Free Blazing Earth by Terri Brisbin

needed for the whole of the group.
    â€œWe will talk when you and they return,” William said, nodding at the two priests.
    Once they’d left, he and Roger discussed the guards and timing of their patrols before he took his leave of his friend. The warblood would not be held back much longer from seeking its mate, and William could feel his control growing thin.
    â€œWill?” Roger said quietly. When he faced his friend, Will nodded. “Is there ever a moment when it isn’t there, pushing you and changing you?”
    The profound changes in everything they had believed and learned over these last weeks were shocking, even now to him. Will was part of this plan set inplace eons ago by ancient gods to protect mankind. Even knowing his part in it did not make it feel any less surprising.
    â€œNay. He is always there, always ready. But there are moments when I wonder how I did not know it all my life. I suspect that all the accolades for my fighting abilities and the tourney wins were due to him.”
    â€œHe? You speak as though it is not you.”
    Will stepped closer to his friend and tried to explain. “There are times, before he takes over, when I can still hear and think only as William. But then the warblood makes me able to see and hear and fight better. He is a better version of myself.”
    â€œBetter?” Roger asked. “But how can that be?”
    â€œStronger certainly. Clear-minded and focused.” Will shrugged. “I know not how else to explain it. I just know it to be true.”
    He had thought on it more and more and could not explain it otherwise. Brienne had said the same thing about how it felt to her when the fireblood took over. He did not know Ran and Soren well enough yet to delve into such matters, but he expected he would hear the same thing from them.
    So all he, they, could do was to accept the changes in his life, accept the call to protect humanity, and accept that his life and his future would never be in his control again.
    He nodded to his friend and stalked off to find his wife. It had been too many days since they had a moment or an hour’s privacy, and the warblood ached for her, even as he, the man, did.
    â€œAll is well?” she asked at this approach.
    â€œFor now, ’tis,” he said in that voice that contained both the man he was and the warblood who rose now. “On the morrow? Who knows?”
    He was their leader and needed to be strong for all those who followed his orders and plans. But here, in her presence and in her arms and within her body, he could be himself. She walked into his embrace and offered her mouth to him. Will kissed her gently, touching their tongues, and accepted the warmth that lived within her.
    â€œWe will face the morrow as we do each day—together, my love.”
    The warblood liked the taste of her and the way her words sounded. He pushed his way into control of the human and showed himself to his mate. Growing and pushing to his true height, he touched the canvas of the tent over his head before stopping. The color of her changed, too, and the orange that surrounded her being sparkled and glimmered like the flames that lived inside her. He liked the fire. Even the pain of being burned did not stop him from seeking it, seeking her.
    Now the constant hum of words in his thoughts and in his blood changed when she was there. At every other moment, he thought of killing and conquering and death and destroying his enemies. But when she was there, it was only her.
    She was the fire who heated his blood and his soul and burned his body. She was the fire who could withstand his strength. She was only his.
    His to take. His to possess. His to keep and protect.
    His to love.
    He laughed then, and the sound of it echoed around them and escaped the confines of the tent. Love was human. It was the part of the human that remained in place when the warblood took his place in this world.
    â€œCome, my