The Fireman Finds His Flame

by Heather Horrocks

  The man Mara couldn’t seem to pull her gaze from.

  He smiled gently. “I’d still like to date you.”

  “And I still have to decline.”

  “Because of your mother’s warnings?”

  She nodded. “And my sisters’ warnings.”

  “I hope to prove them wrong.” He lifted his hands. “I never had flame before that day I met you. Do you know what that flame means to a dragon?”

  She shook her head, still caught in his gaze. She’d read that dragons were supposed to be related distantly to birds, and maybe that was why he was attracted to her — for even she could tell that he was.

  “It means that you are my Flame, my mate, my destiny.”

  She shivered at the words for they had the ring of truth. He at least believed what he was saying. She shook her head in disbelief.

  He nodded as if to prove his words. “My Flame. I will do anything to win your affections. I’ll convince you gently and slowly, if you need that. I will prove myself to you — and your mother and sisters. And we’ll learn if you truly are my Flame. I need you in my life, Mara Swanson. You’re human and I don’t understand how this can be, but it is what it is. You’re beautiful and I believe you are my Flame.”

  Wow. The warmth of his gaze lit her from within, singeing her with its heat.

  In that moment, she wanted very much to be his Flame.

  Dragon — One.

  Swan Maiden — Zero.

  I Don’t Want to Be Old

  TY WATCHED HER INTENTLY AFTER he made his declaration of intent to woo her.

  They were silent for a long moment. A long moment that grew awkward. Finally, he couldn’t stand it any longer. “Will you at least go out with me?”

  He couldn’t stay away from her. He wouldn’t. He needed to spend time with her to see if she could really, truly be his mate, the Flame that his own fire claimed her to be.

  Her face flushed pink and her reply was soft. “I’m not in a position to date anyone, even if I desired to do so.”

  Her eyes told him that she did, indeed, desire it. That intrigued him. What had happened to her that she would resist dating him even if she wanted to? And how could he overcome that?

  A yell from the shoreline snapped his attention from her eyes. A woman stood, wringing her hands. “My boy is out there!”

  Without hesitation, Ty jumped up and ran to the woman’s side.

  She pointed to a small form bobbing in the water, up and down in a way that most people didn’t even recognize as drowning. Without hesitation he raced into the water and swam with strong, sure strokes.

  He wished he could change into a dragon and pluck the boy out, for that would be faster, but the Council would sanction him for that. No supernatural was to reveal his nature to a human. Though he supposed he’d already done that with Mara. He hadn’t intended to do it, though.

  But if the boy went under for good, Ty would take to the air, regardless of the consequences to himself.

  He neared the boy and took him in a lifeguard-trained hold. The boy clung to his arms as he began swimming back toward shore.

  He was surprised when he saw Mara had swum out behind him — and had come almost as far as he had. She had strong arms to have done so. She swam beside him back to shore, and helped him get the boy out.

  They didn’t need to do CPR or anything else, for the boy was breathing fine, though coughing up a little water. The boy’s mother was crying and took Ty in a tight hug. “Thank you so much for saving my boy!”

  “I’m just glad he’s all right,” Ty said, feeling self-conscious.

  Beside him, Mara studied him.

  The mother wrapped her son in a towel. “Let’s get you to the car.”

  “I’ll carry him.” Ty picked up the boy, who was about ten years old, and followed the woman to his car. Ahead, he saw Audrey watching them, looking concerned.

  As Ty walked, the boy reached up a hand and stroked his cheek. “Thank you for saving me.”

  Ty nodded solemnly. “You’re welcome. Be grateful to your mother for recognizing you were having trouble.”

  The boy continued to stroke his face. “Okay. My name is Peter.”

  “You’re going to be okay, Peter. Be careful when you’re swimming in the lake. It’s a big lake, and there’s no bottom to it in the middle. Maybe take some swimming lessons and practice. I want you to always be safe.”

  “Okay.”

