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

by Willa Hart

  Before I even realized the words were leaving my mouth, I said, “They’re almost here.”

  Everyone in the room turned to shoot me funny looks, and even as I wondered why the hell I just said that, I knew deep in my belly I was right. How remained a mystery.

  “Why—“ Kellum started to ask, but was interrupted by the doorbell.

  Every head jerked toward the front of the house, but no one moved to answer the door. Not even Shirley.

  “No way,” Danic breathed, echoing my own thoughts.

  Before any of us could regain our senses, the Campbell twins barreled down the hallway as if they owned the place. They’d grown up in the house, so they probably thought of it as theirs, just as normal kids raised in the same home all their lives always seem to do.

  Whatever surprise Shirley might have felt over my prediction evaporated when Ash and Hale strolled into the kitchen. She practically levitated across the room to wrap them in a tight hug and pepper kisses on their cheeks. Her attention must have distracted them because they didn’t even seem to notice the way the Novak brothers were gawking at me.

  “Glad you’re all in one piece,” Ash said, giving Aunt Shirley a quick peck on the cheek and pulling free from her embrace. Hale managed to do the same and joined his brother.

  “Especially with that rogue Romanian flying around,” they said in unison.

  Nothing could give me the heebie-jeebies more than twins finishing each other’s sentences, but saying the same thing at the exact same time? Spooky! But Kellum, Danic, and Ryen still seemed more fazed by me than the twin-thing that just happened. Maybe they were used to it, which didn’t make it any less creepy.

  “We finally got a line on Enoch,” Hale announced, his eyes flashing with excitement.

  “We did some digging and found out where he likes to hide out when the heist gets too hot,” Ash continued, as if continuing Hale’s story.

  “Rumor has it the guy likes to head north.”

  “North of Los Angeles, at least.”

  “Out of the city.”

  “Away from the hustle and bustle.”

  “Perfect place to lay low.”

  “Farm country. Really rural.”

  “Makes sense. I mean, who the hell would look for him there?”

  “Yeah, Enoch isn’t the brightest bulb in the box, it seems, but he’s figured that much out.”

  “Hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day,” they both said at once.

  They waited for our reaction, but the Novaks couldn’t take their eyes off me, while I desperately tried to ignore them. I tried to find something to say, anything that might take the focus off me, but my brain didn’t want to work at the moment.

  “What’d we miss?” Ash finally asked.

  Kellum’s hypnotic blue eyes sized me up, as they often seemed to do. “Oh, nothing much. Just that Favor seems to have suddenly developed psychic powers.”

  “Oh, brother,” I snorted, rolling my eyes for dramatic effect. “I must have heard them walking up to the house or something.”

  Lies, all lies. I had known Ash and Hale were approaching. But I couldn’t tell them that, mostly because I didn’t know how. If I admitted it, they’d bombard me with questions I couldn’t answer.

  “No, you didn’t,” said Danic matter-of-factly.

  “What are you guys talking about?” asked Hale.

  “Just before you two graced us with your presence, Favor said you were almost here,” Ryen explained, still staring at me with those yummy brown eyes of his.

  The twins’ eyes widened and they turned their curious gazes on me as well. Even Aunt Shirley was watching me again. I shifted under all the scrutiny.

  “Um, I’m not a zoo animal, people! Can you all stop staring at me already?”

  “Just one question,” Ryen said, planting his hands on the table and leaning in close enough I could smell his shampoo. Coconut, if my sniffer wasn’t mistaken. Then he broke into a mischievous grin and waggled his eyebrows at me. “What am I thinking right now?”

  I gasped and slapped a hand to my chest in outrage, playing along with the ruse. “Why, Ryen Novak! How dare you!”

  And just like that, the tension broke. The others chuckled and Aunt Shirley went back to her snickerdoodles. The guys returned their attention to the matter at hand, thank god, and eventually fell into a spirited debate about our next move. But my mind wouldn’t track. I couldn’t stop thinking about what had just happened.

  Weird. More than anything, I wanted to believe it was a simple coincidence, but it wasn’t. I knew it. Just as I knew my conversation with Uncle Max back when I’d passed out wasn’t just a dream or hallucination.

