Hunted Flame

by Rebecca Airies

  Phoenix opened her back door and found a basket of clothing in the back seat. He used a shirt to tie the man up and put him on the floorboard. He used the rest of the clothes to cover him up. He slammed the door shut and slid into the front seat, adjusting it so his legs weren’t smashed into the steering wheel. He pulled out his phone, setting it on the passenger seat.

  “Call Dante.” He started the car. His muscles tightened. This situation sucked.

  “What’s up, Phoenix?” Dante’s voice rolled through the car.

  “We’ve got an issue. Tempest was attacked before we could get to her. Noah’s taking her to the hospital. After I get off the phone with you, I’ll call Caleb. I think he’s working at the hospital now. Noah’s heading there with her.” Phoenix turned onto the main road.

  “What happened to the man who attacked her?” Dante’s tone hardened.

  “He’s secured in the back seat, and I’m coming to you. Even though I wanted to kill the bastard, we held off.” He tightened his fingers on the steering wheel. Fuck, the urge still pulsed through him, hot and fierce.

  “Good. We’ll be waiting for you at the gate. I’ll take care of calling Caleb. You get here as fast as you can. I know you have to be out of your mind with fear and wondering how she is,” Dante said.

  “I will. I’m not driving our car. I’m driving hers. We couldn’t leave it in the parking lot or it would have drawn attention.” Phoenix kept the car at the speed limit. He couldn’t attract attention to this car right now.

  “Good thinking. Once it’s in the community, it will be safe. No one will see it. Our people will help you get her out of the hospital and to the community where she’ll be safe. We’ll see you soon.” Dante hung up.

  Phoenix shook his head. Better get this bastard to the community so he could grab Sawyer and a car and get to the hospital. Nervousness churned through his gut. She had to be okay.

  Chapter Three

  Ring!

  Tempest blinked. She reached over to grab her phone. Something hard and cold blocked with her arm. What the… She turned her head. Pain slashed through her skull and light blinded her. She groaned. Fuck, what happened?

  Ring!

  She looked over and saw her phone on a table to the side of the bed. A railed hospital bed. What had happened to her? Ring! That damn phone. She rolled, drew in a gasping breath as pain arced through her head, and grabbed the phone.

  The ID read her aunt’s name. Damn. Someone must have notified her, since her aunt’s name was on the contact ID card that was in her wallet.

  “Hello.” Tempest rolled to her back.

  “Hello, Tempest, are you all right?” Aunt Miriam asked. “Some nurse called and said you’d been hurt.”

  “The phone woke me up. I haven’t talked to any nurses, yet. I don’t even remember what happened. I’ve got a killer headache.” She put her hand up to her head. There wasn’t any bandage.

  “The only thing the nurse told me was that you’d been brought in after an accident and that you were in stable condition,” Miriam said. “Do you have any idea how you would have been hurt?”

  Tempest sighed. Didn’t I already say that I didn’t know? “No, last thing I remember was working at the diner. Thank you for calling to see if I was okay.”

  “You’re welcome. I would have come to see you, but the nurse said you probably wouldn’t be in the hospital that long. It’s a long drive up there,” Miriam said.

  “That’s all right. I do understand, and yes, it’s a long drive. I’ll be fine. I’m going to call the nurse now and see if she can tell me any more.” She relaxed back against the bed and closed her eyes. Maybe they could give her something for the throbbing in her head.

  “I’ll let you go and talk to you again later,” Miriam said.

  The call ended and Tempest dropped the phone. Damn, what had happened? She’d gone to work and finished work. At least, she probably finished. The last really clear memories were of the dinner rush.

  A thin face with his lips pulled back and dead brown eyes flashed before her eyes. She drew in a breath and her pulse raised. Fear dried her mouth. Who was that? She shook her head. There was time to figure that out later. Maybe one of the nurses could tell her what happened.

  She pushed the call button. Hopefully, they weren’t too busy. It took only a moment before a static crackle sounded.

  “Can I help you, Ms. Josephs?” a female voice asked.

