by Abigail Owen
Incredible.
Exhilaration edged with worry pumped through her, but she had to admit she freaking loved flying. Heights had never been an issue for her, and something about the power and agility of these men in dragon form incited total trust. Even if she did fall off, which she doubted would happen easily, she knew they’d catch her, keep her safe.
Someday, I’ll get to fly with them. A thought that only amped up her anticipation.
She kept her eyes and ears open to everything happening around her. At least she didn’t have to worry about Sera. Finn had sent Lyndi and her boys over to watch the winery and her friend.
“I’d better not get fucking poison oak this time,” Keighan grumbled, his voice coming through the weird telepathic means of communication the men used in this form.
“Shouldn’t have joined an enforcer team then, dumb-ass.” Rivin bumped his friend, making Keighan bobble.
“Didn’t have a choice. Someone has to watch out for your skinny butt.”
Delaney was still figuring out dragon facial expressions, but she could hear Keighan’s grin in his voice and chuckled.
Finn’s voice came through. “All right, we’ve got close to a hundred crews out here. They’re calling it the Smith Fire. 17,000-acre blaze. We need to stop it before it reaches the town of Sonoma. Dry conditions in the area and 60-mile-per-hour winds have fueled its advance.”
“What’s our plan?” Levi said.
“Deep wants us in the northwest corner, pulling it toward us to slow its spread toward the crews, most of whom are south and east,” Finn said.
Were they that impervious to fire? “Is it dangerous?” she called over the rush of the wind.
“Not for us,” Finn said, utter confidence in his voice.
At least she didn’t have to worry about the guys, although at least a thousand brave men were still out there risking their lives. She’d worry about them, even though she didn’t know them.
Finn continued his instructions to his men. “Our job will be to move toward a five-mile ridgetop firebreak that runs to the north of a small creek.”
On some unseen signal, all nine of them tipped their wings, banking to the north in a precision move she could only describe as impressive.
Long before they arrived at the site, Delaney could see smoke billowing from a distance. As they got closer, the reddish-orange glow of the fire itself became more obvious. Closer in and she gasped. “It’s enormous,” she whispered.
Though still hard to see under the smoke, the fire appeared to be eating the earth alive, leaving a decimated trail of black destruction in its wake.
As they passed over a section, Delaney caught a glimpse of what she thought might be several ATVs carrying men wearing similar uniforms as her guys. Hard to tell from the altitude they were flying at.
“Drop down behind the smoke. We’ll do a flyover of the creek so I can get a look, then let’s land in that clearing straight ahead,” Finn called. “Delaney, hold on tight.”
As soon as she tightened her grip, Finn tipped sideways, pulling his wings in a bit, turning them in a spiral as they dropped rapidly. He circled over what appeared to be a creek. Hard to see any water in it, though. The main fire was maybe half a mile away.
“I like it,” Finn said. “I want us spread over a twenty-mile line. We’ll attack it straight on.”
“Yes, boss,” every man replied.
With precision and confidence showing in every move, they dropped to the ground, landing together in a V formation, Finn touching down with barely a thump. From this angle, the flames towered over them, and Delaney imagined the heat warmed her skin even from this distance.
She scrambled down off his back and immediately his body shimmered, like the heat from the fire had thrown up visible waves, until he stood before her in human form. To her shock he stepped right into her, taking her face in his hands. “Stay here for now. Titus and Aidan will watch over you to start.”
Delaney wrapped her hands around his wrists, holding him to her, even if just for a moment. “Be careful.”
Finn searched her eyes then shocked her even more by lowering his head for a quick, hard kiss. “I hate that you’re in danger here. Stay with the guys. We’ll try to be fast.”
Heart tripping over itself at his caring, at his kissing her in front of the guys, at the look in his eyes, Delaney had no idea how to respond. No pithy, easy remark came to mind. So she went up on tiptoe and kissed him, then stepped back and watched as he shifted back into dragon form. Leaving their packs of equipment, he and the other six dragons wheeled as one and took off into the skies.
“Here.” Titus handed her a pair of binoculars and pointed to where she could see Finn and the team working. It was grueling, at a frenzied pace. Several of the team stood on the ground, drawing the fire into themselves nonstop, while the rest passed over from the air, pulling the fire into their bodies pass, after pass, after pass.
“How do humans do this?” she wondered aloud.
Titus caught it and gave a solemn nod. “They’re impressive, even by dragon standards. They try to stop the fire by cutting off its fuel, removing all the trees and underbrush, and basically digging wide trenches around the perimeter of the fire as fast as they can. When the news reports that fire is a certain percent contained, that means crews have cut a line around the edge of that percentage of the fire.”
“Remind me to start donating to firemen. They deserve every damn penny.”
For hours, Delaney watched Finn and the Huracáns chase the Smith Fire up ridgetops and down drainages. More often than not, she lost sight of them in the fire and the smoke, and Titus would have to point them out. From her vantage point, it appeared as though, with each pass, they drew the fire into themselves, dragging at it even as they flew by. More than once Finn would appear up higher, scouting the fire. And twice, they had to move Delaney’s position to keep her safe.
