Wildfire Read Online Free Page B

stung as claws
ached to unsheathe.
    Shakespeare’s words popped into her head. By the pricking of
my thumbs, something wicked this way comes…
    Lynn drew in a deep breath. The dragon shifted into a ready
crouch. She turned.
    Timmy had followed his mother and now stood behind her.
Firefighters worked around and behind him.
    She stared at the wide-eyed, sad-faced boy. Was he the rogue?
    For a moment, she couldn’t breathe because of the fist in
her gut. The tightness hovered at the threshold of pain. She blinked and
marshaled her thoughts. A child couldn’t be setting all these fires. And the
dragon she’d sensed earlier had felt older, more male.
    Little by little, the tightness eased its clutch. Lynn
smiled and opened the driver’s side door for him. The boy climbed in and sat
stiff and silent as she inspected him for cuts and bruises. Taking Jen’s cue,
she wiped Timmy’s face and arms clean with a wet towel and offered him water
and cookies. He grabbed both. Poor kid.
    “You must be Timmy.”
    He nodded. “Timothy Jarvis. But everyone calls me Timmy.”
    Lynn introduced herself. “How old are you?”
    “Seven, but I’ll be eight next week.”
    “Wow, that’s just five days away, you’re a big boy.
    Timmy nodded sagely as he twisted and turned the steering
wheel.
    “Do you have any pets?”
    Timmy went still. “Lucky,” he whispered. He tried to push
past Lynn. “I have to go.”
    She cursed her big mouth. “Tell you what, I’ll go with you.”
Lynn grabbed one of his hands. He dragged her toward his father.
    “Daddy! Daddy!”
    At the ear-splitting call, Tom Jarvis turned and squatted
with open arms. Timmy tugged free of Lynn. But instead of running to his
father, he took off for the burning house yelling, “Lucky! Lucky!”

Chapter 3
     

The dragon bellowed and fumed inside Lynn’s head. Its fire swept through
her, burning, consuming. She broke into a run, hands fisted at her side to
control the urge to change.
    As a protector, she wanted to sweep in and pluck Timmy away
from the flames. The creature thrashed, trying to break out of her skin. She
kept her gaze anchored on the boy’s figure. His spindly limbs pumped and flew.
She’d catch him just before he reached the burning house. It had to be this
way.
    Yet, her mind argued caution. Changing into dragon would
only add to the panic. Turning invisible, even if she could pull it off, would
be pretty noticeable too at this point. She blew out a breath as tension
tap-danced in her stomach. And what would happen afterwards? A shudder ran
through her. Mass hysteria and probably a posse. Not to mention the rogue would
be alerted.
    Tom and the fire marshal darted in front of her as they
joined the race. A firefighter grabbed at Timmy as he rushed by, but was
rewarded by a swift kick in the shin. Another tried to tackle the boy, and
instead stumbled into the other. In the confusion, Timmy got away and darted
into the house. Anderson grabbed Tom in a bear hug and restrained him when he
tried to follow.
    The two firefighters pursued Timmy into the smoky, black
opening where the front door had stood. Lynn stopped a few feet from the house,
panting. The dragon seethed. Why was she waiting when she could save all three?
She closed her eyes and focused, reining in the beast with her will. Wait.
Wait. Let firefighters do their job. This was not the time to expose herself.
    “Oh God, oh God, oh God,” Lynn muttered. She edged closer to
the house, her body trembling with the need to change. If they weren’t out in
three minutes, she’d go in, turn dragon and drag all of them from the house.
Lives saved would be the only consequence that mattered.
    She checked her watch. After two minutes that seemed to
stretch into years, the yellow-suited firefighters emerged. One carried Timmy
and the other a fat, terrified ginger cat, presumably Lucky. Thank God.
Drained, Lynn trudged back to the station wagon. She shouldn’t have said
anything about pets. The boy could