Page 104 of The Pregnant Wolf Omega Next Door

Emre stared at Zenith for a long while. Then he finally relaxed, bowing his head in submission. “Thank you.”

Zenith’s instincts surged beneath his skin.Mine.

He kissed Emre’s hair, feeling too much to put any of it into words. He tried anyway. “You’re not the only one with doubts, you know. I worry sometimes.”

Emre looked surprised. “You? Worry?”

“Well, yes.” Zenith wet his lips. “I haven’t forgotten that you’re still wary of open flame. I’m made of fire, Emre. It’s literally inside me all the time.”

Emre squirmed, dropping his gaze. “I’ve felt safe with you so far.”

“Will you still feel that way if I’m forced to attack someone with fire? I’m okay with close-range fighting, but I can’t deny that I prefer burning my enemies to a crisp.” Zenith hated that Emre had lost his pack and family that way. It was horrific, and it sucked that fire was Zenith’s main weapon in a worst-case scenario.

Emre winced. “I haven’t seen much fire lately. Nothing big. But we should do something about it. With two dragonets, it’s a given that I’ll have to deal with fire at some point.”

“I can remove fire from a scene,” Zenith said. “If it helps, I can suck it in and absorb it into my core.”

“You can?” Emre blinked. “Like a blowjob?”

Zenith coughed. “I can demonstrate? If it’s not too much for you.”

Emre steeled himself, a little pale, but his jaw was set. “I should see it. It might help.”

He was so brave. Zenith realized right then that he wanted Emre to stay around for a long, long time.

“Now?” he asked.

“We might as well.” Emre moved to the other side of the kitchen, eyeing Zenith warily.

“We’ll start off small,” Zenith decided. “Just a tiny fireball. It’ll die out without any fuel, so don’t worry about the fire spreading.”

He called up the fire in his core, molding it into the tiniest fireball he could. When Emre nodded, Zenith spat it out, a spark of bright orange that landed in his palm and guttered out.

Emre’s eyes were round. “It didn’t hurt you?”

“Nope. Abbie and the third pup will be the same. Fire feels warm to us, tickles a little. Are you ready for something bigger?”

Emre grabbed a cushion from the living room and came back, holding it in front of himself like a shield. He peeked over the top of it. So adorable.

This time, Zenith’s fireball was slightly bigger. He spat it out a little slower, to give Emre more time to adjust to it. The flames still died out quickly with no fuel.

“Now, I’m going to give it something small to burn,” Zenith said. “A tiny square of cardboard. The flames will disappear when all the cardboard is gone. Is that okay?”

Emre nodded, so Zenith looked around. He found a box of chocolate puff cereal and tore off a cardboard flap. Then he breathed a tiny fireball onto it, watching Emre as the cardboard caught fire and burned.

When all the cardboard had been consumed, the orange flames died out, leaving a pile of ashes in Zenith’s hand.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

Emre drew a slow breath. “I think I’m okay. These are... small.”

“Ready for more?”

“I think so. The cushion’s fireproofed. Everything else in here is, too.”

Zenith nodded, pride swelling in his chest. He breathed a slightly larger fireball onto his hand. When that went well with Emre, he tore off a larger piece of the cereal box, setting it alight.

They watched as this scrap burned too. Emre’s heart was thumping fast, but he didn’t seem afraid.