  “I’m in some pain, and I can’t remember what happened or how I got here.” She put a hand to her head. So much pain, but apparently, there was no actual bleeding wound.

  “Well, I’m pretty sure that we can help with one of those. Your doctor just came on the floor. We’ll be there in a few minutes time.” The nurse’s voice ended abruptly.

  She exhaled. Well, having the pain lessened would definitely help some. She closed her eyes. Maybe she’d remember what happened without the constant pounding.

  The door opened. A tall man with dark black hair strolled into the room followed by a nurse. His lips pulled wide in a bright smile.

  “Hello, I’m Doctor Caleb Sark. I’ve been handling your case, Ms. Josephs.” The doctor strolled over to her bedside. “How are you feeling right now?”

  “I have a really bad headache. I don’t remember anything beyond working yesterday.” She frowned.

  “The headache isn’t surprising. You came in unconscious and were reportedly found on a beach near a rock. So, they thought that you might have fallen there.” The doctor nodded. “I’m going to check your eyes.”

  “Was there anything wrong with me other than being unconscious?” She straightened.

  “Let’s raise the back of your bed so you can sit comfortably.” The doctor moved over and raised the back of the bed using the controls. “No, we scanned for bleeds since you were unconscious and couldn’t give us any indication of what happened. You do have a concussion, though.”

  “So, I just have a concussion. I don’t remember doing anything. My aunt told me I was in an accident. I don’t remember going to a beach at all.” She bit her lip.

  “Your aunt?” The doctor raised his brows. He leaned in and checked her eyes, before taking her wrist and checking her pulse. “When did you talk to her?”

  “Just before I called the nurses station. She called me. Apparently, someone got in touch with her. She’s my emergency contact. She couldn’t come up here, but she wanted to make sure I was all right.” She exhaled. “Could I have something for this headache?”

  “Of course, the nurse will give you your pain medication, and I’ll check on you before I finish my rounds.” The doctor smiled and backed away from her.

  He left the room and the nurse moved forward. She took her vitals and then gave her some medication. Tempest relaxed back against the bed. Once the pain medication took effect, she closed her eyes and drowsed.

  After some time, a knock sounded on the door. It opened a moment later. The doctor came back in the room. She smiled at him. He was a nice doctor and very interesting to look at. There was something about him that demanded attention, but not just good looks. Her heartbeat quickened and she’d swear that a predator looked out of his blue eyes. She shook her head. It had to be the head wound.

  “Hi, the pain medication is working great.” She raised the head of the bed a little.

  “That’s great. I forgot to ask you before if you’re up on your tetanus. We found a scratch on your head. It didn’t bleed much, but since we can only speculate about your accident, I didn’t want to take any chances.” Hunky Doctor Caleb strolled up to the bed.

  She frowned. “It’s been a while. I think I was in high school last time I had one.”

  “Well, then, I’ll be back with your tetanus shot.” He patted the rail and then he left the room.

  She relaxed back and drifted. Without pain, a drowsiness settled over her. It seemed like a little longer than a few minutes, but he was a doctor. He could have been called in to help with another patient.
The door clicked and then swung open. Caleb ambled back into the room. A syringe rested in his hand along with sterile pads.

  “The nurses are all busy, and since I can do this and have it finished in a moment, I wanted to get it done so you can rest. That pain medication will make you sleep.” He walked over and tore open the alcohol pad. He swiped it over her upper arm before he pulled the cap off a syringe.

  She took a deep breath as he stuck the needle into her arm. A slight burn ran up her arm. He put the cap and the needle into the sharps container.

  “You get some rest. I’ll see you again soon.” Caleb nodded and walked toward the door.

  Again that face drifted through her mind. Unease tightened her muscles. Whoever he was, he didn’t seem to be a friend.

  “Hey, Doctor Sark, I’m not sure it was an accident,” she said groggily as she closed her eyes.

