Open Flame (Dragon's Fate)

by Lacy Danes

  Closer.

  The wings flapped up, halting the bird before it hit the window. Madoc’s eyes widened, and his heart leapt into his throat. He stepped back and wheeled about.

  She sat on the edge of the bed, watching him. An explosion of brown hair fell in tangles over her shoulders. Her blue eyes slowly blinked as if she woke from a long slumber.

  The hells. His body heated, and the ticks slowed. He froze time and her in it.

  She lived. How could that be?

  He walked to the bed and stared at her. His bite had not killed her. She sat before him, her eyes wide open like the stormy sea. Her nose… He could ask her about her nose. His throat tightened, and he swallowed hard. He had found his mate. His heart leapt, and a huge smile danced in his soul. He laughed out loud.

  Her face scrunched, and she tore from the time freeze. He had not let time slip. Of course he couldn’t freeze her. She was Zir. His lips twitched as he held in another burst of giddy laughter and the urge to dance around the room. His soul lifted as if it was the very first time he’d frozen a human. No, this was so much more.

  “Stop doing whatever black magic you are doing to me!” she spat out with fury. “Where am I?” She pushed to her feet and with haste removed herself to the sitting room of his suite. Their gazes met and locked.

  She could not have placed more distance between them in this room. She threw a bucket of water on his flames. He wanted to hug her, and she wanted to flee. Of course she did. He inhaled, trying to calm his nerves. Before she accepted this, he needed to tell her all.

  “Fina. You are at my suite.”

  “You presume to bring me here? I did not give you my name, so do not use it. And you…you bit me. I want nothing to do with you and whatever you are.” She ran for the door.

  Madoc reached her the instant her hand hit the doorknob. He pressed the hard wood closed. “Miss, there is much I need to tell you. I will not let you leave this room until I have said my piece.”

  “You will not let me? How will you stop me?” She revolved toward him and lifted her knee, slamming the bony barb into his manhood.

  Pain sliced though his body, and he leaned more heavily on the door. Flashes burst behind his eyes, and he inhaled a breath, trying to regain control.

  She reeled from the door and him and darted back into the rooms. There was no other exit except the windows and a five-story drop. He pivoted and leaned back against the wood. “Fina.” His voice came out higher pitched than normal.

  She didn’t answer.

  “Fina!” he bellowed.

  She strode back to the archway that separated the sleeping room from the parlor and stared at him with eyes that flashed with blue heat. Her body trembled, and she held her arms out with her wrists up.

  Black burn marks smoked on her sleeves. “What did you do to me? Reverse this spell. Reverse it now!” Her lower lip wobbled, and fire stormed in her eyes.

  “Bloody hell.” She breathed fire on herself. Stay calm. Jordan had begun breathing scalding smoky mist when he found his mate. Though his mate, Celeste, never did, it appeared Fina now had that ability. He could not explain this to her rationally. “If you will sit, I will tell you all I can.”

  Fina stared at her arms and then at the large man blocking the door. Oh, she hated him. Pain rippled up her arms. What had she just done to herself? Please don’t let me do it again. She fought back tears, wanting to leave. What had actually happened? She swallowed hard.

  A pressure had built in her mouth, and she thought her stomach would spill. But when her throat constricted and she leaned over, fire, not bile, spilled from her mouth.

  She could not control her shaking. What had he done to her? She wanted to hit him again, to slash his throat, to beat her fists against his chest. But if she didn’t find out what had happened to her and make him reverse it, she would be stuck. The memory of his fangs in the garden and the cut to his throat healing before her flowed into her mind. Had he turned her into a monster? That…that was not an option. Breathe deep. You cannot have a fit of vapors right now. Who was she fooling? Now was the exact right time for a fit of vapors.

  She walked to the small round table with three chairs beside it and sat in one. She stared at the man who had ruined her pa’s life and now perpetrated this horrific act on her.

  She wanted him dead.

  The sensation of Madoc kissing her out in the garden and the scandalous nightmares she’d had about him since she’d met him came unbidden into her consciousness.

