Claiming His Fire (20 page)

“This,” she spat, her face a mask of rage, wagging her finger at Shadow. “You’re going to play my sister like this?”

“Zuri,” Phoenix said, grabbing her arm.

“No.” Zuri shook him off and continued her attack on Shadow as I bit back a smile. My sister on a protective rant was a remarkable sight, especially with her pregnant belly in the way. “You think you can just lead her on? Fuck around with her until the real thing shows up? What happens when you find your fated mate, huh? What do you intend to do then?”

Shadow stayed calm, his face almost expressionless as he said, “I intend to settle down and rock my mate’s world with lots and lots of sex every single day.”

He shrugged and smirked when I met his gaze, so I gave him a nod. Yup, sounded good to me.

Zuri, though, still looked angry, her cheeks turning red as she yelled, “And what about Scarlett? What’s going to happen to her while you’re off having all this sex with your mate?”

Shadow grinned, wicked and wide. “If I know your sister like I think I do, I’m pretty sure she’ll enjoy the sex.”

I narrowed my eyes as the guys who’d ridden in with Shadow chuckled, hiding their grins as best they could. “You told them, didn’t you?”

“I had to.” He shrugged and gave me a wink. “Hard to hide burn marks when you have to get naked in front of other people. It’s not like those handprints could have been anything else.”

“Oh.” My neck flushed warm, my ears burning. Hadn’t thought about that aspect of his being a wolf shifter before. Though at least they’d been on his back and not someplace more…telling.

“Oh?” Zuri asked, still looking angry and confused. “What ‘oh’?”

I shrugged and smiled at my sister, tossing her own words from only a few months ago back at her. “He’s kind of mine.”

She opened and closed her mouth, speechless. But then she snapped her jaws shut with a click. “What do you mean, kind of?”

“Sort of.” I shrugged.

“Sort of?” She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at me.

I nodded, biting back a grin. “Mostly.”

Zuri huffed. “Is he or is he not your red thread?”

I looked up at Shadow, smiling, basking in his return grin. “Yeah, I guess he is.”

“Oh.” Her anger dissolved, her face pulling up in a grin. “Well, that’s so much better than you two just humping like bunnies and waiting for the ax to fall. Okay.” But then… “Hey, why didn’t you tell me, you brat?”

“C’mon, Zuri,” Phoenix said, pulling her toward the denhouse. “Leave the two lovebirds alone. It’s time to go home.”

“She could have told me,” Zuri said, voice loud and a little harsh. But as much as I loved my sister, as much as I wanted to apologize and give her every gory detail of the last couple of weeks, I had no attention to spare. Shadow practically consumed me, the heat in his eyes drawing out my own, making me burn for him. Making me needy for his touch.

“You’re kind of mine,” I whispered, biting back my smile.

He shrugged, playing casual even as the look in his eyes intensified, pulling me closer. “If you want me to be.”

“I’d like that,” I replied, sliding my hands under his jacket. “As long as that means I get to be yours.”

He gave me a mock frown. “Just don’t try to boss me around.”

“Wouldn’t think of it. Now kiss me.” I yanked on his shirt, pulling him down to my level.

“See? Already so bossy.”

I pulled back as he moved to kiss me, denying him. Teasing him. “Well, if you’d prefer that I sit all meek and quiet…”

Shadow squeezed me tightly as he growled. “Woman, I swear to your Goddess, if you don’t give me those lips right now—”

He never finished his sentence. I rose up onto the balls of my feet and pressed my mouth to his, running my tongue along the seam of his lips until he opened. Until he kissed me roughly, with teeth and tongue and heavy breaths. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me off my feet. Holding me, giving me what I’d been missing for days. His touch, his taste, his scent. Him. I wrapped my arms around his neck, squeezing, sliding my hands down his back.

Until he hissed and set me down.

“Sorry,” he said, reaching to rub his shoulder, making my fingers itch with the need to touch and heal him. To do something.

“No, that was my fault,” I said, holding on to his wrist to keep my connection to him. “I got a little carried away.”

He grinned. “I like it when I get to carry you away. Reminds me of a night not so long ago.”

I snorted and shook my head. “Such a charming mouth.”

Shadow shrugged, pulling me closer, running his nose along my cheek as I giggled. “I don’t remember you complaining about my mouth.”

