by Ashlyn Chase
Also by Ashlyn Chase
STRANGE NEIGHBORS
Strange Neighbors
The Werewolf Upstairs
The Vampire Next Door
FLIRTING WITH FANGS
Flirting Under a Full Moon
How to Date a Dragon
Kissing with Fangs
BOSTON DRAGONS
I Dream of Dragons
My Wild Irish Dragon
Never Dare a Dragon
PHOENIX BROTHERS
Hooked on a Phoenix
More than a Phoenix
A Phoenix Is Forever
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Books. Change. Lives.
Copyright © 2019 by Ashlyn Chase
Cover and internal design © 2019 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Cover art by Aleta Rafton
Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
All brand names and product names used in this book are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade names of their respective holders. Sourcebooks, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor in this book.
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.
P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410
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Fax: (630) 961-2168
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Contents
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
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
An Excerpt of I Dream of Dragons
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Back Cover
This book is dedicated to all the police officers who let me go with a warning, investigated a strange noise outside my window, or had a little chat with a troublesome neighbor…
But especially, this book is dedicated to the officer (who does not want to be named because he was technically outside his job description) who went above and beyond to rescue my fur baby.
Thank you, gentlemen and ladies! You aren’t appreciated enough.
Chapter 1
He was actually a cop. A real, bona fide police officer.
Luca Fierro walked out of the precinct wearing his new BPD uniform as a Boston patrolman trainee. As the new guy, he would be on the graveyard shift for a while with his more experienced field training officer, Joe.
Luca had already taken plenty of ribbing from the guys during roll call. They all knew the Fierro name because his family were legendary firefighters.
“Hey, Fierro, aren’t you wearing the wrong uniform?”
He just smiled or said, “Very funny, guys.”
“So how does it feel to be a genuine cop, not a cadet?” Joe asked.
“You don’t remember? How long have you been on the job?”
Joe laughed. “Fifteen fun-filled years.” They paused a moment to get into their cruiser. Joe took the driver’s seat. He may have carried an extra twenty or thirty pounds, but he seemed agile enough.
“Did you have a difficult adjustment?” Luca asked as he buckled his seat belt.
“Not really. My dad was a cop, so that may have helped me ease into the job.”
Luca couldn’t help being uncomfortable. Some cops had real problems with firefighters. They called them “hose draggers” and didn’t like being accused of “pillow envy,” because firefighters were allowed to sleep on the night shift.
Similarly, the firefighters weren’t always fond of cops. His own family called him the “blue sheep.”
Luca answered the original question. “I feel good about finally getting started on the job. I’ve trained long and hard for this.”
Joe was quiet as he pulled out of the station’s parking lot, so Luca continued. “My folks weren’t in favor of my going into law enforcement, but they were okay with my studying criminal justice at Northeastern University. They thought I’d change my mind after learning what was involved. If anything, studying the subject made me want it even more.”
“Oh, shit,” Joe said. “You’re a college grad? You know why it’s called a BS degree, right? You know too much to be clueless but not enough to deal with those weird situations they didn’t prepare you for.” He smirked.
“In other words, you think I know just enough to be dangerous?”
“Maybe. What did they teach you there?”
“All kinds of things. Ethics, courtroom procedures, criminal law, corrections, crime scene management, computer investigation, domestic and international terrorism… I want to be a detective someday.”
Joe nodded.
Luca had to get used to one of the aspects of being a cop, and that was not giving too much away. Just answer the questions you’re asked and no more. Sometimes volunteering information got you into hot water.
He’d have to guard his family’s secrets even more carefully.
Joe turned onto a busy street. Luca wondered how long it would be before Joe felt comfortable trading off driving duties.
“So, fifteen years… You must’ve seen it all.”
“You’ve never seen it all, kid. You might hear about some crazy stuff at the bar though. If it doesn’t happen to you, it’s happened to someone else.”
Patrolling the city was sometimes tedious and sometimes terrifying. It was that on-and-off pace and the fact of never knowing what was around the corner that both intrigued and made most first-years anxious, to say the least.
It wasn’t long before they came across a car speeding and driving erratically. “Shit,” Joe said. “I might chalk that up to a typical Boston driver, but the damn car almost sideswiped us.”
Luca made a quick call to dispatch, notifying them of the ten code, the vehicle’s description, and their approximate location. They turned on the lights and took off after it, spotting the car climbing the ramp onto the Southeast Expressway.
“Dammit,” Joe swore. “I hate stopping drivers on the expressway.”
