Bound By Flames: A Hot Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance (Hidden Realms of Silver Lake Book 8)

by Vella Day

  Her lips pressed together, and then she inhaled. “You’re probably right.”

  A flicker of light caught his attention, and Logan leaned close. “I think we’re near.”

  Wendy straightened, but her shoulders looked stiff. He guessed it was because she understood how big this could be for them. When they stepped into the open area, it was as he’d feared. While he spotted the large cement bowl with the lit eternal flame to the side of the fountain, no one was there. Damn.

  “Let’s check out the fountain and make a wish,” he said. Considering the metal pipe sticking out of the rock face was the water source, she might not call it a fountain.

  “This isn’t a social visit,” she whispered.

  “I’ve been told it’s how we contact the Forresters.”

  “Oh.”

  “As long as we’re tossing in a coin, you can make a real wish.” Logan flashed her a smile, hoping to relax her.

  Wendy looked up at him. “All I’ll wish for is to find the SOB who killed those two innocent boys.”

  Logan wanted that too, but he had hoped she’d wish for the two of them to be mates as well as solve a crime. If Wendy were willing to join forces, Logan believed they’d be unstoppable.

  Facing the rock wall, Logan dug his hand into his jeans pocket, pulled out a coin, and handed it to Wendy. “Close your eyes and toss it in.” This making a wish in a fountain thing was an Earth tradition, but he liked it nonetheless.

  When their fingers touched, Logan swore his dragon might shift without permission. Without questioning him further, Wendy tossed it in the shallow pool. When she opened her eyes, she faced him. “Now what?”

  “Hello, Logan,” said a feminine voice behind him.

  The coin trick worked! He hadn’t really believed it would. As he spun around, his pulse dropped, and Logan tried not to show his disappointment that this wasn’t Fay Forrester. “How did you know my name?”

  The small woman with the long brown hair imperceptibly shook her head. She walked toward them and held out her hand to Wendy. “I’m Meena Forrester. You must be Wendy.”

  “How—?” Wendy started to say before Meena cut her off.

  “Know who you are? Easy. I’m not from around here.”

  He would rather have answers than enigmatic phrases, but the fact was, a Forrester was here, and that was good enough for him. “Thank you for coming,” he said.

  “I sensed you two were troubled.”

  That was an understatement. “Yes. Two innocent teens were drugged and poisoned in Edendale. We were hoping you could give us some guidance that would help us find the responsible party. We’re rather directionless right now.”

  Wendy placed a hand on his arm, indicating she wanted to be the one to plead with this woman. “The families of these young men need answers,” Wendy said.

  Meena’s lips formed a peaceful expression. “Let’s see what the pool can tell us.”

  Griffin had gone to the pool and had been shown something he described as a movie of what had happened to his mate. With a hand to Wendy’s back, Logan turned her around to face the stone wall.

  “Thank you,” he said to Meena.

  The Fairy said nothing for a moment, almost as if she needed some time to conjure up an image. She then waved her hand over the water, and what looked like a video appeared on the surface. Even though Griffin had warned him, Logan was still impressed. The movie was of a man dressed in a business suit, his hands held out in front of him, seemingly needing to keep someone at bay.

  Wendy sucked in a breath and grabbed his wrist. He pulled her close to show they were in this together.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Darnell,” said a male voice out of view. “If you don’t come up with the money in three business days, we’ll be forced to act.”

  What did that mean? Because the wind was blowing across the surface, the image wasn’t totally clear. From his research, this was indeed Robert Darnell. What was for sure, was that Darnell was inside a fairly large building. People were milling about in the background, but they appeared to be oblivious to the discussion. Logan didn’t see anyone pointing a gun at Darnell or any kind of weapon for that matter. If that person had been there to harm him, others would have noticed—or at least he hoped they would have.

  “I will get you the money. I promise, but I need more time,” Darnell pleaded.

  “Three days,” the man on the other side of the desk said.

