Firestorm Forever: A Dragonfire Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

he knew that humans had a number of superstitions about them. In fact, there were four blood moons in a row, the one the previous April that had sparked Thorolf’s firestorm being the first of the sequence. He found a Blood Moon Prophecy, which declared this sequence of eclipses to be a mark of the end times, based a line in the Book of Joel, a minor prophet. Erik supposed that wasn’t overly different from the Pyr ’s view that karma must be rebalanced before the end of this cycle of the moon’s node. He knew that the first full moon after the equinox was called the Harvest Moon and the subsequent one, the Hunter’s Moon, but wasn’t sure it mattered which this one was.
    He pushed back the laptop with disgust, just as Eileen came into the living room. She yawned when she saw him, then smiled. “Oh good, you’re still here. I thought maybe there was some drama over the firestorm.”
    “Not so far.”
    “Excellent. I do love a world with fewer Slayers .” Eileen frowned then. “Unless there isn’t a firestorm?”
    Erik closed his eyes and smiled as he attuned himself to the spark. He could feel the firestorm, even at a distance, and the heat of its burn. “Yes. In Virginia.”
    “Are you staying up? Do you want coffee?”
    “No and no.” Erik went toward the couch, extending a hand to his partner, mate, and lover. “Come sit with me for a minute.”
    “Whose firestorm is it?” Eileen asked, curling up beside him on one of the black leather couches.
    “Drake’s.”
    “Really!” Eileen twisted around to smile at him, as if she didn’t believe him. “I thought he’d had one before. He had a son he left behind, right?”
    Erik tightened his arm around her. “He wouldn’t be the first to get a second chance.”
    “True.” Eileen nestled against him with satisfaction. “Maybe a new life means a new firestorm.”
    “Maybe.”
    “Well, either way, I’m pleased to hear that. I like Drake.”
    “I didn’t realize you’d talked to him much.”
    “I haven’t, but I have a weakness for strong, silent types,” Eileen confessed with a smile, then kissed Erik’s cheek when he snorted. She studied him for a moment. “Why are you up if there’s no trouble?”
    “A dream.”
    Eileen sobered. “The same one?”
    Erik winced. He got up and retrieved the pad of paper, then gave it to Eileen.
    “What eggs?” she asked immediately.
    “I don’t know.”
    There was a shuffling then and their daughter Zoë appeared at the end of the corridor that led to her room and Eileen’s office. She’d be six in November, but already resembled Erik so strongly that Eileen joked that she’d been just a womb for rent. Erik saw his partner in his daughter, though, in her creativity and her intelligence, as well as the warmth of her smile. Zoë was carrying her favorite stuffed toy of the moment and looked like she was sleepwalking.
    “The blood moon will ripen the eggs,” she said, her words devoid of inflection.
    The hair on the back of Erik’s neck stood up. Had Sigmund appeared to Zoë in a dream, as well? Or was this some mustering of her prophetic abilities as Wyvern? He would have gone to their daughter but Eileen moved first and more quickly, and he settled back against the couch with reluctance.
    His desire for Zoë to show her abilities sooner rather than later was a sore point between himself and his mate, so he tried to temper it.
    Erik didn’t feel any more successful than he usually did.
    “Shhh,” Eileen counseled, then went to Zoë and picked her up. “You’ll get cold,” she whispered. “Let’s get you back to bed.” She kissed her daughter’s temple as she picked her up, grimacing at the weight. Erik bit back a smile when Eileen glanced his way. Zoë curled instinctively around her mother, settling against her shoulder to doze contentedly.
    Erik beckoned, wanting his family close for the moment, although he couldn’t have said why.
    “She’s growing up so fast,” Eileen whispered,