  They’d reached the car, so he carefully set the boy into the front seat of the Jeep.

  “He’ll be all right,” Ty assured the mother.

  She thanked him again, started the Jeep, and drove her son out of the parking lot.

  Ty drew in a deep breath. That had been closer than he wanted to admit.

  Cheering sounded around him, and he turned to see a handful of people who’d braved the cold to swim today — all clapping in appreciation of what he’d done. Including Mara and Audrey.

  He nodded and gave what must have looked like an “aw-shucks” grin.

  One man clapped him on the back. “Good work, dude.”

  Across the sand, Mara studied him still. What did she see? Did he measure up?

  Her eyes seemed to have softened somehow. Did that mean she was more open to him? His heart did a funny little flip at that thought.

  Ty closed the distance between them. “Now will you date me?”

  She smiled, and it was definitely an encouraging smile. “Save a couple more people and I’ll consider it.”

  He saved people all the time at work. Piece of cake. “I’ll hold you to that.”

  That night, after Mara locked the door and attached magical locks to her small upstairs room against any unwanted visitors — especially the werebear — she settled onto the twin bed and called her sister, Svenja.

  Of her six sisters, four had mated forever with Swan Princes. Two other sisters had been forced into marriages by human men who’d stolen their coats. One was still trapped, but Svenja had found her coat, escaped, and since married a Swan Prince and started a family.

  Svenja answered and sounded breathless. “Hi, Mar.”

  “Hi, Jaja.”

  “Are you ready to come home yet?” Svenja sounded concerned, as Mara’s entire family always sounded whenever she called.

  Mara could hear a man and two young children in the background. Happy sounds. Laughter. Svenja’s new Swan husband and children. “Not yet. I just need a pep talk.”

  “You came to the right place, then. Tell Svenja all about it.”

  Mara sighed. “I met a man.”

  “What? That’s wonderful!”

  “Not so wonderful. He claims to be a dragon.”

  “Then he’s delusional,” Svenja scoffed. “We know dragons don’t exist. Just means you can’t trust men. Find a Swan. Believe me, it’s the right answer.”

  “No Swan will have me without my coat. You know that.”

  After a pause, Svenja said, “You’re right. And I understand how horrible it is to have your coat stolen. Mine was gone for seventeen years.”

  “I know you understand. It’s why I called.”

  “Keep looking, Mara. You’ll find it. I found mine. And then you can be mated with a Swan.”

  “I love you, Jaja, but I can’t look that far ahead. I can’t even go out with this guy who wants to date me. And I really want to.”

  “You’ve never been interested in a guy. What’s so special about this one?”

  “Other than the fact that he thinks he’s a dragon? And might actually be one?”

  “Yeah. Other than that.”

  “He’s a big guy. Really tall and muscular. And he had fire shoot out of his hands the first time he saw me.”

  “What?”

  Mara told Svenja about the flame that didn’t burn her, but seemed to claim her. About her response to the man who claimed to be a dragon.

  “Wow. That’s really weird. How could he possibly be a dragon?”

  “I don’t know,
but I saw the fire. I can’t deny it.” She shook her head in wonder. Real dragons were supposed to be extinct, as of at least nine hundred years ago. “He’s a hero, too. He saved a little boy from drowning. And he’s a fireman, so you know he must save people all the time.”

  “A fireman, eh? Is he in one of those sexy firemen calendars?”

  Mara laughed. “I thought you were happily married.”

  “Oh, I definitely am. But I saw one of those calendars once, before I was married. It’s not something one easily forgets.”

  “I heard that,” called out Svenja’s husband from the background.

  Svenja just laughed. “I’m going to organize a Swan Prince calendar and show those firemen what they need to aspire to.”

  Mara smiled. It’s one reason she’d called Svenja — the sister who’d experienced losing her coat and also finding her happily ever after. It gave Mara renewed hope, something she was sorely in need of. “Give me advice, Svenja. What do I do?”

