Page 15 of Ashfall

Kade mutters, “He’s not after fire. He’s after exposure.”

I meet his eyes. “He wants the world to burn. Not just forests. Us.”

They fall silent. Each of us thinking the same thing: if the humans ever learn what we are—what we’ve always been—none of us will survive. Not because we’re weak, but because fear is a fire that spreads faster than any blaze we’ve ever dropped into.

Once the truth is out, they won’t see protectors. They’ll see monsters. Weapons. Threats. And then it won’t be fire we’re fighting—it’ll be extermination.

“Ember?” Kade finally asks.

“She’s not ready.”

“She’s getting there,” Rafe murmurs.

That night, I lie in my bed at the base, the dark pressing in around me like a second skin. The quiet isn't peaceful—it's weighted, pulsing with everything I’m trying not to think about.

But there’s no rest. Not tonight. Not when her presence still haunts every sense I have. I can still feel the tug of her fingers in my shirt, her grip firm and desperate. I still smell her—wild and hot, a cocktail of adrenaline, smoke, and skin that shouldn't be this intoxicating. Still hear the sound she made when I caught her, that soft, broken breath between a gasp and a moan.

It replays in my head like a looped prayer to a god I don’t believe in. And I want more of it—more of her. Too much more.

My body won’t let it go. Neither will the dragon inside me. I stir restlessly, close my eyes—and then the dream takes me.

She’s standing in the middle of fire.

Naked.

Glowing.

Flame kisses her skin, gilding and glistening it. Her hair tangles over her breasts, her thighs bare and slick with heat. Her lips part as she looks at me—not in fear, but in hunger.

I go to her.

She doesn’t step back.

I press her against the cavern wall, one hand cupping her jaw, the other trailing down to her hip. Her breath hitches as I grip her, lift her, press between her thighs.

She’s wet.

For me.

My cock is already thick and pulsing, hard with need. I sink into her, inch by inch, as she arches and moans and begs formore. She claws at my shoulders, wraps her legs around me, and rides the edge of fire like she was born for it.

She’s mine.

I mark her with teeth and tongue, claim her body in every way but one.

I don’t shift. Not yet. Not here.

But I feel the dragon in me rise, wings unfurling in the dark of my mind.

She moans my name. Her release tears through her like lightning.

I follow—spilling into her with a groan that shakes the dream to pieces.

I wake with a gasp, sweat slicking my skin.

My cock is still hard, painfully so, the sheets damp with release.

I clench my fists, driving them into the mattress beside me. Fire flares under my skin.

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