by Kimber White
Bitten by Flame
Dragonborn Daughters Book One
Kimber White
Nokay Press LLC
Copyright © 2020 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.
Contents
Prologue
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
Up Next for the Dragonborn Daughters
Books by Kimber White
About the Author
Prologue
Knoydart
The Scottish Highlands
25 years from now…
My people once said this volcano formed a hundred thousand years ago. Those who came before me cloaked it in magic even older than the fiery mountain below, shielding it forever from the prying eyes of humans, shifters and mages. Only dragon-kind could call this, and places like it, home. Now, it is my solace.
But even that wasn’t enough to save us from what came next. When the shifters and mages went to war, we dragons were the ones to die.
Except for me.
For hundreds of years, I lived alone. The last of my kind. Watching. Waiting. Yearning. They killed my family. They killed my friends. They killed my beloved mate, Magnus.
I brought his ashes here, to the base of the volcano at Knoydart. Ash to ash. I returned him to the place he was born. Then, I used my fire to give birth to our five sons. Xander, Gideon, Finn, Loch and Kian. As the centuries passed, I loved them, protected them, hid them. Until they became men, found their mates, and our story began again.
Renewal. Rebirth. I welcomed five granddaughters and wear their stones around my neck. A garnet to represent Cassia, our halfling, born of a human mother. An opal for Amelia, the wolf shifter who carries her own fire. A ruby for Phaedra, born of a fire mage. A diamond for Daniella, who wars with the twin halves of herself. She is both wolf and tiger, forged in flame. And finally, a sapphire for Giselle who holds the deepest secret of them all.
I should have known I couldn’t keep them all safe. I should have recognized the signs as evil took hold once more.
It started in the cities. New York. Los Angeles. Chicago. Detroit. Boston. Buildings burned to the ground. Leaders felled by assassins’ bullets. They said shifters were to blame. Crazed Alphas who couldn’t be controlled. Until someone did.
They call themselves the Ring. They have preyed on human’s fear of what they can’t control. They’ve carved up those same cities and forced shifters and magic users back into hiding or bondage. The cycle repeats.
Now, I must watch and wait again as my granddaughters find their true power in this new, harsh world. The last of the Brandhart line. Dragonborn daughters. The only hope for us all.
My name is Avelina Brandhart. I am one of the most powerful dragons who ever lived. But even I cannot fight their battles for them. I cannot ease their pain. I cannot even warn them about what’s to come. I can only come here, to Knoydart, and know that the fire running through this ancient ground also flows in my granddaughters’ veins. It makes them strong. I pray that it will be enough.
These are their stories…
Chapter 1
Cassia
I knew what he thought as he raked his cold, pure black eyes over me. The bear shifter leaned against the wall. He was scruffy, in the way that all bears are. Big and broad-shouldered, he had a lumbering swagger as he came toward me. He raised two fingers and whistled at the bartender.
I stood at the high-top table and tried to keep a polite smile from lighting my face. I couldn’t afford politeness out here in the Neutral Zone. I’d get eaten alive.
As the bear shifter came to the table, he looked about ready to try me out as an appetizer. He had to think I’d be an easy mark. Young women didn’t come out to places like this all alone. Not human ones anyway. On the surface, that’s just what I was. Oh, yes, I knew what he made of me as clearly as if he had a thought bubble above his head like some old cartoon.
I was too young. Twenties. My skin was too clear, too clean. He went so far as to reach for my hair, twirling the ends between his fingers. He gave a disapproving snort at the color. I had rainbow hair. He would think it was done professionally, and that it was expensive. There was nobody out here like me for miles. People spent their currency on weapons, information, or in the rarest of cases, passage out of here to one of the Oasis Territories where shifters could still live relatively freely. They sure didn’t spend their money on hair dye.
The bartender came to the table and put two draft beers in front of us. I thanked him.
“Take it easy, Hurley,” he said to the bear. He too, had to be wondering what someone like me was doing out here unprotected.
“Just put it on my tab,” Hurley said. The bartender shot me a look. When Hurley straightened and turned back to him, the man pursed his lips and scuttled back behind the bar. I didn’t sense a drop of shifter blood in him. Which meant the man had to walk a tightrope to keep himself from getting dead and making a profit among the rogue shifters of the Neutral Zone.
“So, what are you looking for?” Hurley asked. “If it’s just some cheap hookup to the Source, you’re going to want to head south to coven lands for that. If you can afford it.”
So, he didn’t think I was a witch. That was something. More than anything, that’s what shifters usually assumed about me. I didn’t often correct them. Better they think that than ask too many questions or look too hard.