Titus and Aidan switched back and forth between dragon and human, Aidan apparently communicating periodically with Deep. Delaney wondered how many other “humans” were truly something else altogether.
The chill of night fell, the fire illuminating the sky with an eerie orange glow. Titus had already started a large campfire to hold the cold at bay for her.
“Not that I need it,” he said.
Delaney wrapped an extra one of their coats around her and sat on the ground, grateful for the warmth. She kept searching for the team, but the inky blackness of night against the brighter glow of flames made it hard to pick them out.
The team finally landed for the last time at dusk. Turned out even dragon shifters needed to rest. Their scales glittered like multicolored stars as they caught the glow from the fire. Then those pinpricks of sparkle disappeared, and exhausted men covered from head to toe in ash appeared, trudging in their direction. As far as she could tell, the stuff had worked into their scruff and every crevice, caking itself to their skin. How that happened when they were in dragon form, she had no idea.
“I guess if a dragon gets dirty, so does the man,” she said, grinning at them.
Finn caught her wrinkled nose and grinned. “Want a kiss?”
Delaney laughed and held up her hands. “Hard pass. You reek of smoke.” Though if she were honest, she sort of loved the smell on him.
Rivin grabbed her up into a bear hug. “Aw, come on, D.”
Delaney squealed as she was passed from Rivin to Keighan to Aidan to Levi, coming last to Finn, whose blue eyes twinkled down at her in the firelight. “Might as well kiss me now.”
She glanced down to find herself covered in streaks of black and gray ash and laughed. Then she stepped in close, hovering just out of his reach. “Might as well.”
Finn didn’t lean down and press his lips to hers, though. Instead, he swooped her into a dramatic dip and took advantage of her precarious balance to take her lips in a demanding kiss that left her heart thumping.
He lifted his head, and something in his expression made her br
eath catch in her throat. He looked at her as if he was seeing with different eyes. As if something had changed…
Then he blinked, the expression disappearing, making her wonder if she’d dreamed it up out of her own wishful thinking. With a smooth motion, he tipped her upright and grinned again, carefree in a way she hadn’t seen him since meeting him. “I might have to bring you on all our jobs.”
But somehow, she knew his teasing was a cover. For what, though?
She went along with it and rolled her eyes. “Remind me to bring a couple of books next time.”
Keighan grinned. “We boring you?”
She scrunched her nose at him, earning a laugh.
The guys pulled out sealed packs of freeze-dried food and scarfed it down along with what seemed like gallons of water from a nearby stream. Then, using their packs as pillows, they lay down around the fire and dropped into heavy sleep.
Finn pulled her into him so that she shared his pack. The combination of his naturally hot body at her back and the fire at her front kept her comfy.
“Have you found any evidence that this was started by Graff?” she murmured, yawning around the words.
“Not yet, but we haven’t had a chance to search much. In a few hours, Titus will shift and scout. Since he’s black, he’s the hardest to see at night. Although Drake, Kanta, and Hall will go with him.”
Leaving her here with Finn, Levi, Rivin, and Keighan.
“You’re safe. Don’t worry.”
She hummed her agreement. “I was thinking… If this was something else, just your normal callout and not Graff, what would happen to the dragons responsible?”
“We’d kill them.”
Delaney stilled as she absorbed that fact, then shifted to glance over her shoulder at him. Finn’s expression showed no regret and no give. “It’s our law. No one will risk exposing our kind, by penalty of death.”
“But…wasn’t telling me, when you didn’t know I was a dragon mate, risking exposing your kind?”
He stared back at her, and Delaney’s jaw dropped. “And Sera knows. You could be killed over that?”
Finn shrugged. “Exposure to one or two humans versus larger numbers means the punishment is…reduced. Especially if we wipe your memories.”
“So, no death?” Thank goodness.
“I didn’t say that. It’s up to the Alliance to determine in those cases. But fires like these…I am the authority.”
Delaney swallowed. “I don’t envy you that job.”
Another shrug. This man was hard for a reason, and that made him who he was. But all that made her want to do was hold him and show him a softer side of life, draw out that laughing teasing part of him more.
“Sleep,” Finn said. “Deep wants us to move down and tackle this beast from a different angle starting at dawn.”
How could they keep going? Today alone had been brutal to watch, let alone work.
Delaney closed her eyes but didn’t sleep. Instead, she lay quietly, mind spinning.
…
Something has changed.
He stared across the fire at where Delaney lay wrapped in Finn’s arms. Her eyes were closed, lashes fanning out over her cheeks, but Finn’s weren’t as he stared down at her sleeping form.
Had the man finally given in to the pull she had?
Damn. No more time.
Setting this fire in order to get the team out here had been no mean feat, taking precise timing and a lot of his internal fire, leaving him weakened. He’d spent the day gathering his strength, replenishing the flames inside him for what might end in a catastrophic fight.
He could’ve taken her at any time today while the team had been far enough away that they wouldn’t be able to prevent it. No one would see him coming, that was for damn sure, because no one suspected.
But he’d need his strength if he was going to fulfill his plans for her before they found them. Finn had found her last time—he couldn’t risk the man doing it again this time.
