Free Emma (Dark Fire) by Jodie B. Cooper Page B

of her. There was no one in sight. Trying to ignore the feeling of uncertainty, she trotted down the passageway, avoiding a pile of bricks and a pool of dirty water. Hurrying down a narrow flight of stairs, she arrived in the feed store’s back lot.
    The hardware/feed store kept big equipment, mulch, and potting soil in the high fenced area. A dozen or so bright red feeding bins gleamed in the sun.
    The crowded yard was empty of people.
    “Hello? Tyler?” Emma called out.
    Silence greeted her.
    Frustrated, she stomped into the yard and snapped at him. “I saw you come back here. Just because you’re too stubborn to listen to me, doesn’t mean I don’t need to talk to you.”
    Her words must have made an impression, because a dark-haired young man stepped from behind one of the tall pallets and slowly walked toward her. He was easily six feet tall with jet-black hair, but that’s where the similarity to Tyler ended. Glancing at his ragged jeans, t-shirt, and tennis shoes, she groaned.
    Why she hadn’t looked closer at what he was wearing?
    “Sorry, wrong person,” Emma said, shaking her head, she started backing up only to thump against a rock hard chest.
    The guy behind her chuckled and every muscle in her body clenched in concern.
    “We might be willing to help. Who are you looking for again?” he asked.
    Before his hands had time to wrap around her arms, she jerked away from him.
    The boys crowded closer and she quickly found herself hemmed in. It certainly wasn’t the most brilliant thing she had ever done.
    Talk about stupid, she knew better than to get caught in a situation like that. If Uncle Keith found out, he’d ream her. Silently, she hoped he’d get the opportunity to holler at her.
    The town was flooded with strangers. It’d be the perfect opportunity for a couple of creeps to kidnap a girl. They’d never get caught, not with everything else going on at the moment.
    Little by little, they backed her farther into the rear corner of the lot. The black-haired one resembled Tyler in build, but his eyes were hazel and his face was rounder, boyishly soft when he grinned. The other one was a hunk, looking like next year’s mega movie star. With dark golden-brown hair and odd amber colored eyes, he seemed more approachable than the dope who kept grinning at her. His question had been curious, not mocking.
    He smiled and her brief feeling of hope disappeared. The teen’s sharp canines were a little longer than Tyler’s teeth, but at least they didn’t look like vampire fangs.
    She tried shoving her fear and frustration to the back of her mind, hoping the boys would listen to reason. She gave them another once over. It would help if she knew whether they were friendly or more along the Mexico City variety.
    “I’m looking for Tyler. He’s a black dragon,” she said in the dragon language. “Do you know him?”
    “Tyler’s my cousin. Surely, now that you’ve met me, you’d rather talk with me than him,” the ebony-haired baby face said with a cocky smirk.
    “Humph!” she said, snorting her disbelief. “You can’t honestly mean what I think you do.”
    He answered her with a smug smile. “You can either talk to me - who happens to be one of the most eligible and handsome young man of the Alliance - or you can keep searching.”
    The brown-haired teen rolled his eyes, appearing annoyed at his companion’s obvious egotistical attitude. “Just ignore Andrew. My name’s Kyle.”
    “I’m Emma.” She smiled at Kyle, trying to be polite, but not wanting to encourage the other boy. “I really need to talk with Tyler.”
    At her words, Kyle shook his head. “Tyler is one of my best friends but trust me, you don’t want to talk with him right now. If you’ve met Tyler, you’ve seen how, um, unapproachable he can be. This morning he was in a blacker mood than I’ve ever seen him in. He was as surly and grouchy as a hungry bask lizard.”
    “Moody or not, I need to talk to him.”
    With a