“I’m not looking for a cheap high,” I said. “I’m looking for information.”
“You a shifter’s mate then?” he asked, not paying the least bit of attention to what I’d just said.
“No,” I said. “Though I have nothing against your kind. I’m still old enough to remember how things were before the first attacks. I’m from Angel Lake. And I still have family in Chicago.”
“Then what do you need me for?” he asked.
“I don’t,” I said. “You’re not who I’m here to see. I was told you might be able to help me find a man named Colm.”
The bear’s eyes flashed. His scowl deepened.
“I’m willing to pay to find him,” I said. I reached into my satchel and pulled out two hundred-dollar bills. Real U.S. currency, not vouchers or ration cards.
Hurley growled. He snapped his teeth, and the hair on his arms thickened. I worried I’d overplayed my hand.
“You don’t need him,” Hurley said.
“I need someone who has been in and out of Chicago in the last year. I need someone who knows their way around the border checkpoints.”
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“So why don’t you just go yourself?” Hurley asked. “You’re human. There’s nothing stopping you. Or, you could waltz back to your mansion on Angel Lake and stay the hell away from us. And that advice is worth twice what you’re paying.”
Hurley put his hand on the dollar bills and tried to slide them off. I caught his wrist. My grip was strong, surprising him. I wasn’t dumb enough to think I could beat him hand to hand. I could defend myself in ways he could never imagine. But that was the problem. The money drew enough attention to me. If I tried to use my fire, I’d have more than just Hurley sniffing around me.
Hurley bared his teeth. His breath reeked of stale beer and worse. He had ink on his neck. I could see a star peeking just over his collar. A vein pulsed there. “Colm will charge you ten times that,” he said. “You prepared to pay?”
“That’s between Colm and me,” I answered.
Hurley shook his head. “You’re something else. I’ll tell you what. I’ll take your money. I’ll even tell Colm you’re looking for him. You’re better off paying me twice that to keep you away from him.”
“Again, that’s between Colm and me, thanks.”
“You ever been out here before?” he asked.
“I told you,” I said. “I grew up in Angel Lake. That’s only a hundred miles from here, Hurley.”
Hurley smiled. “Right.”
“I’m on your side, okay?” I said. “I’m a friend.”
“That’s usually what the border guards say before they zap you,” Hurley said. “You say you have family in Chicago? So did I. They’re in a detention center now. Subversives. My brother was just trying to get back home to the Yukon.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” I said, surprised he was willing to share that much personal information. On the other hand, that’s what my contact told me to count on. Hurley didn’t know how to shut up. For now, I could use it.
“Can’t go back home. There is no home.”
I’d known men like Hurley over the years. They called this the Neutral Zone, but there was nothing neutral about it. The lucky shifters made it to the few designated Oasis Territories. The Yukon, Wild Lake, Michigan. Wild Ridge further north. Those trapped in the big cities like Chicago were never heard from again. Here in the Neutral Zone, men like Hurley had to fight to survive on what little resources they could find. But it made him useful for my purposes. Information could be traded for essential supplies. The money I flashed might even buy his freedom.
I pulled a photograph out of the pocket of my leather bomber jacket. It was faded, the ends frayed. Carrying it was a risk, but far less than a digital version.
“I’m looking for them,” I said.
Hurley tilted his head. It was an old photograph, one my mother never liked of herself. But, to me, she was stunning in it. Her red hair flew around her face as she laughed. My father had his arm around her. He towered over us both, his smile lighting up my world.
“My father’s name is Xander,” I said. “My mother is Shae. They’ve... you might have heard of them. They help people like you.”
Hurley snarled. “You better put that away.”
“Have you seen them?”
Hurley leaned in close. “I said, you better put that away.”
I did. Hurley looked over his shoulder, then back at me. He rose, looming over me, thick and tall as an oak tree. He turned his back and started walking toward the door.
He’d taken the money with him. I slipped the photo back in my pocket and ran after him. Hurley went out the back of the bar into the alley.
My heart raced. A quarter moon hung high and bright.
“Hey,” I said.
Hurley whirled around on me. My pulse jackhammered. I’d made a grave mistake. It was too dark, too isolated out here. Hurley realized it the same time I did. His lips curled up in a snarl, and he charged me.
He caged me with his arms, pressing me against the brick wall. He drew in a sharp breath, his nostrils flaring as he sniffed me.
“You sure you’re not a shifter’s mate?” he asked. He nipped at my ear.
I felt my fire rising inside of me. My fingers curled. The hairs along my spine stood on end. A cyclone of air swirled around me, lifting my hair. Hurley was too intoxicated by my scent and the beer to sense any danger.
