by Abigail Owen
Nothing happened immediately, so she rolled to her back and waited, Titus and Finn watching her closely.
A gradual warmth seeped into her muscles at the site of the injection and spread out from there, down her legs, up her torso, and into her arms.
As soon as that warmth hit her feet, they started tingling. “Oh,” she sucked in sharply.
Finn sat beside her, blue eyes crinkled in an anxious stare. “Bad, oh?”
She shook her head. “Not unpleasant. My feet are tingling.”
He hitched his chin at Titus, who unwrapped the bandages. As he did, Delaney stared, eyes wide. Already the raw wounds appeared more pink than angry red. The blackened edges were no longer there.
“Wow,” she breathed, as before her eyes, her flesh knit back together, growing back in layers until new, shiny pink skin covered the wounds. Even that gradually faded to white.
Every so often, a tingle would lean more toward a twinge, like someone shocked one of the nerves, but it’d be gone before she could even flinch. The process took a solid ten minutes, but eventually the tingling stopped. Her poor feet weren’t perfectly healed, parts of the skin still pink and puffy, but the pain was completely gone.
“Wow,” she said again, wiggling her toes.
“That was impressive,” Titus said quietly. “Guess that means you’re a dragon mate for sure.”
“Or something else supernatural,” Finn muttered. Was he thinking of Brand’s mysterious task, the creature he’d come to find?
She opened her mouth to ask, but her body wasn’t done. The warmth continued to swirl through her blood and the tingling from her feet moved higher, up her legs to the junction of her thighs.
“Um,” Delaney bit her lip.
What the hell? A wave of pleasure crested through her and she had to pull back a moan that threatened to escape her throat.
“Problem?” Finn asked. Again with the anxious expression.
She swallowed. “Not…exactly.”
No way in hell was she telling him his blood was trying to get her off. The sensation wasn’t unpleasant or intense. More like awareness had hijacked her system. She could handle it. It had to dissipate eventually, right?
Finn put a finger under her chin, tipping her face toward him, insisting she look at him. “What?”
“Warmth. Nothing crazy.” Just pulsing in my lady parts. Nothing I can’t handle with a little privacy. Only she couldn’t have any privacy because of Graff.
Please, please, please don’t let this escalate. “I think I’d like to take a nap.”
Titus and Finn shared a glance and Finn waved a hand. Titus gathered up his gear and left the room.
“I’ll stay with you,” Finn said.
Fantastic. Delaney rolled to her side, grunting as the movement lit nerves on fire.
The bed dipped as Finn lay beside her. “I need to keep a hand on you, just in case, okay?”
She hissed her annoyance through her teeth. “You’ve done more than touch my arm, Finn. Don’t be shy now.”
“Yeah,” he muttered.
He settled a hand on her arm, curling it around her wrist, and Delaney had to clench her muscles to keep from arching into him at the touch.
Holy hell, that was making it way worse.
She needed a distraction. “What’d that Brand guy have to say?”
“Nothing good. Instructions from my new king that no one is to know about him or what he’s doing.” His breath blew against the back of her neck, stirring her hair, and Delaney cleared her throat to disguise her choking.
Fuck, this isn’t working. She bit her lip. Power through, you wimp.
“Why not?”
“He didn’t say. I still carry the brand of my new king on my hand. I owe him and my clan my loyalty. But my team is…”
He trailed off, but he didn’t need to say more. His team was his family. The people most important in the world to him.
“How long have you led this team?”
“Almost two hundred years. Deep started as the leader. This specific group, other than Aidan, have been with me about a hundred and fifty. A few, like me and Levi, have been here since the beginning.”
Okay. This was working. Maybe because she was sort of fascinated by what he was saying.
“That’s a long time. I didn’t realize firefighters had been around that long.”
“We’re not really firefighters. Because we deal with fire so much, it’s a good cover. A fairly new one. In the beginning, when we first got here, we didn’t need to hide who we were because most of this continent was wide open, sparsely populated. The indigenous peoples, rather than hunt us down and kill us, worshiped us as gods, or left us alone.”
