Mated in Flames: An Australian Ranch Shifter Paranormal Romance (Burnt Skies Book 1)

by Jade Alters

  Warwick breaks away and tugs my shirt up, making me sit up slightly so he can pull it over my head, leaving me only in my white bra. I feel his eyes roaming me, and the desire on his face feels good.

  The belt comes free and I tear it off before pulling his zipper down. Warwick steps back for a moment, then, pushing both his jeans and his boxers down, and I shimmy out of my own jeans, kicking them off before dragging my panties down over my legs and dropping them to the ground. Warwick looks up as I sit up and unhook my bra, allowing it to fall.

  Then we stare at one another. I drink in his lean, strong body, eyes falling on the thick, throbbing penis between his legs, and I’ve never seen something I wanted so much. My breath catches.

  Then we move, clashing in the middle, desperate to touch and taste. His touch is intoxicating, and I press closer, wanting more and more and more. I want to feel each callous on his skin, touch each scar that crosses his body, and feel him moving deeply inside me.

  “Fuck me,” I gasp out.

  Warwick pauses then. Something crosses his expression, too quickly for me to catch, and his hands still even as his hips rut against mine.

  “Are…” He gasps and clenches his hands around my hips, hard enough to bruise. “Are you sure?”

  I wind my legs around him and pull him in.

  “Yes,” I hiss, not sure what he’s waiting for.

  It was all the reassurance he needed. Warwick draws back and I feel his blunt fingers pressing against my entrance, circling and prodding, making me fall back onto the bed. I want so much more, but, for the moment, this is overwhelming and oh so good.

  I barely register when he pulls his hand back, but I feel the tip of his cock against me, and my legs fall open, encouraging him in.

  When he slides inside me, we both stop for a moment, gasping. I can feel him, thick and heavy and hot, and I can’t even remember the last time someone had me like this. Slowly, Warwick slides home, inch by slow inch, and I hold onto his shoulders so tightly that my knuckles turn white.

  Then, finally seated completely, he pauses. I almost fall over the edge right then and there, my muscles are tensing and flexing as I adjust to the intrusion. Warwick is breathing harshly over me, his hands trembling.

  Slowly, the overwhelming sensation begins to fade, and my body relaxes.

  “Move,” I breathe.

  Warwick draws out and slides back in, shallow thrusts designed to get us both used to the sensations. With every movement, he pulls out further and goes in deeper, until my body begins to jolt with it, my hips meeting his every time.

  Then he hits it, the place that makes stars explode across my vision, and I throw my head back with a guttural cry.

  “More, harder!” I hear myself begging.

  “Fuck, Luciana,” Warwick groans over me.

  He snaps his hips forward and I’m lost in a wave of pleasure and lust, jerkily meeting each thrust as we both desperately chase the fire threatening to consume us. Our bodies slap together and I can feel our sweat mingling as we gasp and choke on the sensations, until finally I feel myself drawn to the very edge and pushed over in a spiralling sensation of desire.

  My vision blacks out for a short moment. When the world returns, Warwick is still braced over me, his entire body trembling as he, too, orgasms. We ride it out together, clutching one another and, when it’s done, I collapse back onto the bed, boneless and exhausted.

  A moment later, Warwick falls beside me and we stare up at the ceiling. I want to say something, perhaps about what just happened between us, but a yawn overtakes me at that moment, my body finally seeing fit to remind me of the late hour and what time I should be getting up in the morning.

  “Sleep?” Warwick asks.

  “Yeah,” I agree.

  We crawl up and slide under the covers. For all his talk of Dane missing him, Warwick doesn’t even think about leaving, and I’m glad. It means we can talk about this.

  In the morning, though. For now, I just want to sleep.

  Luciana

  When I wake up in the morning, my first thought is of David.

  It might seem strange, especially since I slept with another man last night. But the reason is because I didn’t think of David at all yesterday. Not once did his face float in my mind as Warwick touched me.

