Licked by the Flame (23 page)

N
ic felt Lianne stir in his arms. Thank the Flame, but she was still alive. He brushed the dust and soot from her beautiful face as her eyes slowly fluttered open. It was hard to contain himself when she gave him a weak smile full of warmth and recognition.

“You’re alive!” she murmured.

“Of course I am. Things were a bit iffy for you, though.”

She frowned, trying to remember. “That little dragon was here…and Mr. Blanchard, too. He was with her. They were going to blow up the clutch. Oh no…did they?”

“Shh, keep calm. The clutch is fine,” he assured her, though of course Eubryd was out in the central chamber and at any minute now she might do something terrible and prove him a liar.

He couldn’t think about that now, though. He had to protect Lianne.

“I need to get you out of here,” he said.

“Why? What’s happening?”

It would probably be better if he didn’t answer that. “I’ll have to take you back the way we came in here. Are you in much pain?”

She thought about it for a moment, winced when she tried to sit up, but shook her head. “No, I think I’m okay.”

Of course she wasn’t okay, but as she struggled to stand, he assisted her. Apparently nothing was broken, though she would be bruised from head to toe by tomorrow. If she hadn’t made it into the other room before that blast went off…well, they wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.

“I’ll help you. There are some tight passages out there, but for most of the way I can carry you,” he said.

“No, I can walk. You look like you’ve been through a lot already yourself,” she said. “You lost your clothes again, as a matter of fact.”

“Is that a problem?”

“You’ll be the sexiest warrior out there, battling the forces of evil.”

“Hmm, maybe I should slip into these,” he said, digging through the rubble and pulling up a pair of sweat pants that at one time appeared to have been folded with some other clothing on a shelf just out of the blast zone.

He navigated the shards and debris covering the floor, digging out a pair of shoes to go with the pants. She let her eyes linger over his form as he bent, sliding one muscular leg at a time into the pants and then crouching to pull on the shoes.

“Kind of a shame to cover that up,” she mumbled.

He grinned at her. “Let’s just hope it’s not too long before I can get out of them again. In the meantime, I guess I’m lucky they didn’t get roasted.”

“Well, not totally, at least. They’ve got a few holes burned into them.”

“As do you, I’m afraid,” he said, his grin fading to a concerned frown. “Come on now, before anything worse happens.”

He was helping her pick her way through the rubble when her eyes must have caught on Mr. Blanchard. She knew what had happened, but still seeing him this way caught her off guard.

“Is he…dead?”

“Yes. I’ll bet he never knew what hit him.”

“He had a gun, a big one. It shot grenades or something. He was aiming it at you, Nic. He was going to kill you!”

“And somehow you stopped him, didn’t you?”

“I heard them coming…ouch.”

She stumbled a bit and bent to rub her injured leg. He held her so she didn’t have to put weight on it, but urged her toward the doorway. There was no telling what Eubryd was up to, or if she had access to more weapons out there. The sooner he got Lianne out of this place, the better.

“We’ll get you to a doctor,” he told her. “You need that leg looked at.”

She merely chuckled at his concern. “It’s not broken, just sore. I’m pretty sure I won’t die from it.”

He wished he could be as lighthearted about this as she seemed to be, but he was glad she didn’t realize how much danger they were actually in just now. Still, he needed to keep her moving.

“Come on, slide through the opening out into the passageway. I’m right behind you.”

“Okay, okay. I just…it was a total shock finding Mr. Blanchard working with that little dragon person. Wait, where is she? What happened to her? Did she have stuff fall on her as well?”

“She’s…she got away.”

“Got away? Damn it, Nic, you need to go after her! She might still be trying to harm the clutch.”

“First I need to get you somewhere safe.”

“You mean…Hell no. I will not let you waste your time with me when you need to be somewhere else. That clutch is your responsibility, your legacy!”

“The clan will go on. I need to take care of you first, Lianne.”

