by Caris Roane
EMERALD FLAME, A Paranormal Romance, The Flame Series Book 6
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Have You Read These Books by Caris Roane
Giveaways, Blogs, and Newsletters
Dear Reader
EMERALD FLAME
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
A Note from Caris
Coming Up Next
About the Author
Have You Read These Books by Caris Roane
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Author of…
Copyright
EMERALD FLAME, A Paranormal Romance, The Flame Series Book 6
By Caris Roane
Copyright © 2017 Twin Bridges Creations LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this e-book may be reproduced in whole or in part, scanned, photocopied, recorded, distributed in any electronic form, or reproduced in any manner whatsoever or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without express written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Have You Read These Books by Caris Roane
The Flame Series…
BLOOD FLAME – Book 1
AMETHYST FLAME – Book 2
DARK FLAME – Book 3
AMBER FLAME – Book 4
A TOUCH OF FLAME – Book 5
A WOLF’S LOVE, A Short Read – Book 5.1
CHRISTMAS FLAME, A Holiday Novella
The Blood Rose Series…
BLOOD ROSE SERIES BOX SET, 1-2-3
EMBRACE THE DARK – Book 1
EMBRACE THE MAGIC – Book 2
EMBRACE THE MYSTERY – Book 3
EMBRACE THE PASSION – Book 4
EMBRACE THE NIGHT – Book 5
EMBRACE THE WILD – Book 6
EMBRACE THE WIND – Book 7
EMBRACE THE HUNT – Book 8
LOVE IN THE FORTRESS – Book 8.1
EMBRACE THE POWER – Book 9
The Blood Rose Time Travel Series…
A VAMPIRE’S SOFT EMBRACE – Book 1
A VAMPIRE’S EMBRACE – Book 2
The Blood Rose Tales…
BLOOD ROSE TALES BOX SET
Guardians of Ascension…
The Original Six Books Published by St. Martin’s Press
ASCENSION – Book 1
BURNING SKIES – Book 2
WINGS OF FIRE – Book 3
BORN OF ASHES – Book 4
OBSIDIAN FLAME – Book 5
GATES OF RAPTURE- Book 6
The Dawn of Ascension Novels, Self-Published by Caris Roane, as part of Guardians of Ascension
BRINK OF ETERNITY as part of VAMPIRE COLLECTION
THE DARKENING
The Rapture’s Edge Series as part of Guardians of Ascension
AWAKENING – Rapture’s Edge Book 1
VEILED – Rapture’s Edge Book 2
REVEALED – Rapture’s Edge Book 3
The Amulet Series…
WICKED NIGHT/DARK NIGHT (Boxed Set)
The Men in Chains Series, Published by St. Martin’s Press
BORN IN CHAINS – Book 1
CHAINS OF DARKNESS – Book 2
UNCHAINED – Book 3
SAVAGE CHAINS – A Separate Novel in the Same World
Giveaways, Blogs, and Newsletters
Do You Enjoy Giveaways and Learning New Things? How About Beautiful Photos on Different Subjects?
For giveaways, freebies, updates on my latest books, and lots of photos, be sure to sign up today for my mailing list: Caris’s Newsletter.
Do you like to learn new things, keep your mind sharp and come away inspired? Consider signing up to get my blog delivered into your email inbox. Go to the right hand column of my Home Page. I offer weekly giveaways and cover a broad range of topics.
~ ~ ~
Dear Reader
Welcome to EMERALD FLAME, Book #6 of The Flame series.
EMERALD FLAME continues the journey into the world of Five Bridges and the transformed lives of those humans devastated by the effects of alter serums. The Flame Series follows the lives of vampires, witches, wolf shifters, fae and dead-talkers. EMERALD FLAME tells the story of alpha wolf Alex Warren and a powerful witch, Kiara. You will have met Kiara in A TOUCH OF FLAME and Warren in AMBER FLAME.
So, welcome to EMERALD FLAME!
A powerful alpha wolf sizzling with storm power. An invisible witch. An evil wizard wants them both dead. Will the alpha overcome his hatred of witches so he can join forces with her and save his world? Or will prejudice rule his heart?
A witch scarred him…
Warren couldn’t trust witches. One had tried to kill him with her poisoned spell. Though he survived, he was left badly scarred and blind in one eye. When Kiara, a beautiful witch, begins to heal him, he finds himself craving her. But his prejudice against her kind runs deep. As an evil wizard attacks Savage Territory, can he set aside his prejudice, or will he lose his pack, and his territory, forever?
Wolves hate the secretive nature of Elegance Territory…
Kiara never meant to fall for a wolf. But from the moment she met Warren, her heart belonged to him. She also knew he could never go for her. When a vile wizard makes a play for Savage Territory, and Warren needs her help, their relationship sizzles and pops. Yet the scars he bears tells her she can only be a passing flame. Can she protect her heart? Or will the passionate affair leave her forever desolate?
