Dragon's Flame

by Jory Strong

  The Battalion Chief subtly relaxed. “You must have impressed him.”

  She didn’t breathe a sigh of relief but she managed a shrug. “I appreciated his assist. Weird coincidence, the last callout of the day was a Maserati he was driving.”

  BC Mieger snorted a laugh and further relaxed. “Those Supernatural Ops guys have a reputation for destruction. You’re aware of the warehouse fires last night?”

  “Heard about them on the news. They’re estimating damage in the millions but there were no casualties or injuries.”

  “IRE was on scene.”

  “I hadn’t heard that.” Why hadn’t Taine told her the callout was a fire?

  “Word traveled down from the powers that be. IRE wants a firefighter temporarily assigned to them as a consultant. They want you.”

  “Me? Wouldn’t an arson investigator or someone higher up be better?”

  The BC appreciated the response. His smile was warm now that it was clear she wasn’t a political animal capitalizing on connections.

  “Hard to say who the appropriate personnel would be since what’s going on is need to know and need to know doesn’t extend beyond Homeland.” His expression turned grim. “All I got was that there’s a chance that last night’s fires might be the first wave of them.”

  Saffron didn’t like the sound of that, not when last night’s incident had gone multi-alarm. But it didn’t explain why IRE needed a consultant, much less her.

  She wasn’t an arson investigator, couldn’t fight a fire single-handedly or tell them anything about fires that a fireman arriving on scene couldn’t tell them, and even a kid could call nine-one-one.

  The Battalion Chief leaned forward, pushed a sheet of paper toward her. “Here’s where IRE is headquartered. I’ve squared your absence with your captain.”

  “When do I report?”

  “Now. The guy in charge over there is Maksim. Don’t know if that’s a first name or a last.”

  She grasped the paper and stood.

  The BC asked, “What do you know about Supernatural Ops and IRE?”

  “Nothing for a fact. I’ve probably heard the same speculation you have.”

  “We’ll talk when the assignment ends.”

  “Yes sir.”

  She made it to the car without revealing any of what she felt. Once in the driver’s seat, her fist came down on the steering wheel in concert with her heart.

  Bang.

  She felt flattered.

  Bang.

  She felt steamed enough that if it’d been physically possible, there’d be smoke streaming out of her nostrils.

  Bang.

  She felt damned confused.

  Bang. Maybe especially confused.

  She’d never been a woman to put on a lover’s shirt after the main event. Had always equated that with a level of intimacy she made a point of avoiding. But last night, instead of pulling on her own clothes—and she could have endured them for the drive to her apartment—she’d asked to borrow Taine’s shirt.

  She hit the steering wheel once more for good measure. Cranked the car’s engine and tried to tell herself that sleeping with him had nothing to do with this temporary assignment.

  She wasn’t that gullible.

  For her own sanity she’d better accept that the fun with Taine did have something to do with it. And that maybe they did actually need someone from the San Diego Fire Department on board and preferred someone who already had a connection to a team member.

  The need had to be legit, right? Otherwise the guy in charge of IRE wouldn’t have signed-off on it, right?

  It didn’t keep her thoughts from spinning until she got to Carmel Valley and IRE.

  They were headquartered in a sprawling white adobe that’d probably set someone back two and a half million dollars. Whether that someone was a former drug lord who’d lost his slice of the good life or this was an example of her federal tax dollars at work, Saffron didn’t know.

  She sincerely hoped it was the former because that’d also go a long way toward explaining the high-end sports cars. She counted six behind the only black sheep of the bunch, a sedan with darkly-tinted windows that pretty much shouted Fed!

  She parked behind a silver Ferrari. Got to the front door and hesitated. Knock? Walk in?

  Before she could decide the door opened and there was Taine.

  Damn. He’d gotten more compelling in the hours since he’d dropped her off at her apartment.

