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  He was even more interesting than he had been a heartbeat before.

  Oh.

  Niall immediately threw himself over her, protecting her from the falling debris, and Rox was astounded.

  Niall Talbot was another dragon shape shifter.

  One who defended her.

  No one ever protected Rox. Few people ever dared to try. And truly, only a dragon dude could have done it and lived to tell the tale. Rox was self-sufficient. Rox took care of her own.

  There was more to Niall than met the eye.

  It didn't hurt one bit that Rox had a major thing for dragons. She'd always been intrigued with their power and beauty, their fearlessness and loyalty. She'd always been sure they must exist.

  That their flesh-and-blood reality exceeded her imagination was a bonus. Niall's change was almost enough to make Rox forget her precarious situation.

  There were sirens going off and the crash of windows breaking. The building tipped and moaned. A long jagged crack opened like a zipper in the opposite wall. That crack rose to the ceiling. A gap yawned in the ceiling, becoming ever wider.

  The building shuddered and the roof began to fall in chunks, destroying the ceiling overhead. Plaster and wood and shingles landed on Niall's back and shoulders. Rox saw him thrash his tail and roar, deflecting the falling debris, snarling as the building fell into rubble.

  It was Rox's dream come true. She watched him and she marveled. She was awed by Niall's size and power, by the shimmering beauty of his amethyst scales so perfectly edged in platinum. As the building fell around them and Niall kept her safe, Rox's heart pounded with gratitude.

  Other parts of her felt a more earthy response. The sight of Niall's chest over her, those scales glimmering as he defended her, made her melt. She ran her hands over him and felt his shudder of surprise at the same time that she felt his muscled bulk. There was a weird golden light between them that Rox couldn't entirely explain, but it made him look magnificent.

  Like a lost treasure.

  One she was ready to claim.

  It didn't hurt that Niall looked good enough to eat in human form, if a bit stern. Thorolf had said he was snotty, but he probably had just been intent on defending his secret.

  Plus every word he uttered proved he wasn't another big dope with a big heart and a lack of focus. That worked for Rox in a big way, so she hung on to him and appreciated her good luck. By the time the earthquake was over, Rox knew there was only one way to thank Niall for his decision to defend her.

  She was going to kiss him.

  She'd been waiting for this moment all her life, and she wasn't going to let it--or him--slip away.

  Niall remembered his sense of impending doom and cursed himself for being distracted by Rox and the firestorm. This firestorm wasn't just wrong or inappropriate--it was treacherous. It had distracted him and put them both in danger. It had come at a bad time, when Niall had too much on his plate.

  He had to resist it.

  Only after he had shifted shape did he worry about the repercussions. He'd been pumped from his workout, shimmering on the cusp of change because of the eclipse, agitated because of his firestorm. The shift was intuitive--but possibly a big mistake. Some humans went insane when they witnessed the change, but it was too late to worry about that.

  Niall had heard Rox gasp as he folded himself over top of her, but he could only hope for the best. She was small and delicate and achingly feminine in his embrace. The firestorm flared as he caught her closer, making his blood simmer and giving him other ideas.

  Seductive ideas.

  Untimely and unwelcome ideas.

  Rox curled tightly against him, but she didn't shake and she didn't cry. He heard the quick rhythm of her breathing. She didn't scream, which he liked a lot, but she definitely hung on. Her small hands slid across his chest, launching an array of sparks across his flesh.

  Niall's eyes widened with surprise that she was checking him out.

  Then he began to feel aroused by her exploration. She flattened her palm and eased it over his scales, her caress coaxing his blood to a boil. She stroked his claws and his belly, traced the outline of his scales with a fingertip, left him dizzy with the firestorm's demand. He felt her catch her breath, heard the pulse of her heart, and felt his own heartbeat synchronize with hers.

  This was no drill--it was his firestorm, even though it made no sense. And it was so potent that Niall nearly forgot everything except his mate.

  No, he nearly forgot everything except claiming his mate.

