by Kallysten
His grimace answered her before he did.
“No. I never needed one before.”
“Then let me do it,” she offered. “Quick and clean, no extra casualties. All right?”
She had no doubt that he’d rather have taken his revenge on his own, but she could see her argument winning him over. It comforted her that, despite his burning need for revenge, he was not willing to put innocent lives in danger. Killing members of the UIPP was one thing; they’d chosen their line of work. Same for Don; he’d made his choice. Endangering random bystanders, on the other hand, could only serve to antagonize people who had little to do with paras.
Whatever Idris would have said, however, she never knew. The door opened on the landing a few steps above them. A man appeared, his head shaved, a short beard disguising his mouth, his eyes dark and agitated as they darted first upward, then down toward them. All she needed was to feel Idris’ muscles tense under her hand to know that this was the man they were looking for.
No more than a second passed. Violet was only beginning to reach for her weapon when Don threw the bulging duffel bag he was carrying straight at them with a shout that almost sounded inhuman. Idris moved between Violet and the bag just in time to receive the full impact. From his grunt and slight wavering on the step, the bag had to be just as heavy as it looked. His momentary loss of balance caused Violet’s hand on his arm to become dislodged. Immediately, her feathers started pulling away from his body, layer by layer. At the same moment, Don pulled a gun from the back of his jeans and raised it toward them.
A fear more intense than anything Violet had ever experienced gripped her guts like a steel hand. She hurriedly grasped Idris’ arm again, now with both hands to make the process quicker, adding hoods to both of their outfits to protect their heads from gunshots. The volley of bullets ricocheted away from them.
Don stared at them with obvious disbelief. He looked at the gun in his hand, shot twice more in their direction, and swore loudly when their bodies deflected the bullets toward the concrete walls of the stairwell.
Violet reached for the gun at her side. Even as her fingers wrapped around it, Don started running upward. She and Idris reacted in the same heartbeat, climbing the stairs after him. Every time they rounded a corner, she raised the gun and prepared to fire in case Don was trying to ambush them, but the sounds were coming from higher and higher. Another two flights of stairs and they heard a door bang shut ahead of them.
“He’s on the roof,” Idris said, breathing hard. “He’s gonna fire again. Or attack us.”
He didn’t say, ‘be ready,’ but Violet heard the admonition anyway. From anyone else, it would have irritated her, but not from Idris. Not from her mate. He wanted her to be safe, and she wanted the same for him, of course.
Idris came to a stop two steps before they reached the final landing. When he cleared his throat, she threw a questioning look at him… and had to bite her lip to stifle a nervous laugh. She usually had perfect control over her feathers. They were part of her body after all, as much as her hands or feet were. But as she worried about keeping him safe, especially now that he’d already been wounded, her feathers had stretched over the last bit of him that remained uncovered: his eyes. He looked as though she’d thrown a bag over his head.
“Sorry about that,” she breathed, pulling the feathers back so he could see again.
She expected him to be annoyed, but even with the lower part of his face still covered, she could see he was smiling. His eyes crinkled at the corners, a soft light dancing through them. She was taken by the sudden desire to kiss him, and had to remind herself this was hardly the time and place.
“Ready?” she murmured.
Idris nodded and laid a hand on the door handle. He raised his other hand, showing one finger, then two. On the third, he pushed the door open. Before they could even step out onto the roof, a huge wolf rushed at them, lunging for Idris’ throat. Violet reacted on pure instinct, muscle memory trained from countless hours spent in the firing range back in Sanctuary kicking in.
Her gun hand was already raised. It tracked the wolf’s leap for the time of a second before she pressed the trigger. Two shots resonated through the stairwell. The wolf keened and fell to the side. Whining, he started dragging himself back, his hind right leg bleeding profusely. As Idris and Violet stepped out, the wolf resumed his human appearance and continued to scramble backward. He’d ripped his clothing when shifting to his wolf body, and his nakedness now exposed multiple scars over his abdomen. Surgical scars, by the look of it.
“Fuck,” he gasped when his back hit the low wall that encircled the roof. He brought both hands to his bleeding thigh, pressing hard onto the wound, but even so blood continued to spurt out with each of his heartbeats.
“You hit an artery,” Idris said darkly. “He doesn’t have long.”
Hearing this, Don’s eyes widened and he looked up at them.
“Help me,” he pleaded. “You can’t let me die like this.”
“There’s nothing we can do,” Violet said with a shake of her head, and it was true. Even her feathers couldn’t form a tourniquet tight enough to stop that much blood.
“Why would we even want to?” Idris said, all but biting the words. “You just tried to shoot us. Your treacherous ass turned your own freaking clan in to the UIPP. And you got me sent to that hellhole of a jail for five fucking months!”
She could feel heat rising again within Idris’ body, the same kind of sudden, intense heat that had burned within him back at the garage right before he’d let it out in that humongous explosion. It had been helpful then to take down the UIPP, but here, at the top of a residential building, it would be a terrible idea for him to let go again.
