Born of Embers

by Harper Wylde

  Finding my black jeans, I untied Hiro’s jacket from my waist and stepped into them before pulling on a black t-shirt and a brown leather jacket that was fitted to my figure. I put on my brown leather Vans last. I’d had to special order them and have them shipped to Alaska. Eh, clothes were kind of my thing.

  Running my hands through my hair, I eavesdropped on Hiro’s conversation with Rini, Barrett, and Nix. I had heard her name through Theo, who was waiting for us with Killian just outside of the spelled area. We were afraid that having all of us in the clearing at the same time might be too much for the new girl. I was skeptical, at first, as to why she had Killian all worked up, but after laying eyes on her myself I understood.

  The bastard had been hiding out, afraid to face her again. I laughed out loud at that. Big, scary Kill hiding from a little girl. A little girl with a sassy mouth. A sassy mouth that had full lips. Full lips I’d like to kiss into oblivion right now. Fuck.

  I walked toward the gathered group and heard Hiro mentioning dinner.

  “Nix, I know you have questions. Would you like to come over for dinner?” he asked quickly, and continued before she could refuse. “We live in a house off campus, but it’s too not far. Well, I stay in the dorm most of the time because of the whole RA thing but I live there whenever I’m not working. Anyway, it would give us all a chance to get to know each other and give us a private place to talk through all of your questions.”

  Her eyes were wary as she took us all in. The look on her face made it look like it was her against the world and it had me wondering what kind of demons she’d faced to have that haunted look in her eyes. I noticed she wrapped her arms around her middle as he spoke. Hiro had his hands at his sides, palms facing out in a soothing gesture.

  Damn, he was good at that. Being a Kitsune, he had powers over animals and I had seen him work with the skittish and injured before. It was much like that now, trying to make sure she didn’t run. I sobered slightly as the realization really sunk in that we were dealing with an undocumented shifter who didn’t know about our world. I didn’t have the gift of being able to tell what kind of shifter she was, but I’d heard through Theo that Rini thought she was a dragon due to her scent of smoke and something avian. She’d probably look badass when she shifted. Maybe it would help that haunted look in her eyes if she knew she was a wicked cool creature.

  “Who would be at the house?” she asked, as her eyes narrowed slightly and she took an unconscious step back.

  Stepping up, I answered her. “Clark Kent over here will be there.” I motioned to Hiro. Get it. Hiro… Hero. Ha. “Of course, I’ll be there too.” I winked at her.

  “We have a few other roommates who you’d meet. Why don’t Rini and Barrett come along too?” Hiro added and sent Rini and Barrett a pointed look.

  “Absolutely!” Rini’s sing-song voice rang out without missing a beat. “Would it be ok if Cayden and Donovan join us? We were planning on getting together tonight. Those three love each other too much to be separated for more than a few hours,” Rini joked as she winked at Barrett.

  I couldn’t help the quick bark of a laugh that left my lips. Those three were so damn whipped it wasn’t even funny. They weren’t in love with each other so much as they were so fucking in love with Rini. Polyamory was pretty common among the shifters. For some reason, there were way more males than there were females, and our biology seemed to adapt for that by allowing multiple men to mate with and bear young with one woman. I can’t knock on them too hard though, what they had made me envious. Even though they weren’t officially married yet, they had marked her as theirs. She completed them and it was hard not to be jealous.

  The guys and I had fought hard to form our group and that alone had helped to fill a part of me that had been empty. There weren’t any other cerapter in our commune and none, that we knew of, in other shifter communities around the world either. That made me pretty damn popular, but it also meant that people were after me for all the wrong reasons and it was hard to tell who was being genuine and who wasn’t. All the guys had the same problem, all of us being mythological instead of normal shifters.

  “Sure. Yogi and Booboo can join us. You four are unbearable without each other,” I winked at her and snickered at my pun.

