Licked by the Flame (25 page)

“And have her attack us from behind? No, wait here.”

He gave each of the fairies their own killing glare. “Tend her,” he ordered. “Keep her safe. I’m going to end this once and for all.”

K
yne did what he could to position himself between the injured human and whatever was going to transpire in the main chamber. The effects of the machine were already getting to him, though, and he could see that Swift and Raea were fading, too.

“What is your name?” Raea was asking the human as she looked over her wounds.

“I’m Lianne McGowan. And you?”

“Raea. You are a friend of the dragon’s?”

“I guess you could say that. Ouch. Can you help me sit up? It’s kind of hard to breathe lying down.”

Raea and Swift looked kind of helpless, so Kyne stepped in to assist. Apparently their dust was in limited supply here and neither of them wanted to waste it on resizing. He didn’t need dust for that. He took a deep breath and gave in to his half-human nature.

The woman made a slight gasp as he transformed from a six-inch fairy to a full-sized human man. With golden gossamer wings. He figured in her situation, he probably would have been kind of surprised, too.

Clearly Swift was. “By the Clouds in the Sky, you
do
become one of them.”

“Don’t mess with me, Swift,” Kyne grumbled at him.

“So not all of you magical people go around shape-shifting, I take it,” the woman said.

“I’m half-human,” Kyne explained. “I can assume this form whenever I need to. These others, well, they need to use Fairy Dust if they want to change size.”

“Ah. Of course that makes sense.”

“Let me help you,” Kyne said, stooping beside her and helping her shift position as he slid her deeper into the tunnel, away from the danger outside.

He could hear the raspy effort of her lungs. As the dragon had indicated, this woman needed help quickly. To be honest, Kyne wasn’t sure they’d gotten to her in time. There might not be enough magic among them to help her even now. Whatever that machine was doing, it was doing it well.

He glanced over at Raea and knew her assessment was the same. He also knew she was feeling the same effects from the machines that they’d felt before. That familiar yearning was welling up inside him. He wanted to forget all about this human and get Raea alone in a dark corner somewhere.

They had to ignore those urges, however. Another flash of fire sizzled through the air in the chamber outside. He could hear the dragon curse at his smaller attacker.

“So the wyvern betrayed her dragon, did she?” Raea asked, almost as if simply trying to make small talk while she touched the woman’s bruises, inspected the gaping wound on her brow, and mentally calculated how much magic was needed.

The woman winced, but nodded. “Yeah, she did. She showed up here with a man that I trusted. Who knew there was some huge magical conspiracy going on? They planned to kill Nic, then blow this place up.”

“Why would she destroy the clutch?” Raea asked. “That is a dragon clutch, isn’t it? I’ve heard of such a thing, but never known of one in my lifetime.”

“That’s what it is, and Nic is the sworn defender of it. Ouch! Damn, that hurts.”

“Hush, I’m trying to clean out your wound. Who brought that machinery in here?”

Kyne moved back to the tunnel mouth so he could watch what unfolded. Raea had things under control with the human. She was being smart, tending the woman’s injuries but asking a lot of questions, too. Not only was that keeping the woman calm, but it would also be useful information when they reported to Baylor. If they ever got out of here.

Another fire blast scalded the walls nearby them. The dragon was noticeably weakening and somehow that damned little wyvern, with her tail dislocated and dangling, one wing fractured and useless, had climbed up onto the humming machinery, clinging to it as if to protect it from Nic. No wait, what was she doing? She was clawing at it…trying to upend it, perhaps.

Oh. Damn it, she appeared to be trying to send the machine into the very pool where the clutch rested. There was no telling what devastating effect that might have.

Nic seemed hesitant to send his strongest blasts at her. He circled her, studying her actions and clearly considering his options. But by the Skies, he was a dragon! Why was he being so hesitant about this? It almost seemed as if he felt sorry for her. Or perhaps he was simply waiting for the right opportunity to end her in a final blaze of glory.

