The Spark of the Dragon's Heart: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Fantasy Romance (Harem of Fire Book 1)

by Willa Hart

  We huddled next to my car to watch the video, shielding the screen with our hands for a better view. Sure enough, there I was, smiling and chatting with Kellum with a much goofier smile on my face than I remembered having.

  “Do I seriously look like that?” I murmured.

  “It’s the angle,” Alisha assured me, good friend that she was. “And the lighting.”

  To my immense relief, the chatter of the cafe drowned out our conversation, but our body language revealed more than I wanted it to. When I stood to fetch our coffees, Kellum’s head turned and there was no mistaking the fact his gaze was firmly locked on my ass.

  “Ooh!” the girls cried out in unison, then broke into hysterical laughter.

  “Wow,” Yaz said, giving me a pitying look. “That’s pretty damning, not gonna lie.”

  “I can’t believe I missed that!” Alisha blurted.

  “Why do you think I recorded it?” Zoe said.

  I grabbed Zoe’s phone and stopped the video before I could see just how foolish I’d looked. “I’m going to check my room for hidden cameras now, you know that, right?”

  “No worries, I’ll just move them all to Kellum’s place,” Zoe retorted. “I’ll be entertained for days, even when you’re not there.”

  “Right?” Alisha said. “Don’t suppose he has any brothers, does he? Guy looks like he’s got his shit together.”

  “I’m literally going to die,” I said wearily.

  “Just make sure he’s got my number if you do,” Zoe said. Even Yazmin laughed at that.

  I did my best to keep a smile on my face, but their comments were getting under my skin. I wasn’t normally the jealous type, which meant my irritation had to be connected with the fact I was a dragon keeper. Max had taught me a lot over the previous five years, but as he constantly reminded me, I had a ton more to learn. That had to be it. It was some weird keeper thing, not jealousy. Hell, I hadn’t even met the other Novak brothers yet!

  “Alright, peep show’s over,” I said, throwing my backpack in the backseat. “I need to get to the office. I’ll see you tomorrow for study group. And delete that video, you perv.”

  Zoe laughed. “Yeah, good luck with that.”

  As I pulled into the parking lot of the small, aged strip mall that was home to Maximus Investigations, my heart leaped into my throat. Three very striking figures loitered around the front door of the office and I knew without even seeing their faces who they were.

  Kellum turned at the sound of the Caddy’s nearly worn out engine and lit the world up with a smile. He wore a similar — but obviously different — suit as the day before, though his five o’clock shadow hadn’t formed yet, giving him an extra-crisp appearance.

  The other two men were Ryen and Danic, Kellum’s brothers. I’d only seen them in the flesh that one time, but Aunt Shirley had shown me plenty of photos of her boys over the years. I would have recognized them anywhere.

  Ryen stood an inch or two shorter than Kellum and he filled out his simple black t-shirt and jeans very nicely. He had that casual look of a guy who didn’t have a care in the world. Even in pictures, his carefree smile always set me at ease. His brown eyes brimmed with a lust for life and his rich brown hair was just long enough to earn the adjective “tousled.” The scruff on his face — not quite a full beard — only enhanced his laid-back image.

  Danic, on the other hand, couldn’t have looked more different. He was the shortest of the three, although he’d still tower over me, but he was also the bulkiest. I remembered thinking the first time I saw him that he could have bench pressed Rufus, who wasn’t a small man, and he hadn’t grown any wimpier over the years. His scowl belied a big chip on his shoulder, and he had the muscles to back it up. His bicep bulged out from the edge of his white t-shirt, and it looked like someone had added panels to the outer seams of his jeans to accommodate his massive thighs. I tried to make out his intense gray eyes in my rearview mirror as I parked, but I was too far away.

  Ryen was halfway to my car by the time I killed the engine and opened the door. He looked absolutely astonished.

  “The Caddy still runs?” Before I could respond, he hugged the hood and patted the car affectionately. “My big beautiful baby! I still can’t believe she survived what Danic put her through.”