  And my thoughts of him now are calm and gentle. It was as though, in allowing myself to be with someone else, I was finally letting go. He’s been gone for far too long. In many ways, I had already grieved him long ago. I had just needed to allow myself to move on.

  I rolled my head to the side to look at Warwick. He’s peaceful in sleep, snorting softly as he curls into the pillow, oddly adorable considering how tall and muscled he is.

  Last night was not something I had expected. Part of me knows it only happened because we had both been drinking and because we both had memories we were trying to chase away. But, somehow, none of that matters. I can’t bring myself to regret it.

  A few days ago, when Warwick and I first met, I would never have imagined ending up here. But so much has happened in a small period of time and, for some reason that I can’t explain, being here right now with Warwick feels more right than anything else I have ever done in my life.

  Then Warwick’s phone, which he had placed on the nightstand, rings.

  Warwick snorts loudly and starts awake, blinking wildly. For a moment, as he looks around, there’s no comprehension in his eyes and then he looks at me. His face clears and he snatches up his phone.

  “Dane, hi,” he says, trying to inject cheer into his voice.

  Then he winces. I can well imagine what the other, stricter brother was saying right now.

  “Sorry, last night was just a lot,” Warwick says after a moment. “Let me just clear my head, okay? I’m fine, and I’ll be back later today.”

  Dane replies and Warwick smiles softly.

  “I will,” he says. “See you later.”

  He hangs up and turns to me.

  “Sorry, Dane was worried,” he says.

  “I’m not surprised,” I point out. “After what happened yesterday, he’d be wanting to make sure you were okay.”

  “I am okay,” Warwick replies. “More than okay.”

  There’s so much warmth in his gaze that I look away, stunned by it and not sure where it has come from.

  “Um, coffee?” I cough.

  We get up and dress quietly before heading out to my small kitchen. I pull the kettle out and put it on to boil. Then I jump as arms slide around my waist from behind before I can reach for some mugs.

  “We probably need to talk about last night, right?” Warwick asks, his breath tickling my ear and sending a shiver down my spine.

  “Yeah,” I say, my voice cracking slightly. I clear my throat. “Do you want anything to eat?”

  “Just coffee is fine for now,” Warwick says, pulling away, and I feel an odd sense of loss.

  I make the coffees and carry them over to the small dining table, sitting across from Warwick. I can feel a throbbing mark on my neck, where Warwick had sucked on my skin last night, and I busy myself with looking down into the dark liquid, trying not to think about it too much.

  “Thank you for allowing me in last night,” Warwick finally says. “I was just…”

  He trails off, searching for the words.

  “Overwhelmed?” I suggest. “‘I’ve met many people who saw the deaths of loved ones, and they all felt the same way. I’ve seen patients die right in my arms. It’s never easy, and it’s doubly hard when it’s someone you care for.”

  “Have you ever had that?” Warwick asks.

  I think of David and wince.

  “No,” I say quietly. “But someone I loved went missing, I know he’s dead, by now.”

  “I’m sorry,” Warwick says soberly.

  I quirk a small smile at him and we sip at our coffee in silence.

  “So, last night,” I say after a moment.

  “Do you regret it?” Warwick asks
.

  “No,” I say readily. “It was just a surprise, is all.”

  Warwick nods. I notice that he doesn’t look surprised in the slightest and I raise an eyebrow at him.

  “I’m a phoenix, Luciana,” Warwick says when he notices me staring. “There are… certain aspects of that which makes it easier for me to understand things like this.”

  I frown at him.

  “Like?” I ask.

  Warwick opens his mouth and then hesitates.

  “Can you leave this one for now?” he asks. “Just for a little while. I promise I will tell you… just not at this moment.”

  I’m burning with curiosity. But I also know I’m not going to force him to tell me. He had already revealed so much of himself to me last night. If I ask for any more, I’m just being greedy.

  “Alright,” I agree, nodding. “Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you about. Do you have a sample of that poison you were talking about?”

