Seconds before he reached the relative shelter of my back, a burst of sound blew out my eardrums. Warmth trickled down my neck. Blood. The SUV smoldered before me. Pieces that should have struck me bounced off before touching me.Us. A tongue of flames licked the ground near my feet, twitching like a cat’s tail before it lunged after a mouse.
No.
Not a cat.
Adragon.
And that…
…wasmytail.
Awareness chipped holes into my shock as enforcers rushed around me, blocking off the street.
I wasn’t sure how long I had been standing there, but my shoes had melted into the pavement, and the pain in my chest had finally winked out. Probably burnout. I was an expert in that department.
Worse, I wasn’t sure what I had done. Had I hallucinated the tail? I had stood between Rían and a bomb, and neither of us had a scratch. I couldn’t make sense of it. That I held on to my consciousness with firm hands ought to make me proud. Instead, it twisted the scene before me into surreality.
“Ana.”
That voice. I knew it. Knew them. Even with the slow healing trauma to my eardrums.
“Sloane,” I mumbled, my lips splitting.
“Let me see her.” A snarl rent the air. “Get your hands off me.”
“The pavement has melted.” Liam addressed her as he would a child. “You run out there now, and you’ll become the first exhibit in Brentwood’s own La Brea Tar Pits.”
“Rían is out there.”
“Rían is adragon.”
Rían. Rían. Rían.
Clarity snapped into place with an audible click that brought the scene into sharp focus.
“Are you back with us?” Rían spoke from behind me. “Take your time, okay?”
“I don’t…” A fine sheet of fire crackled across my skin. “What’s wrong with me?”
“Your dragon just saved both our lives.”
“I shifted?” I stared at my hands, ruby flames gleaming, and blanched. “Am I naked?”
And if so, could I please join Sloane in sinking into the tar pits?
“No.” His warmth encased my spine as he stepped closer. “You didn’t fully manifest.”
“Oh.” I swallowed to wet my parched throat. “Am I broken?”
“You’re a miracle.” He slowly linked his arms around my waist. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Or this.”
Thismeaning the gold flames sliding over my skin like shadows cast through the canopy of a tree as you walked under it, the magic allowing him to touch me without harm though the asphalt still bubbled as it cooled under my feet.
Along with the pain, the intense heat had faded until I felt like I could breathe again.
“I filmed it,” Sloane called out. “Not that I was stalking you during your romantic stroll or anything.”
Ignoring Sloane for now, I asked him, “Will Fayne know what this means?”