  Then the image disappeared. Damn. What he wouldn’t have given to have seen the face of the person interacting with Darnell.

  Wendy looked up at him and then back at Meena. “Who was Mr. Darnell speaking to?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure, but I do know that the lack of funds and subsequent action caused Mr. Darnell to seek revenge,” Meena said.

  “What kind of revenge?” Logan asked.

  “That’s all I know,” she replied.

  Or was it all she was willing to share? “Thank you for showing this to us.” To be honest, Logan wasn’t sure how this really helped.

  “You’re welcome, but you two need to be careful.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked. Logan needed to make sure coming here hadn’t put his mate in any more danger.

  “Darkness is descending.”

  Before either one of them could question her further, she literally disintegrated before his eyes. While he had seen Fay change into what looked like points of light, against the background of the shaded trees, Meena’s transformation was downright eerie.

  Wendy spun around. “Where did she go?”

  “She kind of shifted and flew away.” He should have warned Wendy that was how the Fairies made their exit.

  “That was creepy.”

  Logan laughed. “Tell me about it. Ready to go?”

  “If we have time, I’d love to check out the eternal flame. I’ve never been, and I’d hate to have come this far and not see it.”

  He smiled, really appreciating how resilient his mate was. It was an admirable trait. “Absolutely.”

  Together, they walked over to the flame. As Wendy ran her fingers over the engraved words on the plaque, he waited for her to ask about Meena’s warning or the meaning of the watery video—one that seemed to have been conjured up by the Fairy herself. If that didn’t shock her, Wendy had to at least wonder what the man speaking with Mr. Darnell was referring to. Logan sure was interested. Was Darnell involved in some kind of drug deal? Or was he merely negotiating a business deal?

  “It’s mesmerizing,” Wendy said, her voice sounding far off.

  She was probably trying to lose herself in the flames as a way of coping. Logan could relate. Moving behind her, he gently clasped her shoulders and turned her around. “Talk to me.”

  “What do you mean? There’s nothing to talk about.”

  He raised his brows. “I know denial when I hear it. If you’re scared, it’s totally understandable. Just so you know, everything the Forresters have told my family has come true, which means we need to be careful.”

  Wendy stepped out of his grasp and crossed her arms—a sure sign she believed Meena. “How did she know that trouble was brewing?”

  That was what bothered her? Hell, Logan was still freaking out from seeing a movie appear in a pool of water. “And yet she does. I’m just happy Meena was nice enough to show up and warn us.”

  Wendy stilled. “Is she a goddess or something?”

  The Four Sisters of Fate could teleport, and he suspected they were goddesses, but he didn’t need to tell her that now. “I don’t know. She’s a Fairy, but I’m not that knowledgeable about what she can and can’t do. You saw her create the image in the water. What did you make of it?” He wanted to redirect the conversation.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Me neither. I need to wrap my head around all of it. We should get back. Now that I know Darnell is somehow mixed up in this, I’m hoping a little research will reveal something. About the only concrete thing Meena said was that Darne
ll was out for revenge,” Logan said. “I wish I knew against whom.”

  “Taking revenge doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a killer.”

  “I agree.” As they headed down the path, Logan’s mind sorted through the scene a few more times. “Did you see anything in that swirling pool of water that would indicate where the discussion took place?” He might have missed something.

  “Given Mr. Darnell’s nice suit and the fact an edge of a polished desk was showing, I didn’t get the sense it was some drug deal gone bad. If that were the case, the man talking would have had armed guards standing by.”

  “I had thought that at first too, but armed guards wouldn’t do a lot of good against a dragon shifter.”

  “True. A bullet won’t kill my kind either unless it goes through the heart. What about a dragon? Can a bullet to the heart kill one?” she asked.

  “No. There is only one spot on a dragon that makes us vulnerable. It’s a soft spot right about here.” He pressed slightly between his rib cage and the bottom of his heart. “Fortunately, no one in my family has ever been shot there. Other than that, ripping out a dragon’s heart is the only way to go.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” She smiled, and his libido went wild, sending enough hormones through his body to drown him.

