Phoenix Under Fire: A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance: Aries

by Crystal Dawn

  “What is that?”

  “Usually an item that belongs to them.”

  “If you were searching for unicorns, would a unicorn hair work?” Ram asked.

  “Maybe. If it was real and not fake.”

  “I assure you, if we give you something, we will know that it is real.”

  “Alright. If you can find the required items, and the groups still exist, I believe I can locate them.”

  “See? Now we have more possibilities than we had before. We will need to start with a list of groups and it will be a long one. Once we have a list, we will have to locate the groups and then determine who their leaders are.”

  “You make everything sound so easy,” Annie observed.

  “You mentioned Darby was Gertie’s mate. Who is Pru’s?” Ram asked.

  “Pru isolates herself away from others. Why would it matter?”

  “I fear your dad will try to mate her to the werewolf.”

  “Aren’t you worried about Gertie?”

  “Darby is her fated one. I can only hope the fates knew what they were doing like they did with us.”

  “I suppose so, but I’ve seen them together and they don’t seem suited.”

  “Perhaps if they are forced together that will change?”

  “Maybe, but I hold out little hope,” Annie admitted.

  “Maybe this battle coming up will distract your dad from mating his other daughters off.”

  “We can hope. By the way, call him Father. He doesn’t like informal terms. Don’t look at me like that. It’s not because he’s stuck up. Everyone has their oddities.”

  “Okay. Nite and Dae came back last night.”

  “When did you find that out?”

  “Before I took my shower. Don’t they have first names?”

  “I’m sure they do, but everyone calls them by their last names.”

  “It seems odd especially with a lady.”

  “I’m not sure Nite likes to be called a lady.”

  “It’s meant in the most respectful possible way,” Ram assured.

  “She fought hard for her place among the guys. If they start viewing her as different, they’ll think she can’t hack it. Then she’ll have to beat them all up again.”

  “I never looked at it that way. They brought his family to that guy, Jake. Cam put them in a room with a guard.”

  “I’m glad you did that. He was a victim, not a criminal.”

  “We all agreed on that. Are you going to work today?”

  “I need to go at least until lunch time.”

  “Okay. You’ll be back then?” Ram asked.

  Annie hated to leave but her father relied on her to handle the harder jobs. She wasn’t sure what would happen if Ram took her away. They were through with breakfast and she needed to get her notebook out and pull up her schedule.

  Ram walked her to her SUV and gave her the sweetest kiss. “Be careful and come back to me as soon as you can.”

  “I will,” Annie promised. Goddess, she hated to go. She pulled up her first job, taking the one the farthest away.

  Driving on autopilot, Annie revisited the hot mating sex she and Ram had enjoyed last night. It was worth the aggravation it would cause her with her father. She belonged to Ram now foremost and her family second. Just as Ram was now hers and his family’s second. Annie told herself she needed to remember that and not worry so much about what her father thought.

  She arrived at her first location and was surprised it looked like the house of an average family. No mansion on the hill or high earning business. Knocking on the door, she heard footsteps approaching. “Hello. I’m Annie Worthington. Do I have an appointment here?” She was usually more confident.

  “Yes, please come in.” The lady invited her in. “Have a seat. Let me explain what I need. I want you to find my fated mate for me.”

  Annie looked at the woman and wondered what group she was from. She looked human. Of course, so did Annie. “I have to mix a potion and add a drop of your blood. Even then, he may not appear right away. It will just pull him toward you.”

  “I still wish to proceed.”

  “Alright,” Annie said and she stood. Holding out her hand to the woman who took it, Annie spelled them back in the woods where she had summoned her own mate. The cauldron was there already boiling with the needed ingredients, the same ones Annie had used herself.

  A needle appeared in Annie’s hand. “Poke your finger and let a drop of blood drip into the kettle.” She handed the woman the needle. The drop of blood rolled off her finger and into the kettle. Annie said the words and the spell was complete. “Now you’ll have to wait.” A flash of light and they were back where they started.

  “Thank you,” the woman said. Annie nodded and turned away walking out the door and to her car. She’d probably never know how things turned out for this woman.

  An hour later and a simple protection spell later, Annie decided one more job and she’d head back to her mate. The last job of the day was at Mammoth Mercantile. It was the largest paranormal retailer in the south. She headed there and it was halfway between where she was and where she wanted to be which was with Ram.

  Arriving at the store, the guard waved her in. She went to the office of the manager. It was a relief it turned out to be a simple case of employee theft. Two of the warehouse employees were helping themselves to boxes of product and sharing it with the guard who was supposed to stop thievery. Glad to be done, Annie headed back toward Phoenix headquarters to spend the rest of the day with her mate.

  Once she arrived, she headed in the back employee entrance. Sandy sat at her desk speaking on the phone. She held up her hand to indicate Annie needed to wait and so she stopped. “Thank goodness I got off that call!” Sandy exclaimed. “They are downstairs waiting for you.”

  “Thank you,” Annie said and headed down to the holding cells to see what was going on now.

