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Blaze had never been so fucking reluctant to leave in his life. Normally he'd be on top of the fucking world, just him and Erie in his car, cruising the highway, free for a short while.

Not wanting to leave... It was a weird feeling. Not nearly as weird as knowing someone had told him to be careful, had made him promise to come back.

He'd never realized he wanted that. For as long as he could remember, it was just him and Erie. Amr had been there for a little while, but he had been there to teach them how to fight. Blaze had been too concerned with keeping Erie and himself alive to form any sort of real bond with someone. That he'd held on to Amr's number was remarkable.

The closest thing he had to friends were the women from the club, and they were nice to anyone who offered the same sort of protection as him. He left them alone and made others do the same; that was how 'friendship' worked in their world.

Friend. Ken was definitely a friend, weird as it still sounded in his head. But even Ken wasn't as weird as whatever the hell was going on with Rafael. Blaze could feel his face heat all over again and felt stupid. He wasn't some idiot teenager fooling around for the first time. He was a pit fighter, and very little fazed him. Shit, he didn't even know exactly how many people he'd killed yesterday and didn't fucking care. He was way past blushing.

Beside him, in the passenger seat, Erie growled teasingly. "Blaze like Raf."

"Oh, shut up," Blaze said lightly, making a face when Erie just laughed at him.

Blaze glanced over at him briefly, then put his eyes back on the road. "You... you really don't care? About Raf?" The few odd tricks he'd messed with before giving in to temptation with Erie had never made Erie very happy, and he'd given them up. It wasn't like it'd been a chore, not when they couldn't come close to satisfying him the way Erie could—Erie, who understood him, accepted him, and always stood beside him. Blaze had never looked back.

Rafael, however, was different. He didn't know how or why, but fuck the man was under his skin.

"Why care?" Erie asked. "Raf smell nice. Ice cold. Blaze still love Erie. Blaze smell happy."

"Of course I still love you," Blaze said, trying to figure out what the hell 'ice cold' meant. Oh, ice as in Conway. Conway was cold. Why did that... ah, because Erie was fire. His body temperature was a few degrees higher than most, the same way Conway ran a little cooler. The cold probably did feel nice to Erie.

So Erie was saying he was cool with all of it. Ken really had been right: dragons didn't seem to care what he did with other humans; it was only other dragons that would cause a problem.

Thinking about what that meant, everything that might someday occur if whatever he had going with Rafael continued, progressed... his cheeks went hot, his mouth dry, and it was all he could do to yank his mind away from perversions and put them back on the goddamn traffic.

He kept driving until he couldn't stay awake any longer and began to see holes in the road that weren't actually there. The hard push was worth it though, because it put them three hours from home. Blaze frowned at that word. Home. Technically, his apartment, the city, was his home. But the word tasted stale paired with that place. The two thoughts just didn't belong together anymore. Whatever, wherever, home wound up being, it wasn't the apartment Rust had given him.

After renting a room for the night, he dragged himself back to the car and pulled out his phone, texting Rafael their location. It was weird, texting something like that to someone—anyone. But Raf had texted him throughout the day, and Blaze had found himself replying whenever they stopped for gas.

It was the most normal thing he'd ever done, and he still didn't quite know what to think about it. Shoving the phone back into his pocket, he pulled away from the motel entrance and around the back to their room.

Yawning as he dragged himself back out of the car, Blaze grabbed their overnight bag and trudged to the room he'd rented for the night. Swiping his keycard, he pushed the door open and stepped inside. The room smelled like most motel rooms: old cigarettes, cheap cleaner, and stale ass. But it had a bed and a shower, which was all he fucking cared about, and he might just say fuck it to the shower.

Blaze threw the overnight bag on the closest bed, then flopped down on his back on the other one. He groaned, muscles stiff and sore from too much activity the day before followed by spending all day in the fucking car. The groan turned into a yawn that watered his eyes, and Blaze really just wanted to roll over and go the fuck to sleep. "I cannot fucking wait until this is over with."

Erie growled in agreement. "Food?"

The idea of going out made Blade all but whimper. "I'll get us food, but lemme rest for a bit. Come doze with me for thirty minutes, and then I'll go find dinner."

"Yes, Blaze," Erie said, rumbling happily at the request, crawling up to him from the foot of the bed and cuddling up along his side. He nuzzled and nipped against Blaze's throat, still rumbling all the while, and if Blaze wasn't so goddamn tired, he would definitely have been all about Erie fucking him into the mattress.

