Page 5 of The Mating Fire
Before he could utter a word, several dozen colorful balloons floated in the air, conjured by a wave of Sonia’s hand. Jared sighed. He was stuck now. Bad timing, for he’d hoped to flirt further with Rockstar00. Oh well.
Only Sonia and Rockstar00 kept him from the brink of crossing over to embrace evil. The thought of something bad happening to either one made him hesitate. Worse, what if he were the one who harmed them? Lured them into a trap formed by the bonds of friendship and then ordered by the Dark Lord to destroy them?
I can never let that happen.
Sonia leaned on the edge of his gilded armrest, firelight dancing in her blue eyes. “So, who were you chatting with online?”
Though he intended to keep his online friend a secret, he trusted the little girl, the only living being he did trust. He told her about Rockstar00.
“Cool.” Sonia produced a slim cell phone and began scrolling. “Is she on YouTube or Tiktok?”
“I doubt it.” Though in his scrolling through Tiktok late at night when he wasn’t on the birding group online, he perused only cooking vids and the occasional posting by a lower-level demon who liked to post professional vids of his pet Corgi, Mr. Wiggle Butt, and Wiggle Butt’s naughty exploits.
Hellhounds had nothing on Mr. Wiggle Butt.
Holding out her phone, Sonia pointed to the screen. “Easy to find her. She doesn’t have a lot of vids, but some nice ones of birds.”
Taking the phone into his claws, he examined the video, hoping for her voice, perhaps a glimpse of his friend. But no, the vids were only of the backyard birds she admired, and the wading birds she’d seen in Florida’s wetlands. No narration either, only text.
Jared handed back the phone, careful not to let his claws touch the girl’s soft fingers. He didn’t like letting his ugly body having the slightest physical contact with Sonia, though she was never afraid of him. Still, she was sweet, innocent and he was, well, a nasty beast.
Sonia waved a hand and her phone vanished. “C’mon, let’s play!”
She ran to the hall’s far side and tossed a balloon at him, then conjured a pointed stick. Jared heaved himself off the chair and batted the balloon back with the tip of his forked tail. It burst.
“Sonia, one, Jared zip!” she called out.
Jared batted another balloon at Sonia, who squealed with delight and bounced it back with the tip of her stick.
But the curse dragged at him more and more, coaxing him down into the darkness of evil, his thoughts growing more despondent and dangerous. He was running out of time. In three weeks, if he didn’t find his soul mate to profess her undying love to him while he looked like a child’s nightmare, he’d be cursed to remain like this forever.
Not that he believed in soul mates.
Not really.
Chapter 3
Until recently, science always held the answers for Harper.
The lab where she worked in the International College of Science, Miami, was a refuge. Here she could lose herself and all her concerns in the process of uncloaking the earth’s secrets.
The lab was dedicated to exploring geological wonders that shaped the world around them. Before her, a computer screen displayed intricate maps and graphs, capturing the raw power of the earth's inner workings.
Normally, such displays got her heart racing with excitement and her mind entertaining possibilities.
Her passion for the past few years had been for rocks and magma, and now suddenly Harper found herself daydreaming about the mysterious, handsome man in her dreams.
Not that she recalled his face, or even his body. Only the fiery pleasure he delivered in her dreams as he whispered words of love to her, and stroked her bare skin to the heights of erotic release.
Closing her eyes, she remembered his warm mouth trailing kisses across her throat, his long fingers caressing her bare thigh and drifting upward as she writhed in abject need…
Heat suffused her face as her eyes flew open.
“Sheesh.” She glanced around, glad she was alone. Having an orgasm in the middle of work was definitely NOT listed as a skillset necessary for the job.
“Stop it,” she muttered aloud. “Get back to work or you’ll never get this done in time for tonight’s date.”
The internet date wasn’t something she eagerly anticipated, but she needed to socialize with someone other than her bestie, Char. Harper felt a pressing need to find someone special. Ever since she had the recurring dream in which she had a soulmate, she had a sense someone waited for her. The theory was ludicrous because after growing up with parents who liked to fight more than love each other, she didn’t exactly believe in true love.
