The Mate (A Fire's Edge Short Story - Prequel)

Chapter 8

Maddie

"What the hell, Madeline?" Cole's voice cracked through the silence in the room like a thunderclap. 

The hair on her neck stood straight up. Maddie'd never seen this side of the dragon shifter, who'd been kind until this point. Fallon started across the room, but before he could reach Maddie, Cole was already trying to get to her, a darkness descending over his expression in a way that had every instinct on red alert.

Jagar stepped between them, and Moira jumped onto the dais to stand beside her. A preplanned move? Did this happen often?

"This is Madeline's choice." Jagar turned his reddish- brown gaze her way. "Do you wish to change your mind?"

Maddie's body trembled. Damn, she hated hurting Cole. "I'm sorry," she mouthed, unable to get sound past frozen lips.

She shook her head at Jagar, who nodded. "Her decision stands, and the Council will uphold it."

"But—" Cole started.

He stopped when Jagar aimed a blazing stare his way, crimson flames leaping into the Council leader's eyes. "It's done."

Cole went hard and cold...and still. Except for the faded blue flames that leapt into his own eyes. The heavy scent of smoke, thick and choking, filled the room.

Every other shifter in the room went still as well, watching him closely, the creature in each of them suddenly obvious. Even the air seemed to freeze. Everything...except Fallon.

Slowly, with the smooth prowl of a predator, he moved forward, intent focus never wavering from Cole. He's trying to get between me and Cole.

Maddie had been raised by her daddy, who'd taught her how to hunt. How to survive. At least, he'd taught her that before he'd died when she was twelve. Those lessons came back to her and an eerie calm seeped into her.

"Would you kill me, Cole?" she asked quietly.

A prick against her palms told Maddie her nails had shifted to talons, probably drawing blood, but she didn't glance down to check. No one looked her way, but the focus shifted to her to her regardless, even as every shifter kept Cole dead to rights. If they had been cats, she'd bet she'd see their ears twitching back and forth. The hush in the room was almost palpable.

The flames in Cole's eyes glowed eerily, giving his face an almost sinister cast. "You'll die if you mate him, Maddie." His voice was unrecognizable—a low rasp of sound that made her skin crawl.

"Maybe," she acknowledged. She was still terrified about that—for herself, for Fallon. "But I know for sure I'll die if I mate you."

Conviction lent strength to the words. She tried to tell him gently, but there was no easing into it. Not in this situation. Now she wished like hell she'd said something yesterday.

Cole didn't say anything, those blazing eyes searching her face. He must've seen her certainty because he dropped his head forward. At that sign of submission, the others eased up. Not that they'd moved or anything, but as though the group as a whole took a collective breath.

Without any warning, Cole snapped his head up and rushed Fallon. Four shifters jumped in to restrain him.

"I'm going to rip your goddamn head off," he screamed at Fallon.

Maddie wrapped her arms around her stomach, skewered by the image of a man she no longer recognized behind the fury. A true monster.

Cole's body started to shimmer, a sign he was shifting, and Maddie slowly stepped back, not wanting to draw his attention but knowing she was the most vulnerable person in the room right now. She needed the distance.