  Danic crossed his bulging arms over his barrel chest and gave his brother a glare. Kellum brushed past him and stopped close enough for me to be able to smell his cologne. Only it was like no other cologne I’d ever smelled. Sort of spicy with a creamy undertone that made every hair on my arms stand on end.

  “I told you we’ve all taken turns with the Caddy,” he said. “I think Ryen got a little too attached.”

  “Let us have our moment,” Ryen moaned, pressing his cheek against the flaking yellow paint and rubbing the hood affectionately. With a heavy sigh, he pulled himself upright and grinned. “How many goats did Max have to sacrifice to keep this thing alive?”

  “Six,” I blurted without missing a beat. “It was pretty gross. Aunt Shirley fainted.”

  “Sounds about right,” he said, trailing his fingers along the driver’s side as he joined Kellum and Danic. “When it gets to the point it runs exclusively on dark blood magic, I’ll buy it off you.”

  “Deal. But I only accept payment in the form of souls or cursed amulets.” Ryen snorted at my stupid joke, which filled me with inexplicable pride. “Ryen and Danic, I presume? I’m Favor Fiske.”

  I knew who they were. They knew who I was. There was literally no need to introduce ourselves, but habits were hard to break. The brothers glanced at each other before Ryen replied.

  “Uh, yeah, we kinda figured.”

  Blushing furiously, I rushed past them to open the office. The three huge guys spilled in behind me, and it hit me like a brick to the head that I was leading a gaggle of dragons around with me. That felt both intimidating and empowering, and I reminded myself to keep it together so they wouldn’t know how flustered I felt.

  “Wow,” Kellum breathed as he looked around. “Aunt Shirley told us you modernized things, but this is more than I expected. Kudos.”

  “How is this the same office?” Ryen spun in a slow circle to take it all in. “Look at this place!”

  I glowed with pride over their comments. With Shirley’s help, I’d redecorated with a sort of fresh California vibe — artistic prints of the Los Angeles landscape, small potted lemon trees, and a fresh coat of clean, white paint — although Max hadn’t given me much of a budget. Good thing I’d grown up prowling around thrift stores — this girl knew how to spot treasures.

  “Only two desks left,” Danic pointed out, hands on his hips. He seemed like a man of few words.

  “One for me, one for Rufus,” I explained, “and Max is still in the private office.”

  “That really opened up the place,” Kellum mused, dropping into one of the three mid-century chairs I’d scrounged up to create a conversation pit. “There are enough plants in here that you might actually be able to breathe, for once.”

  “Um…” Ryen stood at Rufus’s desk, holding in the palm of his hand a small ceramic pot with an even smaller succulent planted inside. “Eustace” was written in black marker on the side. He gave me a quizzical look.

  “Rufus turned his nose up at all the plants at first,” I explained. “Until I bought one for his desk.”

  “And you named it Eustace?” he asked.

  I couldn’t hold back a grin. “No, he did. After he fell in love with it.”

  The Novak brothers laughed so hard I decided not to tell them about the time I caught Rufus whispering to Eustace. He probably wouldn’t have appreciated it.

  Danic was the first to regain his senses. “Unbelievable,” he choked out, mid-laugh. He strode across the room to an old buffet cabinet I’d given the shabby-chic treatment to. “Not just any old coffee machine, but an actual Keurig? What kind of spell did you cast on Uncle Max?”

  I shrugged and perched on my desk. “Actually, i
t was the only coffee machine he was interested in buying. The fact it only has a single button was a big selling point for him.”

  “For your own sake, don’t tell him there’s a computer chip in there,” Kellum said as I unpacked my backpack. “I can’t believe he upgraded to push-button phones. He lets you use a laptop in here?”

  I grimaced and set my precious computer carefully on the desk. “No, this is my personal laptop. He only lets me use it for schoolwork at the office, mostly because there’s no internet. I have to run down the street to the coffee shop if I need to get online.”

  “Phew,” Ryen said, wiping his brow dramatically. “For a minute there, I thought you’d replaced him with an imposter.”

  Danic popped a pod in the coffee maker and started it. “You did in a few years what we couldn’t have done in another century.”

  “Remember when I bought the first iPhone?” Ryen asked, and the other two groaned.