  “The one that can kill us?” Warwick asks, frowning.

  “I don’t remember talking about any other poisons,” I say, rolling my eyes.

  “Well… yes,” Warwick says. “We have a blade that was used to kill… another phoenix, a long time ago.” There’s grief in his voice and I don’t ask, sensing that it’s sensitive. “It has the poison on it. Why?”

  “If you get me a sample of that poison, I’d like to study it,” I explain. “I’m a toxicologist, Warwick. My job is to find and identify poisons… and to develop antidotes. Maybe I might be able to make an antidote for your poison.”

  Warwick freezes.

  “Seriously?” he asks, mouth dropping open.

  “Maybe,” I warn him. “It’s tough work, and it doesn’t always happen.” Then I smile slightly at him. “But I’d like to try. I love doing this sort of thing, and it would have the added bonus of helping you and Dane.”

  “That would be amazing,” Warwick breathes, and that intensely warm look is back in his eyes again. “I’ll get a sample to you as soon as possible.”

  “Will Dane agree to that?” I ask; I’d gotten the impression that Dane doesn’t like me.

  “Dane is paranoid, don’t take it personally,” Warwick says dismissively.

  “His paranoia might have been what’s helped the two of you stay alive all these years,” I point out. Then, because I’m suddenly very curious, “Remind me who’s older between the two of you?”

  “I am, why?” Warwick asks, blinking at me.

  “No reason,” I say quickly, trying to pretend that I’m not very surprised by this.

  With how careful and responsible Dane is, I honestly would have picked him as the older sibling. I take a quick sip of my coffee and smile at Warwick over it, hoping he doesn’t get suspicious.

  “Right…” Warwick says, eyeing me. “Well, anyway, he’ll come around. Even he can see that it would be beneficial to have an antidote one day. Is there anything we can do to help you with it?”

  “Probably not,” I say, amused. “I’m trained in this field; I can just imagine you accidentally poisoning yourself.”

  “I wouldn’t,” Warwick says, outraged. “I can be careful in a lab.”

  “Just like you know how to milk a cow,” I remind him, deadpan.

  “I do!” he protests. “I was just… distracted!”

  I laugh and, after a moment, he joins in. This is nice, I can’t help but think. Even when I was with David, we barely had any time to sit down quietly like this and tease one another. This is peaceful and domestic, and I’m surprised at how good it feels.

  The farm is a lot of pressure, far more than I had expected. And now I have the added worry of poachers, Hunters and Supernaturals arriving at some point, as well as two phoenix brothers, one that I’m drawn to like a magnet. Life is never simple, it seems.

  “Well, if you really want to help out, helping with the farm work would be great, if I’m going to be spending time in the lab,” I say. I pause. “If you can handle it, that is.”

  As Warwick splutters, I grin. Yes, life has become infinitely more complicated in a very short space of time.

  But, somehow, I can’t bring myself to mind very much.

  Warwick

  Part of me knows that I need to go home, but I find that I’m not quite ready to as Luciana and I clear away our breakfast, having ended up making some plain toast when our stomachs rumbled. I’m surprised and pleased by the easy camaraderie that surrounds us, but there’s a part of me that’s worried, too.

  Have I somehow affected Luciana? She has fallen just as quickly and easily into this odd, peaceful relationship as I have, and I wonder if maybe the fact that I’ve claimed her as my mate has affected her emotions. If so, I’m not entirely sure what to do about it.

  For now, I decide, I’ll just watch and keep an eye on the situation.

  Instead, I turn my mind to her offer. It had floored me when she had brought up possibly making an antidote to the poison, though I’m not sure why I should be so surprised. I had seen how interested she was last night when I brought it up.

  And having an antidote to that dreadful poison would mean there’s one less threat against Dane and me in the world. Now I just have to convince Dane to trust Luciana enough to allow it to happen.

  It’s probably another reason why I should be heading home. But, instead, I find myself following Luciana as she heads out the back, flipping through an old, leather journal.

