Page 1 of Kazmyr: Molten for Her (Consumed by the Alien Heat #2)

JENNA

Smoke clawed down my throat as I burst through the warehouse door, the night air not much cleaner than the inferno behind me.

My lungs seized with the same desperate rhythm they had the night my childhood home became a funeral pyre.

Fire had found me again. It always did. The warehouse rafters groaned their death song as I stumbled forward, and then the universe split open.

Not one but two glowing rifts tore through reality before me, portals pulsing with unnatural light that made my skin prickle with wrongness and recognition all at once.

"Choose wisely, asset." The voice slithered from the right portal, honey-smooth and just as sticky.

I blinked tears from my smoke-stung eyes.

Left portal: a fucking giant with obsidian skin etched in glowing fissures like he'd been broken and mended with molten gold.

His eyes burned the same color, twin suns set in a face harsh as carved stone.

Curved horns swept back from his temple, reminiscent of cooled lava.

Heat rolled off him in visible waves, distorting the air.

Right portal: sleek perfection. Too perfect. An alien with polished blue skin and a smile that promised everything while revealing nothing. Cold, calculating eyes assessed me like merchandise.

"The building will collapse in thirty-seven seconds." The blue alien extended a manicured hand. "I am your designated mate. Come with me, asset."

Asset. Not my name. My grip tightened on the fire extinguisher I'd torn from the wall in my escape.

The molten giant didn't speak. His chest rose and fell in labored rhythm, those golden eyes locked on mine with an intensity that should have terrified me. Instead, something traitorous sparked in my chest, answering his unspoken call.

"Jenna Maple." His voice rumbled like distant thunder, my name emerging as though torn from the depths of his soul. "The flames cannot have you."

Behind me, a support beam crashed through the floor. The warehouse had maybe twenty seconds left.

"Choose," the blue one hissed, his perfect mask slipping to reveal something predatory beneath. "Your status as an asset marks you as prime genetic material. Your human resilience to extreme temperatures makes you ideal for our breeding program."

Breeding program. The words hit like a bucket of ice water.

A low growl emanated from the left portal. The scarred giant's ember marks pulsed brighter, his massive hands clenching into fists. "The Intergalactic Dating Agency found our match. Your signature… your heat, it calls to mine. You are not an asset. You are flame-born. My—"

He growled something in his native tongue, a sound like rocks tumbling into lava.

The warehouse groaned again. Louder. Final.

My instincts screamed danger from Mr. Perfect and his slick promises, while everything logical said the living volcano would incinerate me on contact. Yet my body leaned toward the scarred one, drawn by something deeper than reason.

Ten seconds, maybe.

Eight.

My fingers found the trigger of the fire extinguisher.

Five.

I sprinted toward the volcanic giant, heart hammering against my ribs, and aimed the extinguisher directly at his face. The white foam erupted just as I hurled myself through the portal, heat searing my skin as I passed through.

Massive arms caught me, hot as a furnace but somehow not burning. My momentum knocked us both backward, his hulking form cushioning my fall onto what felt like smooth stone.

The portal snapped shut with a thunderous crack, cutting off the warehouse's death throes and the blue alien's furious scream.

"Fuck," I wheezed, every inhalation scraping my smoke-damaged throat.

Something smacked onto my neck with a sticky splut. I yelped and slapped at it, only to find a thin square pulsing faint amber.

The giant beneath me rumbled low in his chest—half growl, half laugh—and the sticker buzzed to life. “Translation engaged,” it chirped in a chipper mechanical tone. Then, as if trying too hard: “Mate acquired. Congratulations on your fireproof love sponge.”

I blinked. “Excuse me?”

The patch gave a defensive beep. “Error. Love bond. Not sponge. Do not attempt to remove by saliva. Licking voids warranty.”

Despite everything—smoke, terror, adrenaline—I snorted. “Good news. I wasn’t planning on Frenching a sticker.”

The molten giant’s chest heaved, extinguisher foam still clinging in tufts that made him look like a grumpy marshmallow Santa. But instead of fury, his molten eyes gazed at me with something like reverence.

“Jenna Maple,” he repeated, my name carried on a breath that smelled of smoke and exotic spice. “You came.”

"Didn't have much choice with a burning building at my back." I tried to push away from his chest, my palms sinking into hard muscle radiating impossible heat. "Besides, your portal blocked my escape."

