Flames & Fervor

by Daniella Starre

  Flames and Fervor

  Clashing Claws Book One

  Daniella Starre

  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

  Other Books By Daniella Starre

  About the Author

  Flames and Fervor © 2018 Daniella Starre

  Cover Art © 2018 Jaqueline Sweet

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. 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 permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Created with Vellum

  Flames and Fervor

  The Lick of Fire Collection from twelve best selling authors. Enter this supernatural world of fire and heat, magic and adventure, and get lost in everything DARK, delicious and FIRE.

  Animals have been disappearing and now humans are being found cut to ribbons. Investigative reporter Audrey Wright longs to discover what is going on and soon finds herself embroiled in a war between two dragon clans. When one dragon nearly kills her, another saves her.

  Damon King is one of the three leaders of the Three-Tailed Clan. He, along with Francesco Marino and Miguel Ramirez Lopez, must do what they can to save their fellow dragons. Under no circumstances can they be distracted by a certain headstrong, red-haired beauty named Audrey...

  Flames and Fervor is the twelfth book in the Lick of Fire Collection and the first in Daniella Starre’s Clashing Claws trilogy of slow-burn reverse harem tales that will leave you breathless and wanting more.

  Read more stories from the Lick of Fire Collection:

  #1 Hell is a Harem by Kim Faulks

  #2 Turn on the Night by Jacqueline Sweet

  #3 Fire & Fury by K. De Long

  #4 Shadows & Secrets by Jane Hinchey

  #5 Wicked Heat by Mila Young & T.F. Walsh

  #6 Scorched Earth by K. De Long

  #7 Rising Darkness by Elianne Adams

  #8 Phoenix Rising by Bianca D'Arc

  #9 Immortal Bride by Emmi Rue

  #10 Burning Violet by Kallysten

  #11 Betrothed to the Dragon by Kara Lockharte

  #12 Flames & Fervor by Daniella Starre

  Chapter 1

  Audrey Wright

  The stench emanating from the body was enough to churn my stomach. Disgusted, I suppressed the urge to pinch my nose. Once I got used to the repulsive smell, I’d be fine. I smirked at the people who did give in and pinch. Every time they came close to the body and got a fresh whiff, they’d regret inhaling it from the get go.

  A body had been sliced from chest to groin. The face and groin were both so covered in blood that I couldn’t tell from here if the victim was male or female. It didn’t help that officers blocked my view of the body so that I couldn’t see how tall the person had been or his or her build.

  Already, a few bugs were flying around, but I figured that had more to do with the heat and humidity of a Philadelphia summer night than the body. It had rained earlier today, and the body was sinking slightly in the mud. The sagging branches of the nearby trees seemed to droop in sadness, the forest around the clearing standing as silent sentinels to observe the frantic investigation.

  One of the police officers working the scene noticed me. “Press isn’t allowed back here.”

  “Oh, I’m not the press,” I protested, smiling widely at him. He was tall but skinny. Way too skinny. I liked guys who had muscles. Lots of muscles. There was nothing like feeling strong arms wrapped around me.

  “Audrey Wright. Get back. You know the drill.”

  I straightened at hearing Hugh Mark’s stern tone. He wasn’t the kind of guy who would let me do a damn thing. He frustrated the hell out of me, made my job so much harder.

  “I just need to do my job. I’m not in the way of your investigation,” I protested. “I’m not obstructing anything.”

  “You’re being destructive is what you’re being.”

  I whipped out my notepad. “Please, Officer,” I said, trying to appeal to his ego.

  I never called him officer. We went to high school together and dated twice. He tried to touch my tonsils with his tongue. I kneed him in the balls. He never called me back, which was a good thing because I would’ve reached through the line and strangled him.

  “Can I at least interview you later?”

  “I’m not just an officer,” he snapped. “I’m detective. The lead detective on this case and—”

  “And if I let you lick my tonsils will you give me that interview.”

  Hugh glowered at me, and I couldn’t help laughing.

  “Nothing about this is funny,” he said, sounding peeved.

  Contrite, I hung my head. “I’m sorry. I’m just as angry and upset as you are. I don’t understand what’s going on. The public has a right to know what’s going on. The people are scared. There’s talk about instituting a curfew.”

  “You’d have to talk to the mayor about that.” He turned to head back to the crime scene.

  “Please!” I grabbed his arm. “Just a few comments. I want to know if you think there’s a connection to the animals fleeing the town. It’s not just the wild animals either. So many pets have gone missing. A few have turned up dead and now this? That’s the third body that’s been found slashed to ribbons. It all has to be related!”

  “You aren’t Nancy Drew,” he said.

  I bristled, furious. “I’m an investigative reporter. I might not have a badge, Detective, but I still investigate. I check the facts. I don’t just dish out gossip to sell the paper. I want cold, hard facts, same as you do.”