  Not wanting Wendy to realize how much she affected him, Logan averted his gaze and fisted his hands. Regardless of how much he redirected his thoughts, the glowing scales on his arms couldn’t be covered up. When he looked over at her, he noted her hands were in a loose fist too. Dare he hope it was to prevent him from seeing her sharpened nails? He could only hope.

  What worried Logan now was that if Deke’s dad had been involved in anyone’s death that she would hold it against Logan for finding out. Clearly, he had his work cut out for him.

  Chapter Twelve

  Logan kept talking about the image in the pool and what it could mean. Normally, Wendy wanted to know his thoughts, but at the moment, she needed some quiet time to figure it all out—or as much of it as she could get. Was Logan trying to convince himself that Mr. Darnell was behind everything or was he attempting to convince her? Hell, maybe it was a little bit of both.

  Even she had to admit that Meena was very believable when she implied Mr. Darnell was out for revenge—but why was he? Because someone demanded he pay back money he owed? If Wendy hadn’t seen Meena’s two brothers create a portal and throw Malpan into it, she might not have believed the Fairy woman possessed such powers—but clearly she did. Creating a video on the surface of the water was almost impossible to comprehend.

  “I’m leaning more toward Meena being able to read people’s minds,” Logan said. Where did that comment come from? Wendy must have tuned out for a few minutes.

  “You’re probably right.”

  “Regardless of how she came in possession of the information though, we need to do more research and stay safe while we do it,” he said.

  “I agree.” Staying out of trouble though didn’t mean she’d stop looking into the meaning of Meena’s video.

  “Ready for your flight back?” Logan asked as they exited the dense forest.

  “I’m not walking.”

  He smiled, and she allowed herself to let out a small swoon. Logan’s hazel eyes transformed into something that was otherworldly, and those flashing blue scales totally excited her.

  Logan shifted into his glorious dragon form. This time, she approached him, and a second later they were airborne. She might have enjoyed the trip back to Edendale more if she hadn’t kept going over what Meena had showed them. It sure looked like Darnell was somehow involved in something bad. Why else would Meena show them that scene if he weren’t?

  They’d been flying a half hour when Wendy remembered that the man on the other side of the desk called Deke’s dad, Mr. Darnell. That sounded like a business transaction to her, not some drug deal—or had she watched too many movies and read too many books about the mean drug lords?

  Not only that, Darnell was a big businessman. It made sense he’d be at a bank and that he might be behind in his payments. That meant Logan should be able to find information to confirm it.

  Before she could finish going over her crazy theories, they arrived at the mine. Logan set her down, stepped back, and shifted.

  “I’m good,” she said before he could ask if she was okay. The long trip left her a little stiff, but the ride was magical at times—when she let herself enjoy the scenery.

  Logan smiled again. “You know me well.”

  Not really, but now she wished she did. Logan kept studying her, probably to see if she would fall apart. Wendy wouldn’t. It wasn’t who she was. “You going to stare or are we going to get to work?”

  This time he grinned, and Wendy had to turn away, fearing her eyes were flashing amber. Not that she didn’t want Logan to know how much she desired him, but they had work to do.

  Back in his office, she decided to do a little search on Mr. Darnell and then research Tom’s dad, Charles Sanderson. If Darnell owned Sawmill Furniture and other companies, maybe he was strapped for cash at some point in his career and was in need of a loan. For now, she wanted to go with the business-gone-bad scenario. She wasn’t ready to accuse Deke’s dad of any wrongdoing, despite having a son who would walk out on a woman without so much as a goodbye.

  For the next few hours, Logan kept his head down and worked, giving her time to concentrate. Normally, Wendy thrived on doing research, but today, she was mostly frustrated. When she was unable to make any more progress, she pushed back her chair. “I think I’ll head home.”

