AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Let out a slow breath and unclench.” He removed his hand from my abdomen, showing me a fist and then slowly opening it. “Let yourself burn.”
“It might force me to shift,” I said, panicking a little.
“It might,” Priel agreed.
“I don’t want to,”I hissed.
“Eventually, the fire won’t give you a choice.” His eyes were serious, and I hated to admit it, but I believed him.
“Can you stop it?”
His eyes darkened. “If you give me your whole name, yes.”
Shit.
Whole names had power. If I gave him my whole name—or my actual name, in my case—he could force me to come to him, wherever he was. That was the only thing I really knew about full names, but they had to have more power than that, didn’t they?
“No,” I shot back.
“Then embrace the shift. I’ll diffuse the fire, so it’s comfortable for you.” His palm landed on my skin again, his fingers stretching over my belly. His flames moved across his hand, and I felt the magic that had tensed in my abdomen begin to slowly unclench.
His fire trailed over me, and my breathing slowed.
My eyes closed.
More relief than I’d realized I needed seeped through me as his magic intertwined with mine and both lazily slid through my veins.
My back arched slightly, and then I felt myself falling.
I caught myself with a thud, and when I forced my eyes open, found myself on all fours.
When I looked down and saw burning paws, my head spun.
Priel’s fingers stroked my head slowly, his touch and his flames calming me.
Why did that feel so good?
I looked at him, and his lips curved upward slightly. “Like the others probably told you, hounds are pack animals. Our fire craves fuel, and we fuel each other. My flames showed yours that they were safe.”
Oh.
I supposed that made sense. It was probably a better answer than the one I’d assumed, anyway.
But I’d assumed it had something to do with the mate bond we’d started, and Priel didn’t even want the bond, so that wouldn’t have made sense anyway.
“You might be stuck in this form for a while,” he told me, his hand still stroking my head. It felt really good, even if I didn’t want to admit that. “Let me finish cooking and cleaning up, and then you can decide whether you want to stay here or head back to the Stronghold. I still need to rest, but I can sleep on the floor of your room if you’d prefer.”
Fuck.
I wasn’t looking forward to making any of those choices.
He returned back to the kitchen though, making things easier for me for the time being.
I watchedhim cook and clean.
Not only did he have an incredible ass, but he was good at everything.
He didn’t mind the work of scrubbing paint off the brushes. He didn’t seem bothered as he studied (for the tenth time) the mural of flames and burning flesh that I’d left on his wall. He even whistled while he cooked.
