She padded over to Ronin, flames flickering as she wove around smoldering chunks of flesh and chipped scales, then banked the fire away from her face.
Heat kissed his knuckles as he reached for her, his ribs screaming in protest. She nuzzled his hand, her nose wet and surprisingly cool.
“Mireille?”
He’d never seen anything like her.
Inside of him, his wolf bowed down and rolled onto his back. Submissive. He’d never done that foranyone.
The she-wolf’s silver eyes glittered with fierce pride. A look which Ronin returned before the beast transformed, and Mireille, in humanoid form, crashed onto the ground next to him, panting. Curling tendrils of smoke rose from her naked skin.
Ronin gathered her into his arms, his own pain be damned.
Layla and a handful of the guests gathered on the stones of the ruined manor entrance, gaping.
Ronin stripped off his shirt, offering it to Mireille.
“That’s never…” she croaked “…happened before.”
“What, love?” Ronin asked, stroking her cheek.
“Clothes disappearing?” Her eyes were closed as she rested her head against his shoulder. Her skin was scorching, the falling snowflakes melting upon contact.
Ronin chuckled. “Most Beastrunners aren’t on fire. I think you burned them off.”
She laughed.
It was the most glorious sound in the world.
“What the fuck happened inside the snake?”
Something soft and sad crept through Mireille’s eyes. “I went to the Halfway, saw my father there. He showed me a vision of someone I’m supposed to meet in the future. I think… I think whoever she is, she gave me the courage to believe the words.”
“What words?”
“I am one with my power. And I am enough.”
Ronin’s brows rose. “The words from?—”
“Mattias’s dream. The ones Larissa said to him.”
Ronin blinked slowly. “They activated his fire magic.”
Mireille nodded, then looked at him, truly looked at him, for the first time since she’d burst out of the snake. “Your tattoos aren’t glowing anymore.”
Ronin shook his head. “My wolf came out.”
“How?” she asked breathlessly.
“I… I’m not sure. I think seeing you die—well, at least Ithoughtyou were dead, never been happier to be wrong about something in my entire life—it made him so furious that he was able to break through his bonds.”
Layla approached, her feet crunching through the gravel. She crouched beside them, her black and white hair in disarray and her eyes filled with awe.
“You two are a sight to behold. Did you know you had fire magic? And that it would turn you into a flaming wolf?” she asked Mireille.
“If I had, I might have tried to access it sooner,” Mireille said with a soft chuckle.
Ronin surveyed the carnage, the chunks of burning flesh, the exploded entrance of the manor. Otto’s human staff were milling around, dazed yet aware. Reawakened from whatever spells Otto had been using to control them.
