by Jules Tyler
BURNING
TIME
The Snake River Prison Shifter Camp Series
Book Two
JULES TYLER
Copyright © 2017 Jules Tyler
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law
DEDICATION
For my Idaho girls.
Without you and your support I never would have started this journey. This one is for you.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Where do I begin? There are so many people that I need to thank!
First and foremost, I have to acknowledge my family. You never complain and you’ve always made sure I feel encouraged to lock the door and put to words the thoughts in my heart. Thank you for being the support that I need at home so that I can embark on this crazy journey.
To Jessica, Jaimie and Lo: Thank you for being my sounding board. You know as well as I do that the ideas can come to a stopping point. Without you I wouldn’t be able to talk through some of these crazy ideas or find other great things to implement in these stories for the readers.
My Tribe Squad girls! We laugh together, cry together and lift each other up. I love each of you. Thank you for being the encouragement I need when I’m running on low.
I need to give a big shout out to the other women who have done so much behind the scenes for me as well. Susan of Wicked Women Designs, for my cover work and your friendship. You’re one of few that can take my vision and bring it to life!
Summer of Red Pen Revolution publishing, it’s like they’re my words butt better, right? You’ve helped me so much with the characters and are always willing and ready to correct me when I let my ideas get a little too far out of hand.
Samantha from Blogging, Books, and Babes: You’re an amazing cheerleader and great support!
Kat from Kat’s Corner: You’re always there when I need you. Did I mention you’re an amazing help?
Elizabeth, thank you, thank you, thank you for the formatting. Who knows what kind of mess I would be in without you around to help me?
Last, but not least, my readers! Wow, I cannot thank you all enough for your support and reviews. This journey would not be nearly as satisfying without you. Thank you for all your help, kind words, and for reading the words that are so near and dear to my heart. You’re all amazing.
Chapter One
Duke’s thumb hovered over the green call button as he stared at his phone screen. It had been a long time since he had dialed this number. As familiar as it was, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to face the music the answering party would play for him. He hadn’t exactly left things on good terms with Alicia, and this certainly wasn’t a good way to start them off again. But Adrian had almost died today and he wanted to know who was behind Cole being sent up here for McKinzy. Too many questions were unanswered when Cole died and would now remain that way, unless Duke pressed the button.
With that thought, Duke swallowed his pride and called.
“Hello?” the feminine voice on the other end sounded tired.
“Sorry to wake you,” he murmured, the words almost reverent as he spoke to her.
“Duke? What’s wrong?”
“Does something have to be wrong for me to call you?”
“Considering it’s nearly been four years since we spoke, yes.”
“I meant to call sooner. Look. I know I’m not exactly in a position to be asking favors from you, and I would completely understand if you say no to what I’m about to ask…” he trailed off.
“Damn it Duke, spit it out. It’s o’dark thirty, for Pete’s sake!”
“I think that the Firebirds have resurfaced.” The Firebirds were a group of shifter extremists who worked hard to keep the shifters at war with the humans of this country. They were the reason the government had gone after the dragons.
“What makes you think that? Aren’t you out in Idaho helping run Snake River?”
“That’s what I’m trying to say. This guy Cole was sent up here and shook things up right after our new Warden arrived a couple days ago. Get this, they’re both dragons.”
“Don’t say anymore.”
“But I’m not done explaining what I need.”
“No, don’t. Don’t say anymore. Just let me think for a minute,” Alicia demanded before pausing to gather her thoughts. “I’ll be on the first flight out tomorrow. Pick me up in Boise at the airport.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. And Duke?”
“Yeah?”
“This is strictly business, you know that right?”
There was a beat of silence between them, “Text me when you board your plane.”
Duke knew not to push the issue with her, but he had already spent too long burning time. It was time to kill two birds with one stone. He was going to put a stop to whatever the Firebirds wanted with McKinzy, and he was going to get Alicia back.
Chapter Two
Alicia ran her hands through her messy red hair in frustration as she flopped back down on the bed. Duke was honestly the last person she had been expecting to hear from. Four years the man had been gone. Gone without a single word of how he was doing or anything. Now he was calling her at two in the morning begging her for help? She should have said no, but just like always, she couldn’t say no to him.
“Damn it!” She screamed at the ceiling. Pushing herself to her feet, she crossed to the closet where she kept her hiking bag and began pulling clothes from her dresser.
She couldn’t believe she was going to do this. For the first time since he had walked out her door, Alicia was going to have his undivided attention. If she was going to go all the way to Idaho, she was going to get answers to all of the questions she had had swirling around in her head for the last four years.
