by Kimber White
Freed by Fire
Dragonkeepers - Book Five
Kimber White
Nokay Press LLC
Copyright © 2019 by Kimber White/Nokay Press LLC
All Rights Reserved
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 the written permission of the author or publisher, except where permitted by law or for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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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
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Afterword
Books by Kimber White
About the Author
Chapter One
Kian
The fire’s not the worst of it. Even as it coils through me and lays waste to all that I am. If anything, that’s the part that makes it better. For a moment. The worst comes when the flame goes out. It’s metal on metal, screeching through my thoughts. I can’t hang on. I can’t let go. End over end. I’m lost. Spiraling out into space with no tether. Alone. Suffocating. Silence.
When the pain hits, I almost welcome it. At least it’s something to grab on to. At least I know I’m still real.
My dragon used to be part of me. His strength was my strength. My power. Now, he was something else. Raw hunger. Power I couldn’t control. For a while, it helped to just stay in the darkness. The fewer sounds I heard, the less I saw, the better. He would sleep. The ebb and flow of the sun and moon couldn’t reach me. I couldn’t hear my brothers’ voices asking me if I was okay. I couldn’t feel their beating hearts. Now, the dragon didn’t need me anymore and I couldn’t feel what he felt. He was done with me.
Almost.
Tires squealed, screaming to a stop. I blinked, trying to shield my eyes from the bright light. It was only the reflection of headlights off the rain-slick road. A car door slammed.
“You out of your mind?” The driver’s voice cut through me, assaulting my senses.
Go back! Get in your car. Keep driving!
He couldn’t hear me. I didn’t even know how to form the words. My voice was just a sandpaper scratch.
He froze. I held my hand in front of my face. I couldn’t let him see. If his lights hit my eyes, he wouldn’t understand the fire. He held his keys in his fist, the jagged edges poking through his knuckles.
“Hey,” he said, though the bravado had left. He was scared. He knew something. “You need me to call somebody for you?”
I was bleeding. Deep cuts shredded my palms. Heat throbbed across my back. If I turned and he saw the wounds, he’d remember. He might call someone. I might not be able to get to the shadows in time.
I got to my feet. They were bare, dirty. The cuffs of my jeans were nothing but frayed denim threads. I couldn’t even remember putting them back on. My shirt was somewhere. From the corner of my eye, I saw it in a heap against the brick wall next to a dark alley.
Yes. Darkness. Shadows. That’s where I needed to be.
I shook my head. My mouth formed words, but I couldn’t tell if I was making a sound. The driver understood something though. The scowl on his face dissolved to a blank stare. He took a step back, then another. Then, he got into his car and drove away.
One step was agony. The second came easier. I grabbed my shirt and threw it on. I made it four more steps before I slid down that brick wall and found the safety of the alley shadows.
I tore a hand through my hair. Was I human? Still hands. My skin was pale and bruised, but there were no scales. The dragon was in there somewhere, but he was asleep. Exhausted. That should have brought me comfort except I had no idea where I was. No memory of what would have made the dragon need such deep sleep.
It couldn’t be good.
Something crashed to my right. I hopped to the balls of my feet, ready to strike. It was just a stray cat. He sat perched on the top of a rusted dumpster. His yellow eyes scanned me. Then, he disappeared into the trash.
My head pounded with pain. My knuckles were scraped and bloody. My clothes had a charred smell. God. The dragon had been busy.
It hurt to try to remember. Flashes came. Fire. Smoke. The sound of a thundering heartbeat. Was it mine?
Another set of headlights flashed directly at me as a car turned down the street. I scrambled back into the deepest shadows. I had no idea where I was.
English. I thought the driver of the car had spoken to me in English. Didn’t he? It was an American accent. I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.
A powerful thirst gripped me. My throat was on fire. My stomach growled. Good. These were normal things. Human things. After a few minutes, I managed to get to my feet. I found my boots a few yards away from the dumpster. I couldn’t recall casting them off or leaving them here. The last thing I remembered was waking from a nightmare. I’d been near the ocean. The Pacific?
I could still smell the water. Shoving my feet into my boots, I got braver and stepped out of the shadows. This was a quiet street. Rows of houses, brownstones. Lights twinkled in the distance. Laughter reached me.
Seaside. I could feel the rhythm of the waves. They weren’t too far away. But, no. They were too gentle to be the ocean. I staggered across the street. This was a boardwalk. I kept going toward the sound of the laughter and the clean scent of the water.
One of the buildings to my right had a sign dangling in front of it. Shadow Point Realty.
Shadow Point. I had no earthly idea how I got here. Well, I knew how. I just had no idea when or why.
I kept walking until I found the waterway. The boardwalk curved around, adjacent to a small channel. It opened up to a larger lake. It was a risk, but I kept heading toward the sound of people. My human thirst and hunger fueled me. I needed to eat. Then, I could think straight. Maybe.