  Rini just grinned back at me, used to my shenanigans, as she pulled her phone out of her pocket to call the guys in question. I noticed our mystery girl taking a small step toward Rini as she walked away, stepping behind our gathered group to talk to the bears. I’m sure Rini needed to fill them in on the situation. As for Nix, I wasn’t sure if she consciously realized she was gradually putting more distance between herself and all of us or not. Deep down, I knew she would head for the fucking hills if we gave her the chance.

  My eyes narrowed in on Nix as I watched her. Her eyes were darting around the clearing again, almost like she was searching for something, and that haunted look was back in her eyes. She looked like a fucking baby deer caught in the headlights, skittish and afraid. Then, like the biggest contradiction, her eyes would harden, she’d drop her arms from around her stomach and her hands would ball into fists as something that looked like determination covered her face. It woke something primal inside me. I wanted to protect her, take on the world for her, help ease her into all of this new knowledge of what she truly was.

  I could feel my Cerapter pushing against me, hard. He was rearing up and stomping his hooves in agitation. This fucking girl was under our skin already.

  There was a part of me—and I wouldn’t analyze how big a part—that hoped Rini and Theo were right. Well, right this one time, anyway. I didn’t want it to become, like, a thing. My Cerapter and I were almost desperate for Nix to be a dragon. While they weren’t unheard of, they were rare, and they were also mythologicals. Somehow I just knew that if she was a mythological we would be seeing a lot more of her. And I wanted to see a lot more. Clothed or otherwise.

  I grinned to myself at that thought as I raked my eyes over her form again. Her golden skin glowed in the sunlight that was peppering through the trees and casting long shadows across the clearing. A halo of sunlight outlined her and her lush figure. She had curves in all the right places: her breasts filled out her sweater in a delicious way, and her hips curved into an ass so gorgeous men should worship it. I was an ass man, myself. The cherry on top of the proverbial ice cream was that she didn’t seem to realize how bewitching she was. It was damned attractive.

  Confidence in women was sexy. Bitchiness and thinking that they were so pretty they were God’s gift to us mere men was extremely unappealing. That kind of attitude may work for some, but it did nothing for me and luckily my brothers felt the same way. Yeah, I called my friends my brothers. We were family.

  Swallowing, I turned away from the girl and walked towards Hiro, adjusting myself discreetly. Yeah, she didn’t need to know that she affected me in such a way. Without looking back toward her I hollered, “Coming, new girl?” I didn’t have to have eyes on her to know she was hesitating.

  “I haven’t agreed to go yet,” she reprimanded me with a voice of hard steel.

  Without looking back I added, “Of course you are, unless you like living in the dark. Don’t ask any questions and you won’t get any answers.” I stopped by Hiro, spinning around elegantly and arching an eyebrow at her as I crossed my arms over my chest. I couldn’t stop myself from flexing a little bit, my arms straining the unforgiving leather of my coat. My Cerapter huffed approvingly. Hiro glared in my direction and quickly nudged me, practically begging me to behave. I appreciated his calming way with the girl, but I knew she also needed to be challenged a little; dared to pull up her big girl panties and face this thing head on. Panties. Fuck. Now I couldn’t get the vision of her in her underwear out of my head. Would she prefer thongs? Boy shorts? Bikini style panties? Cotton? Satin? Lace? What was her favorite color? Red. She’d look fucking great in red. Holy fucking hot damn. I blew out a breath that garnered me a weird look from Hiro. Thank the unive
rse we couldn’t hear each other’s thoughts without Damien around. Hiro might kill me. Well, not really. Hiro may be the sweetest of us but I’d caught enough stray thoughts when we were in shifted form to realize that he was as kinky as the rest of us. Hell, I’d even seen him check out Killian when the guy wasn’t looking. Hiro would probably enjoy the thought process I had going.

  “Fine,” Nix said, and as soon as she agreed, she started walking over to Hiro and I, leaving Rini and Barrett behind. Again, I noticed she kept a sharp eye on her surroundings. Looking to Hiro, I saw my concern mirrored on his face. This girl acted like she’d been through hell. Needing to walk away, I strode toward the barrier, ready to exit the clearing and find the others. The sooner we left, the sooner we could get home and get answers out of our girl. I mean the girl. Shit.