“C’mon, Romeo,” Rebel said, interrupting us. “Let’s get those bandages changed, and then you can go charm your new mate.”

Shadow sighed and nodded at his den president, but his eyes stayed locked on mine. Wary again. Worried.

“Wait for me?”

My heart flared, burning around the edges as the guilt over what I’d done to hurt him circled around. It was my fault he looked so nervous, my fault he worried that I wouldn’t wait for him. That I didn’t want him. I needed to convince him that this was it…
he
was it. Instead of giving him a big, dramatic sigh and saying something sarcastic like “If I must” as I’d normally do, I used his actions against him.

I stared him right in the eye, open and honest as I said a simple but firm, “Yes.”

He froze, peering at me, a slow smile spreading across his lips. “I like that answer. I’d like to hear it a lot more often.”

I curled into his side and slid a hand under his shirt, needing one more moment of skin-on-skin contact. “So bossy.”

He shrugged. “You like it.”

“Yeah,” I said as we strolled inside. “I guess I do.”

“Scarlett,” Rebel said from just outside his office door, flanked by Kaija and Gates. “Why don’t you and Charlotte wait for us in the bar?”

Shadow stiffened, muscles going tight under my fingers. I pressed my hand against the small of his back, reassuring him, reassuring myself as well.

“I think I’d rather stay close,” I said. Rebel glanced at Shadow, questioning, a look of warning though I had no idea why.

“It…you might want to stay outside.” Shadow’s quiet, stumbling voice made my stomach drop. Made me want to grab him and run. Made my hands and body heat as my fire stoked within.

“Why would I want to stay outside?”

“Scarlett,” Shadow said, pulling me to the side and crowding me against the wall. “The tears are big and they’re not healing as fast as they should. It’s been a long ride. I have no idea what shape my back’s in right now.” He leaned closer, forehead against mine, eyes worn and drawn. “I don’t want you to see this, or to worry.”

I bit my lip, holding back the burn in my eyes, as I nodded. “As if I haven’t been worried about you every moment for the past six days?”

“I know, and I’m sorry.” He kissed my nose before taking a step back, resigned to keeping me out. “Just wait here. It’ll only be a few minutes.”

As he walked into Rebel’s office, the big metal door closing behind him, I slid down the wall to the floor. I hated these secrets, hated that he couldn’t tell me what had happened or why they’d been in North Dakota in the first place. But I cared for him more than I hated the secrets, so I sat in the hall. And I waited. Charlotte joined me, holding out a hand. Giving me something to cling to. And I did… Desperately.

“He’ll be fine,” she said, not sounding any more confident than I felt.

“He’s the doctor,” I said. “He’s the one with the training, but he can’t treat himself.”

“Yeah, but Rebel’s handy with that stuff. He’ll take care of your boy.” She shifted closer, bumping her shoulder against mine. “A few minutes, and Shadow will have clean bandages and—”

She never finished her sentence. Shadow’s growl rumbled through the door, loud and deep and menacing. Pained. I closed my eyes, trying not to imagine why he had to be growling, but it was no use. I knew he was hurting…felt it.

“You should probably let go of me,” I said, biting back my words, barely controlling my temper as his growl turned to a soft whimper. The rush of heat building within made my bones hurt and my skin tighten...made me fear for Charlotte’s safety.

“Why?” Charlotte asked, though she did release my hand.

“Because things are about to get a little warm.”

For five minutes, I sat on the floor of the hallway with my head down, my hair glowing, and sparks falling from my palms as I listened to Shadow be rebandaged. Even the air moved in the hall, a little extra magick coming to join the party of my out-of-control emotions. Five minutes as Shadow growled and groaned, snapped and yipped. Five minutes longer than I should have sat out there.

When he whimpered a second time, I jumped up and flew toward the door. Fuck staying in the hall, my red thread needed me. I could feel it, could practically sense his pain.

Rebel, Gates, and Kaija jumped when I stormed into the office, all three of them looking at me with wide eyes. Shadow lay across Rebel’s desk, chest down, back up, clinging to the edges to that point that his knuckles were pure white.

“Scarlett, baby,” he called, his voice rough. “I’m okay.”

But he was definitely not okay. Not at all.