  During one of our many lessons on dragons and dragon keepers, Max had informed me that a dragon keeper’s powers start to manifest in the presence of “their” dragon. After all the time I’d spent with Max, thinking I was his par’tia, the only flicker of premonition I’d ever had was occasionally knowing when he was lying. But ever since I’d started spending time with Max’s nephews, something had shifted inside me. It almost felt like puzzle pieces clicking together. The puzzle wasn’t complete, but the outside edges were connected and now it was just a matter of filling in the rest.

  From Max’s teachings on the ways of dragons and their keepers, as well as my instincts, I couldn’t help thinking I was in the presence of the dragon I was meant to keep. My dragon. As my gaze flicked across five handsome faces, my gut twisted in anxiety and I wondered…which one?

  Chapter Fourteen

  The familiar stale smell of the Accounting classroom couldn’t have been less welcome the next morning as I walked in to find Zoe in her usual spot at the back of the class. The worn carpets and dingy windows of the room were usually one of the odd comforts of my day — they sort of echoed my life up to that point, but they also represented growth. Outward appearances meant nothing compared to the potential inside all of us and all of that blah-blah-blah.

  Normally, I walked into class excited to learn, to challenge myself, but returning to Accounting 101 the day after watching dragons battle it out in the sky was sort of anticlimactic. I mean, come on. Dragons compared to the snoozefest of learning how to crunch numbers? No contest.

  Jesus, had it only been a day?

  Even just thinking about the events of the day before left me feeling underdressed and vulnerable in my favorite purple and black flannel shirt and ratty Levi’s. Maybe I should have worn medieval armor or something for protection. As I made my way to my seat next to Zoe I decided that might have drawn too much attention. Then again, maybe not. A guy in the third row had janky neon blue dreads and all sorts of metal shit poking out of various parts of his face. If no one looked twice at him, certainly I could get away with a helmet and breastplate.

  “Hey,” I sighed as I slumped into my seat, still drained from all the drama the day before.

  “You okay?” Zoe asked, giving me a weird look.

  I pulled my laptop and accounting book from my bag. “Sure, why?”

  “You fell off the face of the planet last night.”

  I jerked my head up to meet her curious gaze. No accusations, no alarm, just curiosity. For a second there, I wondered if she knew.

  “Huh?”

  She crossed her arms and quirked a perfectly groomed eyebrow at me. “You missed our study session. I texted you like, a million times, but you never replied. Hell, I even called you!”

  Man, she must have been worried if she’d used her phone as an actual, you know, phone. I pulled mine out, and sure enough, a slew of texts popped up asking where I was, accusing me of ditching my friends to go on a secret date with Kellum, and finally turning to concern about my well-being. I could always count on Zoe to worry about me. So what if she was a party girl who loved living in the moment? No one could ask for a more doggedly loyal friend.

  “Sorry, my phone died yesterday and I forgot to check messages this morning,” I fibbed. I must not have had any cell service up at
Big Bear, but at least the last part was true. “On top of that, it’s been kind of crazy at the office. Can’t really talk about it.”

  Zoe pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at me, obviously not buying my lame excuses, but we both knew better than to pry into each other’s lives when we didn’t want to talk. She finally nodded, as if we’d settled something between us, and gave me a sly smile.

  “Long hours, huh? Don’t suppose it would involve a certain Kellum Novak, would it?” Interest danced in her eyes with all the subtlety of a fireworks display.

  Heat rushed to my cheeks, but I laughed it off. Well, I tried to, but that only piqued Zoe’s curiosity. She scooted her chair closer and leaned in with a conspiratorial grin.

  “Oh my god, it totally does, doesn’t it! Spill!”

  More than anything, I wanted to share every gory, sexy detail with my best friend, just as we’d shared everything growing up. But I’d spent the past five years keeping the existence of dragons secret from every human in my life, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to drop that bombshell on her as class was about to start. Not like I would anyway. She’d call the men in the white coats if I did. But I could still dish about Max’s hunky nephews.