Holy shit. My brain finally processed our position…

sprawled across his massive form, my thighs bracketing his waist, his hands spanning my ribcage like I was small and dainty.

Heat poured from him in waves, not just from his body but from his scars.

Those glowing fissures—Ember Marks?—pulsed brighter wherever my skin made contact with his, as though my touch fueled whatever fire burned inside him.

Wait, why did I instinctively know what to call them?

He stood while holding me to his chest.

"Put me down," I demanded, my voice embarrassingly shaky.

He didn't move, just stared. His pupils expanded, golden irises narrowing to thin rings as he inhaled deeply. "The heat fever..." His words came slow, each one careful and measured. "The registry was correct. You carry the flame-signature."

"I didn't sign up for any registry," I snapped, shoving harder against his chest. "And I'm not anyone's 'Asset' or breeding material, so you can forget whatever alien mating ritual you had planned. Do you always huff terrified women like essential oils?"

His brow furrowed, horns catching the strange ambient light. "The Intergalactic Dating Agency—"

"Never heard of them. Now let me go before I find something bigger than a fire extinguisher to hit you with."

The giant actually complied, carefully setting me on my feet before rising to his full, imposing height. Seven feet tall, minimum. His shoulders blocked out the ceiling lights, casting me in his shadow.

For the first time, I took in our surroundings.

We stood in what appeared to be a ship, but unlike any vessel I'd ever seen.

The walls and floor were obsidian stone, veined with the same glowing ember lines that marked his skin.

The entire space pulsed with living light that seemed to beat in rhythm with his breathing.

"This is the Heartforge." His voice lowered to a reverent rumble. "My ship. My home." He paused, golden eyes burning into mine. "Our sanctuary."

"Our nothing," I corrected, backing away. "I don't know what kind of cosmic mistake brought me here, but—"

My retreat halted when my spine hit a wall that hadn't been there seconds before. The stone was warm against my back, and as I turned to look, glowing symbols etched themselves across the surface. A circular rune flared at the center of the floor where we stood, pulsing an angry red.

The giant's ember marks brightened in response, his massive form drawing closer though he hadn't stepped forward. "The ship recognizes our bond."

"There is no bond. I feel like I just got auto-subscribed to an alien marriage plan without clicking accept." I insisted, heart racing. "And I don't appreciate being trapped."

"Not trapped." He gestured to the circular rune. "The Fire-Seal requires consent. Say yes, and the ship will open to you as it does to me. Without your agreement, the Heartforge holds us here until we reach understanding."

Understanding dawned, hot and uncomfortable. "Your ship... demands consent?"

His nod was solemn. "All bonds among my people require willing agreement. The technology is ancient. The ship will not force what is not freely given."

"So if I say no?"

"The rune will not activate. We remain here."

I barked a laugh, bitter and sharp. "Sorry, big guy, I don't kiss on first abductions."

The sound that rumbled from his chest wasn't anger but something startlingly close to amusement… a low, vibrating growl that shivered through my bones and pooled heat low in my abdomen. What the hell was wrong with me? I should be terrified, not... whatever this was.

"I am Kazmyr of Vorthar." He pressed a fist to his chest, right over the largest of his glowing scars. "Guardian of the Obsidian Gate. The Living Heartforge." His eyes never left mine. "And you are my flame-born."

"I'm a fire inspector from Seattle who was investigating a suspicious warehouse blaze and was apparently almost murdered during the investigation," I corrected. "Not your anything."

Kazmyr leaned closer, inhaling deeply as though scenting me. His pupils dilated further, drowning the gold in black. Heat rolled off him in palpable waves until sweat beaded along my hairline and trickled between my breasts. His gaze followed the droplet's path with predatory focus.

"Your body recognizes the truth your mind rejects," he murmured, voice deepening to a register that made my knees embarrassingly weak. "I can smell your response."

"That's called fear-sweat, and it's not a compliment."

But even as the sarcasm fell from my lips, I knew it was a lie. My fear was there, yes, any sane person would be terrified… but beneath it pulsed something else. Something reckless and hungry that recognized the fire in him and wanted to burn.

He didn't touch me, but his heat enveloped me like a physical caress. I forced myself to hold my ground as he circled me slowly, examining every inch with that burning gaze. The ship's light pulsed in time with his movements, growing brighter where he passed.

"You fought the flames," he observed, gesturing to my singed clothes and soot-stained skin. "You carry their marks, yet do not yield to them."