Darkfire Kiss Read Online Free PDF Page A

worked out as well as she’d hoped.
    Melissa didn’t have time to come up with a new strategy, not before the guy with the great eyes began to shimmer blue around his perimeter. It had to be an illusion, a trick of the darkness. People didn’t shimmer. But by the time she’d blinked and looked again, something even stranger had happened.
    There were two dragons in the light of her flashlight, and the two men were gone. Montmorency’s gun fell to the floor with a clatter as Melissa gaped at the dragons.
    What had happened to Mr. Conscience and Montmorency?
    And where had the dragons come from? She would have noticed them, no matter where they’d been hiding. They were huge.
    She thought about that blue shimmer and wondered.
    Impossible.
    The dragons roared at each other and started to fight.
    The light of her flashlight shone on the gun on the hardwood floor. The gun was reassuringly real and lethal, something she understood.
    The sight of it gave Melissa her new plan.
     
     
    How could a thief look so innocent?
    Maybe that was how she got away with her crimes.
    All the same, Rafferty felt something melt inside him when he confronted the woman who had illegally entered Magnus’s home. Her skin was a rich gold, maybe indicative of a mixed racial background.
    Rafferty was entranced by her eyes. They were marvelous—thickly lashed and exotic, tipped up at the outer corners. They were a vivid shade of green.
    Her lips were full and luscious, tempting him to touch them with a fingertip, to see if they were really as silky soft as they appeared. The yearning that had been nudging at him redoubled in her presence, reminding him how long he had fought alone. When she caught her breath and retreated, the end of her scarf fell at the move, revealing the sleek golden length of her neck.
    Rafferty took a step closer, beguiled by that perfume, enchanted by the sight of her, wanting as he had never wanted. Something primal in him roared, demanding satisfaction, and he thought he saw an answering desire in the woman’s magnificent eyes.
    Her blush made him forget himself completely. It had seemed so out of character for a bold thief to blush, and he’d been transfixed by the slow spread of rosiness. He’d been so awed by her beauty that he hadn’t been listening as keenly as he should have for Magnus.
    And Magnus was home.
    Rafferty pivoted to face his old foe, shifting shape in a heartbeat. He forgot about defending the woman from the sight of his transformation, more intent upon protecting her. Magnus was ahead of him, already having changed to a jade and gold dragon. His gun fell to the floor just as Magnus breathed fire at Rafferty.
    Rafferty was astonished to see how Magnus had healed since their last encounter, and he wondered again whether the old Slayer had a hidden stash of Dragon’s Blood Elixir. Or had he learned some new secret from Chen? There was no doubt that the Slayer was in fine form once again.
    But he was as vicious as ever. Magnus was immediately on the offensive, slashing toward Rafferty with one claw and catching him across the jaw just before he completed his shift. Rafferty stumbled backward at the sting of the blow, then leapt at Magnus. Magnus retreated to the foyer, Rafferty bounding after him, and the pair locked claws to grapple for supremacy.
    Did the woman work for Magnus?
    Had she been sent to distract Rafferty on purpose?
    Or was she being manipulated by Magnus, as well? Rafferty had no time to think about it. Thief or pawn, she wasn’t a woman he should trust.
    Much less one he should want.
    The old Slayer was strong, stronger than he had been. He bent Rafferty’s talons back and exhaled a stinging torrent of dragonfire. His eyes glittered dangerously, and Rafferty wondered what new tricks his enemy had learned.
    “ Always good to see you again ,” Magnus murmured in old-speak. “Although I would have expected you to knock.”
    “ The door was open ,” Rafferty replied in kind.
    Magnus