Dark Burn: Fated & Forbidden

by Decadent Kane

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Dark Burn

  Copyright©2015DecadentKane

  Content editing by Razor Sharp Editing

  Cover Art by Jacqueline Sweet

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  ISBN: B01LYBKFNH

  Acknowledgements

  I'm very grateful to be in this series with some amazing authors. Thank you Kallyston for the opportunity to take part in the Fated & Forbidden series.

  I also want to thank my editor, Elizabeth, for unending patience with me, my deadlines, and wonderful insights.

  And thank you to my family and best friend for knowing I needed to write and giving me the space to do it. I love you.

  FATED & FORBIDDEN

  11 authors. One PNR series.

  After lifetimes of watching her creations perpetuate misery and destruction, the creator Allendra has had enough. She's given them a month to prove themselves capable of love… and to prove they should keep their supernatural powers.

  Some will fight, and some will fall, but all will feel the power of the Blood Moon… even Allendra herself…

  Download the short prologue to the series, The Challenge, free at http://smarturl.it/FFChallenge

  ***

  Priya's the last of her kind...

  After death takes the only family Priya has ever known, she ventures out to find others like her, those who catch fire and fly. But shadow hunters prowl the night ready to kill firebirds like her, and one has found her trail. After a narrow escape she runs into the kind of man she shouldn't want...a man with silver eyes as if the very moon has been trapped inside his gaze.

  His help won't be enough when Nicholas finds her.

  Doulzen is a shade by birth, shadow hunter by rite...

  When an extinct white firebird flies through the night sky, fire blazing behind the creature, he knows he has to have it. Pulling the shadows in, he notches his arrow and downs his prey, but when he arrives to catch it, he finds a female running from someone instead. He promised himself he wouldn't be her protector, he'd get her where she needed to go, but when Nicholas shows up and takes Priya from him, Doulzen finds the mark that tells him she is his fated mate. With darkness at his heels, he will stop at nothing to get her back as his very existence relies on it.

  When Priya and Doulzen find out each other's secrets, it will take a lot more than fate to bring them back together.

  Chapter 1

  Gran Dala's body burned in the fire just beyond the small old cabin. Tears silently fell down Priya's cheeks as she walked away. Priya couldn't get the last conversation they'd had out of her head. Dala had intended to tell her something important, something about their family, but the chance had never come. Her heart had given out before she'd told Priya anything. Now it nagged at her. What had Gran been keeping from her?

  Priya strode into their little cabin and headed straight for Gran's room. Curiosity mixed with anger. She'd left Priya alone. No kin. No idea what to do from here. The walls closed around Priya and she gasped in air as she flung drawers open in her grandmother's room. Tears fell as she moved aside shirts and jeans, looking for anything that might help Priya figure out what Gran had been keeping from her.

  Nothing.

  She spun around the room, needing something to go right, anything. But nothing out of the ordinary jumped out at her. Priya wiped the tears from her face and took a steadying breath. Maybe she would never know what Gran had intended to tell her. She walked over to the bed and lay on the green afghan. More tears fell as the earthy aroma of her gran found its way to her senses. She inhaled the scent once, twice, and let the tears flow freely.

  There, in her blurred, watery vision, she found the small keepsake box tucked under the dresser. Priya sat up and rubbed her nose. The white and silver box couldn't be seen unless she was lying down on Gran's bed. She crossed the room and pulled out the container. With shaking fingers, she opened the lid. Inside were pictures of a young Gran and people Priya didn't know. One image caught her eye. Gran was smiling at a taller woman with blond hair. She flipped over the picture. Dala and Shara Sullen in Ovander was written on the back in Gran's writing.

  She had family in Ovander! Perhaps Shara Sullen could tell her what Gran hadn't gotten the chance to say. Priya put the other pictures away but held onto the one with Gran's writing on it. She stood and looked around the small room. There was so much of her grandmother in this house and no one else here, nothing to stay for. Ovander wasn't that far away. Determined, Priya slid her wallet into her pocket and walked out of the cabin, leaving behind everything except a single white feather from her grandmother to remember the female who'd raised her.

  The acre of property Gran had brought her up on held lost memories. If she looked back toward the cabin, she'd remember picking wildflowers for the kitchen table, Gran telling stories by the fireplace, and cloud hide and seek. Her stomach knotted as she looked right instead, reminding herself why she wanted to leave. She was alone, aside from nature. Beyond the cabin and trees, there was a big world filled with others like her, and Priya intended to find them. She tucked the only clue to their whereabouts, the picture, into her jean pocket as she moved forward.

  The familiar burn settled just under her skin, a rush of warmth as pristine white feathers lengthened from her flesh, which absorbed the clothes she'd been wearing just moments before. Her body compacted into a medium-sized white firebird, the human equivalent of an eagle but far more enchanting. Priya's heart clenched as her wings caught the air and she whooshed up into the sky, the sun directly above keeping her safe from the shadows below. She adored being in her bird form; walking around on two legs as a human seemed unnatural to her, awkward, even. But Gran's death weighed down the normally joyful act with sadness and loss.