  Chapter 8

  Terrified

  Ram was thrilled when he saw Annie coming into the holding area. She was just in time for lunch. He stood and pulled her into his arms as soon as she came near. The kiss he gave her told everyone present that she belonged to him and him alone.

  “I’m glad you made it for lunch. It’s about to be served and I ordered a plate for you,” Ram informed.

  “Thank you. I’m hungry.” They both sat but Ram noticed they had drawn everyone’s attention. He really didn’t care. If they were going to be working together, they should get used to it. His people, in general, demonstrated affection regularly.

  “Anything exciting happening?” Annie asked.

  “We are creating a list of potential paranormal groups that haven’t been heard of for ages. A few I’m not sure ever existed,” Nite offered.

  “They existed,” Ram assured. “If you were a rare unicorn whose horn was coveted for health and sexual benefits by humans and paranormals alike, you’d hide too,” Ram assured.

  “What about big bad dragons?” Nite challenged.

  “They were hunted for their hordes of gold and jewels. A king would gather his best warriors and a magic user and even badass dragons would fall,” Ram explained.

  “Mermen?” Dae asked.

  “I know they existed. They used to come to my people for charms that allowed them to stay on land for long stretches of time. Others hunted them because they were exotic and said to be incredible lovers. Mermen die in captivity,” Annie explained.

  “Any more questions?” Ram asked.

  “Yes, how will dwarves and trolls help us? They are rumored to be extremely disagreeable,” Nite wondered.

  “That is true, but they have worked with other groups in times of strife. They don’t wish to be slaves any more than we do,” Ram said.

  “How will we ever find all these groups? They are all hiding for a reason.” Dae observed.

  “That’s were Annie comes in. If we can find an object that belongs to them, she can locate them.” Ram explained.

  “I
t’s that simple?” Nite asked.

  “Few things are simple. Some have been hiding so long it will be difficult to find objects they owned,” Annie pointed out. “Even if we locate them, some will be in isolated areas that are hard to access, like the bottom of the ocean.”

  “The dolphin shifters can find them,” Nite suggested.

  “They must already know where they are and they haven’t shared the information. They may have an agreement that won’t allow them to do so,” Annie observed.

  “Maybe, but they can still take them a message,” Dae said.

  “That’s an excellent idea. Anyone know a dolphin?” Ram asked.

  “I know a few. I swim from time to time,” Dae explained.

  “Vampires don’t need to breathe. I imagine you go deep,” Ram observed.

  “How did you know?” Dae asked.

  “Sometimes you forget to breathe for too long to be anything else,” He explained.

  “Vampires do need to breathe. We can just go longer than any other kind without doing so,” Dae remarked.

  “All this is almost like entering a dream. I’ll believe in pretty little unicorns and flame throwing dragons when I see one face to face,” Nite challenged.

  There was a knock on the door and someone wheeled a cart in. Several servers came in and started setting up the food. Salad and some sides were set out family style while the main course was served on the plate. Most of the people there had steak. There was Nite, Dae, Cam, Annie, and three others he thought Annie had met before because they were around headquarters often and they were all Phoenix.

  “Now that we’re about to eat, in case anyone hasn’t met my mate, this is Annie. Annie, I’m not sure if you’ve met Greg, Sorin, or Natalie?”

  “I’ve seen them around, but never actually met them. It’s nice to meet you,” Annie said.

  The three people murmured greetings in return. Everyone started serving themselves and passing food around. Ram had to admit, he was starving too. For a while, no one spoke because everyone was busy eating. Once the initial hunger was sated, Annie spoke.

  “I’m looking at this list and wondering, what about giants, banshees, three-headed dogs, golden sheep, and Phoenix.”

  Ram choked. “What about them?”

  “If unicorns exist, why not other legendary creatures?” Annie asked.

  “What about dragons? Don’t you find them hard to believe in?” Nite asked.

  “Not as much because there were still stories of dragons in the times of knights. That’s not so long ago,” Annie explained.

  “True, but there are people that swear unicorns are real too,” Nite insisted.

  “Believing in something and having accounts of its existence are two different things,” Annie observed.

  “Okay, this is getting us nowhere,” Dae interrupted.

  “It’s lunchtime. We don’t need to get anywhere,” Cam argued.

  “At some point, we’ll have to decide what groups may exist and what groups truly are legendary,” Ram pointed out.

  “All the top half of the list are known to exist. The closer we get to the bottom, the less proof there is of their existence,” Annie commented.

  “I say we research the existence of any questionable creatures and then vote on it.” Nite looked around the table to judge support of her suggestion.

  No one countered it. “Most of our kinds have libraries,” Annie added.

  “That’s true,” Dae admitted.

  “The largest would be werewolves, vampires, and witches since they have the largest populations,” Nite suggested.

  “What about elves?” Annie asked. “They are known to be keepers of knowledge.”

  “Elves are real?” Nite asked.

  “I know a few so I can ask them,” Annie added.

  “All these suggestions sound good. Nite, Dae, and Annie will take a few days and research. Any of us who know people in the groups on the list, will contact them and send a message to the leaders. It sounds like we all have plenty to do. Let’s finish enjoying our meal,” Ram said.

