Read Online Breath of Flame and Shadow by Ophelia Bell - Free Book Online Page B

door of the house opened and a lone male figure stepped out, two steaming mugs held in his hands. Rafe could smell the sweet aroma of fresh coffee from where he stood.
    “You’re looking for her, aren’t you?” the bearer of the mugs said. He shoved the mugs at them and Roka and Rafe both accepted without question. The hot liquid flowed easily down Rafe’s throat and he ignored the human’s gasp of astonishment when he handed back the still steaming empty mug.
    “Do you know where she went?” Rafe asked.
    “Dude, I want a little more info from you before I start sharing.”
    Rafe met he dark-fringed eyes of the human. “What do you want to know?”
    “Why are you after her?”
    “She’s crucial to our—”
    Roka’s knuckles hit his ribs from behind in the most painful spot and the Guardian whispered in his ear, “Humans, you fuck. This one can lead us to her if you don’t fuck it up. Her magic is linked to him already, like she was on the verge of marking him.”
    “I love her?” Rafe said. He didn’t quite intend the inflection he added to the confession, but it came out anyway.
    The man laughed a little bitterly. “Yeah… so do I, so I guess we have that in common. She left us both, but I’d really love to know why she was running in the first place. Do you mind telling me that?”
    Rafe silently sized up the other man, painfully aware of Rowan’s essence lingering around him and the intent look he had on his face, as though he was prepared to battle to the death for the woman he loved. Rafe’s eyes caught on the blue medallion resting at the man’s throat.
    “Who’s your boss?” Rafe said, narrowly avoiding blurting out the word “master”.
    The human didn’t miss a beat. “The new guy that took over is a man named Skye. I liked his mother better. She was…friendlier. This guy is cold as ice, so I don’t know how he manages to convince anyone to…well, to fuck him, if I’m being blunt.”
    “Your family’s been with us for a while, I take it?” Rafe let a little of his guard down upon the realization that this man was a bonded employee of another dragon. The man would be honest and wouldn’t give away any secrets he discovered during their conversation, except to his own employer.
    “Long enough for me to know one of you when I meet you, even if I don’t know exactly what you are. Rowan was pretty damn special. But I get the sense you knew that. Why was she running?”
    “Because I’m a fool. I just need to find her.”
    “Tell me what you really are and I’ll tell you where she went.”
    Rafe bristled at the man’s reluctance to give up Rowan’s location. He was tempted to just fly on, follow the remnants of her trail the way he had so far. But the pull Rowan had on this man was as clear if they were physically tied by a visible thread. Trevor hadn’t lied about loving her. Rafe could tell the pair had shared their Nirvana with each other very recently.
    The essence of her the man carried tugged at Rafe’s desire as strongly as if Rowan were standing in front of him. He longed to have a fresh taste of her. If this human wanted to know what they were, Rafe would show him the same way he had shown Rowan their first night, if only to have that taste he craved.
    The man had no idea what he was asking for, yet he held his chin out defiantly as Rafe and Roka both sized him up.
    “He’d let you mark him just for her,” Roka’s voice murmured into his mind.
    “Yes, but I need more than to mark him. I need what remnants of her essence are in him.”
    “Need, or want? How long has it been since you were with her?”
    “Want. It’s been months. Skye won’t be pleased if I take this human from him.”
    “Skye can be an unforgiving churl of a dragon. But you outrank him, so if he took issue, it’s Kol he’d have to answer to.”
    “Kol can easily handle Skye.”
    Rafe met the man’s steady gaze. His heartbeat sped up at the proximity to Rowan’s potent magic that