40. Blaze

As I drew nearer to the boundary, I saw a few of the hag's army inside the borders. They must have swarmed in when Alfie went after his mother.

Those few were being taken care of, though. All of the clan were in their dragon forms, retreating into that protection, and there were only two of the enemy alive, and they were outnumbered and outmatched. I ignored them.

My attention went to Alfie.

He was backed up against the border and I could see that he didn't want to move. It was restricting his movement and making him vulnerable.

Even from this distance, I could see that the hag was wrapping spells around him. There were thin tendrils of slimy green spells wrapped around Alfie's shoulders and there were two looped around his neck. My wick burned with worry. I didn't know what those spells did, but I was sure they were awful.

I rushed towards them, determined to get to my mate.

The hag slashed with a knife and Alfie snapped at her, making her retreat back a step. He was keeping her at bay but he wasn't doing anything about those spells. Perhaps meeting his dragon so recently meant he couldn't see them yet.

She'd laid another one over him and this one wound round his left leg like a shackle.

I followed my instinct and went straight to my mate, darting past the first sprite to appear. It was Mrs. Wilson and she popped into existence by the boundary and looked around in shock before raising her hands and directing a flow of magic to the place where there were the biggest cracks in the protections. The cracks were big enough now, under the assault of the whole army, that I'd be able to slip through them again, if I were in my flame form.

That's exactly what I did.

Alfie was plugging the hole in the border with his large body, and so I slipped through and darted up to him. I needed to get to those spells and burn them away.

As soon as I drew near, though, Alfie gave a screech and turned his head towards me, moving from his position.

"Stay there," I cried. I didn't want anyone else getting through. The dragons had looked worn out and weak, so I didn't want them fighting any more.

Alfie ignored me and stepped towards me, but I rushed up to him and climbed straight up his side so that I was sitting on his back. He reared backwards, plugging the hole again and keeping his body between me and the hag.

She struck forward suddenly and Alfie gave a yowl of pain and twisted his body. He was leaving his belly exposed by trying to keep me out of sight.

"Alfie, my darling, you need to fight. I'm safe up here, you don't need to protect me."

Another slimy green spell wormed its way across Alfie's back, around his wings, and I spread myself out, growing larger, burning in my fire form all across his back. The spell dried out and withered until it crumbled away to nothing.

He was still rearing up, keeping me out of sight.

"Alfie, please," I begged. "You have to trust me. Please trust me, my darling."

Slowly, Alfie lowered his front legs to the ground. He was keeping his head up, though.

"I'm still out of sight, I promise. She can't see my wick. She can't get me."

I spread my body out like a blanket across Alfie's back and down his sides. I burned everything I touched, burning the putrid spells away. Below me, Alfie's golden scales shone and glittered like the sun.

I crept up his body. I moved slowly, unwilling to let any of the enemy see me. I was afraid of them. It was only that I loved Alfie more than anything, and I couldn't let him be harmed just because I was afraid. I crept along his back and reached his neck, burning away the slimy green noose there, and reached down to burn the shackle around his leg.

Every new spell the hag put on him, I burned away.

And she grew more desperate. She began to dart forward and attack, but my darling Alfie had finally trusted me, and he was protecting both of us now, instead of only protecting me. He didn't let her slash at him with the knife again.

Alfie's movements became more sure. He grew more confident.

Slowly, I realised that he was warmer. That below me, his scales weren't glowing with the heat of my flames but the heat of his own flames within.

The hag threw three spells in quick succession and I hissed as they struck me. They were thick and slimy, damp like a swamp, and it took me a few moments to burn them dry.

Alfie didn't like the sound I made. He screeched and the sound ended with a roaring of flame.

Fire burst out of his mouth, and I felt the white-hot heat of it radiate out.

It encompassed four of the enemy, including the hag. She scrambled backwards, pouring her own magic over herself to quell the flames. She was startled by the intensity of that flame, stronger than any other dragon.

Pride filled me that my mate had such strong fire. He was magnificent.

He breathed it again, and the hag turned to run. Two of her army were incinerated by Alfie's flames, turning to ash, and the hag's cloak smoked and hissed as Alfie's flames burned through all of her protections.

