Skydance
Pine Valley: The Elemental Dragons 2
Katherine Rhodes
Contents
Preface
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
Chapter 27
Epilogue
About the Author
Also by Katherine Rhodes
Also By J. Rose Alexander
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
SKYDANCE
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2019 © Katherine Rhodes
First Edition
Cover by JRA Stevens/Down Write Nuts
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. 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 express written permission from the author / publisher.
Created with Vellum
The sky is a vast, lonely place.
Maximillian Czerkanowicz knows. As Pine Valley’s air dragon, he’s flown alone for years. Over a century old, he’s the self-appointed guardian of the University’s prized telescope. Several doctorates and dozens of friends keep Max happy, even if he is alone.
The dreamworld is a frightening, lawless place.
Amy Hogan helps to keep the peace. Keeping her abilities, and her association with the Sectorum Esse, quiet, she rushed to Pine Valley to help find her missing friend. She didn’t realize she would find a part of herself she couldn’t live without.
Amy is everything Max needs, but she isn’t ready.
Immortality is frightening and Amy needs time, but something is wrong in Pine Valley. The magical residents are losing their powers, and no one can figure out why. With Amy and the Sectorum Esse’s help, the answer is in their grasp, but time may not be on their side...
November,
Pine Valley, Minnesota
Your destiny begins with the ringing of bells.
The light that shines at night, darkened by the shadow of destiny, will guide and protect you.
Fear not the fire that falls.
Which would have been a fine prophecy, if the old fart had included a damn telephone ring in that prediction.
It was already freezing cold in Northern Minnesota, and Amy was a Southern girl. This cold was beyond what they usually ever got, even in the western mountains of North Carolina. All she had was a thin jacket and there was a bitter wind slicing into her.
Beyond exhausted, Amy pulled her rental down the main street of the town. There weren’t a lot of people around, as though the whole town shut down at dark. She pulled in front of a store and stared. The jewelry store was destroyed—and she knew that was Betsy’s and Wyatt’s doing.
What had happened to her best friend? She leaned her head on the steering wheel.
The plane flight from Raleigh-Durham to Minneapolis had been over three hours, and it was one of the times she wished she had Bella’s translocation ability. She just wanted to be at Pine Valley already—mostly because the guy next to her fell asleep on her shoulder and snored like…well, like a dragon.
It had been only a few days since she spoke to Betsy, but the dream that night was a warning something was wrong. The phone call was the ring that the old man had predicted. Her phone and the sound of her best friend’s voice at the other end.
Carl Tillman had encouraged her to get on the plane and go. The Sectorum paid for her ticket—one of many benefits of being a junior partner, a dreamwalker, the Eminence’s assistant and his daughter’s best friend.
He’d held out her ticket. “Find her, Amy. Find her. Bring her back to us. I was a fool not to tell her the truth from day one. I want her back in our folds, back in our lives.”
“Of course.”
She took the ticket and just hours later was on the plane from North Carolina to Minnesota. She didn’t even know where to start looking once she landed, just the name of the town, Pine Valley, and a ping on the geolocator. That was why she was sitting in front of the store her dream had shown her. The geolocator was old and only worked to within about a mile.
Pine Valley just smacked of the supernatural.
The Sectorum Esse knew about the true nature of Pine Valley, of course. A town founded by the paranormal and supernatural beings of the New World, they worked to keep the town small and off the map. The humans in the town had little to no idea they lived among the supernatural. There were a few enclaves around the country, and around the world, that were set up as Pine Valley was. But Pine Valley had a very unique attribute.
Four dragons. One of each element. There was only one other place in the world where four dragons lived in the same town, and that was in Greece. The four kept the balance in the town and helped to keep the balance in the world. They also attracted all the supernaturals to the town.
Including her.
Lifting her head from the wheel where she had been leaning, Amy glanced around. There was a diner down the street, lights glowing in the dark, a welcoming feeling rolling down the street. She put the car in drive and pulled down to the parking lot in front.
Grabbing her briefcase, leaving the luggage in the back, Amy scooted in the front door, the cold still cutting through her jacket. She cursed quietly, inside the door, hoping there was a place to buy a winter coat in the morning.
“Hey.”
Amy turned and found a woman there in a blue uniform, hair piled up on top, smiling. “Welcome to Pine Valley Diner. You’re looking very cold. Cup of hot chocolate? Something to eat?”
Amy nodded, rubbing her hands together as she sat at the counter. The woman there was a sorceress, probably considerably older than her, and quite powerful. With a quick assessment, she decided that her talent was tamed and focused by a coven, and they were a group of proverbial good witches. “A cup of hot chocolate sounds fabulous. What’s good on the menu?”
