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I just downed a big glass of water, but my lungs are still burning. My whole chest is on fire.
Every breath is like I’m back at the house, breathing in the flames.
I’ve had lung and throat damage before from getting too close to a fire, but my shifter healing has always made quick work of it. Maybe I’m getting too fucking old for this…
But I don’t feel old. I’m only fifty-four and I can still keep up with any of those guys out there, even Westin and Rylan who are nearly half my age. I’m stronger than the two of them put together.
I clear my throat and cough as my polar bear goes nuts inside me. He’s flipping out and racing around, snarling and growling at me to do something.
I am doing something, I tell him. I’m doing the accounting so shut the fuck up.
I cough and swallow as I turn back to the papers, trying to focus. He bounds forward and I clench my body and tighten my jaw as I struggle to fight him back.
What the fuck has gotten into him all of a sudden? I just took him out yesterday.
He sulks back down after an intense struggle, but I can tell he’s not done trying. He wants out badly.
I can feel his desperate need. The fierce yearning. He wants her.
I just shake my head as I stare at the blurry words on the paper on my desk. There is no her.
Our girl doesn’t exist. She’ll probably never exist.
It’s easier to think that than to think the alternative—that she’s out there in this scary world where anyone can just take her.
My body shudders as I try to force out the horrible thought. It would be impossible to do anything if I knew she was alone out there where any man could talk to her or touch her. That thought makes my skin crawl.
“Stop it,” I whisper to him as he claws out my insides. “We’re not going to find her.”
And just like that, she walks in.
My mouth falls open as recognition hits me like a slap across the face. I know it’s her immediately.
It’s like a switch is flicked on in my soul. It’s like looking in the mirror for the first time and immediately knowing the person looking back at you is not just anyone.
This woman is special. She’s the one.
I drop the pen and slowly move my hands onto my lap as I sit up straight. I don’t know what to do. My body feels so awkward as I stare at her in awe.
I’ve pictured this moment a million times over the years. In some dreams, I run to her and pick her up, in some I kiss her, in some I tell her how much I love her and have yearned for her, but in none of them have I sat and stared with my mouth hanging open like a complete and utter dope.
But for some reason, it’s all I can do.
“Are you the chief?” she asks in a voice that is pure heaven to my ears.
Even my bear is stunned. He hasn’t moved since we spotted her. He went from raging and raving to stoic and still in the blink of an eye.
“Sir,” she says as she stops in the doorway. “Are you the fire chief?”
I quickly look her over as my body tingles. She’s fucking stunning.
Big hips and small breasts covered by a pantsuit. Jacket thrown over her arm. Her brown hair goes just past her chin and it looks so damn soft that it’s making me wince. I could stare at her face for hours. Her round cheeks and pouty lips, her adorable chin and fierce brown eyes. I want to study it all for hours, for days, for years, for decades.
I’m finally able to close my mouth and a tentative smile slowly builds on my face as I realize that I’ll be able to do just that.
I found my mate and I am never going to let her go. She’s mine now. She belongs to me.
My bear regains his composure as well and he starts pacing around anxiously.
Mark her.
Claim her.
Do it!
He’s urging me to complete the mating and make her ours. He’s begging me. He’s screaming at me.
But there’s more to this than a polar bear can understand, so I tell him to shut up instead.
“Helllooooo,” she says as she waves her hand. “Are. You. The. Fire. Chief?”
God, she must think I’m such an idiot. Especially since I can’t wipe this huge grin off my face.
“Yes,” I say as I stand up and offer my hand. “Blake Frost.”
Her soft hand slides into mine and my legs buckle. I release her with a groan and fall back into my chair.
She’s looking at me with a mix of awe and suspicion as she takes a seat in front of my desk. I can tell that she feels something as well.
It may not be as intense as what I’m feeling, but it’s there. I can see it in her gorgeous brown eyes.
“I have some questions for you, Mr. Frost,” she says as she pulls a file out of her bag.
My eyes are focused on her lips as she talks. The glimpses of her white teeth and pink tongue are giving me a fluttery feeling in my stomach.
“Please call me Blake.”
She just ignores me.
“What do you know about these men?” She tosses three pictures onto my desk and it causes me physical pain to pry my eyes off of her to look at them.
The warmth circling through me starts to go cold as I stare at the men who have given my crew a lot of trouble over the past year and a half.
“Who are you?” I ask her with my pulse racing.
“I work for the FBI,” she says as she raises her chin in pride. “My name is Agent Lily Burks.”
“Lily,” I whisper under my breath.
“You can call me Agent Burks,” she says in a firm voice.
I shake my head. This is all wrong. She can’t be in the FBI. It’s much too dangerous and she’s way too precious. A possessive urge to pick her up and lock her away in my bedroom tries to take over.
“What do you know about these men?” she repeats.
I look down at the photos and feign ignorance. “Not sure. Is this guy from that new action movie?” I ask, playing dumb as I pick up Sperling’s photo.
“No,” she says with narrowed eyes. She doesn’t look happy. “But he was last seen flying through the roof of your firehouse in his dragon form.”
My mouth goes dry as a horrible pit forms in the bottom of my stomach. She’s chasing dragons. My mate is going after this dangerous man. This is unacceptable. I can’t have that.
“Does that ring a bell?” she asks as she studies my face closely.
She doesn’t need any of her fancy FBI training. I’m an open book right now. I couldn’t hide my emotions from my mate even if I wanted to.
“You can’t go after Sperling,” I say in a desperate tone.
“Oh, so you do know him?”
I shake my head, desperate for her to see. “He’s dangerous. I can’t allow you to take that kind of risk.”
She’s my mate and my territory now even if she doesn’t realize it.
And she doesn’t realize it.
“I am an Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” she snaps in a wicked tone. “I can go wherever I chose. Do you understand me?”
“You’re more than that,” I say with a wince. “It would kill me if something happened to you.”
Her anger fades as she starts to look at me funny. I’m not making any sense to her.
“I appreciate your concern,” she says as she points back to the photos. “But you can let me worry about my own safety. Which of these three men do you know?”
I swallow hard. I’d give her my life. I can give her a few of the answers that she’s looking for.
“All of them.”
Her big hips wiggle in her chair as she straightens. “How do you know them?”
“From around.”
“From around what?”
I take a deep breath and lean back into my chair.
“I know that Sperling Kirk was here,” she says as she stares into my eyes. “I know there was fighting.” She looks at my arms then my chest and swallows hard. “Are you a dragon shifter as well?”
This is not
something I normally offer up to strangers, but she’s my mate. She’ll know eventually.
“Polar bear.”
“Oh,” she says with her cheeks flushing pink. For the first time, she’s inarticulate and shaken. “That’s a… interesting.”
“How is that interesting?”
“I, uh…” She drops her eyes down to her lap, quickly composes herself, and then turns back to the photos. “When was the last time you saw Sperling Kirk? Do you know his current location?”
If I did, he would be dead. Especially now that I know my mate is trying to put herself in his way.
“Why was Sperling here?” she asks when I don’t answer. “What were you fighting about?”
“Where are you staying?” I ask. I have my own questions I want answered as well.