  His scent brought the phantom feel of his body on hers, in hers, and her nipples turned into hard knots of need while her sex flushed and moistened.

  His nostrils flared as if he could scent her arousal. His pupils dilated.

  She lifted her hand in a gesture meant to convey stop, except her palm landed on solid muscle and there was heat transfer despite the shirt covering his broad chest.

  Fiery need shot up her arm and into her breasts before arrowing downward to the place between her legs. She caught herself wetting her lips when his eyes zeroed in on her mouth and his own lips curved upward in masculine satisfaction.

  Ass. Except that brought the remembered feel of her nails digging into solid muscle and the pleasure that’d come with the flex of very fine glutes as he’d thrust.

  She tried to stir the embers of fury, couldn’t quite manage it, not with the heat in his eyes. But she managed some resistance by reminding herself that she’d worked damn hard to become a firefighter and not some Fed’s plaything.

  “From now on, we keep this professional.”

  His smile widened. “I don’t think so.”

  He pulled her into the house and penned her against the wall before she could respond. His mouth covered hers before she could react.

  His tongue plunged past lips parted to protest. She’d never admit otherwise despite the rush of pleasure that came with the twine of his tongue with hers. Damn, he knew how to kiss.

  Her eyes fluttered closed. She fisted her hands rather than explore the solid wall of muscle trapping her against the wall, but that was the extent of her control.

  Her pelvis tilted, her lower body sought, found what it was after, Taine’s hard cock. Each rub and press against his erection pulsed pleasure into her sex.

  Knowing what it felt like to be skin-to-skin with him, to have his weight on her, his cock embedded deep, driving them both toward release made it harder to resist. She should, she knew she should, but…

  He lifted his mouth long enough to inhale. Even fire needed oxygen to survive. But she didn’t turn her head to deny the next kiss, or the one that came after. Might even have moaned in protest—though again, she wouldn’t admit it—when he left her lips, kissed his way to her ear.

  “The scent of you on my sheets when I finally got home had me taking matters into my own hand.”

  Oh Jesus, how was she supposed to keep her hands off him and his off her while they were on the job?

  Chapter 6

  Saffron shivered at imagining him jerking off. Her panties got wetter but she had enough presence of mind not to tell him that she’d needed to take the edge off too after he’d dropped her off at her apartment.

  His tongue fucked into her ear. She swallowed a moan but couldn’t prevent the grind of her mound against his hardened cock.

  Okay, so making this a strictly professional relationship wasn’t going to happen. But if she was his plaything, considering her long-standing commitment to casual when it came to sex, then the reverse was also true. He was her plaything.

  She amended her initial demand. “We keep it professional while we’re on the job.”

  He flicked his tongue into her ear and this time she didn’t catch the moan before it escaped. He kissed his way back to her mouth. “The rules are more flexible here.”

  “Which makes this an excellent time to tell me about Supernatural Ops and IRE.”

  He kissed her, a long, thorough claiming of lips and breath—and very nearly resolve. She had to dig deep to flatten her hands against hi
s chest and push.

  “If you insist on talking…” he murmured.

  “I do. I absolutely do.”

  He stepped back but remained in her personal space.

  Down the hall to her left, a small man with thin, pinched lips emerged from a room. His gaze landed on them and his expression became more censorious.

  Saffron’s face flamed. She pushed Taine out of her space.

  He went without resistance, sighed as the other man disappeared into a different room. “Ignore Anders, the guy is a total gnome. To gain his approval you’d have to be wearing a chastity belt and my considerable package would have to be locked behind a titanium cage.”

  The heat in her face dissipated with a snort. “Considerable package?”

  He captured her hand and pressed it against his erection. “You disagree?”

  Heat returned. She wet her lips but said, “I’m not stroking your ego—or anything else while we’re on the job.”

  “A challenge. I like that.” Amusement faded into grimness. “Unfortunately, a sorcerer has also presented a challenge.”