  The firestorm sizzled and raged, bathing them both in a golden light that teased their bodies to awareness, tormenting Niall with possibilities. He smelled dust and felt the ripping wind; yet he couldn't ignore the sweet scent of Rox's perfume.

  Or turn his thoughts from temptation.

  In a way, he was oblivious to the chaos around them even as he listened to it. It felt separate from him--irrelevant. He was more aware of Rox, sweetly pressed against him, of the cocoon of the firestorm surrounding them. He felt her breath against his skin. He felt her exploring fingertips. He heard the pounding of her heart and the rhythm of her breathing, then felt dizzy when his matched pace with hers. The firestorm was about union, and Niall had a great many seductive ideas of how the two of them could become one.

  That was dangerous, but he couldn't tame his errant thoughts.

  He looked down at her and his desire surged. Her burgundy-stained lips were so close, so soft and full; he was tempted to taste them, to take advantage of the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity. He knew what he should do, what he had to do, what obligations he faced, but he couldn't stop wondering how Rox would kiss.

  Niall was in deep trouble because his firestorm wasn't inclined to be ignored.

  The upheaval lasted less than two minutes, although it felt as if it would go on forever. When the shaking finally stopped, Niall realized Rox was trembling a little. He suspected she might try to hide her fear with bravado.

  He shifted quickly. It was a bit too late to worry about her witnessing the change, but he thought it would be better to face the repercussions in human form.

  Of course, that was only more distracting. Niall was angled over Rox, his fingers in her hair, the two of them lying in the corridor outside his apartment and office, the floor beneath them tilted at a new angle. Niall cupped her head and held her face against his chest, protecting her small figure from the last of the tumbling debris. He kept his weight braced on his elbows, keenly aware of her small size. He looked down at her cautiously, startled by the knowing gleam in her eyes.

  "You are the same as him." There was no doubt in her tone. "Who would have believed there could be another one?"

  Rox knew what he was.

  Niall was shocked. He wasn't sure what to say, but she was watching him, waiting for his agreement. It would have been wrong to lie during his firestorm.

  Niall nodded once.

  Rox considered him thoughtfully. Niall wondered what she saw, other than a guy in jeans and a T-shirt, a guy anyone would overlook on the street, a guy covered in plaster and fallen wood. He wondered what she was thinking or feeling--he knew what he was feeling.

  He knew he should stand up and push her out of his embrace, but the firestorm's heat tempted him to linger.

  This firestorm would get him killed.

  Niall stood up abruptly, hoping to regain his sense of purpose with a bit of distance. Rox didn't let go of him. A chunk of plaster fell close at hand and he couldn't stop himself from backing her into the wall and leaning over her protectively.

  Her eyes shone, as if she didn't mind.

  "So, you are mentoring T, just as he said." Rox's eyes were a vivid blue, snapping with intelligence. "He didn't lie about that."

  Niall shook his head. "If that's what he said, it wasn't a lie. I am supposed to be mentoring him."

  Her lips quirked and her eyes sparkled. "You don't sound very enthused."

  Niall tried to be diplomatic and w
as pretty sure his tone gave him away. "He's not an attentive student."

  To Niall's dismay, he ended up sounding exactly like his father--stuffy, inflexible, judgmental. He could guess what someone like Rox would think of that.

  But Rox laughed. "You can say that again. But you know, everyone deserves a second chance." Niall blinked at the change in her. She looked softer when she smiled, less cynical, more alluring.

  The firestorm was messing with his clear thinking. He tried to put some distance between them and ignore the firestorm's call, but Rox twined her arms around his neck.

  Niall's mouth went dry and he froze.

  She met his gaze and wrinkled her nose. "Some people need a hundred second chances to get it right--I'll guess that T is one of them."

  Niall had a feeling Thorolf might never get it right, but given that she was fond of the big Pyr, it seemed tactless to say as much.

  That sounded like his father's thinking, too.

