The silence behind me was absolute for three seconds. Then, the ground beneath my feet hissed.
"You think we are incompetent?" the Alpha growled, his voice dropping into a low, dangerous rumble. The heat in the gorge spiked so high my sea-silk dress felt like it was about to burn.
I turned back slowly, one eyebrow raised. "I'm just a realist. If you can't melt the stone, you're just cats with hot paws. And I need masters, not strays who can only burn grass. You care about melting my walls because they're just stone, but why don't you use that pretty talent of yours to burn something harder and prove your fire is unstoppable?"
The Alpha stepped forward, his claws now glowing a blinding, brilliant white. He looked at the chunk of ore I'd dropped on a flat rock earlier.
"Show me this stone, female," he snarled, his pride radiating off him in waves. "And once I've turned it to liquid, we will talk about who is 'competent'."
