Flame's Embrace

by Pillar, Amanda

  I was off the couch and on the bed faster than a demon.

  Chapter 4

  When we checked out early the next morning, Kate the Receptionist was back on the reception desk. She took in Uko’s arm around my shoulders, and the post-sex glow on my face and grinned like the Cheshire Cat.

  “I see you enjoyed your stay,” she said politely, but her eyes were practically dancing with delight.

  Uko gave her a blinding grin. “Indeed. I found the water pit to be excellent,” he told her, then leaned down to nuzzle my neck. I was no longer against PDAs. Hell, I’m pretty sure Uko could lay me down on the lobby floor and fuck me senseless and I would love every second of it.

  “The hot tub,” I corrected, smiling softly at Kate. “I really appreciate your help.”

  She waved away the compliment as she completed the check out process.

  When she handed back my credit card, I could tell she wanted to high five me again but resisted. “I hope you have a wonderful journey. Thank you for staying with us.”

  Uko waved and grabbed my hand, walking us out of the lobby and back up the street.

  Beale street bustled with businessmen and tourists at this time of the morning, and I felt a pang of guilt. “You would have enjoyed Beale Street. I feel a little guilty that I kept you in last night.”

  He leaned down and kissed my temple. “I had the best night of my immortal life last night. I do not regret a momentary second.” He paused. “Actually, I am still a bit annoyed about the room service interrupting the hot tub time,” he winked. “But it all worked out in the end.”

  We rode the elevator up to the correct level of the car park and made out like horny teenagers the whole way up.

  We were in sight of my car when Uko froze like a deer. Leaning against the hood of my car were two huge, golden men. Between them was a beautiful red-headed woman, but something about her seemed off.

  One of the golden guys saw us first, and punched the other in the shoulder. “Ha! Told you this was his scent, Rom.”

  The pretty redhead laughed and hip-checked the one who was gloating.

  The slightly bigger, huge guy rolled his eyes, and glared at us. “Ukobach. It is time to return to Hell.”

  I wanted to cry. I looked between them and Uko. Uko looked sad but resigned and when his eyes flashed to me, pain burned in their depths. All the marks in his body turned a dull, dark green. Was that their color for sadness?

  He leaned down and kissed me. “Thank you for summoning me,” he whispered against my lips.

  I hugged him back. “Thank you for not being your brother,” I hiccuped out and made him laugh.

  He walked toward the three demon hunters, and the woman was looking at me sadly.

  I held up a hand. “Wait! It’s too soon. You weren’t meant to be here for another day or two. We were meant to have more time. Please,” I said to the woman.

  She looked up at the big one, and when he shook his head, she looked at the other one. “Rouen…”

  “Aw, come on Rella. You know we’ll have to stay here until we take him back. I had plans.” He waggled his eyebrows and it didn’t take a genius to know those plans involved no clothes. She smiled at him softly, her eyes hooded. Yep, they were definitely a couple. When she pouted, honest to goodness pouted, he leaned forward and bit her bottom lip softly. “Fine.”

  Then they both looked at the big guy who’d spoken; Rom.

  He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “No. I want to go home to our Pack. Charlie and Naz are waiting for us.” The redhead, Rella, stood up on her tiptoes and whispered something in his ear. He rumbled low in his chest, the sound raising all the hair on my arms, but he had a tiny smile on his lips.

  “Fine. But you only have until midnight. Then Ukobach over there will turn back into a pumpkin.”

  The other Hunter whipped his head toward his leader. “Did Romanus just make a Cinderella reference? That’s it. The end is here, people. It’s the Apocalypse.”

  Romanus slapped him in the back of the head, then looked back at Uko, who’d drifted to my side. “Go, fornicate like monkeys or whatever you want to do. But do not run. You will not like the results if you make us chase you.”

  I swallowed down the emotion that was threatening to crush my chest and gave the redhead a watery smile. “Thank you.” I paused and looked up at Uko. “Actually, we are going to the State Fair of Texas if, you know, you want to come too.” I didn’t want them to think we were running when we left the State.