As it was, he could barely muster the energy to steal a soft kiss before dozing off.

They woke with a jerk to someone pounding on the door. Erie growled low, but not with any sort of threat, though that didn't stop Blaze from reaching for his gun. Who the fuck would be bugging them, and how the fuck had whoever it was found them?

"Open up, asshole!"

Blaze immediately relaxed.

"Seriously. Open the fucking door or I'll eat your burger."

Laughing, Blaze climbed out of bed and opened the door. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"It was you or be stuck with my father, uncles, and that asshole," Ken said, shoving his way into the room, Nev close on his heels, hauling at least three bags that filled the room with positively sinful smells. "Why the fuck did you leave without me?" Ken demanded as he deposited the bags on the table and chair by the window, then dumped his own overnight bag next to Blaze's. "Seriously, man."

Blaze just looked at him. "What?"

"What?" Ken repeated. "What the fuck do you mean 'what'?"

"Did you really just say that?"

Ken rolled his eyes. "Fuck you." He rifled through one of the bags and pulled out a six pack of beer. "Just for that, and for going off to war without me, you get no beer."

Blaze finally shut the door, then folded his arms across his chest and raised one brow. "I wasn't aware I was supposed to wait for you. Last I checked, you were busy with your dad and uncles or whatever. This was always a solo venture."

"Solo my ass," Ken snapped. "You don't go taking on an entire fucking syndicate with just a gun and a dragon.

"It doesn't seem much of an improvement to go two of each."

Ken shot him a disgusted look and cracked open one of the cans of beer.

"Give me one of those, asshole, or I'll leave you here in the morning."

"Good luck with that."

Blaze's lips twitched, but he refused to let the smile out. "Give it."

"Yeah, yeah," Ken said, rolling his eyes again and handing over a beer. Taking another swallow of his own, he then set the can aside and dove back into the bags. "I stopped at a burger joint that didn't look half bad. Two each for you and me, I'm not even discussing the dent the lizards put in my wallet—you damn hoovers—and then damn near my weight in fries."

"I could eat my weight in fries right now," Blaze replied and dumped the last bag on the floor. He took the bag of hamburger patties that Ken thrust at him and divided them between the two dragons. They sat on the floor, backs against the bed, and devoured them.

Blaze drank a swallow of beer, then began to eat his own food, drowning his fries in ketchup. Biting into his first burger, he damn near moaned. "This is really fucking good."

"Yeah, dives always have the best food," Ken said, shoveling fries in his mouth like his life depended on it. When he could talk again, he asked, "So did you have a plan, or is this a guns blazing sort of thing?"

"Shit, we were lucky that worked with Leo. Rust will have heard all about that by now and be waiting. I'm surprised he hasn't called me yet, unless whatever he's heard didn't include his former pit fighter was one of the crazy gunmen."

Ken nodded and worked on his burger for a minute, chasing it with a swallow of beer. "Where are going to find Rust? Not another skyscraper I hope."

"He does have high rise offices, but no, his real syndicate work is done in the backrooms of the pits. He'll probably be there, surrounded by more muscle than we could ever overcome."

"So I guess we're going in anyway?"

Blaze nodded, finishing his first burger and starting on the second, pausing only to wolf down a few fries.

Ken snorted. "Last I checked, I was the reckless one."

"Never said I wasn't, man," Blaze replied, digging out paper napkins to wipe off his fingers. "I'm just more circumspect than you about it."

"Circumspect?"

"Fuck you."

Ken snickered and finished his own food. "So basically we're screwed. I don't suppose you know something that will give us an edge?"

"Not really. I was going to play it by ear," Blaze said. "Rust is a show-off, though. He likes to make a scene, and he likes to be the star of it. So he won't just shoot us—he'll use us to teach everyone else a lesson, make it clear he's still master of the masters."

"Bosses are all the same." Ken gathered up all their trash into one bag, then dropped the bag by the tiny trashcan next to the TV. "So we go in, kick ass, shoot Rust. I've worked with less of a plan."

Blaze snickered. "I would be impressed to know you worked with any sort of plan even once."

"Fuck you," Ken retorted congenially. "Unless you want to stay awake, I say we crash. Going to be a long fucking day tomorrow."

"Crashing sounds good to me," Blaze said. He went to the far bed and sat down to remove his shoes and socks, then dropped his t-shirt on top of them. He waited until Ken and Nev were settled in one bed, Erie in another, then killed the lights and slid in next to Erie.

