Fire Magic: MC Dragon Shifter Warriors

by Naomi Sparks

  I glance down at my stomach and can see red peeking through where my black T-shirt has torn. Pressing my hands against the wound, I look up and directly down the barrel of the gun that Dez is pointing at my face. Fear touches me. I’m not sure if I can shift fast enough to recover from a bullet to the brain.

  I’m not afraid to die, but I just found Kyra. And I’m not prepared to let her go yet.

  The sound of several motorcycles roaring closer grabs Dez’s attention from me. He shouts at the other men, and mostly limping, they load back into their cars. Dez tries to grab Kyra, but she fights him. Kicking and screaming and scratching at her brother. Finally, Dez curses at her and lets her go.

  I glance over my shoulder to see my crew approaching.

  “Screw you, then,” Dez says to his sister. Then, leaving her behind, he runs back to his car and takes off. “Stay with this piece of shit. I’m done with him anyway.”

  Everyone but Lex and Hannah are approaching. That doesn’t surprise me—no doubt Lex stayed to protect Hannah and his unborn youngling.

  “Are you okay?” Kyra slides to my side, her voice frantic. On her knees, she tries to see my wound. But I do my best to block her from really looking at it. I turn away as best as I can and keeps my hands firmly over the wound.

  “Should we give chase?” Galen asks. They’re all still on their bikes, but Galen has cut his engine so he can be heard.

  “No!” Kyra says before I can answer. “Dez has a bunch of other shitheads working for him, so you could be facing a group of thirty or more.”

  Galen glances at me, his eyebrow raised. There will be plenty of questions later, but I know what question he’s asking me now without our second-in-command voicing it. My crew wouldn’t be worried about thirty humans—that would barely be a challenge to a dragon even partially shifted.

  But I’m still not willing to kill Kyra’s brother—even by proxy. No matter how fucking tempting it is after the guy shot me. So I say, “Let it go for now.”

  With dragon hearing, the others can make out what I’ve said over their bikes, and they kill their engines and dismount. Bren approaches to help me to my feet.

  “You can’t move,” Kyra says, hands on my shoulders as she tries to push me back down onto the dirt on the side of the road. “You have to stay still until the ambulance comes. Oh my God, I need to call an ambulance.” She searches her pockets, no doubt trying to find her cell phone.

  “I’m not calling an ambulance, sweetheart,” I say, trying to give her an encouraging smile. But the bullet hole in my stomach fucking hurts, so I’m not sure if I’m successful or if I look more like I’m about to bite her. With Bren’s help, I get back on my own two feet. I could have managed on my own, but it would have been a hell of a lot tougher to keep my pain from fully showing on my face.

  Her mouth drops open, and she starts to argue, but Jerrick comes by her side and gets her to face him. He listens to her tirade about calling an ambulance, doing a damn good impression of a concerned, sympathetic human in the process. He gets her to face him long enough for me to turn away from her, too.

  Quickly, I do a partial shift in my stomach area, gritting my teeth against the pain. Crying out would no doubt bring Kyra’s attention right back to me. The shift hurts with the wound there, but after a few seconds I’m back to being fully human, and the gunshot hole is gone. The bullet falls to the ground almost silently. I kick it farther off the road.

  Still moving carefully, I walk over to my motorcycle and get on while Kyra is still trying to get her point across to a now amused-looking Jerrick—he’s gotten himself a full dose of her fierceness.

  “Want a ride, beautiful?” I say.

  Kyra turns to face me, her eyes are wide in her mouth drops open with shock. “How—how can you even sit up? There’s no way you can ride that motorcycle.”

  “It wasn’t that bad,” I lie. There’s no way I can explain anything here on the side of the road. This is something Kyra will have to see to believe.

  She huffs and glares at me, crossing her arms. “It had to be that bad. I saw my brother shoot you from just a few feet away. I don’t know what kind of adrenaline is helping you sit up right now, but you need to get to a doctor. Now.”

  I couldn’t help it. I smile at the concern in her voice, at her fiery anger at me and on my behalf. But I ignore her argument and pat the seat behind me.

