Fuck! He needed to explain and it needed to happen quickly.

Julie had the same idea because she sucked in a ragged breath.

The fire prince cut her off. He cut them both off. “Get your filthy hands off of my female!” His voice boomed. Shit, the male was pissed. There was more smoke and Torrent could see scales beneath the prince’s skin. A whole bunch of them.

Torrent took his hand from the human’s shoulder. All he needed to do was explain, Take a punch or two and Coal and Julie could be on their way. “I’m glad you are—”

Coal wouldn’t allow him to speak. Torrent could see that he was barely holding it together. “Step away from him, Julie. Do it now.” His words were barely understandable. More of a guttural bark than human speech. Shit! Coal was physically vibrating. His eyes slitted further

“No… you don’t…” Julie pleaded, but Torrent could see that Coal wasn’t listening. He was on the verge of attacking Torrent or erupting into dragon form. Or both. If either of those things happened, the human would be injured. Torrent had caused enough trouble for one day. He needed to let the male hit him a few times. Hopefully reason would return enough to stop him. If not, he would take it. He deserved it.

Torrent gave the human a light shove. He wanted her out of the way so that neither of them could harm her accidentally. From the corner of his eye, he saw her land in a heap to the right of them. She would hopefully be far enough away.

“You bastard!” Coal snarled as he leapt at him. The male wasn’t thinking clearly. Torrent could have lifted a knee, or punched the male in the face using his own momentum against him but he refrained. Hopefully he wouldn’t regret it. The force of the blow knocked him back.

“Wait!” Torrent shouted as regained his footing. Coal wasn’t listening. Shit! “Let me—”

Flames erupted from Coal’s throat. White hot. He felt his flesh char. He felt his hair singe. He felt so much pain that all he could do was roar and maybe pray. He could scent his own flesh burning. At long last Coal took a breath and the heat subsided. Torrent almost fell to his knees with relief. He could already feel his flesh begin to knit. It hurt like a bitch and he grimaced. His lips pulled tight and pain flared.

“The female is mine,” Coal snarled.

“I was bringing her back!” Torrent shouted back, despite the pain of trying to talk.

Coal’s eyes were wild. He still wasn’t listening. Fuck! Torrent had to work hard to keep from retaliating.

You deserve it!

You hurt Candy.