Dragons were odd sorts. Kyne decided not to even bother trying to understand this one’s motives. Rescuing humans, battling against his own kind…this dragon seemed even odder than most. Kyne needed to get himself and Raea away from this place as soon as possible.

Raea, however, was deeply involved with trying to figure out how to heal the human. Knowing her, none of them would be going anywhere until that task had been accomplished. He loved her compassion as well as her dedication, but right now those two qualities might get them killed.

“I’m not sure the dragon is doing very well,” he muttered over his shoulder, hoping to encourage Raea to hurry along.

All he succeeded in doing was upsetting the woman.

“What happened?” she cried, wheezing as she shifted and tried to peer around Kyne. “Is he all right?”

“He needs to get out of there. That equipment is getting stronger by the second, and he’s right up there next to it. I’m not sure what he’s trying to do. Why doesn’t he just fry the wyvern and be done?”

“She was his friend.” The woman sighed. “He’s more kindhearted than he seems.”

“Well, he’s not going to be any kind of hearted at all if he doesn’t speed things up,” Kyne grumbled. In his human form the effects of the machinery were slightly diminished, but he needed to get them away from here while he still could. Too much longer and he’d be sapped of his energy, too.

Swift buzzed up beside him, his wings slower than usual. “What’s the wyvern doing to that machine?”

“Trying to dump it into the pool, I believe.” Kyne kept his voice quiet so as not to further upset the human.

“Well, that should make a pretty horrific explosion.”

“Seems like that’s what Nic is trying to avoid. What the hell is going on here, anyway, Swift? The council is in on all this insanity?”

“No,” Swift said quickly, then seemed to reconsider. “I don’t know. I thought we were simply partnering with a few trusted humans to subtly come up with a way to make the Veil stronger, for everyone’s benefit. Now…I’m not so sure.”

“I would say if it’s come to controlling weather and exploiting dragons, there’s something a lot more sinister going on, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yes, I know. I should have suspected long before now. I just…I didn’t know how big this thing is.”

“What do you know, Swift?”

“The ship. It’s full of machinery that probably does a lot more than we were told. The council isn’t as informed or as in charge of things as they think they are, I’m afraid.”

“The ship is headed somewhere?”

“South. The Caribbean. There’s some important person at a resort down there, and they’re planning a meeting.”

Kyne swore and shook his head. “Humans. Can’t even plot to take over the world without figuring vacation time into it.”

The woman cried out again and distracted their attention. One glance at Raea and Kyne knew things were bleak.

“I need your dust, Swift,” Raea called. “All that you can spare.”

“What can we do to help, Raea?” Swift asked, going back to hover over the woman.

Kyne kept his position near the tunnel opening, but shifted his gaze just enough to watch the devious green fairy. No matter what Swift said about his ignorance of evildoings, Kyne wasn’t going to rest until he got Raea safely away from Swift
and
this ill-fated mountain.

“If you can get her strong enough to move, I can carry her out of here,” he offered.

“I don’t know,” Raea said. “It’s going to take all of our dust.”

The woman protested. “Don’t worry about me. How is Nic? You should use whatever magic you have to help him!”

“He told us to use our magic for
you
.”

“I’m dying, you sparkly morons. Can’t you see that? If he’s having trouble out there, help
him
. Forget about me.”

And answer to a lovesick dragon?
Kyne didn’t think so. “We’re not going to forget about anybody. What can you do for her, Raea? A wish?”

“I don’t know…healing usually requires more than a wish.”

The woman was incredulous. “You guys want me to just
wish
myself better? Don’t you dare tell me that all this magical stuff is nothing more than the power of positive thinking.”

“I’m a Wish Fairy,” Raea explained. “That’s what I’m best at. I’ve solved some pretty big messes with wishes before, so don’t disregard the idea.”

Kyne chuckled. “Made a few messes with wishes, too.” Raea shot him a scolding look, but it didn’t help to wipe the smirk off his face.