  Heat seeped down her body as if his hands had dragged over her. She wanted his caress on her body. She closed her eyes. No. She would not allow her nightmares to come to life. When she opened her eyes, the smell of sweet, sticky, delicious red peppers and sugar enveloped her.

  He pulled out the chair closest to her and sat. His fingers wrapped her hand as he examined the singed material about her wrists. “Does the burn hurt?” He grazed his fingertips along her inner wrist, a tender gesture that coiled up her arm and raised the hair on her nape.

  No. She could not allow her body to respond this way. She clenched her teeth. “At first. Not now.” He touched her again without asking. She frowned and stared up at him.

  “It healed.”

  “How is that possible?”

  His fingers slipped around hers, and he squeezed. “Where to start?” He inhaled deeply and blew out a breath, then smiled at her as if delighted to be sitting here with her.

  To the stars. Another smitten male. But one she had no interest in being pursued by.

  “We are actually not certain how we came to be. We’ve traced our origins back to the eleventh century, when magic, dragons and otherworldly things were common and accepted. I have three brothers. There may have been more. Now we are the only ones of our kind. We are all the same, but different. We call ourselves Zir, or dragon. The dragon part is what we do know. Though we now think blood drinker may be in us too.”

  Every word that came from his mouth—pig slop. “You are mad. You expect me to accept that as an answer to what just happened? You bit me, and now I am part dragon too?”

  “I am not certain how this all works. All I know is that you are the second human I have ever bitten. My brothers have all bitten women, but our bite kills all but the one female meant for each of us. That female is our destined mate for life.”

  “And you chose me without my consent!”

  “We don’t choose. It simply is. My brother, Jordan, was in love four times and bit the women he loved. They all died. He now has his mate, Celeste. He tried to help her die because she floated in the ruins of a devastating shipwreck. She wouldn’t have lived much longer. Now they are beyond happy and in love. Even her grandmum lives on the Isle with us.”

  She rolled her eyes and shook her head. Unbelievable. “You are truly daft.” Yet something had happened to her. It had to be black magic. Maybe if she removed herself from him, everything would go back to normal.

  “I do sound the halfwit, don’t I?” He caressed the inside of her wrist with his thumb. The very spot where moments before she’d had burns.

  Shivers of pleasure quaked through her. Divine. More so than any touch she had ever experienced. Her tongue slid out, and she wet her lips.

  “Fina. I know you want to leave, but I can’t have that. You need me as much as I need you. We are to each other like the air that fire needs to burn.”

  “You think you can do this to me and expect me to accept it?”

  “For certain you are scared. You don’t know me. I have changed your life, as you stated, without your consent. We will make this work. You will see.”

  “I hate you. I have hated you for the last five years. Ever since you walked into my pa’s shop with the design you stole from him, I have hated you.”

  He frowned and then nodded. “Ah. You are Peter Byron’s daughter. That was where I remembered you from. I should have remembered those eyes.”

  He mocked her?

  “I did not steal any
thing, Fina. I am sorry your father saw my drawing that way. I am an inventor, and because of my elements, I have a very different view of time. Time for me, for us, is different. The piece I wanted your father to create was one I thought would have helped achieve my goal of rewinding time. It didn’t work anyway.”

  It didn’t work? Her pa never designed anything that didn’t work. “You ruined my family’s life,” she spat at him.

  “I seriously doubt showing you my workings ruined anything.”

  “My pa had a stroke immediately after you left. He no longer has the same use of his hands or his mind. Jonathan has to put together every clock we sell based on past designs. Peter Byron’s designs are now passed over as being out of fashion.”

  “Fina. I am sorry beyond words that his bad fate coincided with my visit. I realize you won’t believe me. Not now. Give me time. I can show you what I mean. I know you have no reason to do so, but please listen to yourself, mind and body, and give me something to hold on to. You can trust me and commit to me.”

  “Commit to you? I would rather commit to my pa’s apprentice, Jonathan, than you!”

