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Amethyst Flame (Flame 2)

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Vaughn shared a bath with Emma, then made love to her repeatedly until they both lay exhausted on her bed and fell sound asleep. More than once he woke up because she was thrashing in her sleep. He suspected nightmares and took her in his arms each time, holding her close until she settled down.

And each time, his heart bound itself to her a little more until he wasn’t sure he was even a separate entity. When he finally woke for the night, and the last rays of the sun were heading west, Emma was still asleep, her body pressed up against his.

He had his arm around her and stared up at the central overhead fan. The blades looked special-made and had unique carvings. Maybe she spent time staring at them.

Now he was.

He didn’t want the night to begin. He wanted to stay here forever.

Emma began to stir, then stretch as she rolled onto her back. But she stayed reclining on his arm and eventually took his hand in hers and squeezed his fingers.

She seemed tense and no wonder given the number of times she’d tossed and turned. “Emma, did you have bad dreams last night?”

She was silent for a moment. “Yeah, I did. How did you know?”

He told her about how restless she’d been.

“That bad, huh?”

“Yes. Want to talk about it?”

She sighed heavily. “I dreamed about Loghry, though I really don’t know why. He’s so strange looking. He’s emaciated as addicts often are and his skin is paper white. And his lips have a violet color.

“But each time he appeared, I had this creepy feeling he was really seeing me in my dreams, sort of like a fae who can dreamscape. That’s what distressed me so much.

“In one of the dreams, I was running through a dark maze with Loghry chasing me. I just couldn’t find my way out.”

When she shuddered, he pulled her close. “I’m sorry you had such a bad night.”

“It’s okay. I’ll get over it.” She sighed once more. “Did you ever meet Loghry?”

“Once, years ago. Though he didn’t look quite so bad as you’ve just described. I don’t think he’d been in Five Bridges for very long, but he’d already taken up the dark arts.

“Several Crescent officers, including myself, were called to the scene. We found him strangling a female vampire, who had just expired. He was strung out on amethyst flame, no doubt about that. And powerful as hell because of the drug.

“We beat him to get him off the woman, then he turned his wizard powers on us. I got a couple of rounds off and I know at least one of the bullets struck home. One of the men used his sword as well, cutting him deep in his abdomen.

“After several minutes, he finally fell down dead. Or at least that’s what we thought. We even hauled him off to the morgue.”

She lifted up on her elbow. “Wait, I remember this. He came back to life and walked out, didn’t he?”

“That’s exactly what happened. There was no one watching at the morgue, so it wasn’t hard for him to just pick up and go.”

She flopped back down, her head resting on his shoulder. “That bastard needs to die for good.”

“Yes, he does.”

His gaze once more went to the fan. Maybe a change of subject was in order. He gestured toward the ceiling with his free arm. “The carving on the wood is beautiful.”

“It was a gift from Max.”

Vaughn repressed a sigh. Right now he was jealous of Max, for all the time he’d had with Emma. “Sounds like he was a good man.”

She rolled to look up at him, her hand on his chest. “He was. I think you would have been good friends if you’d known each other. He was an excellent Savage Border Patrol officer and a great alpha to his pack.”

He reached toward her and pushed her hair behind her ear. “We probably would have been friends. He sounds like he was in Fergus’s mold, someone I respect.”

“Yeah, very much like Fergus.”



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