“Can’t you get them to pull off at the next exit?”
“We can hope.” Joe went in pursuit of the black Mercedes sedan. Instead of taking the next off-ramp, the driver pulled over and stopped right on the bridge.
“Fuck. This is going to slow traffic to a crawl.”
“Can I approach the driver?” Luca asked.
Joe opened his door. “Be my guest.”
Luca, noting only one person in the vehicle, knocked on the passenger-side window, and she rolled it down. Yep, he smelled alcohol. And this woman looked almost clown-like with the amount of heavy makeup she was wearing. “License and registration, please.”
The woman heaved a vodka-laced sigh, dug through her purse, and produced a wallet. She removed and handed over a current Massachusetts driver’s license. Then she opened the glove compartment, found her registration, and handed that to him also.
He scanned the information and said, “Do you know why we stopped you, Priscilla?”
“I have no idea.”
“You’ve been driving erratically. Have you been drinking?”
“I am not drunk.”
“Step out of the car, please.”
The woman sat right where she was and folded her arms.
“You can prove you’re sober with a field sobriety test, ma’am. Please step out of the car.”
“I don’t have to. I don’t have to take a Breathalyzer, and I don’t have to walk a straight line. I know my rights.”
“I’m sure you do, ma’am, but we’ll have to take you in to the station if we suspect you’re drunk. I smell alcohol, and you’ve been speeding and weaving all over the road, so you’re giving me no other choice. The public’s safety is at stake.”
“You’ll have to drag me out of this car.”
“Ma’am, at this point, you’re forcing me to place you under arrest. If you don’t exit the car, you’ll be adding a charge of resisting arrest. Is that really what you want to do?”
She blew out another deep, vodka-heavy breath. The door flew open, and Luca met her in front of the vehicle while Joe ran the plate.
Luca was almost six feet tall. This woman had to be six two without the stilettos. That made her about six and a half feet…and wobbling.
“Turn around and put your hands on the car, please.”
The woman placed her hands on her hips and looked at him defiantly.
Luca raised his voice. “Turn around and place your hands on the hood of your car. Now.”
“Why? Are you going to pat me down?”
“At some point, yes. We need to know you’re not carrying any concealed weapons.”
By this time, Joe was rolling his eyes and came over to join him. “Lady, you’re going to be frisked, but that can happen later.” He gave Luca a pointed look. “Cuff her up.”
“You’re not touching me!”
“Jesus,” Luca muttered. He gazed at Joe, hoping he would have the right words to gain her cooperation, but it didn’t look like Joe had any such magic. Instead, he reached out, grabbed her arm, and spun her so her torso was leaning against the car. Meanwhile, he had her arm in a viselike grip behind her back.
“Owww. You’re hurting me.”
“Cuff her, Fierro,” Joe said.
Luca took her other wrist and folded it behind her back. He had his cuffs out, but she struggled as soon as he tried to put them on her.
“Don’t resist.”
She struggled harder. “Leave me alone. You guys are brutalizing me. I’m going to file a complaint.”
“Please do. Our dash cam will show you’ve been given several chances to cooperate.”
At that point, she flipped around and ran across the highway, causing cars to stop and blow their horns. Luca gave chase. He eventually had to tackle her to keep her from crossing the line into oncoming traffic. Once he had her on the ground, he was able to cuff the other wrist.
Shit. I have to learn to get the handcuffs out faster—but not too fast. There were a lot of things he could do quicker and better than a human, but he couldn’t give away his paranormal abilities. He had superhuman strength and speed, but a cop wouldn’t let it go if they witnessed something out of the ordinary. And he’d be in so much trouble with the paranormal community if he let humans know what he really was.
Joe joined him and the two of them lifted her to her feet. She immediately started kicking and screaming. They had to half lead and half drag her across the road, back to their cruiser.
“You see?” She was yelling at the cars that had stopped. “You see the brutality? I want witness statements. I want you all to call the Boston police commissioner and tell him what you’ve seen.”
Luca and Joe were beyond reasoning with her at this point. Joe just opened the back door of the cruiser and told her to get in.
“I don’t want to. Make me.”
Luca shook his head. What the fuck do we do now? Fold her in half and put her in there like a quesadilla?
Apparently, pushing on her head and shoving her into the back seat, then grappling with those long legs and spiky heels was the only option.
“Knock it off, lady. Kicking a police officer with shoes like that is a felony in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” Joe shouted.
“Ha! I don’t believe you.”