"Night," Erie said as he cuddled close.

Minutes later, they were all fast asleep.

*~*~*

"What in the fuck are you doing here?"

Blaze snapped awake, sat up and reached for his gun—then saw who Ken was shouting at, rolled his eyes, and lay down to catch a few more winks while they bickered.

"You are still severely injured, and the two of you are not enough to go up against the entire syndicate," Amr said, and Blaze didn't have to open his eyes to know Ken was gritting his teeth and tensed to launch himself at Amr.

When Ken let out a sharp, "Hah!" Blaze sighed and opened his eyes, giving up on any chance of sleep, and just watched the show. Ken jabbed Amr in the chest, smirking in triumph when Amr winced. "You're the one who got his ass beat nearly to death. Don't fucking telling me I'm too hurt to go anywhere. You can barely stand. You should be with Raf, recovering. Stupid Mordred."

"Being Mordred has nothing to do with this."

"I agree," Ken said almost cheerfully. "You're stupid, no matter whatever else you are."

Blaze stared at them as they continued to argue, Ken all motion and volume, Amr still and quiet, their eyes never straying from each other. It was the strangest thing he'd ever seen, and strangely enthralling.

Weirdly, it made him miss Rafael. He could not wait to be rid of Rust once and for all and go back. Go... home, perhaps. Throwing back the blankets, Blaze climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom to take a piss and brush his teeth.

By the time he finished, Ken and Amr had reached another standstill. Blaze pulled on his clothes and shoes, slid his gun back into its holster. He looked Amr over critically. "You can barely stand."

"Barely is good enough," Amr said, amber eyes flashing, a faint smirk curving his mouth. "Remember the effect we had on you before I nullified it?"

Making a face, Blaze said, "Yeah."

"Multiply that by a very large number," Amr said.

Blaze laughed. "I see." He shrugged into his jacket and took the overnight bag that Erie brought him. "Where is Cam, anyway?"

"Still in the car," Amr said. "The meeting with Clan Cross left him tense, and he is going to be put under quite a bit more stress before this is all over."

Ken scowled at the words, making Blaze curious as to what he'd missed. "I'm surprised your family didn't tag along."

"They're going to stall the rest of Cross," Ken said. "Dealing with Rust is going to be easy, compared to the fucking drama that will ensue when someone finally pins us down long enough to try and take Cam. Not that they will, but getting rid of them is going to be fucking irritating."

Blaze sighed. "I want a fucking vacation."

"I'm sure your new boy toy will be more than happy to take you to some sandy beach," Ken replied.

Amr cut in before Blaze could reply to that. "Come, the sooner we do this, the sooner we can move on to more important things. I know Rafael will not rest until you return to him."

Ignoring his own hot face and Ken's snickering, Blaze hefted his bag and headed out to his car. Erie was quiet during the drive, so lost in thought he did not even turn on his music. Blaze let him be, as it would probably be the last quiet they enjoyed for a long time.

The three-hour drive to Rust's territory seemed both to take forever and no time at all. Blaze parked his car well away from the warehouse and waited for Ken and Amr to join him, checking his gun as he waited. "Ready, Erie?"

Erie growled, stripping off his clothes and throwing them into the car. Shutting the door, he shifted into his dragon form, late morning sunlight gleaming on his scales. Already the temperature around him had increased slightly. Blaze reached out and stroked his head, fingers sliding along the smooth, hot scales. Erie growled, the sound soft and deep, vibrating through Blaze.

Blaze knelt and Erie rubbed against him, rested his head on Blaze's shoulder, nearly too hot to touch. He growled again as Blaze caressed his scales. "You're beautiful," Blaze said softly.

The scuff of boots drew his attention, and he slowly stood up as the other four approached. Silver and gold scales caught the sunlight and flashed like well-polished metal. All three dragons rubbed and pushed against each other, and Blaze shared a faint smile with Ken and Amr.

Amr nodded his head toward the warehouse. "I'll lead the way. Just tell me where to go."

"Dead ahead, past the pits themselves. There's a door in the very back that leads to a narrow hallway. Rust's office is the third door on the right, all the way at the end. But chances are he'll stop us at the pit floors."

"Let's get it over with then," Amr said and walked on. Dressed in a black three-piece suit with thin gold stripes and a black and gold striped tie, complementing his brown skin and dark hair, he looked every inch a boss. No, he didn't have the meanness of a boss. He looked like the prince Ken said he was now.