  Both the demons and Uko looked at me like I was insane, but the redhead clapped her hands together. “Yes! I’ve always wanted to go. I didn’t think I’d ever get to, now I’m in Hell, you know?”

  Both the big guys winced, and I had a feeling she’d just gotten her own way. Romanus nodded. “Whatever,” he huffed out.

  The other one, Rouen, grinned along. “I’m down. We’ll stay out of your way.”

  I nodded thankfully. “Uh, this is my car here. Do you need a ride down there? Dallas is about six hours away.”

  Rouen grinned. “Don’t worry. We have a quicker way.”

  Then they turned into mother-flipping Dragons and I passed out.

  *

  When I woke, I was wrapped in Uko’s arms and we were landing just outside of Dallas on an abandoned stretch of road. Uko sprang from the back of the dragon, which turned back into a man.

  You know what, maybe I had died in my apartment. Getting banged by a hot ass demon was in the realms of reality, but freaking dragons? The redhead touched my shoulder. “You okay?” When I nodded, she began walking up the side of the highway. “There’s a gas station up ahead. We’ll get an Uber to the Fair.”

  On the walk, I found out that the big guys were really Gargoyles, Hell’s best demon hunters. They kept joking about the redhead being a Princess of Hell.

  The Uber driver didn’t even blink about picking us up at a gas station in the middle of nowhere with no car in sight. The Fair was still an hour away, and I pressed myself to Uko’s side and just breathed him in. His fingers played on the inside of my knee, but we were both silent.

  When we pulled up at the gates of the State Fair, it was already busy, even though it was a weekday and still reasonably early.

  Romanus looked at Uko and I. “We will meet you back here at midnight, Ukobach. Remember, do not make us chase you.”

  We both nodded fervently and watched as the weird trio disappeared into the crowd. I reached down and twined my fingers with his. “This is it. Let’s go have fun, okay?”

  He leaned down and kissed me with so much tongue a mother tsked us as she walked past, making Uko grin against my lips.

  I grabbed our tickets and stepped through the gates. Men, women and children stared at the beauty of Uko, but he just stared down at me like he didn’t see anyone else. How was I ever going to date again, when I’d compare every man against Uko?

  *

  Do you know those absolutely perfect days that are forever etched in your memory? Today would be one of those days for me. We ate deep-fried everything, from gumballs to butter to literal deep-fried hamburgers. We rode the rides until I threatened to throw up, going on all the scary ones that I would have skipped if Uko hadn’t been there holding my hand. We ate and drank and then at nine p.m. watched the fireworks from a secluded piece of lawn in a restricted part of the park. I mean, what’s a little rule-breaking after sleeping with a demon and riding a freaking Gargoyle?

  I documented it all on my camera. Even when Uko was gone, I would have these memories of his face, the way he looked, the way he stared at me.

  Uko added a little oomph to the fireworks, taking them from pretty to transcendent. I laid on the grass, my head pillowed by his bicep, and watched the colors burst in vivid patterns, chasing each other around the sky and generally going against the laws of nature. I laughed and cried a little as he made one of the big skyflower ones look like a love heart. Then he rolled me on
to my back and made love to me until I saw fireworks behind my eyelids.

  By the time 11:30 rolled around, I was on the verge of an emotional breakdown. He had me wrapped in his arms as we talked about the day, the things we’d seen and about life in general. I tried not to remember that in a few hours, I would be on the way back to my old life. A life without sexy demons and spontaneous trips and fireworks. Without Uko. As the minutes counted down, there was no more talking. I just sat in his arms, looking at his melancholy green squiggles, and trying not to cry.

