Donna Grant - Fire Rising

She met Banan’s gray eyes. “Watch whoever that female is, because that Dark Fae won’t give up so easily if he truly wants her.”

“Damn,” Ryder mumbled and walked out of the house.

Banan’s mouth tightened. “As I thought.”

“You’re dismissed,” Con said from directly behind her.

Rhi whirled around and raised a brow at him. “Do you think there will ever come a time you’ll stop being such a prick? Wait. I know the answer. No.”

She teleported out before she let her fist connect with his smug face.

Sammi didn’t stop walking until the sun began to set. With the growing darkness she remembered all too vividly why she wasn’t an outdoorsy kind of girl.

She absolutely hated bugs and all the creepy-crawly things that seemed to come out in the night. Then there were the unknown sounds that kept her wondering what was going to jump out at her the minute she closed her eyes.

“If only you could see me now, Mum,” she whispered and lowered herself to sit against a tree.

She might prefer a nice, warm bed, running water, and toilets, but she was prepared to live without them in order to stay alive.

Not even as a child had she been afraid of the dark, but that was quickly changing. The snap of a twig behind her had her jerking around and peering into the growing shadows.

The only sounds she did recognize were the hoot of an owl and the screech of a fox, and even then it seemed much scarier out in the wild alone in the dark.

Sammi opened her purse and took out a bottle of water and a bag of pretzels. It wasn’t exactly a fine dining experience, but it was food.

The crackle of the cellophane seemed abnormally loud and caused the creatures of the night to be silent for a few moments. If she thought the sounds were scary, the silence was terrifying.

Sammi didn’t breathe a sigh of a relief until the sounds returned once more. She finished her pretzels and drank half the bottle of water before her eyes began to grow heavy.

Knowing she wasn’t going to get much in the way of sleep, she settled more comfortably against the tree and tried to rest.

Cork, Ireland

Kiril stood in his back garden and looked at the night sky. He desperately wanted to take flight, but he was being watched by the Dark Fae. They suspected he was a Dragon King.

Most Dark Fae had no clue what a King looked like in human form, which played to his advantage. On the other hand, many of the Dark knew certain Kings in dragon form after the Fae Wars.

Kiril had killed his share of Dark, and he was prepared to do it again. The recent skirmish had only whetted his appetite to take out more of the vile beings.

There was nothing good about a Dark Fae. They preyed upon everything and everyone and expected no repercussions. He was going to be the one to bring down fire upon the lot of them.

He swirled the amber liquid in his glass and inhaled the fragrant aroma of Dreagan scotch. At the pub he managed to get down some Irish scotch, but it lacked the artistry and love that went into making Dreagan.

Kiril went still as he sensed movement off to his right. The Dark drew closer to his house every day while he was gone. They had gotten as close as the pool today. He could smell their stench. Whatever they looked for, they wouldn’t find it.

There was nothing they would find. It was one of the main reasons he made sure not to have anything even resembling a dragon in his home. He wasn’t sure how long he would have to go without shifting, but he prayed it wasn’t too long.

Already he itched to take to the skies and soar upon the currents. His friends were counting on him as well. The union between humans and the Dark was enough that he would risk being captured by the Dark Ones.

To make matters worse, Banan had notified him by their mental link that Sammi was in trouble. Kiril had never met Jane’s sister but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t do all he could to help Banan.

Kiril took a drink of the whisky and sank into one of the wicker chairs on the patio. He straightened his legs out in front of him and crossed them at the ankles.

If he could figure out what the Dark Fae were getting out of an alliance with the humans and the Kings’ enemy, then he could determine who it was.

Kiril hoped it wasn’t Ulrik, because if it was the banished King, there was only death in Ulrik’s future.

Tristan was surprised Sammi fell asleep so quickly after watching her nearly come out of her skin from the sounds of nature around her.

He moved closer and situated himself so he could see her and anyone who might try to follow the track she had taken. After she stopped, he made a wide circle around her, scouting the area and found nothing that would cause him alarm. For the moment.

Tristan watched her as long as he dared before he stood and stripped out of his clothes. He folded them neatly and hid them among a cluster of ferns before he took off running and leapt into the sky as he shifted into dragon form.

He’d had no choice. If he remained near her he would do something foolish like try and get closer to her so he could touch her again. He still didn’t understand the growing—and overwhelming—need he had to feel her silky skin.

In two flaps of his humongous wings he was high above the mountains. Tristan circled back the way Sammi had walked and let his dragon eyes survey the area. He was both relieved no one followed her, and irritated because he really wanted to ease the ever-increasing frustration within him.

And he knew that frustration lay with a gorgeous, sandy-haired, blue-eyed temptation that had walked into his life. She was an enticing lure, an inviting compulsion.

A tantalizing invitation.

One he had been warned against.

A quick glide over the village showed nothing unusual either. With that, he turned, dipped one wing to turn around, and flew back to Sammi.

It wasn’t as if Tristan blamed Banan for cautioning him to keep his distance. Tristan might well do the same if he’d had a sister. How could he stay away from someone so beguiling, so fascinating as Sammi?

She had been in his mind since he first saw her. His body had responded swiftly, rapidly. As if it recognized Sammi.

He gave a mental shake of his head. There wasn’t time to think about all the ways he wanted to make love to Sammi when she was in such danger.

To his annoyance, he immediately thought of Ian. From one problem to another. Tristan forced his mind away from thinking of the twin he was supposed to have and focused on the issues at hand.

He had hoped to hear from Banan by now regarding what information they had gotten from the three men. Tristan wasn’t going to wait any longer. He used the mental link connecting all Dragon Kings and zeroed in on Banan’s.

“What have you found out?” he asked.

Banan’s sigh was loud, even over the mental link. “It’s no’ good.”

“Just tell me.”

“We learned nothing more than we already knew.”

“I find that hard to believe. Are you still questioning them?”

The silence was deafening. When Banan finally did answer, there was an undercurrent of anger and impatience Tristan knew all too well. “We were about to get the name of the mastermind, but just as the human was telling us, Dark Fae arrived.”

Tristan was so shocked he almost didn’t tilt to the side in time to fly between two of the mountains. “How did they know?”

“A verra good question. They knew exactly where we were.”

Tristan flew higher, his gaze never leaving the area where Sammi was. “I had a bad feeling ever since I saw that Dark One. We now know this so-called Mob after Sammi is the same group who caused the stir with Denae at MI5.”