Just as the burst of flame diminished, the man who'd flown on Glimmer's back appeared. He was covered in blood and sweat, and there was such concentrated grim determination in his face that I flinched at the sight of him.

Below me, I felt Alfie twitch. That man looked like an enemy.

But he faced the retreating hag head-on and swung his sword in one powerful arc. Her head fell from her body and rolled away.

Before the head hit the ground, the man had already turned around and clashed with a lamia who tried to wrap him in their serpent coils.

Alfie took one tentative step forward, not sure whether to go and help or not, but before he could, the lamia jerked to a stop and hung in the air for a second. I watched in horrified fascination as Glimmer in his human form shimmered into sight out of nowhere. He was standing behind the lamia, one claw sliced across the creature's throat.

The lamia collapsed, dead, and Glimmer stepped over its body towards the man, grinning.

I looked around. In the distance, I could see three of the hag's army retreating, fleeing for their lives. The rest were around us, dead.

Glimmer looked across to Alfie and asked, "Do you want me to kill those ones?"

He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the retreating trio.

Alfie shook his huge head from side to side, his long neck swaying.

I slid off his shoulders and became my normal size again. I stayed in my flame form, making sure I burned all of the residual spells off me.

As I was about to speak to my mate, Glimmer walked up to him and pointed at the territory.

"I don't spend all day building the territory protections up to keep you safe just so you can wander out of them! Get back inside now."

It was sweet, how Alfie gave a start and then darted back inside the boundary, looking sheepish. I tried to repress my smile as I hurried after him. I wanted to be pressed to his side. My wick longed to be there, inside Alfie's embrace.

I pushed myself up against his shoulder and he sort of wrapped his form around me, encircling me as best he could in his dragon form.

Alfie gave a shudder and his body began to shrink. I stepped back a little, not wanting to burn him once his scales stopped offering him protection against my flames. He shifted back to his human form and his eyes were fixed on me the whole time.

As soon as he could form words again, he asked, "Are you alright, Blaze? Are you hurt?"

"I'm not hurt, my darling. You protected me."

He stepped forward and I saw he had blood smeared over his body, along with mud and grime.

"You're hurt."

"I'll be fine. Are you sure you're not injured? That hag did something nasty to you."

I shivered at the memory of it and then, suddenly, shivered for an entirely different reason. I looked down to see that Alfie had reached out to me, that his hand had reached for me even in my flame form, that it was inside me and stroking my wick.

I felt it all over my body, a bright, sensuous, tingling sensation.

Nobody had ever touched there before. I didn't think anybody could. The sensation was both calming and arousing.

"Blaze? What did she do? I'll keep you safe, I promise."

I couldn't tear my gaze away from his hand, his fingers gently stroking my wick, the only part of me to stay solid when I became flame. My fire burned around me and his hand was in the centre of it, touching me.

"Your hand…"

Alfie looked down, realised what he'd done, and yanked it back out of my flames.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't realise. Are you alright? Did I hurt you? Was that weird?"

"It- it was lovely, my darling. I just didn't want you to burn yourself."

Alfie raised his hand to study it. The skin was as smooth and pale and unblemished as it ever had been.

"It doesn't hurt. Are your flames okay?"

My sweet Alfie, whose first concern was always me.

"I'm fine, my darling. Your hand didn't burn."

George said, "The golden dragon is special. He doesn't burn, even in human form."

That made sense, since Alfie could breathe fire in his human form.

I saw the blush rise up his cheeks, making them glow a rosy red. It was incredibly cute, and I wanted to smirk at my mate, because I thought I knew what he was thinking. If he couldn't be burned when he touched my flames, that meant he could reach my wick. The core of me. And the way it had felt to have him touch it was… incredible.

He was planning on doing that again. I couldn't wait.

Any plans for us to be alone, though, would have to wait.

Alfie's family were all standing around, and they were all looking to him. He turned around, taking them in, and swallowed. He wasn't sure what would happen now.

Even though I was still flame, I pressed myself up against my mate. He wouldn't burn, and I needed to be close to him. I felt him relax as my warmth washed over his skin, knowing I was close.

I wasn't sure what to do. We all stood, and waited. For Alfie to decide.