“Why are you taking those?” Hellfire demanded.
“So I can collect the info off them later,” Sami said, meeting her angry gaze as he stood up.
A split second later, she surprised him when she marched up and laid her hands on his chest. Energy and a strange sizzle filled him. His heart began to pound as he realized the pain, guilt, and all of his dark anguish was suddenly gone. He couldn’t move. His breath stuck in his throat as she held him suspended by the fire swirling in a pair of angry, silver eyes. Hellfire’s fresh outdoorsy scent filled him with a sudden longing. He studied her perfect pale features then his gaze caught on her tempting lips. The connection he felt in his dream paled in comparison to what he experienced at her touch. Desire and warmth filled his body, making him ache to pull her flush against him. Instead, he forced himself to keep his arms at his sides. She was intoxicating and he was rock hard.
Hellfire scowled up at him. By her pissed off expression, Sami knew she felt the electricity surging between them. “I know who you are, and you can just go the hell away,” she said, her words filled with venom before stepping back and turning away.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Brimstone asked, as she brushed past him and stared at the bodies on the ground in disgust.
“Why don’t you ask him…he knows,” she hissed, glancing back at Sami.
“Sami?” Brimstone frowned at him, perplexed.
Hellfire glanced back again, and glared at him, searing Sami with her hatred. The pain and anguish filled him once again, only stronger as it threatened to suffocate him. He hadn’t realized how bad it was until her touch took it all away. Sami blinked as he fought not to show how she affected him.
Brimstone turned and grabbed her arm. “Helly? What’s the matter with you?”
With a glare, she yanked her arm away and shot up into the rafters. A moment later, Brimstone dove out of the way, as a backpack thudded to the ground right where he’d been standing. Sami, still trying to get control of himself, watched as Hellfire landed easily and changed back into human form. “We need to find Nix. I don’t have time for anything else.”
“Sorry man…” Brimstone shook his head at Sami before changing back into human form as well. “I need to collect our stuff,” Brimstone said, about to head into the back of the building.
“I got it all…it’s at the safe spot,” Hellfire said as she started walking away from them.
Sami struggled to act like she hadn’t hurt him but the truth was, her words had affected him deeply. Sure, he hadn’t expected her to fall at his feet, or run off with him. In fact, he hadn’t even given thought to anything beyond finding her, and seeing that she was alive. But her hatred had stunned and paralyzed him. They’d never even met before, and she hated him.
When she was a few feet away, Hellfire turned back to them. “I’m the girl of his dreams.”
“What?” Brimstone looked at her as if she was crazy. When she shook her head, he looked at Sami. “What the hell’s going on?”
Sami didn’t know what to tell him, her words had surprised him too.
“What? Cat got your tongue?” Hellfire’s narrowed gaze impaled Sami. Feeling like an idiot, he clenched his teeth.
Chin lifted in defiance, Hellfire nodded. “Yeah, Sami here had a dream about me, didn’t you?”
Nodding, her revelation confused and stunned him. How did she know? Had she dreamed of him too? If she had, why was she so angry?
“How—” He began to ask, but the flicker of fear in her eyes stopped him. An instant later, it was gone, replaced once more with anger, and leaving him wondering if he’d imagined it.
“I know…because I dreamed of you too,” she said, her eyes spitting fury. “I know what you want and you can forget it. I am not, and never will be—yours.” As if determined that there would be no more discussion on the subject, she turned and strode away.
Well, that answered the question of why she hated him. Or had it? Was she angry because she dreamed of him or perhaps because he’d failed to save her that day? Or something more? Shocked and filled with questions, it was all he could do not to flinch at her words. Even though he felt an impossibly strong connection to her, indicating she was his mate, he’d also seen her die. The thought of a life with her hadn’t even crossed his mind but now, at her angry words his anguish resurfaced, stronger than ever, building, and wanting out. It took everything he had to act like nothing was wrong.
“Hey, Sami, you okay?” Brimstone asked with concern.
