Page 49 of Taming His Vampire Mate

No reply. The humans were holding still. Smart. But not enough. If I could scent them, others could too.

“Right. Move,” I told Jeremy.

I grabbed the knob—and hissed in pain, yanking my hand back. The acrid stench of burnt flesh filled the air. My palm was red and blistered.

“What the hell?” Jeremy asked.

“Witchcraft,” I gritted out.

The front door opened. An amazon of a woman stood there, a sphere of swirling orange-red fire cupped in her hand, her expression rigid. Her gaze dropped to my palm, and her expression shifted from fury to murder.

“Vampire,” she spat.

Then she threw the fire.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN || JEREMY

Without thinking, I tackled Thierry, knocking him sideways and covering his body with mine.

The sphere of fire hit me instead.

It ate through my shirt in an instant and began burning the flesh on my back, ripping a howl of agony from my throat.

“Exstingue!” the witch snapped.

The roaring heat abruptly vanished. Beneath me, Thierry held perfectly still, as though afraid to move at all until he understood how severe my wounds were.

“How badly are you injured?” he demanded, voice strangled. “Can you move?”

My wolfish healing—sluggish without moonlight—had already kicked in, knitting skin in slow, miserable pulls. My eyes watered from the pain. I could feel my body repairing the damage, but the next hour or so wasn’t going to be pleasant.

In truth, I should’ve stayed down a few more minutes. But between a town full of murderous vampires and an equally murderous witch, lying there wasn’t an option.

Instead of replying, I forced myself upright. Agony flared at the movement, and I hissed through my teeth, fighting not to double over. My shirt hung in tatters. Still, I stepped in front of Thierry again, blocking the witch’s line of sight.

The vampire let out a low, strangled noise—one I’d never heard before. That must’ve meant my back looked as bad as it felt.

I turned to face the witch. Flames swirled in her palm, but speculation edged into her glare. Her gaze kept darting past me to Thierry, as if expecting him to pounce at any moment.

Several long seconds passed, each of us waiting for someone to do something stupid.

“That hurt,” I told her at last, fighting for a steady tone.

Her eyes narrowed. “Good. Then you know I’m serious—and powerful. Leave before I finish what I started. Next time, I won’t extinguish the fire.”

“Good to know,” I muttered. The pain ebbed from blinding agony to a steady, hellish burn. I took a slow breath. “Why haven’t you left yet?”

“Because she’s guarding someone who can’t leave,” Thierry said from behind me, tension rolling off him in waves.

A shadow crossed her face. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Are you going for him again? Or me?” I asked, eyeing the flame still swirling in her hand.

“That depends on you.”

“We’re here to help.”

“A vampire and a wolf, here to help me protect humans from other vampires?” she scoffed. “You must think I was born yesterday.”