“What about you, Swift?” Raea asked. “Any magic that you’re especially good at? What is it that you really do for the council, anyway?”

Swift didn’t seem all that eager to answer, and Kyne could guess why. He’d tried to present himself as some sort of aide, an administrator of sorts, but Kyne had him figured out. Swift wasn’t the hapless underling he pretended to be.

“He’s muscle for the council,” Kyne offered. “He’s the one they’ve got off doing their dirty work. Isn’t that right, Swift? You’re the Fairy Council’s secret police, aren’t you?”

“That’s ridiculous,” Raea said. “The council doesn’t have secret police.”

But Swift was notably silent on the matter. “We are all in increasing danger here. If there’s anything we can do for the woman, we’d better do it and get out of here.”

Kyne wasn’t quite ready to drop the subject, but sounds of fire bursts out in the main chamber interrupted him. He should have been paying better attention. That wyvern could have crept up on him and gotten into the tunnel.

She didn’t, though. She was clinging to the machinery, rocking it with all her might and hurling blast after blast of her hottest flame directly at Nic. He was enduring it, moving steadily toward her and shielding his face as best he could. Apparently one Dragon could burn another and the wyvern was compensating for her tiny size by throwing every ounce of fire and brimstone she had at him. Between that and the effect of the machine, he was definitely showing signs of distress.

Through the flame and his pain he glanced over at Kyne. “Get Lianne out of here!” he roared before his voice was choked off for lack of oxygen.

Clearly he refused to blow the thing while the woman was nearby. The fool, his face was being practically melted off by that little wyvern. Kyne needed to act.

“All right,” he said, moving back to the woman and ignoring her protests. “Let’s go.”

She didn’t have much strength left, but she used it to fight against him. “No! What about Nic?”

“He’s going to blow that damn machine and he wants us to get you out of here,” Kyne told her.

“No!” Lianne protested.

“It’s the only way,” Swift said, finally making himself useful. “There’s no way to shut the equipment down.”

“Um, that’s not entirely true,” Raea said, giving Kyne a knowing look. “We told the dragon how to disable those machines, didn’t we?”

What? She couldn’t seriously be suggesting he drag her out there into the presence of angry, murderous dragons and start making passionate love? Thank the Skies, that did not appear to be her plan.

“The woman clearly loves him,” Raea said.

Kyne was inclined to believe her assumption was correct. But would it actually work?

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Lianne asked. “Of course I love him, but how can we shut down the machine?”

“You have to literally
love
him,” Kyne explained, if somewhat indelicately. “Physically love him.”

“Oh, you mean…so this is about sex building up magical power and stuff like that? This could have an effect on that machine?”

“Passion,” Raea said. “It’s passion that can override magic.”

For the first time Lianne’s eyes showed the signs of hope. “Well, all right, then. Leave me here with him. Go, get out of here and fly off to warn your people about what’s going on. Maybe some good will come out of this yet.”

“But we cannot be sure—” Raea cautioned, only to have the woman swat at her and shut her up.

“If there’s even a slight chance it might work, we have to try.”

“Your dragon will be angry at us,” Raea noted.

“What’s he going to do, come after you?” Lianne said with a bitter laugh. “This place is ready to combust any second now and we have one shot at shutting that machine down. Personally, I’d like to take it. If I can’t go out there and save Nic, then I sure as hell want to die with him.”

Kyne met Raea’s eye and realized she saw as well as he did that they were fighting a losing battle. The woman was not long for the world anyway. Maybe she really ought to be allowed one last moment with her dragon.

“You don’t have a lot of strength left,” Raea pointed out to her.

“Then use some of that Fairy Dust. Let me have whatever you can. You don’t need to heal me, just buy me a little more time.”

“What is she talking about?” Swift finally asked.

Raea wisely ignored his question. “Swift, give me your dust. Here’s what we can do.”