  She wasn’t positive how much she believed when it came to the supernatural. But take the attraction to Taine out of the equation and there would have been no fury or fuming or confusion after the summons to the Battalion Chief’s office. Her first and only reaction to being assigned to IRE as a consultant would have been excitement.

  This was a chance to satisfy her curiosity and see the inside of an organization that was shrouded in mystery. She doubted the brass had looked for reasons to say no to the request.

  Taine kept her hand and used it to guide her down a hallway to the right of the front door. “So,” she said. “Sorcerers, what do they do? Spells? And how does that relate to your callout last night?”

  She used her free hand to punch his upper arm lightly. “You could have told me the callout was a fire.”

  “You’d have been far too much of a distraction, especially wearing my shirt.” He stopped and turned her toward him, cupped her breast. “The interest on that loan is accumulating.”

  Heat streaked from her nipple to her sex. “Behave,” she said, a husk infiltrating her voice.

  “Impossible around you.”

  He nuzzled her ear, delivered a sucking bite to her neck that sent pleasure shivering through her and made the passion mark on her shoulder burn. She ought to give him another, much harder punch for giving her a hickey, except…

  His biting her in the moment of orgasm as he’d taken her from behind had added to the ecstasy. Even thinking about it was enough to slicken and swell her sex.

  “Behave,” she said, not quite succeeding in sounding calm, cool and collected. “Tell me about sorcerers.”

  “There’s a mood killer.”

  They resumed walking down the hallway. He said, “Think of sorcerers as rechargeable batteries. They attract and hold magic in varying degrees and can channel that magic into spells that accomplish various things. Most often the magic is transferred into charms like those you saw at the supernatural fair. But, as you’d suspect, not all sorcerers are equal and there are plenty of charlatans.”

  “Meaning a lot of the charms were worthless.”

  “Without magic, though sometimes the power of belief leads to the desired end result.”

  “A placebo effect.”

  “Exactly.”

  “What’s the connection between a sorcerer and the fires last night?”

  “The fires were the result of a spell working. What we don’t know is whether the spell was a success, or whether it was a failure. Ground zero will be our first stop.”

  They entered a room. In the center was a short round table surrounded by comfortable chairs. Against the walls were cubicles, making this a law-enforcement bullpen housed in high-end real estate.

  Taine guided her to a cubicle cluttered by knickknacks and glittery objects. Her hands twitched with the urge to grab a box and sweep everything into it, or to at least restore order.

  More than a few objects depicted dragons. There was a belt buckle with a fire breather, a snow globe with what looked like a dragon fucking a virgin, a stack of poker chips with winged dragons that if they were real gold, had to be worth at least fifty grand.

  “This stuff is somehow case related?” she asked.

  “No. It’s all mine.” He picked up the snow globe. A blonde woman had her palms pressed to a large gray boulder and was being mounted from behind by a silver-and-black dragon. And damn if that wasn’t erotic as hell.

  Taine shook the globe, making it snow inside. Naked and snow shouldn’t go together, but with a dragon…

  Got fire? Yeah. Snow wouldn’t be a problem.

  He set the snow globe down on his desk and gave her a heavy-lidded look. “Arousing, isn’t it?”

  Not going there. Oh hell no. They were not going to explore kinky fantasies.

  “How can you stand the clutter?”

  “It helps me concentrate.” He undressed her with his eyes. “Or used to.”

  “Behave,” she growled, eliciting a smile that had her fighting against leaning forward and doing the complete opposite by kissing him.

  Taine stabbed his keyboard with an index finger. The screen came to life, revealing several rows of faces.

  “Suspects?”

  “A six pack of sorcerers to show the elderly couple who rented the house where the fire started. We’ll go there after ground zero.”

  It felt surreal for an instant, as if she’d stepped into a cop show. How many times had she watched detectives put a picture of their primary suspect with five others, creating what they called a six pack in the hopes a witness would identify their suspect as the guilty party?

