Mated to the Fire Dragon (Elemental Mates 4)

Maybe, once he’d taken out Steele, he and Alyx could spend a week-long holiday on Wing Island. Alyx could get used to the shifter world, they could visit Timothy and Liana every day—and for once, Braeden would be able to test all the daily ice cream flavors.

And that was only the start. He hadn’t even introduced Alyx to the incredible donuts served by Chameleon Coffee yet.

“Vegan avocado black sesame? Hell, yes,” Alyx breathed, staring at a weird green concoction with bits of black in it.

“Are you sure?” Braeden asked, studying it carefully. It looked—colorful. He'd give it that.

“I love interesting food.” Without pause, she pointed straight at another tub of ice cream that looked like simple, delicious, creamy chocolate. “And the bacon dark chocolate.”

“Bacon... chocolate?”

Alyx grinned at him. “Don’t worry. You get to take the boring flavors. That way we can try all of them.”

“I won’t let you steal my banana if it turns out that

bacon chocolate is as disgusting as it sounds,” he warned her playfully.

“So speaks someone who’s never tried to combine bacon and chocolate before,” Jordan said, proudly beaming at Alyx, who’d clearly proved herself in his eyes.

He handed her a cone with a scoop each of the weird vegan avocado and the bacon chocolate. Braeden, in turn, got a cone with a scoop of the simple but delicious banana ice cream and a scoop of strawberry basil—which also sounded weird.

But when he tried it, it tasted like sweet, juicy strawberries picked straight from the field, with a hint of something fresh and green.

“That’s why it’s such a great combination,” Alyx said enthusiastically when they sat down on a bench in the sun outside. “See, I knew you’d be able to taste it! The hint of the herbal basil brings out the sweetness of the strawberries. It doesn’t clash, it just gently underlines it!”

Braeden laughed. “It just tastes like strawberries. Like really delicious strawberries.”

“I guess we won’t have you report on the latest ice cream trends anytime soon.” Alyx grinned at him, then held out her cone in invitation.

Skeptically, Braeden tried the weird avocado concoction first.

It tasted—weird. Green and weird. Green and creamy and weird.

“I like the, uh. The sesame aftertaste?” he tried.

Alyx shook her head in mock disappointment. “It’s all right. You can just say that you don’t like it.”

Next, Braeden took a careful lick of the dark chocolate bacon scoop.

He’d expected something a lot more awful than the avocado ice cream. Instead, he found himself staring at Alyx wide-eyed as the rich chocolate melted on his tongue, mixing with a hint of salty goodness from the bacon.

“That’s... that’s actually delicious!” He licked his lips, then leaned forward for another taste.

It was still just as good.

“Wow! I didn’t expect that.”

Pleased, Alyx snatched her cone out of his reach again. “I warned you! I’m not going to share.”

Braeden grinned at her. “That’s all right. Maybe I’ll go with something weird tomorrow, just to make you happy.”

There will be no tomorrow. No tomorrow but shadow and flame, something hissed inside his mind again.

Perplexed, Braeden shook his head. Then, at Alyx's questioning look, he hastily began to lick at the ice cream that had begun to drip over his fingers.

“Everything okay? You looked lost in thought there for a moment,” she said.

She reached out and rested her hand on his arm—and just like that, the strange tightness in his chest and the scent of smoke and ashes was banished.