Of course, I was on fire, because that was just what I’d told Knox, wasn’t it? I was inside the carnage, with flames licking my flesh, and yet it didn’t hurt, not even a little. Only my bones ached and cracked as if something was within me, fighting to get out.
Slowly, I rose to my feet as my vision grew sharper. The ringing in my ears stopped, and over the sound of the screams, I heard insects buzzing in the yard beside us. I cracked my neck, whimpering as pain rushed through me before darkness consumed me.
Chapter 34
The Creature Within
I stared curiously at the people who watched me emerging from the flames. They smelled familiar, and yet I didn’t know them by sight. I lifted my nose, inhaling them into my lungs to see if they were prey I could devour, only to grimace at their combined odor. The screams irritated my ears, making me itch to end their constant cries.
My presence gave them pause as they watched me closing the distance between us. Once I stood in front of them, cries turned to gasps of shock, and I paused, peering past the females to a large male who narrowed his eyes on me, lifting his nose to the air as he watched me carefully. He was the largest, and definitely the biggest one I’d have to worry about if I chose to fight them. Something whizzed past my head, causing me to turn in the direction it had come. Another male stood in the distance with metal in his hands, pointing it back it in my direction.
“You’re on fire!” one of the women screamed, and I turned back, staring at her as the familiarity of her voice touched my mind.
“Aria, roll, or something,” another one shouted, and I turned in the direction of the man who continued sending metal flying in our direction.
Dismissing the women and men, I started toward him as he lowered the metal and stared at me in horror. His mouth dropped open as I caught his scent on the breeze and smiled for him. Lifting my hand, I fixed my hair as I walked in his direction. He started to run, and I laughed as I followed, using my muscles to rush toward him as he dropped the metal to the ground. He was slow, not fast enough to escape me. The moment I reached him, hunger pangs ignited, and I lunged, sinking my teeth into his throat as everything within me craved the meat of his flesh. My mind shut down on everything, but hunger and a red haze took over.
Something moved beside me, and I hissed. Growling, I turned with my kill still struggling in my hold, staring at the man with oceanic eyes, watching me holding my dinner with a curious look. I snarled in warning, baring my teeth around the man’s throat. Another male approached and stopped short, noticing that I’d made a kill. His gaze lowered and slowly slid down my body.
“What the fuck are you doing, Aria?”
I snarled around the mouthful of meat, warning him as my body tensed to fight for the food I held. I peered into pretty eyes that held ancient knowledge banked within them. Familiar eyes that were like mine, hiding something within them. I didn’t look away while following his movements.
“Aren’t you pretty, fangs and all? What are you, my naked little firebug?” the largest male asked, and I hissed, knowing that whatever I did, I should never give him my back. His power filled the area, and whatever he was, he was dominant and lethal.
He also wasn’t touching my kill. He could get his own damn dinner. He was all male, his scent oozing off of him in waves that created a new ache deep within me. Blood dripped out of my mouth as I watched him, knowing that he was big enough to take my dinner, but that didn’t mean I planned to let it go without a fight.
“She’s on fire,” another male uttered softly, “yet there’s not a single inch of her touched by it, she’s fucking immune.”
Another male moved in close to where I stood as well, staring at me as he sidled up next to the other male. His amber eyes slid down my body, narrowing as they came back up. I ripped a piece of meat from my dinner, shoving my kill to the ground at their feet. Stepping back, still holding the meat against my mouth, I took another bite before swallowing it down ravenously. Blood dripped down my chin as I gripped the flesh tightly, chewing it while they observed me carefully.
“Fangs and flames,” the large, masculine one with sea-blue eyes, uttered. “What are you, Aria?”
“No hair, though,” the one with sapphire eyes muttered. “Nothing else has changed, but she smells different. You smell that, right? Tell me she doesn’t smell like…”
“I smell it, but that’s fucking impossible, and you know it.”
“My money had been on a hybrid wolf or lion shifter,” the amber-eyed male said as he chuckled. “Naked little pussy, all hairless and shit, it’s perfect. Fucking hell, you beat that shit up real nice, Knox.”
“Stop looking at her pussy, asshole,” the leader snapped angrily. His hands drifted lower at his sides, and I watched them, inhaling the leader’s scent and smelling his mixed with my own. “That’s right, you smell yourself on me, don’t you?”
“What the fuck is happening to her?” A female demanded. I turned my stare toward her, never giving the males access to my back.
“Sabine, I suggest you back the fuck up, now,” the second guy demanded.
“She’s on fucking fire!”
“The fire isn’t hurting her. It is coming from her; do you understand me? Whatever the fuck your mother mated with, it controlled flames, and now Aria can as well, which is very dangerous and precarious considering she doesn’t know how to control them.”
“Then it should be easy to figure out what she is, right?”
They continued arguing back and forth, and my eyes slid back to the male that held my scent mixed with his. He smirked roguishly, watching me through narrowed slits while his chest rattled loudly. My stare narrowed as the sound called to me, making my spine arch with an intensity I wanted to explore deeper, more carnally. I opened my mouth, answering his call, letting the rattle build before it escaped. It was loud, husky, and violent. It vibrated through me until his eyes lowered to my chest before once again locking with mine.
“That’s new,” the female stated. “Why is she rattling like a snake?”
“Yeah, you’re about to find out a lot of new things, if you fucking live long enough to and get the fuck back, woman. Listen to me and back the fuck up, now, Sabine. For all we know, she could be a fire elemental and level the entire fucking town if she’s set off.”
Dismissing them altogether, the moment I grew bored with their bickering, I tilted my head toward the male. He discarded his shirt, exposing ropes of solid muscle. His scent filled the air, and I lifted my nose, inhaling it deeply. A noise sounded behind me, and his hands went up as I turned, watching another male who stepped too close to me, and I hissed. I crouched down, letting my teeth grow, and claws extend from my fingertips.
“Back the fuck off her, now. She’s about to attack,” the shirtless male hissed.
“That’s not an element. She’s got fucking razor-sharp fangs and claws,” said another male.
I made myself small close to the ground to jump if I needed to, turning to take on the people who were boxing me in. They seemed and sounded familiar, but my ears pulsed as blood echoed in them. I was starving, my body ached with pain, and everything was too sharp, too bright, and just too much.