  “I might have seen him,” I teased, pretending it was none of her business. “And maybe more than just him.”

  Zoe’s eyes widened and she practically panted with anticipation.

  “He’s got a couple of brothers who are every bit as hot as he is, but in different ways.”

  Stars danced in her eyes. “Ooh, brothers…”

  “Oh, did I mention their gorgeous twin cousins?” I added, as if Ash and Hale could ever be an afterthought.

  “Twins?” she squeaked. “Oh my god, Favor, you’re living the dream, you know that, right?”

  I rolled my eyes, but deep down I couldn’t deny it. Just then, Alisha and Yaz filtered in and took seats a few rows down. I mouthed an “I’m sorry” to them and they smiled their forgiveness. Zoe grabbed my arm to get my attention.

  “I’m serious, girl! Five smokin’ dudes to choose from? Which one do you like best?”

  “Zoe, my life isn’t an episode of The Bachelorette,” I muttered quietly.

  “It abso-freaking-lutely is! Come on, they’re all fair game, right? You’re only related to Shirley by blood, which leaves Max’s nephews totally be up for grabs. Not even remotely Game of Thrones-y.”

  I found the incest in that show pretty skeezy, but the dragons were cool. Not quite accurate, in my experience, but close enough to fascinate me. Of course, Uncle Max scoffed whenever he caught me watching it and wasted no time informing me exactly how wrong the producers were in their depiction of dragons. Max had a hard time with the whole “suspension of disbelief” thing where fictional dragons were concerned.

  “Which one trips your trigger the most?” she pressed. She wouldn’t let it go until I gave her an answer, so I thought about it.

  “You know, I can’t really say. I think I like them all about the same.”

  Zoe blinked, then shook her head as if she hadn’t heard me correctly. Honestly, I felt just as confused as she looked. It didn’t seem possible that I couldn’t pick between them.

  “Wait, what? Favor Fiske likes five different guys at once?”

  “Shh,” I hissed as I looked around. No one else needed to know my business. When no one near us gave me a funny look, I leaned closer to Zoe. “And why not? I know for a fact you were dating Bobby Jessup, Andrew Coleridge, and Taylor Whatshisname at the same time in high school.”

  “Collins. Taylor Collins.” Her gaze turned wistful as she recalled the tall, studly football quarterback. “Oh, he was fine.”

  The girl could daydream about old boyfriends for days. I snapped my fingers in front of her face to bring her back to reality.

  “Sorry, where was I? Oh yeah. Favor honey, dating three boys in high school is one thing, but hooking up with five full-grown men at once? You can’t go from fasting to a five-course meal all at once.”

  I snorted loud enough a guy in the row in front of us turned around and glared. Turns out it was the asshole who’d tried cheating off Alisha. Zoe flipped him off and turned back to me, looking scandalized and proud of me, all at the same time.

  “For the first time in my life, you’ve left me speechless.”

  “You’re still talking,” I pointed out.

  “How can I not? I mean, my god!”

  “Shh, keep it down. And don’t get all worked up over it. Nothing will come of it, trust me. I mean, we’re talking about me here, remember? Now tell me what’s been going on with you?”

  Zoe gave me one more hard look before happily changing subjects to herself. “I finally hooked up with that guy from that indie coffee shop across town.”

  “No way! How’d it go?”

  “About as good as the coffee,” she said, waggling her hand in a so-so gesture. “But he wants me to meet him at a party later tonight with some of his law school buddies.”

  “Lawyer bros?” Pretty sure my face looked as if I’d just bit into a lemon. “Remember how that played out last time?”

  “Those were criminal justice majors. Totally different.”

  I rolled my eyes at the minor distinction.

  “We’ll meet them later and then go clubbing,” Zoe said, as if it was a given I’d go with her.

  “We are?”

  The professor walked in and the class started to quiet down, so Zoe leaned in. “Of course we are. It’s Friiiiiday, your favorite day of the week. That means club night party time, sistah! That was the deal, remember?”

  One of my promises to entice Zoe to move to L.A. had been that we could go out clubbing every Friday night. And up until now, I’d kept that promise, throwing in most Saturday nights too. But this time I hesitated, just a little too long.

