Our story.
Our family.
My heart is full of love as I watch Arthur get Diesel to settle down. I’ve already told them everything I know about Fikus, our mother’s gift, and what little I remember about the Myth of the Red Dragon. And Arthur agrees with me. He knows that Fikus is gone for now, but he will emerge again.
He will emerge because the Red Diamond will pull him back.
Pull him back so he can find his mate.
And that might be the only thing that can make him whole again.
As for us, I think as I sense my seed already taking in my curvy mate’s womb. We have been made whole. We’ve crossed that bridge into our forever. When Fikus needs help, I’ll be there. But for now I’m here.
“Here with you,” I whisper to Eleanor as we walk towards the center of the room and smile as all the Dragon couples cheer for us, applaud us, congratulate us, and welcome us.
Welcome us to their family.
Welcome us to our forever.
EPILOGUE
FRANNIE THE FIREFIGHTER
“Third one this week, Frannie,” says the Fire Chief as he wipes a gloved hand across his soot-stained visor. “Your Spidey-sense see this coming?”
I grin and pull my own visor down. Everyone knows about that weird sixth-sense I have when it comes to fires. Sometimes I think I can smell the smoke before the match is even lit.
“Not this one, Chief,” I say, tucking my brown hair under my helmet and turning my attention to the fire. “Sorry I’m late. You leave anything for me?”
The Chief raises an eyebrow and shakes his head. “It’s your day off, Frannie. You don’t need to be here. We got this.”
I snort as I check my equipment. “You think I’m gonna sit my big ass on the couch and watch you guys ham it up on the evening news?”
Chief’s about to reply with a wisecrack, but then one of my crew comes stumbling out of the building, his eyes wide in terror, his gloves smoldering, his visor and helmet partially melted. He’s all right, though. Just scared like he saw the devil.
“The devil, Frannie,” he whispers to me as he stumbles by towards the medics. “I saw it. Looked right into its eyes. And then it came for me, and I . . . I lost my nerve, Frannie. I . . .”
I glance at the medics, who nod at me and take care of the frazzled fireman. Then I look back towards the burning building, my gloved hand reaching down for my ax. People see weird things in flames, so I’m not shocked, I guess. Still, nobody should be in there. Everyone’s accounted for, and every room’s been checked. Protocol says I should report to the Chief and let him decide whether we investigate or let the building burn down and then get forensics to sift through the ashes for “the devil.”
The fireman is in the back of the ambulance on a stretcher, oxygen mask on, drugs getting injected into his veins to stop him from going into shock. He’s not talking to anybody else for a while.
So I look back towards that building, and now my sixth sense is perking up. That sixth sense has saved my ass a dozen times, and I’ve learned not to ignore it. Sometimes it tells me to turn and run for my life before the building collapses on me. Other times it tells me to forge straight ahead, to walk right into the flames, step towards whatever’s waiting for me in there.
And as I step through the broken-down door, ax in hand, my blood hot like fire, I see a flash of movement at the top of the stairs. My intuition urges me on, and I take a breath and climb up to the second floor.
“Get away from me,” comes a voice, a low, rasping voice that’s somehow deep and resonant. “Let me burn. Why won’t I burn?”
My heart is pounding so hard I can barely hear the wooden walls crackle and hiss. This building is close to coming down, but I can’t turn my back on someone who’s trapped inside.
“Stay low,” I shout. “I’ll have you outta here in a flash.”
“No!” roars the man just as I take the last step and catch a glimpse of him. “Don’t look at me! I’m a monster!”
I almost drop my ax when I see him. He’s a big man, but broken in some way. His back is twisted, his body scarred, his eyes unfocused like he can’t see straight. The eyes burn bright green though, with flashes of red in his irises. He was once a handsome man, I think—even though this isn’t the time or place.
“What happened to you?” I whisper, not sure if I’m talking to him or to the universe that brought us both to this spot in space, this moment in time. “How did you get here? They said the building was clear. They checked every room. How did you get here?”
The man is huddled against the wall, naked like a prisoner. But although he’s scarred, he isn’t burning. It’s like he can’t burn. Maybe that’s why the fireman said he saw the devil?
“Come on, sir,” I say, trying to sound cool and collected even though my sixth-sense is crawling up the walls, beating down the doors, smashing all the windows of my soul. “Let’s go.”
“Go,” whispers the man, shaking his head as he looks down at something in his hands. I squint through the smoke, and then I gasp when I see that it’s a massive gemstone. A diamond, it looks like.
A red diamond.
I stare at the diamond, and I feel a strange energy flowing from it, sending waves through the burning air. I’m mesmerized, frozen in place, and my mouth just hangs open as visions of this man come fluttering through like clips from an old movie.
I see the scarred, broken man in a scene from decades ago. He stood tall like a tower, broad like a bridge, a chiseled square jaw on a brutally handsome face. His body was like cut granite, arms like forged steel. And those green eyes . . .
I’m about to say something, but the man is rising to his feet, and I stare in shock. He’s naked, and I can clearly see that the power and vigor of his youth has not left him yet. It’s just been buried under those scars, disguised and diluted by pain and misery.
He’s still holding that red diamond, and now he points at me. “Go,” he says again. “Let me burn. You can never accept me like this. I am not even half a Dragon. What hope do I have of being a full Dragon? I was right. The Myth of Fated Mates does not apply to half-breeds. For twisted monsters like me, it is the Curse of Fated Mates. I am cursed to be drawn to you again and again, shown a future I cannot live, tortured by a fate I cannot have. Go, Frances. Go, and maybe I will burn away, find peace in ashes.”
“Go, Frances, go,” I whisper, the shock of hearing him say my real name almost breaking me as I stare at that red diamond. I don’t know how he knows my name, but that’s not what’s freaking me out the most.
No, what’s scaring the hell out of me is that I’m doing exactly what he said.
I’m going.
Going to him.
FROM THE AUTHOR
Two more to go in the DRAGON’S CURVY MATE series!
Fikus and Frannie are next in DRAGON’S CURVY FIREFIGHTER.
And then the final book with Gilfred and Gabbie: DRAGON’S CURVY GAMBLER.
Enjoy!
Love,
Anna.
Dragon's Curvy Engineer Page 6