  After a long moment, she finally gets on the bike behind me, but her movements are jerky and full of anger. “You’d better not pass out and kill me on this thing.”

  Then she pulls on the helmet, and gingerly places her hands on my hips, carefully avoiding my stomach.

  I know better than to think that the argument is over. Or that this discussion is fully done. I can practically hear the gears of her brain moving. Practically hear the mess of her thoughts worrying about me. Worrying about the whole situation.

  But now isn’t the time to talk about any of it. I kick on the engine, and my Fire Rider brothers do the same. Then together, we speed back to our campsite.

  4

  Kyra

  I cling to Faris as we ride down the winding roads. I can’t believe that my brother has shot someone in front of me—and not just anyone, but a man who I already feel such a connection with. I’ve known that my brother has headed far—too far—down a dark path. But seeing such an obvious confirmation of exactly how far he’s fallen has shattered the small bit of hope I still clung to that I could save him from himself.

  When did things switch so fully for Dez? How did he go from the sweet boy I’d grown up with to such a monster?

  But I shake off the thoughts of my brother as Faris pulls off the road to a clearing where he and his friends must have made camp. There are several tents set up—nice ones. And a motorcycle sits by one of them—apparently, one of Faris’s friends hadn’t come to rescue us. A fire burns in one of the campground pits in the middle of the tents. The area is surprisingly homey, and far enough away from the main roads to be very private. It’s up high up enough that I can see the dark, rocky scrubland below and, in the distance, the twinkling lights of Juniper.

  Faris is who I need to focus on right now. My brother left him for dead, and I’m certain that I saw him shot in the stomach. I have no explanation for how he was able to climb on his motorcycle and drive us this far. They say adrenaline can do amazing things.

  But that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t get to the hospital, as soon as freaking possible.

  As soon as he parks, we dismount. He turns to me, but instead of waiting for him to speak, I close the distance between us and jerk up his shirt before he can stop me. I’ll poke at his damn wound if that’s what it takes to get him to a doctor. But when I reveal the skin beneath his ripped T-shirt, there’s nothing but smooth skin and a dark bruise, a toned stomach, with a thin trail of dark hair disappearing down into his jeans.

  I blink. Where the hell is the wound?

  His stomach is bruised, only bruised. His black T-shirt is damp with something I would swear is blood. But there’s no sign of a gunshot wound. I don’t care how tough the guy is, bullets don’t bounce off skin and leave bruises behind. They leave gaping, bloody holes.

  So where the hell is it?

  I shake my head, unable to understand what I see with my own eyes. “What—I saw it. I saw you get shot. My brother shot you at point-blank range.”

  Faris takes my hand in his, and I realize too late that I’ve been poking at his bruise.

  My face heats as I meet his dark gaze. “I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just don’t understand.”

  Faris nudges his shirt back down, but before he can say anything, the other four men crowd around us. Strangely, despite the fact that each and every one of them is a lot scarier looking than anyone in Dez’s crew, I don’t find myself afraid of them offhand. Even though something inside of me says that I should be.

  Maybe it’s the concerned way they’re all checking out where Faris should have been sh
ot. Maybe it’s because they just saved us from my brother’s goons. But that brings to mind another question. How did they know where we were? Heck, how did they know we were even in trouble?

  I hadn’t seen Faris text anyone, but I guess he could have. But if they’d been here...that was a heck of a long way to get to us so quickly. Faris would’ve needed to text them the moment the cars surrounded us, even with fast motorcycles brought into the equation.

  One of the tent flaps moves, and a large man and small woman emerge. The man is big, and possibly the scariest-looking one of the lot. There is a Mediterranean look about him and I feel like I’ve awoken a Greek god and there’ll be hell to pay.

  I step just a little closer to Faris.

  “What happened?” the man from the tent asks.

  Faris stand straighter, his eyes are locked on the other man. “Ran into a bit of trouble, Lex. Turns out that Kyra’s brother doesn’t particularly care for me.”