  “Our ways are different than human ways. My bite on your neck says you are mine. There is nothing you can do to change that.”

  “Then you should have bitten a different girl.”

  “It does not work that way.”

  “So I have no choice?”

  “This is not pleasant, I am sure. But neither of us has a choice here. None.”

  She pushed to her feet, anger pulsing though her every fiber. “No.”

  He remained seated, his large hands fisted on his thighs. “Fina. Look around you. I can provide for your family for the rest of their lives.” He inclined his head toward the walls, and a swath of his ebony hair slid over his shoulder to pool in his lap.

  His hair covered his hands. She couldn’t look away. “None of that matters to me.”

  “It should.”

  Closing her eyes, she bit her lip. She would not look at him or the room.

  She forced her eyes open and glanced to the left and right. Polished wood surrounded her; even the walls shone, buffed to a sleek shine. Like his hair. She frowned. Stop admiring his hair. On his side table sat a large fusee. The cone-shaped pulley for keeping time straight cost more than her father could spare.

  “You should listen to him. He is the most logical of all the brothers. Though he appears to have lost his restraint with you.” A woman’s voice echoed in her ears.

  She jumped and whirled around in the room. No woman stood near her. Her heart pounded against her chest. Madness. She turned back to him. “What in all of this bumblebroth have you done to me now?”

  “Pardon?”

  “The woman’s voice I just heard. Where is she?”

  He stared at her and nodded. “Carmen. I guess all of you mates will hear her.”

  “Madoc was next. Ilmir is being unpredictable. Typical Ilmir,” Carmen said.

  “Who is Madoc? Who is Ilmir?”

  “What did she just say, Fina? I cannot hear her.”

  “Do not tell him,” Carmen stated.

  “She said not to tell you.” Fina narrowed her eyes and shot an angry stare at the man.

  The woman’s laughter rang like an irritating bell in her ears.

  “Ilmir is my brother. We are all Zir, though we are all somewhat different. Ilmir’s element is air.” He stood and walked to her. The atmosphere about her heated to thick, unpleasant soup.

  She angled her chin up and stared at his nose. Anything but his eyes. Her stomach fluttered in that same odd way it had the moment she’d bumped into him in the lane before her pa’s shop. For five years, she had hated this man.

  “I am Madoc. Our element—yours and mine—is fire.” His fingers gripped the back of her head. His lips came down and caressed hers.

  Her mouth opened to him just as her treacherous flesh had in the garden when he’d bitten her. A need to be as close to him as possible burned all the way to her toes.

  Her cunny throbbed, and she unwillingly moaned into his kiss. She lost her wits, cake-brained.

  Her body wanted him. He wanted her.

  Damn them both.

  She would have this her way. No one, not even her own body, would make her mind like this man. She needed to push him away.

  She moved her hands up to his chest. The smooth silk of his vest cooled the heat of her palms. That felt capital. Her head grew light and giddy. She found the buttons down the center and slipped each fabric-covered bud through its slit. What was she doing? She was supposed to push him away…

  She pushed the silk aside and found the tie at the top of his cotton-and-lace shirt. She untied the frill and slipped her right hand onto his chest. Tight, coarse curls met her fingers, and her hand trembled as she wrapped them around the tip of her middle finger. She had never touched a man’s bare chest before.

  He grasped her hip. The wool of her skirts rasped up her thigh. She stilled her hand and pressed her palm against his chest. I need to push him away… The air in her lungs grew heavy, and she struggled to breathe. His fingers grazed the thin cotton of her knickers. Or I will be lost in this, but oh… This sensation…should not be squandered.

  His tongue twisted and explored her mouth. Each strong stroke against her own tongue elicited pleasure deep within her soul. He tasted of sweet spicy peppers and a delicious substance she didn’t know. Sugar maybe.

  His fingers slipped into the part in her knickers. Her flesh tingled everywhere, and the bite on the side of her neck throbbed with an ache so acute her knees weakened.

  She wanted him to bite her again. How odd a thought! Push him away now… She couldn’t.

