6. Alfie

Idid not sleep at all that night. My mind was very awake as I thought about Blaze over and over again, and my body was misbehaving. I felt a lot of different things at once and it was hard to sort through them all.

When I eventually did doze off for just a few minutes, I dreamed about Blaze eating and I was just as fixated on his lips in my dream as I was in real life. They were soft and plump. The way he'd wrapped them around the spoon as he'd eaten had been, um, more erotic than I think he meant for it to be. I didn't normally find people eating that interesting. Only when Blaze did it, I'd been absolutely captivated. My dream played those moments over and over again until I woke up, so hard I couldn't bear it.

I tried not to touch myself but, somewhere around three o'clock in the morning, I gave in and stroked my dick to the memory of Blaze's lips and his face and his body and his scent. I could just about smell him, even now, and it seemed to permeate my entire body, making me feel alive and, um, hot.

Around four o'clock, I got up and dressed, and waited until it was a reasonable time for me to go back outside to Blaze. I didn't like leaving him out there all alone.

It wasn't that I thought he was in danger, since he was inside our territory and we were safe here. And Glimmer wouldn't hurt him if he found him, because it was obvious to anybody who looked that Blaze was a super sweet, kind person. The bond we had formed over one night was a dark golden colour, richer than any of the others I had.

That had to mean he was a good person. I could always tell a lot about a person by their bonds.

Just before five o'clock, I was outside again.

I had raided the kitchen, grabbing as much food as I could carry in a big basket, and I hurried through the woods, feeling like Little Red Riding Hood.

The bond flickered before me as I got nearer to Blaze, rising in my consciousness. I was outside the door of our den before I realised we still hadn't worked out a password. I hesitated, reluctant to knock in case I disturbed him, and reluctant to barge in and frighten him.

It meant I dithered for ages, until I saw the bond moving around, even though I couldn't hear anything. If Blaze was moving, he was awake.

I knocked softly and called, "Blaze, it's me. Um, Alfie, that is.

The door opened and I gaped at him, stunned. I'd completely forgotten how beautiful he was. I could remember what he looked like – I'd been remembering all night – but something about the real, live Blaze standing before me was just so much better than my dreams. His hair shone with golds and reds in the early dawn light and my fingers itched to stroke through those locks.

His smell, too, wafted out from the confined space, all woodsmoke and ash. It didn't sound like the sexiest smell but it really, really was. Deep and masculine, but with a tang to it that stopped it being too one-note.

I took a deep breath and held it, wanting to absorb that scent right into me.

Blaze frowned. "Are you okay, Alfie?"

I let my breath out in one long sigh and then breathed normally again, hoping Blaze wouldn't notice I'd done anything weird.

"Um, yes, I'm fine. How are you? Did you sleep well?"

He shuffled round a bit so I could step inside as he answered.

"I don't really sleep like other beings."

"Do you get tired?"

"Yes, sometimes. Normally I have to be exhausted before I sleep in my human form. Mostly, I just become flame and burn somewhere for a while. It's very restful and it revives me."

"Can, um, can I see you in your flame form?"

He smiled at me, almost as if he were indulging a prying kid who wanted to see something cool. I didn't like that smile. I didn't want him to pity-shift in front of me.

"Never mind!" I said quickly.

Blaze's smile grew larger, but it was different this time. The bond between us almost thrummed with something that I couldn't place, and I grew warm again, despite the chill in the air.

One moment Blaze was in front of me, solid flesh, and the next he was fire. He kept the same form, only he burned and his edges were blurred as the flames of his body danced and undulated. He looked so incredibly beautiful. His face was silhouetted in yellows and reds, and his amber eyes flickered brightly.

I didn't even realise I'd reached out my hand until I felt the pain and yelped.

Instinctively, I drew my hand back and cradled it against my chest. Blaze's face became a mask of horror and he cried, "I'm so sorry!"

The sound of his voice was different in this form but equally as lovely. The only thing I didn't like was that he sounded so anguished.

"It's not your fault."

