Fury of Obsession (Dragonfury Series Book 5) (24 page)

Peace on earth, goodwill to all Dragonkind males.

Tension rolled, tightening muscles over bone. Gauging the distance, Venom started the countdown. Fiv
e . . .
fou
r . . .
thre
e . . .
tw
o . . .

One!

He leapt toward his enemy.

Ivar cursed and spun, retreating into the hospital room. Venom swiped at him. His fingertips brushed the shoulder of the asshole’s lab coat. Cotton ripped, coming away in his hand. A pop-pop-pop sounded. The spell keeping Ivar hidden from human eyes tore open.

“What the hell?” a human doctor muttered from inside the room.

“Holy crap!” Evelyn gasped, alarm in her voice.

With a snarl, Venom tossed the jacket and went after the bastard. Evelyn’s profile flashed in his periphery. She looked away from Ivar toward him. Time slowed. Perception twisted. His chest heaved. Eyes aglow, Venom painted the room red with his gaze. Her eyes widened as she met his an
d . . .
Goddamn it. He wasn’t going to make it. Wasn’t going to reach her in time. Ivar was too fast and—

Venom lunged at him.

The bastard threw out his hand.

Powerful magic poured out of Ivar’s palm. The smell of brimstone rushed into the room. Poison slammed into Venom, then clawed at this throat, trying to steal his air. His venomous half rose to counteract the toxin. Fisting his hand, Venom unleashed his magic and sucked the noxious fumes from the room. Evelyn coughed as the oxygen level thinned. Without thought, he enclosed her in an air bubble, protecting her from suffocating in the toxic swill.

Ivar hit him with another dose.

He fired back, blasting the bastard with neurotoxins. Hauling ass toward the window, Ivar smiled. And Venom realized his mistake.

He sucked in a quick breath.

Fire dragon side out in full force, Ivar lit the match.

Noxious vapor fed by Venom’s magic exploded into a flamethrower. Heat went cataclysmic. Curtains caught fire. Flames blew into the hallway. The bed flipped, rolling end over end. Glass shattered across the room as smoke billowed, limiting his ability to see. Ignoring the lick of open flames, Venom jumped through a wall of fire. Red scales flashing in the firestorm, Ivar escaped out the window, into the open air. Venom snarled, wanting to go after him. But he couldn’t. Not now. He needed to find Evelyn and become her shield. Before the oxygen tank across the room blew sky-high. Before the fire reached her and she burned alive.

Hunting for her in the chaos, Venom turned away from the window. Thick smoke rolled, stinging his eyes, clogging his lungs, setting off the alarm. The sprinkler system went active. Water sprayed in all directions. Humans shouted in terror. Venom leapt the overturned hospital bed. His boots thumped down on the other side and slid on wet linoleum. Fire snarled overhead. Ceiling tiles melted like wax, dripping into a toxic mess above his head.

His senses contracted. Opening the valve to feed sensory perception, he clung to the cosmic tether and widened the scope, pushing the limits of his control. The signal—her
signal
—he needed to find it. To reconnect with her life force. Static hissed between his temples, then died. He tried again, clinging to the magical anchor in the firestorm.

Choking on the fumes, Venom shoved a cart out of his way. “Evelyn!”

No answer. No movement. Not a whisper in the smoky air.

Fear stripped him of reason.

Panic compressed his rib cage. He yelled her name again. And then again. Nothing but silence and the hiss of ravenous flames rose to greet him.

Thrown clear by the explosion, Evelyn struggled to get her bearings. Somewhere near the back of the room, maybe? To the left of the window? She shook her head. God, she didn’t know. The shockwave had done a number on her. Picked her up. Tossed her to one side. Rattled her cage, bashing her head into the wall. Now she could only be sure of one thing—her ears were ringing. But oh, wait. That wasn’t true. She knew something else too—that she couldn’t see a damned thing. Not with the twisted vinyl seat back and hospital bed blocking her view.

