Dragon's Flame (21 page)

He was ordinary, but then, most people were born that way. It was love, and what was on the inside that made most people special and beautiful, not having hit the jackpot when it came to genetics or some kind of otherworldly magic.

It was easy to imagine Elon being ignored by girls when he got old enough to care. Throw in pimples and a voice change, cliques and the sheer misery that could be high school…

Been there, done that.
Wouldn’t have become part of the homecoming court if she’d suddenly come into enough magic to make it happen, but she got his choice, his need for recognition and adoration, even if it wasn’t real.

It was easy to imagine Elon laboring under his father’s disappointment. She’d been lucky in that regard. Her father had never withheld his approval or his love. But if he had, once she’d gotten clear of her teen years, it would have been on her to let go of the past, to stop using old pain as an excuse…

The way she’d been doing when it came to relationships since her father, and then brother, had died.

But not anymore.

Only maybe she’d come to that realization too late.

Glancing at the egg, her pulse spiked. There was no gray pigment left in the shell.

The egg was now a glowing red.

Trying to keep from alerting Elon and risking that he’d cast another spell and lock the bindings at her wrists in place, she intensified her efforts to get free. There’d be time for one act, throwing herself on the egg and praying she had enough sorcerer’s blood to be a portal.

 Regret made her chest ache. She wished there’d been a chance to tell Taine that she loved him but she sent it silently.
I love you
, she said, blood running over her hands in her desperation to get free.

* * * *

Taine froze at one end of the library when Maksim’s cellphone rang. His human skin iced while inside, the fiery need to get to his mate raged.

He thrust his hands into his pockets, gripping the ring he’d bought for Saffron and both charms. This would be Kellen, telling them if they’d been right or wrong. This was it, their last viable lead to finding the sorcerer before the phoenix emerged from its egg.

Taine pivoted away from the window and the sight of Saffron’s car. He steeled himself as Maksim reached toward the cellphone on the table. Closed his eyes and pledged to cast the most precious of his gems into the sea as a tribute to his ancestors if some of that ancient magic would lead him to his mate.

“Balboa Park,” Kellen said through the phone’s speaker. “The Botanical Building.”

Taine’s eyes snapped open and he charged from the library.

He would get to her! He would save his mate from harm!             

He pounded down the stairs. Down the hallway. The others behind him.

At the front door, Crew caught up and said, “The Lamborghini. I’ll drive.”

Taine nodded agreement and blasted from the house.

He got to the dark silver car first. Held his fire at Crew’s dropping into the driver’s seat a second slower than he’d dropped into the passenger seat.

Go!

The engine roared to life.

With a squeal of tires and the burn of rubber, Crew raced toward the road, hugging the edges of the curving driveway, exhaust pouring from the four massive tailpipes.

Gaige chased them in a red Maserati. And behind him, Maksim in his Hummer, lights flashing and sirens blaring.

They reached the street, turned with another burn of rubber.

Go! Go!
Go!

A block whizzed by.

The next was a blur of color.

They made a sharp turn, accelerated faster.

In front of them a car pulled out of a driveway in a sphincter-tightening demonstration of human inattention.

Crew jerked the steering wheel to the right. The Lamborghini jumped over a curb. Plowed through the offender’s yard, churning grass and leaving a trail.

They dropped back onto the street without having slowed, but the detour allowed the Maserati to catch them.

Gaige pulled even, shot a challenging glance at Crew then pulled ahead.

“Oh no you don’t,” Crew said.

Scenery flew past, like images in a video game.

The car’s momentum held Taine to the seat but it still felt as if they were going too slow, as if they’d never get to his mate.

He jammed his hand into his pocket, clenched the ring so tightly that the diamonds and sapphires dug into his palm. He swore that as soon as he took possession of his mate, he was going to carry her into the dragon realm.

She’d never be in danger again. She’d never make him feel this powerless, this afraid again.

He swore it, even knowing that despite the intensity of his desire to keep her safe, to know she was safe always, his heart would never allow him to do anything that was against her will.