  “Oh god, don’t remind me,” Danic said, then elaborated when he saw my confusion. “He seemed mildly interested in it until Ryen turned it sideways and the screen rotated. He swatted the damn thing out of Ryen’s hand so hard it embedded itself in the wall over there.”

  I glanced in the direction he pointed and vaguely recalled painting over an obvious patch job.

  “You’ve worked miracles, Favor,” Kellum said. “I know I speak for my brothers when I tell you we’re grateful you came into his life. You’re obviously a good influence on him, and your loyalty to him gives us all some comfort since he cut us out of his life.”

  At the same time my heart swelled from their compliments, it broke for their loss. They clearly loved their great-uncle, but he was too hard-headed to see past whatever sins they’d committed. I couldn’t understand how Max had been able to stay mad at them for such a long time. Of course, five years to a thousand-year-old dragon was just a blink of the eye.

  I’d been prepared to hate their guts, but they’d turned out to be nothing like the traitorous fiends Max had hinted at. They seemed like good guys, and they only got better every minute I knew them. They were all different and endearing in their own special ways. Shirley had been right all along.

  “Shall we get down to business?” Kellum said, unfolding his long frame from the chair. “We usually work with our cousins, Ash and Hale Campbell, but they’re busy on a Drakonis case.”

  “Quick question,” I interjected, holding up a finger. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but…Drakonis? Seriously?”

  “Thank you!” Ryen blurted, throwing his hands in the air.

  Kellum smirked and shrugged. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t pick the name. Besides, humans aren’t exactly looking for dragons. Lazlo picked it as a way for those in the know to find dragon-run businesses.”

  I raised an eyebrow to show my skepticism at the super-obvious name. “Mmmhmm. Anyway…”

  “Anyway,” Danic said, taking over from his older brother, “you just need us to talk to this Bertram guy with you?”

  I normally hated asking for help. Hated it. But with these guys, those familiar feelings of shame and resentment never popped up. I was eager for them to help me, even though my ego might have liked it better if I’d been able to solve it on my own.

  “This is actually the very first case Max has trusted me with,” I admitted. “I assume Kellum has filled you in on the trouble I had with him, so yes, going with me to talk to him would be great.” I paused a beat before adding, “And maybe anything else that comes up?”

  “So basically, you want us to help you work the entire case?” Danic asked. His tone held no judgment, but my face flamed hot regardless.

  “No worries, it’ll be a snap,” Ryen answered, striking a bodybuilder pose by flexing his biceps, which were a hell of a lot more impressive than I’d expected. “We’re three missing-person-finding machines!”

  “And I’m guessing you want to get this done before Max gets back, right?” Danic asked, reading my mind.

  I winced. “If possible?”

  Kellum smiled and pulled out his cell. “I think that’s doable. I’ll make the call.”

  Chapter Five

  My second time walking up to Bertram Trinkas’s front door in as many days felt completely different from the first time. I wasn’t the least bit nervous or insecure, not when I was flanked by three big, buff dragons. They all stood at least a head taller than me, their raw power emanating off them in palpable waves. But while human muscle-heads often had that awkward bull-in-a-china-shop way about them, the Novak brothers carried their strength easily and naturally, as if they’d been born looking like Mr. Universes.

  It didn’t hurt that none of them seemed the least bit worried about the impending meeting. Even Bertram’s grumpy keeper-slash-butler, Hobbs, didn’t put a dent in their cheerful demeanor. When he shot me a dirty look, my confidence flagged, but Danic stepped between us and stared down at Hobbs until he turned to lead us across the marble floor of the great vaulted foyer.

  Ryen whistled softly as we filed into the library. I remembered thinking the place should have been featured in a magazine, but I’d been so nervous the first time, none of the details stuck with me. Such as the densely woven tapestries, probably centuries old, hanging on the walls. Polished mahogany bookshelves boasted dusty tomes of varying shapes and sizes, each of them probably collectibles that cost more than my car. The perfectly polished wood floors were decorated with lush Persian rugs, and a chandelier of what I could only assume was Tiffany crystal hung from the high ceiling.