  Treetops pointed up to her like green-leafed arrows, thick in some spots and sparse in others. Her bird vision enhanced small details in the landscape, like the small animals scurrying about. Priya tipped, enjoying the sway of the air beneath her wings. She flapped several times as she flew over small farms near her little acre. The road to Sterling lay just beyond the farms, the black pavement a dark contrast splitting the forest. Gran had loved it out here in the open, but leaving the property was something Gran hadn't done often. Farm boys had brought up groceries and anything else they needed from the city. The few times Gran had gone into town, it had been for money and to add Priya to the accounts at their bank.

  It would take her only minutes to fly to the city. Who needed a car when she could fly faster than the forty-five-mile-per-hour speed limit? Up here in the clouds, there were no limits. She pulled her wings in, gaining speed, and dashed through a fluffy cloud, spreading her wings right after. Priya glanced back to see the impression she'd made: a small oval. The same thing every time she soared through a cloud, a constant in her life. Gran had showed her how to dance in the clouds. Priya's heart clenched. Flapping her feathers, she continued on, reaching her destination seconds later. Thankful for the distraction.

  She slowly spiraled down toward the ground at the edge of the tree line before the city's buildings took over the view. When her feet landed, she shook herself out, stimulating the change back to human form, and caught the single feather floating to the ground from her change. With every shift, a feather fell and Gran had raised her not to leave them behind.
The power within them was valuable to any hekan or magic user. Priya pulled her white hair back, twisting it into a bun, then straightened her light blue blouse, tucked her feather in with Gran's, and sauntered into the city. The plan was simple: pull out money and find other firebirds. Gran had told her that they came in many colors, but her bloodline, white, was the rarest. Now that Gran was gone, Priya was the last of her kind.

  Buildings stood several stories high as she walked the streets. Unlike her Gran, she'd been here many times and knew where to go. Two lefts and a right later, and the bank stood like a square mountain against the backdrop of the blue sky. The stone structure always looked foreboding, as if she'd step inside and never come out. No windows on any wall, no view of the sky from inside . . . it made a primal part of her avian side uneasy. There was no way to get to the sky. The sun's rays reached down toward the horizon, but the lengthening days still left her plenty of time before dark. Priya opened the heavy double doors. Cool air sent goose bumps down her arms and Priya rubbed the exposed flesh.

  "Can I help you?" A female smiled at her from behind the tall counter.

  Priya walked up and said, "I'd like to make a withdrawal." A few minutes later, Priya had one thousand dollars stuffed into her wallet. She thanked the female and turned to head out.

  "Is that you, Priya?" a familiar male voice said from her left.

  Priya cringed at the sound. The double doors a few feet in front of her offered a quick escape. If she sprinted, she could be outside and back to flying before anyone knew anything. A hand touched her shoulder and she spun on her heel. "Hello, Nicholas." Priya put on a big smile and shrugged her shoulder down so his fingers fell away.

  "I meant to come out, callin' on you, but I heard a family member died. Anything I can do to help? I have a place real close if you need somewhere to go. You can even have my bed." Nicholas wiggled his eyebrows at her and his cheeks scrunched up into a smile. He stood a good foot taller than Priya's petite form, his shoulders broad. His amber eyes always following her, like Priya was some kind of prey. He gave her the creeps with his dirty blond hair slicked back, like a snake.

  "I'm fine, really. I'm actually going out of town for a while." She stepped back, one foot closer to escape. He followed.

  "Where to?"

  "Going to meet family. Not sure when I'll be back." Or if. Gads, the smell of garlic-tinged body odor assaulted her nose and she swallowed the bile rising in the back of her throat, trying hard not to show anything of her disgust on her face. Neutral was a lot harder than it looked for facial features.

  "Need a companion on the trip?" He came in closer.

  Priya looked back at the doors. "No, I prefer to be alone right now. With Gran's funeral and all, time to myself is needed." A couple walked in, arm in arm, distracting her. When Priya looked back at Nicholas, his face was inches from hers. A grin spread across his lips and his eyes hardened. He moved in close to her neck and she froze. He wouldn't dare touch her, would he? His hot breath slinked across her skin and she shivered.

  "I know what you are, little bird." His voice came out so low, so smug.

  Priya's heart banged against her chest. She swallowed and stood as still as possible. If he knew . . . did that make him a shade? Gran had warned her about them—they were relentless hunters, and they always caught their mark. It was how Priya had lost her father. It was why she remained the last in her lineage. Every bone in her body urged her to take flight, to get as far away as possible.

  Nicholas stepped back. "I'll be seeing you."

  Priya bolted, running for all she was worth until she found the tree line. She shifted mid jump over a log and flapped her wings as hard and fast as possible. Her bird form shuddered from exertion as the darkening sky embraced her. Money littered the sky as her precious savings fell, along with her wallet and the picture of Gran. Her tail feathers erupted in flames just as they had when she was little, before she could control her emotions, and everything caught on fire. Fear coiled around her heart as she concentrated on the drifts in the breeze, trying to calm herself so the flames would go out. In the oncoming night, the fiery trail would give her position away to Nicholas or any human within the area looking toward the sky.