Even though his body was flame and therefore was moving and undulating, his face was visible even as the orange and yellow created imaginary shadows across it. He still managed to give me an utterly disbelieving look.

It made me smile.

"Really," I insisted. "It's not your fault I touched you. I should have asked, anyway."

His body moved closer to me and I felt the dry heat of him, smelled the burning. Then he shifted back to his human form and the room became suddenly cooler.

That was until Blaze was right in front of me, reaching out for my hand. Then my entire body flushed with something so warm and bright that I couldn't even speak. Every part of me seemed to be tingling with anticipation, and I leaned towards him.

Blaze took my hand gently and examined it.

"I don't think you did any real damage. Your skin would blister if you were human, but you're already healing."

I'd completely forgotten about the pain already. My entire focus was on the way that Blaze's gentle fingers skimmed over my palm and my wrist.

He looked up at me and I realised he was probably only a few inches shorter than me but he looked up as though I were seven feet tall. It made me feel suddenly very strong and proud.

As soon as I thought that, I stumbled back and tried to squash that feeling down. I hated to feel proud. My father constantly drummed it into us that we were Somervilles and that made us better than everyone else. It had been that way for generations, as far as I could tell, and Father was only repeating what he'd learned. Still, even Great Aunt Evangeline didn't wield her pride like a weapon, the way my father did. She was old and proud but she was somehow gentle too. Father wasn't gentle.

I was always wary of feeling too much pride in case I became like him. I looked so like him that sometimes, if I stood in front of the mirror and drew myself up, wearing my coldest look, I could almost believe I was him.

The first time I'd done it, I'd frightened myself and had covered the mirror with a blanket for a week because I was afraid I'd trapped my father's eyes in it and he was always watching me.

That had been a long time ago, though. Well over a year.

The point was, I knew that being too proud of myself wasn't good and so I stumbled back, trying to get away from the look on Blaze's face that told me I was the centre of the universe.

As I drew away, his face fell and I instantly wanted to push back against him and make him look at me like I was everything again.

Boy, this was going to get confusing. I needed to get my feelings under control if I was going to be a good friend to Blaze.

Clearing my throat, I looked around for something to say and saw he was dressed.

"Hey, you didn't burn my coat!"

"I told you that the clothes were a part of me. They won't burn."

"I know but I thought you meant your clothes wouldn't burn. Not my clothes. Does that mean my coat is yours now? I don't mind that. I, um, quite like it actually. You can keep it. It's for you. Wear my coat."

My insides were knotting with excited pleasure at that thought. If I'd actually eaten any breakfast, I'd say that it was still alive and was throwing a party in my stomach, because it sure felt that way.

When Blaze smoothed one of his hands down over my coat and said, "Thank you," I wanted to cheer in victory. He was keeping my coat. My coat, not anybody else's. I liked being the one to wrap him up warm.

It would be even better if I could do it in my arms, or maybe take him upstairs and pull him into my bed so I could wrap my blankets around him. That would be perfect.

The thought of Blaze in my bed made my face flame with the memory of my dreams and what I'd done after my dreams. I really hoped fire spirits couldn't tell when someone had, um, you know.

Blaze saved me from my embarrassment by gesturing at the basket I'd left on the floor by the door.

"Is that food?"

I grinned. My new friend was always hungry. That was okay. I'd like to feed him.

"Yes, it is. Help me get it onto the table. Then we can decide what you else you want me to bring out here so you're comfortable."

"You'd bring me something else?"

I looked around me. "Well, yeah. You can't stay in here like this forever. You need something much nicer. I can bring some more comfortable chairs and some blankets. Do you need a bed? Oh no, you said you didn't sleep, didn't you? But you do like to shift into your flame form? Well I guess you need some kind of fireplace then, huh?"

"An oil lamp would be ideal," he said.

"I'll see if we've got one. If not, I can order it."

The smile he gave me made me feel like I had given him the world. Wow, I really needed to be careful here otherwise I would get a really big head just from doing the most basic kind things for my friend.