  Was he doomed to repeat the errors of his father's firestorm? Niall's father had shifted shape without warning his new bride of his powers, putting a chasm in their marriage before it started. Niall had just done the same thing--despite his determination to do better.

  He'd gotten lucky in that Rox hadn't been surprised, but that didn't change his having made a mistake.

  The firestorm was treacherous. He tried to step away.

  Rox wasn't having any of it.

  "Sorry if I came across too strong," she said in that husky tone Niall found so attractive. He froze and looked down into her eyes again. "I was sure someone was taking advantage of him. He's not really good at assessing people's motives, you know." She lifted one dark brow, her eyes shining. "I thought he didn't have the balls to tell me the truth."

  Niall smiled despite himself. It was conceivable that the tall Pyr would be terrorized by an outspoken little fireball like Rox.

  "He thinks he can fight his way out of anything," Niall said, hearing his father in his own tone again.

  Rox nodded ruefully. "Fighting's not always the best answer."

  "Sometimes avoiding a fight is smarter."

  She held his gaze and nodded again, their agreement surprising Niall a bit. "But he needs someone to watch over him."

  "And that was you?" At her nod, Niall sighed. "I guess now it's me."

  "So, we have something in common, despite appearances," Rox said, that enticing thread of laughter in her tone.

  Niall was surprised to hear his own thought on her lips. He saw the glint of awareness in her expression and knew he should let go of Rox. There were things he should do, things he should check, but he couldn't summon the energy to do so.

  The firestorm just made it hard to do anything other than hold Rox. He felt her breasts against his chest, her legs against his own, and he wanted something he knew he shouldn't be tempted to take.

  "Imagine--I thought you might be a woman," Rox whispered, then laughed again. Niall felt his own lips twitch.

  "Not many named Niall."

  "Oh, I assumed the whole business card trick was bogus, that he'd found your card and was lying to me."

  "And you came after him, even so?"

  She grimaced. "Well, I finally found him a job, a job that would keep him out of trouble."

  "So, you weren't happy to hear that he had other plans."

  "The people I help don't usually say no to me, or to opportunity."

  "I can imagine."

  Their gazes locked and held, her eyes so filled with stars that Niall couldn't look away. Rox slid her hands across Niall's shoulders and curved her fingers around the muscles there, then cast him an impish smile. Her approval of what she saw was more than clear. She was so direct that Niall didn't quite know what to do.

  "I'm pretty sure, though, that you are a guy," she whispered.

  "Pretty sure?" Niall couldn't help but tease.

  He was rewarded by her bright smile. "You can't be faking these biceps." She ran her hands across his chest, his shoulders, his arms again, launching an array of little sparks that made Niall catch his breath. "And the usual suspects are absent and unaccounted for."

  "Excuse me?"

  Rox's smile turned coy as she arched her back and pressed her breasts against Niall's chest. He glanced down into her cleavage, saw the creamy curves of her breasts, and his mouth went dry. He saw appreciation light her eyes and knew he had to put some distance between them.

  Before it was too late.

  But Rox caught his neck in her hands. Niall froze, uncertain of what she would do, but wanting to know. The firestorm was sending an insistent message through his body that was impossible to ignore.

  "Thanks, Niall," she whispered, her eyes shining. "I would have been squished like a roach without you."

  Niall had no chance to answer, because Rox kissed him. It wasn't a sweet kiss or a shy kiss--it was a kiss that knew where it was going and why.

  It was going exactly where the firestorm wanted to lead.

  That kiss shorted Niall's circuits. It got right to where he lived, eliminated his doubts, and undermined his hesitation. It filled his body and his mind with an urge to consummate the firestorm, with a sense of urgency and demand.

  It made him want.

  It made him need.

  It made him forget the merit of duty and logic and deliberate choice. It made him appreciate the call of passion and impulse.

  And one cheeky little brunette named Rox.

  There was only one thing to do about that kiss--Niall kissed Rox back. He shook debris off his shoulders as he caught Rox even closer. He claimed her mouth, kissing her with a fervor that surprised him more than the firestorm had.

