Kiss of Fury

  Donovan gave her a skeptical look. “Are you telling me that Barbarella isn’t an art flick just because you don’t want to look at Jane Fonda?”

  “It’s not my fault I’m heterosexual,” Alex said, and Donovan looked startled. “We’re not talking about my fave movie. We’re talking about your top five and that’s only four.”

  “Babel,” he admitted, watching her avidly.

  “Brad Pitt.” Alex caught herself when Donovan gave her a grim look. “And some pretty deep stuff in that plot, too.”

  “I liked the way the different stories wove together. You couldn’t just forget it.” Donovan glanced at her and smiled. “Okay, what about you?”

  “Easy. It’s a Wonderful Life.” She laughed when he blinked in astonishment. “And no, it’s not Jimmy Stewart. I’m just a sucker for a happy ending.”

  Would their story have a happy ending? Alex hoped so. They stared at each other for a long moment and she wondered what Donovan was thinking. The sunlight that pierced the room took on an extra sparkle and the bathroom heated an increment more.

  “Tell me what happened to Mark,” Donovan urged finally.

  Alex swallowed and looked away. She fiddled with the comb on the counter, needing something to do with her hands. “They tortured him.” She blinked back unexpected tears and was surprised to hear her voice turn husky. Donovan just waited for her to tell the story the way she wanted and she appreciated that.

  “They burned his fingers to cinders, one at a time. Then they started on his toes.” Alex took an unsteady breath, then looked straight at Donovan, letting him see her horror. “Then they cut him open and ate him, one bite at a time.” Her mind nearly stalled on the memory. “He was still alive.”

  Donovan scowled. “Who was it?”

  “Boris and Tyson.” Alex squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she could drive the sight, the sound, and the smell of that night out of her thoughts. Her stomach churned at the memory. “I couldn’t do anything to help him, not against two fire-breathing dragons. They didn’t know I was there—”

  Donovan interrupted her flatly. “They knew you were there.” Alex glanced up to find his gaze locked upon her. His expression was grim. “The show was for you, Alex.”

  “You mean it was my fault?”

  “No!” He crossed the room with two long strides and caught her into a tight hug. “They would have done it anyway, but they wanted to frighten you. They ensured that you saw it.”

  “It worked.” Alex swallowed.

  She couldn’t imagine how horrible it would be to be eaten alive.

  “He didn’t tell them anything,” she said, shaking her head in wonder. She’d always thought that Mark was a bit soft, but when it got right down to it, he’d been tough. “He didn’t tell them about the extra prototype. He didn’t tell them about the backup disks. He didn’t tell them about the investor meeting or where I was.”

  “He protected you,” Donovan said gently.

  “He protected the Green Machine. He loved it as much as I did.”

  Donovan smiled down at her. “Maybe he also loved you.” Alex didn’t want to think about that. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat and failed. She knew that her decision to end their relationship hadn’t been easy for Mark. She knew that he had still been smitten with her, and it had been difficult to continue to work together. She’d hoped that over time, as it became easier, he had gotten over her in the name of the greater good.

  But Donovan was right. She leaned into his caress and acknowledged it. She’d still caught Mark looking at her sometimes with that light in his eyes. She’d still felt guilty about her inability to reciprocate his feelings.

  And now she felt guilty that she hadn’t been able to help him.

  Donovan seemed to understand what she couldn’t express and Alex was glad. She turned into his embrace and let him hold her close.

  Then she cried. Alex cried for Mark as she had never cried for anything or anyone. Donovan just let her weep. He understood that she didn’t need to hear platitudes or reassurances.

  “I didn’t make a sound,” she admitted finally. “I was so afraid and he was so brave. I just stood and watched. I heard them laugh, and I watched him die.”

  Donovan pressed a kiss to her temple. “You couldn’t have stopped them. If you’d tried, they would have just killed you, too. Then where would the Green Machine have been?”

  Alex pulled back and wiped the tears from her cheeks with shaking fingers. “I have to make it work. I can’t let Mark down a third time.”

