by Vella Day
Awakened By Flames
Hidden Realms of Silver Lake
Book 1
Vella Day
Awakened By Flames
Copyright © 2018 by Vella Day
Kindle Edition
www.velladay.com
[email protected]
Cover Art by Jaycee DeLorenzo
Edited by Rebecca Cartee and Carol Adcock-Bezzo
Published in the United States of America
E-book ISBN: 978-1-941835-49-4
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief questions embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
The only thing between this werewolf and his destined mate is a portal to a different world.
It’s crazy. Finn McKinnon knows dreams can’t be real. So why does his wolf shifter side have the overwhelming urge to step through a portal into a mysterious new realm? Is Kaleena Sinclair his mate or just a figment of his overactive imagination?
For years, Kaleena has known that Fate has designated the deliciously hot man from Earth as hers, but she can’t reveal she’s a dragon shifter—at least not yet. Dream-walking has been her only connection to him, but damn, Finn still thinks she doesn’t exist. So what’s a girl to do—especially when Finn is her sole chance at survival?
Before he knows it, Finn is thrust into a dangerous journey—a journey so unique and sensual that the life he’s known ceases to exist. The clock is ticking, and Finn must survive impossible odds if he is to save his future mate. But how in the world can they fulfill their destiny as fated mates if some ruthless force is hell-bent on keeping them apart?
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
About the Book
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Excerpt from Seduced By Flames
Other Books by the Author
About the Author
Chapter One
Fire exploded through Kaleena Sinclair’s body. She stiffened as the poison coursed through her system, stretching and then contracting her veins. The inability to stop the shooting arrows of pain from attacking her heart made her pulse race faster than any dragon could fly.
To keep from falling off her bar stool, she gripped the shiny counter in front of her, all the while trying to make sense of what was happening. Sounds faded, the bartender’s face blurred, and her mouth turned sand dry. Then the sheer terror of possible death slammed into her.
“Are you okay?” the bartender asked. Or at least she thought that’s what he said.
“I think so.” Embarrassment made her lie. Because it would only take a minute for her dragon to heal her, she tried to relax.
It’s Seliarus, her dragon said. This will take time. I’m sorry.
Oh shit. This stuff was very rare, and if ground into a dust and ingested, it was extremely dangerous to a dragon. While it wouldn’t kill her outright, if she were lured into battle in her weakened state, it could be deadly.
Had Christian, a stranger who’d asked her to dance, slipped it into her drink? Or had the bartender laced her wine when she and Christian were on the dance floor?
Eyes wide, Kaleena looked around to see if anyone else was experiencing the same devastation. Most were shifters, but many of the humans who frequented the bar didn’t mind mingling with them. From what Kaleena could tell, no one seemed to have been affected.
She came almost every Friday night to the Wing’s Bar, and it had always been safe—until now.
After their one dance, she and Christian returned to the bar, and that was when he excused himself to use the facilities. Perhaps he was ill too. Had she and Christian both been drugged, or had he been responsible for the burning acid wreaking havoc inside her? Kaleena didn’t think she was that bad a judge of character.
Get us out of here! her dragon pleaded.
She tried to push back her stool, but her muscles failed to cooperate.
Suddenly, Christian appeared next to her, looking healthy. “Jeez, Kaleena. You don’t look so good,” he said, full of sympathy. She swayed and Christian steadied her. “Easy there. What happened?”
“I think someone doused my drink.”
The bartender placed a glass of water on the bar. “Drink this. It’ll make you feel better.”
She reached to take it, but then thought he might have been the one to lace her drink, so she let her hand return to gripping the counter. Before she was able to turn around, a wave of nausea nearly knocked her off the stool, but Christian caught her.
“I’m taking you to the Emergency Room,” he said with fear tingeing his voice.
Kaleena was too disoriented to argue, but when he wrapped an arm around her waist to help her down, her mind snapped. Suddenly, she was convinced he was an evil dark lighter sent to harm her. Kaleena had been trained to fight, and she used what little strength she had left to swing a fist at his face. As if the air was made of clay, her delivery came out way too slow. No surprise, Christian was able to duck before she could connect.
Fight, dragon, fight, she pleaded.
“I’m trying to help you, Kaleena,” Christian said.
Was he? So what if his support was all that was keeping her upright. “I’m okay.”
“No, you aren’t. You almost fell off the stool. Come on.” Christian managed to weave them through the crowd toward the back entrance. As soon as she stepped outside, her vision turned black, and her knees buckled.
When Kaleena awoke, her head was pounding something fierce. She slowly eased her eyes open to find darkness. Where the hell was she? Only scant light filled the small, disgustingly smelly space. From the stench, this wasn’t a hospital. The drugs were still in her system, and they were definitely messing with her ability to focus.
