Free Wild Flame by Donna Grant Page A

“You weren’t the only one who saw it.”
    “I was the only one who said anything.”
    Lincoln turned away from the window as worry set in. “We better work faster.”
    “Why?” Vincent asked.
    Linc faced the others. “Seeing Christian just now brought back a memory of when we were just boys. Riley was only a baby at the time. Christian told me he couldn’t wait to find a love like Mom and Dad had.”
    “That’s not good,” Beau said with a frown.
    Ava shook her head in confusion. “Why? Wouldn’t that be good news?”
    Linc looked at everyone in the room. “Christian changed his mind about falling in love after our parents’ deaths. If he’s falling for Ivy and she dies-”
    “It’ll crush him like it did Dad,” Vincent finished. He slammed his hand into his thigh. “Fuck!”
    Olivia took her place on the sofa. “Then we’d better get reading.”
    “Especially since we don’t know how long Davena’s spell to mask Ivy from the Hounds will last,” Beau said.
    Linc returned to the window. Christian and Ivy hadn’t moved. He ached for his brother. Here he had a chance at love, and it could very well be snatched from his grasp.
    It wasn’t right. Christian was the type of man who loved once and loved deeply. Whether he had already fallen for Ivy or was in the process, Lincoln wasn’t going to rest until they found a way to save her. His brother deserved happiness.

    ~ ~ ~

    Ivy spent the rest of the afternoon on the porch with Christian. The smell of dinner drifted to them. She snuggled back against him as they lounged on the swing.
    Most of the time had been spent in silence. It was a comfortable silence, the kind where each was content to just be with the other.
    The few times they had talked had been as he told stories about his family and their exploits. Ivy was amazed she had lived her entire life in Lyons Point and had never heard of the Chiassons.
    If she had been well enough to go to school, there was no doubt Christian would’ve snagged her attention. He was too gorgeous not to.
    His question from earlier still rolled around in her mind. If the Hell Hounds released her, and if she remained healthy, would she allow herself to love?  
    She would only admit it to herself, but she would if it was with Christian. Ivy was able to be herself with him. He made her feel safe and sexy. He inspired wicked thoughts about tearing his clothes off and having her way with him.
    It didn’t help that she had come to realize he was the type of man who would stay by her side whether she was healthy or not.
    “I feel bad that we’ve been out here so long,” she said.
    Christian chuckled. “I don’t.”
    “Okay. I don’t either,” she said with a smile as she tilted her head back to look at him.
    He touched her face with the pads of his fingers. “I’ve enjoyed this.”
    “I didn’t know I needed this. Thank you.”
    Christian flashed a charming smile. “Any time.”
    Ivy lowered her head. “We’ll have to go in soon.”
    “No, we don’t. We can eat out here.”
    “Won’t that be rude?”
    He tugged on her earlobe. “Nope. We can do whatever you want.”
    “Eating out here sounds fun. If you’re sure the others won’t be upset.”
    “They won’t,” he assured her. “What else do you want to do?”
    It began to mist, with the droplets growing in size a few moments later.  
    “Well, there goes me lying on the ground to look at the stars.”
    “I’d have taken you to the roof to get you that much closer.”
    It was such an innocent sentence, but Ivy smiled in joy because no one had ever done anything like that for her.
    “After that?” Christian asked.
    Ivy sat up and turned to him. “Will you sleep with me tonight?”
    “Absolutely.”
    She smiled and leaned in to kiss him when a distant howl turned her blood to ice. Ivy froze. Christian jumped up from the swing and pulled her protectively behind him.
    “They’re a ways off,” he said as he scanned the front yard.
    “Not