  Lex’s eyes narrow. “Is that so?”

  “He had a gun. But luckily no one was hurt,” Faris says.

  “My ass, no one was hurt,” I mutter, getting angrier by the minute. I don’t like being in the dark, and this whole situation makes me uneasy. I had seen Dez shoot Faris. I’d heard the shot, and my ears were still ringing from it. But where the hell was the wound?

  Lex gives me a sharp glance, but it’s the woman who followed him from the tent who speaks. “I’m okay to leave tonight. Why don’t we just get on the road?”

  I take a moment to look at her. She doesn’t look all right to me, and I don’t think it’s just because of the flickering firelight. Her skin is pale, and she looks like she might collapse at any minute. I’m not sure what is wrong with her, but traveling doesn’t seem like a great idea.

  “No,” Lex says, and the way he looks at her makes me suddenly a little less afraid of him. There’s obvious love in his eyes, and it makes him appear more average man than God. “I’m not risking your health because of a bunch of humans.”

  Humans? What the hell is that supposed to mean?

  The others echo Lex’s sentiments.

  “Let’s see how you’re feeling in a day or two,” Faris says.

  One of the men who came to our rescue—a tall blond who makes me think of Vikings—adds, “There’s no rush. They aren’t a threat—not really.”

  “What the hell is going on here?” I shout over their voices, my patience finally at an end. “I want an explanation.”

  The others go silent, and I feel their eyes on me for a long moment, before their gazes all seem to slide as one to look at Faris.

  Faris’s expression is aggressive as he meets their eyes, and there’s a challenge in his gaze. I feel like I’m missing a conversation in those shared glances. The meaning there is open for everyone to see but me. Finally, the men around us nod slowly. And Faris breathes out a heavy sigh before turning to me.

  I want to demand that he tells me what’s going on again. But stomping and shouting amongst this weirdly calm crowd feels wrong. And I’m not sure that anything I say will help convince them to tell me anything they don’t already want to.

  “Will you walk with me?” Faris asks, looking down at me.

  I look up into his eyes, and desire hits me hard. Something about just being close to this man makes me want to kiss him, touch him. Leave a mark on him somehow. But even though my body is screaming at me to do whatever this guy wants, my head tells me that lust does not equal trust.

  It’s dark, and I’m pretty sure that if my mother had lived until I was old enough for her to dispense advice to me, she would have definitely warned me against walking into the night with a strange man. But my desire to know what was going on—my damn curiosity—is far stronger than any fear. Besides, for whatever reason, I’m not afraid of Faris. Despite everything that has happened.

  I’m pretty sure my mom would have given me a warning about that, too.

  But then again, maybe I want to trust him for a good reason. No one has ever stepped between Dez and me. Not once. And while I can hold my own with my brother, the gesture touches me more than I can say.

  Faris turns and heads toward away from camp, and I follow him. Leaves and twigs break harshly under my feet, it’s been too dry lately to walk around without making noise. But at least there isn’t much to trip over since the whole area seems to have been cleared for the campground.

  As soon as we hit the top of the plateau where everything gets lighter, Faris takes my hand. It’s still relatively clear of underbrush, no doubt so campers can hike around for miles, but I appreciate the gesture since I can’t see much in the dark.

  Given all that has been going on, I might very well have pulled away, no matter how much my instincts are screaming at me to trust him. There’s hardly any moon tonight, and Faris seems to have no trouble making his way around—not something I can say for me. Within the first five steps, he saves me from tripping over an exposed rock.

  Finally, when the campfire is little more than a speck of light behind us, and there seems to be emptiness all around, Faris helps me sit down on a fallen log. The air still smells dry, but there’s a thickness to it out here that we don’t even get in our small town. A slight, cloying scent from that seems to rise up from the ground, especially at night. The stars shine brightly above us. And it feels like we’ve stepped into another world.

  My eyes are adjusting a little—I can’t make out much very far away, but I can finally see some of Faris’s features a couple feet away from me. His expression is serious, and his eyes watch me.

