“You know fire. Better than anyone. You can use your powers to control it.” A slow smile spread over her face as she realized how perfect it was. “To save lives, rather than destroy them.”
“Firefighter,” he said softly. “Yes. I would like that.”
She leaned over the table to kiss him. “You’ll be the best firefighter ever.”
She never knew what had warned him. Mythic shifter senses, perhaps, even keener than her own. Or just greater wariness, from his lifetime of captivity.
One moment she was snuggling up against his side as they walked back to the car—and the next she was down on the tarmac, his body covering hers. A crackling lightning-bolt of green energy sizzled through the space where her head had been.
“Warlocks!” Blaze shouted, a ring of fire roaring up to shield them.
Another bolt shot overhead, passing clean through the flames, but at least their attackers couldn’t get line of sight on them through the roaring inferno. Blaze pulled her to her feet, shoving her in the direction of the car.
“Go,” he said, his voice crackling with power. Flames haloed him, spreading from his back like wings. “I’ll deal with them.”
She knew better than to try to argue. Rose ran for the car, her heart hammering, fumbling in her pocket for the keys. Behind her, she heard the crack of another lightning bolt, and a piercing scream—but it wasn’t Blaze’s voice. Heat washed over her back.
She screamed herself as the air in front of her split in two, parting like a curtain. She had a glimpse of foam-flecked fangs and maddened eyes lunging at her out of the portal.
Instinct took over. She flung herself flat, rolling. A stinking, furry body passed over her, jaws snapping shut on thin air. She scrabbled to hands and knees as the wolverine turned, snarling—
And went up in flame. Between one breath and the next, it was simply gone, no more than embers on the wind. The portal blinked out, cutting off a human howl of agony. Somewhere, a warlock had just lost his shifter, and his power.
“Not the shifters!” she cried out, covering her head as another jagged blast of energy shot past. “Blaze, don’t hurt the shifters!”
“I have to!” He turned, and she saw the agony in his eyes, behind the black flames. “They’re linked—”
He broke off, spinning round. A wolf bounded across the car park, leaping for him. Blaze dodged it, instead throwing fire at the warlock who’d just stepped out of thin air. The unfortunate man didn’t even have time to scream before he turned to ashes.
And the wolf—just stopped. It collapsing in mid-stride, like a puppet with cut strings.
“They die together,” Blaze finished, stepping over the fallen shifter. His hand closed around her arm, pulling her up. He shielded her with his own body as he turned, ready to fend off any further attack.
Rose stared into the wolf’s glazing yellow eyes. Maybe it was just her imagination, but she thought it looked relieved.
A sound of frantic chanting came from behind a nearby fence, but no lightning bolt followed. Blaze bared his teeth, thrusting out one hand as if throwing a ball. The wooden fence vaporized, revealing a crouching warlock desperately sketching the shape of a portal in mid-air.
“Oh no you don’t,” Blaze growled.
The warlock screeched, doubling over. The half-formed portal flickered out, glowing lines fading into nothing.
“Try that again and you lose both hands at the wrist.” Releasing her, Blaze stalked toward the man.
Cradling his burnt fingers, the warlock turned to flee. A wall of fire blazed up, stopping him in his tracks. His eyes flicked desperately left and right, searching for escape. Rose recognized his face…and the ocelot cringing at his feet.
“Not him!” She ran after Blaze. “She helped me, don’t kill him!”
“I won’t.” Not entirely suiting actions to words, Blaze seized the warlock by the throat. The man made a strangled scream as Blaze lifted him off his feet with no apparent effort. “But I can hurt him a great deal without harming his shifter.”
“Please,” the man choked out, scrabbling at Blaze’s fingers. “I’ll tell you—anything!”
Blaze opened his hand, allowing the man
to fall to the ground. “How did you know where we were?”
“Corbin,” the warlock wheezed. Livid red burns ringed his throat. “Spent years—studying—the Phoenix. Knows how to—track it.”
Blaze went very still. “He can find me?”