Dragon's Flame (2 page)

He took her hand, stoking the heat between her legs. And good god, in her thoughts she was peeling off her clothes, preening at the way his gaze turned scorching hot as his eyes traveled over her body.

Keep it professional, Greene
.

Trying
, she answered herself, pulling her hand from Taine’s.

Breaking the contact was like popping a bubble. She was once again surrounded by people talking, but instead of perfume and suntan oil all she could smell was him—and the scent reminded her of Santa Ana winds full of dangerous potential.

“So what happened with the car?” she asked, congratulating herself on not sounding breathless.

“Faulty wiring.”

Amusement glinted in his eyes and his smile sent a flutter through her chest. There was a private joke in his answer, and damned if she didn’t want to stick around to investigate.

“Hey Greene,” Bates yelled. “Come on!”

Back to the job.

“Better luck with the next car,” she told Taine then turned and headed toward the engine.

She felt his gaze on her and her nipples pebbled. It was getting pretty obvious that it’d been way too long since she’d been in the sack with a guy.

It wasn’t like her to go into libido overdrive over a pretty face. Okay, a drop-dead, panty-wetting, fantasy-inspiring specimen of masculine eye-candy—but the point remained, she was on the job and she didn’t get distracted by men when she was on the job.
Ever
.

She was better than that. Which meant, as the guys would say, it was time to get laid.

Saffron grimaced at the prospect of jumping back into the dating pool. After years of having a great track-record at picking lovers who morphed easily into
just friends
, the last two attempts had wiped out some of her confidence when it came to judging men.

Okay a lot of her confidence.

Her read on Eric had been completely off. He’d said he was looking for casual, and he’d been a blast to go surfing with, but after a half dozen rounds of great sex, it’d felt like he was unpacking the shackles.

And Gavin…

She’d let that go on too long, hadn’t seen the warning signs soon enough. She hoped that rebounding hadn’t landed him in a marriage he’d regret.

Third time’s the charm
. She’d put on the shark-repellant, do her best to avoid jellyfish and sharp coral and dive back into the dating pool. She might do casual, but she didn’t do pick-up-a-stranger sex.

Reaching the engine, she put away her gear then pulled open the door and got into the cab next to Bates.

“Some tough competition out there,” Bates said. “But you’re the one. Guy driving a Maserati, not a bad catch.”

“It was friendly conversation. Didn’t get his number. Didn’t give him mine.”

“Doesn’t make him unreachable. Look up the report that’s going to get filed on this and, like magic, there are his details. Get those particulars and you’ve got access to a shit load more information, including marital status and current involvements.”

“Not happening.”

Bates laughed. “Yeah, well, you know I got the sight, inherited it from my granny, and I’m saying you haven’t seen the last of him.”

She glanced at the side mirror. Taine was talking to a cop holding a clipboard. Damn he was gorgeous. And…

Seeing him in profile, recognition shimmered through her. Deep and low in her belly, things tightened and rippled, triggering the where she’d seen Taine.

The beach. More than once but at a distance, walking a reddish-brown dog that was so big it’d made her think
Irish Wolfhound on steroids
.

 If he had a girlfriend or wife, wouldn’t she be with him on the beach? Saffron squeezed her thighs together. Maybe she’d hold off on putting the word out to friends that she was up for a date.

Jesus and Kayvan got into the fire engine cab, with Kayvan behind her. He said, “Thought I was going to have to turn the hose on you, girl. You standing there talking to that guy, about to start up a whole bunch of new fires.”

“Me?” She turned. “You see how quick Jesus was on his knees next to the blonde?”

“Him too.” Kayvan leaned forward. “Gig with Homeland sure pays a hell of a lot better than the San Diego Fire Department. Either that or the dude was taking a seized car for a spin when he lit it up.”

Bates shot Saffron a look. “Guess he’s got access to a shit load of information too. No need to ask for a phone number. So he’s Homeland?”

“Supernatural Ops. IRE. Saw him flash his creds.”

“What the hell does any of that mean?” Jesus asked.