  “Oh god, are you kidding me? You’re bailing on me because of them?”

  I honestly wasn’t sure why I was hesitating. I always had a blast going out with Zoe, and the only thing I ever regretted was the hangover the next morning. I couldn’t really explain my ambivalence this time. But I really was missing my friend, and after all that had happened over the course of twenty-four hours, maybe a little decompression was just what the doctor ordered.

  As Dr. Green started addressing the class, I whispered, “Okay, I’m in.”

  Zoe did her best to contain her squeal of delight, but everyone turned to look at us anyway.

  After a long, boring day of catching up on paperwork at the office — with only Rufus to keep me company — I headed out to meet Zoe at a hip new club downtown. Every mile I drove felt like a little bit of my soul being shaved away, but I’d promised to go clubbing with my bestie, and I wasn’t about to renege.

  It took me a good fifteen minutes of walking down dark alleys to find the obscure joint. Zoe stood next to the burly bouncer, looking as if she walked out of the pages of a fashion magazine. Dark brown curls framed her pretty face, and her green bodycon dress matched her eyes and stilettos perfectly. The heels were tall enough we were almost eye-to-eye when I finally reached her. She glanced up from her sparkly pink phone and broke into a grin when she spotted me. The smile faltered when she got a good look at me.

  Rather than going home to get all dolled up, I’d just worked late and headed downtown when it was close to the time we’d agreed to meet. I’d rather hoped my threadbare jeans and flannel shirt would be against the club’s dress code, but the bouncer pulled the rope open as soon as he caught sight of me. Then he gave me a very appreciative smile as we passed. Either the guy had no taste or he was being sarcastic. I’d had enough experience with snooty L.A. bouncers to guess which.

  “Thanks for dressing up,” Zoe snapped as we elbowed our way through the crowded club and snagged a bar table just as its previous occupants abandoned it for the dance floor.

  “What? You don’t like my lumberjack look?” I asked loudly over the thumping music, looking down at myself. Her grimace filled me with
guilt that I wasn’t as excited to go clubbing as she was. “Sorry, I just didn’t feel like going home first. Just consider me your wing-woman tonight.”

  “You could have at least put on some makeup,” she said, her irritation easing as she scanned the crowd for her law school dude.

  The crowd bustled around us, pumping up the slightly sour heat to the point I needed to shuck my flannel. The t-shirt I wore under it wasn’t much nicer, but at least I wasn’t pitting out any longer. That’s about when the first drink arrived.

  A cute waitress set down the martini glass of pink loveliness between us. Zoe broke into a happy grin and reached for it, but the waitress stopped her. “Sorry, it’s for her,” she said as she slid the drink toward me.

  I looked at it. Then I looked at her. Then back at the drink. A cosmo, if I wasn’t mistaken.

  “What’s this?”

  The waitress shrugged and jerked a thumb over her shoulder toward a startlingly handsome dude in skinny jeans and a tight t-shirt at the bar. He lifted his drink at me and smiled.

  “Cosmo, from the gentleman.”

  I gave the guy a half-hearted and completely confused smile of gratitude as the waitress scurried off. Zoe scowled.

  “What the hell?” she groused as she picked up my drink. “I mean, no offense, Favor, but…what the hell?”

  She had a point. I hadn’t even bothered to put on lip gloss, much less freshen my makeup or even run a comb through my hair. I didn’t really deserve guys sending me drinks. In fact, in all the time we’d been going out to clubs, no one had ever ignored Zoe in favor of me.

  Ever.

  An hour later, Zoe snarled as the waitress brought a third drink to our table, destined for me. I nodded at the new guy who’d sent it over, then shoved it toward my friend. She threw it back like it was water and not some scary looking blue concoction.

  “Seriously?” she said, slouching onto the table, her eyes drooping a little. Zoe was no lightweight, but three strong drinks in an hour had certainly affected her. And they weren’t helping her feelings of insecurity either. “First, I get stood up by Jake, and now this. I don’t get it. You clearly have stopped trying, yet here I am, ready and willing. But who gets all the drinks? You!”