  “You won’t.” Donovan gripped her shoulders in his hands. “You won’t, Alex. I’ll keep the dragons away and you’ll make the prototype work.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  His grin widened, making him look like trouble. “I thought you were the one who didn’t take no for an answer.”

  He was right again.

  Donovan was good for her, and Alex had a feeling that she was good for him. She knew with sudden clarity then what she wanted most of all.

  She wanted to be with Donovan Shea for the duration.

  But he said he was determined to ride solo and Alex Madison never begged. She’d take what he offered and enjoy every bit of it, knowing all the while that he’d be leaving in February.

  She considered him, hard and huge again, and smiled. Maybe breakfast could wait a few minutes. There were condoms in the vanity and Alex snagged another one, wagging it at Donovan.

  He caught her close and kissed her deeply. Then there was nothing but the firestorm once more.

  Chapter 16

  Donovan followed Alex downstairs, weighing his options. Rafferty was on the couch in front of the fire. He looked for all the world as if he were asleep, but Donovan knew better.

  Did Alex?

  On the far side of the room, Sara was working at a computer, her features illuminated by the reflection of the screen. She glanced up and briefly smiled, then returned to her task. Alex crossed the room to her discarded leather jacket.

  Donovan was startled by Rafferty’s old-speak.

  “Erik and Sloane are gone,” his mentor murmured. “Erik had a premonition. Slayers at Alex’s brother’s home.”

  Donovan flicked a glance at Alex, knowing she couldn’t hear their conversation. She was stacking CDs on an end table with purpose, apparently sorting them as she removed them from the pockets. “Are they all right?”

  “No word yet. Erik warned Niall in advance. They haven’t called for help.”

  “Didn’t Niall breathe smoke?”

  “I’d expect so.” Rafferty stirred then, opening his eyes and smiling at Alex as if he’d just awakened. “Don’t tell her,” he concluded as he stretched. Donovan wasn’t arguing with that.

  Alex had enough on her mind.

  “Is it morning?” Rafferty asked aloud. He sounded sleepy and relaxed, the way he always did. “It’s hard to tell the time with the shutters drawn.”

  Alex fingered her disks, counting them, then dug in the pockets once more. She pulled one out of a pocket she’d missed with visible relief and wagged it at Rafferty.

  “It’s still before dawn,” she said. “But I’d like to get the Green Machine running as soon as possible.”

  “Anything we can do to help?” Rafferty asked.

  “We have to get it out of the boathouse,” Donovan said.

  Alex nodded. “I have the schematics and Mark’s notes. There were a lot of modifications made to the newer version and I’d like to integrate as many of them as possible.”

  “Do you need this computer?” Sara asked. “I’m done.”

  “Checking your e-mail?” Donovan teased.

  “Looking up a reference,” Sara replied without smiling, but Donovan had other things on his mind.

  “We’ll get the Green Machine into the garage first,” he said to Alex. He turned to Rafferty, who seemed to be distracted. “Is Quinn awake yet?” When Rafferty didn’t answer, he nudged the older Pyr as if teasing him.
“Hello, Rafferty! Wake up.”

  Alex smiled. “He fell back asleep, maybe.”

  Rafferty shook himself and frowned, then straightened. “Sorry to be rude,” he said, smiling an apology at Alex. “I thought I heard something,” he added in old-speak.

  Donovan was immediately concerned. “Like what?”

  “Something moving in the earth.” The two Pyrs’ gazes met for a charged moment and Donovan was aware of Sara watching the exchange. Alex seemed to be oblivious.

  “Things move in the earth all the time,” Donovan replied.

  “Not like this.”

  “What was it?”

  Rafferty shrugged and averted his gaze. A chill slid down Donovan’s spine. What had Rafferty heard?

  Rafferty turned to Alex as if forcing himself awake. “I’m good at scavenger hunts and brute labor,” he said to her, and she was again reassured by his confidence. “You have one willing volunteer.”

  “Two,” Donovan added.

  “Thanks. It’ll be easier to get the Green Machine down when there’s a bit more light. Let me just load up these docs for reference now, and we can take the laptop out to the garage.”

