“Stop showing off, Darren,” Darius admonished, joining Ben’s side. “You are scaring the human witless.”
“Too late for that, Darius. I think he was witless before today, because I saw how he fought the fire. Like all humans, he has no understanding of his enemy. He did, however, show some skill. He could be trained.” He laughed.
“Cripes, I’m CFS. I trained—”
“This one saved the lives of fur brothers and sisters. You show him respect!” The woman who had revived Ben’s kitty slapped Darren’s wrist. She turned to him, smiling. “I know you must be confused.”
That, thought Ben, was an understatement. His brain pulsed as he saw other dragons and a few cats shift to human. Oh hell! Everything was spinning around him. The next thing he knew he was face first in the lawn, spitting out grass.
“He is sick, give him air.”
“Breathe on him, Darren.”
Other pieces of advice from a myriad of speakers—all making no sense.
“Stand away, all of you. The boy’s had a shock.”
He was lifted, set upright, hands and words steadying, soothing. Something was held to his lips. He drank instinctively. It tasted like warm mead.
“You are hurt,” Darren said, gripping Ben’s arm.
“I’m tired,” he said, only now acknowledging his exhaustion. He’d fought that fire without rest until he couldn’t think straight, couldn’t talk. And in the last hour he’d seen stuff that he couldn’t understand or explain. Maybe he was dead—or having one of those out of body experiences he’d heard about. This couldn’t be real! But if this wasn’t real, why did he feel so sick? If he was dead, then he wouldn’t feel anything—right? He planted his feet firmly apart, and stood upright by sheer willpower. He shrugged off Darren’s grip.
“I think more than tired,” the woman said, stroking his arm. “But the drink will renew you. Darren, you need the elixir, too.”
“I do?” He accepted a goblet of the brew from the woman and downed it in one gulp. “Now what?” he asked Darius.
“I will send out teams to look for survivors.”
Ben nodded. “You’ll find my crew, with animals, in the creek. I need to get back to them.” He went to step away, but Darius held him hard, fingers grinding muscle against bone, even through the protective layers of his fire jacket.
“What you have seen here is a secret. Can we trust you to leave here and never reveal us to your kind?”
“Like any would believe me if I told them I was rescued by a dragon and saw...saw a fire put out, as if by magic.”
“Of course by magic,” the woman said. “Dragons are wizards and I am a witch.” She held out her hand. “My name is Morgana.” She smiled at Ben as he returned her handshake on impulse. “Yes, I know Morgana is a cliché, but it is my name. Darren and Darius you already know.” She beckoned to the lion and the tiger. “Arius and Bartholomew.” She peered at the name tag on Ben’s yellow coat. “This is fireman O’Reilly.” The animals bowed their heads.
“Are they human, too?” Ben asked.
Darius snorted. “Define human? It is a species, nothing more. It does not make you masters of the world.”
“I’m outta here.”
Darius again restrained Ben. “You are of the family, now, you must keep what you have seen secret.” He smiled grimly. “Morgana introduced you as fireman O’Reilly. Since you are now family, we should know your full name. The name tag on your coat has B. O’Reilly. What does the B stand for?”
“Ben.” He paused. “And what family are you talking about?”
Darius spread his arms wide to encompass the homestead. “This family. It is one of many throughout the world. We are shapeshifters and wielders of magic. There is more, of course, but this will do for now—until you are initiated.”
Ben wasn’t sure he liked the sound of initiated. “But magic and all that stuff is just fairy tales, and dragons don’t exist...er... That is...” He glanced at Darren. The guy was smiling, green eyes alight, obviously enjoying his discomfiture—the prick.
“We are known through myth and legend, which is our safety, but in reality we exist.”
“Okay, then, if you really can do magic, why didn’t you stop the fire before it took out so many homes and destroyed tens of thousands of hectares?”
“And the animals killed by flames, you make no mention of them. They do not count for anything?” Darius demanded.
“Of course they do.”
Darius snorted. “Too often our furred and feathered kindred are considered expendable. We watched as people fled their homes, leaving animals behind. People we believed had more humanity, but perhaps humanity is a thin veneer when one is saving one’s own skin?”
Darren faced his brother, green eyes sparking gold. “Ben saved lives—human and animal this day and other days.” He paused. “I was flying patrol. I saw. He can be trusted. He is our friend.”
Ben returned Darren’s smile. Their gazes locked.