No.
He’d wait.
Now that he was stronger, he’d wait for the moment to pounce.
Would she succumb like a good little dragon mate should? Allow him to push his fire into her and see if she survived or if she burned? If she was worthy… Either way, he won.
At the end of the day, he’d have a mate no one else could take from him…or a pile of ashes no other dragon could claim. Fate owed him a fucking mate. He’d already lost multiple. The clan’s system was rigged, and those fuckers would pay the price of however many dragon mates it took him to find his.
Time would tell if Delaney was destined to be his.
Somehow, he didn’t think she would dutifully submit. Delaney was too full of fight, even more so now that she knew what she was. He’d enjoy coaxing submission from her. Or beating it out of her.
Whichever.
Now he just had to wait for the right moment, the right opportunity, to snatch her away.
…
Finn tried to pull his arm out from under Delaney without waking her. She’d finally fallen asleep a couple of hours ago after staying awake long into the night. He knew because he’d lain awake beside her, arms tucked around her, listening to her breathing, to her heart.
Managing to extricate himself, he went about the tasks of checking his gear and rousing the men. She slept while they silently ate more prepackaged food for breakfast and got ready for another rough day’s work. Darkness still held the land in its grip, but daylight would come soon, and they’d be back on the line.
Finn squatted in front of the woman who’d caused him a hell of a lot of trouble lately. He studied her face in the softening glow of dawn.
All he could think about while he’d worked the line yesterday was the danger he’d put her in by bringing her here. If anything happened to her, it would end him. He wouldn’t want to go on alone.
This wasn’t like with Phoebe. His false mate had been timid, inciting a protectiveness in him that he’d recently realized he’d mistaken as a connection that meant they were mates. When she’d died he’d blamed himself, he’d carried the burden of awful guilt, but his heart hadn’t yearned for her. His soul hadn’t felt like a piece was missing. Something he’d assumed as due to losing part of himself in the process, turning him harder, colder. But maybe that wasn’t it.
Because Phoebe wasn’t his destined mate.
But with Delaney…
He’d lost his shit when Graff took her, never wanting to experience that sheer, gut-clenching, heartrending dread again. But with no option other than bringing her with them, he could feel that anxiety twisting him up. Unclaimed, Delaney remained in her fragile human form. He didn’t have any other choice, though. Not that he could see.
Because one thing had become crystal clear…losing her would obliterate him.
My mate.
He hardly allowed himself to whisper the thought in his head, but the second it crowded into his mind, everything else faded away.
Fate had sure fucked him if Delaney was his mate. With a fire to contain alongside watchful humans, keeping her safe while keeping her close, law-breaking dragons to find and kill, Graff still after her, and the possibility of the Alliance discovering her and trying to take her away for the mating process….
Yeah. I am fucked.
“I can practically hear you thinking.”
Finn tensed at Delaney’s voice. Damn. He’d done his best not to wake her.
She opened her eyes, stretched, uncoiling just like a dragon would do, and smiled at him. “Want to share with the rest of the class, old man?”
Finn shook his head. Telling her his revelation needed to wait until a better time, when they could discuss it in private, preferably. “We’ve got to go.”
Concern clouded those dove-gray eyes. “Be careful.”
Her sincere concern tightened the grip she already had on his heart. “You, too.”
“Who me?” she batted her eyes. “Careful is my middle name.”
Finn snorted. “Trouble is your middle name.”
He pushed to his feet and heaved his pack onto his shoulders, then just stood there, gazing down at her, needing to claim her, to tell her what was in his head and in his heart. He opened his mouth a few times to put it all out there but closed it each time.
Man did his timing suck.
Finally, he turned away. “Titus?”
His friend looked over from helping Drake with a small cut that had been larger last night, courtesy of a tree that exploded just as he’d passed close over it. Pine shrapnel had managed to get under one of his scales.
“Keep her safe while I can’t.” An order, not a question.
Dark eyes flicked to Delaney, then Titus nodded.
That was the best he could do. For now. With reluctance dragging at his heels, Finn walked away from the one person he was desperate to keep close.
He and his men had made it thirty yards away when she called his name. Her voice floated to him on the wind. “Finn.”
He paused and turned back to find her standing at the top of the rise in the flat patch they’d used to land. Dwarfed by trees, she stood, watching him go, her long gold and brown hair whipping around her face.
Gods she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“What?” he yelled back.
Thanks to his enhanced vision, he caught every nuance of her smile—the beauty, the hope, and even the nerves underneath. “Mate me.”
A solid punch to the gut would’ve had less impact than those two words.
“Holy shit,” Levi murmured beside him.
When Finn didn’t reply, shock still hijacking his system, Levi elbowed him. “Answer the woman, boss.”
As he stood there speechless, her shoulders dropped, her smile fading. His feet moved before he made a conscious decision to go to her.
Yes.
Fear pumped through him in adrenaline-packed bursts—something he wouldn’t get rid of until she was his mate and survived his fire. The answer still drummed through him, pounding to the same rhythm as his erratic heart. That crazy woman proposed to him in the middle of fire and catastrophe.