Page 21 of The Mating Fire
Steam broiled up from the fumaroles. In the distance she heard a horrible sound, the cackling of something nasty and otherworldly. The steam cleared and she glimpsed a being rising from the rocky ground about one hundred yards away. It glowed red, the stuff of nightmares, and its features were misshapen.
Twisted.
Harper screamed again. “Leave me alone!
Chapter 9
“Y
ou left her down there? Alone?”
Jared stared at Xavier and a petite woman he instinctively knew was the wizard’s mate. “Are you fucking nuts?”
Xavier took his mate’s hand. “Far from it. Harper needs to come into her powers alone. The blue fire ignited them fully. Now we cannot be there to influence her in any way. We wizards are forbidden.”
“Do you know what the hell will happen? SaqraYazezwill sense all that magick, all her power, and try to destroy her by siphoning it all out from herself. Harper doesn’t know how to defend herself, for fuck’s sake! She’s probably alone and terrified. How the hell can she defend herself against a tenth level demon?”
Jared bunched his fists, though his claws dug into his palms. From the tips of his horns to his ugly cloven feet, he shook with rage.
Xavier shrugged. “I told you, we’re forbidden from helping, or hurting, her. You’re so concerned, you go to her.”
“I can’t. Not looking like this. I’ll terrify her more than SaqraYazez.”
“Pity,” Xavier said softly. “Guess she’ll have to learn to defend herself faster than normal.”
Jared opened his mouth and bellowed. Rocks tumbled down the hillside to the crater below. Ciara winced. Xavier put a protective arm around his mate.
“Come, my love. The northern lights are spectacular tonight and no better place for a picnic and making love under the stars than Alaska.”
With a wave of his hand, the wizard vanished.
Alone once more. Jared peered down into the crater and saw a glowing red figure.
Shit.
SaqraYazezhad arisen. Harper’s magick must be more powerful than he realized, if she had awakened the demon this quickly.
Jared stretched out his hands, with their razor-sharp claws, his dark fur-covered arms. He glanced down at his goat legs with the cloven feet and the leather loincloth he wore for modesty.
I am hideous.
A scream echoed below, bouncing off the volcano walls.
I am hideous, but she’s in trouble.
Cursing the wizards, he dematerialized to the mining area, where he knew the demon slept.
Harper shrank back as SaqraYazezhovered in the distance.Got a little time, he isn’t fully awakened yet, like a mortal coming out of a coma.
But not much time.
He thought fast. Jared dematerialized before the wall of blue flames, so he remained in shadow, silhouetted by the fire. Harper seemed to sense him, for she turned away from the lurking vision of SaqraYazez back to him.
“You need to get the hell out of here,” he said in a guttural voice.
Damn, why did he always sound like a beast in this form?
Because you are one.