Forcing her arms to work, Evelyn shoved at the chair pinning her to the floor. Pain spiraled up her forearm. She grimaced. The smell of smoke slithered in, teasing her senses. Awareness and panic hit her as the gray coil thickened, rolling on a wave of hot air. Alarm thrust shock out of the way. She pushed harder, trying to wiggle from beneath the wreckage. Bent in the blast, the heavy frame refused to budge. She tried again. Sharp metal grazed her palms. Blood welled on her skin. She didn’t care. The shallow scrapes barely registered. Only one thing mattered. She needed to get out from under the damn chair. Right now, befor
e . . .

She glanced to her right.

Undulating like a wave, fire crept across the ceiling. Eyes riveted to the flames, she watched them lick down the walls and reach through the broken window, curling over the twisted steel frame like long, witchy fingers. Smoke followed, billowing into the night, sucking air into the room, providing plenty of oxyge
n . . .
fueling the firestorm.

With a cry, she thrashed, bucking beneath the debris.

The fire inched closer. Smoky froth rolled in like ocean surf. Helpless in the onslaught, Evelyn inhaled deep, filling her lungs to capacity. She needed oxygen. Enough to give her the strength—and time—to wriggle free. Otherwise, the smoke would suffocate her.

The wall of gray tendrils reached out to surround her.

Evelyn counted off the seconds. She prayed for a miracle. A change in direction. A shift toward good luck. Something. Anything. Another minute to figure a way out and—

The oncoming smoke shifted away from her.

Evelyn blinked. No, that wasn’t quite right. The smoke had hit something. Inches from her nose, she watched the thick cloud slide over smooth contours—up and over without touching her. Her mouth fell open. Another round of ash puffed against the side wall. The strange barricade held, keeping the toxic swill at bay. Not understanding, she reached out. Blood smeared across the inside of the barricade as she brushed it with her fingertips. Transparent walls sucked at her skin, rippled like water, then went still as glass. She frowned and pulled her hand back. The curved sides reacted again, contracting into a multicolored wave. Red, green, and blue brushed shoulders, revealing the shape of the structure surrounding her.

Smooth walls. Shaped like a sphere. Thin as paper.

Another rolling puff kissed the strange barrier. An orange glow followed, approaching with frightening speed. High flames flicked the side of the bubble. The smooth wall warped. Panic set in. She lost the lungful of air she’d been holding and—

“Evelyn!”

The shout turned her head. Recognition struck. Evelyn sucked in a much-needed breath. Deep voice. Eastern European accent. Venom. No one else sounded like that an
d . . .
Lord love her. Was she really hearing him? Or was her mind playing tricks, searching for help where none existed?

He shouted her name again.

Reality spun her toward belief. Oh, thank God—Venom. He was here. Really
here
. Not a figment of her overwrought imagination, but flesh-and-blood real. How? Why? Her analytical side wanted her to ask. Evelyn killed the questions. Her need to know—to solve the puzzle—could wait until later. Until after he pulled her free and helped her get away.

“Venom!” she yelled, struggling beneath the weight of the chair. Oh please, let him hear her over the roar of flames. “Over here—I’m here!”

Backlit by fire, a dark silhouette came through the smoke.

“Venom.” Reaching out, she stretched her hand toward him.

Shoving an overturned table out of his way, he slid to a stop beside her. “Turn your face away.”

Evelyn obeyed without question. The second she tucked her cheek against her shoulder, he grabbed the chair. He tossed the heavy piece of furniture aside with one hand. Twisted steel and broken wood went flying, flipped up and over, hurtling toward the other side of the room. A crash sounded next to the window. The bubble surrounding her evaporated. Smoke hit her in the face. She coughed, fighting to breathe. Venom’s arms came around her. He lifted her off the floor. Relief collided with gratefulness, and Evelyn didn’t hesitate. She curled her arms around his neck and held on hard.

“Go,” she rasped as ash coated her skin.

“Hold on tight,” he said, mouth against her ear.

She nodded.