  “Thank you, Par’tia Hobbs,” Kellum said diplomatically. The guy gave no indication of his feelings, but I suspected he wasn’t susceptible to flattery. The slam of the door as he left us proved my theory.

  Seconds later, a side door opened and Bertram Trinkas strode into the room scowling at me. “You again? I made an appointment with Maximus’s great-nephew, not you.”

  Before I could respond, he started up again. “And why are there so many of you? What is this, the Spanish Inquisition? Because we all know how that turned out!”

  He glanced pointedly at the gruesome painting of St. Michael slaying the dragon to illustrate his point. The boys shuffled around behind me, obviously as uncomfortable with the painting’s subject matter as I was. Determined to take the lead and be polite, I stepped forward.

  “I’m sorry for any misunderstanding, Mr. Trinkas, but this is my case. Max’s nephews offered to come along on this interview hoping you might feel more comfortable talking to me in the presence of other dragons.”

  The bratty side of me hated having to play nice with this asshat, but the rest of me hated the thought of disappointing Max. He’d left me in charge of an important case, and I’d be damned if I was going to let some snooty old blue-blood bully me out of my job.

  “Right, because all of us dragons are the same and we all get along really well,” Bertram sneered.

  “Sir, my uncle tasked me with finding your brother,” I said through clenched teeth, “but I can only do that if you give me a damn chance.”

  Both of Bertram’s thick, wiry eyebrows shot up, a look of pure indignation turning his face red. “Old Maximus must be slipping in his old age.”

  Hatefire burned in my chest with such intensity it startled me. I couldn’t abide anyone speaking dismissively of Max like that. And I wasn’t the only one.

  “Excuse me?” Kellum broke in, his voice steely.

  Bertram’s eyes flashed neon blue, the color of his dragon’s eyes. “I said, my dear old friend must be losing his grip on reality if he thought it appropriate to hand off such an important assignment to a human girl so fragile and helpless that she felt it necessary to call in the goon squad to back her up.”

  “Goon squad?” Danic demanded.

  All three boys bristled behind me. This was not going according to plan at all. Shit.

  “So he does speak!” Bertram said. “That’s two out of the three capable of producing intelligent speech. A better ratio tha
n I expected from the looks of you.”

  “Watch your mouth,” hissed Ryen.

  “Oh, all three,” cackled the older man.

  He took off his round spectacles and set them down on a secretary desk, then stepped closer to me, peering down his nose at me like I was a piece of chewing gum stuck on the bottom of his Gucci loafers. Little did he know that I’d found my backbone overnight.

  “Listen, do you want our help finding your brother or not? The choice is yours.”

  “Do I need help? Yes. But from the likes of you? I’m starting to question that myself. You said you wanted me to feel more comfortable. Well, I’d feel more comfortable if my library wasn’t stuffed full of useless lackeys.”

  “That does it,” Danic barked.

  He stomped around to stand in front of me, mere inches from Bertram’s much thinner and shorter frame. His arms flexed with unimaginable strength as he jabbed Bertram in the chest with his finger with such power the man stumbled backward a little. I gasped, wondering how this had taken such a turn.

  “You boorish brute!” Bertram winced as he rubbed the sore spot on his chest. “Don’t you know who I am?”

  Ryen and Kellum moved forward immediately to flank their brother. I fell back a few steps, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire.

  “Don’t you know who we are?” Kellum growled softly.

  “How dare you speak to Favor that way?” Ryen added, baring his teeth like a rabid wolf.

  My stomach churned to hear my own name tossed into the fray. This was the opposite of how our meeting was supposed to go down. This was not what Uncle Max would have wanted. Maybe calling his nephews had been a mistake after all.

  “This young lady is bending over backward to help you, Mr. Trinkas,” Kellum said, his voice quavering with barely restrained rage. “If something happens to your brother because you can’t get out of the way of your own prejudices, it’s on you.”

  Bertram’s gaze ping-ponged between the three of them, fire blazing in his flashing blue eyes. All four of men were expanding, as if ready to shift into their dragon forms and blow fire at each other — or whatever dragons did when they fought.