The cluster of men waiting for them inside froze the moment Amr and Cam entered. Guns slid from nerveless fingers and dropped to the floor, all of them staring wide-eyed as they fell to their knees and bowed their heads.

"That's something else," Ken muttered as he and Nev moved forward to deal with the fresh group at the far end of the warehouse.

Three black dragons and ten various elemental dragons all came out of the back rooms—the holding pens, and to judge by the way their gold eyes were covered by a thin green film... "They've been drugged," Blaze warned. "Someone injected them with frenzy."

"I've never heard of that," Amr murmured right as the dragons attacked Nevada.

Blaze gestured to Erie, who immediately joined the fray. But two dragons, no matter how talented, were not going to be a match for thirteen, especially when those thirteen were frenzied.

He could even the odds by taking away the masters, though. It was cruel to break a dragon that way, but as drugged as they were, they were already lost. Blaze drew his gun.

"Wait," Amr said, holding a hand out, the other resting on Cam's head. "Cam—"

They both stopped as the main doors banged open behind them—and swore as still more dragons spilled in, at least another fifteen of the bastards.

Blaze raised his guns—

More doors flew open, connections to other warehouses, the treatment rooms, until they were all surrounded by more dragons than he could fucking count. With a jerk of his head, Blaze called Erie back to his side. Erie came, the air around him waving from the heat, blood and scratches marring his scales, more blood dripping from his jaws. His tail lashed furiously back and forth.

"Can't you do your freaky shit again?" Blaze demanded, gun ready, Blaze growling at his side. They formed a ring with the others, Nev and Cam growling loudly, Ken with gun drawn, Amr standing around as though waiting for a waiter to take him to his table.

"Soon," Amr murmured, looking amused as men piled into the warehouse behind the dragons, calling out taunts and crudities.

The back door flew open, and Blaze stared as Rust walked toward them, as casual and laidback as Amr. Blaze wanted to roll his eyes. As Rust drew close, Blaze said, "I wasn't your fucking snitch."

"You were still going to betray me," Rust said. "That much is clear by now."

"I was just going to run. I wanted to give Erie a better life than fighting in this hell hole."

Rust laughed coldly. "You're a pit fighter, Blaze. What the fuck else are you good for? I've been better to you than anyone else."

"No," Blaze said quietly, thinking of Rafael: his smile, his kisses, the way he always put the dragons first. The way he'd told Blaze to be careful, to return. "I found someone better. We'll figure out what else dragons can do."

"I'd be amused to see how the fuck you get out of—" Rust stopped.

"Kneel," Amr ordered, and even Blaze felt the ripple of that order.

His jaw almost dropped when Rust obediently knelt, as well as every other man and dragon in the place.

"The frenzied ones won't last long," Amr said, voice sounding faintly strained. "Do something about them. No one will challenge you."

Blaze nodded. "Can you order their masters forward?"

"You heard him," Amr said sharply. "Masters of the frenzied dragons, rise."

Thirteen men stood up and moved forward. Blaze looked at them. "Can any of the dragons be saved?"

One of the men shook his head, the others just kept their heads bowed. Blaze fought an urge to shoot them. Instead, he gestured to Erie. "Kill them, Erie. Do it quick."

"Nev, go help," Ken said, voice tight.

Ken made a soft, rough noise as Nev and Erie began to kill the broken dragons, tearing out their throats while the dragons remained tethered by Amr's power. Blaze and Ken watched throughout, tears streaming down Ken's face.

When the dragons were done and returned to their sides, scales smeared with blood and their eyes dull with agony, Blaze raised his gun and put three bullets in Rust. "I'm leaving," he said. "I'll get my shit some other time."

Not waiting for a reply, he strode out of the warehouse. He could feel the eyes on him as he left but ignored them all, breath tight in his chest until he left the warehouse. When they finally reached his car, Blaze sank to his knees, gun tumbling from his fingers as he wrapped his arms around Erie. "I'm sorry, Erie. Thank you."

Erie whined and growled, so hot that touching him hurt, would probably leave Blaze just short of burned. Blaze held him tightly a little while longer, until the heat left him unable to breathe. Finally withdrawing, wiping sweat and blood and tears from his face, he stood up. His clothes were covered in blood, and he gave a tired laugh. "What a mess. We'll get stopped for sure if someone sees this. Come on, let's hose off." He opened the car long enough to grab the duffle bag, then led the way to the yards on one side of the warehouse.