Alicia glanced at her phone on the bed. She really should text Candace. She would worry if she didn’t text her and give her the heads up about where Alicia was going. Making a note to call Candace after she got to the Boise airport, Alicia shook her head and busied herself with rushing around to pack up the security equipment she knew she would need for this trip.
“Who the hell would go after the shifter prison anyway? Especially if the warden is a dragon?” She muttered under her breath, even though she knew the answer to that.
Her phone buzzed from the bed; it was Duke.
Hey- I just booked your flight. You leave at 5:30. I hope you’re almost done packing.
Alicia smiled to herself, he always had been thoughtful. Of course he wouldn’t expect her to pay for her own ticket. It was nice to see that he still had his redeeming qualities.
Alicia: Thanks, what’s the confirmation number?
Duke: EON6BF it’s with Delta. Better get going you’re flying out of Minneapolis.
Alicia: Looks like I wasn’t the only one keeping tabs on the other.
Duke: Old habits die hard. See you soon, beautiful.
Alicia set her phone down, shaking her head. She knew he was right. She could feel the little vixen she kept tucked away inside of her practically panting at the thought of seeing her mate again. She had managed to keep her at bay this long, but she was beginning to question if she would be strong enough to keep her under control once she got to Idaho.
Alicia: I’ll see you when I land.
She nodded with finality as she sighed. It was one thing to text; it was going to be
a whole different story once she got to Idaho. It was like Duke said, ‘old habits die hard’, and she had a feeling this habit wouldn’t go quietly.
Chapter Three
Duke sat in his lifted blue Raptor as he stared at the airplanes coming in for a landing at the Boise Airport. His heart was pounding in his ears with anticipation of seeing Alicia’s face for the first time in far too long. It had been four years since he walked out her door, and he had missed her so much. Shifters didn’t just walk away from their mates in this world. Once you found your mate, you were bound for life. Pulling himself away from her had been like driving a hot knife through his chest. Now, after all this time, he was going to be able to see her face somewhere other than in his dreams.
His phone buzzed on the dashboard signaling a text had been received.
Alicia: Just landed. Better not have flaked out on me.
He smirked. She was still the same feisty vixen he’d always known. Sliding his thumbs across the keys, he responded, I’m here. How could I flake out on you, beautiful?
It was time for him to turn on the charm. It was time to get his girl back.
Getting out of the truck, Duke raised his dark chocolate-colored arms above his head and gave his back a stretch. It was a three-hour drive from the camp to here and he hadn’t thought to stop for lunch. With that thought, his stomach rumbled its reminder that he had also skipped breakfast. One might say he was nervous. Honestly, he was kind of impressed that Alicia had even agreed to come out here. He had heard she had been working as a security contractor for several big name companies, giving them ways to protect their secrets.
Alicia: Let’s keep this trip professional, shall we? I’m walking off the plane now.
Duke frowned at his phone screen. He didn’t want to keep it professional, and neither did the beast of a tiger that was locked up inside of him. They both wanted things to heat up with the sexy little vixen they remembered.
“Alright, big guy, looks like we are gonna have to crank up that charm. Let’s go get our girl back,” Duke murmured to himself.
Striding towards the front entrance, he started thinking back to the first time he had met Alicia. He could see her in her tactical gear, training in hand to hand combat with one of the other women from their unit, red curls tied up in a ponytail swinging around as she reacted to each blow her opponent threw at her. She had been wearing a white tank top that hugged all of her curves in all the right ways, and he could remember the tip of the tail of her fox tattoo wrapping over the top of her collar bone. Even then, he knew she was fierce and would be a hard egg to crack.
He came to a stop in front of the doors in the waiting area and scanned the crowd for her. His heightened senses could smell her before he saw her. His tiger was practically pacing inside of him.
Go to her. Touch her.
Duke shook his head, trying to talk himself out of racing to her side. He could see her now, red hair tied up in that familiar ponytail, blue jeans and a black sweatshirt. Her green eyes were practically glowing they were so bright as she made eye contact with him. Alicia gave him a smile before hiking her backpack up her shoulder and coming to a stop in front of him.
“Long time no see, stranger,” Duke grinned, forcing himself not to reach out and embrace her.
“And whose fault is that?” She quipped in response, giving him an annoyed look.
“Let’s not fight. I’m just happy to see you, babe. It’s been entirely too long. Now, is this all that you brought with you? Or do you have luggage that we need to go claim?” He asked, walking toward the escalator that led to the lobby.
“I overnighted all of my equipment to the post office in Donnelly. We’ll need to stop and pick it up. This is all I brought with me on the plane.”
“Packed a tad light, don’t you think?” Duke raised an eyebrow as they turned towards the escalators.
“Was I supposed to bring more? It’s not like I’m moving out here,” Alicia said, planting her hands on her hips in defiance.
