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I scooped up tea towels from the nearby bench, dunked them in a sink that had trays soaking, then wrapped them around my hands as I approached Tao.
“Don’t,” he croaked. “You’ll burn.”
“Then fucking control it.”
His gaze leapt to mine—haunted, desperate. “It’s not me. It’s not my fire-starting abilities—it’s the elemental.”
I bit my lip against the urge to say something comforting. That was not what he needed right now. “And you’re both now, like it or not. You can do this, Tao. You can control it.”
“If I could, I wouldn’t have exploded,” he ground out.
True enough. But all I said was, “Well, the only thing on fire in the kitchen is you, so don’t bullshit me about not being able to control it.”
I grabbed him under the armpits and dragged him toward the freezer. His entire body shook violently, as if the flames that enveloped him were physically assaulting him. Heat soaked through the towels and singed the hairs on my arms, but the flames leapt no farther up my arms—he was controlling it, even if imperfectly.
I opened the freezer, shoved him inside, then grabbed the safety-release knob and slammed the door shut behind the two of us. The flames were so fierce it felt like I’d stepped into an oven, and I briefly wondered if he’d get himself under full control before everything started melting—me included.
He squatted on the freezer floor and hugged his knees, making the overall area of his flames small. I stepped past him and grabbed some bags of ice, tearing them open, then pouring the contents down his back. The blocks melted in an instant, but it didn’t matter. What that did was get his core temperature down so that he could have some hope of regaining control.
Gradually, the flames subsided, until they were little more than fireflies dancing across his skin. I poured the last of the ice down his back, then tossed the bag on the floor beside the others and knelt behind him. I wrapped my arms around his still-shaking shoulders and held him tight. I was soaked to the skin—we both were—but I wasn’t cold. The flames might be practically out, but the heat in his body was still enough to warm an entire battalion of people.
After a while, he took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Don’t ever do that again, Risa.”
It seemed to be my day for getting told that. But there was no anger in Tao’s voice, only resigned weariness. I said, “You know it’s pointless telling me that, so why even waste the words?”
“Because I keep hoping one day you’ll actually listen to someone.”
I snorted softly. “And how long have you known me?”
He made an odd sound that stood somewhere between laugh and groan. “Okay, point taken. But it was still one hell of a risk. I wasn’t in control, and I could have hurt you.”
“As I’ve already pointed out, you were the only thing alight in the kitchen.” And that alone meant he had some level of control, even if he couldn’t immediately douse the flames. I dropped a kiss onto the back of his neck, then pushed to my feet. “I knew you wouldn’t let the elemental hurt me.”
“Next time I might.” He took my offered hand and let me haul him upright. As a werewolf he was naturally lean, but these days, thanks to what resided within him, he could only be considered skin and bone. Not abnormally so, not yet, but not far from it, either. “And the fire trucks have just about arrived.”
I cocked my head a little and caught the wail of the approaching fire engine. “You want to go out the back and reassure Linda and Rachel? I’ll go talk to the firemen.”
His smile was a little on the wan side, but it nevertheless warmed me. He was going to be okay—at least this time. “You always did like a man in uniform.”
“Most women do.” I gave him a grin. “And some men.”
“Not this man.”
“Well, no, not unless you’d walked in on one of Ilianna’s potion-making moments.” I hesitated. “Once this mess is all sorted out, you’d better meet me upstairs and tell me exactly what happened.”
He nodded, his expression suddenly grim. Prickles of concern danced through me, but I shoved them aside, then hit the freezer door release and headed out not only to meet the firemen but to see what could be done about the mess.
As it turned out, there wasn’t a whole lot we could do. We cleaned up the best we could, but the kitchen itself was shut down, thanks to all the water damage, and it wouldn’t reopen until everything was checked and passed by the local government council, who controlled the planning and permits for the area. I spent the next hour lining up plumbers, electricians, and the gas people, while Tao rang the insurance company, then put signs in the windows explaining the situation. I hoped we weren’t closed for too long. Customers could be fickle creatures at the best of times.
I locked up, then pulled a couple of beers out of the fridge and headed upstairs.
“So, give with the details.” I handed Tao a beer and plopped down on a nearby chair.
He sighed and put his feet up. His warm brown eyes, when they met mine, were somber. “I was pulling a double shift because Jacques had his dad’s funeral today, and no one was able to fill in.”
I nodded. I knew all that—just as I knew that Tao could have called in a temp but didn’t because he was a little on the fussy side when it came to just who worked in his kitchen.
“Lunch was madder than normal and the kitchen was its usual stinking-hot self.” He grimaced. “In this day and age you’d think they’d make air-con that could function more efficiently in kitchens.”
