Page 11

One more of the wolves shifted into a nude porn star and ping... that's when Nat's brain finally turned on. Oh gawd. She knew these naked guys. She'd basically grown up idolizing each and every one of them as if they were a gang of rock stars or older brothers. Which is how they acted.

And now she was staring at their junk. “Why are you all naked?”

“Step away from the lizard, Nataly.” Stone waved her over in that domineering way all Kane's seemed to have. Like he just expected her to do anything he told her to. She hadn't when they were kids and she certainly wasn't going to now.

“You step away from my lizard, uh, dragon. Or I'll have him light you on fire.” Oh wait. “Even better, I'll do it myself.”

She snapped her fingers and the tips of them lit up like sparklers, spitting little flames everywhere. She pointed at Stone and gave him the dare-me look.

Killian gave her a wink and rolled his eyes at Stone. “There's the bratty Natty we all know and love.”

A low grumble growl came from beside her. Mac stepped close enough to put his front against her back. “Love, huh?”

Nat glanced over at Mac and caught sight of scales rippling across his skin and that fire burning in his eyes again. Why was that so damn hot?

“I will gladly fry these wolves into crispy critters if you'd like, mate. I'm sure they'd be delicious with ketchup,” Mac spat.

The Kane boys puffed up like a bunch of fish. Their eyes glowed with a silvery light, and they growled like a pack of feral dogs.

Mac growled right back and tried once again to put himself between her and the guys. “Mine.”

Oh cripes. This was not the first dick-measuring contest Nat had witnessed growing up around a bunch of testosterone machines and later working with them. It wouldn't be the last. Boys were dumb. Where was her ruler when she needed it? At this point she wasn't sure if she needed it for measuring or thwacking.

Uncle Jonas shifted, and holy crap, he, too, was as naked as the day was long. Nataly covered her eyes. This was more than she could take. Uncle Jonas was like a hot Sean Connery, and that was so uncomfortable to think about.

“My boys can't help but be protective of you, Nat. You're like a little sister to them. You're practically pack.”

She heard the rustling of fabric and prayed that any and all of them had put on something to cover their junk. She would never be able to look at a single one of them without turning fifty shades of pink.

“Yeah, she's more pack than dragon bait, so feel free to scram, lizard boy.” Stone's snarl was more wolf than human.

Nataly peeked through her fingers and saw Stone squaring up with Mac. Enough was enough. She sent a zip of her fiery magic, just a hot spark, right at Stone's left butt cheek. That would teach him to be naked around her.

“Yee-ouch.” Stone jumped about a foot and grabbed his ass, rubbing it. “What'd you do that for?”

Nat held out her hand and let a glowing ball of flames rise up. “Put your pants on and get away from my...uh... dragon before I light some other part of your anatomy on fire.”

Scales shimmered across Mac's arms and up his neck. Was he growling? Sounded more like a purr. “Your dragon, huh?”

“Yes, and shut up.” Damn it. She was blushing and she knew it. If she could control fire, she should also be able to control heat from rising up on her cheeks.

Killian and Court suddenly turned into pre-pubescent boys and made kissing noises and whooing sounds at her. Stone opened his mouth to say something, and Nataly threw her fireball at his head.

He ducked, of course, but something behind him screeched. Her fire illuminated another one of those bat demon things coming right at them, wings spread and claws out. Before any of the rest of them could shift, Nataly turned the smoldering fireball into a mini volcano that erupted and engulfed the bastard in an explosion of flame.

The boys turned and looked at her slack jawed. Uncle Jonas grinned in a way that reminded her so much of her father that a little ping of grief hit her right in the back of the throat. Now was not the time to get all emotional.

“Your dad always said you'd be powerful if and when you ever found the magic within.”

“I think that was more instinct than anything else.” She rubbed her hands together to put out one flame that didn't quite want to extinguish. “I'm not entirely sure I know how to control it.”

“Which is why I think you and your, uh, new friend, need to spend some time together.” He handed her a set of keys. “Take my car. It's parked over at the station. Go someplace safe where you can figure stuff out. We can take care of any lingering problems here.”

Nataly was a little weirded out that Uncle Jonas was basically telling her to go get busy with her dragon man, but she snagged those car keys so fast he didn't have a chance to renege. She gave Mac a shove toward the far end of the park, knowing Uncle Jonas's car would be parked in the police hub's lot across the street. “Thanks. I'll call you later to figure out how to get your car back to you.”

She didn't wait for his reply because she could not wait for another second to get someplace secluded where she could strip Mac of every item of clothing and lick all of him. Would he have scales on his skin? What would they taste like? Gasp. Would he have a fancy dragon-scaled shaft? With ridges?

Her girly bit were taking over her mind and making her into the horniest horndog that ever hornied. She was not one to do a whole lot of jogging, but she sprinted right past Mac, turned around to run backward, and gave him her best come hither eyes and curled her fingers into come-here motion. “Hurry up, slow poke. There's a back seat calling our names.”