by Kimber White
Touched by Flame
Dragonborn Daughters Book Two
Kimber White
Nokay Press LLC
Copyright © 2020 by Kimber White/Nokay Press LLC
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author or publisher, except where permitted by law or for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Up Next for the Dragonborn Daughters
Books by Kimber White
About the Author
Chapter 1
Viktor
In the ten years since I’d known Denall, I still couldn’t get used to his scent. Not animal. Not human. It was as if you took the stench of every ancient witch and laid it out in the sun.
As he approached, I gripped the guardrail, trying not to crush it with my wolf strength. The river churned below. We met in the middle of a new metro park near Midewin Prairie that had been stripped from a wolf pack. They’d found themselves on the wrong side of history fifteen years ago when the world turned upside down.
Cities burned. Leaders were killed. A group of rogue shifters revealed themselves en masse to humankind and took the blame. It put all of us in danger. Then the real war began. Mages turned on shifters. Shifters turned on each other. Then, the Ring stepped in to restore a sense of order. Made up mostly of fae, they’d sold themselves to the nations’ governments as the only way to protect humans from our kind. Treaties were signed. Peace was restored. Peace. It’s an illusion. Something humans wrap around themselves as a security blanket. Shifters aren’t the threat. The Ring is. They can’t even see it.
Now, witches stay in hiding. Many of them survive by selling their magic to humans looking for a quick fix to escape the world. And we shifters...well, the lucky ones make their way to Oasis Territories created by the treaties where they’re allowed to live more or less as they always have. The unlucky ones get rounded up by the Ring and forced to serve. I know most of them end up subjugated to Tyrannous Alphas under the Ring’s thumb. And the very unlucky ones? Well, welcome to my world.
“You’re early,” Denall said. “As always.”
I kept my eyes on the river. While Denall’s stench permeated the air, he appeared as always. Colorless. Almost bloodless. Powder white skin, silken platinum hair that he wore clubbed back. No matter the season or weather, Denall always wore a black wool coat buttoned all the way up to his neck.
He stood next to me, curling his long fingers around the guardrail.
“I’ve got better things to do, Denall,” I said.
He smiled. “Careful, Viktor,” he said. “One of these days you might just hurt my feelings.”
One of these days, I might just hurt more than that. I glared at Denall, but left it unsaid.
He turned to me, eyes glinting to two points of light. I’d never seen him do it, but I’d heard fae could dissolve into a tiny point of light when their lives depended on it. Friggin’ Tinkerbell. It seemed cowardly. I’d always rather stay and fight.
“You’ve done well,” he said. “Our boss is pleased. The trouble in Luna Pointe could have gotten out of hand. I told them we could always count on you to clean up just about any mess.”
“Wasn’t my mess,” I said. Three months ago, there’d been some sort of skirmish in Luna Pointe, Michigan, along Lake Erie. Denall didn’t tell me the details, just that there’d been a few casualties. That had been an understatement. When I got there, I’d found the remnants of a massacre. A Ring stronghold had been cleared out. There were body parts everywhere. Shifter and human alike. They’d left it to me to make it all disappear.
Today was supposed to be payday. But it was always one more job. One more mess to clean up. One more promise I’d have to break or delay.
“Well,” Denall said. “Your work got noticed. I came to give you your bonus.”
I raised a brow. “Bonus?”
“Clairmont,” he said. “In the Shawnee Forest. You’ve had your eye on it for some time.”
My pulse jumped. I tried to slow my breathing. If Denall had shifter in him, he might have sensed my alarm. Since he was fae, who the hell knew what he could sense.
Clairmont had been on my radar for a while. It was gorgeous. Five hundred sprawling, wooded acres. I could stretch my legs there. Hunt freely. I could bring some of my pack with me. I’d seen the place in my dreams. It felt like destiny.
“It’s yours,” Denall said. “If you still want it.”
I tightened my lips. “Free and clear?”
“Well,” Denall said. “Think of it as more of a long-term lease, to start with, anyway.”
“Just like that?” I said. “Let me guess, you’ve got the keys to the house in your pocket?”
He smiled, showing me a row of long, white teeth. “More or less,” he said.
There was movement in the woods ahead of us. I felt the hair on the back of my neck begin to rise. The wind changed, and I caught a new scent.
“I brought you here...specifically here, for a reason, my friend,” Denall said. “Another favor. Something that shouldn’t cause you too much trouble.”
“A favor,” I spat. “I never like the sound of that, Denall.”
“Relax,” he said. “This one’s right up your alley. Something you’ve been itching to do for a long time. I believe you even asked our boss about it when we first hired you.”
Denall was saying words. I could see his lips moving, but every cell in my body realigned.