  One flap, two, three. Her heartbeat steadied; the shade couldn't follow her into the sky. She spiraled, dipped, and soared, and her tail slowly smoldered out as she headed east.

  Chapter 2

  Doulzen focused on the white fire trailing light across the darkened sky. It looked like a firebird's trail, but the coloring was off. Was there another creature that could produce white fire instead of orange as they flew? The creature swiftly flew toward him overhead and he called upon the darkness to enhance his night vision. The darkness cast by the twilit sky over the trees and rocks misted toward him, and without shading to sculpt it, the clearing felt flat and empty where shadows no longer lingered. The shadows clung to his skin and he absorbed them, using the power to bring his prey into clear focus.

  A white firebird.

  He lost control of the shadows and his vision returned to normal. No white firebirds had been seen since he'd been a small child just learning to be a shadow hunter. They'd gone extinct, or so he'd been told. Chills zipped down his arms as his hunting instincts kicked in, drawing the shadows back to his body. A bow and arrow appeared, dark and wispy, yet as solid as wood. His body pulled on the bow and notched the arrow as he tracked the trailing light, but when he found the end, he could no longer see the creature. He shot his dark arrow out anyway, hoping it struck true. Such a rare bird would feed his clan for months, the elders would praise his catch, and all would know his name within every clan of shades. He smiled and released the darkness back to the trees and rocks, refilling the empty spaces. The time had come for him to embrace what he truly wanted within the clan. Power. And they'd give it to him when that rare bird dangled on his belt. Doulzen flung the sides of his trench coat back, tipped his hat, and started crossing the distance between him and his prey.

  The sun had fully set now, and the night surrounded him. The shroud of darkness dotted by the stars in the sky invigorated Doulzen. He inhaled a mixture of scents—leaves budding on trees, moonflowers opening to the night . . . and copper. The light breeze danced along his errant hair as he picked up his pace, following the smell of blood. Erebus was watching over him this night; his arrow had struck his intended target. He didn't want the bird dead. He hadn't aimed to kill, only to clip. Doulzen sniffed the air, trying to determine the strength of the blood, but it was faint. The beast was grounded, but not mortally wounded. He'd learned as a young shade that a dead firebird was of no use to his clan. He'd made the mistake of killing one once and only once. He'd been whipped in the circle pit, one lash for each clan member the bird would have fed. The scarred welts lingered, a severe reminder to never kill one again, at least until the shades could consume the bird's life force, providing sustenance for their bodies.

  Firebirds held magic within their souls, a power shades gained when they fed, sucking the energy from the creature. Once the energy was depleted, the bird's life force was consumed, killing the bird in the process. Firebirds tended to feed anywhere from ten to twenty people, depending on their strength and age.

  Doulzen had been out for three weeks and he'd lost hope of finding a creature to bring home. Not bringing something back was becoming a more frequent event, and he wasn't sure if those small shades waiting to turn hunter would have much left to hunt. The very existence of the shade race relied on the birds and yet where had they all gone? Why were they not reproducing out in the wild? Had the clans taken too many . . . too gluttonous to leave anything for the future?

  Last night's dream found its way back to him. A source of light pulling his spirit toward an otherworldly entity. A female speaking of the end of all magical powers, unless he proved himself. But the images dissipated in his mind, only the giant circle on the floor with moons inside remaining. He rubbed his right wrist at the memory of the dream. She'd claimed t
o be some higher power, some kind of maker or source, but Erebus was his higher power. Not that he didn't believe in other gods, but Erebus only left room for one other and that was his intended, his wife, his true soul mate, Nyx. The female entity could not have been Nyx. The woman in his dream had been bright and full of light. Nyx ran the dark with Erebus, ruling by his side. No, they had not been his gods in the dream, but her words still lingered in his ears.

  He must find his fated mate.

  He'd never wanted a mate . . . and yet as the words still sounded for him, a part of him, a tiny sliver, hoped that somehow a mate would be in his future. Being a shadow hunter was his calling. Females didn't flock to commit to hunters though. Time away from home made relationships difficult at best and raising a family impossible.

  Doulzen caressed the scar under his chin, the mark Erebus had given him in the rite of passage all shadow hunters completed to attain their power. He stuffed the dream away, locking it back in the furthest reaches of his mind, and stalked through the trees in search of his prey.

  Chapter 3

  She was falling, an arrow stuck in her wing. The ground coming up faster and faster until she hit it with a hard thud, her feathers flying in her face along with dirt and small rocks. Gads, her whole body felt like a truck had hit her. She gasped in air through her beak and slowly looked around. Her wing hurt to move. Pain shot up through the feathers as she tried to roll into a better position to shift. She flopped a little but managed to roll onto her stomach. She shook, and her human form rolled over the feathers, tucking the soft, downy wings and tail inside her skin. As a human, her arm had been clipped. Free from her body, the arrow tumbled to the ground and melted into the shadows. Priya scrambled back until she hit a tree. Nicholas was a shadow hunter! How far had she managed to fly before being downed? It had felt like mere seconds in the air. He was probably on his way.