“Hey!” a firefighter barked from behind him. “Are youstupid? We need to get you out of here!”
Wade ignored the firefighter, dug his heels in hard to the floor that had lost its carpeting, and used his supernatural strength to fling himself up to the second-floor landing. He ignored the firefighter’s shout of surprise, landing with a thump just past the top step. He coughed, blowing smoke out of his lungs, his breathing fine when it wouldn’t be for anyone else. Fire licked close but didn’t touch him. Even in human form, Wade’s body wasn’t affected by fire or heat. The clothes he wore might get a little singed the longer he stayed in the house, but they’d last for what he needed to do.
He hurried to Riordan’s bedroom, eyes on the burning floor, wincing at the creaking, snapping, and popping coming from smoldering wood all around him. With his enhanced hearing, he could hear firefighters shouting on the street and the cascade of water that sprayed out of a hose into the floor below. The fire had reached the second floor, burning its way to the roof with a speed that was clearly not normal.
Wade shouldered his way into Riordan’s bedroom in the back, the space free of flames so far. His gaze went unerringly to the trunk at the foot of the bed, all its wards lit up like neon—and the pack of goddamn bitey pixies trying to pick the lock.
“Oh, don’t even think about it,” Wade growled. He exhaled a searing burst of dragon flame that skimmed over the top of the trunk, sending some pixies scattering while catching others dead-on. They burned to ash in a flash, and the surviving ones shrieked furiously at him as they dive-bombed his head.
Wade spat out smaller bursts of flame as he approached the trunk, picking off pixies that were worse than mosquitos. One ofthe last ones flying came directly at his face. Wade went cross-eyed trying to track it, but instead of immediately burning the pixie, he snatched it out of the air with one hand, holding it in a grip that was just a shade up from crushing the tiny fae.
Wade brought it up to eye level as he knelt in front of the trunk. “Did Niall send you?”
The pixie said something in a tiny voice, and Wade’s brain squeezed out the meaning after a second. “This isn’t mortal business!”
Wade snorted. “Do I look like a mortal to you?”
The pixie’s impossibly tiny eyes glared back at him, and Wade let his eyes change color, vision altering a little as his pupils became shaped like a reptile’s. The pixie gasped, tiny little feet kicking beneath his fist, shrieking fiercely. Well, he couldn’t let them go and report back to Niall. And really, they were the enemy. So he didn’t feel too bad about spitting fire at the pixie and shaking the ash off his hand.
With the pixies taken care of, Wade turned his attention to the spelled trunk. All the wards on it and beneath it that kept it anchored to the ground were furiously reacting to the threat of the burning house. While he thought the selkies must have a fireproofing spell on it, he wasn’t willing to bet on it.
He gripped the lock in one hand, fingers curled around it, and shifted more mass to bring up his talons. The floor creaked beneath him as a little more mass than he wanted seeped through. He hastily shoved that sense of self back. Magic swirled around the trunk in brilliant colors, the spells on it lashing out. The magic tickled when it hit harmlessly against him, all its power useless in the face of the intrinsic nature of a dragon.
Wade sliced his talons through the lock, wrenching it free of the wood. He winced as the spells went haywire, but there was nothing to be done for it. He yanked the lid open and peered down into the trunk. The wards inside were still activated, anet of magic tangled over a pair of soft brown sealskins. Wade reached for them, hands easily passing through the magic, and he gripped both to pull them out.
“Oh,” he said, staring at the sealskin. “They’re warm.”
He knew immediately which one was Donal’s and which one was Riordan’s just by smell, even through the smoke. As much as he wanted to bury his nose in Riordan’s sealskin, right now wasn’t the time. Wade folded them up small and hugged them to his chest with one arm. He looked over his shoulder at the smoke-filled hallway and figured the front of the building was probably not the best way to leave. He stood, eyeing the window that looked out on a small backyard.
Wade hurried over to it, picking up the nightstand by the bed along the way with his free hand. He tossed the nightstand through the window, shattering the glass, and followed after it into open air. He didn’t shift mass, just let himself fall to the ground, landing with an “Oof!”
He nearly face-planted, catching himself with his free hand on the grassy ground. Shaking his head, Wade coughed out a plume of smoke before scrambling to his feet. No firefighters had made it to the backyard yet, so he raced for the nearest fence and vaulted over it, clearing it by inches. He did it a couple of more times until he was several houses down the street, hopefully near where the others were waiting.
Cutting down the alley between two homes, he undid the latch on a wooden gate and stepped onto the sidewalk. The street was still cordoned off and full of first responders. He scanned the area, finally getting eyes on Riordan and the others. They’d been moved across the street closer to the corner. He jogged over to meet them, waving his free hand to catch their attention.
“Wade!” Riordan called out, hurrying to meet him halfway.
“I found them!” Wade said.
Riordan didn’t reach for his sealskin though. Instead, Wade got pulled in close by his hips and was soundly kissed, right in the middle of the street. He closed his eyes, parting his lips on a soft gasp before Riordan took advantage, and Wade was all for it. He leaned into the kiss, drinking in the taste of the other man. Ever since that moment on the Harborwalk when he’d received what he’d tell his therapist was his firstrealkiss, Wade had been wanting more of them.
Riordan broke the kiss, holding Wade at arm’s length, gaze flicking over his face and down his body worriedly. “Are you all right?”
Wade smiled at him. “Fire doesn’t bother me.”
Riordan snorted out a disbelieving laugh and shook his head. “I can see that.”
Donal and Saoirse hurried over, and Wade juggled the sealskins in his arms until he shook out Donal’s. He handed it to the other man, who took it with an odd look. “Here you go. I had to break into the trunk to get them, and I think that ruined the spells. Some pixies got there first, though, and were trying to get inside it.”
He couldn’t help but look past Donal at Lady Caith, who stared back at him unafraid. “The pixies who serve me would never trespass in such a way.”
“Somehow, I don’t believe that.” Wade shook out Riordan’s sealskin and passed it over to him. “This is yours.”
Riordan opened his mouth, then quickly snapped it shut. He took the sealskin with both hands and held it rather than turn it into a jacket to put it on. “I—thank you.”
“I’m sorry about your house.”
Riordan managed a tight little smile and finally shook his skin out into the familiar leather jacket he’d been wearing since Wade had met him. He shrugged it on, gaze moving past Wadeto the still-burning house, a mournful expression crossing his face. “We’re all safe. That’s what matters.”