  I felt her presence behind me as we neared the invisible spelled wall of awesomeness. She was radiating power; I wondered when that had started? She must be one powerful dragon to radiate that much power in her human form. Was she a full-blood? And how in the hell would the Council not know about her if she was? Questions. More goddamn questions.

  “After you, princess.” I motioned to Nix to exit the area ahead of me.

  “Ladies first,” she snarked back, refusing to move past me.

  “Hence, why I’m being a gentleman and offering for you to go first. Or am I misinformed and you’re really a dude?” I joked back with an arched eyebrow.

  “If anyone has the wrong body here, it’s you, dude. You know: unicorns, glitter, rainbows, and dreams. If the shoe fits…” she shrugged her shoulders and smiled as she finally walked past me, swinging that perfect ass. Sassy, taunting, teasing beauty.

  “Dreams, huh? Baby, I could totally make all your dreams come true. Your fantasies too.” I bit my lip and gave her an obvious once over, ending on a wink.

  Before she could let out another snarky comeback, much to my dismay since I was already craving our verbal sparring, I heard her take a sharp breath. My body immediately reacted to her alarm and I was ready to protect her with everything inside of me but instead I heard her curse.

  “Oh, fuck. You again?”

  Ten

  Killian

  Fuck. I tried not to let her see me wince at the barb she’d thrown at me. Our last encounter hadn’t been that bad, had it? My Puca was practically vibrating inside of me, anxious to get closer to her. He liked her sass and was enthralled by the level of energy she was putting out. If we were right and she had never shifted before, the energy she was outputting was astounding. Either her supernatural allowed for a great deal of power usage in human form or she was going to be something incredibly strong.

  “Yeah, it’s me. Nice to see you again too.” I didn’t try to hide the irritation in my voice, though there was no way she’d know the irritation was for myself and not for her.

  She let out a big sigh, turning her back toward me in dismissal as she addressed the crowd. “Ok, so what’s the plan? You said you guys live close?”

  “Nix has agreed to join us for dinner.” Hiro addressed Theo and I with a subtle warning in his voice that I was pretty sure meant “don’t fuck this up.”

  Theo spoke up, casually leaning against the Hummer. “Kill’s Hummer has plenty of room. Let’s carpool. It makes the most sense. Rini, Barrett, you know you’re welcome to join us.”

  Rini smiled at him from her spot in Barrett’s arms. Those four were hardly ever more than an arm’s length apart when they were with each other. I knew that her insisting on having a normal college experience tore at them, but, like all great couples, they would do anything to ensure each other’s happiness in life. If this was what she wanted, they’d find a way to give it to her even if it drove them crazy in the process. “We’re going to grab Cayden and Donovan and we’ll be right over. If Damien’s cooking you know we want in on it!”

  I smiled at the thought of the last member of our group. Damien was our rock. Where Ryder was hyper and crazy, Theo nearly militant, Hiro the gentle soul, and me, well, the ass—Damien was solid. He could play but he also kept us grounded. He was gentle and caring but not a pushover. He took care of us and made us a real family.

  Hiro laughed, “Of course Damien is cooking! He’s the only one of us who can make anything edible! I’ll let him know to expect you four as well so there will be plenty. We’ll see you in, what, twenty?”

  Rini looked to Barrett for confirmation then nodded at Hiro. “Yeah, about that. Depends on how quickly they get ready. With the guarantee of food I’m sure they’ll move pretty fast.”

  “Wait.” Nix stepped forward to address Rini. “You’re not coming with us? You want me to just go with these guys?” Her voice was high pitched and she whirled to study the four of us gathered next to the Hummer. “I don’t even know you! And you want me to just get in your car and travel with you to a secondary location? This is like the start of every B class horror movie!”

  Hiro stepped forward to calm her, but my traitor mouth opened before he could say anything sweet and soothing. “So, what do you think our plan is? Reveal our deep, dark secrets of all being supernaturals to you; be seen leaving with you, your roommate and her boyfriend; take you to a protected wooded area where we show you our alternate forms; all so that we can nefariously sneak you back to our house, rented in our own name, to do you some kind of harm? Yeah, it makes perfect sense.” My tone was dry and mocking, a clear dare to her.

