that to be her fate. He might have to hold her captive, but neither he nor any other dragon would ever share her bed without her invitation. He chuckled to himself. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t be as charming and seductive as he could be to wrangle that invitation, but he would ensure Dani was no one’s slave.

Perhaps, he thought, he was imagining a worst-case scenario. She had seemed to grasp the idea that telling the authorities about his existence would be to invite the destruction of his people. He wasn’t sure the humans would win that war, and there were rumors that a growing number of shifters were becoming disenfranchised with the idea of hiding in plain sight. He had been party to several discussions with Sobek and Falkor about the true puppet master of the Shadow League. Those of the Phantom Fire were convinced it was no longer the Ruling Council that held the leash on that particular pack of mad dogs.

Warrick was only glad his brethren weren’t here to witness his weakened physical state and his unwillingness at this point to push things too far with his eternal flame. Drakaina could be notoriously fractious, but Dani was not drakaina—at least not yet. She would make the most glorious drakaina, and he would teach her to fly and fight at his side. The three dragon queens had all been warriors and were warriors still, but Dani would outshine them all.

Dani possessed the keen intelligence, grace under fire, and true beauty that only the fiercest of drakaina possessed. She was tough and noble with a sense of honor and duty second to none. But Warrick had sensed the soft, sensual, sensitive creature who dwelled behind the walls he was sure she’d been forced to build in order to survive as a woman in what was still seen as a mostly male profession.

He held her chair for her as she joined him at the table overlooking the lake.

“This looks delicious,” she said, eyeing the breakfast tacos he’d made. “I guess I never thought dragons could cook.”

He chuckled. “Did you give much thought to dragons before last night?”

She returned his grin, the sexual tension between them being taken back to a slight simmer. “Point taken.” She took a bite. “Oh my god, this doesn’t just look delicious—it is. What do you call it? I mean it’s some kind of riff on a taco, but does it have a name?”

“I call them breakfast tacos. They’re pretty simple, just corn tortillas, scrambled eggs, left over steak from last night, some of the chorizo that I found in the bag, as well as cheddar and Monterey jack cheeses I found in the freezer. There was a ripe avocado, and I made a little pico de gallo.”

“Where’d you learn to cook?”

“Mostly watching Julia Child and the Food Network.” That made her almost spit out the bite of taco she’d just poked into her mouth. “It wasn’t so much that I wanted to learn to cook but after a long time eating basically the same meals in the dining hall with the other members of the Phantom Fire, I located a wood-burning stove and learned to cook things that appealed to me.”

“How long have you been with the Phantom Fire?” she asked innocently.

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