Fire Dancer (Spellbound in Sedona #2)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

INGO

One month later…

My lungs burned as I scrambled over hard-packed dirt, fighting the urge to glance back at the wolf chasing me. I had to make it to the top of the mesa first. I just had to. I rushed through the dim light of the full moon, avoiding a prickly pear, only to brush by a yucca. Its sharp tips scraped my side, raking parallel furrows through my thick wolf pelt.

I surged forward, then leaped, straining for the top of a big, flat-topped boulder bathed in moonlight. Then I spun to face my adversary.

Gotcha! Pippa sailed onto the rock beside mine with a cry of triumph. The word sounded in my mind and into the night in yippy wolf-speak.

My tongue lolled as I panted.

Got what? I was here first. I pranced in place.

She snickered, prancing on her own boulder. The race was to the highest rock. And it’s all mine, baby. Her paws tapped a silent jig over the boulder.

I’m on the highest rock .

Then it hit me that I was staring into her beautiful blue eyes straight on, not slightly downward as usual due to my height advantage.

I checked at my rock, then hers, and stopped wagging my tail. Damn. I’d ended the race a step too early.

Ha! Pippa danced around on her boulder. Who’s the best wolf, huh? Who’s finally learned to coordinate four feet and a tail? Who beat the big bad wolf to the top of the mesa? I’ll tell you who. Me! I am the greatest!

Below us, the scattered lights of the ranch formed the background of her little solo. I grinned, letting her enjoy her Mohammed Ali moment without commenting that her wagging tail and floppy ears diminished the comparison ever so slightly.

Oh, Great One, I barked. May I join you on your throne?

I’ll think about it. She turned her nose up in a pose hauntingly similar to her mother’s.

Then she grimaced, catching my impression. Oh God, no. I swear, I was just kidding!

I grinned. Ha. Now I knew the ultimate weapon to use against Pippa: any comparison to her mother.

Her teeth showed in a snarl. Don’t you dare.

I echoed back her own words. Just kidding.

A shadow blotted out the moonlight momentarily. We looked up, spotting a pair of dragons soaring through the inky sky. Apparently, we weren’t the only two lovebirds out enjoying the night. Erin and Nash were too. They glided soundlessly over the landscape, banked into graceful turns, and disappeared into the darkness.

I couldn’t help glancing at Pippa out of the corner of my eye.

You wouldn’t rather be a dragon like Erin? I ventured. After all, Pippa was half dragon — and she loved fire.

Nah. The sky would be lonely without you. She circled me, rubbing her body along mine the entire way. Got all I need down here.

She butted my head gently, demanding space to nuzzle my neck and shoulders.

I grinned. As if she hadn’t thoroughly marked me from day one.

Gotta keep the competition away, she murmured, still nuzzling. Let all those women in town know you’re mine.

I nuzzled her just as fiercely. Ditto for all the men when it comes to you.

My wolf snarled, picturing it. We’d gone to Buffalo Bill’s the previous Wednesday and danced to every tune in their oldies lineup — and I swear, every man had his eyes glued to Pippa’s perfect ass the whole time. Well, they did until my glare had them studying the labels of their beers like there would be a quiz on breweries of the Southwest soon. One or two of the boldest might have peeked again by the time the last notes of “Islands in the Stream” faded, but they’d gotten the message. Pippa was mine — forever.

My neck tingled at the spot where she’d marked me with her own mating bite.

Finally, I feel complete, she’d murmured afterward, and I could only echo the sentiment.

Mine, my wolf hummed happily.

I’d never heard of any “convert” — as wolves jokingly called humans turned shifter — mastering the fine art of wolfery as quickly as Pippa had. Maybe being half dragon helped?

No. That’s just Pippa being Pippa, my wolf hummed proudly.

True. Whatever Pippa did, she did with the joyous enthusiasm — and élan — of a golden retriever chasing a tennis ball. She’d been all in from day one.

I’m so happy, I could howl, she said, then grinned. Wait. I’m a wolf now. I can howl.

She lifted her muzzle and let her soft, smooth soprano drift over the landscape.

Arrrooooo…

I tilted my head back, harmonizing with her. Our voices mingled and carried over the vast, undulating landscape.