“We’ve got all the usual, plus something a Southern girl like yourself ought to try once.” She leaned on the counter and grinned. “Good old Minnesota Hot Dish.”
“Hot Dish?”
“We toss everything in a pot and put some tater tots on top.”
“That sounds positively disgusting.”
“And delish.”
Amy laughed. “Okay. I’ll try anything once. How’d you know I was from the South?”
“Accent.”
Rolling her eyes, Amy groaned, “I’ve really tried to tone it down.”
“Please,” the waitress said, walking to the order window. “I could never get rid of mine at this point either. You’ll have it forever. May as well deal.” Walking back with the mug of cocoa, she covered the top in whipped cream and put it on the countertop. “Here you go. I’m Keni, by the way.”
“Amy.”
Keni grabbed a
dishrag and started wiping down the counter next to her. “What’s a nice Southern girl like you doing up here in the big frozen woods of Minnesoota? Checking out our university?”
“Looking for a friend, actually. She’s been missing for a few years, and I have reason to believe she’s here.”
Keni stared at her. “Betsy.”
Amy’s gasp was small, but she couldn’t completely stop it. “You know her?”
“She just busted…well. Yes. I know her.”
“She and her boyfriend just broke into the jewelers, didn’t they?”
Keni stopped dead. “Who are you?”
“I’m Amy Hogan. Erzabeta is my best friend and has been missing for three years. Please. If you know anything about her, help me.”
Keni pulled off her apron. “Fenrick! I’m going out to Niko’s. I have important information for them. Are you going to be okay?”
“Except for the hot dish I’m working on, yes, I’ll be fine.” He stuck his head out. All the hours Amy had spent learning about the magical beings in the world, she’d never expected a bear shifter to stick his head out of a kitchen, covered in grease stains. “Want it to go?”
“No, man. We’re probably not going to be back again for a few days. Are you going to be okay with the place?”
“I’ll call Denise. She’ll take the shifts. She can always use the money.”
Keni nodded and waved a ‘good thinking’ finger at him. She motioned Amy back outside to the big blue sedan that was parked at the corner of the building. Once they were inside, Keni started the engine and the heat was almost instant.
“One of the beautiful things about these old beasts, they heat immediately.” The sorceress smiled and backed away. “So, Betsy, Wyatt, and Wayne—”
“Wayne?” She couldn’t stop the gasp. “He’s here?”
“He’s bad news?”
“He’s a murderer!”
Keni tossed a glance at her. “Well. That’s not good. That’s not good at all.”
Amy’s stomach fell out. “Oh, gods and goddesses, if she’s with him, he could kill her or rape her or leave her for dead.”
Keni swallowed loudly. “We can’t let that happen. We’re heading to her ma—n’s house and we’ll figure it out there.”
The misdirection was obvious, but it was more than that. “Betsy has a mate?”
Giving credit where credit was due, Keni didn’t react to her question right away, pretending well that she was checking nonexistent traffic. “Mate? No, her man’s house.”
“You were going to say mate.”
This time the waitress-slash-sorceress glanced at her. “Well, I mean, you could say that, but—”
“But they have officially committed the act yet?”
“I don’t—”
“The magical world reveals people a lot faster than the mortal one,” Amy said. “Example. I already know that you and I will be great friends in a short while. There is no mystery in our relationship. That’s how mates happen. The lust, the love, is immediate. The relationship comes more naturally after the revelation of the bond. Since there’s a natural inclination toward each other—”
“Hold up.” Keni turned the corner off the main street, and they were cruising along in the dark of a major county connector. “You know?”
“Know that you’re a sorceress? Yes. I’ve spent my life learning how to identify supernatural and paranormal beings. But I’m really here to find Betsy. Her father and I have been trying to find her. I miss her, and her father wants her back.”
“God, I thought we were doing a good job hiding here.”
“You are! I’m just different. I’m an ally, Keni. You have to trust me. I am here to find my best friend and bring her home.”
“But…”
“I’m not going to tell anyone about Pine Valley. We’ve known about them—you—for hundreds of years.”
“Jesus…”
Amy smirked. “What do you want to know about him?”
Keni looked at her quickly and turned back to the road. “I don’t know who you are. But you’re right about the magical world. I don’t know you, but I know you’re going to be a good friend. I’m just a little freaked out by you knowing all about this place.”
“I can explain everything. I promise. Do we have time?”
“Niko’s house is just up on the right.” Keni grabbed her knee. “I’ll vouch for you, but you have to explain all of this.”
“Once we have Betsy back, yes. Of course.”
