Fire of a Dragon (Fallen Immortals 3) - Paranormal Fairytale Romance Read Free Page A

Rachel—she doesn’t need a cause.” Arabella stopped in front of the door but didn’t knock. “Besides, she does have cause.” She couldn’t believe he was forcing her to say this, but she would, if she had to.
    “She was worried you wouldn’t survive the sealing,” he said, the tension ramping up in his voice. “But you did. Why would she still be angry?”
    “Because I might yet die.”
    Lucian’s face dropped to blankness, and he just blinked. But he didn’t have any immediate comeback.
    Arabella pounded on the door.
    It opened immediately, but the person on the other side of the door wasn’t Rachel—it was Cinaed, Lucian’s right-hand dragon. The tall, muscular, reddish-haired dragon shifter was hot for Rachel, and Arabella had left him alone with her for two weeks with explicit permission to take her best friend to bed. If they wanted to. Arabella didn’t know if that had happened, but if Cinaed took Lucian’s side and tried to keep Arabella from having a one-on-one girl discussion with her best friend, she would lay them both out.
    “Thank magic you’re here,” Cinaed said, gesturing her inside.
    Arabella brushed past him. “Where is she?” She scanned the great room that was off the entranceway, but it was empty.
    Lucian closed the door behind them.
    Cinaed hovered close, looking Arabella over like he wanted to hug her, or something, but didn’t quite have the bravery to do it. His gaze kept bouncing down to her belly and back up to her eyes as if he expected her to be incapacitated by the tiny bump that was her son.
    His gaze finally settled on her eyes. “She’s hiding in the bedroom. Claims she doesn’t want to speak to you, my lady, but it’s a lie. She does.”
    Arabella put a hand on Cinaed’s shoulder, and her touch seemed to make him relax. “I know.” Then she glanced at Lucian, whose scowl was just getting darker. “I’m going in. You stay here.”
    She turned her back on Lucian and marched towards the bedroom in the back of the apartment. But Lucian wasn’t letting this go—he was right at her heels, and he caught her elbow before she reached the door.
    Arabella stopped and dropped her voice, not wanting Rachel to hear them, even through the door. “Lucian Smoke, I swear to God—”
    But his arms simply went around her, and he pulled her into his chest. His touch always disarmed her— man, he was playing dirty.
    Then he whispered into her hair, “Take care of your friend. But all the demons in hell couldn’t pull me from this door. I’ll be waiting for you.”
    He released her.
    She rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I’m going through the gates of the underworld here.” She shook her head, but his slightly terrified look wrenched the sympathy out of her. “Oh, for God’s sake.” She leaned up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then turned away and wrenched open the bedroom door, quickly scuttling in and closing it behind her.
    Rachel was standing at the window, her back turned to Arabella. But she could tell by the stiffness of her best friend’s stance that she was well-aware of Arabella.
    “Cinaed explained it to me,” Rachel said. Arabella had never heard so much anger in her voice. “Either you’re going to die giving birth to this thing… or you’re going to live forever as Lucian’s baby mama. Either way, I’m fucked.”
    Okay, that pissed her off. “If I live, it won’t be forever—just for five hundred years. And that thing is my son.”
    The anger in Arabella’s voice must have gotten through the thick wall she knew Rachel liked to throw up against anything that might hurt her heart. Arabella had never been on the other side of that wall—she’d seen it put up time and again, against everything and everyone else in the world, but not her. Never her.
    Rachel turned to her with wide eyes, her shoulders dropping. “Your son?” There were tears in her eyes.
    “I can already feel the baby, Rach. Sweet and beautiful and made of magic.