She came down the trail due west of us. She waved her hands in front of her as she talked.
Black hair. High, full breasts under a thin, pink top. She wore khaki shorts that hugged her toned thighs. She wasn’t alone.
My nostrils flared. My vision went almost white as my wolf eyes flashed. I gripped the guardrail hard enough to leave a dent.
Two men came down the trail behind her. Wolves. Both of them. She was unafraid. Unguarded. They were betas. One of them carried a little clipboard and took notes as the girl talked.
She turned and stopped, giving me a full view of her backside. She was tall, almost as tall as the larger of the two betas. Strong. Sinewy biceps, well-defined calves. A runner, perhaps. An athlete.
I tilted my head, breathing in deeply to try to catch her scent. Human. Maybe a touch of magic somewhere in her DNA, but just that. No trace of anything animal. She smelled...clean. Almost too clean.
“Who are they?” I asked. I knew how this usually went. These two were submissive. Ripe for the taking. Denall would want them captured an
d brought to one of the Tyrannous Alphas the Ring had on retainer. I’d refused this kind of work before. There were lines even I wouldn’t cross.
“Well, now that’s the million-dollar question,” Denall said. “She’s a real estate agent. She specializes in shifter lands.”
I hid my surprise. “They’re selling off the Metropark?” I asked.
“Some of the plots to the north,” Denall said. “Those two belong to one of the packs on the western side of Illinois.”
“Who’d they cross?” I asked.
Denall smiled. “Relax,” he said. “They haven’t, at least not yet. No. The girl’s your job.”
I turned back to her. She laughed. It wasn’t natural. Whoever the two shifters were, she was pretending for them. Selling.
“All right,” I said. “You’ve got my attention. I’ll bite.” The moment I uttered it, a wave of lust went through me. Yeah. I wouldn’t mind sinking my teeth into her. Those strong legs wrapped around me. Her back arched. Even from here, I could hear the husky quality to her voice. I bet it would be something to make her laugh for real.
Or moan.
“She goes by Amelia Call,” he said. “Professionally anyway. It’s not what her family calls her, though.”
I finally turned to Denall, giving him my full attention.
“Who wants her?” I asked.
“You’ve never asked me that before,” he said, raising a high brow.
“And I don’t get off on terrorizing defenseless women, Denall. Find somebody else for that kind of dirty work.”
It was all I could do not to shift then and there. Subjugating unsuspecting beta wolves was bad enough. The Ring liked to keep Alphas in line by promising them their choice of mates.
Rage flashed through me. “I’m not your damned procurer,” I said. “Not even Clairmont is worth that.”
I started to leave. Denall reached out. Cold fingers curled around my arm. I let out a low growl.
She heard it. They all did. The girl looked all around, but she couldn’t source the sound. The two betas did. One of them put a hand on Amelia Call’s back and started to lead her away, back toward the woods.
“I said she goes by Amelia Call,” Denall hissed. “I didn’t say that was her real name. Keep your beast in check and you might learn something.”
“You’ve got ten seconds before I rip your arm off and beat you with it, Denall,” I said.
His whole body shimmered with light. His teeth grew longer and sharper. And he thought I was a beast.
“Her grandfather is Andre Kalenkov,” he said. “Kalenkov. Did you hear what I said?”
My whole body went stiff, as if he’d hit me with lightning.
“Kalenkov,” I said. “You mean…”
“Yes,” Denall said. He finally let go of me. He knew his words alone would root me to the spot now.
“Like I said, she’s the granddaughter of Andre Kalenkov. I believe your family has tangled with him before.”
Tangled? I could barely see straight. Andre Kalenkov’s actions had taken away everything I was. My family. My birthright. My freedom. His pack and mine had fought a century-old blood feud.
Amelia Call? Call. The name was an alias. Could she really be the one? I was more interested in who her mother was at the moment. I didn’t ask. I couldn’t let Denall know it mattered. It was a card I could play later if I needed it. I had to stay one step ahead. Always.
“It doesn’t matter who wants her now, does it?” Denall asked.
I clenched my jaw. “What’s the job?”
“Simple,” he said. “Get the girl by any means necessary. It shouldn’t be hard. When you have her, you take her to Clairmont and wait for further instructions. Do we understand each other?”
“Clairmont,” I said. “Those are the strings?”
Denall smiled. “Who are you kidding, Viktor? I can see it in your eyes. I know about your family’s vendetta with the Kalenkovs. This is a win-win for everyone. You settle a debt. You get your reward. But it has to happen tonight. No mistakes. No witnesses. You get control of that girl and keep her at Clairmont.”
Then, in a flash of light, Denall was gone. A preternatural growl vibrated through me. The girl had disappeared into the deeper woods.