I can’t believe humans say this sounds sad, Pippa muttered in the breath between two long, soulful howls.

Well, humans just didn’t have an ear for wolf tunes. And some howls really were mournful, like mine, back when Pippa and I had lived apart.

Never again, my wolf declared, releasing a joyous howl to prove it.

I can’t wait to show Dad everything I can do now, Pippa said after we wound down our duet.

I flashed a toothy wolf grin. You can show him when he visits tomorrow, I reminded her.

She pranced happily. I’ll show him how fast I can run and how far I can jump. Oh! And my favorite part — digging! She leaned down, sending dirt flying between her back legs.

You can show him almost everything, I joked, thinking of home and the big, sturdy bed.

Pippa flashed me a naughty grin. Race you to the bottom, hotshot.

She leaped into a sprint. With a yip, I took off after her.

Watch me win again, she taunted, flicking her tail.

As it turned out, we were both the winners. Pippa got home first, but when we shifted into human form and fell into bed, I claimed the top, and we both enjoyed two sizzling rounds of sex before fading off to sleep.

We picked up where we’d left off the next morning, then grudgingly showered, ate, and headed to work. I snuck over to the glass shop during Pippa’s lunch break and helped her find a whole new use for the workbench in the storage room. That round of sex had been on the slow, careful side, what with all the glass around us. But satisfying, nevertheless, despite the wolf in a china shop jokes Pippa cracked.

“Will I ever stop lusting after you?” She sighed when we finally dragged ourselves back to work.

I waggled my eyebrows. “I hope not.”

We were just doing what any freshly mated shifters would do — though, I swear, we were setting new records when it came to heat levels. As high as the blazing bonfire Pippa’s father treated us to that evening.

Everyone gathered around, as before — Erin and Nash, Abby and Claire, Pippa and me, and Greg and Mike.

“You two really are like a couple,” Erin quipped to her father, referencing the story Mike had told at our last bonfire.

“I do love him.” Mike smacked his lips in the air. “Just not that way.”

Greg pretended to look hurt. “And here I was, thinking we had the makings of something beautiful.”

Mike laughed. “Sorry, bud. My Harley and I already have something beautiful.”

Pippa stood to clear the plates from our barbecue. “Marshmallows, anyone?”

I smiled at the echoes of our previous bonfire, and so many before it back in Colorado. Having said that, the bonfires here on Painted Rock Ranch were developing their own traditions and inside jokes, a lot like a family Thanksgiving celebration.

And a celebration it was. A terrible threat had been eliminated, Pippa and I had finally surmounted our differences, and the ranch was at peace again. I hadn’t suffered any consequences as a result of my involvement in the Jananovich case. On the contrary, I’d been commended for finding a promising new recruit for the agency. Delaney had aced the grueling basic training that weeded out all but the best candidates and had started training for undercover missions. Apparently, she’d even started dating a nice bear shifter in the agency.

I just hoped he would help her find a little work-life balance.

Jananovich’s escorts had all been questioned and released on probation. One had made the Phoenix Suns Dance squad, while another was forging a new career as a social media influencer specializing in hydration and nutrition. Two others had started dating each other, and yet another had started a vampire-themed podcast that the ADMSA was keeping an eye — er, ear — on. Hopefully, that would be the closest any of them ventured to vampires again.

Meanwhile, I’d also rooted out the double agent who’d acted as Jananovich’s inside man at the agency — or rather, inside woman. It had been Angelina Saint James, as I’d suspected — the very vampire who’d caused Nash so many problems.

Fucking Angelina, he’d growled when we’d worked it out together.

She hadn’t just been working with Harlon Greene, but with Jananovich and a number of other supernaturals. The agency had already created a task force to identify which other cases she’d tampered with.

However, I was off duty now, and I’d learned to draw a firm line between working hard and enjoying private time.

Like right now, at the bonfire.

I took in the happy faces, from Claire snuggled in Mike’s lap to Erin and Nash nestled together. Pippa blew me a kiss before stepping away to find the marshmallows. Even Abby gazed up at the stars with a dreamy expression.

“For you, Grandpa.” Claire held her stick toward Greg a short time later.

