Emma (Dark Fire) by Jodie B. Cooper

fury. He bared his teeth inches from her uncle’s face.
    With his free hand, the black-scaled wér curled an arm around Emma, pulling her to his side. His actions were clear. He was trying to protect her.
    Too bad, she didn’t need protecting.
    “Don’t hurt him!” Emma screamed, tugging on his arm. When he didn’t budge, desperation filled her voice. “Tyler, please, he’s my uncle!”
    Her uncle, a twenty-year, ex-special forces veteran struggled.
    Tyler’s growl deepened even further. The guttural sound, emerging from deep in his chest, vibrated with fury, its animalistic warning blatantly clear.
    She screamed at him, but her words dropped on deaf ears.
    The arm he had wrapped around her was gentle, but strong as steel as it kept her firmly at his side. She looked up at him and realized his eyes were solid white.
    Keith continued struggling, but it made little difference.
    Tyler snapped his head to the right. Opening his mouth, he snarled at the approaching woman.
    Seeing his face, the blonde dragon slid to a sudden stop.
    Emma jerked her eyes to the young woman. “Please, make him stop.”
    “He’ll never let me come that close, not without a major fight. Talk to him in a gentle tone. Tyler is young. When he saw you were in danger, his dragon instinct demanded he protect you. He didn’t hold anything of himself back when he fully changed into wér.”
    Just talk to him , Emma silently muttered as she watched Keith, a man who rarely lost a fight, struggle to free himself. His face was slowly turning colors from lack of oxygen.
    “Tyler, please let my uncle go. He can’t breathe,” Emma said softly, tightening her hold on his arm. “You’ve got to let him go.” She tilted her head, listening to him. His growl seemed to lessen in volume.
    “Keep going,” the woman urged in a soft murmur.
    Wrapping both hands around his arm, she gently tugged. “Come on, let go,” she insisted in a pleading voice, trying really hard not to scream at him. “Please, you can’t kill my Uncle Keith, you just can’t.”
    The growling lowered in volume, faltering to a stop. Looking down at her, he blinked. With a hiss, he jerked his hand away from her uncle’s throat as if the touch burned him.
    Keith dropped to the ground, gasping for air.
    Emma moved to help him, but Tyler had her in an unrelenting cage of gentle arms.
    The female dragon went to her knees to help Keith. The moment she touched him, she froze.
    Tyler shifted Emma in his arms.
    The female dragon jerked her head around and hissed at Tyler. When he didn’t respond, she bared her teeth and growled at him.
    Emma was beginning to worry the woman might attack them, but Tyler wasn’t paying the other shape shifter the least bit of attention. As if waking up from sleepwalking, he shuddered. His eyes focused on Emma, slowly changing from white to his normal blue.
    He changed shape, shifting into his human body. Wrapping both arms around Emma, he pulled her into a tight embrace. “Sorry, so sorry,” he said gruffly, rubbing his cheek against her hair.
    For her part, Emma was stunned, stunned totally speechless. Tyler acted as if she was important to him, like she was his girlfriend or something. Maybe they did things differently on Tuatha. A massive culture gap was the only thing that made any sense.
    “You were trying to protect me,” she said softly, leaning into his embrace, greedily enjoying it while she had the chance. “Thanks.”
    “When you spoke to him, I should have realized you knew him, but I didn’t think. I saw you struggling and everything went red.” He sighed and a gust of summer-laced spice surrounded her. “I was terrified he was going to hurt you.”
    “Oh!” Jerking back, she ran her hands over his chest in a quick move. “He shot at you!”
    “I’m fine. Hush,” he leaned down – shocking the living daylights out of her – and gently kissed her forehead, “not much can hurt me when I’m in wér or dragon form.”
    Emma gazed