  Rox clearly had no issues with his deepening of their kiss. She wrapped her legs around his waist and locked her fingers into his hair, meeting him more than halfway. Her response sent lightning through his body. Niall doubted he'd shake her off soon.

  It surprised him that he didn't want to. He liked how direct she was, how honest she was about her desire, and that only made it harder to resist her.

  Niall couldn't remember a single reason why he should resist.

  The firestorm raged at incendiary levels, blazing like a forest fire and obliterating every thought except Niall's need to possess the woman in his arms. He burned and yearned, his body raged for satisfaction, and he couldn't think of a reason to delay.

  Rox slid her tongue between his teeth and made a low growl of pleasure that drove him crazy. He fell against the wall, caught her buttocks in his hands, and pulled her closer. . . .

  Then Thorolf cleared his throat from the top of the stairs. "Here I was thinking you might need some help. You did call."

  Niall broke their kiss and glanced up as Thorolf ran a hand through his hair.

  Thorolf grinned. "But my mistake, dude. It looks like you're doing just fine."

  And Niall remembered his objectives and obligations just a little bit too late.

  The worst thing he could do was indulge the firestorm, think of his own pleasure, and forget the pledge he'd undertaken to eliminate the shadow dragons. He had a job to do and a duty to his fellow Pyr to fulfill it.

  Never mind his business and his clients. He had responsibilities.

  One of them was a student who was simply not prepared to learn anything.

  Niall found his frustration with Thorolf coming to a simmer, aided no doubt by the firestorm's heat. How could Thorolf stand there and razz him--without the distraction of a firestorm, Thorolf should have been aware of the danger to them all.

  It was just more proof that Thorolf wasn't really guarding Niall's back.

  As soon as Niall moved away from Rox and the firestorm's seductive glow, he could hear the instability of the damaged building. It was a threat not just to the two of them but to the survival of the human in their company.

  Thorolf leaned in the doorway, completely at ease.

  It was the previous night's surprise attack by the shadow dragons all over again.

/>   Niall was too overextended to put up with laziness and indifference, with the refusal of Thorolf to use his inbred abilities. He caught a whiff of gas, knew Thorolf was completely oblivious, and realized he was finally going to lose his temper.

  Right in front of his mate.

  So much for the firestorm.

  That kiss nearly finished Rox. It was a hot kiss, precisely the kind of kiss a woman could expect from a dragon shape shifter. It lit a torrential heat that left her shaking, set a desire burning within her unlike anything she'd ever felt before. Rox was not unfamiliar with lust or with the pleasure a body would experience, but this one kiss was a revelation.

  It left her toes curled.

  No, they were singed.

  Smoking in her boots.

  But it wasn't just a hot kiss--it was a sweet kiss, too. Tender. The kiss was tinged with that protectiveness that made Rox forget everything she knew about who she was. She could be independent and self-reliant later--for the moment, she'd be Niall's willing lover. She couldn't resist Niall's kiss, or the feel of his muscled strength beneath her hands. Knowing what he was, what he could do, just made her burn a little hotter.

  Rox liked to keep life simple. When people came across opportunity, in Rox's world, they should do something about it. Things changed. Chances came and went. Moments had to be seized when they presented themselves. There was a reason why she had a tattoo that said carpe diem. This spark might be well beyond the passion of anything she'd felt before, which only made her philosophy doubly true.

  Kissing Niall felt right because it was right.

  And doing something about his appearance in her life, about the passion between them, was even more right.

  It was, in many ways, the opportunity she'd been waiting for.

  She'd locked her hands into his hair, loving the thick waves of his blond hair and how luxurious it felt in her fingers, and wrapped her legs around his waist. She'd been aware that his response was perfectly in tune with her own--he was as hard as a rock and holding her so tightly that there was no doubt their thoughts were as one. Rox had deepened her kiss and rolled her hips against him, demanding everything he could give.