Page 62 of Shifting the Flame

Danica. Find Danica.

His gaze darted to the iron beam where his mate hung suspended. Relief flooded through him as he spotted Caleb's blue-scaled form perched on the metal structure, working to free her from her bonds. Joni was too consumed with their battle to notice.

Hurry up, Caleb.

Asher circled Joni deliberately, keeping her attention fixed on him and away from Danica. He fought with calculated precision—not aiming to kill yet, but to subdue. He needed her confession in front of witnesses to clear Danica's name completely.

"You're outmatched, Joni!" he snarled in dragon-speak. "Yield now and save what little dignity you have left."

She answered with a vicious tail-swipe that he anticipated, leaping over it with a powerful beat of his wings. Mid-leap, he saw Caleb finally cut through Danica's bonds, catching her as she fell free.

That split-second of distraction cost him. Joni's claws connected with his side, tearing through scales, sending him sprawling across the floor. Pain lanced through him as he struggled to regain his footing.

"Asher!"

Danica's voice sliced through the cacophony of battle. She stood beside Caleb near the edge of the fray, her face streaked with dirt and tears but eyes blazing with determination.

"I love you!" The words rang clear and true, washing over him like a healing balm.

Something completely shifted within Asher—not physical but profound. The mate bond between them surged with newfound strength, filling him with purpose and clarity. He rose to his full height, his dragon form seeming to expand with newfound power.

With a deafening roar, he launched himself at Joni, every movement precise and devastating. This was no longer a battle of politics or pride—it was the wrath of a mate defending his beloved. His jaws clamped around her wing, his muscles bunching as he slammed her into the ground, pinning her beneath his superior weight.

"Confess!" His dragon voice vibrated through the mill, silencing the fighting around them. "Tell them what you did to Garron."

Joni struggled, her golden eyes wide with fear as she realized her defeat was imminent. "I—I poisoned him! I planted it at the festival. The human had nothing to do with it!"

The confession echoed across the mill, council members exchanged shocked glances as the truth finally came to light.

Joni's eyes gleamed with desperate hope. "I've confessed. Now let me?—"

Her plea died as Asher's jaws closed around her throat, severing her windpipe with one decisive bite. He released her broken body, watching as her dragon form dissolved back into human, lifeless on the floor.

The fighting stopped instantly. One by one, the disloyal dragons lowered their heads in submission, recognizing hisvictory. The wolves retreated, their Alpha backing away with grudging respect.

Asher shifted back to human form, standing tall and unashamed of his nakedness. Blood streaked his muscular torso from the wound in his side, but he paid it no attention. His eyes sought only one person.

Danica broke free from Caleb's protective stance and ran to him. Asher swept her into his arms, holding her as if she were the most precious treasure in existence.

"I love you," she repeated against his chest, her tears flowing freely.

Asher tilted her chin up, meeting her gaze with fierce intensity. "I love you, my mate. My heart. My everything."

TWENTY-FOUR

DANICA

Danica woke up to sunlight spilling in through the half-open curtains, her body deliciously sore in all the right places. She was exactly where she'd dreamed of being during those terrifying moments at the mill—wrapped in Asher's strong arms, her back against his muscular chest, and their naked bodies perfectly intertwined beneath his silken sheets.

His steady breathing warmed her neck, and she smiled, reliving fragments of their passionate night together—the desperate way he'd carried her through his front door, both of them tearing at each other's clothes before they'd even reached the stairs.

"I'm never letting you go again," he'd growled between scorching kisses, his words punctuated by actions that left no doubt about his commitment.

They'd made love with the frantic energy of people who'd nearly lost everything, then again with the tender reverence of those granted a second chance. Her body bore the delicious evidence—love bites across her neck and breasts, and the pleasant ache between her thighs.

"You're thinking too loudly," Asher murmured, his lips brushing her ear as he pulled her tighter against him.

"Just cataloging all the wonderful ways you kept me up last night." She turned in his arms to face him, tracing the dark hair along his jaw. "How's your side?"

---