A couple walked toward me. The woman wore a cable knit sweater. She had her hands in her pockets and her companion pulled her close, whispering something in her ear that made her laugh. He straightened as he saw me approach. He gave me a tight-lipped smiled and pulled his woman closer.
The human...normal part of me wanted to say hello. To ask them what day it was. I can’t imagine what I looked like to them. Bedraggled. Beastly. Dangerous. They kept on walking and so did I.
Finally, I came to the pier. Small yachts were docked as far as I could see. Instinct told me I was still on the west coast somewhere. It had the smell of it. I’d been in northern California for a while. Then, the Yukon. But I had no idea how long ago that was. Weeks? Months, probably. If I listened hard enough, I knew I might hear one of my brothers trying to call me.
I got close to the laughter that drew me. It was a brown building with huge windows facing the lake.
Twinkling white lights decorated the outside where I could see a wrap-around porch. There was a wooden, painted statue of a heron on the roof. The sign read Blue Heron Bar. I could smell the whiskey from the boardwalk.
Perfect.
It was just dark and crowded enough inside to suit my mood. I could try to blend in, become the shadow. Every seat at the bar was taken. Two bartenders did their best to keep up with the demand. I caught the attention of one of them. He was tall, burly, with a kind smile. He was human, but I could sense a few others in the room who weren’t.
Great. The last thing I needed was attention from any shifters. The two men seated on stools at the corner of the bar were definitely wolves. They scanned the room as I walked in. They each that look about them, a subtle turn of their heads that let me know they were communicating telepathically. Oh, they were pack, all right. But they weren’t the biggest threat.
The door to the men’s room opened in the back and out came a huge, broad-shouldered guy with a long beard and eyes black as midnight. Bear, for sure. His eyes went straight to the wolves at the bar. It was a silent acknowledgment. They would each keep to themselves.
For once, I figured their presence might be a good thing. The wolves and the bear were more interested in carving out their own territory; they didn’t seem to notice me. Either that, or I was still good enough at cloaking what I was.
“Just you tonight?” The cheery voice of the hostess cut through the pounding in my head. She was short, plump, pretty. She had a pile of hair on her head bleached to cotton-candy white. Her shirt stretched tight over her chest and bore the name of the bar in glittering letters.
I nodded, not sure my voice would work yet.
“There’s a booth over in the corner if you’re looking for something out of the way. Or, if you want to be in the thick of it, wait a minute or two and we’ll have a seat open up at the bar.”
“Booth is fine,” I said, surprised I could make a sound. The hostess pointed toward the corner booth. It was perfect for me. I could face the front door and keep an eye on the wolves. The bear had turned the corner and slid into a booth with two other men. Humans. He had his back to me, a sure sign he hadn’t sensed anything off about me when I came in. He turned his head. But, he seemed to be staring at someone behind the bar. From my angle, I couldn’t tell who. I recognized the bear’s posture though. He was coiled tight, pretending to listen to the men seated with him. He was zoned in on whatever interested him behind that bar. Whatever it was, I had to stay out of it. I was barely hanging on.
I pressed the back of my head against the wall and closed my eyes. The sounds of the bar soothed me. Clinking glass. Louder conversation. The thumping beat of a rock song playing in the background. At first, I just let it wash over me. It was enough to drown out the rumble of my dragon, sleeping just below the surface. But, as the minutes ticked by, memories came into my mind, flashing like little bursts of lightning.
A scream. Heat. A column of fire rising higher than the treetops. Branches popped and leaves crackled. A wave of flame ate through the forest.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. You had a chance to look at the menu?”
I almost didn’t want to open my eyes. The voice chased the memories away. It felt better, but I knew it wouldn’t last. Something happened last night or the night before. The bruises. The scratches. The burning trees. The dragon had done something. It was bad.
“You in there?”
I took a breath. My waiter was young. Skinny. He had a pencil tucked behind his ear and he wore the same tee shirt as the hostess, minus the glitter. He was just a gawky kid. He barely looked old enough to drive, let alone work in a place that served alcohol.
“Sorry,” I said. “It’s been a long day. I’ll just take a burger and fries. Water. And I need a double shot of Jack Daniels.”
The skinny kid raised a brow. He didn’t write anything down. “You got it. I’ll go put your food order in and send the bartender over with your drink.”
“Good. Thanks.”
The kid turned to leave. The little coaster on the table next to my water glass had the bar’s name on it. The Blue Heron Bar - Shadow Point’s Best View. I looked out the window. I still had no idea where I was.
Boats dotted the lake. It was getting dark. Wherever this was, it wasn’t a tourist town. It didn’t have that vibe. It was more hipster, somehow.