“Those darn Europeans,” she murmured.
He huffed a laugh. “Yeah.”
A waterfall of pleasure flowed down her back where his body brushed hers, awakening the nerves there.
“So, you were always a colony?” she forced between stiff lips.
“Yeah. The Alliance was set up to govern, reporting to the kings, and my team was the first one set up to enforce. Now there are several to cover the large distances.”
The low rumble of his voice was doing things to her that shouldn’t be happening. Delaney squeezed her eyes shut. “After that long, you’d think they’d trust you implicitly.”
He huffed a bitter laugh. “They’re giving me the benefit of the doubt. For now.”
In what had to be an unconscious gesture, he smoothed his thumb over the sensitive skin at her wrist.
Oh, oh, oh. Eyes still closed, Delaney did her best to stay still and quiet. Slowly, she inched her other hand toward the pulsing center of the fire bursts going off inside her. Maybe if she touched herself…
She managed to wiggle her hand into her panties. But a single whisper of a touch over the bundle of nerves hijacking her system and she couldn’t hold back the sound that punched from her lungs.
Finn tensed behind her, clearly not fooled by her attempt to disguise the sound as a grunt as she shifted her position.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
He moved his hand to her shoulder and pushed her so she had to roll enough to face him. “Delaney?”
That deep voice, commanding, insistent, and…fuck she couldn’t handle it. “I need to come, dammit.”
He stilled, and those blue eyes darkened as the pupils dilated. “What?”
“Your blood healed my feet, but that’s not all…” Now she glared.
Not needing to keep it secret any longer, she inserted a finger into her tight, wet heat, brushing her thumb over her clit. She didn’t hold back the moan that brought on.
“Fuck,” Finn muttered.
She couldn’t help but smile. “My thoughts exactly.”
She pressed into her flesh and wriggled her ass as sensation slid through her.
“Do you need…” He let the question trail off.
“Help?” She shook her head. “No. I can take care of it.”
“Fuck,” he muttered again.
Another moan tumbled from her lips.
He grunted. “Delaney… I can’t…” He canted his hips and she was fully aware of his hard length through his jeans.
She should say no. She should tell him to get the hell out of her bed and let her wrap things up. Problem was, she didn’t want to. She worked her fingers over her body, but it didn’t seem to help much.
Gentle lips placed a soft kiss on her scarred neck and she shuddered with the contact as her body responded more to that than anything she was doing.
“Finn.” She hated begging, but this wasn’t going away. “Why is your blood doing this to me?”
“I don’t know.” He dropped his forehead against the back of her head. “You’re another man’s mate.”
“Not yet, I’m not.”
…
Gods help me, I want her so much. Her comment that she wasn’t mated yet wasn’t what tipped him over the edge.
The thought of her doing this with another man was what did it. Some faceless man with his hands and lips on her body.
“You have to stay quiet,” he warned. He didn’t trust the rogue to keep their situation private, and the Alliance would definitely frown on this.
With frantic movements he pulled her pants down, hampered as she tried to help with equally agitated movements.
Finally, he stripped them off her, as well as jerking his own pants down enough to be out of his way. She already lay on her side with him against her back. He lifted her leg up over his and positioned himself before slowly sliding home.
Damn she felt amazing squeezing him so hard—tight, hot, wet.
He pumped his hips, thrusting deep, and she turned her head to moan into the pillow. The tension in her body told him she was already close.
He reached around to press into that spot that would tip her over the edge. Two thrusts and she tensed underneath him, shuddering with the pleasure of her orgasm. Finn gritted his teeth, determined not to follow her into that abyss. Not yet, at least.
That one was to take the edge off for her, but now that he’d started he had every intention of bringing her back to the precipice.