Kayvan shook his head. “Don’t know. But for my money, I’m betting on weird science. I’m even good with aliens from above and alien tech, cause jurisdiction over supernatural matters just sounds crazy.”

“I’m with you, bro,” Jesus said. “Bates?”

“Jury is out. Stranger and stranger things have been happening in this world. Saffron?”

“Embracing open-mindedness.”

“Big surprise,” Jesus said. “You really heading to the All Things Supernatural Fair as soon as we’re off shift?”

“I’m meeting Analia there.”

“Oh man, almost worth going to the fair to have a chance at spending some time with her.”

“You’re not Lia’s type.”

Jesus slapped a hand over his chest. “Just because I don’t believe in the woo woo shit?”

“That’d be a yes.”

Chapter 2

Crew turned the dark silver Lamborghini Veneno onto the curving driveway that led to IRE headquarters. He hit the gas, accelerating rather than decelerating on the approach to the white adobe house with red tile roof.

When Taine had first partnered with Crew, shortly after arriving in this realm, sitting in a car with the other dragon behind the wheel had been a sphincter-tightening experience. Now he sat with equanimity, admiring the smooth way the car handled the curves, exhaust jetting through four big tailpipes.

Closer to the house, they passed a variety of expensive sports cars lining the driveway. A steel blue Hummer was among the sleek vehicles designed for speed and not survival, though not their boss’s Hummer. Maksim’s black beast of a vehicle would be in the garage, along with the van used to transport collected evidence and confiscated magical items.

Around them, the landscaping was left natural. Native plants. Native soil. Native rocks. All of it encircled by heavy duty wards that could deflect a nuclear blast delivered by humans on the outside or contain a magical detonation caused by mishandling something inside IRE headquarters.

Crew geared down, slid into an open space right on the tail of a red Ferrari vacating the parking spot closest to the front door.

“And I’ve survived another ride in the bat mobile,” Taine said as Crew cut the engine.

“Take more than a car crash to kill us in this realm.”

True. This world was a portal world that touched all the other realms and served as both a destination and jump-off point, but it was relatively magic poor, meaning supernatural beings were nearly indestructible—as long as they didn’t take a human mate.

They got out of the car. The house door opened and Gaige, accompanied by Kellen in his reddish brown, fey hound form, stepped outside.

The blond Sidhe prince, who Taine also frequently partnered with, frowned. “Where’s the Maserati?”

“You want to tell him?” Crew asked. “Or you want me to do it?”

Gaige headed toward them. His long, ground-eating strides created a breeze that would have sent lesser fey scurrying and flying in a hurried escape. “Where’s the Maserati?”

“Faulty wiring,” Taine answered, suppressing a smile and a purr at remembering Saffron’s expression when he’d given her that same answer. She’d been curious, interested in finding out what he meant, especially if those explorations became heated.

Crew laughed. “More like faulty belief. Taine has encountered his mate and thinks he can control the situation.”

Gaige stopped in front of them. “Tell me you didn’t torch my car.”

“My car,” Taine reminded him. “Thanks to a hand full of hearts.”

Crew slapped him on the back. “There’s your omen. When you made that poker hand, you should have gone straight to your mate and introduced yourself.”

“You torched the Maserati?” Gaige asked, apparently unable to get past thoughts of the car.

Taine almost felt regret. Maybe Crew had been right in saying Gaige had an emotional attachment to the Maserati.

Crew answered, “It’s a blackened pathetic shell of itself.”

“Dragons,“ Gaige said, sounding pained.

Crew’s eyebrows lifted. “And the fey are better at controlling themselves when they stumble upon a lover they want to make permanent?”

“You make a good point. At least when it comes to other of the fey, not me.”

Kellen growled low and deep, his lips pulling back to show white, menacing teeth as he included himself among the fey who wouldn’t lose control because he’d met an interesting female.

Gaige directed a look at Taine. “Walk away, my friend. Don’t surrender your freedom this time around. Give it another couple hundred years. I myself intend to make it a full thousand years before succumbing to the lure of a mate.”

Kellen seconded the thought with two short barks.

The garage door rolled upward, revealing a black van with Anders in the driver’s seat. He revved the engine, shot a venomous look at Gaige.