Stripping off his clothes, he turned on two of the outdoor showers and quickly rinsed off, helping Erie scrub away all the blood and gore clinging to his scales. When they were more or less clean, he quickly pulled out clothes and got them dressed.

He shivered in the brisk breeze blowing off the water and increased his stride to the car. Reaching it, he opened the passenger door and threw the bag into the back. Erie growled softly behind him, and Blaze turned, bracing one hand on the roof of the car as he drew Erie close and kissed him slow and deep. "Good Erie," he murmured, so close his lips brushed against Erie's as he spoke, drawing him back into another kiss.

"Good Blaze," Erie said when they finally drew apart.

Blaze smiled and ruffled his hair. "Let's go home, huh?" He waited until Erie was comfortable in his seat, then closed the passenger door and walked around to the driver side. Sliding into his seat and doing up the seat belt, Blaze started the car and drove off.

He expected... something, as they left the city behind. But his only thoughts were for Amr and Ken, hoping they didn't have too much trouble with whatever they did next. He should probably stay and help, but he was fucking done with the place.

When they stopped at a gas station a few minutes outside city limits, Blaze pulled out his phone and sent Rafael a text. On way back, will arrive late. He lingered a few extra minutes at the gas station, tidying up the car and pretending he wasn't waiting for a reply.

Sighing at himself, and out of reasons to stall, he finally got back on the road. Erie quickly fell asleep in the passenger seat, occasionally rumbling or growing softly. Blaze reached out to ruffle his hair, smiling fondly.

By the time they reached Rafael's house several hours later, Blaze was ready to fall over. He parked in the same spot he'd taken before and fumbled open the door. Finally getting it open, he half-climbed, half-fell out of the car, holding onto the door for balance. What the fuck time was it?

Probably should have stopped for the night, but no fucking way did he want to stay away longer than necessary. He stumbled toward the front door—and froze reflexively as lights kicked on, reaching for his gun before his brain caught up and realized it was only Rafael on the stoop.

"You idiot," Rafael said softly, coming down the steps to meet him dressed in just a loose pair of sleep pants. Blaze stopped, not quite sure what he was supposed to do, but Rafael just kept approaching. When he reached Blaze, he looped his arms around his shoulders and dropped a sleepy kiss on his mouth. "You didn't have to make it all the way home tonight."

Blaze felt his face heat, but embarrassment wasn't enough to keep him from wrapping his own arms around Rafael's waist and submitting to a much more forceful kiss. "I wanted to make it back, wanted it done."

"Glad you came back," Rafael said softly. "Want anything to eat?"

"Food can wait. I just want to sleep," Blaze said, reluctantly drawing back, shivering in the cold night air.

If the cold bothered Rafael, he didn't show it, just led the way back inside. He locked the door behind them, and they both watched in amusement as the dragons wandered away to curl up together in front of the living room fireplace, where a small fire still burned. "Fell asleep on the couch," Rafael said and turned off all the lights before leading the way down the hall.

"You seem to be feeling a lot better," Blaze said quietly. "I didn't think you'd be walking around so easily."

"Alec's lover showed up and cast a healing spell," Rafael said. "It was more than a little disconcerting, seeing magic thrown so casually about. Conway didn't like it at all."

Blaze smiled faintly at that, but he was distracted from thoughts of dragons and magics by the sudden realization that he had just followed Rafael into his bedroom. He hovered in the doorway, suddenly unsure.

Rafael paused by the bed. "Something wrong?"

"Uh–" Blaze blinked. "I—where am I sleeping?"

Smiling, Rafael crossed back over to him and cupped Blaze's face, drawing him into a kiss that left Blaze breathless and incapable of thinking. "Get in bed," he said and drew back, vanishing into the bathroom. "There are more pants in the bottom drawer."

Blaze sat down to unlace his boots and pull them off, setting them aside before standing up and stripping off the rest of his clothes. The bathroom door opened just as he was fetching pants to sleep in.

Rafael smirked and went over to the dresser himself. He grabbed a pair of dark blue pants and threw them at Blaze. "You don't have to get dressed again on my account."

"Don't tempt me." Blaze pulled on the pants. "I'm too fucking tired."

Laughing, Rafael motioned for him to get in bed, then killed the lights. Blaze wasn't used to sleeping with anyone except Erie, but it didn't feel anywhere near as odd as he expected to curl up with Raf, head on Raf's chest, his arms heavy and warm around Blaze. "I'm glad you came back."

"I'm glad I could," Blaze said, then closed his eyes and finally fell asleep.