“Hey, calm down,” she said, stroking his arm in what she hoped was a soothing gesture. “Come on, he’s all but dead. No reason to get angry now.”
If he heard her, he didn’t show it. He raised his hand in front of him, a ball of fire as large as a child’s head resting in his palm.
“Why?” he demanded. “Why did you sell us out? What did you get for it?”
Tears were now streaming down Don’s ashy cheeks. He shook his head feebly.
“Nothing. I didn’t get anything. They said… if I gave them enough paras… my mate. They have my mate. They did this to me, and then…”
One of his hands left his leg and brushed against his chest, leaving blood trails against the scars.
“They have my mate,” he said one more time, and then his body started leaning to one side. He collapsed in a pool of his own blood, his eyes still open as his chest shuddered to a stop.
“Shit,” Violet murmured. “What a freaking waste. If he’d asked us to help instead of turning on us…”
But even as she said it, she knew how unlikely it was that Don might have managed to get in contact with the squad, or any of the handful of groups that helped paras as the squad did. There was no global network of paras, nowhere to turn in a case such as this. What else could people as desperate as Don had been possibly do?
“We better…”
As she turned her gaze back to Idris, the words died in her throat. Far from calming down, the fire within him was burning hotter and hotter. His eyes were little more than slits when he launched the ball of fire in his hand toward the dead body in front of them. It hit the wall instead. A burst of heat flared out at the impact, and Violet staggered a little.
“Idris!” she said, her tone turning urgent. She stepped directly in front of him, meeting his clouded gaze straight on. “Listen to me. You’ve got to calm down.”
He blinked twice and seemed to focus on her a little better, but soon he shook his head.
“I can’t.” His voice sounded hoarse. “It’s too late already. When I get that angry… I can’t stop it. It has to come out. I don’t know how else to stop it.”
Angry. Violet’s mind zeroed in on that one word. He’d felt almost as hot back at Linda’s place when he’d made lo
ve to her—so it wasn’t just anger that triggered that inner heat, but other emotions too, like lust or desire. If she could distract him from his anger, shift his mind toward less dangerous emotions…
Her feathers retreated from both their faces in about as much time as it took to form the thought. She threw her arms around his neck and pushed herself to her tiptoes, pressing the entire length of her body against him even as she laid her mouth upon his. Another thought and her feathers shifted again, covering their backs still but leaving their fronts exposed so that they were skin to skin, her breasts tight against his chest, his cock hardening already at the sudden contact.
He moaned into her mouth when she invited his tongue to play with hers, his eyes slowly blinking closed. The hands he’d kept fisted at his side came to cup her ass, and in one fluid, seemingly easy movement he picked her up as though she weighed nothing. Without breaking the kiss, she wrapped her legs around him. She hoisted herself a little higher even as she reached between them with one hand. His cock, now thick and hard, felt burning in her hand. She guided it to her core before lowering herself down against it.
As he slipped inside her, Idris threw his head back and grunted. His hands tightened a little more on her ass as he took drunken steps back toward the staircase landing. A wall enclosed the stairwell, barely taller than him. He pressed her against it and pulled back a little, looking at her with fiery eyes. They both groaned at the slight change of angle, his cock now touching her in new, delicious places.
“Still angry?” Violet couldn’t help but ask, her voice thready from the sparks of pleasure he ignited within her.
A flash of confusion crossed his face, followed by understanding.
“You little…”
Rather than finishing that thought, he shifted his hands on her ass again, holding her more securely. When he started thrusting within her, it was with no restraint whatsoever, harsh slams of his hips pushing into her in a relentless, merciless rhythm. He held her gaze as he did, and if they weren’t kissing anymore, if the act was as primal and raw as it could be, she still felt the connection between them as clearly as though he’d been worshiping her body with tender caresses.
It didn’t last long. It couldn’t last long, not when the intensity within both of them was already at a breaking point. Their shared climax left Violet gasping toward the stars above them, and wishing they’d have many nights such as this one… if possible, minus the danger.
Even as their bodies separated and he lowered her back to the ground, they held on to each other, sharing the same pleasure and panting breaths. When their gazes connected again, Idris’ eyes were clearer, brighter. Wonder shone in them, and Violet knew why. He wasn’t burning anymore, on the edge of an explosion. He was himself, his emotions under control along with his fire. They wouldn’t always be able to deal with it like this, but it was a start.
All of this seemed to flow between them, a silent communication that yet seemed obvious. As Idris’ breath slowed down, his mouth twitched toward a smile.
“I think I’m falling in love with you,” he murmured.
“You only think so?” she teased, her throat suddenly tight.
His smile widened a little. She didn’t say the words back to him; there’d be plenty of time for that later. For now, all she wanted was to kiss him. So she did.
