Caress of Flame by Sherri L. King Read Free Book Online

Caste Incinerator—which means I can do many things to fight on your behalf, especially by creating and controlling flame. Our Elders thought I would be capable of offering you any assistance you might need.”
    “What do you care if I live or die? I’m a human. I have no ties to you.” She blinked rapidly. Flare knew she was trying not to shout.
    He decided to tell her the bald truth. “It is the Daemons we are concerned about.
    They are our enemy. If they were to capture you, feed on you, they would become stronger. We have to prevent such a thing at all costs. Whenever we find a human with this extrasensory perception that you possess, we protect them and in doing so we are fighting our enemy in the most effective way possible.”
    “I don’t have any extrasensory whatever. I’m just a normal, quiet girl who struggles to make a living in a world that is very much against it.”
    Flare wondered if she believed her own words. He had been assured that she was indeed a strong psychic and he trusted his sources and his own perception. After watching her for two weeks he knew that there was something special about her, something extra that so few other humans possessed. He wondered if he were to test her, would she rise to the challenge and discover the strength within herself?
    “Wait a minute,” she said suddenly. “Just how many so-called psychics are there?”
    2“We don’t know. We’ve only come across a handful in thousands of years of existence. You’re unique in a very special way, a very unlikely way. One day you will discover your power. It is inevitable,” he told her gently.
    Isis stared off into space. Flare had noticed her doing this many times before, distancing herself from her surroundings, from her present situation. Seeking refuge within the still world of her mind. He waited patiently for her to come to terms with what he had told her thus far. If Isis needed anything it was patience, and luckily he had great reserves of it.
    But his patience would not last forever. He knew that. For now he would go at her pace, guide her to the truth with a gentle hand and hopefully find out why she went berserk when he’d touched her the previous night. That more than anything, even his sworn duty as a warrior, was what concerned him now.
    He wanted her. Fiercely. He had known from the first few days of watching her that he wanted her. And not for just one night of pleasure, but for many. Flare didn’t know how the Elders would react to his claim on this woman—for he would claim her—and he didn’t care. He would have her. Flare could settle for nothing less.
    But there was something badly damaged inside of her. He had seen it from afar and now firsthand. Something horrible had happened to her, he was certain of it. She had no love for herself. In fact, it seemed that she hated herself most of the time. Flare wanted to know why and he wanted to fix it for her. Now. But he knew it would take time before she would open up to him. He was willing to wait—but only for so long—
    before he took things into his own hands.
    Isis seemed to come back to herself with a start. She frowned and met his gaze with her own. “When will you take me back?”
    Flare thought for a moment. He wanted to keep her here, but he knew for certain that the Elders would frown on him keeping a woman confined to his quarters, especially one as precious as this. He would have to take her back. For now.
    “I’ll take you back whenever you want. But I will never leave you, not so long as you have need of me.”
    “So you’ll baby-sit me,” she scoffed. “I don’t like knowing you’ll be spying on me.”
    “I won’t be spying exactly,” he smiled wryly. “But I will be watching over you.”
    “You can’t come into the club and carry me off again like that. Ever.” She ran a hand through her hair in obvious frustration. “I don’t even have a clue how I’m going to explain what happened to my boss.”
    Flare gritted