“Report,” Ash snapped, the moment his boots touched the ground.

“It’s a bloody mess,” Hugh said succinctly, not glancing up from his patient.

Ash cast a practiced eye over the scene. The entire ground floor of the low-rise apartment block was aflame, thick black smoke pouring out of heat-shattered windows. A fire of this magnitude turned out the whole department—three full crews were already battling the spreading blaze. Behind Hugh, several other paramedics were frantically triaging a dozen shaking, shocked victims.

Fortunately, all the non-shifters present were far too preoccupied to have noticed his abrupt arrival. The current officer in charge—a solid, capable, and completely human firefighter—had his back turned, busy barking orders into a radio. Ash knew that he could be trusted to coordinate the mundane efforts to douse the flames.

But the officer didn’t know about the other efforts.

Ash reached out with his mind. *Report,* he said again, but this time not out loud.

The storm-swift swirl of Chase’s mind touched his. *Griff and I have cleared the upper floors. We’ve been flying people out.*

“Which is why I’ve got six casualties down here having screaming meltdowns because they were swooped through the air by invisible monsters,” Hugh muttered under his breath, clearly eavesdropping on the telepathic conversation. “We’re going to have a lot of clean-up later.”

Ash repressed a grimace. He always hated having to wipe the memories of ordinary people who’d witnessed Alpha Team at work. *Chase, is the building clear?*

*No.* Chase’s tone was uncharacteristically grim. *I can sense two people trapped on the second floor. They’re completely surrounded by fire, we can’t get to them even with protective gear.*

Ash broadened the psychic channel. *Daifydd?*

“Here.” Dai’s soft Welsh voice came, unexpectedly, from next to one of the ambulances. He waved off the paramedic who’d been working on him, coming over. Soot streaked his face. One side of his uniform jacket was in blackened tatters.

“I already tried to reach them.” Dai indicated the nasty burn showing through the scorched hole in his turnout gear. “You can see how well that went.”

Long habit kept Ash from showing any alarm. But now he knew why he’d been summoned so urgently. As a red dragon shifter, Dai was immune to any normal fire. For flames to be able to scorch even him…

“Are we dealing with a rogue dragon here?” he murmured, pitching his voice low in case any of the nearby victims were more alert than they seemed.

Dai shook his head, mouth set in a worried line. “It’s too intense even for dragonfire. Could be hellhounds, I suppose, but…something about this doesn’t feel right, Commander. It’s not behaving like any fire I’ve ever seen. And John can’t call down the rain.”

Ash picked out John’s towering form, backlit by the fierce orange glow. The sea dragon appeared to be busy laying hose for the front line firefighters, but Ash knew that his real focus was on an entirely different task. He was too far away to be able to make out the words John was singing, but he could tell from the tense line of his shoulders—not to mention the fact that the sky was still clear overhead—that the sea dragon’s magic was not going well.

Ash decided not to break John’s concentration for now. The first priority had to be to rescue the trapped victims. After that they could worry about containing and eliminating the blaze.

“I will clear the way,” he told Dai. “Are you fit to carry the victims out?”

Dai’s jaw tightened with pain as he flexed his burned arm, but he nodded. “Ready when you are.”

Ash released his control.

The Phoenix burst from his soul, brighter than the inferno. Hugh shielded his eyes with a muttered curse, though none of the nearby humans reacted. Mythic shifters could always see each other, but in this form he was invisible to mundane eyes unless he willed it.

He preferred to be discreet when he had to use his powers. It wasn’t exactly desirable for the regular firefighters to see their Commander stroll unprotected into a burning building, after all. He had a hard enough time enforcing safety regulations as it was.

He swooped through the air, passing unseen over the heads of the firefighters still struggling to control the flames. They glanced up uneasily, feeling his heat even through their safety gear. Dai pushed past them, taking advantage of the distraction to enter the building unnoticed. The dragon shifter disappeared into the billowing smoke.

The fire whispered to him like a lover. He knew better than to try to resist.

Instead, he spread his wings wide, embracing it.

A team of firefighters scattered, falling back, as the fire leaped up anew. His own burning feathers flared too, echoing the triumphant flames. The inferno’s fierce hunger was just a pale echo of his own. To transfigure dull matter into light, to blaze bright in the darkness, to burn…

Ash focused his will—but not on the fire.

He didn’t control fire. He never had. All he could control was himself.

That was what no one had ever understood, not even Corbin. He was the Phoenix, and the Phoenix was the flame eternal, and so he was the fire.

He forced down his own raging desires, and the inferno grudgingly died down as well. He calmed himself, and the flames calmed too, allowing Dai to sprint through them.

It was harder than normal to hold onto his control. At first he thought it was just due to his unsettled mind…but it wasn’t just the intoxicating memory of Rose’s body against his that was making it difficult to maintain his discipline.

Dai was right. This fire was strange. It fought him, hissing in malice. It sent out sparks into his soul, trying to rekindle his own destructive instincts. It was as if it had a will of its own.

Or as if someone else’s will was driving it.

Someone else’s will was driving it. A will that he recognized.

How could he not, when it had bound his own for so long?

*Hurry,* he sent to Dai, battling the rage and terror rising in his heart. *This isn’t a fire. It’s a distraction.*