EPILOGUE
Maybe one day Violet would get used to watching Idris’ entire body burst into flames, but that day hadn’t come yet.
As he stood in the center of a bare-earth field, directing fireballs of various sizes at the targets erected around him, she felt the same awe that had taken her a few weeks ago when she’d first seen the full extent of his power. When they’d come up to Sanctuary and he’d seen others like them practice to get a better grip on what they could do with their powers, he’d started talking about honing his skills. He’d always been strong, but lately his focus had gained in precision and strength.
“He’s good,” someone said behind her. “Better than I’d have expected.”
She turned toward the new arrival and couldn’t hide her surprise at finding Millie there, dressed in her eternal black uniform even though being here meant that she was on leave.
When Violet didn’t say a word, Millie went on.
“There aren’t many pyromancers around, and from what I’ve heard they rarely show this kind of control over their abilities.”
Violet merely nodded before returning her attention to Idris. He’d noticed she wasn’t alone anymore and was coming toward her, the only fire left in his vicinity being a small ball he passed from hand to hand like a baseball.
“If you’d just told me he was your mate,” Millie continued, “I would have let you go after him. Or I’d have let you stay when you came to the safe house. Why didn’t you say something?”
Violet considered that for a moment. She’d honestly never asked herself the question before. Everything had just happened so fast…
“I guess… I guess it didn’t feel right to tell anyone before he knew.” Looking at Millie sideways, she had to ask, “Now you know. Are you here to ask me back in the squad?”
Millie smiled—and shook her head.
“So you can tell me no? I don’t think so. What are you calling your group?”
If Violet wondered who had told Millie about this, it wasn’t for very long. No doubt it was her mother. She’d tried and tried to convince Violet and Idris not to leave Sanctuary again, or at least not so soon, but they hadn’t budged. She’d finally extracted from them the promise they’d come back at least once a year for a few weeks.
“We haven’t decided yet. We’re still recruiting.”
“Speaking from experience, you’ll always be recruiting. You’ll find new members, and lose others along the way. You’ll watch some of them grow and become leaders in their own right. And you’ll be damn proud when they go out and take charge.”
With that, she offered Violet her hand to shake. A last nod, and she was gone before Idris finally reached Violet.
“Wasn’t that your boss?” he asked, watching Millie’s departing back.
“Not anymore,” she replied, and planted a kiss on his lips. “How’s your new uniform?”
Looking down at himself, he tugged at the cuffs of his sleeves and nodded approvingly.
“Perfect. I’ll have to thank your mother again. It looks like I won’t be running around naked anymore.”
“Pity,” she said, tongue in cheek.
His eyes sparkled as they raked over her.
“Unless you want me to, of course…”
She laughed at that. He was insatiable… not that she minded in the least. Right now, however, they had other engagements.
“We’ve got a meeting with the gang,” she reminded him. “Ivy said she’d try to convince more of them to join.”
To her great surprise, she and Ivy had become quite good friends over the past few weeks. She’d have expected things to be a little awkward, seeing how Ivy was her mate’s ex, but somehow they’d bonded over it. It might have helped that Ivy was a firm believer in the mate tattoos and was dying to meet her own mate. Violet thought that was why she’d been so eager to join the new group they were forming; maybe she hoped to find her mate the same way Violet had found hers.
“We’ll have to keep it short, then,” Idris said, slipping an arm around her. They started walking together.
“Keep the meeting short?”
“No. Our naked interlude before the meeting.”
She laughed at that… but she didn’t argue.
Please keep turning pages for more…
THANK YOU
Thank you for picking up my book and giving it a chance! I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
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LICK OF FIRE COLLECTION
The Lick of Fire Collection gathers stories from twelve bestselling authors. Enter this supernatural world of fire and heat, magic and adventure, and get lost in everything dark, delicious and fire.
You can see the books by the different authors on the Lick of Fire website, or join our Facebook group for discussions, games and giveaways.
FIERY BLOOMS SERIES
In a world where ‘paras’ are hunted like animals by the Unit for Investigation of Paranormal Persons, the resistance has begun. These men and women with extraordinary powers, some of them shifters, telepaths or pyromancers, will stop at nothing to free themselves and their kind.
- Burning Violet – a phoenix shifter and pyromancer romance
- Sharing Hazel – a reverse harem shifter romance (coming August 2018)
- Saving Marigold – a dragon shifter and telepath romance (coming November 2018)
SHARING HAZEL
A dragon, a lion and a fire tamer… Are they men enough to share this chimera?
In a world of fated mates, Hazel doesn’t have a name tattooed on her wrist like everyone else.
She has three.
As part of the squad, a group of paranormal beings that frees their peers unjustly imprisoned by the authorities, she works beside the dragon shifter Petro, one of her mates. However, unable to contemplate dating two men at once, she broke up with him to be with another one of her tattoo mates, Paris.