  He explored the curls at the top of her legs, and his other hand rubbed her buttocks through her skirts. The finger teasing her curls slipped lower into the crevice that slit her in two. Her legs parted, and the flesh between her thighs dewed and tingled, the same sensation with which she woke from each one of her torturous dreams. She wanted to feel him touch her wetness for real.

  His finger slipped down deep. Her hips jerked, pressing to his hand, wanting him inside.

  Her nightmare—or dream—became reality.

  How could she both hate and desire this man?

  His touch glided around the opening to her body, and he moaned. The manhood between his thighs poked at her belly. The hand on her buttocks lifted away, then descended onto her bottom in a light pat. His finger in her wetness slipped all the way inside her cunny.

  Tingling pleasure prickled through her bottom, and she tore her mouth from his. She arched her neck away from him as she cried out.

  His finger slipped out and back into her opening.

  Her flesh bloomed with heat, and her body quivered.

  His teeth scraped her neck over the bite he’d made. A trickling sensation ran down her throat. He licked and then he bit down. Pain rippled through her. She tensed. The memory from the garden rushed back to her—his amber eyes shifting to red, and white fangs protruding from his mouth. Blood flowed down his chin. Her blood. No.

  The finger between her legs twisted and swirled in her wetness. The pain in her neck warped into a red light behind her eyes. Pleasure and an urge to push against him overwhelmed her. She gripped the hairs on his chest with her hand, and he bit harder.

  She couldn’t let this continue or they would end up joined and committed. Heat seeped from the spot between her legs, through her. Each stroke built a coil of tension in her abdomen. She slid her feet farther apart, needing more, wanting his weight on her as his member penetrated her flesh.

  No!

  She fisted her free hand.

  Show him. Show him. Prove to yourself…

  She lifted her fist and punched him as hard as she could in the neck. Pain spiked through her knuckles, and his mouth knocked free of her.

  His hand on her buttocks gripped hard, and he coughed.

  Warmth slid down her neck to her collarbone. She fought back a c
ry as her breath burst out.

  His finger stilled up inside her, hard and demanding, encased in her swollen flesh. He stared down at her with flaming red eyes. His palm firmed against her mound, and he propelled her backward with that hand. Her feet scurried to move with him.

  Her entire body throbbed with the tension for release. For him to push her to explode in light. Her bottom and legs hit the edge of the bed. His finger thrust hard inside; then he rocked his palm.

  Pops of light flashed in her vision as her body jerked. Her toes curled. The pressure released, and she cried out as wetness flooded his hand and rushed down her knickers. Her body tingled everywhere.

  He covered her with his body and pinned her to the mattress.

  His amber eyes smoldered, and he slowly removed his finger. Her flesh resisted and clung to him as he did.

  He smeared her wetness on her thigh. “Why did you hit me?” The line of his lips softened, and concern held steady in his eyes.

  Her flesh ached for him to fill her again.

  To the stars. That expression both drew her to him and made her want to hit him again.

  She couldn’t look at him. She closed her eyes.

  “Fina.” He whispered in her ear and removed his hand from her knickers. The cool air from the room rushed in against her wet flesh, and she shivered. “Your mind fights me. Fights us.” His teeth nipped at her earlobe. “Release your thoughts. Tell me how you feel. Let us happen.”

  “I cannot.” She turned her head away, and tears burned at the edges of her eyes. Why was she crying? Her stomach tightened. She wanted to tell him how she felt, but she didn’t truly know.

  He sat up from her. “Until you can, we cannot be.” His long fingers raked his hair out of his face, and he shifted on the bed beside her.

  He’d given her what she wanted. Yet why did it feel like he’d slapped her instead? Her brow furrowed, and she sat up next to him. She needed to touch him once more.

  She wrapped her fingers about his hand on his thigh.

  He stared at her with anger in his eyes. “You said you need to leave. Then go with haste and remember that you are not as you came to Paris. You have an element now burning through you. Be cautious, as you will need to learn to control fire. She is not an easy woman to tame… Like you.”