  “You know, when you summoned me, all drunk and not wearing pants, without even a summoning circle, I couldn’t believe my luck. I thought I’d just walk out the door and live for the few hours before the Hunters came and returned me home.” He gave me a sad smile. “But you were so adorable, talking about my dick, looking at me all wide-eyed like you couldn’t decide if you wanted to run away screaming or fuck me into oblivion. I found I wanted to stick around and find out.” I laughed but it was more of a sob, and he tilted my face up so he could see my face. “You are so beautiful, Elsie. Your imp-shit of an ex was wrong. You are so perfect, funny, smart, brave, and one day a human who isn’t an excrement stain will see that. I hope that you get everything your heart desires. This has been the greatest forty-eight hours of my existence.”

  I pushed against his chest, then drew him closer. “Stop or I’m going to cry.”

  He cupped my face, his thumb running along my cheekbone. “You are already crying.” He kissed the remaining tears from my cheeks.

  Eventually, he stood, pulling me up behind him. “Come on. It is time to go. I do not want to get on the bad side of the Hunters.”

  We walked slowly, each step seeming more and more dreadful. It felt like walking Uko to death row, and it was killing something inside me.

  We saw the three Hunters, smiling and cuddling, and I realized that all three were lovers. They looked so freaking happy. Both the guys looked down at Rella with such love in their hearts, that it made my own ache even harder.

  As if they scented their prey, both Gargoyles turned toward us. The big one, Romanus, nodded. “It is time to go.”

  Ukobach nodded, leaning down and kissing me softly one time. “Live big, Elsie. Don’t forget me.” He stepped forward and the gargoyles grabbed one wrist each.

  Then he was gone. Forever. I sobbed and collapsed onto the gutter. Maybe I could go home and convince myself this was all a dream. I didn’t think it would help, but maybe I would get on with my life that way.

  I didn’t realize the Rella was still there until she rested a hand on my shoulder.

  “I’ll make this right. Leave it with me. I’ve got some sway with the Big Guy.” Then she disappeared as well.

  I sat there and cried into my hands until security came along and called me an Uber to the bus station.

  It was time to get on with it, but it felt like I had a huge hole in my chest that might never be filled.

  Chapter 5

  I got ready for work in a daze. The last few months had felt so grey. Like I’d lived in glorious technicolor for a moment, and now I knew what I was missing. The only brightness was the pictures that hung on my walls, moments captured, proof that it had all been real.

  Luckily, I’d gotten my job back. When I’d gone for my exit interview with HR, and they asked me my reason for leaving, I’d told them the truth. I’d caught my manager banging my boyfriend. I wasn’t even angry about it anymore.

  Apparently, HR takes managerial misconduct really seriously, and they’d pulled the video footage from outside her office. They’d seen Cade go in, and unfortunately for my boss, when I’d walked in on them like a complete dumbass, I’d left the door open and you got a good thirty second clip of Cade plowing the field, so to speak.

  My boss had been sacked, I’d be reinstated with a slight promotion and my new boss was a sixty-year-old no-nonsense woman with what appeared to be one hundred grandchildren if you went off the pictures in her office. Productivity was up, I got a bonus, and it all seemed to be for nothing.

  I looked down at the squiggle, I’d named it Bob, who was on my wrist today. Still murky green. Still melancholy. Wherever he was, Uko was as miserable as me.

  I drank my coffee, not sure I could face another day of my life. Maybe I should move home. Or get a brand new start somewhere.

  All of a sudden, Bob the squiggle launched down my hand to my index finger, changing from murky green to brilliant blue.

  “What the hell?” I said, raising Bob to my face. “What’s going on with you?”

  There was a knock at the door. “Delivery!” someone yelled and kicked the door with a thump.

  Probably my Amazon order of demon romances.

  I opened the door and gasped when the red-headed hunter Rella was there, grinning. “You owe me one.”

  Then she disappeared and the person behind her made me squeal. His huge smile made my eyes water and my heart explode in my chest.

  “Uko!”

  About Grace

  Grace McGinty is eclectic. She has worked as a chocolatier, a librarian, a forensic accountant and finally a writer. Like her professional career, the genres she writes are also eclectic. She writes romance, reverse harem romance, fantasy, contemporary young adult and new adult books.

  She lives in rural Australia with her crazy family, an entire menagerie of pets, and will one day be crushed by her giant piles of books that litter every room.

