Open Flame (Dragon's Fate) (5 page)

A good ten streets’ walk to his hotel. With a heavy heart and a dying woman in his arms—agony. He stumbled on, careful not to bump Fina into anyone they passed. Her satchel bit into his arm, and he pulled her closer. “Hold on, Fina. My hotel will bring you comfort.” His head ached and a pop of light flashed from the corner of his eyes.

Startled, he stood in the elaborate lobby of De Louvery. How had that happened so quickly?

A serving boy rushed up to him. “
Avez-vous besoin d’aide?
”

Did Madoc need help? He carried a dying woman to his hotel room. A woman he’d killed. He needed to be locked up. “
Non, elle dort. S'il vous plaît envoyer thé.
”

“
Oui, monsieur.
”

A sleeping woman in his arms, and tea being sent up. That seemed normal enough.

Madoc carried Fina up the four flights of curved staircase to his rooms. He opened the ornate wooden door and strode in. The sitting room led to the canopied bed that sat before four large arched windows. He placed her on the blue-and-yellow silk coverlet and removed her satchel from his arm, allowing it to land with a thud on the floor. Grasping the dark blue blanket that lay at the foot of the bed, he pulled the wool up and over her body. He walked to the small fireplace that sat on the opposite side of the bed. Fresh wood lay over kindling. “Ild.” The wood glowed and sparked. Heat burst into the room as flames danced for him. He closed his eyes.
Let her live.

He turned to the floor-to-ceiling windows and the view of La Seine. She was here. She was safe. He would make all this right, and if she died, he would spend the next sixty years caring for her family.

The sun peeked through the gray clouds. He stared out onto the city. The dark gray devoured the sun. Rain poured from the sky. Tourists in boats that navigated the river hurried to the banks and shelter.

The scene represented his soul.

Once in control, his nature now tumbled by winds of change. Everyone would flee him if they knew he could be so careless, so violent.

A dark bird landed on the marble ballast outside his window. A raven. The bird stuck its beak up at him. Green eyes glowed. Their gazes touched, and the bird flapped large gray wings and flew up, then bent back in a circle, heading straight toward the window.

A caw of green light spewed from its beak.

Closer.

Closer.

The wings flapped up, halting the bird before it hit the window. Madoc’s eyes widened, and his heart leapt into his throat. He stepped back and wheeled about.

She sat on the edge of the bed, watching him. An explosion of brown hair fell in tangles over her shoulders. Her blue eyes slowly blinked as if she woke from a long slumber.

The hells. His body heated, and the ticks slowed. He froze time and her in it.

She lived. How could that be?

He walked to the bed and stared at her. His bite had not killed her. She sat before him, her eyes wide open like the stormy sea. Her nose… He could ask her about her nose. His throat tightened, and he swallowed hard. He had found his mate. His heart leapt, and a huge smile danced in his soul. He laughed out loud.

Her face scrunched, and she tore from the time freeze. He had not let time slip. Of course he couldn’t freeze her. She was Zir. His lips twitched as he held in another burst of giddy laughter and the urge to dance around the room. His soul lifted as if it was the very first time he’d frozen a human. No, this was so much more.

“Stop doing whatever black magic you are doing to me!” she spat out with fury. “Where am I?” She pushed to her feet and with haste removed herself to the sitting room of his suite. Their gazes met and locked.

She could not have placed more distance between them in this room. She threw a bucket of water on his flames. He wanted to hug her, and she wanted to flee. Of course she did. He inhaled, trying to calm his nerves. Before she accepted this, he needed to tell her all.

“Fina. You are at my suite.”

“You presume to bring me here? I did not give you my name, so do not use it. And you…you bit me. I want nothing to do with you and whatever you are.” She ran for the door.

Madoc reached her the instant her hand hit the doorknob. He pressed the hard wood closed. “Miss, there is much I need to tell you. I will not let you leave this room until I have said my piece.”

“You will not let me? How will you stop me?” She revolved toward him and lifted her knee, slamming the bony barb into his manhood.

Pain sliced though his body, and he leaned more heavily on the door. Flashes burst behind his eyes, and he inhaled a breath, trying to regain control.

She reeled from the door and him and darted back into the rooms. There was no other exit except the windows and a five-story drop. He pivoted and leaned back against the wood. “Fina.” His voice came out higher pitched than normal.

She didn’t answer.

“Fina!” he bellowed.

She strode back to the archway that separated the sleeping room from the parlor and stared at him with eyes that flashed with blue heat. Her body trembled, and she held her arms out with her wrists up.

Black burn marks smoked on her sleeves. “What did you do to me? Reverse this spell. Reverse it now!” Her lower lip wobbled, and fire stormed in her eyes.

“Bloody hell.” She breathed fire on herself.
Stay calm
. Jordan had begun breathing scalding smoky mist when he found his mate. Though his mate, Celeste, never did, it appeared Fina now had that ability. He could not explain this to her rationally. “If you will sit, I will tell you all I can.”

Fina stared at her arms and then at the large man blocking the door. Oh, she hated him. Pain rippled up her arms. What had she just done to herself?
Please don’t let me do it again.
She fought back tears, wanting to leave. What had actually happened? She swallowed hard.

A pressure had built in her mouth, and she thought her stomach would spill. But when her throat constricted and she leaned over, fire, not bile, spilled from her mouth.

She could not control her shaking. What had he done to her? She wanted to hit him again, to slash his throat, to beat her fists against his chest. But if she didn’t find out what had happened to her and make him reverse it, she would be stuck. The memory of his fangs in the garden and the cut to his throat healing before her flowed into her mind. Had he turned her into a monster? That…that was not an option.
Breathe deep. You cannot have a fit of vapors right now.
Who was she fooling? Now was the exact right time for a fit of vapors.