Keni pulled the vehicle to a stop in front of a gorgeous, immaculate Victorian and turned it off. She motioned for Amy to climb out, and they headed up the stairs. Rapping sharply on the door, Keni ran a hand through her hair and messed it up.
The door opened and Amy almost gasped. This dark-haired, deep-blue-eyed god looked like someone she would like to climb and lick from head to toe. And at the same time, he was so incredibly sad. He nodded a greeting. “Hey, Keni. What are you doing here?”
“Came to help. I heard what’s going on.”
“The grapevine is strong and healthy in this town, I see. Who’s your friend?”
Motioning them into the house, Keni answered, “This is Amy Hogan, Esquire.”
Amy offered her hand and she could tell that Niko was instantly suspicious. “I’m Betsy’s best friend from when we were kids. You must be the reason she called me.” You’d be the reason I’d want to change, that’s for sure.
“When did she call?” Niko almost tripped over the words.
“Relax, Puff,” someone said from the kitchen. “It was before she disappeared.”
Amy snorted. She didn’t even know who it was, but she liked them already. Niko grunted and shook her hand. “Sorry. Hello. I’m Niko Tavoularis.”
“Pleasure.”
“How did you know to come here?” another handsome man sitting at the table asked as they entered the kitchen.
Was this town just full of hot dudes? Amy shook her head and answered, “Triangulation. Her phone is on, somewhere in this town.”
A round of glances passed over her, and the woman in the corner shook her head. “Her apartment. The phone has to be there. She would have left it behind for exactly this reason. They couldn’t find her by triangulation.”
Keni shook her head, with a quick look at Amy. “That would have been days ago, and that apartment is ninety percent cleaned out.”
“Well, the phone has to be in the last ten percent,” another said, leaning forward. “Who has the key?”
Turning to the source of the voice, she knew instantly she was in deep, deep shit.
Bright, clear, electric blue eyes caught hers, and the hair the color of wheat shone in the dim light of the room. His very essence seemed to seek her soul and surround her with his warmth and light and magic. A driving sensation to protect him, as he would protect her, ripped through her and she almost, almost, walked to him and slammed a hard kiss on his pert, full lips to memorize his taste. She snapped her mouth shut and she cleared her throat.
Keni interrupted the awkward silence. “No one had a spare key to her apartment. We have to get the landlord let us in. Henry Zhang owns them.”
The hot, young god with crystal blue eyes finally ripped his gaze away from Amy. “Keni, you—”
Her hand slashed through the air. “Absolutely not. No. Find someone else to talk to him.”
The sorceress at the table was shaking her head, desperately telling Niko that was a no. Even Amy could see Keni talking to this person was a bad idea. Niko yanked his phone off the table and dialed Henry’s number on speaker. “I’m dying and you’re fucking around with old feuds. Screw you all.”
He was what?
“Zhang. This better be important.”
“Henry. It’s Niko. We need to get into Betsy’s old apartment. Can you let us in?”
“It’s ten at night.”
“Henry. This is not a joke.”
Henry—whoever that was—paused, then agreed,
“Give me ten minutes to get there.”
Niko ended the call and stood. “Amy, if you’re really here to help her and me, come on. We’re not wasting any more time. Let’s get to her apartment and find out if she left us a clue. I don’t feel like dying.”
As Niko strode past her, she turned and locked step with him. “I’m not sure what’s going on here, but I do know my geolocator has been pinging since I got here. She called me a week ago. I promised I’d give her four weeks.”
“Why did you come now?” Niko pulled the door open. “If you’re as good a friend as you say—”
“Something wasn’t right. I…” Amy swallowed. She was suddenly very unsure of herself. “You won’t believe me.”
He opened the door for her to climb into his car. “One, you’re Betsy’s friend. So you get credibility points there. Two, I’m literally dying from in the inside out. Three, try me. You’d be shocked what I’m willing to believe.”
Amy sat and Niko slammed the door. Keni, the blue-eyed god, and the other sorceress ran after them—and the blue-eyed god didn’t give either of the women a chance to get in the back seat before he was firmly seated behind Amy.
She could feel him behind her. His presence was almost too much, and at the same time Amy wanted to wrap herself around him.
The other hot guy grabbed the sorceress’s arm. “Come with me, Sia. We’ll meet them there. Keni, get in with Niko and Amy.”
Niko waited until Keni had shut the door before backing out of his driveway. “This is crash friendship, Amy. Sorry about this. I’m Niko, that’s Maximillian behind you, and you know Keni behind me. So what was it you thought I wouldn’t believe? What was the reason you came here?”
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