He plucked the marshmallow off the end and made a show of relishing it. “Yum! Perfectly toasted on the outside yet gooey on the inside. A born pyromancer!”

“God, I hope not,” Abby muttered, half joking, half serious.

Everyone laughed, though I couldn’t help wondering about Abby’s father. Was he “just” a human or something else?

Not human, I decided, judging by her mother’s penchant for powerful supernaturals. But what kind? A warlock? Dragon shifter? And what about Claire’s father?

I blinked into the fire, reminding myself it was none of my business. Not until the day a teenage Claire startled us all by turning into a dragon or burning down a barn by accident.

But, heck. As long as it wasn’t the barn Pippa and I were converting…

“Is it story time yet?” Claire asked after a few more marshmallows.

Mike had been the lucky recipient of her second one, then Abby, then Erin and Pippa, and finally Nash and me.

We’re way, way down the pecking order here, I joked, shooting the thought into his mind.

Nash grinned, keeping his arm looped around Erin’s shoulders. Just happy to be part of the club, man.

I raised my beer bottle in a silent toast, seconding the sentiment.

“I thought we’d try something different tonight,” Greg said. “Like make-a-wish night.”

Pippa rubbed her hands. “Oh, I love this.”

“Just tell me what you wish you could be or have or do, and I’ll do my best to show it to you,” Greg explained. He pointed to Mike. “Get us started, big guy.”

Mike closed his eyes, thinking. It was easy to imagine his wish, and I fully expected an even bigger, louder motorcycle to appear in the flames of the bonfire.

Mike opened his eyes and looked at Greg in silent communication. Greg nodded, then raised his hands toward the fire.

“Aw…” Erin clasped her hands to her heart as a scene slowly formed in the blaze.

It was a bonfire within the bonfire, with each of us sketched in flames around it. Even Nash was there.

“That’s my wish,” Mike murmured, rumbly as thunder — a weathermonger’s version of emotional. “This. Exactly this. My family safe, sound, and happy.”

Erin beamed. Abby wiped a tear from her eye. Claire patted his thick arms.

And Nash… I caught his throat rippling in an emotional gulp. Nice to see he was gradually being accepted.

Erin was next. Seconds after she’d whispered her wish to Greg, a hot air balloon formed in the flames and wafted skyward, circled by a dragon.

“Mine is kind of like Dad’s,” she explained shyly. “Going flying with everyone I love. See? You’re all in the balloon, and that’s Nash beside it.”

The figures in the basket started out a little hazy, then developed more detail when Pippa raised her hands and moved her fingers like a conductor.

“Thanks, sweetie.” Greg beamed.

Pippa too.

Mike chipped in next, stirring up a breeze to mimic the sensation of flying. It toyed with Pippa’s long hair and the hood of my jacket.

Slowly, the image faded, and Greg turned to Nash.

“Your turn. Anything you wish you could be or have or do.”

Nash cleared his throat and waved a hand. “I think the first two have me covered.”

Erin tipped her head against his shoulder and rubbed his arm. Then she straightened abruptly.

“Oh! Can I take his turn?”

Pippa and Abby booed. “Not fair!”

It was easy to picture the three of them huddled around a board game as kids, saying the same thing.

Greg intervened, as their aunt probably had once upon a time. “I think we can accommodate one extra.”

“I’d just love to see myself landing smoothly for a change,” Erin said. “I still bobble.”

“Just a little,” Nash reassured her.

A fiery dragon zoomed around the fire, then zipped past Claire, heading out into the desert. Everyone swiveled their heads, watching it glide to a perfect landing. A trail of embers tumbled in its wake, then slowly disappeared, along with the dragon.

“Bravo!” Mike patted Erin’s shoulder. “That’s my baby. Perfect!”

“Not yet.” She sighed. “But I am getting there.”

Pippa was next, fixing her father with a hazy look that indicated they were mentally communicating. Moments later, they both raised their hands.

One wolf, then another, gradually emerged from the heart of the fire. They cavorted around the edges, then reunited in the middle, brushing against each other. When they raised their muzzles to the sky, their howls were silent, but the snaps and crackles of the fire filled in nicely.

“So sweet,” Erin sighed.

Greg slowly let the image fade, then heaved a theatrical sigh. “Just three words: it’s about time you two got together.”