Duke’s lips pressed together in a thin line; this was not the reunion he had hoped for. Sure, he knew she wouldn’t come running back into his arms again, but he had hoped for some semblance of friendship, at the very least.
“No, I suppose not,” he muttered, trying his hardest to hide the sadness in his voice.
Alicia stopped and looked at him, cocking her head to the side in a confused fashion. “Did you really think I’d just pack up and move after how we left things four years ago, Duke? Did you think I was sitting by my phone waiting for your call, and that I’d come running the minute we hung up? Is that honestly what you had been expecting?”
Duke reached out and grabbed her face in both of his hands as he crashed his lips to hers. To the passersby in the airport, it probably looked like a sweet reunion kiss between a loving couple, but only Duke and Alicia knew the truth. Alicia resisted at first, shaking her head and attempting to pull away from the embrace before finally stepping closer to him and grabbing ahold of his shirt with both hands. He sucked gently on her bottom lip, wrapping his hands in her hair. All of the tension melted away before Duke stepped away and pulled the bag’s strap off of her shoulder.
“Truth be told darlin’, no. I don’t know what I expected, to be honest. But I promise you this, I’ve missed you and I’m not about to waste the time we have together. Now can we go? Or are we gonna put on another show for the whole airport to watch again?” He winked.
Alicia stood there dazed, knowing she probably looked like a drunken fool, before straightening her stance and following Duke towards the parking lot. Duke smiled to himself. He may have won this battle, but the war for his mate’s heart was far from over.
Chapter Four
Alicia crawled up into Duke’s truck, still reeling from the aftershock of the kiss they just shared in front of God and everyone else. Four years he had been gone, and all it had taken was one phone call to send her running back to his side. Something in that kiss brought all of those memories swirling back into her mind from the dark box she had locked them away in. She may have allowed herself to forget the way she had felt about Duke, but her fox sure hadn’t. The pathetic creature had been begging to be near him from the moment she sensed his presence in the airport. Somehow, she knew she was a goner before he had even touched her.
As they traveled out of the city and headed for the mountains, she relaxed back into the seat, “So what makes you think it’s the Firebirds and not some government agency that wants your friend?”
Duke cast a sideways glance at Alicia before responding, “Because that asshole, Cole, had their brand on his calf. I had to help the boys stash the body. Elijah, the youngest of all of us up there, pointed out the branding but didn’t know what it meant. He just assumed the phoenix was his favorite bird or something, but I knew better. After all, how close had we gotten to that group during that last mission?”
How could Alicia forget? That was the mission that had torn them apart. Duke had disappeared for five days before showing back up at home. He picked a fight with her, packed a duffel bag and left. There was no closure or final moment of the relationship ending. He just walked out that door as easily as he had walked through it. She thought maybe he was bluffing or trying to throw off his trail if they were tailing him. But then he never came home. His phone kept ringing to voicemail. He wouldn’t even answer the phone for his other friends on the team. Shortly after he had left, the men that they had been working undercover with disappeared, never to be found again. It wasn’t long after that she had retired from the task force she was assigned to and started working to build her company.
“Yeah, I remember. I remember them disappearing like smoke not long after you left, too,” she said as she glanced over at him before staring back out the window and tucking her short legs up underneath her.
“They are a lot like smoke, aren’t they?” Duke murmured, looking deep in thought.
Alicia chewed her lip, debating about whether or not she want
ed to ask the question that had been stuck in the forefront of her mind for the last four years. She felt like she deserved answers, but she was just now seeing him for the first time in so long. Maybe it was best to put a pin in that question for later. She laid her head against the window as they rode in silence, allowing herself to drift off to sleep.
Chapter Five
Duke drank in Alicia’s sleeping form like a man stranded in the desert would drink water; he couldn’t get enough. Those beautiful red curls were falling out of her ponytail and her frame was just as he remembered it, tall and thin, yet somehow still strong. Her lithe body could do things that even the strongest fighters couldn’t. He had missed her. Taking advantage of her slumber, he slid his hand across the back of the seat and brushed her curls behind her ears. She had always had the softest skin, dusted with tiny freckles and a gentle touch of blush in her cheeks. Sliding his hand down her neck to trace her tattoo, he had to force himself to not take his touch further than that.
The animal side of him was pleased; he needed to make sure his mate was alright. It had been far too long, and his animal was going mad without the sight of his mate. It wasn’t good for shifters to be away from their mates for so long. It broke something inside of their animals and could drive them to madness. But he had done what he had felt was best when he walked out of her life.
As they pulled into the small town of Cascade, he nudged her shoulder to wake her. Alicia gave a sleepy smile as she sat back up and rubbed her face, “Are we almost there?”