“Very well. It is decided. He is our friend, since you speak for him, Darren.” Darius nodded. “As for why we did not interfere before today, it is because the summoning of power takes time. We flew many rescue missions. Crops can grow again, houses can be re-built. But lives are irreplaceable. Once we had taken all those we could to safety, we turned our efforts to the fire. We are only flesh and blood. Those of my family who worked so hard to save this land will sleep for days. The cost of using our magic is high. Two dragons and four wizards died. We must mourn them, as you will mourn your losses.”
“Even one life lost is too high,” Ben said.
“Even if that life is not human?” Darius demanded.
“Absolutely. Why are you so angry with me?”
Darius sighed. “I saw the men who started the fire.”
“Don’t hold me accountable for the actions of nutters.”
“He is right, Darius,” Morgana said.
“I am sorry.” Darius inclined his head.
“I knew there were arsonists.” Ben clenched his fists. “Where are the men now? I’ll get the police—”
“They have faced our justice. They will not light any more fires,” Darius said.
After what Ben had seen over the last few days, arsonists deserved what they got, but he didn’t want details. He was sure talons and teeth were involved. “I need to re-join my crew. They’ll be worried that I got toasted.” He smiled ruefully, noticing the red welts on his hands. “Singed maybe.”
“Give me your hands, Ben,” Morgana said and Ben instinctively obeyed. He allowed her to hold his hands between her palms, and watched that gold light again emanate from her fingers to envelop his. It was pleasant at first, a warmth that steadily grew until it was burning. He yelped, trying to tear his hands free. Morgana held on with a strength that was...inhuman. He wet his lips and endured the pain.
Minutes later it was over. She stepped back. Ben stared at his hands, turning them every way to inspect. Not one burn remained. And the stinging pain was gone, too.
“Hell,” he said. “I mean, er, thank you.”
“Morgana is gifted. Come, sister,” Darius said, “We have work to do.”
Darren turned to Ben. “Let me take you to your men.”
“I’m not up to flying right now.”
“That is a pity,” he said. “I enjoyed holding you in my talons.”
Ben glanced up at Darren, saw the other man’s teasing grin.
“My brother is incorrigible,” Darius said, turning to smile at them over his shoulder.
“Your brother?”
“We are all kindred, Ben,” Darren replied. “We share a bond closer than any human family.”
“Secrets can do that,” Ben said. He knew all about secrets and the price one paid when those secrets were betrayed.
“You understand?”
Ben nodded.
“I will take you to your crew,” Darren said. “No flying. I have a trail bike.”
After the day’s event
s, Ben decided that was the last straw. A guy who could turn to dragon, who used magic to fight fire, and who rode a trail bike... He ran a hand over his hair, cringing at the gunk of ash and debris. His face was probably black with soot, too. Why the hell did it matter what he looked like? But staring at Darren and the way the guy returned that gaze, he figured it did matter. A lot.
Morgana paused, looking up from her work at a nearby table. She held a mortar and pestle and was busy grinding some herbs to a powder. Darius joined her side, bringing more plants. “The kitten you rescued, the other animals, may we keep them here in our sanctuary?” she asked.
“Yeah. Anyone who leaves animals behind in cages to die in a fire, doesn’t have any right to them.”
“Agreed,” Darius said. “I thought I could trust our neighbours. It seems I misjudged them and their fire plan.”
“We will have to work harder to educate humans about their kindred companions,” Morgana said.
Darren nodded. “I’ll go and get my bike.”
Minutes later Darren returned, dressed in jeans, black t-shirt and buckle boots. Ben gaped, heart thrumming, gut flipping. The sight of Darren all long and lean in jeans, pushing a sporty red trail bike was amazing and... Do not go there, O’Reilly, he admonished himself. Not today, anyway!
Darren climbed onto the machine and started the engine.
Ben winced. “Go slow. I’m not up to a fast ride.”
“When might you be up to a fast ride?”
Ben grinned, understanding exactly what Darren was implying. He hitched up over the back of the bike and settled behind dragon-boy.
Darren smiled, a strange enigmatic smile, but before Ben could question him further, Darren opened the throttle and the bike sped off, Ben clutching the other man around the waist. Gravel from the path surrounding the homestead flew in all directions.
