Dark Heat: The Dark Kings Stories by Donna Grant Page A

his chest. In that brief second, Hal kicked out, his foot connecting with Con’s chin.
    Con went flying backwards, and Hal pressed his advantage. He dove for Con, but missed him by inches when Con rolled away. Just as Hal was trying to gain his feet, Con landed on his back, pressing his face into the rock.
    But Hal wasn’t done yet. He let out a roar and threw back his head, connecting with Con’s chin once more. It was enough so that Con’s grip relaxed and Hal was able to get free.
    He got to his feet and went to charge Con again, when he saw something out of the corner of his eye.
    *   *   *
    Cassie was momentarily stunned at the brutality she saw in Hal and the man he fought. There was no quarter, no pulled punches. They meant to kill.
    And there was no way she was going to stand by and watch it happen.
    She dodged Guy’s hands as she raced toward Hal in the cavern set ablaze in light from the many torches along the walls. He and the other man were running toward each other again. She called Hal’s name, but she knew she couldn’t get through to him in his furious state.
    And then she was in front of him, her hand on his chest. “Hal,” she said, panting from her frantic run into the cave, and then to him.
    He halted instantly, and looked down at her.
    Cassie glanced over her shoulder to see the other man had also stopped, but the violence radiating off him was undeniable.
    “Stop,” she told the other man, and then Hal. “Stop this at once. You’ll kill each other.”
    Hal’s forehead furrowed as his hands came around her arms. “Cassie. You need to leave. I must finish this.”
    “No. If this is about me, then I’m not worth it. These people are your family. Don’t fight.”
    “Cassie,” he said, and closed his eyes, his chest heaving.
    Cassie blinked back her tears as she turned to Con. “I know you don’t like me, and that’s all right. I’m an outsider. I get it, but shouldn’t his feelings matter? If he’s family, shouldn’t you accept whoever he choses and be happy for him, whether that person is me or not?”
    The silence was deafening. Cassie swallowed past the lump in her throat and dropped her hand from Hal’s chest. More than anything, she wanted to throw her arms around him and hold him.
    She and Dan never fought. How could they when they rarely spoke and never saw each other? But it killed her to see Hal fighting with his family.
    As much as she wanted to stand by his side and tell his family to kiss off, she wouldn’t do that to Hal. Because she knew, better than most, what it was like not to have family around.
    “This, I didna expect,” came a cool, deep voice behind her.
    Cassie looked over her shoulder. His golden blond hair remaindered her of a surfer. His eyes were so black and in complete contrast to his hair, and when she looked in his eyes it was as if she were looking through a mirror of thousands of years.
    Hal’s fingers tightened before he dropped his arms altogether. “Wait outside, Cassie. I’m no’ done here yet.”
    She rolled her eyes and moved so she could look at both men. “Yes, you are,” she told Hal. “This fighting will accomplish nothing.”
    “It’ll do more than you know.”
    His words brought a frown to her face. Cassie’s gaze shifted to Con to find him watching her with cool indifference. A quick glance found Guy and two other men watching her intently.
    “Guy, care to explain how Cassie got here?” Con asked.
    Guy leaned a shoulder casually against the rock of the cavern. “I wasna paying much attention to her.”
    Cassie cleared her throat at Guy’s lie. “I’m going. I just wanted to stop this.”
    She started to move away, when Hal dragged her against him, his mouth on hers in a scorching kiss. She clung to him, her body engulfed in desire so hot, so needy that she trembled with it.
    Hal ended the kiss and rested his forehead against hers, their breathing harsh and erratic. “You shouldna have come here and seen me like