Pushing up on her elbows, she looked around, but she only remained in a semi-sitting position for a moment. Weakness attacked her again, and she fell back onto what felt like canvas resting on a bed of rocks. Even though cold dampness seeped into her body, she didn’t have the energy to rub her arms to warm herself.
Don’t move, her dragon warned.
No problem. I couldn’t if I wanted to.
To help ease the ache stabbing her eyes, she palmed her lids and pressed inward. The pain eased slightly. Not only was her head throbbing, her stomach was threatening to revolt. This had to have been a mistake. If she lived long enough to tell her family what had happened, they would make certain whoever had done this
to her was punished.
Sounds slowly filtered into her drugged mind. Something clanked, feet shuffled, and moans sounded, but she couldn’t quite figure out her location. Pleading with her body to get rid of this devil potion inside her, she rolled onto her side and held in a moan. Kaleena blinked and focused on the small dirty white sink jutting out from a wall made from stone. Next to it sat a metal toilet.
Cot, sink, toilet.
Was she in some kind of jail cell? Why? It wasn’t as if she’d committed a crime. And where was Christian? He was supposed to have taken her to the Emergency Room. Or was he being held captive too? Goddess, this was such a nightmare.
When her vision finally cleared, her body turned even colder. Covering all three walls were knives that protruded at six-inch intervals. Their blades pointed outward. And not just a few knives, mind you—a ton of them.
With a gargantuan effort, Kaleena managed to sit up and ease her feet to the floor. An ache stronger than ten dragon claws digging into her chest filled her, but she pushed aside the discomfort and glanced upward. Holy goddess. The eight-foot by eight-foot cell had daggers jutting down from the ceiling too. What kind of sick bastard had kidnapped her? At least the fourth wall was merely barred.
Why would anyone drug and imprison her? For money? Or did this person have a vendetta against her family? Perhaps her father or uncle had threatened to expose some deadly secret, and her kidnapper planned to use her as leverage to keep them quiet.
Think!
She was the head of public relations for SinCas Mining and Gems, but it wasn’t as if she wielded a lot of power. Okay, that wasn’t entirely true. Her extended family was one of the most powerful and wealthy in all of Tarradon since they owned the two largest mines in the realm and employed many of the local shifters and humans. And yes, she possessed a level of magic the Royals wished they had.
She wracked her brain to think if she’d mentioned her last name to Christian. Even if she had, he didn’t seem like the type to be after her for her money since he was a highly successful lawyer. Or had that been a lie?
Nothing made sense to her addled brain. At least if her captor demanded a ransom, her parents would find her. Whether she’d be alive or not was another matter.
Lay back down, her dragon said. I need to heal you. Or at least try to.
Kaleena did as her dragon asked, and she closed her eyes once more to help center herself. A combination of unwashed bodies, mold, and stale air, pushed past an acceptable level and caused bile to rush up her throat. She had to force herself to reach the sink that was a mere two feet away. Just in time, she bent over and vomited. To add to the humility, her knees weakened, and she dropped to the filthy floor. Jeez, she had to get out of there.
And she would too if only she could figure out how. Given all of the knives surrounding her, shifting was out of the question. Her nearly twenty-foot wings would be shredded in seconds.
As Kaleena inhaled deeply, her body became wracked with a coughing fit. After she forced herself to calm, she rose to her feet but instantly dropped back down as a wave of dizziness assaulted her again. Damn drugs. No one was going to stop her from doing what she needed to do however. She was a Guardian, for goddess sake—a dragon shifter imbued with magic and strength. She would escape.
With her lungs still on fire, Kaleena crawled back to the cot and dragged herself on top. One of her talents should enable her to escape. Only which one? She was strong and fast in the air, but shifting inside the cell wasn’t possible. Cloaking only occurred in her shifted form too. Damn. If only she possessed the talent to teleport, she could get out of there right now.
Then an idea struck. There were hundreds of weapons surrounding her. All she had to do was extract one of the knives from the walls and wait for her captor to return. If he was a dragon—which she suspected he was—she would stab him in the top part of the heart—the one vulnerable spot on his body. With the element of surprise on her side, she might be able to kill him.
Renewed by her fresh idea, she tried to stand once more. This time she succeeded. Focusing on keeping her balance, she made it to the sink and held on. Not wanting to slice her hand when she tugged on the knife to remove it, she slipped off her lightweight jacket with the intention of wrapping it around the knife to pull it out.
The moment the fabric came in contact with the metal, it jutted out from the wall another ten inches. Shit. If she had brushed against the wall, the blade would have impaled her.
Strong footsteps sounded down the hallway. She quickly lowered her arm and slipped on her jacket but then had to grab the bars to steady herself.