The girl. She was a Kalenkov. There could be no doubt. She was right here. By the end of the night, she would be mine.
Chapter 2
Mia
“They balked for a reason, Mia!” My cousin, John wore a path in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in my office. His wolf eyes flashed golden-yellow. I don’t even think he realized it.
“Well, it wasn’t me,” I said.
“They were ready to sign!” John yelled. “That’s a half a million-dollar sale. A fifty-thousand-dollar commission.”
I kept my hands folded on my desk. John wasn’t quick to anger. But he was getting to a certain age and his hormones got the best of him.
“Tell me again,” John said, finally stopping.
“I took them out by the river,” I said. “They were in love with the lakefront lots. The older one, Keith, was already making plans for how he’d lay out the new construction. He was going to use Sperry Construction.”
“Then why did you go to the river?” John asked. “That’s clear on the other end of the park.”
“They asked to see it.” I answered. I tried to project calm. John was older than me by a few years. His father was my mother’s cousin, one of the Kalenkov pack. One of the lucky ones, actually. He and his brother got out of Moscow as stowaways on a freighter bound for New York a few weeks after the first wave of shifter attacks. Moscow was now a Ring stronghold. If they’d been left behind, who knows what would have happened to them. At best, they’d have been subjugated by a Tyrannous Alpha before they even hit puberty.
“Then why?” John asked. “Come on, Mia. Don’t sit there and play dumb. You can read shifters as well as anyone.”
I rose from my chair and turned my back on John. I went to the window and looked out at the park. Most days, the view calmed me. The lush, green trees stretched all the way to the horizon. The river flowed east to west. When I was nine years old, before the attacks, my uncles used to take me hunting through the north quadrant.
I was free then. We all were. I could live in my wolf for days if I wanted, testing my powers. Learning who I wanted to be.
But fifteen years ago, that all changed. Now, if the Ring found out what I was, it would put everyone I loved at risk.
I closed my eyes. Keith and Dominick Heiden were ready to buy the most expensive plot of land we owned bordering the park. Brandhart Enterprises might have been decimated in the months after the attacks. Our high rise on Lakeshore Drive had been one of the first buildings to fall. Its ruins became a symbol of everything we’d lost. A warning to those who might ally themselves with the rogue shifters who brought it all down.
But we survived. My father and uncles were shrewd. Their money was centuries old and well protected. And they were the one thing left the Ring knew nothing about.
Dragons. My father, Gideon. My uncles Xander, Finn, Loch, and Kian were the last dragon shifters on earth along with my grandmother, Avelina, Aunt Calla, and cousin Giselle. A thousand years ago, during the last shifter war, their kind had been used as weapons and driven to extinction. Now, it could happen all over again.
Then there was me. Mia Brandhart. The only one of my kind. My father’s dragon blood mixed with my mother’s and broke a curse. As far as we knew, I was the only female wolf shifter of my generation.
A secret. A prize.
And now, I could never risk letting outsiders know what I was. They would hunt me. Try to ransom me. Breed me. My parents thought they’d been blessed with my birth. I couldn’t help feeling like I was a curse.
“Mia,” John said. “What happened? I mean, really?”
I couldn’t lie. Not to John. “I don’t know,” I said. “That’s the truth. We came into the clearing by the riverbank. They were
excited. Keyed up, yes. But it wasn’t a wolf thing. Then...I don’t know. The wind changed. They scented something.”
“Didn’t you?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No. I don’t know. I was too busy doing what I do best. Cloaking my wolf from them. I swear, John. They didn’t sense anything. I mean, they didn’t sense me. I know how to keep myself safe. I’ve been doing it since I was a baby.”
I didn’t have any dragon traits that I knew of. But I’d inherited one thing from my father. I could cloak myself. It’s how our family of dragons had managed to survive all this time undetected. I could mask the parts of me other shifters would normally be able to scent. It saved my life. It protected my family. But it also made me feel as if I’d never truly be free.
“Then we’ve got a trespasser,” John said. “I’ll have to call the family in. We’ll do a sweep. But you need to get out of here for a while. I’ll make the arrangements.”
“No!” I shouted, hating how petulant I sounded. “No. I’m not running again. I like my work. I like the park. It’s peaceful. I know it like the back of my hand. Whatever this was will blow over. Let’s just wait and see. I won’t take any clients for a few days. I’ll stay inside. I promise.”
He put an affectionate hand on my shoulder.
“Mia, I’m sorry. I know this isn’t fair. I know how badly you miss hunting with the rest of us. It’ll…”
“Don’t say it,” I said. “Don’t say it’ll get better. You know that’s a lie.”
His face fell. At least he didn’t deny it. I knew what he’d say. I hated him a little for it.