N
ic could hardly believe his eyes. Partially because, thanks to Eubryd, they weren’t working very well at the moment, and partially because it was inconceivable that Lianne might come hobbling out of that tunnel right now. He risked glancing up just long enough to make sure he wasn’t imagining things.

He wasn’t. Lianne was limping toward him. Damn those useless fairies! He could barely defend himself out here; how was he going to protect Lianne?

Eubryd seemed to have exactly the same idea. She was hardly more than a little charred heap on top of that damned, overloading machinery right now, but he could see her head perk up just a bit and she paused in her last throes of fire. Damn it, but she was turning her aim away from him toward Lianne. Her weakening flames might be getting less and less effective, but with Nic’s diminished strength and Lianne’s total lack of defenses, the spiteful wyvern could still do lethal damage to her.

He drew in as much strength as he could and rose up, lunging forward in an attempt to get between Lianne and Eubryd’s hateful breath. It was just enough movement to deflect the blast, but it had taken monumental effort. Fortunately, this put him finally in contact range with Eubryd, and she was apparently out of fire.

He swung his huge, heavy head and connected with her tiny body. She screeched as the force of his hit sent her careening off her perch and into the lava pool. The molten rock sizzled as it engulfed her, dragging her down in the space between two precious eggs. In her miserable state, she would never survive the consuming heat. Even a dragon could not survive that. Eubryd was truly gone this time. He felt one involuntary pang of loss, but it was short-lived. She had thrown away years and years of their friendship. He would not grieve for her now.

“Damn it, Lianne. What are you doing out here?” he grumbled, moving toward her as she kept up her steady—but slow—pace toward him.

“I’m coming to save your reptilian ass.”

It was getting harder to breathe now. His battle was over and his body was already shutting down. He had failed in his duty to the clutch, as well as to Lianne.

“The fairies were supposed to get you out of here. This machine is going to take out the whole mountain.”

“Not if we shut it down first.”

“And how the hell are we going to do that? It’s sucking up magic faster than ever. I haven’t got anything left, but it’s still draining the clutch. It can’t go on much longer before it overloads.”

“Then make love to me, Nic.”

He raised up his head to meet her eyes. His body felt cumbersome, limp and too heavy to move. His heart was slowing and his lungs were seizing up. She didn’t look like she felt much better, to be honest, yet here she was wanting to get kinky? He could only laugh at her.

“By the Fires, Lianne, I wish I could.”

She reached up and pressed her cool hands against his face. “You’re hot.”

“I’ve been getting pummeled by fire for the past ten minutes or so.”

“But you won. Let’s celebrate, Nic. She’s gone, there’s nobody trying to kill you, and the fairies were kind enough to tell us how to shut off this machine.”

He was going to argue, to say there was no way to shut it off now, but he recalled the fairies’ words.
Passion.
Passion was the one thing that would disable the machine. Well, it was a nice thought, but he was fresh out of passion right now. Damn it.

“I can’t even move, Lianne,” he admitted. “I’m sorry, but it’s too late. You’ve got to go, you’ve got to leave here right now.”

She leaned in and pressed her sweet, wounded forehead against his. “Use your mind, Nic. Touch me with your mind. Our souls can make love even when our bodies can’t.”

He did love her mind. She was so open to him, no secrets hidden, nothing held back. Her mind was open and warm and loving.

It was not anything he was used to. What did he know of love? He was a dragon. Yet when his mind touched hers, he knew there was no doubt. He understood love and he felt it.

I love you too
, she said silently.

I don’t want to lose you, Lianne.

Then love me. Let me feel what you feel, Nic. You must be able to sense how much I want you.

He did. He could feel her desire as strongly as if it was his own. It
was
his own, actually. It was a thing they both shared equally.

There was no effort needed to touch her with his mind. So he did. His thoughts reached into her and held her, caressed her as if they had no cares in the world.

She touched him back. He felt her mind wrap itself around him, felt her cling to him the way she had done in his bed. The desire stirred deeper and he let her feel that.