  She scowled, nearly pouting those luscious lips at me. Lifting her hand, she flipped me off as she said, “You can make it sound as ridiculous as you want. Everyone knows that young girls going with an unknown group of guys is a dumb idea. I’m not just going to jump into a car with a guy named Kill.”

  “Didn’t stop you before.” I muttered under my breath, reminding her that her and I had already been alone in a car once. I’d delivered her fucking safely. My Puca was practically vibrating with energy.

  Rini stepped forward to run a hand down Nix’s arm. She flinched from the touch, causing me to raise my eyebrows. Well, that was interesting. Most shifters welcomed touch. It was instinctive to our creatures and filled a void inside of us. My Puca was nearly shaking with anger, wanting out to create as much mischief as he could and release his frustration. For her to go against her instincts this severely, she could not have grown up easily. From the scowls on Theo and Ryder’s faces, and the concern in Hiro’s gaze, I could see that they hadn’t missed her behavior either. “Theo joined my sleuth when we were both little kids. He’s like a brother to me. The others have trickled in over the years and I’ve gotten to know them all really well. They’re really good guys, Nix. They would never hurt you and would do everything in their power—and believe me, that’s quite a bit—to protect you from any potential harm. You can trust them, Nix. I’ll meet back up with you soon and will answer any other questions you have.” Her words were soft and I could tell she wanted to reach back out and comfort Nix with her touch but was holding herself back.

  Nix scowled, looking at the ground for a moment as she considered. “Fine. But I want a picture with all of you, all of your legal names, and the address of the house we’re going to. I’ll send them out to a third party via text so someone will know where I’m at. You can all think I’m crazy and paranoid, but girls have to take care of themselves. It’s just the smart thing to do.”

  Hiro smiled softly at her, holding up his hands in a placatory gesture. “Not a problem. If you give me your cell phone number I’ll text you the address. We can gather next to Kill’s car for a picture. Does that work for you?”

  I wasn’t going to say anything, but I was actually a little proud of her. She was smart, taking decent precautions, and thinking decisions through. That was definitely unexpected. Most girls were hellbent on getting us naked so quickly that they didn’t use any common sense at all. While of course we would never harm them, the behaviors they displayed seemed ingrained and could put them in potentially bad situations in the future if they weren’
t careful. I motioned for the other guys to gather in front of the Hummer, allowing her a clear view of my license plate for the picture. Waving a hand, I indicated each of us in turn as I announced, “Killian O’Connor, Theo King, Hiro Takama, Ryder Onasis, and the last of our group is Damien Lacroix.” She pulled a cell from her pocket, noting the names before snapping our photo. I rolled my eyes as Ryder pouted and tossed a finger “V” to the camera for her.

  She fiddled with her phone for a moment, I assumed sending the address and identifying information to some third-party. Boyfriend, maybe? My Puca hissed at that idea. I didn’t like it much either. She’d only been in Anchorage for a few days, and most long distance relationships didn’t work, I tried to assure myself. I opened the door of the Hummer, trying to get everyone moving.

  “Let’s go. I’m hungry.” The words were a low mutter. I had never wished for any of Ryder’s suave lines or Hiro’s gentle nature before. It seemed that every time I opened my mouth in front of this girl I came across as a bigger asshole than before. I couldn’t even blame my Puca for it! He wanted to play with her, not piss her off—well, not entirely, anyway. Glaring at me again, she swung into the Hummer, allowing Theo to climb in next to her. Ryder slid into the back row behind them and Hiro decided to take shotgun. That surprised me. I figured that Hiro would insist on sitting next to her to help keep her calm, but it seemed like Theo wanted a chance to be close to her. Lucky bastard. Growling under my breath and trying to ignore the way my Puca was clawing at me, I hurried to get into the driver’s seat.

  Eleven