  Taine stabbed the keyboard again. A printer hummed then spat out several pages, each with six faces. She picked them up, studied the images. Roughly seventy-five percent of them were men, but no one race dominated. “Do you think there will be more fires?”

  “I think by the end of the day we’ll have a pretty good idea of how bad this might get.”

  They left the house. Seeing her little red Corolla among all the expensive sports cars, Saffron said, “Do I have to worry about it getting towed?”

  “Word will quickly spread that it belongs to you, and you’re with me.”

  There was a wealth of satisfaction in his voice. She ignored it. Or rather, her brain did while her body hummed and wanted more time with him, more of everything with him.

  Taine opened the sedan’s passenger door for his mate then got into the driver’s seat. If not for this business with the sorcerer, he would be utterly content. If not for the harm that could come to Saffron if he plowed the sedan into something as they drove to ground zero, he’d close his eyes and luxuriate in her scent.

  As it was, it was all he could do to keep from filling the car with the sound of purring. He took her hand, tightened his grip when she tried to pull from his grasp.

  She relented with a very dragon-like huff. “Only because no one’s watching.”

  He brushed his thumb over her knuckles and grinned. She couldn’t resist him.

  That was fair. He couldn’t resist her either.

  And he could be magnanimous in victory.

  He breathed her in. Arousal still laced her scent and it was heady.

  Aggravating sorcerers aside, having her with him like this counted as courtship. And what better way to bring her more fully into a realization that supernatural beings existed, and often took human mates, than to have her working a case?

  He glanced at his mate. Glorious tribute to the First Ancestor. He’d gotten lucky.

  Strong. Brave.

  Prickly. But a meek mate wouldn’t suit him nearly as well.

  Delectable. Beautiful.

  His gaze slid to her breasts and he mentally stripped away shirt and bra to admire caramel perfection capped with large dark nipples. And that imagining was followed by jeans and panties disappearing.

  His cock throbbed. H
is lips parted, both tongue and shaft wanting to explore the smooth, wet place between her thighs.

  Perfection. That defined his mate.

  He readjusted his jeans.

  Torment. That also defined his mate.

  He wanted to carry her hand to his erection—or better yet, urge her mouth to his cock.

  Need shuddered through him but he behaved himself—at painful cost.

  Finally they turned onto a street marred by charred building remains. He released her hand so she could maintain her professionalism.

  Burned warehouses were visible on both sides of the street. She said, “There must have been one hell of a blast for so much to go up when there’s all this separation.”

  “It’s possible the spell working was large enough that the buildings that burned served as anchors. For every reaction there’s an equal and opposite reaction.”

  “So they intentionally burned?”

  “We’ll know soon enough.”

  “It’s amazing that there weren’t any casualties.”

  “A dread spell could explain the lack.”

  “Does that do what it sounds like it’d do?”

  “Yes. Anyone in the targeted area would get a bad feeling and need to leave. Anyone about to enter would be compelled to detour. A more subtle spell would trigger cravings. The sudden need for a taco sold miles away, or a walk on the beach.”

  “Is either spell unique enough to point toward the guilty party?”

  “No. But the six packs we printed out are those sorcerers who have enough power to do a working this large and also prevent casualties.”

  He parked behind a black sedan identical to the one they were in. She asked, “What’s the total building count? I heard the damage was in the millions but didn’t hear how many warehouses caught fire.”

  “Seven warehouses, one old house. The house is ground zero.”

  They got out of the sedan. He shoved the hand closet to her into his jeans rather than pull her against him so that no one could miss the fact that she belonged to him. They headed toward Crew and Gaige, who stood well back from Kristof.

  The IRE sorcerer’s skin was a deeper brown than Saffron’s. His hair was also longer, the dozens of braids pulled back into a thick ponytail. Taine’s eyes narrowed with thoughts that his mate might be attracted to the human sorcerer.