  * * * *

  Tempest blinked. A murmur sounded. Someone was talking. That must have been what woke her. She blinked again. Beige ceiling. She didn’t have a beige ceiling, and the hospital didn’t, either. So, where am I now? This was a disturbing trend. Seriously, she was not supposed to go to sleep in one place and wake up in another.

  “Hello,” a rumbling male voice said.

  She whipped her head around and groaned as pain exploded through it. A black haired man in a gray t-shirt rose from a chair. His short hair looked as if he’d just run his fingers through it. Damn, his shoulders were wide.

  “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to startle you. I thought you knew I was here. You were on your side a moment ago, and I could swear I saw you blink.” The black haired male crossed the room.

  She frowned. He was familiar. Where did she see him before? Her heart raced.

  “You were at the restaurant.” She scooted across the bed away from him. Her head pounded. Oh, fuck, some crazy man had taken her from the hospital.

  “Yes, we were, but don’t panic until you hear everything. You’re in no danger from us.” Another male said as he strode into the room, “but don’t panic…”

  Wild black hair flowed to the second man’s broad shoulders. The man had been at the restaurant twice. Was he some kind of stalker?

  “Was I even at the hospital, or did you just attack me and bring me here?” She ran her hand over the front of her head. Pain spiked as she touched a sore spot there.

  “We didn’t attack you. We wouldn’t have brought you here if we wanted to kill you. You just wouldn’t have woken up. That’s what the man who attacked you wanted to do to you. We got to you before he could finish the job.” The black haired man sat on the opposite corner of the bed. “I’m Phoenix.”

  “Someone wanted to kill me? How do you know?” She stopped at the edge but slid one leg off.

  “Sawyer’s getting the computer to show you, but you’re one of a number of people on a list. You’re not the first they’ve gone after.” Phoenix turned to face her more but made no move to get closer.

  “I’m on a list of people someone wants killed.” She tilted her head. “How would you know I am? Are you with the police or something?”

  “No, we’re not with the police.” Phoenix shook his head and smiled. “They wouldn’t take this seriously until it was much too late. You would be long dead if we’d waited for them to intervene.”

  “And there was no way we were letting that happen,” a brown-haired man said as he stepped into the room, holding a computer. A blue shirt clung his chest, and the muscles on his arms rippled. Maybe this was, Sawyer since he’d come in with the laptop. The third man had been at the restaurant with the other two.

  “Why wouldn’t the police believe it, and what’s it to you if I die?” She shook her head.

  “We’ll get to the last in a little while. No, they wouldn’t believe anything we said at first or even the emails we’ve found. They’d need more proof of the threat.” Phoenix took the computer and pushed it across the bed. “Take a look and see if there’s a name that you recognize or an email address.”

  She pulled the computer close and lifted it onto her lap. Her name was there, as well as thirty or forty others. Most of them didn’t ring any bells. She read down to the signature and looked up at the Phoenix. What the hell? George Smith. The man had finally stopped calling her. They couldn’t have known about his connection to her. Why would he put her name on a list like this?

  “You recognize a name, don’t you?” Sawyer asked, leaning against the wall.

  “Yes, George Smith, as well as my own, but what’s all of this about these people are monsters? He trusts they’ll know what to do to them?” She looked up at Phoenix. A chill ran down her spine. That didn’t bode well. “And there’s a couple of communities on here that he says are probably filled with monsters.”

  “He contacted a group of people who consider themselves monster hunters. The only thing is, they tend to kill far more humans than they do monsters.” Phoenix shook his head. “How did you know George Smith?”

  “He bugged me for a while to buy some land I inherited from my grandfather. Eventually, he stopped calling. I thought he’d finally gotten the message.” She shook her head. Someone attacked her because she wouldn’t sell them land?

  “Unfortunately, he hadn’t given up. He did the same thing to some people we know.” Sawyer sighed.

  “Your friend’s name is on the list, too, isn’t it?” She lowered her head. What the fuck had she gotten into? Why would these people just come and start attacking people because someone sent them names?