As her breathing slowed and her body relaxed, he continued to slide slowly in and out, giving her time to recover. He trailed his lips over her shoulder to her ear where he tugged on the lobe with his teeth, then nibbled down her neck to suck at that spot where her shoulder and neck met.
As soon as her breathing quickened again, he worked his hand under her shirt and flicked the cup of her bra down. Her heavy breast spilled into his waiting hand, the nipple already beaded, pushing eagerly into his palm. He plucked at that peak, then hissed as she dug her nails into his thigh in an effort to keep her moans inside.
“Harder,” she whispered.
Fuck, yes.
He slammed his body into hers and grunted as a small whimper of need escaped her lips.
“Again,” she whispered.
That was all he needed. Finn’s strokes were fast and rough, and Delaney seemed to love every single minute, if her grip on his thigh and the way her body milked his cock with each thrust was any indication.
“I’m going to—” Her words cut off with a hitch, and Delaney arched into him, pushing her ass back into his pumping hips. An answering rush gathered in his balls, then punched up and out. He buried his face in her hair and continued to drill into her as his body spilled into hers in hot spurts.
Gradually they slowed, though he didn’t pull out, holding her tightly to him as he breathed her in.
Delaney turned her head to search his face. “Don’t tell me you don’t want me. Not after that.”
Finn let out a long breath. “I want you.”
“Then let’s just enjoy that. No more worrying about mates or futures. Deal?”
Only he couldn’t deny any longer that he wanted her in his future. He wanted to be her future. His lungs tightened, making every breath painful, something he did his best to hide from Delaney, who was watching him with expectation.
Fuck. I’m not ready for this.
He shoved those insidious, enticing thoughts down deep to examine later. All she was asking for was not to make her leave. Logic told him he shouldn’t even agree to that. For once in his life, Finn didn’t listen. “I don’t think I can say no.”
Her eyes danced with her smile. “Is that a deal, old man?”
Finn chuckled. “Deal. And I’m not old.”
Delaney gave a happy sigh and snuggled into him. “Good.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The alarms that signaled the entire team to gear up and move out for a fire rudely yanked Finn from his sleep.
“What’s that?” Delaney mumbled in a sleep-darkened voice.
“It means we have a fire, a big one.” Fuck. The timing couldn’t be worse, while Graff was still a big fucking question mark and Brand was watching Delaney’s every move.
Titus was the one on duty tonight, monitoring the war room. Must be bad if he’d sounded the alarm that called the entire team. “Get dressed.”
He tossed back the sheets and pulled on basic gear. If they were going to a fire, he’d put on more downstairs.
He turned to find Delaney already dressed in jeans and a plain white t-shirt, running shoes on her feet and a sweatshirt in her hands. Then she pulled out a knife with a belt and scabbard and strapped it under her clothes.
Finn raised his eyebrows.
“You got a problem with it?” she challenged.
“No.” He hated that she thought she had to have that, but she did. She was only being smart.
He didn’t say another word, just escorted her from the room. Downstairs he found his men gathered in the meeting room. “What’s going on?” He directed the question to Titus.
“We’ve got a big one burning north and east of San Francisco. The monitor is lighting up white. Definitely dragon. Winds are growing it fast and pushing it toward the city. We can’t hide this one. Deep called. The state has already called in a bunch of crews to tackle it.”
That many humans crawling over it would make things tricky. “How many?”
“All California-based crews. They want to try to contain this before it gets big fast, given its proximity to populated areas. Deep’s already on his way. He’ll coordinate where he wants us when we get closer.”
“Anything else?” he asked Titus.
Titus glanced at Brand, who’d joined them in the meeting room. “I made a few calls.”
“The small group north of the city?” Finn asked. A family of five shifters lived up that way. They’d been cooperative, communicating when contacted, but otherwise standoffish.
“Yeah,” Titus said. “They witnessed one dragon only.”
What the fuck? Most of these were caused by skirmishes. “Graff?”
Titus shrugged. “They said he was a black dragon, but at night it can be hard to tell.”