  Alex headed for the laptop, pulled up a chair, and set to work. Sara sorted the documents she’d printed. Rafferty went to stand behind Alex, as emphatic a signal as possible that he wasn’t going to tell Donovan any more.

  It was clear that Rafferty knew what it was, and just as clear that he didn’t intend to share the information. It must be a threat to Alex for Rafferty to be keeping the news from Donovan, and Donovan didn’t like that realization one bit.

  “Tell me,” he urged Rafferty in old-speak.

  The older Pyr shook his head minutely, his gaze dancing over the notes Alex was making at lightning speed. “Not yet.”

  Impatience surged through Donovan. Then when?

  Alex was pretty sure she was missing something.

  Something important.

  Rafferty and Donovan were doing a lot of old-speak. She saw Donovan shove his hands in his pockets. They were arguing, she was sure of it, and she wondered what the argument was about.

  She looked up to find Rafferty watching her closely. There were sympathy and understanding in the older Pyr’s gaze. On impulse, Alex asked him a question. “Are you the same Rafferty who helped Donovan fight Magnus?”

  “Yes. How did you know that?”

  “The Wyvern showed me the whole battle. It was on the television while Donovan was passed out.” Alex frowned at the computer display, seeking Mark’s part list for his last engine upgrade.

  “Why would she do that?” Rafferty asked in the tone of someone who knew the answer to his own question.

  Alex reasoned it out aloud, feeling Sara’s gaze on her, too. “I thought she was telling me that Donovan was emotionally unavailable, because he loved Olivia,” she said slowly.

  “Excuse me?” Donovan interrupted. “Do we have to talk about this?” Alex knew he wasn’t happy having his past be the topic of discussion.

  But Rafferty was right—the Wyvern must have had a point.

  Alex realized that she wasn’t sure what it was.

  “Of course we have to talk about it,” Sara said with a smile. “The firestorm leaves no stones uncovered.”

  Donovan spun away to pace the room.

  Rafferty smiled, keeping his attention on Alex. “But now you know she wasn’t?”

  “Right.” Alex drummed her fingertips on the desktop, reviewing the movielike vision and thinking. She watched Donovan, aware of the sizzle of heat between them. It was amazing how it waxed and waned, depending on the physical distance between them. It never went away completely, but proximity made it burn hotter.

  Or made Alex burn hotter.

  Funny how sex hadn’t diminished the firestorm’s force after all. Did it require a conception to be dimmed?

  That it would keep escalating until there was a conception made more sense to Alex than the myth that conception happened the first time, every time.

  She still wasn’t ready to get pregnant, though.

  “It must have been about the Pyr being vulnerable where they lose scales,” she mused. “Because that was what I needed to know.”

  “Alex shot Tyson right in the spot where he was missing a scale,” Donovan said with pride as he turned to face them.

  “So you defeated him together.” Rafferty nodded, his manner watchful and patient.

  “Yes,” Donovan agreed.

  “Like a team,” Alex said, and felt the glow of Donovan’s approval. She knew from Rafferty’s attentiveness that she was missing another point.

  “Or it was about the Dragon’s Tooth,” she said. “And its history.”

  Sara’s eyes lit. “Isn’t that the pearl Quinn embedded in your chest, to patch your own missing scale?”

  “That’s it.” Donovan dug in his pocket.

  “Delaney tore it free,” Alex said. “It’s not attached anymore.”

  “That shouldn’t have happened,” Sara said with concern.

  “Quinn’s patch hasn’t moved at all and you were at his studio in your firestorm.”

  “Maybe it’s more than that. Maybe a Pyr’s destined mate needs to be part of his healing for it to be permanent,” Rafferty suggested.

  Donovan pulled the two scales from his pocket and the other three caught their breath in unison.

  The lapis lazuli scale was vivid blue against his hand, almost as broad as his palm. Rimmed in gold, it looked even more like a piece of jewelry. The scale Quinn had made of wrought iron mounted with the Dragon’s Tooth leaned against it, the gleam of the big jagged pearl contrasting with the blue scale.

  Alex thought they were awed by the pearl, which was impressive, but they seemed to be looking intently at the blue scale.

  Donovan’s own scale.