  “They are. Dante, Sinclair, Cael, and Abram. Their names are all there.” Sawyer exhaled. “And the communities, we live in one of them. So we’re a target, too, indirectly.”

  She glanced at the list. Those men’s were there. Oh, hell. “But why would these monster hunters come here on his word?”

  “He’d been in contact with them for a while, at least a year that we can trace, and apparently gained their trust.” Phoenix shrugged.

  “I still don’t understand why they’d believe people are monsters. Or is it that they think the people on that list are really bad people?” She put the computer down and clasped her hands together. Her stomach knotted. Fuck, what had that man gotten her involved in?

  “No, they believe they’re monsters and are determined to get the proof. Maybe one of them actually saw something, but I doubt it. Fanaticism like this is usually passed down through the family.” The man who’d watched her sleeep from his chair smiled. He’d left his chair and now stood beside Sawyer. “I’m Noah, by the way.”

  She blinked. Maybe they saw something. Monsters weren’t real. Dread trickled down her spine. All right, maybe these men weren’t all there.

  “You think we’re crazy. Maybe we should show you one of the things they hope to find and get on video so they can expose the monsters to the world.” Phoenix rose from the bed and stripped off his white shirt.

  “That’s really not necessary.” She shook her head. Who knew what the insane man would do when he got naked. It was a nice chest, muscled and tanned, but the man obviously wasn’t all there.

  “Don’t worry. This is as much as I’m taking off.” He stepped back. A shimmer ran over his skin and the gold surface darkened to a deep gray. She drew in a deep breath. The muscles on his chest and shoulders became more prominent, and he seemed to grow taller. Even his face broadened, the nose widening. Something flicked behind him, a gray shadow moving. Her breath caught. Not a shadow. Wings. Leathery wings. They folded behind him.

  “Holy fuck.” She gulped. Her heart raced. She rose and backed away. The room spun a little, but she tensed, fighting off the disorientation. She had to stay on her feet.

  “Relax. He won’t hurt you.” Noah raised his hands.

  So he says. He’s probably one, too. “Not quite sure I believe you. I can see your friend’s teeth there, and they look like biting teeth to me.”

  Sawyer laughed. “Remember, Tempest. If we’d wanted to hurt you, we could have done it before
you woke up.”

  She glared at him. Freaking arrogant male. “I ignored it before, but that’s not fucking reassuring at all. Even if it is true.”

  Phoenix changed back.

  “Are any of the people on that list actually… like you?” She licked her lips.

  “As far as we know, only our friends,” Phoenix said. “But there’s more on this earth than these men even imagine, and I wouldn’t ever say that there was no chance the hunters couldn’t have found some other being to target, as well. But those we’ve checked are human.” He sat back down on the bed.

  “Why are you telling me this?” She leaned back against the wall. Yeah, she’d have doubted them, but showing that side of him probably wasn’t something he did every day. Hell, if they were so blasé about it, they’d be on the damn news.

  “Because you’re our mate. You’ll be one of us, and we’re not letting those bastards lay another hand on you.” Sawyer smiled.

  “Mate? I’m not you’re mate, whatever you mean by that. I’ll give you that you couldn’t have known about George Smith, but you’re pushing into creepy territory here.” She put a hand on her hip.

  “You are our mate. We recognized you. It’s a knowing that can’t be mistaken. I felt it before with those two.” Phoenix gestured back to Noah and Sawyer. “When we mate with you, we’ll begin the change, but you aren’t in any condition for that. You’ve got a head wound, and we’re going to give you time to heal.”

  “How would you start any sort of change? I’m human. Have always been a human. And don’t women get a choice with you people?” She straightened. No way would they get her involved in some kind of freakiness. Didn’t she have enough going on in her life with the people hunting her?

  “You wouldn’t be the first human we’ve changed, but you should probably relax.” Sawyer shrugged.

  “I’ve got a head wound. Maybe I’m in a coma and this is a horrible dream.” She ran her hand through her hair. Damn, it was wild right now. Probably just lucky it wasn’t sticking up on end as if she’d been electrocuted.