  “You won’t get an interview with me. Case closed.”

  “Do you have a suspect?” I called as he stomped away.

  He didn’t turn around as he violently gestured for me to go.

  “Thanks, bub, love ya too.” I glanced over at the officer who first tried to get me to ditch. “What about you? Got a comment for me? Any theories? Tips? Leads?”

  He opened his mouth.

  “Randall, if you say one word to her, I swear I’ll rip your tongue out.”

  Randall shrugged and opened his mouth.

  I shook my head. “Don’t apologize. He’s a grizzly bear. You even just say sorry, and he will make you pay.”

  “Randall!”

  Randall shrugged, threw me a sympathetic look, and took off.

  I rubbed the back of my neck. More than anything, I hated to feel so hopeless, but that was exactly how I felt. Hopeless and lonely. One of those pets that had run off had been my St. Bernard, Rex. I missed the little guy. Little wasn’t accurate. Hadn’t been. Even as a puppy, St. Bernards were huge. He weighed at least one hundred and fifty pounds. He walked me, not the other way around. He would curl up beside me every night in bed, and he’d watch my TV shows w
ith me. I’m such a Marvel girl it’s not even funny.

  Maybe that was what we needed right now. A superhero to swoop in and save the day. I’d give anything to have Cap’n America here. He’d save the day and wouldn’t be an ass about it like Hugh.

  Sighing, I stood there, as vigilant as the tree. I might not be able to ask any questions, but I could observe. Unfortunately, the questions were only piling up. The coroner and I were friends, so chances were good I could get the name of the latest victim from him. He’d gone to high school with us too. We’d gone to prom together senior year. I’d asked him, and we went as friends. After the whole tonsil incident, I hadn’t dated many guys in high school, and I was too involved with my studies in college to have a serious relationship. Just a couple of flings.

  I’d been perfectly content investigating robberies and other smaller crimes. I’d helped with a grand larceny case a few months ago. That had been my crowning achievement, but seriously, this was huge. Murders.

  At least I thought it was murder. It was possible it could be animal attacks, but what animals would cut people to ribbons like that? No. I didn’t think any would. I couldn’t get close enough to the bodies to see if the slashes could have been from a blade, but still, it had to be murder.

  The victims. I was going to have to see what connections they had. Sure, the police had to be looking at that angle too, but I wasn’t going to drop this. I was a reporter. Whatever the police had, they might not give to the public. I would. I had a job to do.

  Chapter 2

  Damon King

  The heat from the night pored through me. I wasn’t sweating, though. I never sweat. One of the perks of being a dragon.

  Technically, I was a dragon shifter. At the moment, I was in my human form. More times than not, I was. I had just finished working out. Pumping iron made me feel more alive, and it helped to relieve some stress.

  Lately, my stress levels had been reaching stratospheric heights. Two deaths so far and I knew who had done it. Not that I would tell the police about it. I would have to handle things myself.

  Well, the two other leaders of the Three-Tailed Clans and I would have to handle it. For the history of the clan, there had always been a trio of leaders, not merely one, hence our clan name. No, we did not have three tails. All of our dragons had only one. I had yet to see a dragon with three tails, but I did once see one with two.

  I rubbed a hand down my burning chest. I had done so many chest presses that my pecs were on fire. My fingers brushed over my massive and impressive dragon tattoo.

  “Damon, there you are.”

  I glanced over to the door of my personal gym to see Miguel Ramirez Lopez, one of the other leaders. He was tall, almost as tall as my six-feet seven-inches frame. Maybe a little more muscular than I was. I had dark hair and eyes, while he had blond hair and blue eyes. The third leader, Francesco Marino, was an inch taller than I was, with red hair and green eyes. We did not look alike at all, but we were all co-leaders, and we were all best friends.

  “What is it, Miguel?” I asked. I swallowed hard. Miguel looked a little green. Something was not right.

  “Another body has been found.”

  I gnashed my teeth. “Why do they continue to do this?”

  “You know why. They want to lure us out.”

  “We cannot allow that.”

  Miguel nodded. “But they are anticipating that.”

  “What would you have us do?” I growled.

  “We can’t make a decision of that magnitude without Francesco,” Miguel pointed out.

  I grimaced and rubbed my throat. He was right. We couldn’t.

  Miguel was off trying to ask other clans if they might be willing to join up with us against the Fanged Serpents. After all, the Fanged Serpents had a history of making their presence felt far too closely to other dragon clans. I hadn’t heard of them killing humans before now, which was good, I guessed.

  Dragons and humans. We did not interact often. Dragons kept to themselves so much that humans did not even know that dragons existed. We wanted to keep it that way, but if people started to ask questions… It would not end well. For the humans. Possibly not for us either, given the Salem Witch Trials. There had once upon a time been witches. Not anymore. They had all been killed as a result of the various witch hunts over the centuries.