I hope you’re enjoying the Flame Series! I’ve loved living in this conflict-riddled world of five territories at war and the extraordinary alter beings who risk their lives to make Five Bridges a better place for all.
And now, have a wonderful day and an even better night!
Live the fang!
Caris Roane
November 2017
EMERALD FLAME
A Paranormal Romance
The Flame Series ~ Book 6
By
Caris Roane
Chapter One
The air felt wrong, like a thousand tiny needles pressing into the flesh of Alex Warren’s arms and shoulders.
He sat in his Border Patrol SUV in front of the Savage Territory station. His shift was over for the night, but he wasn’t ready to head in just yet.
Something was going down. He just didn’t know what.
He glanced at the row of black vehicles parked at an angle to the gray, cement-block building. He’d spoken with dispatch. Everyone had checked in for the night. No casualties. A few bruises, a couple of gunshot wounds, a knifing or two. But all souls accounted for.
He had an hour before dawn, so there was plenty of time to burrow down for the day. Given the needle sensation, he decided to stay put for a few more minutes. If something was in the wind, he wanted to know what was going on.
He had a companion as well, one he hadn’t asked for and who’d refused to head home on his command.
You still there, Kiara? Apparently, telepathy worked best when a witch was invisible.
Of course,
I am. I’ve already told you. I’m sticking close until you’re back at Caldion for the night.
Kiara was a beauty with large, dark brown eyes and long brown hair and he had a thing for her. But he didn’t want her close, not when every wolf instinct he possessed told him something bad was going down tonight. He needed to find a way to get rid of her, if he could.
So, you’re playing at being my bodyguard. What are you? A buck-ten?
I’ve got more curves than that, Handsome.
His jaw worked as he ground his molars. She’d taken to calling him ‘handsome’ when he was anything but. He bore hideous scars over the left side of his face and into his scalp. His left eye had been closed up for the eight years he’d been in Five Bridges. Calling him handsome was a joke.
Except she wasn’t joking.
He’d objected to the nickname when Kiara had first used it, but the woman had a stubborn streak and wouldn’t let it go. She kept saying she saw past the scars. She saw who he was and that handsome was the right word.
Like hell.
He might have been passable before his alter transformation, before he’d entered Five Bridges. But a witch had used a poisoned paste on him and left him deformed. He would have died if Alpha Fergus hadn’t gotten him the help he needed.
It had been a fiery baptism into the alter world of Five Bridges. He’d faced death a thousand times since, so at this point, he thought the introduction a fitting precursor to his normal everyday life.
If he saw trouble, he went after it.
Some said he had a death wish. He saw it differently. He stayed in the thick of things because he’d vowed to do all he could to put Five Bridges right and make Savage a better place for his wolves.
Or he’d die trying.
He was also resigned to going it alone. If he was going to face off with the Grim Reaper every night, he saw no reason to put a woman through that kind of torment.
Which brought him back to his night’s shadow.
Kiara Fleming was an intense, powerful witch who had been tracking him all week, not to mention off and on for the past month-and-a-half. He wouldn’t say he was used to her presence and for the most part she’d stayed out of his way. But she’d become a problem he didn’t know how to solve.
For one thing, his alpha-mating cycle had reached a peak and for whatever reason, he wanted the witch bad. She had a familiar floral scent that kept him locked in a vicious cycle of lust. He even knew the scent: Freesias. Sweet, delicate and something he wanted to devour.
The bigger problem was that Kiara was invisible. She’d created a spell around herself so that she couldn’t be seen and that grated on him. Could he really trust this woman? His history said he couldn’t.
So, where exactly are you? he asked. Right now. Are you on the sidewalk in front of the station? He peered straight ahead and searched the area closest to the front glass doors, trying to locate her. But he saw nothing that would indicate she was there.
I’m standing by your door, so don’t open it suddenly. I’m not in an alternate reality.
That much I remember. If he punched the air and made contact, she’d get hurt. Her invisibility shield wasn’t about protection, just subterfuge.
He still couldn’t believe she was so close. Or that she’d stuck with him all night. What gives, Kiara? Why are you still here? All this week, you’ve left by two or three. Right now, it’s past four. Dawn arrived early in the desert in July.
She didn’t answer right away. He couldn’t see her, but he could feel her nerves. Something’s not right, Warren. I’ve felt it for hours.
He repressed a sigh. He agreed with her. I know what you mean. So, maybe you should take off. I don’t want you caught in the crossfire if things go south.
No, thanks. I’m here to stay.
Kiara, seriously. I need you to leave, get yourself to safety for Christ’s sake.
Not gonna happen. I’m sticking this one out. Definitely stubborn.
He smiled. Thought I was the only one with a death wish.