“That’s not three words, Dad,” Pippa pointed out, but her look was forgiving.

Claire started counting on her fingers.

Like Nash, I passed on my turn. There was nothing I could wish for that hadn’t already been covered.

Continuing clockwise around the bonfire would have put Abby next, but she mumbled something about finding the fixings for s’mores and excused herself quickly.

Pippa watched her go, then glanced at Erin. Their dads appeared equally concerned, and Greg looked like he might go after her. But Mike shook his head curtly.

“Let her be,” he murmured. “Nobody has to share if they don’t want to.”

A cloud drifted overhead, and a few seconds ticked by in awkward silence. Well, awkward for everyone except Claire, who was still counting.

“Your turn, Dad,” Pippa said.

Greg shook his head curtly. “Yours covered my wish perfectly. Although I would have added a few grandpups.”

Pippa rolled her eyes. “Dad…”

Personally, I was all for it. But it was probably better to save that conversation for a less public occasion.

“Which means it’s…” Mike drummed his fingers on Claire’s shoulders.

“My turn! My turn!” she cheered.

Greg leaned over, and she cupped her hands around his ear, whispering.

“Oh, good one,” he said, rubbing his hands. “Ready?”

“No, we have to wait for Mommy,” she said, hollering to Abby.

“Coming, coming,” Abby murmured, settling back down in her spot.

“Now we’re ready,” Claire announced, staring eagerly into the fire. Hell, we all did.

The sharp edges of the fire grew softer — almost liquid — and a sleek body leaped out of the blue heart of the flames.

“Dolphin!” Claire clapped in delight.

Everyone grinned. Over the past few weeks, Claire had moved on from pegasi to marine wildlife.

With a flick of his hands, Greg sent the dolphin leaping high into the night sky. Mike helped by whipping up swirling clouds that mimicked the ocean, and the edges sparkled like seafoam, lit by starlight.

Everyone oohed and aahed, and Nash and I exchanged wide-eyed glances. We had definitely found our way into one crazy, lovable family.

It was like Erin liked to say. A very functional dysfunctional family. Right down to the shifters and warlocks.

When the dolphin faded, Greg lowered his hands and coaxed a new one out of the fire.

“Help me, sweetheart,” he murmured, keeping his eyes on the image he’d created.

Pippa raised her hands and stared into the fire, waiting. Catching the beat, almost, the way kids did before hopping into a rotating jump rope.

And, whoosh! Another dolphin rose out of the fire to join Greg’s, and the pair spun around each other, spiraling up into the universe.

“Wow,” Abby breathed.

Everyone was rapt, including me. I did drag my eyes away from the fire long enough to glance at Pippa, though. Her cheeks glowed, reflecting the firelight, and the smile on her face was a thing of beauty.

My chest rose with a happy sigh. She’d always dreamed of harnessing powers like her father’s.

Finally, I feel complete, she’d said earlier.

Me too, I nearly whispered. Me too.

The dolphins put on a show better than that in any Orlando theme park, leaping, flipping, and spinning. How Greg and Pippa pulled off the watery illusion within a blazing fire was beyond me, but it was amazing.

Watching them at work was equally entertaining. I loved how Pippa’s lips tightened in concentration and how she lifted or dropped her eyebrows while guiding the dolphins’ movements.

For the grand finale, Greg took over both dolphins while Pippa juggled her hands, tossing fire from one to the other. Then she waved her arms, releasing a ring of fire for the dolphins to spiral through.

“Wow,” Abby murmured.

“Incredible.” Erin shook her head in amazement.

“I want to be a Fire Dancer when I grow up,” Claire announced.

“So do I,” Nash murmured, only half joking.

Magic. Like being with you, Pippa whispered into my mind. Then she blurted Whoops! and saved her careening dolphin.

“Nothing’s going to top that,” Nash murmured as they wrapped up the show.

I agreed, but then again, I’d entertained that sentiment many times over the past few weeks, and I would bet Pippa would go on surprising me for… Well, forever.

She chuckled into my mind. I’m game if you’re game.

I grinned. This was my life now, and it couldn’t be more perfect.

* * *

Thank you for reading Fire Dancer!