Love in the Land of Fire Read Online Free PDF Page A

bellows the words but they have no effect. All he can do is clutch uselessly at the other man’s loose form and pray that the sirens he can hear in the distance will make it to them in time.
     
    1 Chapter Five
     
    Josiah scrubs a hand roughly across his face, fingers scraping through the build-up of stubble that coats his cheeks. He’s basically been playing guard over Rafe’s bedside for the past three days and he’s beginning to get frustrated. He’s given up all thoughts of not calling the man by his given name. Josiah figures it’s a small reward for all of the bullshit he’s had to put up with.
    The situation had gone downhill at an almost awe-inspiring speed after the medical unit had finally made it to the ruins of Rafe’s old home. The submissive had flat-lined twice on the ride back to the city and on the second time the medics had barely been able to revive him again. The large dose of distilled quiesco root, a plant that acted as a powerful sedative, that he’d injected into his arm had stopped his heart before the medics had been able to flush his system completely. They’d almost been too late.
    He’d almost lost Rafe before he even had the chance to have him.
    Josiah pushes that thought away harshly. Rafe isn’t his, cannot be his, and does in fact belong to someone else. Someone Josiah has spent the last three days making damn sure is unable to come within two feet of the vulnerable man. He knows that he should have went home instead, that he should have left the hospital as soon as it was clear that Rafe would live, gone home and washed the feel of ash and death off of his skin with scalding hot water. Instead he’d glued himself to Rafe’s side, ignoring or practically snarling at anyone who suggested he should leave. Eagan had walked in, taken one look at him before shaking his head and wishing him good luck.
    What he meant Josiah isn’t exactly sure he wants to know, but he appreciates the sentiment anyways.
    Frisch had been particularly hard to get rid of, but Josiah had taken an almost feral delight in intimidating the lower tiered dominant into leaving. So far he’d been the only visitor; there’d been no friends, no other family. The unconscious man’s Head of House hadn’t even bothered to show when she’d been notified of his condition and location and that alone spoke volumes about Rafe’s home life. It was something that set Josiah’s teeth on edge and his fingers itching for his rapier.
    Especially when the medical workup on Rafe had been completed and Josiah and Marcel had been presented with irrefutable proof that the submissive had been treated poorly for what had to have been years now. The physical scars were few but the in-depth scans had told a different, more terrible story. Josiah has a not so sneaky suspicion that it’d all began when Rafe had been separated from his father’s Bonded. He’s got feelers out in some discreet places to see if he can locate the other man; it’d only taken a few discreet messages on his p.a.t.c.h to start the process, but he’s more than aware of the fact that after so many years any important information might already be gone.
    Now all they can do is play the waiting game and hope that Rafe will wake up soon so that Josiah can get his testimony and have Frisch’s abusing ass thrown somewhere where he won’t see the light of day for a very long time.
    “You know I don’t think I’ve ever seen you quite this invested in a case before, Josie.”
    It’s Marcel, her platinum blonde hair swept up in her trademark twist as her dark brown eyes almost twinkle at him despite the seriousness of the situation.
    “Don’t call me that, Marcy . You know how much I hate it.” He smirks tiredly at the displeased moue he gets in return.
    1“Point taken, sweetness. Now no more changing the subject! You’ve gotten yourself all twisted up about this delicious little morsel like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Not that I blame you really,