Sami nodded. He needed to get away—fast, before he lost control. Although he’d been close to losing control before, it had never happened and he had no idea what would happen when it did. It wasn’t something he wanted to find out.
“Look, don’t worry about her. She’s just a mean bitch,” Brimstone said and though he may be right, Sami felt like hitting the guy for calling her that. He sighed at the ridiculous reaction. I’m such an idiot.
Hellfire stopped and glanced back at Brimstone, ignoring Sami. “What are you waiting for? We need to find Nix.”
Brimstone held his hands up as if in surrender. “Coming.”
Hellfire shook her head. “You are so fucking irresponsible. Can’t even leave you to look after our sister—”
“Look, I know I screwed up, I’m sorry.” Brimstone followed her through the warehouse.
Sami found himself slowly following them as Brimstone told Hellfire what happened to him and how Sami saved him. At that bit of news, she snorted and slowing down, shot a snide look Sami’s way. “Guess I need to thank you for that at least.”
At her tone, Sami felt himself getting angry. He hadn’t asked for the dream of her, or anything pertaining to her for that matter. Suddenly, deciding this was all too much, he shook his head and picking up his pace hurried past her while she drilled Brimstone on where he’d looked for their sister.
“We need to find her.” The panic in Hellfire’s voice thawed Sami’s anger for a second, but not enough to stop him.
“I know,” Brimstone answered as he hurried to catch up to Sami. “Hey, where you going?”
Without breaking stride, Sami stepped outside and shook his head. “I’m out of here.”
“Hey man, I’m sorry, but—”
Hellfire cut off Brimstone’s attempt to apologize. “Yeah, just go. No surprises there.”
Hellfire’s remark stopped Sami in his tracks. Dark pain rose in him making his anger burn even hotter. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing, forget it.” Stalking past him, Hellfire turned to Brimstone. “C’mon, we can walk.”
“Seriously, what do you want from me?” Sami asked, confused and ready to snap.
Hellfire looked back at him. “Just that you didn’t get what you came here for, and now you’re pouting.”
“Pouting? What?” Sami didn’t understand her and his emotions were a swirling tornado inside of him. “What do you want from me?” he asked again, his long stride eating up the distance between them until he backed her against the side of the building.
“Hey, what the hell are you doing?” Brimstone asked him.
Sami ignored him as he studied Hellfire. Her eyes had widened and she licked her lips, making things tighten low in Sami as he realized how close to her he was. About to step away, he froze when she laid her hand on his chest again.
“Look, I just want to find my baby sister, that’s it, that’s all…”
At her touch, the darkness receded once again leaving him feeling lighter. Her silver eyes widened as if she seemed to feel something as well. Sami could only stare, mesmerized, as she lightly rubbed her hand across his chest but then she took her hand away, and slipped past him. Holy shit!
“So, you giving us a ride, or not?” she asked with raised eyebrows, something in her gaze that Sami couldn’t understand but had his body humming, and his cock pressing against the front of his jeans.
“It’s not safe for Brimstone to fly during the day,” she added, imp
lying that she could.
Sami would’ve loved to ask about it, but didn’t. “Ah, yeah, okay…” was all he could manage. She could have asked him to strip naked, jump up and down and screech like an ape while scratching his balls, and he’d have done it.
“Well, let’s go then,” she said giving him a little smile that had his blood roaring through his body and his cock throbbing as she turned away and headed over to his truck.
Sami and Brimstone followed, with Sami unable to keep his eyes off her.
“Hey, quit looking at my sister’s ass,” Brimstone chided, shoving Sami’s arm before grinning at him.
Suddenly embarrassed, Sami looked away. He wasn’t sure why he was sticking around, except he couldn’t bring himself to just up and leave. Hellfire did something to him and he couldn’t seem to say no to her. Although Sami had a horrible feeling that he was just prolonging the pain of her rejection, just as he knew she was going to kick him to the curb as soon as she had no more use for him.