“Who’s there?” she called out.
A moment later, a man who was clearly a dragon shifter, wearing a khaki uniform appeared. Unfortunately, the small logo on the pocket wasn’t something she recognized, and the letters were too small to read. He handed her a metal cup through the bars but said nothing.
Not wanting to piss him off, she took his offering. “Thank you. Can you tell me why I’m here?”
As he stepped closer, his sour breath made her lean back. The man opened his mouth wide and laughed. Oh, dear goddess, he had no tongue. What kind of monster would do that to another person—especially to a dragon? Acid burned in her stomach at the injustice.
She stood as straight as she could without wincing to show him she wasn’t afraid—even though she was. “I’m Kaleena Sinclair. Please ask my captor to come here and face me.” She hoped her name would mean something to him.
The guard slammed his hand against the bars and leaned forward as if to give her some kind of warning. He glared at her and then grinned before shuffling back down the hallway. Well, that didn’t go as well as she’d hoped.
The energy drain to remain standing overwhelmed her, and she returned to the cot. Kaleena needed to go over what had happened with Christian in order to figure out how she’d ended up there. During the prelude to their two-minute dance, she tried to recall if he had hinted at anything to indicate he was involved in some scheme to retaliate against her family, but nothing came to mind. While she’d never met him before tonight, Christian seemed like a nice guy.
Gaining strength slowly, she stood and paced, assessing the situation. So far, only one guard had stopped by, but she wasn’t so naïve to believe that there weren’t others.
A whimper came from someone near, and Kaleena stilled.
“Hello?” Kaleena called out. “Who are you?”
Silence.
Perhaps the caged person thought this was a trap. “I’m Kaleena Sinclair. Maybe we can help each other.”
“Sinclair?” The woman whispered the name with reverence.
Kaleena’s pulse sped up. “Yes.”
“My name’s Danita. Why are you here?” she asked.
That was a good question. “I’m not sure, but someone drugged me.”
“Me too.” The desperation in the woman’s voice tore at her.
“Are you a white lighter?” Kaleena lowered her voice when she said the last two words. It seemed like the only logical explanation for why they’d both been taken. Possessing magic was highly valued in Tarradon.
“Um…yes.” It was as if she was afraid to admit it in case a guard could overhear.
“When did they take you?”
“I think a week ago.”
Kaleena’s shoulders slumped. This was worse than she thought. As much as she wanted to speak with this woman, there was no telling if anyone would be monitoring the conversation. She looked around the hallway, checking the ceiling for any mounted cameras but found none. “How many other captives are there here?”
“I don’t know for sure…three, maybe four?”
Kaleena returned to her pacing, careful not to walk too close to the walls. She stopped. “Are there knives sticking out of your walls?” she asked the other captive, trying to see if every cell was equipped with such torture.
“Knives? No.”
A heavy door opened, wheels squeaked, and th
en what sounded like metal trays slid across the floor. One scraping noise. Then two. And three. Finally, the same guard who’d handed her a drink appeared in front of her cell. He bent down and delivered a tray under the bars.
Without making eye contact, he left the same way he came, implying there were four prisoners. Were they white lighters too? Or had some committed crimes for real? And were any of the prisoners at the other end dragons?
She glanced down at her food. The porridge looked bland, but the bowl of vegetables held some appeal. The problem was she didn’t trust they wouldn’t drug her again. For the time being, she’d go hungry.
Dropping onto her cot once more, she closed her eyes and allowed her mind to wander to Finn McKinnon—her safe haven each night. Even though she’d only connected with him in her dreams, he’d given her great solace. She’d been dream-walking with Finn, a werewolf from the Earth realm, for a while. He was her mate!
Finn was also her hero. Sure he was incredibly handsome with his square jaw and kissable lips; and yes, his body seemed to have been sculpted by the gods, but it was his caring nature that excited her. When clients came to the bar he managed, he always listened to them—at least that was what it seemed when she was given a vision of him in his life. But perhaps it was his sense of humor that really made her fall in love with him.
Over the last few weeks, their minds had merged into one, communicating and feeling with such intensity, she almost felt as if they were in the same room. When she dream-walked with him, they’d been intimate too. For her, love had bloomed, but she’d been careful not to scare him. Telling him they were mates—or that she was a dragon shifter—might have caused him to shut her out, and she couldn’t chance that. It didn’t matter Finn was a wolf shifter.
As much as she wanted to stay awake to figure out some kind of escape plan, her best hope might be to have Finn—a man who didn’t know Tarradon existed—help her. Hell, he’d asked many times whether she was real. Promising him that someday they’d meet didn’t seem to be enough for him. Well, the time might be closer than he realized.