Go! Go!

Crew pulled ahead of Gaige and still it felt as if an eternity passed before Taine saw the distinctive Botanical Building.

Police were already on scene, lights flashing.

Maksim must have called ahead. An evacuation of the park was underway.

They were waved through rather than stopped.

Grabbing Taine’s arm with leashed, dragon strength, Crew said, “Wait long enough to be part of the plan.”

“I will.” Somehow he’d manage that much. They both knew that nothing would stop him from attempting to breach what protections the sorcerer had in place.

Crew released him then braked.

The red Maserati slid to a stop next to them, burning rubber.

Kristof was already there, as were Kellen and a dozen or so grim-faced agents. The Hummer arrived.

Maksim got out and glanced at Kristof. “Status?”

“Too close to call. The phoenix is about to emerge. Moates probably believes he’s got it contained but clearly he doesn’t.”

They could all feel that truth. Just as they could feel the magical shell around the building, they could feel the energy leeching through. When the phoenix emerged, the explosion at the house would be miniscule in comparison, and the flames that would follow could extend for miles, starting fires that would rapidly spread.

“I can’t breach his spell and get us inside,” Kristof said. “Not in time.”

A muscle spasmed in Maksim’s cheek. “Spread out, now! We’ll lay a shield over the one Moates has in place.” He turned toward Taine. “Get in if you can. Stop him if possible. Get out with your mate if you can’t. We’ll hold a portion of the shielding open as long as we can.”

A nod and Taine pulled the charm belonging to the sorcerer’s sister from his pocket. He raced toward the entranceway, thoughts of Saffron in his mind.

Steps away from the door he felt resistance. His pulse spiked but Genevieve’s prediction held true. In this dire circumstance, the charm attached to him in place of Saffron.

He passed through Elon’s warding. Entered the building.

The driving need to get to his mate cut through the waves of magic trying to push him backward. He would reach his mate in time. He would save her. He would not lose her!

Taine cleared a botanical display and his heart nearly exploded. She was bound, gagged, her face scratched and bloody, but she was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen.

Their gazes met and if not for the need to get to her, he might have dropped to his knees at what he saw in her eyes.

He took in the sorcerer with a glance. Elon was in the center of a spell, a gold glow of magic forming a dome over him. There wouldn’t be any getting to him, not if Genevieve was also right about the charm not being capable of acting against Elon.

Taine rushed to Saffron, jerked the gag from her mouth and his mate said, “I love you.”

The bond snapped into place.

His heart swelled and his throat clogged.

Whatever happened now, they would never be separated. Their souls were bound in eternity.

Mine! It was more than dream or hope or fervent wish.

He took her mouth in a desperate, hungry kiss. A kiss as hot as the phoenix that would soon emerge from its egg.

He willed time to slow so he could bask in Saffron’s love, in the bond her admission had created. But it didn’t.

Tearing his mouth away from hers, he breathed concentrated fire on the bindings at her ankles.

The material burned away and he moved around the tree, breathed another blast of fire, freeing her wrists.

He pulled her to her feet, crushed her against him, needing the feel of her in his arms, at least for a heartbeat before saying, “We need to get out of here before the shielding makes it impossible to leave.”

“No,” Saffron said, her heart clawing its way up her throat.

She wanted to sprint toward the exit. Suspected she could set a new world record at that distance.

It wouldn’t be enough. Kristof had said the odds of preventing San Diego, or at least some of the city, from burning went down the closer it got to the phoenix emerging from its egg.

She met Taine’s eyes. Hated that they’d only just found each other. But this was about more than the two of them. “You know what I have to do.”

Smoke streamed from his nostrils, then flames that caressed her arms.

Trying to lighten the moment, she said, “You
do not
want to burn my clothes off in a public place. That will land you in the dog house.”

He slammed his mouth down on hers. Sent a punch of love to her heart.

She hadn’t thought anything could be hungrier than their last kiss, could taste any more like desperation. She was wrong.