The rational part of him fumed silently, telling him to get the hell away from her before he got hurt, but the other part reveled at being near her. Climbing into his truck, he almost groaned as Hellfire slid into the middle to sit right beside him, planting her backpack in the seat between her and Brimstone. What the hell? First, she hates him then she wants to torment him? What did I ever do to deserve this?
Starting up his truck, Sami shifted, trying to get comfortable while hoping she wouldn’t notice. But from what he already knew about Hellfire, she seemed to see everything.
Now finding it hard to concentrate, Sami was hypersensitive to Hellfire’s every move as she sat silently between him and Brimstone, her thigh rubbing against his every so often while he drove. He was sure she was sitting closer than she needed to be, but he wasn’t about to complain—except when he almost ran someone off the road.
“Pay attention,” she yelled, grabbing his arm. Sami grit his teeth at the heat her touch incited. He promised himself to pay more attention to the road and not to her. Yeah, sure!
At each of their previous residences, each place more rundown, filthy, and abandoned than the last, some had been taken over by new homeless, but it was obvious Nix hadn’t been there. Sami could feel their anxiety grow.
“To the house then,” Hellfire said quietly and Brimstone looked at her. When she didn’t say anything more, he nodded, and gave Sami directions.
No one said a word as Sami drove them to a little nicer neighborhood and pulled up to stop in front of a wooden, two-story home with an unkempt lawn.
“Smell that?” Hellfire asked as soon as she got out of the truck. Sami nodded.
“Yeah, Were-wolf. Someone’s been here, watching the place.” Brimstone scowled and glanced around. “You think they were looking for Nix?”
“Yeah, I do.” Hellfire pursed her lips and stalked into the yard, then hesitated.
“You want me to go in?” Brimstone asked.
Hellfire straightened her shoulders and shook her head. “No, wait here.”
“Where’s she going?” Sami frowned as he watched her hurry around the side of the house.
“To open the door,” Brimstone said as he walked up and stepped onto the wooden front porch. What seemed like only a second later the door opened and Hellfire motioned them inside.
Sami followed Brimstone inside and looked around. The place was fully furnished but everything had a thick layer of dust on it. Brimstone headed to the back of the house, while Hellfire started up the stairs. Sami could have told them that no one had been there, but he suspected they knew. Looking at the mantle, Sami picked up a framed photo and wiped the dust off. It was a family picture and though everyone was younger, each was dark-haired and silver-eyed, with the same slender figures. Sami recognized Brimstone and Hellfire immediately, though Hellfire’s hair was a lot longer back then.
“I’m heading out to follow the trail of the wolf,” Brimstone said from behind him and walked out the door. After another minute or so looking at more photos, Sami heard a crash from upstairs followed by a curse and a quiet sob. Heart pounding, and worried that Hellfire was hurt, Sami raced up the stairs and past three rooms before he found her kneeling on the floor of the fourth room, picking up the glass from a broken picture frame.
Chapter Four
Intense Heat
SAMI RUSHED INTO Hellfire’s room. “Are you all right?” he asked as he bent down to help. “You’re cut,” he said, looking at the shard of glass in her palm and the blood dripping from her hand.
“I’m fine,” she growled, waving him away.
“Here, let me—” Sami attempted to help but she pulled her hand away.
“I said I was fine,” she told him, her tone filled with annoyance. Wincing, she pulled the glass from her hand.
Straightening up, Sami stepped away giving her room. “This was your house?”
For a moment, Hellfire tensed up. At first, she didn’t say anything, but then she took a deep breath.
“Yeah,” she finally said without looking at him as she set the glass and broken frame on the night table then took a seat on the edge of the bed. The defeat in her posture sent an ache through him, making him want to offer comfort.
“So, why don’t you guys live here now?” he asked, curious as he looked around what must’ve been her room. Two walls were black, with old posters pinned all over them and the other was a chalk wall, with all kinds of stuff written and drawn on it. The last wall was light green with some very interesting artwork hanging on it. Sami wondered if they might be her pieces.