Gaige sighed. “No doubt he’s fantasizing about lifting his foot off the brake and flattening me.”

“How’d gnomes get to be so popular with humans anyway?” Crew asked. “Snow White?”

Taine snorted. “That was dwarves.”

It had been a disappointment to discover that while they might all be IRE, it didn’t mean grudges and hatred between races disappeared. He’d joined for the comradery, the chance to explore other realms along with this one, to get to know members of different races. All of that had been far more exciting than dedicating himself to accumulating treasure.

The van shot out of the garage, passing them with inches to spare. “Too bad he’s so good at what he does,” Taine said, wishing Maksim was motivated to transfer Anders to a different location.

 Crew glanced at Gaige. “Definitely a real hard-on for you, and not in an
I lust for you
way.”

Gaige shrugged. “Gnomes are total prudes. If they had their way, sex would happen only when a woman was ovulating and only as long as it took to get her pregnant. Where’s the fun in that?”

Taine’s blood rushed downward, the same way it did each time he saw Saffron, or imagined himself ridding her of clothing with bare hands or dragon flame.

Not that he was in any hurry to get her pregnant. But any children conceived in this realm would be guaranteed to possess the magic that would allow them to return to it after entering the dragon realm.

It was one of the reasons so many myths abounded in the human world about dragons and virgins, though at the moment, it was the mating act itself that he was anxious to get to. Saffron beneath him… Saffron above him… Saffron on her hands and knees in front of him…

Smoke drifted from his nostrils.

He inhaled, reclaiming it and trying to tamp down his fire.

“You’ve got it bad, my friend,” Gaige said. “You need distance, plenty of distance between you and her.”

They entered the house. Maksim popped out of his office, a frown on his face. “What are you four doing here? You should already be at the supernatural fair.”

Crew rolled his shoulders. “Don’t you think twenty agents patrolling there is plenty?”

“If I thought that, I wouldn’t be looking at you four and asking why the hell you aren’t there. An event like that is going to draw supernaturals after a little magical boost. And sorcerers… Don’t get me started. Those guys can’t help themselves. They’re always looking for ways to become more powerful. Now turn your asses around and head back out the door—unless you have something to report.”

Maksim’s hard stare landed on Taine.

Taine’s clanging heartbeat might as well have been an old-fashioned fire alarm. “I’m gone.”

He wheeled around to make his escape.

“You?” Maksim asked.

“Nothing to report,” Gaige answered.

“Same here,” Crew said and Kellen barked agreement, all of them following Taine outside.

Taine said, “Thanks for the cover.”

Crew tugged the Lamborghini’s key from a front pocket. “No problem.”

Gaige said, “You’re on borrowed time, my friend. Word is going to get to him that you’re not completely in control of your fire. One or two cars, he might boot you to China. But three cars? That’s three strikes. He’ll either send you back to the dragon realm for a half-century time-out or he’ll have you locked in a room with the source of your problem until you’re mated.

Taine’s cock made its vote known with a hard throb of want.

Later
, he promised it, shoving his hand into his pocket to adjust the fit of his jeans and to fist the velvet box containing the diamond and sapphire ring.

* * * *

The supernatural fair was packed, some of the aisles
take a deep breath and try to squeeze through the crowd
packed, making Saffron think,
not a chance
. She didn’t care what was on display or who was giving a lecture, she wasn’t wading into that mess. Give her the beach after most of the tourists and visitors had gone home, and she was in heaven.

She wished she could head there now. But she’d promised to do this and she’d enjoy it, damn it. “Next aisle,” she told Lia.

“Definitely.”

Thankfully they were in accord when it came to elbowing their way through crowds.

“I can’t believe how packed this is,” Lia said. “Remember when we were kids and these things were called psychic fairs?”

Saffron nodded. “Some years there’d be more protesters outside than people inside. Now everyone’s interested in magic and the supernatural.”

So much so that Homeland had created a Supernatural Operations department. So much so that it seemed like every other new TV series and over half of the new movies involved psychics, ghost hunters, witches, vampires or shapeshifters.