Free Fire of a Dragon (Fallen Immortals 3) - Paranormal Fairytale Romance by Alisa Woods Page A

eyebrow again. “Not even a little?”
    “No. I just… I was trying to seduce them and…”
    Both her eyebrows went up.
    He hurried his words. “I was trying to seduce them and cause them pleasure, but there was none there for me. None except…” He swallowed again, ready to drown on these words. “Only when I was picturing you, my love. When it was you I was touching, only then did I have a fleeting moment of…” His mouth was working, but no more words were coming out.
    Her face twisted with emotion, which confused him… and then she snorted a kind of ungracious laugh and shook her head. Which perplexed him completely.
    Had the fever demented her? Had it stolen her mind?
    She smiled wide, and it made him want to hide under the bed. “For the love of magic, Arabella,” he said, aghast. “Why are you laughing at me?”
    That just made her laugh some more. She covered her mouth with her hand. “Sorry!” she mumbled behind it. “I’m sorry.” The smile tamed a little, but the laugh still danced in her eyes. “It’s just that I can completely see it. It’s so totally you, Lucian.”
    “What on earth do you mean?” Horror was squeezing down on his chest. This felt so completely unmoored from reality, he had no idea what was happening.
    She spread her hands wide, the smile returning. “You were so determined to do what’s right—what’s noble and good and true—that you pushed away the woman you love so she wouldn’t get hurt.” She rested her hand on her belly, patting it in a loving way that captured his heart. “You couldn’t bear to see the people you love—another woman, another child—suffer, so you gave up everything. The chance at another five hundred years of life. The chance to be happy, even if only for a short while. You even tried to kill yourself—death by vampire!—all to keep me safe. Why? Because you love me, Lucian Smoke. I’ve known it from that first night you pushed me away, and I know it now with more certainty than any woman on earth has ever known such a thing.”
    He just stared at her, amazed. How did this woman see so straight into his soul?
    She dipped her head and gave him a mock scolding look. “You tried to run away from me, Lucian. You tried so hard to leave me to keep me safe. But even in the arms of other women, even in your dogged determination to fulfill your duty to the House of Smoke, you couldn’t help but think of me. You couldn’t help but love me. Still.”
    It was true. All of it.
    He reached a hand out to touch her cheek—her skin sparked magic, and he was immeasurably relieved that it was the same temperature as his. “My love, there has to be something that caused the dragonfire to rage inside you. Some doubt you have about me, about our love—”
    “I’m not having any doubts, Lucian!”
    It pained him to press on, but he had to. “Think, my sweet Arabella. Is there some dark corner of your mind that worries about… something. Anything. Whatever it is, we have to find it and banish it. Please, Arabella. I can’t lose you… or the baby…” Emotion was choking him as he begged.
    She sat up straighter on the bed, propped against the mound of pillows at the head, and crossing her legs to cradle her beautifully rounded belly. Their son.
    She was getting comfortable, but the look on her face was livid. “I am not losing this baby! You are not going to lose me. You need to knock this shit off, Lucian, because you’re starting to piss me off.”
    “Arabella, I almost lost you just now!”
    “That wasn’t anything I did,” she threw at him, defensively. “It just flares up for no reason.”
    “It’s not for no reason, my love. There has to be a reason. Just tell me what it is. I don’t want it to fester and then flare up and then steal you both from me just like…” He stopped himself cold.
    “Just like Cara.” Her eyes narrowed.
    “I didn’t mean…” He didn’t know what he meant.
    “I am not your dead mate, Lucian.” Her