She wouldn’t budge, even though he practically shoved her into the opening ahead of him. Instead, she held her ground and faced him with fiery eyes.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, Nic. You—more than anyone—know what’s going to happen to me. If I don’t die in the mountain, I will in a couple months in a hospital somewhere. You shouldn’t be here with me, not when you can get out there and fry that scaly little bitch to save your batch of eggs. I’m not worth your effort.”

On that last point she was wrong. Very, very wrong. He took hold of her shoulders so she couldn’t avoid him.

“You
are
worth it, Lianne. You’re worth every moment I’ve spent with you and every moment we have left together. I won’t give up any more than I have to.”

She merely stared at him as if she was trying to make sense of his words. They probably did sound senseless to her, as a matter of fact. How could she possibly believe him? He didn’t even know what to make of it himself. Why would he turn his back on the clutch, on everything that was important to his kind, to his clan, in favor of some human female he’d only known a short time?

There was no sense to it. He only knew this was the way things had to be. He was choosing Lianne over everything else.

“Why?” she simply asked after an almost painful pause.

“Because I love you,” he said.

And that made sense out of all of it.

Holy hell, he was serious, wasn’t he? Lianne stared at him in the firelit glow of the room and waited for his words to truly sink in. He loved her!

It couldn’t be possible. Hadn’t she torn into him just a few minutes ago about how he used her and took advantage of her? He hadn’t denied it, either. But now here he was, stripped down to his roughed-up human form wearing burnt pants and looking at her with eyes that almost made her want to cry.

He loved her! And damn it, she realized she loved him back. Right at this moment it almost didn’t matter that they were both probably going to die, that his kind would end up extinct and that some crazy mixed-up human/magic scheme was going on around them. Whatever she was feeling for him right now, she’d never experienced it before. She liked it.

“You realize how insane this is, right?” she asked him.

He laughed. “Yeah. I do, actually.”

“So why are we standing around here talking about our feelings when there’s a bunch of dragon eggs to be saved?”

“
Our
feelings?”

“Yeah,
our
feelings. I’m not sure how this could possibly happen, but you aren’t the only one feeling stuff, you know. I love you, too, Nic. So what in the hell are we going to do about this?”

“I suppose if there weren’t several species of conspirators out to murder us, we could find a quiet corner and make love.”

She knew he was only half kidding. She kind of wished it hadn’t only been half. Forgetting about all this other crap and giving in to more of his hot kisses sounded like a really good idea right now.

Of course they couldn’t, though. He had entirely too much at stake. If he wasn’t going to do the right thing, she was just going to have to push him into it. She never really wanted to die from this damn tumor, anyway. Death by magical creature sounded so much more exciting.

“Well, I’m afraid all the quiet corners in this mountain have been used up,” she said, moving half a step closer to him and gingerly running one finger over his rock-solid chest muscles. “Why don’t we go find those evil conspirators out there and kick some ass?”

“But I have to keep you safe, and—”

She put her fingers over his lips. “You’re not afraid of that lizard girl, are you?”

“Hell no! She betrayed me; she betrayed our clan.”

“Then let’s get down there and make sure that’s the last stupid thing she ever does. What can I do to help you?”

“No, Lianne, I can’t let you get involved.”

“I am involved, damn it! And I’m dying, Nic, whether you like it or not. I came here to make a difference. I don’t want to leave this world never having meant anything, as just another rich girl who rode on her daddy’s coattails. Let me help you.”

She could tell he was going to refuse again, but then he stopped himself. His fingers gripped tighter on her shoulders and his eyes narrowed. It felt like they bored into her soul. She kept her mind open to him, let him feel the raw pain as well as the burning heat she felt for him.

“All right,” he said at last. “I think I know what you can do. Help me find the case of explosives I keep under the bathroom sink.”

He knew she was in more pain than she let on. He’d been inside her mind off and on now as they’d worked to set up his plan. It wasn’t the best plan, but he hoped it would work.