Shit. No way was he leaving Delaney here with Brand around, even with Lyndi’s boys as protection. Besides, if this was Graff, and given his abilities so far, even injured, Finn wasn’t comfortable with that either. This might be a distraction so he could get to her.
“Delaney goes with us,” he said.
Her head jerked up. “Wait, what?”
“You’ll fly with me. We’ll take turns sitting one man out to guard you while the rest of us work.”
While Brand crossed his arms, he didn’t protest.
Finn gave a sharp nod. “Gear up. Aidan, you’ll—”
The rookie was already standing. “Coordinate with Deep? Got it.”
Finn didn’t bother to confirm. Aidan knew his job. The team immediately moved into the hanger, all of them dressing in their gear, including forty pounds of gear in their packs.
“I need to speak with you.”
Finn turned to find Brand standing beside him. Damn the guy moved quietly for a gold dragon. “What do you need?”
“In private.”
“We have to get moving—”
“It won’t take long, but if this Graff guy set this fire, and you have Delaney with you, it could be important.”
Finn frowned, but nodded and followed Brand to the now-empty conference room.
Brand didn’t waste time. “One of the men at the mating ceremony with your brother was named Cole Hughes.”
Finn jerked upright. “What the fuck do you know about my brother?”
Brand’s lips flattened. “That’s not important. Listen to what I just said…Cole Hughes.”
Finn put the brakes on the protective anger burning through him. He knew that name had sounded familiar—Fallon’s main competition for Maddie. Still, that didn’t prove anything. “Hughes is a fairly common name, and Cole was a blue dragon. Our guy is a black dragon.”
Except…a memory picked at him. Something about a blue dragon having a child with another supernatural, and that child being a different colored dragon. Could that be Graff?
/> Brand waved an impatient hand. “I know, but I checked him out anyway. Just out of curiosity. Turns out Graff is Cole’s half brother. His father had an affair with a fire Djinn.”
Damnation. “That explains how he’s teleporting. He must be using his own magic. I’ve never heard of a combination like that before.” Usually, a supernatural with different species of parent only turned out to be one or the other, most often the more powerful of the two. Magical abilities in the form of a dragon made Graff a dangerous motherfucker. “Anything else?”
“Delaney is apparently the fifth dragon mate he’s tried to claim by force. Some kind of obsession, since the clans won’t grant him one. Three have died in his fire. The other two were mated by other dragons before he could try. The Hughes family thought he had died after the last one. Apparently, the destined mate of the woman injured him badly.”
And this asshole was after Delaney. “Why tell me?”
Brand shrugged. “I won’t be here when you get back.”
Finn’s eyebrows shot up. “Why not?”
“Because she took your blood—”
“How the fuck did you know that?” Finn snapped.
“Not important. But she’s not what I’m looking for. So…good luck.”
Who the hell was this guy? “Since you seem to know so much, any clue about why she doesn’t have a mark on her neck?”
Brand’s lips flattened and he shook his head. “Not a clue. But it’s a big deal. I’ll make sure to tell your king, but you should, too.”
Well…fuck. Finn held out a hand to shake. “I appreciate you telling me about Graff. That information helps.”
Brand grasped his hand with a nod.
Maybe the guy wasn’t so bad after all.
“Don’t wait too long to mate her. Your Alliance is aware. They’ll come for her soon.”
On those parting words, Brand pivoted and walked out.
…
Delaney clung quietly to Finn, sitting between two massive spikes, warmed by the fire he stoked in his belly, ripped at by the wind as he flew to the fire. Massive and terrifyingly beautiful, all that power underneath her. Dragons surrounded her, flying above, and behind, and to each side. A rainbow of color in the sky.
Beautiful.
I should be freaking the hell out. But she wasn’t. Calm owned her mind, despite the danger Graff presented, not to mention a massive wildfire. Calm and a sense of wonder. This was what she was, what she would become when she found her mate—a dance of fire and color and sheer might.