“Get out.” My voice came out like a hiss, like a curse. Every inch of me hurt, ached with the fire running through my veins, but I couldn’t stop it. Couldn’t extinguish the blaze. My element was strong and ready, my magick growing. I would protect my red thread no matter what, even against those he trusted.

“Scarlett,” Rebel started, but I didn’t let him finish. He held what I had to assume were the old bandages in his hands, stained red with blood. Shadow’s blood. The entire room glowed red as I brought my hand up, twisting my fingers and setting them on fire. Orange and yellow light dancing through my skin.

“I said, get out. You’ve hurt him enough.”

“Reb,” Shadow said, his voice weak. “Just go. We’ll be fine.”

Rebel glanced from Shadow to me and back before he gave a single head nod. “He’s cleaned up but needs new bandages to keep the area clean. Supplies are on the table there. If you need us—”

“I won’t.”

Kaija smirked at me as she followed the two men through the door. “Be gentle, Sparky. He’s not ready for a woman like you.”

I caught her eye as she winked, giving her a single nod of my head. She was right—he wasn’t ready for anything but care and comfort. Something I’d never really done before, but was willing to work at for him.

As soon as they were gone, I slammed the door, shutting myself in with my mate. My very injured mate.

“What did they do to you?” My whisper came out bathed in pain, caused by the sight of his back. I quickly put out the fire on my hands so I could move closer. “By the Goddess, why?”

My handprints stood out on his skin, deep red and only slightly textured. But what screamed pain and violence, what made my tears fall and my breath catch, were the rips. All the way across his back, up one side of his shoulder, across the expanse again. Thick, reddish-purple lines stitched together. Obviously painful. Obviously healing.

And yet.

“What did they do to you?” I asked again as I placed my fingers against him, being careful to touch what little undamaged skin there was. Bite marks, smaller tears, scrapes—a myriad of marks, all marring his back. All making me want to weep.

“Friendly biting,” he whispered, huffing a laugh that wasn’t at all funny. “The guy wouldn’t let go, so they had to knock him off me…while his teeth were still embedded in my flesh.”

My fingertip brushed over a single, purple puncture wound. “Oh, Shadow.”

“It’s okay, Firecracker.” He reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me closer. “We had a successful mission, for the most part, just a few loose ends hanging out there. As for these marks, shifters heal fast. It’s my fault I’m not already good as new.”

“Your fault?”

He gave me that look, that Shadow look, that honest gaze. “Because I refused to let them cut away the skin. I would have healed faster, but I didn’t want to lose your handprints.”

I choked on a sob, eyes burning. “Well, shit, Shadow.”

He smiled, small but bright. “I earned those burns.”

I nodded and wiped my eyes, focusing on the task at hand. “Yeah, you did. And I’ll make sure you keep them.”

I rubbed my hands together as I began a chant I’d known most of my life, one of air and water, of the Mother Goddess and the power of the earth, one of healing. Shadow lay still, watching me, trusting me.

It’d been months since I’d used my powers like this, all the way open to the magick around me…full-out witch. I’d missed it, missed the tingle it left under my skin. So much softer than the fire that had been growing increasingly uncomfortable as I ignored my base magick.

I moved my hands over his back, not touching but close. Feeling his energy, giving him mine.

“May I ruin your shirt?” I asked, needing more, needing to do things right.

Shadow paused but then nodded. “Sure.”

I grabbed the black fabric from the couch, lighting a single fingertip on fire to burn an edge before ripping it up the front. Laying it across his back, I covered the tears in his flesh, made a circle with the fabric. Complete and unbroken. A binding loop.

“I do not bind the body or the spirit of this man,” I whispered, moving my hands over the circle of black, pushing all my magick and power through them and into Shadow. “I bind the disease residing in the flesh, that it may enter this circle. That it may reside within so only flames can release it hence.”

Three times I chanted the spell, keeping my hands close, giving Shadow my full attention. When I finished, I lifted the black fabric, holding it up and facing all four corners to show my love and respect for the elements.

“Goddess of the earth, of light and love, thank you for your healing. I offer this binding to the element of fire, that only flames can release the negativity within to begin a process of renewal.”

Clutching the fabric, I allowed my fire to burn through my palms. The black strips burst into flames, disappearing into a smoky, ashy pile of dust in a matter of seconds.