  “What’s that?” I ask.

  “My father’s journal,” Luciana says, glancing up and squinting in the morning sun. “He left it for me before he died. It’s all the instructions on how to care for the animals.”

  “That’s amazing,” I say, eyeing the ratty thing.

  “Yes and no,” Luciana says with a sigh, snapping it closed. “It would have been really helpful if he had actually catalogued what was on the farm, but apparently he’s hopeless with those sorts of records. I’ve been trying to find out where some of the rare creatures came from, but his study is a mess and I can’t make heads or tails of some of his files. So I’ve decided to start my own catalogue.”

  She holds up another, larger notebook, this one crisp and new.

  “You’re really taking all this seriously, aren’t you?” I ask.

  “Of course,” Luciana says with a nod. “Someone needs to care for these animals. My father is gone and he’s left me to do it. They have no one else.”

  I look at her. She’s staring out into the fields, the sun gleaming on her dark hair. I can’t read the expression on her face.

  “Do you miss him?” I ask before I can stop myself.

  But she doesn’t seem offended. She gives me a small, sad smile.

  “The longer I’m here, the more I realise just how much I don’t know about him,” she says. “My mother and I moved to Brazil when I was young, and I didn’t connect with my father until I was older, after she died. But our relationship wasn’t really great. I was really surprised that he had left this place to me and taken the time to write this journal for me. I would have thought there was someone closer to him that he would trust more.”

  She shrugs, as though the notion doesn’t affect her.

  “But here we are,” she says. “I thought I would hate it here, to be honest.”

  “Is it different from where you live?” I ask curiously, wanting to steer away from the subject of her family.

  “I lived in Manaus, a city in Brazil,” she says. “But I also travelled all around the world. Just before I came here, I was in Burkina Faso.”

  “I have no idea where that is,” I admit, and she laughs, patting me on the shoulder.

  “It’s fine,” she says.

  “Do you like it here now?” I ask, suddenly needing to know the answer.

  “I think so,” she says, and the smile she gives me is beautiful. “So, country boy, want to take another shot at proving you actually can milk a cow?”

  “You are not going to let that go, are you?” I ask wry
ly.

  “Never,” she says, shooting a grin at me.

  I spend the morning following Luciana around the farm, watching as she interacted with the animals. I finally got to prove that, yes, I could milk a cow, but Luciana just teased me about getting Dane to teach me, much to my exasperation. It didn’t help when I stood up and almost knocked over the bucket of milk again.

  Still, I enjoy myself. I can see how at peace Luciana is here, and the animals seem to have taken to her, understanding that she’s no threat to them at all.

  Around lunch, I find myself sitting with her in the shade of a large tree, watching as some of the animals roam around the field.

  “You know, when I first came here, I did consider selling it all,” Luciana says suddenly.

  I pause in the act of biting into my sandwich.

  “Really?” I ask.

  “Yeah,” she says. “It just seemed like way too much, you know? Especially when I discovered all these mythical creatures here. I was definitely in over my head. I even started looking up how much this place would sell for, and I was this close to calling a real estate agent.”

  “What stopped you?” I ask.

  “Well, I was actually sitting here on the second night,” she says, laughing. “I was feeling sorry for myself, and I was really angry at you.”

  I cough, embarrassed. She grins at me.

  “And while I’m sitting there, Jump comes up and just crawls into my lap,” she continues.

  I follow her gaze. In the grass not too far away, I can see a tiny, white fox, a rare albino, napping in the sun. She’s a beautiful creature who loves all sorts of affection, and readily gives it out too.

  “She just sat there and demanded me to pet her,” Luciana says fondly. “And that’s the first time it occurred to me that maybe I’m needed here. So, I decided to give it a shot. I was surprised to find how nice it was here.”

  I glance at her. She’s staring out at the farm, a small smile on her face. This is the woman that I could fall in love with if I let it happen.