Page 313 of House Ignis

A low, guttural snarl vibrated through the stone beneath our feet. Between the glowing rocks, eyes began to ignite, dozens of them, the color of dying embers.

Fire wolves.

They weren't made of fur and bone; they were creatures of living flame and hardened magma, their bodies wreathed in white-hot ash. They moved with a terrifying, fluid grace, their footfalls leaving charred pawprints on the obsidian floor.

“Aether! Zya!” I shouted.

The panthers moved into position, their black coats reflecting the orange glow of the lava.

Aether’s golden eyes were fixed on the lead wolf, his muscles coiled like a spring.

“Stay back to back, darling,” Asher commanded, his daggers sliding into his hands with a lethal click.

“The wolves are just the start. The other teams will be hunting for a way out, and in here, you’re the biggest target on the map.”

I straightened my spine, the fire in my veins singing a war song as the first wolf lunged—a blur of orange and gold.

“Let them hunt,” I rasped, my eyes turning a brilliant, dangerous white. “I’m the Princess of fire. They’re in my world now.”

Asher’s response was a low, vibrating hum of approval in my mind. He didn't just look pleased; he looked hungry.

“Gods, let your fire roar, darling,” he murmured through the bond, his silver eyes tracking the way the white-hot flames danced across my skin. Through our bond, his thoughts were a heavy, pulsing weight of desire—dark and dangerously unfiltered.

“If I could fuck you in your own domain...”

My mouth went bone-dry. The heat of the realm felt like nothing compared to the sudden, scorching spike of the bond.

I could feel his hunger, a dark tide of shadow wanting to swallow my fire whole right here in the middle of the ash and sulfur.

"Asher," I breathed, my warning undermined by the way my skin tingled under his gaze.

"Focus, firecracker," he whispered, though his grin was devastating. He hadn't moved an inch, but the air between us was electric.

"Save that heat for the wolves. For now."

The lead wolf snapped its jaws inches from my face, and I met it with a blast of pure, concentrated heat that sent it skidding back into the sulfurous fog.

The clock was ticking, and the Fire Realm was just getting warmed up.

The last fire wolf lunged, its maw a furnace of molten rock, but Asher’s shadows were faster.

He drove a silver dagger upward through its jaw, the blade exiting between its glowing eyes.

I followed with a sweep of white-hot fire that severed the creature’s connection to the realm, causing it to explode in a spray of thick, dark ichor—hot and viscous like liquid tar.

The blood hissed as it hit the obsidian floor, splattering across my face and drenching Asher’s soot-stained leathers.

I didn't care.

The adrenaline was a wild, screaming thing in my chest, and the look in his eyes—primal, possessive, and utterly wrecked—was the only thing I could see through the haze.

I lunged for him.

I grabbed the front of his jacket and kissed him ferociously, my mouth tasting of salt and smoke. Asher let out a low, guttural sound, his arms wrapping around my waist and hoisting me up until my feet left the ground. He crushed me against his chest, his shadows roiling around us in a protective, violent storm that defied the dying embers of the wolf pack.

The bond was a live wire, sparking with a mix of lethal triumph and the raw hunger he’d teased me with moments ago.

Above us, the light of the dome flickered as the counter began its final descent.