  Rafferty stretched out a fingertip. Alex thought he was going to touch the pearl, but his finger landed on the blue scale first.

  She heard that rumble of old-speak and saw Donovan’s impatience.

  “Collateral damage,” he said with irritation, and Rafferty hid a smile. “Delaney ripped the Dragon’s Tooth free. It wouldn’t have come off if he hadn’t attacked it.”

  “He wanted it,” Alex said.

  “Of course,” Sara said with a nod. Alex assumed she was referring to the gem’s value.

  Rafferty caressed it with a single fingertip. “It’s no wonder Olivia wanted it at any price. It’s beautiful and large.”

  “It’s more than that,” Sara said. “I’ll bet it’s really a dragon’s tooth, one from the story of Cadmus.”

  “Who?” Donovan asked, looking as confused as Alex felt. “What?”

  “The oldest extant story about dragons is the Greek story of Cadmus . . . ,” Sara began. Then Quinn appeared at the top of the stairs.

  “You had another dream, didn’t you?” he said to Sara. “I felt you leave.”

  “It was so vivid,” Sara said. “I knew it was important. It was about the Dragon’s Tooth, this pearl.”

  “But wait—a tooth isn’t a pearl,” Alex argued.

  “An oyster will build a pearl out of anything,” Sara told her. “I just looked it up. A round pearl is a grain of sand that has many coatings on it. People have put other things into oysters over the centuries to get that finish on them.”

  “You’d have to keep track of the oyster,” Rafferty noted.

  “They don’t move very fast,” Quinn joked. “Did anyone make coffee?”

  “What difference does it make whether it’s really a dragon tooth or not?” Donovan demanded. “It’s a pearl, a pearl named the Dragon’s Tooth for its shape. That’s all.”

  Sara put out her hand. “Give it to me.”

  Donovan took a step back, closing his fingers over the two scales. “It’s mine.”

  “It’s the key,” Sara said with authority.

  “What key?” Donovan asked.

  Alex remembered what the Wyvern had told her, as
clearly as if she’d just heard it. She repeated the verse carefully, watching Rafferty’s smile broaden.Elements four disguise weapons three,

  Revealed if passion harnesses fury.

  The Wizard can work her alchemy

  Only with the Warrior’s lost key.

  Transformation in the firestorm’s might,

  Will forge a foretold force for right.

  Warrior, Wizard and Pyr army

  Shall lead the world to victory.

  “Well done,” Rafferty said with approval. He gestured to Sara. “Tell us the story.”

  “Coffee,” Alex said. “We need to multitask if we’re going to get everything done in time.”

  “Alex is right,” Donovan agreed. “We don’t have time to sit and tell stories to each other.”

  “It’s not just a story,” Sara said firmly. “It’s something we need to know to make a plan.”

  “Oscar!” Alex addressed the smart house. “What’s in the freezer that we can eat quickly?”

  Sara made breakfast while Donovan and Rafferty and Quinn accompanied Alex to the boathouse. Donovan was pretty sure they could get the car down and move it by the time the coffee was made. The Pyr stepped into the conservatory, and Alex fixed her gaze on the front door as she walked with them.

  “Don’t want to check out Tyson?” Donovan teased, knowing what she feared. He also knew she had no cause for concern.

  “The only good Slayer is a dead Slayer,” Quinn agreed, a thread of humor in his tone.

  “I still don’t want to look,” Alex insisted.

  Donovan clucked and she laughed.

  “I am not a chicken!”

  “I know. That’s why it’s funny to see you act like one.”

  Her eyes flashed. “You can’t make me look. He’s probably all bloated. . . .” She shuddered.

  “No, he isn’t,” Rafferty said.

  “There’s nothing to see, anyway,” Quinn agreed.

  “Right!” Alex was halfway down the conservatory. “Nothing but a corpse in the lap pool that I have no idea how to get rid of. Peter is going to kill me.”

  “Then he’ll have a body to dispose of.”

  “Two,” Alex corrected.

  “Just one.”

  Alex faced Donovan. There was trepidation in her eyes as well as confusion. “You’re not making any sense.”