Hugging him, she put everything she had into the kiss. Hope and regret, love and promise and determination.

“I have to do this,” she said, and read in his eyes how hard it was for him to release her, but he did. This was why she’d fallen in love with him, because he could allow her to be who she was.

She stepped back.

He grabbed her. Hugged her. His cheek against hers, his voice hoarse, he said, “See you on the other side.”

Taine released her again and she turned toward the egg. It was now an orange red, the flames on its surface transparent.

Do it. Don’t think. Just do.

Saffron ran toward the egg, thought of Juan Ramirez from her father’s unit, who’d hurled himself onto a grenade. Then thought of her father, who’d died in service to this country.

Safe behind his protective shell, Elon’s eyes widened. He shouted, horrified.

She felt a stab of pity, that he hadn’t been able to free himself from the past. Thought maybe the problem wasn’t that the only person he loved was himself, but that he didn’t have the courage to let love into his life.

Waves of heat hit her. Buffeted her.

This is going to hurt
.

She dived forward, onto the egg.

And it did hurt, for an eternity it hurt.

For an eternity flames ate through her, burrowing into her chest and stomach, going deeper and deeper before spreading, torching every cell.

The fire roared in her head, drowning out her screams. It consumed her until she was nothing, a hollowed out shell tumbling into blackness.

A kiss brought her back.

Firm, demanding lips forced air into her lungs.

Breathe!

Breathe!

Breathe!

She gasped, and took that breath of life.

Her eyes fluttered open and firm, demanding lips disappeared.

Taine’s gaze met hers. Fire poured from his nostrils. “I knew you were going to be a troublesome kind of mate.”

She laughed. Exhilarated. Alive!

She reached up and speared her fingers into his hair, tugged him back down so his lips were whisper-close. “You knew it, but you love me anyway.”

“Always.”

Levity fell away. “I’ll grow old.”

“I’ll grow old with you. That’s what happens when a dragon takes a human mate.”

She searched his eyes. Found no regret, but said, “I can’t let you do that.”

“Already done.” There was a distinct growl in his voice. “The bond is in place and
will not
be severed.”

Voices intruded, and with them came the realization that she was naked, her clothing burned away by the egg. The smoke pouring out of Taine’s nostrils said he realized it too.

He straightened, tugged off the black T-shirt that warned against messing with dragons. She sat and put it on, grateful to have it though it barely covered the parts she didn’t want to flash.

“We’re getting out of here,” Taine said, helping her stand, the arm that went around her waist every bit as possessive as his voice.

She couldn’t see the protective shield around Elon now but guessed it must still be there since he hadn’t moved.

He was pale, afraid now to face the consequences. “What’ll happen to him?”

Taine’s arm tightened around his mate as Maksim and a hoard of agents came into sight. If he could get away with it, he’d put Saffron behind him rather than to allow the others to see her wearing nothing but his shirt. He knew better than to try.

 “Not IRE’s mandate,” he said. “There’ll probably be a battle between the fey and djinn as to who gets to mete out the punishment.”

“Will he survive that punishment?”

“Yes, hopefully the wiser.” He laughed. “Who am I kidding, sorcerers never learn.”

“Excuse me. I’ve got sorcerer’s blood.”

He responded by muttering at the edge of her hearing. “Definitely a troublesome kind of mate.”

“You two,” Maksim said. “Leave.”

Taine shot Maksim a grateful look, caught the keys to the Lamborghini that Crew tossed him.

“Try not to torch car number four,” Crew said, knowing it would lead to questions from Saffron.

Taine smiled. He too was a believer in karmic payback.

He shoved his hand into his pocket and fisted the ring.

With his arm around Saffron, he guided her to the sleek sports car though he was incapable of separation.

He touched his mouth to hers, one kiss leading to ten, satisfaction flooding into him at the sight of her passion-swollen lips and the sultry want in her gaze.

“You lit the Maserati on fire? Why?”

“I was thinking about you.”