Dragon Fate by Elsa Jade

“Meet kettle.”
     
    ***
     
    Torch glanced around the cavern cautiously.
    In the flicker of flames, he saw the stalagmites and stalactites bared like giant teeth in a dark mouth. But even his dragon couldn’t see farther than that. Still, he sensed his liege coiling in the shadows.
    Mostly, though, he couldn’t keep his gaze off Anjali. Her red hair and the bright slashes of color in her sweater came alive in the firelight. If the temper snapping in her wide hazel eyes were any indication, he hadn’t come a moment too soon.
    “Welcome to the party,” Bale growled.
    “Rave sent me to…ah…”
    “Keep anyone from being eaten?” Piper put one hand on her hip, the other arm wrapped around Esme’s waist.
    Torch tossed her a grin. “He’s sorry he missed your text. You can snap at him later.”
    “Enforcer.” Bale’s snarl was as sharp as an edge of shattered stone. “You’ve done a poor job of ensuring my peace.”
    Torch straightened abruptly, his grin falling away. “My apologies, Reyex.” He used the ancient clan term for the strongest, oldest dragon. “I’ll see them out.” He swiped for Anjali who was closest.
    “No, wait.” She twisted away from him. “We can’t go yet. I need to know about my magic. And what we can do for Esme.”
    Torch latched on to her elbow and hauled her to his side, not quite as gently as Piper was supporting the listing blonde. “There’s nothing—”
    “Leave her,” Bale said.
    Torch stared into the blackness, his hackles rising. There. Was that the red flicker of his liege’s eyes? The dragon was lurking just under his skin, barely contained.
    He knew the feeling.
    “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said slowly, his own dragon tensing.
    “That’s what I told her,” Piper muttered.
    Bale laughed, a rough sound. “Not your mixed blood gypsy. Leave the ghost girl.”
    At Torch’s side, Anjali strained away. “No.” Under her breath, she said, “I left her with Lars, I won’t leave her with…that.”
    No matter how softly she’d spoken, Torch knew his liege had heard. He restrained a wince. “If there is one place the warlock can’t reach, it’s here,” he pointed out. “Isn’t that why you brought her?”
    Anjali’s struggles wavered. “But I didn’t know he…” She swallowed the rest of whatever she was going to say.
    “I will not eat her,” Bale said. “I am past such needs.”
    Obviously that brought no comfort to Anjali, or to Torch, for that matter. Who didn’t want to eat a tasty virgin?
    Besides him. He had his own…needs.
    He reeled Anjali under his arm. “Summon me when you’re done with her.”
    Bale grunted. “I have no doubt one of you will be back here before that.”
    Piper gave a little wave to the darkness as they bundled into the elevator.
    Except for Esme, standing on her own two feet but wavering next to the brazier.
    “We can’t leave her,” Anjali hissed, although the door was already closing.
    “We can’t save her,” Piper replied. “But maybe he can.”
    “Him? That—” Anjali made a muffled noise as Torch clamped a hand over her mouth.
    She bit him, hard, but he waited until the door had closed all the way and the elevator began to descend before he loosed his hold on her jaw.
    She hung on for a second, her incisors embedded in the meat of his palm, her hazel eyes snapping as brutally as her teeth.
    “Don’t take a chunk,” he chastened.
    “Don’t try to silence me.” At least she had to let go to yell at him.
    Piper winced. “Get a room.”
    Anjali swung to face her. “How about a dungeon, like where we just left Ez?”
    Torch snorted. “It’s a penthouse dungeon.” He knew he was in trouble when both females rounded on him. Putting his hands up in the air defensively—but not too close to Anjali’s teeth—he added, “And he’ll do everything in his considerable power to keep her from Ashcraft.”
    Anjali just glowered at him, and Piper wrung her hands. “Are you sure? Rave