  Head over to www.gracemcginty.com and join my mailing list for sneak previews into what I am working on and to stay up-to-date with new releases and giveaways!

  Fire Dancer’s Familiar

  A Familiar Mates Short Story

  TJ Nichols

  The flames gleamed on the dancers’ skin as they twirled with the fire. Even to a dragon, the flames were mesmerizing. Prys glanced from the man to the woman and back again. They were dressed identically, in tight black pants and a leather waistcoat that seemed to be made more of laces than leather—it was a look he appreciated on both dancers. And from the gasps and claps of the crowd gathered around the free show, so did everyone else.

  The humans watching didn’t realize that one of the dancers was a fire witch and in no danger from the flames. A fire witch could turn themselves into a human candle, and while their clothes might burn away, they’d be left unharmed. There was, unfortunately, very few in the world. All the elemental witches were rare. Which had made finding this one—whichever one it was—extremely important.

  Prys had been led on a merry dance, as though the witch knew they were being hunted and didn’t want to be found. Japan and Canada, Singapore and a dozen other places. Now Perth. And Prys had finally caught up. He rubbed the center of his chest, knowing the ache would only get worse until he claimed his mate.

  This time there wouldn’t be blood on his hands.

  He exhaled and glanced down, knowing that he’d done it to protect his unhatched sister, but still burdened by the guilt of killing a witch. Sleeping for decades hadn’t eased the pain of failure. He didn’t want to sleep for another hundred years to wait for another potential mate. It wasn’t safe, the way it had once been. When he’d woken ten years ago, the city had been at his doorstep—rude.

  He’d been damn lucky he hadn’t been discovered.

  Every time he closed his eyes the world changed, and he didn’t.

  He was still the last living dragon shifter until his sister hatched. He drew in a breath, his gaze tracking back to the male dancer. Was he the witch? Prys was torn between edging closer and staying at the back, where he could slip away if the mood of the crowd shifted.

  Around him, people filmed the dancers on their phones.

  If they knew what he was, they’d turn their camera on him. In his mind, the noise and the cheers became angry, and he was back in the town he’d grown up in. His father already dead in his forge and his mother packing a bag for him and urging him to take his sister and run.<
br />
  Even if the mob hadn’t killed his mother, losing her mate would’ve. She’d have weakened and wasted. Her life and his father’s magic had been so entwined, one couldn’t survive without the other.

  He shuddered. While he knew the fire witch called to him as a mate, and that was why he’d woken, he wasn’t sure he wanted to be a witch’s familiar, even though it was engrained in his soul.

  The dancers bowed, then extinguished their flames. And another man walked to the center of the cordoned off performance area. “If you’d like to see more, come and discover the heart of the flame. There are a few tickets still available.” He indicated a door. The man next to it waved to encourage people over.

  Like many of the wandering acts, they were simply a taster for a bigger show that was happening. This whole festival was filled with performers spread through the city. If he hadn’t been searching for the witch, he might’ve stopped to enjoy himself.

  Attending this show was very necessary, if only so he could determine who the witch was. He wouldn’t mention that he was a dragon, or his sister, so early this time. The only thing the last witch had wanted was money. She’d stolen his sister, and he’d had to fight to get her back. He was lucky they hadn’t kissed and become bound as mates, or Prys would’ve been stuck with her. Instead of being rich from the sale of a dragon egg. the witch had ended up dead in an alley.

  Prys could’ve given her all the gold she wanted, but even his family’s hoard wouldn’t have been enough. He knew that now. Killing his potential mate had been like digging out his own heart with his claws, but it had been required so he could try again. While a witch might be his mate, they didn’t have to fulfill that potential. He just needed three minutes of the witch’s time and would pay well for their silence on the matter.

  He paid for his ticket with cash. Gold was no longer taken as currency, but there were still places where gold could be traded for coin. Though it wasn’t really coin, it was bright pieces of paper. He’d been shocked at how much he’d gotten for the gold chain. And left speechless at the exorbitant price of food.