Free Tianna Xander by The Fire Dragon

flight of
stairs?
    He hadn’t seen the gown due to some
strange human custom, but he was sure his mate would look beautiful
in a potato sack. What she wore was the least of his
concerns.
    Sometime during the night,
someone managed to sneak past Drake’s security and place a gift on the front porch.
At least the note said it was a gift. Somehow, Tony didn’t think of
a paper bag filled with exsanguinated squirrels as a
gift.
    There was no doubt in any of
their minds that the evil stemming from the appearance of
the ignis et pax was responsible. Still, as everyone agreed, the faster he and
Tansy were wed and properly mated, the faster she could learn to
control the dragon fire within her and he with her.
    Tansy stopped on the landing, a strange
expression on her face. Her hand shook on the railing, her knuckles
white as she gripped it as though it were a lifeline in a turbulent
sea.
    “ Something is here.” Her
gaze met his before her eyes rolled back and she began to
shake.
    Tony bounded up the stairs, afraid that
she would fall and hurt herself.
    “ Hold me or get away from
me. I don’t know how long I can hold it.”
    Edgar, Drake’s butler, rounded the
corner. “The master and mistress are having after dinner coffee in
the—Lord preserve us! My prayers haven’t been answered after all.”
Turning, he ran from the room, the cuffs of his slacks
smoldering.
    The sound of the glass breaking in
several windows traveled up the stairs as Tony grabbed Tansy and
pressed his lips to hers. They could control this together if they
were bound by a kiss.
    She opened to him immediately, her
tongue tangling with his. Tony opened his eyes at the sound of a
small explosion just as another small dirty bomb crashed through
the door window and exploded.
    Fires broke out all over the house,
licking at the draperies and devouring the plaster walls. Tansy
jerked in his arms as the power within her fought for release. She
wouldn’t let it go, afraid that her fire would only do more damage
to Drake’s home.
    Let it go, angel. This is
why you were born. It is what you were meant to do. Whatever else
happens, know that the power within you is meant to do good not
harm. Let it go.
    Tony deepened their kiss,
distracting her just enough that she lost control over the fire in
her that raged for release. The ignis et
pax swirled around them, growing larger and
larger. As it engulfed Drake’s home, it pushed the fires and bombs
against the walls, then incinerated everything harmful in its
path.
    Tansy’s fire was no longer a
destructive force, but a protective shell that stopped every fire,
every bomb and every evil force in its wake.
    Linked to Tansy the way he
was, Tony could see what the ignis et
pax did as it expanded to cover not only
the interior, but the exterior of the house and grounds.
    Shadowy figures sped over the grounds,
a few of them not quite fast enough as the sphere of fire engulfed
and burned them. Whomever or whatever they were, they would not
return to their homes this night.
    Tonight they ran in fear from Tansy’s
wrath and the power of the dragon’s fire trapped within her thanks
to an ancient witch’s spell.
    When the danger had passed
and the ignis et pax was again under control and the sphere dissipated, the others
gathered around Tansy with wide eyes and silent mouths.
    Nothing would ever compare to the raw
power his mate demonstrated this night and no one would ever
threaten her family again and live.
    Tony turned to face his mate at her
unintentional thought and smiled. “It is normal to want to harm
those who would take your loved ones away. Do not fret so over such
thoughts.”
    Tansy swallowed, pressed her lips
together when she would have said something, then nodded. Pulling
away from him, she continued down the stairs. “We have to get
married as soon as possible. The more grounded I am, the stronger
the link Tony and I have together, the more control I have over the
fire.”
    “ Tomorrow is the soonest