I waited until Rhod was leaving his office for the day before I rushed over. I had known that he was in there but I didn't want to go in and ask him about it while he was working. Also, I wasn't sure if my father would be able to hear us talking from his office nearby, so I'd loitered until Rhod was leaving to go upstairs and change for dinner.

Then I struck.

"Good evening, Rhod," I called.

He looked startled for a moment before his face settled into a sort of nothingness. He was very good at that. I hardly ever knew what he was thinking. I would think he was as cold as my father, except our bond was much gentler than almost any other I had. Rhod was one of the few others who had a bond with everybody in the clan, and it was the same gentle, light little thing, almost like he was just monitoring them but didn't want them to notice.

That made sense, I suppose, since he was my father's Personal Assistant and he organised everything. As far as I could see, he did all the actual arranging of things and got everything sorted whenever one of the elders had an idea.

Now he looked at me with a professional blankness and he spoke with polite indifference. "Good evening, Alfie. What can I do for you?"

I wished I could do the same but I had never got the hang of it.

"It's not anything really. I just wanted to be able to order something online, that's all."

Rhod gave a nod. "I'll have the family credit card sent up to your room."

I should have left it there. However, I'd been working myself up about this for a full two hours and so all my nervous energy was still balled up inside me and it needed somewhere to go.

It came out in words.

"I'm going to order an oil lamp," I said. I nearly groaned at the look of alarm on Rhod's face. Before he could ask me what I wanted it for, or suggest that maybe I wasn't allowed one, I blurted out, "I'm only going to use it outside. I won't hurt anything in the house and I'll be really, really safe. I'll take extra care. Besides, I'm a dragon so I won't burn. Well, I might burn if I'm me but I won't burn that much and I'll heal again really quickly. When I learn to shift, I'll never burn. But I can't wait until then to get my lamp! I need it now. I promise I'll be really good and I won't set anything alight at all."

Rhod was staring at me, his blank look firmly back in place. At least he didn't look so startled any longer and maybe he'd let me have my lamp.

"I'll ask Lord Somerville to authorise it."

"You don't need to do that! They're not that expensive."

"It's not the expense," began Rhod, and I knew exactly where he was going with that. It was because I was too young to be playing with fire.

Except I wasn't young at all!

I was nineteen and I was grown up and nobody believed me when I told them that.

Suddenly, I felt angry. I tried not to feel angry, just like I tried not to feel proud, because both of them made me look more like my father and I felt less like me. However, the anger surged up inside me and I scowled.

"I'm allowed to order what I want. Father said so."

Well done me, way to make me sound like a petulant kid. Perhaps I wasn't grown up at all.

"Then he'll authorise it quickly," said Rhod, ever the logical one.

"It's not expensive and it's not dangerous. I'll be more dangerous running around with matches than an oil lamp, and I have plenty of those. You can't tell me that a dragon is in danger from fire and I don't think it's appropriate to bother Lord Somerville about it."

Wow, I actually almost sounded like Rhod then! I was pretty pleased with that. It had been an entirely logical argument.

Rhod, however, didn't agree.

"I'm afraid I don't have the authority to put your request through myself. I'll have to present it to Lord Somerville."

I was incredibly frustrated. I only wanted one little oil lamp. Maybe two, in case something happened to the first one. I didn't want Blaze going without. And Rhod was going to ask my father, and I felt very certain that his answer would be ‘no' and it would take me absolutely ages to arrange to get it otherwise.

I was so desperate that I didn't try to think of another reasonable, logical argument. I just blurted out, "Please Rhod. I really, really want it. I promise I'll be careful."

I actually saw our bond shimmer for a moment. It was the same sort of bond I had with most of my clan, which meant it was instinctive and almost unbreakable. Only a deep betrayal could break such a bond.

Rhod looked at me for a few seconds, deciding, and I waited for him, studying our bond as it shimmered with… I might almost have said affection.

That was so surprising that I nearly forgot to say, "Thank you," when he finally agreed to get me my oil lamps.

I scurried away, a bit surprised and a bit pleased. I couldn't wait to take them to Blaze.