Lianne set up the explosives in one of the tunnels leading off the main brood chamber. He’d appear from another, attacking Eubryd and pushing her toward the explosives. Lianne would get herself somewhere safe, and then Nic would trigger the explosion when Eubryd was in position.

Then he’d wait around to fry anybody who might show up looking for Eubryd. Somehow along the way, he was going to get Lianne back to her people. She insisted they make the clutch top priority now, but he wasn’t ready to give up on finding help for Lianne. She might be determined to die for a cause, but he wasn’t planning to let her.

What’s she doing in there?
he felt Lianne ask in his mind.

He glanced around the corner of the dark tunnel where he hid, and caught a glimpse of Eubryd, darting around, flitting over pieces from the console he’d crushed and toying with them.

Looks like she’s getting all the bits of machinery into one pile
, he replied.
Maybe she thinks she can fix it.

Can she?

I doubt it. That’s human technology. Wyverns are notoriously antihuman.

She seemed pretty buddy-buddy with Mr. Blanchard up in your little chamber there. Is she still alone?

Yes, but I sense she is expecting company very soon.

They won’t try to get there through this tunnel where I am, will they?
Lianne asked silently.

No. I didn’t detect any residual magic in that tunnel. I don’t believe it’s been used. Anyone who is coming to help her will probably come a more regularly traveled route.

I hope so. Can you tell if anyone is close by, on the way here?

He felt out into the distance, his mind reaching through solid rock to try to feel the world outside. It was difficult. He’d been fully strengthened by their passion, but since then he’d been through a lot and could tell he was slightly depleted. It didn’t help that he was unable to take his focus off Lianne. It was as if a part of him were permanently connected there. Even if he wanted to forget her or concentrate on other things, he couldn’t.

Maybe if he wasn’t pent up in this human form he could reach farther with his mind. But he wasn’t ready to shift into his natural form yet. He didn’t want to risk alerting Eubryd to his presence down here, and it was much easier to hide as a human.

I can’t detect anyone yet,
he told Lianne.
I’ll let you know when…Wait, I sense magic. Growing nearer now.

What kind of magic? Good magic or bad magic?

He had to smile. He wished they could have a lifetime together to learn all about each other’s ways.
There is no good or bad magic, just magic. Some magic is darker or more ancient, and it is generally different depending on the element it is drawn from, but it is only good or bad depending on who uses it.

Huh. Interesting. And to think I wasted a whole semester studying French in Paris when I should have been studying magic in Russia.

When we’re all done with this, I’ll let you study Russian to your heart’s content.

It warmed him to feel her pleasure at his words. The magic surged within him as his passion for her boiled. He could feel someone approaching, entering the mountain. Several someones, actually. Light, airy magic. Fairies.

We have more fairies on the way
, he told Lianne.
Get yourself to safety; go back the way I told you and wait for me there.

But what if you need me?

I need you to be safe, Lianne. Once I’ve taken care of the threat, I’ll meet you at the entrance to the mountain.

I don’t like being separated from you, Nic.

You’re not. You never will be. I’m only a thought away, Lianne. Trust me.

I’d rather be able to touch you.

Stop talking like that or you’ll get me distracted.

Yeah? Well, maybe we don’t need to actually be together then to…you know, be
together
. Want to try?

The thoughts she sent to him were positively indecent. His mind flamed and his blood raged at the images they conjured. By the Fires, he would love nothing better than to try a few things with her. Not now, though.

Behave yourself, woman
, he chided softly.
The magic is moving closer now. Eubryd left them a trail; they are coming directly to the brood chamber. Two fairies.

Only two? No humans?

Not yet. I don’t dare try to search their minds to know what nonmagical assistance they expect. They’re probably on guard for that. But there’s no one else in the mountain yet, of that I am sure.

Good. You can take care of them in your sleep.

It did seem a little too easy. How could two fairies and a traitorous wyvern possibly hope to overpower him? They couldn’t, of course. That must mean they knew something he did not. He’d better be extra careful and not be too sure of himself.