Firefighter Unicorn (Fire & Rescue Shifters 6)

John gripped his arm in return, his indigo eyes softening. It was strange, so strange, to feel nothing but warmth and comradeship in his touch.

Releasing the sea dragon, Hugh turned to Chase next. He’d intended to just shake his hand, but the pegasus shifter sprang up, instead pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. And then they were all around him, clapping him on the back or clasping his shoulder. Their friendship and support surrounded him.

And for the first time, he could accept it without flinching.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Ivy circling the room, being careful to stay as far away from everyone as possible. She sidled over to Ash, who also still stood a little apart from the group.

“Can I talk to you for a sec?” Ivy muttered to Ash. “Privately?”

“Ivy,” Hugh said, concerned by the way her gloved hands were twisting together. He broke away from his friends, stepping toward her. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” Ivy looked up at Ash, her face set and pale. Hugh couldn’t interpret her expression. “But I need to talk to the Phoenix.”

Chapter 25

Ivy made herself wait until they’d walked a little way up the street, away from prying ears. Hugh didn’t have shifter hearing any more, but his friends’ senses were as acute as ever. She didn’t want any of them overhearing this conversation. They might tell Hugh…and then he would do everything in his power to convince her not to go through with this.

But she had to. It was their only remaining option.

Steeling her nerve, she turned to Ash.

“You have to burn away my wyvern,” she said.

The Phoenix looked at her with those dark, ageless eyes. His face was never exactly expressive, but now it turned as blank and forbidding as a fortress. Her wyvern cringed at the sense of a much greater power looming over them.

“You have asked this of me before,” he said. “The answer is still the same. No.”

“Things are different now.” It took all of Ivy’s strength to stand her ground. “You have to. For Hugh’s sake. I have to be able to touch him.”

“I sympathize with your predicament,” Ash said. Despite his expressionless face, Ivy had an odd certainty that he genuinely did. “I understand all too well what it is to be so close and yet so far from one’s mate. But destroying your wyvern would not help Hugh.”

“You don’t understand. He needs me—“

“Precisely,” Ash interrupted. “He needs you. Not a burned-out husk that looks like you. Ivy, our animals are intertwined through our souls. If I burned away your beast, you would no longer be Hugh’s mate.”

“But Hugh lost his unicorn, and he’s still my mate.”

“Yes.” Ash’s eyebrows drew down a little, his tone turning thoughtful. “That surprises me. When I take a shifter’s animal, the destruction is total, like burning a tree to the ground. Hugh…is more like a tree that has been split by lightning. The trunk may be shattered and hollow, but the roots are still strong. The leaves will grow again.”

Ivy’s breath caught. “Are you saying his unicorn is still there?”

Ash shook his head, killing her tiny seed of hope. “No. I have no sense of his animal. But Hugh is still there. He is still the same person. Ivy, if I took your wyvern, you would not be the same person as you are now. You might be content, because you would not know that you had ever been otherwise, but Hugh would know. It would be the worst thing either of us could do to him.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Ivy said bleakly. “I met Hugh’s father. He lost his unicorn too. He told me that ex-unicorns need sex to stay sane. But Hugh can’t touch me. And if, if he has to get what he needs elsewhere, I’ll go mad. I can’t bear to think of him with someone else.”

The Phoenix’s controlled expression cracked at last, revealing a hint of true, human pity. “It is bad enough to be unable to be with one’s mate. If someone else was with her…well. I am grateful beyond words that the situation has never arisen for me. But in any case, you do not need to fear that Hugh will be unfaithful. You are his true mate, as much as he is yours.”

“Then he’ll go mad. Hugh’s father tried to be abstinent, and he said it nearly killed him. He’s forced to do things he doesn’t want at all, just to cling onto sanity.”

Ash’s mouth tightened. “Hugh has one of the strongest wills I’ve ever encountered. He will not be forced into anything. Not even out of self-preservation.”

“Exactly! I’m so scared that he’ll destroy himself. Please, Ash. You have to take my wyvern. No matter what it does to me. Can’t you see that it’s better for Hugh to at least have some version of his mate rather than nothing at all?”

Ash drew in a deep breath through his nose, and let it out again, slowly. “No. It is not. I will not burn your wyvern.”

“I’ll make you do it,” Ivy vowed, meaning it with all her heart. “I know you sometimes punish crim

inals by taking their animals. I’ll, I’ll burn down a house. I’ll burn down your house.”