Fire The Blood: Dragon Mage Series Book III by Kelly Lucille Page A

about arguing with him, even if he was talking about his sister; That was
a fight for another day.  For now, Furee had agreed to give her some time, and
Braedon would deal with the rest as it came.  "Riva is safe in her room
and unclaimed.  You don't have anyone to kill."
    "If he had claimed
her…"  He looked both tortured and filled with rage; both looks were hard
to take, especially when Furee normally looked like a touch would leave burn
scars.
    "He did not,"
Eben declared firmly.  "And he will not."
    Finally Furee turned away
from the distant sky, his hands clenched with veins of fire dancing in his hair
and down his arms.  "I must see her."
    "No!"  Four
different voices joined Braedon’s stopping Furee in his tracks.  Braedon let
out a breath and met those burning ash eyes.  "You are angry, and to
others, that looks and feels like they are standing too close to an open
flame.  Not only could you burn her without meaning to, but for a woman
recently saved from a bonfire, you would appear as her worst nightmare if you
went to her now."
    Furee gritted his teeth
and then looked away then back, his eyes finding Braedon's, more tortured now
but no less angry.  "And will a woman who fears fire as she does ever want
a mate who is fire?  How long will it be before she can stand to look at
me when I enter a room?  How long before she stops flinching at the sight of me
or leaving my presence at the earliest opportunity?"
    Braedon blew out a
breath.  He could not answer, just as sure as the other man that the answer
would be never.  Fate had cursed Furee with the appearance of fire and a mate
who recoiled at the smallest flicker of flame.  He could not give the man hope
when there was none, so he said nothing.  He liked Furee, and he knew Riva was
safer in Dracon than in the world of humans, where magic was feared.  It didn’t
matter that her brand of it was healing rather than a more destructive
version.  He needed his sister to find a home here, and he would do what he
must to make her safe.  But Furee would have been the last dragon he would ever
choose as his sister’s mate.  Fate had done none of them a service on this one.
    Before anyone could give
further hope where Braedon was sure none existed, Furee transformed into a
dragon of flame and blasted out of the room.  They all watched him go before
turning back to Braedon; none of them looked too pleased with him.
    "I could have
handled that better."
    "You think?"
Lux boomed, dropping his broad girth to the couch with a huff and a creak of
beleaguered furniture.  Then he brushed his finger back and forth across his
chin in serious thought.  "So Lady Asha is part mage?"  He looked to
Eben Kinkaid.  "How is that even possible?"
    "Since she is the
image of Lady Laksee," Eben answered finally, his eyes darkening briefly
in grief at the name.  "I would say her father was a mage, and not Lord
Graedon as we were led to believe."
    "Perhaps one of the
mage mates that the council allowed the houses to deal with on their
own?"  Ladon asked, his eyes showing his disgust.
    "A dragon female
mated to a human mage, and not just any female, but the seer?  Yes, that would
call down the wrath of the traditionalists, but to separate mates…" Aarion
closed his eyes briefly, his hand going back through his hair in agitation. 
"I do not want to think us capable of such barbarism."
    Braedon shook his head at
that.  He met the eyes of Aarion, and his own were grim.  His voice was almost
an accusation.  "Which is how they got away with it for so long."
    Aarion dropped his arms,
and his face settled into savage lines that acknowledged the truth of that
statement.
    General Solan spoke for
them all as the door opened and they turned to look.  "First, we end
Graedon and these mage laws."  His eyes melted to quicksilver when his
mate entered the room.  "Our mates, and all future ones, will be safe
again."
    Melisande looked around
the room.  Her eyes then went to