  “Come home. Or marry the dragon.”

  “I can’t. As long as I can feel my coat, I have to keep searching for it.”

  Svenja sighed. “I know. I do understand. Keep searching. And know that we are all praying for you, powerful Swan prayers.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I have to go, Mara. My family is demanding I come play with them. I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  After she hung up, she sighed.

  Sitting on the twin bed in the small, gray room with just a chair and a dresser and a large picture of a giant moth — which she’d immediately taken down and turned toward the wall — Mara felt the emptiness of the room.

  She heard rustling in the hall. The darned werebear was rooting around outside her room. She really needed to find a different place to stay.

  The bear stood before her door and snuffled a few times, muttering, “Swan ...”

  He must have touched the doorknob because next he said, “Ow!”

  She smiled as he shuffled back to his own room.

  Thank heavens she hadn’t lost her magic along with her coat.

  The Warlock Clarence Divine frowned and shook his head. “This isn’t right.”

  He looked accusingly at the client, who shrugged. “I know. I regret what I’ve done. But I won’t live long without it. I don’t want to die. She nearly caught me five days ago when I wore it into Fangs. I didn’t know she’d come to town.”

  Irritated at being called in to perform something so obviously wrong, Clarence turned back to the exquisite feather coat he held in his hands. It was lightweight and amazing, and the feathers were iridescent white, with opalescent shimmers of blue underlaid. He’d never seen anything so beautiful in his life. He could understand, at least, the client’s desire to have it, though he still found the theft reprehensible. “When did you acquire the coat?”

  “Thirty years ago.”

  The Swan Maiden had been without her coat for thirty years? He felt pity for the poor creature, who had been searching for it all this time. “How old were you then?”

  “Sixty-five.”

  “So you are currently ninety-five years old?” He studied the human, who looked no older than thirty.

  The client nodded.

  Clarence narrowed his eyes. “How fast do you age when you take it off?” Though he suspected he knew the answer. He’d held the coat for only ten minutes, and already there was a hint of lines around the client’s eyes.

  “When I shower, I age ten years by the time I put it back on. So I always shower quickly. I fear if I take it off I will age and die. I even sleep in it.”

  There was an edge of panic in the client’s voice, and Clarence understood it. It was the only reason he was even considering doing the spell. To save the client’s life. “Has the Swan Maiden been following you the whole time?”

  “Yes. For thirty years. I might have to kill the swan to keep her away. She won’t give up.”

  Clarence felt a pang of pity for the poor Swan Maiden without her coat, but he also pitied the creature before him who would die within twenty-four hours without the coat. And, if the client was serious about the threat, he might be saving the life of the Swan Maiden.

  The client went on. “I’ve just been discovered. I have a part in a movie.”

  “Here in Moonchuckle Bay?”

  “Yes.” The client preened, and then deflated, sighing. “Will you help me? You’ll be saving my life. I can’t live without the coat now.”

  “What of the Swan Maiden? Surely she is living a miserable existence without it.”

  “But she is immortal, whether she wears the coat or not.”

  “You seek immortality, then?” His voice was harsh. He wanted no part of this, but if he did not act, this human would just seek out others who might not have his ethics.

  “No. I seek just a few more years of life.”

  Ahh. Perhaps that was the answer. The perfect solution to this ugly situation. He frowned. “I will hide the coat and thereby grant you a hundred years of life.”

  “A hundred?” The client’s face broke into a grateful smile. “That will be wonderful. Thank you.”

  “Not a hundred more,” Clarence clarified harshly. “A hundred total. You are ninety-five now. I will hide the coat for just five years.”

  “But that’s unfair. In five years, she may find it. She is relentless.”

  The warlock’s decision made, he said, “Five years. Take it or leave it.”

  “But—”

  He switched tactics. “Tell me how you stole the coat.”

  “I didn’t steal it.”

  “Of course you did. Swan Maidens don’t give them away. And tell me the truth, or I will do no spell at all.”