That’s the last thing you have, Warren. I know the truth about you.
There it was again, her insistence she knew him. He ground his molars in quiet protest. I’m getting out of the SUV.
I’ve moved toward the rear. You’re good to go.
As he opened the door, he felt more needles, this time along both arms, a similar sensation to getting a tattoo, though not as painful. He rubbed his arms like he had a chill, but this was no chill.
He looked up into the night sky. A storm was coming. He could see a line of clouds piling in from the north. The summer monsoon season was on the city of Phoenix, and would be through August.
His scalp felt odd as though narrow lines of electricity ran over his skin. His long blond hair would begin to move around his shoulders as the storm got closer. It had happened before. Something about his wolf had started connecting with thunderstorms, another mystery of his alter existence in Five Bridges. He’d asked around, but no one had heard of the phenomenon. It seemed to be peculiar to him.
Her voice pierced his head once more. Is your storm coming?
‘His’ storm. That’s what she’d started calling it.
He had only one answer. Yes.
~ ~ ~
Kiara tried to understand how she’d gotten here, standing near the rear bumper of Alpha Warren’s Border Patrol SUV, all but stalking him.
Except she wasn’t. She had a connection to him she didn’t yet understand. But whatever it was, she knew her role in his life was critical to the future of Savage Territory and possibly even Five Bridges.
She didn’t like being an alter witch, but fate or destiny or the gods, or whatever, had sent her here. So, she would do all she could to serve her new world.
Warren was her role model. He laid down his life for not just his pack, but every wolf in Savage, every night. The least she could do, given the present threat, was to help make sure he stayed alive.
She gave voice to her biggest concern. Do you think Julio intends to move against you? As in, tonight? Julio was an ambitious man who worked for the cartels. She’d seen him a few times. He was a big man, almost as tall as Warren and well-muscled. He wore his long black hair in a multitude of braids with small silver and blue beads as accents throughout.
She watched Warren take a long look around, beyond the street to the strip center opposite, the buildings next door, the parking lot. He took in every detail, his gaze scanning intently. I think he’s been working up to it.
In recent months, Julio had taken over two packs, assassinating their alphas. He’d gotten the deed done so fast, neither Warren nor Alpha Fergus had known about it until it was too late. Julio had forged the bond swiftly and ended the possibility of an intervention. Once a pack acknowledged its leader, the relationship was sacrosanct unless the alpha died, dissolved the bond or was supplanted in a dominance battle. None of these seemed likely to occur in the near future.
See anything unusual? She asked. She fixed her gaze to him as he kept looking.
Nothing. A distant flash of lightning lit up his face. His scars looked like a patchwork of silvery rivers. She bore similar scars on her chest from a recent abduction by a dark witch. She’d been tortured for three weeks with a flesh-consuming poisoned paste. She would have died if her friend Maeve and her bonded wolf-mate, Braden, hadn’t rescued her.
Maybe that was part of the reason Kiara was here. She’d been given a second chance and she wanted to be sure she used her time and power as wisely as possible.
Dark forces were moving in Five Bridges and not just in Savage Territory. Each of the territories that made up their confined world was under siege. The cartels that produced and sold a variety of flame drugs kept working to solidify their power. Anyone standing in their way got mowed down.
The three main cartels running drugs in and out of Five Bridges had ramped up their operations. Sex trafficking was at an all-time high. But there was a third element that had her more concerned than
anything else. The flame drugs and alter serum that had created the five alter species, had unleashed more preternatural power than anyone yet understood. Warren, with his bizarre storm-related abilities was a perfect example. If his powers were rising, and to a similar degree, her own, what other alter species were also increasing in power. Not everyone was good, like Warren. In fact, it seemed the other way around.
She even suspected Julio may not have acted alone. If he’d had assistance in taking over the packs, who was helping him?
With her gaze still settled on Warren, she wasn’t surprised when the ends of his hair started lifting into the air and flowing in waves. She’d seen this happen twice before. Once when a storm approached like the winds now picking up from the north. The other time had been just two days ago, though there hadn’t been a cloud in the sky. Instead, he’d been on patrol and had been duking it out with a wolf high on emerald flame.
She’d watched at a safe distance. The wolf had been like a maniac because of the drug. A dark green flame pattern had pulsed on his neck indicating his addiction. The drug had also enhanced his abilities, giving him more strength and agility than he would normally have had. He’d elongated his jaw and brought his wolf canines into play. He could have easily bitten Warren’s throat in half.
Warren, seeing the threat, had revved up his adrenaline. The result had been first the movement of his hair, then small sparks of lightning flickering up and down his arms. He’d levitated and flown in a tornado-like circle around the wolf, punched him in his kidneys and brought him down. She’d never seen an alter creature whip through the air with such speed, as though disappearing then reappearing in a new spot.