“We can add it to the charges if that will convince you.”
As soon as she had been stuffed into the seat and seat-belted securely, Luca slammed the door shut and joined Joe in the front seat. “Holy shit. That is one determined woman,” he muttered.
“Yup. This one’s feisty.”
As a car pulled around them, the passenger rolled down his window and yelled out, “It took two of you to arrest a girl. Pussies!” Then he and the driver laughed and drove off.
Wonderful. Adolescent humor. Just what we needed.
“I have to pee,” said Priscilla from the back seat.
“We’ll be at the station in a few minutes,” Joe replied, glancing up at the rearview mirror, then he turned to Luca. “Officer Fierro, would you be good enough to read our collar her rights?”
“Crap,” he muttered. With all the distractions, he’d forgotten about the damn Miranda rights. What a rookie mistake. “You have the right to remain silent.”
Priscilla began singing. “Silent night, holy night…”
Luca tried raising his voice to be heard over her, but that only made her sing louder.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Then he joined in and sang her her rights to the tune of the famous Christmas carol. “You have the right to an attorney. If you can’t afford one, one will be appointed. If you decide to answer questions now, you have the right to stop until you talk to an attorney…”
“All right! All right!” she yelled. “Just stop. Your voice is worse than mine.”
“Great.” He finished the speech in a normal voice. “So, do you understand your rights as I’ve explained them to you?”
“Yes.”
“Are you willing to answer my questions without an attorney present?”
“No. Not until I pee first. I’m apt to wet your back seat if I don’t get to a bathroom soon.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Joe muttered. He had Luca call the station and inform them of the arrest and where the tow truck could find her car.
Their passenger was singing again. She certainly wasn’t a lounge singer, but now she was crying too. Her voice wobbled and cracked as she belted out a loud rendition of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
Luca glanced over at Joe and raised his eyebrows. It wasn’t Christmas. It wasn’t even Halloween yet. He couldn’t wait to get to the station they had left only forty minutes ago.
“So, is this normal for a Monday night?” Luca asked.
“Normal?” Joe chuckled. “Fridays are usually heavy OUI nights, but nothing is ‘normal.’”
“Okay. Let me rephrase. Do you deal with this often? Including this level of uncooperativeness?”
“Her? This is nothing. Just wait until you have to arrest a suspect w
earing green in a rowdy crowd on St. Patrick’s Day.”
* * *
After his first shift, Luca was exhausted, but the adrenaline that surged through his veins would keep him awake for quite a while. He decided to call his girlfriend, Lisa, hoping she was awake. All he wanted was to curl up with her. Unfortunately, they rarely had a place where they could get horizontal.
Neither her parents nor his knew they were dating. Hers because her father was a hard-ass cop and hated firefighters, and his because his mother would have them walking down the aisle in a month. They’d started dating in college, and both of them commuted from home. Their living situations had led them to have sex in some pretty unusual places—including once in a church!
Lisa’s father was a police sergeant, and if Luca had to admit it, hoping to gain his approval was one of the reasons why he had chosen to become a cop instead of a firefighter. He’d already been ninety-five percent there in his decision, but his feelings for Lisa tipped his decision to one hundred percent.
Luca had also hoped that he could remove the “fear of the unknown” factor if he was known to her father through the police department.
At first, it was fun to keep their relationship a secret from their families. He fancied himself the bad boy, sneaking around for a couple of years, but it had begun to grate on Luca. He hated keeping secrets from loved ones, but his entire life was a secret, so he could do it. Lisa had no idea what he truly was and what he could actually do. But he’d cross that bridge later.
On his way home, he called Lisa with his car’s Bluetooth technology.
A sleepy hello greeted him.
“Hi, beautiful. It’s Luca.”
“I know. Your ringtone is ‘secret lover.’”
He groaned. “Aren’t you afraid that will tip off your father?”
“No. The only radio he listens to is the police scanner.”
“Well, speaking of that, I just worked my first shift.”
She yawned. “How did it go?”
“Terrible. I was hoping you could meet me somewhere. I think I need a hug.”
She laughed. “Buck up. I can’t always be there to give you a hug after a tough shift.”
Luca wasn’t thrilled with that answer. Sure, he didn’t expect her to drop everything and run to him every time he had a bad day. He wasn’t a baby—despite being the youngest, and all his older brothers accusing him of being coddled. That was another reason he’d chosen to be a cop instead of a firefighter. He wanted to show them he was as brave and tough as they were—if not more so.