With a quick move, he spun and leapt through the wall of flames. Heat rushed over her bare feet. Climbing Venom like a jungle gym, she tightened her grip and, bending her knees, wrapped her legs around his waist. His feet thumped down on the other side of the flames. Face pressed to his throat, she felt him shift against her. Hard muscle flexed. He changed direction, then dipped his head beneath something. Strong thighs brushing her bottom, he started to run.

The snarl of fire receded.

Heat downgraded from punishing to unpleasant.

The air cleared a little at a time.

Gasping, the smell of sulfur in the air, Evelyn raised her chin and looked over his shoulder. Fluorescent lights flickered overhead, hurting her eyes. She squinted, forcing her vision into focus. Men shouted instructions. Water fell like rain from sprinkler heads. Steel banged against walls and door frames. A group of firemen dressed in full garb sprinted past. Panicked nurses rushed to help doctors treat patients in the wide corridor. White coats smeared with soot. Faces pale with shock. Chaos squared.

The sight jump-started her brain.

“Wait—Venom, slow down.”

Scanning the hallway, he shook his head.

Both hands fisted in the back of his leather jacket, she stared at his profile. “Dr. Milford was in there. We have to help—”

“He’s fine. The humans already have him.”

Evelyn blinked. “Humans?”

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “I’ll explain later.”

The brief moment of eye contact set her on edge. Something wasn’t right. She frowned. Well, okay, besides the obvious. Someone had started a fire. Inside a hospital room. With her in it, damn it to hell and back. But with Venom’s arms around her, his fast pace and her fear fading, a more immediate problem sprang into view. His gaze was shimmering. In the hotel room, she’d been sure he had brown eyes. But now? Releasing her death grip on his jacket, Evelyn grasped his chin. Day-old stubble pricked her fingertips. She applied gentle pressure to turn his head. He resisted a moment, then gave in, taking his focus off the hallway to look at her.

She lost her ability to breathe. Holy crap. Not dark brown at all, but a deep ruby red. Pretty color. Completely unnatural considering the soft glow of his irises. He held her gaze a moment. The shimmer intensified an instant before he returned his attention to the double doors at the end of the hall. She tried to rationalize her discovery. Seconds ticked past. Evelyn forced her mind to sift through the facts.

It could be a trick of the light. Could be she’d suffered a concussion and was now seeing things. Imagining the worst. Creating problems where none existed. Or it could be that her mind was working just fine and there was something odd about him.

The last thought resonated, gaining speed inside her head.

She rubbed her eyes, mashing her lashes together, then looked again. Yup. No question. Definitely dark red—a shimmering, unearthly
red
. Self-preservation sounded the alarm. The fine hairs on her nape rose in warning as unease prickled along her spine.

Unhooking her ankles from the small of his back, she inched away. “Ah, Venom?”

His grip on her tightened. “Don’t let go, Evie.”

“I think you should put me down.”

“Not going to happen.”

“But—”

“We’re getting the hell out of here. I’m not letting you go again.”

Again?
Evelyn frowned. What the hell did that mean? Excellent question. One in need of a quick answer. The problem? Venom didn’t appear to be in an indulging frame of mind. Expression set, boots splashing through puddles on the floor, he jogged toward the exit. More alarm bells went off inside her head. Evelyn reared and, pushing against his chest, tried to break free. Grasping the back of her thighs, he kept her snug against him. Calloused palms slid beneath the hem of her raised skirt. Shivers erupted, exploding over her skin, making her tingle, muting her objections as he cupped her bottom with both hands.

Planting her hands, she shoved at his shoulders.

“Relax,
mazleiha
.” Skirting a wheelchair, he adjusted his grip. His fingers slid beneath the edge of her panties. She gasped in surprise. He lowered his head and rubbed his cheek against hers. His stubble rasped against her skin. Pinpricks of pleasure raced to places she wanted to ignore. Evelyn drew in a quick breath. Good lord. There was something wrong with her. Arousal was not a normal reaction. At least, not right now. She should be scared, freaked out about all the craziness, not remembering the way he’d tasted in the hotel room. “Almost there.”

Turning his head, he nipped her earlobe.