  “We should have enough room here,” he says, taking a couple of steps back from me.

  I open my mouth to ask what he means by that, and then I snap it shut. Where Faris once stood, I blink, and he’s no longer there. Instead, I see what I can only, in my head, call a dragon.

  I choke back a scream, and my heart threatens to beat its way out of my chest.

  Dark, metallic scales cover its body, but I can’t make out their color in the moonlight. A tail wraps around its large frame—about three times the size Faris was before he changed. And wings—wings!—that look similar to a bat’s, block me from seeing too much about its body. But its neck is long and also covered in scales. Its long jaws are full of sharp teeth, with the points visible outside of its maw. And dark lizard eyes, with a long, black, vertical pupil, stare back at me.

  A dragon.

  I scream, and before I can fully comprehend what I’ve seen, I’m on my feet and booking it back toward the fire. But before I can make it three steps, the thing that stood where Faris was grabs me.

  I scream and fight and kick but the thing holding me is far too strong. Surprisingly gently, its hold doesn’t involve long claws digging into my skin. But I still need to get away. Now.

  “I’m not going to hurt you, Kyra,” its voice rumbles in my ear.

  I don’t believe it. I can’t. It’s a fucking dragon.

  So I fight harder. He doesn’t say anything else but holds me until I can’t fight anymore.

  Once I stop struggling, he puts me back down on my feet. He doesn’t release me, but I can feel something change behind me. Can sense a difference in his form without even turning around to see. One moment it’s scaly creature’s skin against my own, the next, it’s just people skin.

  “It’s me, Faris,” he says, his voice sounds like its normal baritone. “Please calm down, beautiful. I promise that I will not hurt you. I swear it.”

  The words sound like an oath, but I’m trembling with shock, and I’m not entirely sure if I want to lay down and let this monster eat me or try to run again. Or throw up. Yep, that’s the one I want to do.

  Sensing that I no longer have it in me to run, the creature that I’d thought was a man sets me back down on the log where I started. Sure, he’s a man now, but I’ve seen what he really must be.

  I start to sob, unable to stop myself. I can’t wrap my brain around this. And every time I think I might be able to calm down
, I open my eyes and see Faris in front of me, reminding me of what I’d just seen. A patient, concerned expression on his stupid, gorgeous face.

  This is impossible. This is not real. I’ve gone crazy.

  I look back up at Faris and hear a wailing noise that is loud enough that it hurts my ears. It takes a moment before I realize it’s me.

  Faris leans down toward me, and I flinch away as his lips graze my neck.

  Lips… Not a monster, but a man. But I can’t open my eyes, can’t look. Teeth close down on where my neck meets my shoulder, and for a brief moment, I think I can run again.

  And then everything goes dark.

  5

  Faris

  As I expect, Kyra loses consciousness almost immediately when my teeth sink into the tender flesh of her neck and a tiny bit of my venom is injected. Her body relaxes, and I pull her into my arms. I wish that I could have made this easier for her, but there just isn't a good way to reveal to a human that you are a dragon.

  With Kyra in my arms, I return to the campfire. My crew gives me disapproving looks at the sight of the unconscious woman in my arms. Even Hannah shoots me a dark glance.

  "She was hysterical," I say, wishing I’d had an alternative way to calm her. But how? How do you calm a human being faced with a bend in their reality—a bend with very sharp teeth? "I simply gave her enough venom to allow her to sleep for a few hours. Hopefully she'll wake calmer."

  "We should just leave her here, move on. Get the hell out of this backwater town," Jerrick, who had started his life as a Viking warrior, suggests. “She’ll be all right. We aren’t that far from a road here.”

  "We should at least take Kyra back to town," Bren says, giving Jerrick a disapproving look. “Leaving a woman alone out in the woods is just asking for her to be hurt.”

  "I can't return her without a promise that she won't say anything about what she has seen," I tell them. And while there's truth in that, it isn't the full truth. Kyra’s pheromones are intoxicating to me, and even with her in my arms, unconscious, I still feel the need for her pounding in my veins.