“Back off, Hurley,” I said. “I’ll only warn you once.”
I was surprised to be able to get even that much of a sentence out. My power rose. It called to something dark inside Hurley. He misjudged me. If I killed him then and there, I’d get the wrong kind of attention. No one would care about Hurley here. No laws applied to me. But no one else would talk to me.
“Hurley,” I said. “I’m gonna need you to get off me. Now.”
He licked his lips. I sensed his bloodlust swirling through him, stronger than the alcohol.
He caught my earlobe between his teeth. I closed my eyes.
“I just want a little taste,” he said.
The wind kicked up, sending my rainbow-colored hair straight above me.
Hurley froze. At the last second, I think he realized his mistake. I put my hands flat on his chest and took a breath.
A roar echoed through the alley. Hurley’s eyes went wide, and he vaulted backward, his feet flying up in the air.
He landed hard on his back, then rolled to his side. He rounded quickly, going up on all fours. His fangs dropped. His bear eyes glinted.
I held my hands up, palms out. Tiny sparks followed the tracks of the veins in my wrist. Hurley didn’t see. His eyes went to the shadow standing between us.
As quickly as it had come, the embers within me died. I caught my breath.
A man stepped forward. He was shirtless, ripped, covered in intricate ink, dirt and sweat. A jagged scar cut across his cheek. He had a curved hunting knife in his belt. His eyes flashed silver as he looked down at Hurley.
“Get up,” he said. “Get the hell out of here before I rip out your lungs and make you wear them as earrings.”
Hurley put his hands up and scrambled to his feet.
“Wait,” I said. “We aren’t finished. I told you what I needed from you.” As much as Hurley disgusted me, he seemed a lot less dangerous than this new guy.
Hurley looked from me to the other man. He kept his hands up in a gesture of surrender.
“Worth every penny,” he said, taking a step toward me.
The other man let out a low growl. His eyes flashed again, pure wolf.
“What?” I asked.
“Two hundred,” he said. “To bring you to Colm. Well, here he is.” Hurley made a sweeping gesture with his hand toward the other man. This was Colm?
My mouth fell open. Colm grabbed him, threw him against the wall and said something I couldn’t make out. With more grace and quickness than I usually saw in a bear, Hurley darted off.
My heat rose again as Colm straightened his back, let his wolf eyes flash, then cornered me.
Chapter 2
Colm
I could smell Hurley’s bloodlust from miles away. It clung to him. An earthy stench laced with rage, primal need, menace. He used it against me. I wanted to rip his lungs out as he hovered over the girl.
Her fear was real. The sense of it hit me like a thunderbolt to the chest, forcing the air from my lungs. My bloodlust rose to match Hurley’s. He had his hands planted firmly against the brick, caging her there.
A growl ripped from me. Hurley was seconds from shifting. My wolf clawed at me. Twin urges clashed in my core.
I wanted to rip Hurley apart. I wanted to touch the girl.
I let out a clipped growl, baring my teeth. Just enough to let Hurley know I was here. He turned, still shielding the girl from me against the wall. Hurley’s eyes glinted and his mouth curved up in a sinister smile.
He played me.
She might never have been in any real danger, but Hurley knew my wolf would answer no matter what.
He bared his teeth. When he licked his lips, I almo
st lost control. If he touched her… If he made another move…
He pushed himself off the wall and turned his back on her. That’s when I saw her eyes.
She was tall for a woman, coming up to Hurley’s shoulder. She had tan, toned arms. She wore a black tank top under a leather jacket, ripped jeans with combat boots. Tough chick. That’s what the outfit said. Maybe she was. But she wasn’t from the Neutral Zone. I could spot that right away.
Her skin was too smooth. No scars or pockmarks. No ink that I could see. And her hair. She wore it long, almost to her waist in a cascading rainbow of color. Pink, blue, yellow, green, orange. You can’t get hair like that out here. It made her stick out like a sore thumb. For guys like Hurley, she might as well have waved a red flag.
Hurley gave me a snarl as he moved away from her and closer to me. He told her who I was.
“Get the hell out of here,” I said under my breath. I doubted the girl could hear me.
“You’re welcome,” he said. “I’ll take my usual commission.”
I grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him against the wall.
“You’ll take your ass out of my sight for a while, Hurley.”
His bear eyes shimmered to the surface. I could almost taste his need to fight. One on one, I could take him even though he was a bear. The thing was, Hurley was sick. In another year, he’d turn. It was like that for so many more like him out here. The Unlucky. They had caught him outside clan lands during the first wave of attacks on L.A. and Miami. After that, every shifter in the country got outed, and the government declared martial law.