He knew Hellfire was watching him, he could feel her eyes on him. She surprised him though, when she spoke. “Our parents were killed downstairs. I was at the top of the stairs, watching, when the Ilyium killed them. My sister had already gotten Nix and Brimstone out through their bedroom balcony.” She glanced to the doors leading out to a small balcony. “But my older brother had to drag me away.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.” Sami didn’t know what else to say. He knew the pain of losing a loving parent, but having seen them killed. He couldn’t imagine how that must feel. And Marcius didn’t count, he wasn’t loving or much of a father.
Hellfire nodded. “We still own the house, but we never stayed here after that.” Then she looked at him quizzically with a frown. “You seem like a nice guy…”
Sami shook his head and snorted at the abrupt subject change and her statement.
“What?” Hellfire asked.
He shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Tell me,” she demanded.
Sami looked at her but didn’t know what to say. All his life he’d tried to be a good guy, do everything he was told or asked to do, but it never mattered. No matter how nice or good he was, it hadn’t mattered.
“Well, you’re wrong. I’m not.” Sami thought about everything that happened to Jax when they were young and other things he’d rather not remember things that were his fault along with everything that had happened recently.
“Yeah, I know. You’re a cold-blooded killer,” Hellfire said, shocking him.
Sami blinked while she studied him. Suddenly, his hands felt clammy as the face of a golden haired little girl filled his mind, then it was swallowed up by the image of him severing his father’s head from his body before plunging a dagger into Marcius’s chest over and over. How did she know? Could she read his mind? He knew Brimstone hadn’t said anything to her about him killing Marcius at the mine two days ago. The part he had the hardest time accepting wasn’t killing his father, but rather that he didn’t feel bad about it.
“Anyway, besides that you just seem, I don’t know. Nice, good. How can that be?” she asked him.
Again, Sami shook his head. “Well, you’re wrong,” he said, not willing to talk about it anymore.
“Why don’t I believe you?” she asked with a shrewd narrowing of her eyes.
Sami shrugged and turned to leave, feeling the dark pain starting to whisper through him again.
&
nbsp; “What are you doing here, Sami?” Hellfire asked and the darkness inside him hesitated, the pain disappearing. Stunned by the affect she seemed to have on him made Sami turn back around to look at her. Getting up, Hellfire stalked slowly towards him, eyes narrowed with a speculative gleam. Even though she was a tiny thing, Sami knew better than to underestimate her. He’d seen her in action as she played with Brimstone in the warehouse earlier when she hadn’t really been trying to hurt her brother.
Heart beating furiously, Sami leaned against the wall and watched guardedly as she came up to him.
“So, Sami short for Samuel?”
Sami swallowed, feeling like prey caught in a predator’s trap. “Ah, actually it’s Samarias.”
“Hmm, Samarias, that’s a little different.”
Sami snorted. She, the one named Hellfire, was saying his name different.
Hellfire gave him a sly grin then glanced at the choker around his neck. “Interesting piece of jewelry there. Why do some of the stones glow and others don’t?” she asked, stopping barely an inch away from him. Her fresh outdoorsy scent filled his nose making his body thrum with desire.
“Ah, the glowing ones represent family members, loved ones—”
“And the ones not glowing are dead?” she asked interrupting him with eyes wide with curiosity.
“Well, some. Some are loved ones not born yet.” Sami felt uncomfortable with the conversation as she studied him shrewdly.
“What are you doing here, Sami?” she whispered, gazing up at him.
“Brimstone…uh, needed a ride and I’m trying to help find your sister.” Sami gazed down at her, noticing that her lips were just inches from his. Her scent surrounded him, making it hard to concentrate on anything except how close she was to him, and the wondrous feelings racing through him.
“No, that’s not it, is it?” Her eyes narrowed angrily on him.
“I don’t understand. Why do you hate me?”
Dracones Boxset Books 1-5 Page 40