  The client’s eyes widened. “I was sixty-five, as I said. The coat was so beautiful. I had just retired as a school teacher, and I took a dream vacation for two weeks.”

  “By yourself?”

  “Yes. I never married and I didn’t have any friends who wanted to travel, so I went solo. I rented a cabin on the shore of Lake Mien in southern Sweden. The cabin had a wall of windows facing the lake. It was beautiful. My third day there I watched a beautiful woman walk to the edge of the lake, take off a coat I hadn’t seen her wearing, lay it down, cover it up with a blanket that looked like the earth around it, camouflaging it. Then she turned into a swan and walked into the water. I was stunned. I watched the swan swim for nearly thirty minutes and then come out and, a moment later, a young woman was shrugging into the coat and walking away. I was amazed. As a school teacher, I’d done a lot of research, and I realized I’d discovered a real, live Swan Maiden.”

  The client looked at him earnestly. “I was diagnosed with cancer a month after I retired, which is one reason I decided to take the trip. I didn’t want to die, especially not with cancer, which is such an ugly way to go. I still don’t want to die. So I watched carefully. Two days later, the young woman came back, and the same thing happened. This time, I made my way down to the shore and searched until I found the blanket. I took the coat and ran back to the cabin. When I put on the coat, I could immediately feel my sickness begin to leave me, and I began to look younger.”

  The warlock nodded. He’d suspected that much.

  “Then I threw my things into a suitcase and drove immediately into the next town. I didn’t want to risk the Swan Maiden finding the coat or knocking on my cabin door. I actually took the coat back off while I flew home so I would match my passport picture. Then I sold my house and moved away, stayed in a series of hotels for several weeks, as I grew thirty years younger, and rented a house in another town as a young person.”

  After a pause, Clarence said, “Go on. Finish your tale. Did you see the Swan Maiden come out and search for her coat? She would have been devastated.”

  “I didn’t wait for that.” The client paused, as if perhaps feeling remorse. “I was too scared of what she’d do when she found me. And I couldn’t lose the coat. I don’t want
to be old and diseased.”

  The narcissistic tone set Clarence’s teeth on edge. Me, me, me, it said more clearly than words. Still, he didn’t want to be the cause of anyone’s death. The Swan Maiden had chased her coat for thirty years. Another five years wouldn’t be that much more of a tragedy. And there was no guarantee the Swan Maiden would find the coat then, either. After all, she hadn’t in thirty years, and he could only imagine the frantic searching she’d done.

  “So you don’t become a swan when you wear it?”

  “No. It becomes more transparent when I’m wearing it, so others don’t always see the feathers. But I know she can still feel it.”

  Clarence shook his head again.

  “So you’ll give me five years of hiding the coat from the Swan Maiden?”

  He smiled, and he knew it wasn’t pretty because the client instinctively pulled back. “Yes. I will cast a spell. Beginning tomorrow, it will grant you five more years of life by hiding the coat from the one whom it belongs to. And then I hope she finds you quickly.”

  A Werewolf, My Dear

  MARA SMILED AT THE SHORT man on the stool across the bar from her. “Evening, Herb. Good to see you again.”

  “Evening, Mara.”

  “The usual?”

  The little man nodded, and she served him his drink.

  Audrey brought more glasses out from the back and lined them up for Mara.

  “Thanks.”

  Audrey nodded as she headed toward the back again. If Audrey didn’t keep things set up for her, Mara wouldn’t be able to function as efficiently as bartender. Barbacks were mostly unrecognized, but crucial to the smooth running of any bar.

  The door opened and she watched four firefighters walk in. When she spotted Ty, a shiver raced up her spine. Why did the man have such a strong effect on her? Stupid, sexy dragon.

  He caught her eye, grinned, and headed for the bar. “Hi, Mara.”

  She nodded toward his ungloved hands. “Are you licensed to carry those deadly weapons?”