  Everyone took Ram’s suggestion and finished their meal. Cam got up and put his dishes in a nearby tub and everyone followed suit. He also brought a covered platter to the table that had a large selection of pre-sliced pies and cakes.

  “You outdid yourself, Cam,” Ram praised.

  “Cam didn’t cook these,” Nite teased.

  “No, but he selected the menu for us,” Ram informed him.

  “Thank you, Cam!” Annie added as she picked two pieces of dessert. Ram raised his eyebrow in question. “Who needs supper when you can double up on dessert?”

  “I second the motion only I’ll take a run once we’re done for the day,” Nite declared as she also took two.

  By the time everyone had their selections, only one piece remained. It seemed Cam had judged the amount of dessert rightly. Leftovers would not be a problem. Ram grabbed the last piece and left the room. Sandy was at her desk having already returned from lunch.

  “Here’s a reward for being so good,” Ram said as he set the plate in front of her.

  “I shouldn’t, but I’m going to anyway,” Sandy said. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” Ram said with a smile.

  He was glad he could talk to Sandy and even do something nice for her without her drawing the wrong conclusion. He hoped she might be a mate for one of theirs. That way they could keep her for a long time. Not only was she a good person, she was good at her job. Ram was a big believer in rewarding employees for good service.

  Ram hurried back to the meeting and his beautiful mate. Annie was enjoying her dessert and she never commented on his absence. She wasn’t the jealous or petty type. He didn’t have to worry about being constantly questioned or having to explain his decisions. His mate trusted him and he trusted her.

  The next step in his plan required his dad to be here. As far as Ram knew, his parents would be here in two days. Royal Worthington would get his desired meeting with Ram’s father the day after he arrived. To say his parents were overjoyed about his mating, would be an understatement. Fated matings were a celebrated blessing among his kind, they happened so rarely these days.

  Hopefully, his was the beginning of a new age were his people would be revitalized. More mates and some births would be an incredible gift to his kind. Ram was looking forward to his parent’s arrival and his mating ceremony. Maybe that wasn’t a typical male response, but he wanted Annie tied to him in every way possible.

  With lunch done and everything cleared away, it was time to get back to the meeting. He intended to get done early so he would have time alone with his mate. Once they got back to the meeting, much of the discussion seemed to center around the existence of legendary creatures. Nite and Dae just couldn’t seem to get their mind around the existence of creatures they had never believed truly existed, including Phoenix.

  Ram was tempted to give them a show, but his father would not be pleased with him making that decision alone. It seemed obvious to him that at some point their existence would be revealed, especially if they began finding mates outside of their own kind like he had. That Annie didn’t know made him feel terrible especially since she accepted what he told her as true so readily.

  Since nothing was being accomplished and all they were doing was arguing over beings he already knew existed, he called an end to the meeting. Everyone went their separate ways until only he and Annie were left behind.

  He was about to turn to speak to her when her phone buzzed. She read the text and bit her lip. “Is it something bad?”

  “No, not really. My cousin Sophie is afraid my father is going to try to force her to mate a dwarf. He has been having discussion with their leader who is looking for a mate for his oldest son.”

  “What does she think you can do for her?”

  “She wants to spell for her fated one but doesn’t know how. Sophie is younger than me and not as strong or skilled yet,” Annie explained.

>   “What will you do?”

  “Help her. She has problems though, because she can’t get away easily. Her father is overprotective. That may be why she’s not found her mate. He never lets her go anywhere. My uncle will have a cow if my father tries to mate her to anyone, but her fated one, but he’ll eventually give in.”

  “He’d choose your father over his daughter?”

  “No, he’d obey his king when he has to make a choice.”

  “Even when it goes against the basic law of paranormal mating?”

  “Even then.”

  “By the ancestors, you must help your sisters and cousins.”

  “All but Gertie?” Apparently, Annie had noticed his reluctance to speak out about Gertie.

  “Your goddess chose him for her too. Maybe she knows something we don’t?” Annie snorted. “That wasn’t very ladylike.”

  “I’m not always a lady,” Annie whispered seductively.

  “I think I want to explore that side of you.”

  “You can explore any side of me you’d like.”

  “Follow me, Sweet thing. I want to lead you to heaven.”

  Ram led the way up the stairs and she willingly trailed after him. This female turned him on and excited both halves of his being. There was just something so right when he was with her. She was his safe harbor, she was his home. They would have to decide where they would call home soon. Her father would not be happy if that home was far from here. His father would not be happy if it was far from his home. It seemed they both wanted their children near them and working in their own businesses.

  From what he’d seen and what Dae and Nite had said, Annie was good. She was beyond just competent. He liked to think he was too so one family would be losing something they needed. He wondered if Annie’s father had thought about that. Ram was sure his father was thinking of that constantly.

  His parents would be preparing for their departure and trying to plan for every possibility. Being prepared was something Ram’s dad was well known for. Ram was known for it too usually, but he’d not been prepared for waking up on the beach with sand up his nose. The way things had worked out had been to his advantage anyway. He wondered if Annie’s father’s attempts at unfair matings would result in more witches spelling for their mates and more mates waking up in unexpected places.