  Logan looked up. “You’re finished?”

  “Not by a long shot, but today has been a bit stressful. I need a break.”

  He opened his mouth, but then quickly shut it. “I get it. Thanks for coming with me to meet Meena.”

  “I’m glad I did, but now my mind is spinning in so many directions, I need to take a bath, have a glass of wine, and just relax. I’m hoping the pieces will come together once I sleep on it.”

  Logan stood and came around his desk. He clasped her shoulders, causing heat to race down her body. “You will heed Meena’s warning, right?”

  “Me? She could have been referring to you. Someone might not have appreciated you looking into their affairs.”

  Logan didn’t break eye contact. “I can handle myself. Don’t forget no one tried to burn down the hotel I was in. If my memory serves me right, Meena said the two of us needed to be careful, not just one of us.”

  She stood up straighter. Wendy wasn’t totally convinced the fire was meant to harm her, though she wasn’t stupid enough to think it wasn’t possible. “That may be, but you needn’t worry. I too can handle myself. You’ve never seen my wolf teeth. Not only that, I’m fast and agile.” She smiled at him, but naturally her wolf teeth didn’t show.

  “That’s good to know. How about we head to the high school tomorrow to see if anyone recognizes the man in the photo?”

  “Sounds like a plan. Is ten a.m. good for you?” she asked, wanting to be the initiator this time.

  “Absolutely.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you here tomorrow.”

  Logan leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “Rest.”

  Oh, my goddess! She loved his little touches. It made her want him all the more. Maybe she had been too aggressive in telling him they were merely co-workers. Perhaps tomorrow she’d suggest they go out on the promised dinner date.

  For the fifth time the next morning, Logan checked his watch. Wendy was forty-five minutes late to their ten a.m. meeting. Even though this wasn’t some job where she had to be on time, he was worried nonetheless. Most likely, she’d learned something while researching last night and wanted to run down a lead. If he hadn’t been so smothering in his need to protect her, she might have called to let him know.

  But he was her mate, damn it, and a Guardian. As such, it was his job to make sure she was safe. Even if she’d balk at the intrusion, Loga
n needed to hear her voice at least. He picked up his cell and called her.

  “This is Wendy Oprander. I’m unable to come to the phone. Please leave a number, and I’ll call you back.”

  “Wendy, it’s me. I thought you said we’d meet at the office at ten. I’m hoping I misheard you. Call me, okay?”

  Logan disconnected, not pleased with the pleading nature of his message. He never acted weak, but Wendy had gotten under his skin. He’d give her fifteen minutes and then try again.

  Hold up. What was he thinking? He was Logan Caspian, computer expert extraordinaire. All he had to do was ping her phone to find her location. His hormones must be blocking his brain function. Unless it was urgent, he didn’t invade someone’s privacy, but after Meena’s warning, he couldn’t help himself.

  It only took a few minutes to locate her cell. She was home—or at least her phone was—and Logan breathed a sigh of relief. She was probably so engrossed in what she was doing that she lost track of time. He wouldn’t be surprised if she’d put her ringer on silent like she had a time or two before. He’d let her work for a little while longer before calling her a third time. If she didn’t answer, he’d have to go over there.

  He tried to busy himself for a bit, but all attempts to focus failed. Eventually, his nerves got the best of him. Logan dialed her number again and heard the same voicemail. To hell with it. It was time to head on over to her place.

  Before he took off, he stopped in Stone’s office and told him he was stopping over at Wendy’s.

  “You’re worried, aren’t you?” Stone asked.

  He’d told Stone about Meena’s prophecy. “I’m telling myself I’m not, but what if someone came into her apartment like they did the last time?”

  A few months back, Malpan’s men had charged into her place, stabbed Wendy with a sedative, and then carted her off to a prison cell. The image caused a rush of injustice and anger to burn in his gut once more.

  “Go. I’ll call if anything groundbreaking occurs.”

  His cousin was the best. “Appreciate it.”