  Not that humans would have an easy time killing a dragon. Even in our human forms, we were far stronger than the humans ever could hope to be. We healed faster. Of course, as dragons, we could fly and breathe fire.

  We were powerful, and many who had power craved more. Honestly, that was the only possible motivation I could have that would explain the actions of the Fanged Serpents.

  “Perhaps we should talk to them,” I said. “See what exactly it is that the Fanged Serpents want.”

  “Because they will tell us the truth.” Miguel rolled his eyes. “You can be so naïve at times.”

  “Not naïve. Hopeful. If we go after the Fanged Serpents, do you realize how many dragons will die?”

  Miguel flashed his white teeth. “More of them than us.”

  “But we would lose numbers,” I pointed out. “That fact cannot be overlooked.”

  “You mentioned that before, after the first body had been found.”

  “Yes, and that’s why Miguel went off to the other clans.”

  “For a battle.”

  I grimaced. “I was hoping he would learn more about the Fanged Serpents and their motivation.”

  “Again. Naïve.”

  I couldn’t help laughing. “No one else has ever called me that.”

  Miguel groaned and slapped his hand to his forehead. “I wasn’t referring to your bedroom activities.”

  “I know, and that is a good thing because otherwise, you would be wrong.” My smile died. “You are wrong. The Fanged Serpents are far too dangerous. We cannot risk war. We have only just moved here ourselves.”

  “It is a rather nice city,” Miguel mused. H rubbed the back of his neck. “The food, the architecture, the history… Philly is the perfect city for us.”

  “It is, other than another dragon clan moving here immediately after us. And the Fanged Serpents…” I shook my head.

  We had moved here to the City of Brotherly Love five months ago. A month ago, the Fanged Serpents had as well. While I didn’t know why the Fanged Serpents had come here, the Three-Winged Clan had because our old home had become overcrowded.

  We had lived in the Rocky Mountains for nearly a century alongside another clan. But the Fire Breathers clan seemed to think they were part rabbits in addition to part dragon and part human. They bred and bred and bred, and they had dominated the Rocky Mountains. Miguel, Francesco, and I had unanimously opted to relocate.

  “We could move again,” Miguel suggested. “Not that I want to.”

  “I don’t either, and even if we did, there’s no guarantee that the Fanged Serpents will stop torturing and killing the humans.”

  “Torturing?” Miguel lifted his bushy eyebrows.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know if they are truly torturing them, but they are instilling fear into them. That itself is a form of torture.”

  “So it is,” Miguel agreed. “Until Francesco returns, we can do nothing.”

  I sighed and grimaced. “I hadn’t wanted him to go in the first place.”

  “Ah, you know Francesco. He gets what he wants.”

  “For the most part, yes. If he were here, we could make decisions. For now, I am going to shower. Francesco should return in a day or two. Everything will be settled soon enough.”

  “I know you want to minimize bloodshed,” Miguel said, “but they don’t feel the same way.”

  “If we won’t engage them…”

  “Then more humans will die.”

  I hung my head. “Most likely. We should not allow the humans to suffer because of the Fanged Serpents wishing to make a point.”

  “Go shower. Maybe you’ll have an epiphany then.”<
br />
  I rolled my eyes at my friend. “No choice will be an easy one,” I said.

  “Not at all. Now, hurry and go to the bathroom or else you’ll lose your pump.”

  I laughed. “You’re the one out of the two of us who would check himself in a mirror.”

  Miguel threw up his hands defensively. “What else can you do when you look like that?”

  “I don’t know. Not be a narcissist?”

  Still laughing, I left the gym behind. Scalding hot water pounded onto my body. No epiphany came, and I could not help wondering what the future would hold.

  Chapter 3

  Audrey Wright

  When I returned home, I called up the coroner who didn’t answer at first. Maybe he was busy. I had never been a patient person, though, so I waited a whopping five minutes before calling back.

  This time, he answered. “Audrey, I’m busy.”

  “Good. So am I. Just one question. That’s all I need.”

  “Audrey, I don’t have time—”

  “Then why did you answer the phone?”

  “Because I’m not rude.”

  “The name. I just need the name of the person who was attacked tonight.”

  “I don’t know yet.”

  “You don’t?” I asked, shocked. “No wallet or purse found?”

  “No ID on him.”

  “Him,” I murmured.

  “Yes. It’s easy enough to figure out the gender when you have access to the entire body,” he said dryly.

  I flushed, so glad that he couldn’t see my embarrassment. “Anything else you know about him?”

  “I know I need to get a cast molding of his teeth. So that we can hopefully ID him through dental work.”