Love Burns by Georgette St. Clair

disgusting?”
    “Hey, it worked, didn’t it? Did you see how fast he ran out the door? He practically left scorch marks. Let me go get you another muffin.”
    “Nah, don’t bother, I’m going to go drive around town and do some more meet-and-greets.”
    She went downtown to talk to the merchants, stopping by each store to check to make sure they hadn’t experienced any more vandalism. She was pleased to hear that there hadn’t been any more incidents; Henrik’s presence in town was at least having some effect. Apparently he was going around interviewing everyone in both towns and trying to get the fire dragons to fill out complaints against the ice dragons and vice versa, and getting very frustrated when they refused. Their dislike of the Overseer was stronger than their hatred of other dragon species – for now, at least.
    As she headed back to her office, she passed by the town playground. It was crowded with families, so she decided to pull over and chat with some of them.
    It went pleasantly enough for several minutes until she heard angry shouting over by one of the play structures, which was made of concrete blocks and shaped like a castle. Dragons never used wood for their play structures.
    She walked over and saw half a dozen teenage dragon shifter boys, probably fourteen or fifteen, surrounding a group of younger kids. One of them was Robbie, the boy who’d stolen the candy bars from the concession stand. He was standing protectively in front of two boys with different-colored eyes and a little girl who looked just like them in her facial features but had two blue eyes.
    Robbie was covered with white frost, and shivering. Icicles dripped from his hair. The older boys had blasted him with a cloud of frost – not enough to kill him, but enough to make him very uncomfortable.
    As she got closer to them, she was horrified to hear what the teenage boys were saying.
    “Your mother’s a whore! Say it!” one of them yelled.
    “No! I won’t!” Robbie said defiantly, fists clenched.
    The leader of the bullies dodged to the side and blasted one of Robbie’s younger brothers, who staggered back, clawing at his face.
    “Stop that!” Robbie wailed. “We aren’t bothering you! Why are you doing this?”
    The little girl shifted, turning into a dragonling. She blew several puffs of icy vapor at their tormenters, but they were too small and weak to do any good.
    “See!” the older boy sneered. “She’s a dragon and you’re not! You don’t even have the same father!”
    “Yes we do!” one of the little boys piped up. “We all have the same daddy, but he died!”
    “He was a bank robber, that’s why he died! And you’re going to die unless you say what I told you! Say your mother is a— awwwwwk!” the boy let out a shriek as Olivia furiously blasted him with ice from head to toe. He was encased, and he began squirming wildly to break the ice shell.
    The other boys turned and tried to run, but Olivia directed an ice blast at their feet, forming frozen blocks and trapping them where they stood.
    She stalked up to them as several families hurried over.
    “You guys can go,” she said to Robbie. “I’m sorry that happened. It was inexcusable, and if they ever give you a hard time again, you call the mayor’s office and ask for me.”
    “Thank you, ma’am,” Robbie muttered miserably, and he grabbed his younger brothers and his sister, who had shifted back into her human form and was standing there naked.
    “I ruined my dress,” she said sadly.
    “Well, he’s going to buy you a new one,” Olivia said, pointing at the leader of the bullies. “It will be at your house by the end of the day.”
    The leader of the bullies shrugged off the ice shell and started to shift, and Olivia blasted his feet, freezing them solid. “Shift, and I swear I’ll encase you in an ice block you can’t ever get out of,” she snapped.
    “You let my Tony go right now! I’ll tell your father on you!” one of the