I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d slept in a bed. Most mornings, I woke up in the middle of the woods somewhere, drenched in sweat and covered in dirt. How in the hell did I wind up in this place? I knew the smart thing, the sane thing to do was to find a phone and call one of my brothers. I loved them. We’d looked out for each other our whole lives. Along with our mother, we were the last six dragons on earth. But, they weren’t like me anymore. They’d found peace. A cure. Mates. If they truly understood how far gone I was…
“You the double Jack?”
Her voice pummeled my heart. Lilting, but with a smoky quality underneath. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
“Yeah,” I said. I was afraid to look up at her.
Her scent assaulted my senses. More flashes of fire behind my eyes. Light. Thunder. Smoke so thick it choked even me. Then, one heartbeat. Sweat broke out on my brow.
She was leaning over me, setting the shot glass on the table. Her arms were toned and tan. She wore the same black tee shirt as the hostess and waiter had. My eyes went to the letters, spelled out in silver glitter. The Blue Heron Bar, Shadow Point, Washington.
“Washington,” I said.
She straightened. I couldn’t breathe. I looked up at her and for the briefest instant, it was like the sun hit my eyes. I blinked. There was darkness behind her. The bear in the booth was staring at her too, naked lust in his eyes. I felt my dragon start to wake.
“Uh...yeah,” she said. “You just get here?”
Her eyes were dark. Not brown. Black? No. She looked behind her. Did she sense the bear staring at her? He turned away when she looked back.
Her hair was thick and long and just as dark as her eyes. When she turned her attention back to me, I could see I was wrong. Her eyes had little amber flecks. Her full lips parted in the hint of a smile.
“Thanks, Calla!” the young waiter called out to her. He had his hands full with a large tray of food. He balanced it carefully as he served the group two tables over.
Calla. Her name was Calla.
I grabbed the shot glass. Calla stood there with her hand on her hip. My hand shaking, I downed the liquor. It didn’t burn nearly as hot as the flame already inside of me. It bubbled up, threatening to burst out of me.
No.
God.
No.
Not here. Not now.
“Hey,” she said. As she leaned forward, her soft, dark hair brushed my arm. Then, she touched me. “Hey! Are you okay?”
I was not okay. In another second, she wouldn’t be either. I wanted to warn her. Tell her to run. Fire knocked out my vision before darkness sucked my breath away.
Chapter Two
Calla
He had that look about him. That’s probably what first drew me to him. That angsty, broody, ready to smash some shit swagger. Ugh. It was pure shifter. He had the size of a bear with broad shoulders, and a sort of dingey t-shirt stretched taut over rippling chest muscles. Tree trunks for legs. But...he didn’t smell like a bear. They were more woodsy and lacked a certain finesse in the way they moved.
The two wolves at the bar saw him just as quickly as I did. I gestured to Owen behind the bar. I didn’t exactly have eyes in the back of my head, and if the pack boys wanted to start something, I’d need to know about it.
Bobby, our best waiter, came back from the kitchen. I had his drink tray waiting for him, but when he went to grab it, I stopped him. “Let me handle this one,” I told him.
Bobby looked over at the corner booth. Mr. Dark and Broody was staring out the window. He looked downright confused. Bobby raised a brow an
d shrugged, but lifted his hands to back off. It was all right. He knew I wasn’t trying to get in the way of his tip. Plus, by the rough look of this one, it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if he didn’t have a cent on him.
As I got closer, that familiar tingling went up my spine. Oh, yeah. This guy was something, all right. Not quite human. He stared straight ahead as I approached the table. I stood with my hand on my hip for a moment, waiting for him to acknowledge me. It was better if he talked first. It would be easier for me to sense his nature. But, it was like he’d turned to stone. I started to get worried.
“You the double Jack?”
His eyes flickered. Finally, he turned and looked up at me. Bobby shouted out a thank you. I raised a hand to wave back at him.
I set the shot glass on the table and his eyes seemed fixated on my chest. Great. Another shifter looking for a mate. Except, this one didn’t get that heated flush in his cheeks. He was keyed up, but I sensed something much darker inside of him.
“Washington,” he said, reading my shirt. His shoulders relaxed. I was no mind reader, but it seemed like that just answered a question for him.
“Uh, yeah. You just get here?” If he was having trouble controlling his animal to the point he didn’t know where he was...I had a more serious situation on my hands than I thought.
I could hear the wolves behind me. One of them was emitting a low growl. They were so damn territorial. Shadow Point seemed to attract exactly the wrong type of shifter.
My other problem, the bear, was over by the bathroom door. I didn’t need to turn my head to know he was staring at my backside. His name was Dirk or Duncan something or other. He came to Shadow Point about a month ago looking for some deadbeat brother of his. He hadn’t caused much in the way of trouble, but I knew the wolves were waiting for him to move along.