He blocked their surroundings, shutting off every sense. If these were their last moments together, they were going to be good ones. He pulled all the energy left in his body and shared it with Lianne.

His mind became a vast, wide space. Nothing was there, only openness and warmth. And Lianne. He could see her, moving toward him, reaching to hold him.

He took her into his arms. Her skin was cool against him, her curves pressed against him in all the right places. He ran his hands over her back, cupping her round bottom and pulling her tighter. His cock was hard and eager for her already. She slid her body against him, the sensations making him grow hotter.

Yes, Nic, that’s what I want,
she was whispering.
I want you. Make love to me now. I need you, Nic.

Her breasts bobbed before him, full and perky with pink nipples just begging for his attention. He bent to suckle at one, then the other. She moaned with pleasure, pressing her body tighter against his.

Now her delicate hand found his throbbing member. She grasped him, held his cock as if it were her lifeline for salvation. She stroked him tentatively, cautiously, her emerald eyes bright with expectation and wonder.

Do what you want. You won’t harm me
, he assured her.

His words seemed to encourage her, so her hold on him grew tighter. Now it was his turn to moan from the sensations. She pulled him closer, her body practically melting into his. He could feel the heat from her core. She was soft and radiating with want. He couldn’t hold back anymore.

He hoisted her up and she wrapped her legs around him. They were floating in emptiness, supported by nothing more than their passion and the desire that drove them together. He thrust himself into her, growling with pleasure as her tight, wet body invited him deeper.

He held her there, pushing into her and reveling in the feel of her pushing back. The perfect dance of their union went on, each moment more blissful than the last as desire and love became one with their thoughts, their unspoken communion. She whispered his name over and over, and each time he plunged himself deeper and deeper into her. The passion filled him until it seemed he might burst from it. Still, she was begging for more so he gave it.

She was the one he had spent his life wanting. He’d never been fully empowered, never truly maintained his full strength. Always he’d needed to move on, from one partner to another. This time—finally—he’d found the one who could make him complete and give him what he’d never had.

The power surged within him. She threw her head back and cried out, venting her passion as she came in his arms. He watched her release with amazement and with gratitude. The sight of her so enthralled sent him beyond his own threshold, the climax taking him and carrying him with her to ecstasy.

There were no physical bounds to this passion. It rolled on and on, tossing them over and over as they held on to each other. He was inside her and she was inside him. They were one being, one mass of passion and sensation. He gave her everything that he had and waited for the end to arrive.

He would be content to stay just like this for the rest of their lives.

She clung to him, her body reacting to his thoughts every bit as much as it had to his physical touch. He was remarkable, and she loved him completely. She barely felt the rough edges of his heated scales, the searing moisture from his breath, or the jagged planes of his beautiful, alien features. She stroked his cheek, traced the long, steaming line of his jaw, and looped her arm over his neck to help hold herself upright. Her body thrilled and sang with the same satisfied electricity she’d felt last night in his bed.

She had to concentrate on breathing while her body regained control of itself. For those few moments, her pain was gone and it was as if she and Nic could go on this way forever. Now, sadly, the sights and sounds around her were starting to infiltrate her private place of bliss, and she would soon, she feared, be saying good-bye.

She didn’t feel like dying quite yet and held herself closer to him. He shifted and swept her into his huge, heated embrace. His powerful arms encircled her and she marveled at how deadly they appeared, yet how gentle he was. She leaned her face against his warm chest and studied the metallic sheen of his talons as they rested against her arm. He was so huge that she felt nearly invisible nestled up against him this way. It was wonderful.

“It’s no wonder I never felt like my life mattered to anyone,” she murmured. “I never had you as a part of it.”

“Well, I’m a part of it now, however much more of it you have,” he replied.

“Can’t be too much,” she said, not really caring one way or another at this point. “At least I’ll be with you when that machine blows.”