In silence, for maybe an hour, they followed the creek bed, Darren easily tooling the bike over the rough ground. Ben saw that many trees had been spared the fire, scrub also was left intact—thanks to magic. Ben closed his eyes trying to get a handle on all that had happened. His world was suddenly very small and a helluva lot more complicated than it had been at the start of the day. He opened his eyes and leaned into Darren, wishing that he wasn’t wearing his thick firegear, so he could feel the guy hard against him. That elixir Morgana had given him must be working—shock and exhaustion were now peripheral to what he was thinking... But on the back of a bike—not the best place to be having those kinda thoughts, O’Reilly. Forget the dragon-boy for now.
Oh, I don’t know, I enjoy those thoughts. And I like it that you call me dragon-boy. I’ll call you human-mine.
Ben grimaced. “How long have you been tuning in, you...you...”
Dragon?
“Not what I was gonna call you, arsehole. And how can you read my thoughts? Doesn’t it work only when you’re a dragon?”
No.
“Obviously,” Ben snarled. “Why didn’t you warn me?”
“I was very careful what I tuned into, and you were broadcasting loudly. I could not help but hear. We are friends, Ben. Is it wrong to share?”
“Can I ever do that mind reading thing?”
“In time, yes. And I will teach you how to screen your thoughts, too.”
“That’d be appreciated.” To survive, there were some things a guy had to keep to himself.
Darren pulled the bike up, cut the engine. Ten metres away, Ben saw the fire truck, now bogged in mud from the deluge, the crew trying to dig it out. The horse was tethered to a tree, the other animals lying exhausted along the creek edge. Again, he realised how lucky they had all been—human and animal. Oh hell, he could no longer make a distinction between the definition of human and animal, not after today. He filed that philosophical debate away for when he was home and could think straight. Right now he had other things to worry about.
Ben climbed off the bike, watching the animals. “We’ve got to do something about them, all the other survivors. The bush’s gone, their habitat, their food. There’s only so much the RSPCA, Fauna Rescue, and SAVEM can do.” He turned worried eyes to Darren.
“My...our family will do what we can, as well as assist human agencies and there will be substantial anonymous donations to various charities, animal and human. We are not without sympathy for homo sapiens.”
Ben nodded and stepped away. He halted, turned, and walked back to Darren. “I want to see you again. Soon.”
“Do you really want to?” Darren’s dark brows raised, a smile sparking his eyes.
“You have to ask, after all your mind spying?”
Darren laughed. “I wanted to hear you ask me.” He paused. “I will find you. Soon.”
“How?”
“There is only one Ben O’Reilly from Sandy Scrub.”
“How the heck do you know where I’m from? Was it a magic thing you did to find out?”
“It is written on the side of your fire truck.”
Laughing, Darren tugged Ben forward and he stumbled into an embrace that squeezed the breath from his lungs. He was kissed, hard, and that kiss hinted—no, promised more of the same in the future. Ben kissed back, stroking with his tongue, meeting a tentative, almost shy response from Darren. They broke apart, breathing hard.
“It is true, you are an angel in yellow. I have never known a kiss like that.” Darren smiled, his gaze taking Ben in from head to heels.
“Hey, it’s just the colour of the uniform. Trust me, I’m no angel.”
“Truly? I think you are. The kitten you saved thought you were.”
“How the hell do you know?”
“She told me.”
“She...what?”
“I spoke to her before we left. She thought you were more handsome than other humans she had seen.” Darren grinned. “I tend to agree with her.” He started up the bike, and eased it over the ground, disappearing into the scrub.
Ben struggled down the creek bank, legs gone to jelly, a fire in his gut and heart. He heard Darren’s laughter. In his head. Dragon-boy was spying again.
Today he had known fire and he’d known rescue. Fire and rescue—a winning combination in any fireman’s future. Especially if one was rescued by a fire-fighting dragon.
About the Author
Astrid has been writing since she was five years old, and even then her stories were of the “fantastic.” Her motto of dare to be different has taken her writing and personal life in many exciting, and often unexpected directions.
Astrid is an award-winning, best-selling author whose works encompass many genres, but her one passion (besides cats) is romance. Happily Ever After is the only ending for her.
She has other speculative fiction and paranormal sensual romance with Extasy Books and Devine Destinies—both short fiction, and stand alone works, as well as the popular Monsters inK series and the Birthday Boy series. Her author page at eXtasybooks lists all her current and forthcoming works. www.extasybooks.com
Visit Astrid’s website to link to her email and facebook addresses. She’d love to hear from you.
www.astridcooper.com
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