Firefighter Phoenix (Fire & Rescue Shifters 7)

She closed her fingers around his, not too tight, savoring the hot roughness of his callused skin. He caught his breath as she raised his hands to her lips. She softly kissed his knuckles, and felt the shiver that ran through him.

“There,” she said gently. “See? Now come here.”

He didn’t resist as she tugged him down to sit on the bed. Fighting the desire to push him flat down onto his back and straddle him, Rose knelt down instead, reaching for a packet of antiseptic wipes.

She tried to be as gentle as she could, but his breath still hissed between his teeth as she cleaned the dried blood from his right arm. She bit her lip as the extent of the wound was revealed.

His tattoo—or binding, as he’d called it—was completely gone. Raw, livid flesh marked where it had been, spiraling up his arm from wrist to elbow. The burn-mark seemed clean, but she couldn’t see any sign of shifter-fast healing starting to knit the skin together.

“Maybe we should get you to a hospital,” she said, worried.

He flexed his fingers experimentally. His jaw clenched, but he shook his head. “It looks worse than it is. Just bind it up.”

“Are you sure? It’s going to leave a nasty scar if we don’t get it treated properly.”

“Better a scar than getting caught. Corbin has connections with more than just the military. I imagine there’s already a nation-wide alert going out.”

“Let them search,” Rose said stoutly, though her stomach clenched in apprehension. “They won’t find us.”

His free hand cupped her cheek. For a moment, the Phoenix looked out at her from his dark eyes. “If they do, they’ll regret it.”

“Why didn’t you free yourself before?” she asked as she started to wind a bandage around his arm.

“I couldn’t. The binding stopped me from using my powers, unless Corbin allowed me to.” He fell silent for a moment, staring down at his arm as though it belonged to someone else. “I used to try to break it. When I was too little to know better. Sometimes Corbin would drain my power, stop my rages, prevent me from hurting myself. And sometimes he…didn’t. Eventually I learned that I couldn’t break it, and stopped trying.”

“You broke it now, though.”

“They threatened you,” he said, very softly.

She glanced up at him. He was watching her intently, with utter focus. A thrill ran through her at the memory of how glorious he’d been, rising like the sun from the wreckage of the prison. Even now, she could feel the sheer, raw power beating through his veins.

“Why aren’t you afraid of me?” he asked. He appeared genuinely baffled. “I’m the Phoenix.”

“You keep saying that as though it’s a curse,” Rose said, tucking in the edges of the bandage. “Whatever your animal, you’re a shifter. Just like me.”

“I’m not, though.” He hesitated for a moment. “You were born with your swan.”

It wasn’t quite a question. She nodded anyway.

“I’m different. The Phoenix is different.” His free hand came up to touch the center of his chest absently, as though he wasn’t really aware of the motion. “There’s only one. Eternal, forever reborn. When one host dies, the Phoenix flies to another. To someone that’s…suitable fuel. A soul that can burn bright enough to sustain the undying flame.”

She stared at him. “Do you remember them? Your other lives?”

He shook his head. “It’s not like that. The Phoenix is eternal, not me. I’m just the latest in a long line of hosts. The Phoenix came to me when I was very small. Five or six, I think. I don’t really remember. Fortunately, Corbin found me not long after.”

“Fortunately?”

His arm muscles went rigid under her hands. “Fortunately for everyone else. The Phoenix isn’t a mere beast, Rose. It’s a force of nature, ravenous, the wildfire to end all wildfires. If it had its way, it would burn down the world. All it wants is to destroy.”

“Does it?” Rose leaned forward a little, forcing him to meet her gaze. “The warlocks were driving those poor shifters mad, Blaze

. Is your animal really that angry, that dangerous, or was it just goaded past the point of endurance?”

He was silent.

“I believed Corbin when he said it needed to be bound,” he said at last.

“Well, everything he ever told you was a lie.” Rose covered his hand with her own, gripping it tight. “You aren’t dangerous, and neither is your animal. There’s no evil in you.”