“I can’t think of anyone I’d rather meet my demise with,” he said, almost with a laugh as if it weren’t the saddest thing ever that they should finally find each other just when all hope was lost.

“Unless, of course,” he added, “we might not be meeting our demise just yet.”

She frowned, his words not making sense. What was he saying? She’d gotten used to the idea of dying in his arms here. But, obviously that hadn’t happened yet. How much longer could that thing go on? It had been buzzing and humming and sucking up energy and magic like crazy. It couldn’t possibly contain too much more before…

“Um, I don’t hear the machine anymore,” she said after a pause.

“No, it appears that you did it, Lianne. Your insane idea worked. We generated enough passion to short the thing out before it got to critical overload.”

“You mean…we’re not going to blow up?”

“Not right now, at least.”

It was a lot to take in. She had to think about it for a moment before it dawned on her that Nic’s voice was sounding a lot stronger now, too. And he was holding her! He could move again, somehow.

“You’re getting your strength back,” she noted. “Damn it, Nic, we did it! We’re not going to die!”

He gave her a playful squeeze and shook his huge head. “No, I guess we’re not. Hell, you saved all of us, Lianne.”

“It was a team effort, you’ll have to admit. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have done that without you.”

“And I know I couldn’t have done it without you.”

She nuzzled against him. “Well, if you’re getting your strength back and we’re not about to be tragically vaporized, I have a strong suspicion that it won’t be too long before you get to do it with me again.”

He laughed at her. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. There’s still that little matter of your injuries we need to deal with. I’ve still got to find a way to get you medical help.”

“Me? What about you? You’ve been banged up and beat on just as much as I have. See? Look at those burns on your face, and that tear in your wing, and…hell, Nic, did you know there’s a huge cut on your shoulder here? You’re bleeding a lot. Let me take a look at it. Does it hurt when I—”

He suddenly thrust her away from him. She staggered back in shock, wondering what she did to offend him this way.

“Don’t touch it! Damn it, Lianne, you’ve got my blood on your hands.”

“I was just trying to help you, Nic. I’m sorry if I hurt you, but—”

“My blood is poison to you, Lianne. Hell, why didn’t I think about that? I was just so damn glad to have you with me, I didn’t even think about how messed up I might be. Hurry, wipe it off on something.”

He was moving around quickly now, rousing his huge form and nimbly grabbing her hands to examine them. She was startled by his actions and his words, of course, but clearly he was overreacting. Other than smears of rich, scarlet blood staining her hands, she was fine.

“It’s okay, it’s only a little bit,” she assured him, wiping her hands on her slacks and waving them to show him no harm had been done.

Her slacks, however, immediately began to sizzle. Swatches of fabric fell away where the blood had left a trail. She blinked in amazement, and noticed that other patches of her clothing had mysteriously melted away.

“Um, your blood is dissolving my clothes. Is that normal?”

He watched her carefully. “I think it’s dissolving the areas where your own blood had already stained your clothes.”

“Your blood is attacking
my
blood?”

“I told you it was toxic.”

“But I feel just fine,” she said, more than a little perplexed.

He studied her, still careful to keep his distance. “What did the fairies do to you, exactly?”

“I don’t know. They threw some sparkly dust in the air and the green guy said it would give me extra strength for a while, the gold-colored one said he was something called a Summer Fairy and he was doing whatever it is that he does to make flowers bloom—isn’t that a riot?—and the pink one said she’d grant me a wish.”

“And what did you wish for?”

She gave him a sly grin for that one. “I wished for lots of really awesome sex with you for the rest of my life. Hell, if wishing for stuff works, then you’re kind of stuck with me for a while, I’m afraid!”

“That kind of wishing does work, I assure you. I’m just really at a loss as for how you can still be alive, though.”

She shrugged. “They did their Fairy Dust thing and I came in here with you.”

“And you touched me,” he said. “You must have gotten my blood all over you.”

“I wouldn’t know. I was kind of a bloody mess already. Seriously, I must look truly disgusting right now.”