Untamed Flame: Claimed by Ice (Aurora Immortalis #3)

Chapter 1

Emmy took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and her gaze finally met Zander’s — her determination breaking through the anxiety.

“I want telepathy,” she said in a rush. “With both of you. Like you and Spence have. I want—” Her voice softened and became almost vulnerable. “I want to hear you in my head. I want you to hear me. I’m ready.”

Everything in Zander went still.

Relief hit him, so intense it nearly staggered him. There wasn’t a problem. She wasn’t leaving. Nothing was wrong.

She wanted to let him in .

“Oh, my brave little dragon,” he murmured, and the tension drained from his shoulders. “I’ve been waiting for you to be ready.”

“You have?” She blinked at him, some of the anxiety easing. “I thought … I mean, I know you can’t read my thoughts without permission, but I figured you’d want—”

“I want whatever you’re willing to give,” Zander said, cutting through her spiral. “And I want you to give it because you choose to, not because I pushed or manipulated or made you think you had to.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “This is a gift, Emmy. One I’ll treasure.”

She swayed into his touch, and he saw the moment she decided to believe him.

“Okay,” she breathed. “So how do we do this?”

Zander chuckled. “I’m a vampire. Most everything magical involves blood.”

“Mostly,” Spence said, “for someone really strong, the intention is as important as the blood.”

“Right,” she said. “I know that, but I was asking for details, I guess.”

Zander guided her to the sofa. “Sit with me, please.”

Emmy settled onto the sofa, Spence beside her. Zander took the spot on her other side, angling his body toward her.

“I need to taste you while you lower your shields,” he explained.

“But it’s more than that. You need to invite me to create the pathway.

As Spence said, with someone super-strong, it’s about intention.

I can create pathways in ninety-eight percent of daywalkers, humans and shifters alike, without blood or their permission, or even knowledge I’m doing so.

But with you?” He smiled. “Same as your mother, a little blood and her permission, though with her, the blood was put into a glass.”

Emmy laughed. “Yeah. I bet.” She threw a leg over his lap and twisted around, so she was sitting on his legs, facing him. “Okay. How long will you need my shields to be down?”

“A few seconds. You’ll likely sense me working. If I do anything that feels invasive, you can slam your shields closed and stop me. Your mother taught you well, and I have no doubt you can kick me out if you decide to.”

Emmy nodded slowly, then tilted her head to the side, exposing her throat.

The trust in that gesture made his chest ache.

Zander leaned in, pressed a kiss to her pulse point first, then licked it to anesthetize the outside, and finally slid his fangs smoothly into warm flesh.

Her blood hit his tongue, and he felt her shields evaporate. He formed the path, locked it in, and then telepathed, Thank you, little dragon. I know how you were raised, and your trust means the world to me.

“You’re welcome,” she said out loud, and then froze before quickly reinstituting her shields.

He knew what’d happened — she hadn’t realized he’d telepathed the words, and then was scared when she realized she’d heard him in her head, not with her ears.

He withdrew his fangs and licked the holes closed as he tested the path and found it a tiny tunnel through her shields.

Think your thoughts back to me.

Can you hear me? she thought back to him, pushing the words through their new connection.

Of course I can.

Emmy gasped, eyes opening wide. “What— Did you just—” She pressed a hand to his chest. “Holy shit, I heard you. In my head. And you heard me!”

Zander smiled and pulled Spencer into the connection, opening the pathway so it flowed three ways instead of two. Perfect. Now try directing a thought just to Spencer. Imagine you’re reaching for him specifically.

Emmy bit her lip, focusing. Zander felt her attention shift, narrowing toward their wolf, and he listened in from Spence’s mind.

Hi, she thought at Spencer, and the sheer delight in the word made Zander’s smile widen.

Hi yourself, Spencer answered, his own pleasure evident. Welcome to the conversation.

Emmy laughed, the sound breaking free with pure joy. Then she tried pushing her thoughts to both of them at once. This is amazing. I can feel the difference, between talking to both of you or just one. It’s like—

His phone buzzed. Then Spencer’s phone started buzzing too.

Zander grimaced. He’d closed himself off, so no one could telepath him except Spencer and Emerald, but when he removed the block, a dozen people were politely knocking while Lucien and the security shift-leader were telepathically screaming for him.

Fuck, he thought, and both Emmy and Spencer heard it.

He grabbed his phone, read the texts from three different security personnel all saying the same thing. Giuseppe and Javier had thrown power around and injured a few daywalkers in the process of fighting each other. Security had been forced to drop a net over them.

It was the first time the net system had been used, which meant he was going to have to explain its existence, and that wasn’t going to be pretty.

Thankfully, all the daywalkers who’d been hit by it were alive and being managed by other vampires.

He met Spencer’s gaze. “Another shitshow, but at least we can eject the troublemakers now.”

“I’ll send out the notice for a silo-wide meeting. What time shall I announce it?”

Zander looked at his watch. “The sooner the better. Thirty minutes.”

He looked at Emerald, who had no idea what they were talking about.

“The two vampires I thought I’d adequately mediated got back into it, an active fight.

Without me there, security was forced to use kind of a secret weapon, built into the ceilings where vampires congregate.

It can be deployed from the security floor, a net in the ceiling that drops down and electrocutes everyone caught under it.

Powerful vampires are stunned for five to ten minutes, long enough to get them into a box.

Humans will likely die, with little chance of resuscitating them, but there are very few humans in the silo.

Most shapeshifters can either be changed by a vampire they are close to, or can be brought back with paddles. ”

His Emerald figured it out right away. “The vampires are going to be pissed this was installed without them knowing.”

He tilted his head. “I have to go. Please don’t share that with your friends in the flock. I’d rather they hear it from me.”

Emmy stood to let him up. “Will you be okay?”

The concern in her voice made him pause long enough to cup her face and kiss her softly. “I’ll be fine. Test the telepathy while I’m gone. Practice with Spencer. Get comfortable with it.”

And Emmy? he added silently, just for her. Thank you for trusting me.

Her mental voice came back warm and fierce. Thank you for being trustworthy.

Zander kissed her once more, then headed for the door with Spencer following.

But as he moved through the corridors at vampire speed, he couldn’t stop the satisfaction that hummed through him.

His dragon had finally let him in. Not all the way, but it was a big first step.

And he would spend the rest of his existence proving she’d been right to trust him.