Sam shifted his weight. “Even if you found him, you couldn’t kill him.”
“No, but if we blew up his world in a way that guaranteed he’d never make it back here, good enough,” Flynn said. Then he winced. “Your new affliction is a warning. If we mess with physics and other worlds any further, what will happen to this one? We’re all connected, and it’s beginning to look as if Ulric’s world has to fall on its own like the other two did. Even so, we might be in a crapload of trouble.”
Sam wished he could just go back and beat everyone who’d created this messed up situation. “I’ve met Ulric.” He gave them the whole story.
Flynn frowned. “The fire didn’t burn you in his world?”
“No.” Sam scrubbed both hands through his hair. “I think the reason I passed some of my fire problem to Honor was because she was open to it. She tried to dig inside me to find the truth. The unique element here is her. There are probably very few people I could infect.”
“Or she’s your mate,” Bear said, going right there. “It might be as basic as that.”
Flynn nodded. “Agreed.”
Sam held out his palm. His very empty palm. “No mating mark.” The idea bothered him, and it shouldn’t. He didn’t want to mate.
“So?” Bear said, reaching for the bottle again. “You’re all sorts of screwed up right now. Fire is actually coming from your fingers. Maybe the mating mark is just struggling to make it through.”
“Or maybe you don’t want to see the mating mark,” Flynn said quietly.
Sam snagged the bottle from Bear and drank rapidly. “That’s crazy,” he said, wiping his mouth.
Bear reached for the bottle again. “Why wouldn’t he want to see a mark? They totally fit together.”
“Well, not really,” Flynn countered. “She’s modern, he’s not, although he puts up a good show. Add in the dragon fire, and he’s not nearly as mellow as he appears. Although that’s not why he refuses to see the mark, is it, Sam?”
Sam cut a look at the dragon. “Have you been studying me?”
“Of course,” Flynn said.
Well, that wasn’t disconcerting or anything. Sam sighed. “I’m not afraid of the mark.”
Bear growled. “Stop talking in riddles. What’s wrong with the mark?”
“Nothing,” Sam said, shrugging. “I’m sure I’ll have a nice K on my right hand someday.”
“Oh,” Bear muttered, finally clueing in. “Huh. I didn’t think of that. One K is good. Two S’s for Sam would be…bad.”
Yeah. “Two S’s would mean I’m stepping up as demon leader and Zane is going to be dead.” Sam shook his head. He’d do anything to protect his older brother. “Logan wasn’t worried about it, but…I’ve had dreams. For years.” He’d never admitted it to anybody. “Both hands with an S.”
Bear handed him the bottle. “Dreams often don’t mean anything. It could be Fate messing with you or just bad dreams. We all get them.”
“Yeah, but sometimes dreams come true,” Sam said softly.
Unfortunately.
A scream from inside the cabin had him springing off the stairs in a heartbeat.
* * * *
Pain clawed at Honor’s leg, digging deep. She screamed as something wrestled her from the bed. “Sam!” Her leg was out of sight and freezing cold. Where was her leg?
Sam barreled into the room followed by Bear and a huge dude with black hair. The dragon? He looked different in the light.
“What has you?” Sam slid on his knees to her, grasping her upper thigh.
“I don’t know.” Tears streamed down her face, and she kicked her invisible leg, barely seeing a circle around it. The force grew stronger, hauling more of her inside that circle. She screamed and scrambled for purchase, both hands going to Sam. She dug her hands into his bare torso, trying to climb inside his skin.
Sam released her leg and yanked her in front of him, plastering her back to his chest and holding tight. “Pull back. Pull!” he ordered.
She kicked uselessly with both legs, fighting hard, panic giving her strength. Her missing limb wasn’t functioning properly. Too cold. “It feels like my leg is freezing,” she whimpered. “It’s going numb. I don’t understand.”
Sam looked over his shoulder. “Flynn?” he barked.
As one, Flynn and Bear moved. Bear leaped across the bed and linked his arms through Sam’s, giving him better purchase.
Flynn ran around the other side of Honor and settled on his knees, pushing his face nearly into the circle. It sucked him in, and he growled, sinking surprising claws right through the wooden floor to balance himself. Then he opened his mouth, wider than any human could, and roared fire into the abyss.
Heat flashed along her leg. She gasped. “Better.”
He did it again, and her leg started moving. “Don’t want to burn you,” he muttered, his eyes flicking to reveal oval shaped irises.
“One more time,” Sam ordered, hauling her back against him.
Flynn leaned down and turned his head, blasting fire into the abyss.
Her leg warmed, and she kicked more wildly.
“Now!” Sam yelled.
Flynn grabbed her waist while Bear and Sam pulled back. At the last second, Bear released them, and Sam twisted to the side, propelling her toward the door.
She flew across the room, her leg free, and smashed into the wall with her forehead.
“Shit.” Sam was right there, turning her over, looking down into her eyes. “You okay?”
“No.” She pressed a finger to the painful lump that was already forming and then scrabbled to sit up, looking down at her leg. “What just happened?” She rubbed her thigh, which showed several indentations and the raw remainder of frostbite. Tears slid from her eyes as panic all but choked her. The outer layer of skin on her leg came off in her hand, and the pain arrived a few seconds later. She gasped and then whimpered before startling herself with a shriek as damaged nerve endings tried to awaken.
Sam’s fangs dropped, and he sliced into his wrist. He held the blood to her lips, giving her no choice but to drink. She took several deep gulps, and then he removed his hand. The taste was the same as before. Slightly metallic and a little bit spicy. Bubbles burned down her throat and then spread heat out to her extremities as if she’d drunk a supernatural hot toddy. The second the blood cells hit her injured leg, angry pangs of raw pain took her.