She walked to the small round table with three chairs beside it and sat in one. She stared at the man who had ruined her pa’s life and now perpetrated this horrific act on her.

She wanted him dead.

The sensation of Madoc kissing her out in the garden and the scandalous nightmares she’d had about him since she’d met him came unbidden into her consciousness.

Heat seeped down her body as if his hands had dragged over her. She wanted his caress on her body. She closed her eyes. No. She would not allow her nightmares to come to life. When she opened her eyes, the smell of sweet, sticky, delicious red peppers and sugar enveloped her.

He pulled out the chair closest to her and sat. His fingers wrapped her hand as he examined the singed material about her wrists. “Does the burn hurt?” He grazed his fingertips along her inner wrist, a tender gesture that coiled up her arm and raised the hair on her nape.

No. She could not allow her body to respond this way. She clenched her teeth. “At first. Not now.” He touched her again without asking. She frowned and stared up at him.

“It healed.”

“How is that possible?”

His fingers slipped around hers, and he squeezed. “Where to start?” He inhaled deeply and blew out a breath, then smiled at her as if delighted to be sitting here with her.

To the stars. Another smitten male. But one she had no interest in being pursued by.

“We are actually not certain how we came to be. We’ve traced our origins back to the eleventh century, when magic, dragons and otherworldly things were common and accepted. I have three brothers. There may have been more. Now we are the only ones of our kind. We are all the same, but different. We call ourselves Zir, or dragon. The dragon part is what we do know. Though we now think blood drinker may be in us too.”

Every word that came from his mouth—pig slop. “You are mad. You expect me to accept that as an answer to what just happened? You bit me, and now I am part dragon too?”

“I am not certain how this all works. All I know is that you are the second human I have ever bitten. My brothers have all bitten women, but our bite kills all but the one female meant for each of us. That female is our destined mate for life.”

“And you chose me without my consent!”

“We don’t choose. It simply is. My brother, Jordan, was in love four times and bit the women he loved. They all died. He now has his mate, Celeste. He tried to help her die because she floated in the ruins of a devastating shipwreck. She wouldn’t have lived much longer. Now they are beyond happy and in love. Even her grandmum lives on the Isle with us.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. Unbelievable. “You are truly daft.” Yet something had happened to her. It had to be black magic. Maybe if she removed herself from him, everything would go back to normal.

“I do sound the halfwit, don’t I?” He caressed the inside of her wrist with his thumb. The very spot where moments before she’d had burns.

Shivers of pleasure quaked through her. Divine. More so than any touch she had ever experienced. Her tongue slid out, and she wet her lips.

“Fina. I know you want to leave, but I can’t have that. You need me as much as I need you. We are to each other like the air that fire needs to burn.”

“You think you can do this to me and expect me to accept it?”

“For certain you are scared. You don’t know me. I have changed your life, as you stated, without your consent. We will make this work. You will see.”

“I hate you. I have hated you for the last five years. Ever since you walked into my pa’s shop with the design you stole from him, I have hated you.”

He frowned and then nodded. “Ah. You are Peter Byron’s daughter. That was where I remembered you from. I should have remembered those eyes.”

He mocked her?

“I did not steal anything, Fina. I am sorry your father saw my drawing that way. I am an inventor, and because of my elements, I have a very different view of time. Time for me, for us, is different. The piece I wanted your father to create was one I thought would have helped achieve my goal of rewinding time. It didn’t work anyway.”

It didn’t work? Her pa never designed anything that didn’t work. “You ruined my family’s life,” she spat at him.

“I seriously doubt showing you my workings ruined anything.”

“My pa had a stroke immediately after you left. He no longer has the same use of his hands or his mind. Jonathan has to put together every clock we sell based on past designs. Peter Byron’s designs are now passed over as being out of fashion.”

“Fina. I am sorry beyond words that his bad fate coincided with my visit. I realize you won’t believe me. Not now. Give me time. I can show you what I mean. I know you have no reason to do so, but please listen to yourself, mind and body, and give me something to hold on to. You can trust me and commit to me.”

“Commit to you? I would rather commit to my pa’s apprentice, Jonathan, than you!”

“Our ways are different than human ways. My bite on your neck says you are mine. There is nothing you can do to change that.”

“Then you should have bitten a different girl.”

“It does not work that way.”

“So I have no choice?”

“This is not pleasant, I am sure. But neither of us has a choice here. None.”

She pushed to her feet, anger pulsing though her every fiber. “No.”

He remained seated, his large hands fisted on his thighs. “Fina. Look around you. I can provide for your family for the rest of their lives.” He inclined his head toward the walls, and a swath of his ebony hair slid over his shoulder to pool in his lap.

His hair covered his hands. She couldn’t look away. “None of that matters to me.”

“It should.”

Closing her eyes, she bit her lip. She would not look at him or the room.

She forced her eyes open and glanced to the left and right. Polished wood surrounded her; even the walls shone, buffed to a sleek shine. Like his hair. She frowned.
Stop admiring his hair.
On his side table sat a large
fusee
. The cone-shaped pulley for keeping time straight cost more than her father could spare.

“You should listen to him. He is the most logical of all the brothers. Though he appears to have lost his restraint with you.”
A woman’s voice echoed in her ears.

She jumped and whirled around in the room. No woman stood near her. Her heart pounded against her chest. Madness. She turned back to him. “What in all of this bumblebroth have you done to me now?”

“Pardon?”

“The woman’s voice I just heard. Where is she?”