Freed by Fire (Dragonkeepers Book 5)

by Kimber White

  He was seamless, effortless. His wings unfurled beside me. I was so focused on him, I barely felt myself shift. But, there I was, soaring right beside him. He was right. I felt something else. The air shimmered and rolled as if Kian was bending it to his will. I realized he was. It came from his fire. As the ground whipped by below us, I felt a barrier between us. Clouds gathered and I understood. Anyone looking up would only see a gathering storm.

  Kian let go of my hand. He dipped his wings, signaling me to try. I was afraid to leave his shadow. I knew how dangerous it was for both of us if anyone saw me. But, the magic he threw off enveloped me. Then, I felt it in me. I let out a blast of flame and the clouds gathered below me.

  I did it!

  I flew in a bubble of shimmering magic. It was so simple once I understood. How had I not thought to try it by myself?

  I felt freer that day than ever. Kian had a purpose. I saw him scanning the ground. Astor. We were here to find Astor. I felt torn in half. I wanted to test this new-found power. But, Astor was down there somewhere. He could be hurt. Bleeding. Dying. I closed my eyes and tried to listen for him.

  Astor. I cast my thoughts out as far as I could. Astor and I could never quite manage telepathy. His astral projection was the closest we ever came.

  I felt him. But, I couldn’t locate him. Kian flew just off my right wing. His dragon was an elegant thing, but brutal too. I felt the violence in him. The madness. I realized the risk he was taking even shifting at all.

  I tried to reach Astor with my thoughts again. I got silence in return. Then, without thinking, I tried something else.

  Kian, I can’t find him. I think he’s alive. I’d know if he wasn’t. But, he’s hidden. I don’t know if it’s his magic or someone else’s shielding him from me.

  Kian let out a screech. He banked hard left and spiraled toward the ground. We were just over Tiger Mountain Forest.

  Follow me.

  His thoughts burst into my mind. My heart raced. I could hear him. He could hear me!

  I followed him. Kian landed in a clearing near the river. Just a few yards to the north, was a giant waterfall. It was beautiful here. Perfect. With the tall pine trees, we were shielded from view even without my new cloaking powers.

  I shifted. Kian’s dragon kept his distance for a moment. His talons dug into the earth. With horror, I realized he was having trouble coming back into himself. Instinct drove me. I ran right to his side. Kian side-stepped as if to ward me off. But, I wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Kian!” I shouted. I ran my hands along his wing.

  “Kian,” I said more softly. I came around to his head. I reached up, guiding him down so his beautiful green dragon eyes met mine.

  “Come back,” I said. “I need you.”

  He blinked, let out a puff of smoke. He took a halting step back. For a moment, I thought he might keel over. But, he found himself. With a great, shuddering breath, Kian Brandhart shifted.

  He doubled over, dropping to all fours. The effort of the shift had taken a toll on him. Just as I was coming into my power, his was getting further out of his grasp.

  “Kian,” I said. I cupped his face in my hands and guided him up. He grabbed my elbows for support and got to his feet. He was dripping with sweat. His eyes still sparked with gold fire. But, he was in there. I got him back.

  “Calla,” he gasped.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “I’ve got you. We’re going to figure this out.”

  A deeper instinct took over. We were so close. I had my chest pressed against his. I felt his heart beating so fast. Mine rose to join it.

  “No,” he whispered. “I don’t know if I can…”

  “I do,” I said.

  God help me. In spite of all I didn’t know about him, my body responded to his. He’d shown me his power. Now I had to show him mine.

  I kissed him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. He was so good. So strong. I didn’t have to hold back. I couldn’t hurt him. He couldn’t hurt me. Could I do this? Could I give in to this need just this once? I knew in my heart I may never have another chance.

  He devoured me with his kisses. The heat inside me traveled to my core. I was so wet, so ready for him. I wanted this. Lust pulsed through me. I felt his. He was rock hard as I reached for him. It would be so good. So easy. Even if it was wrong. How could fate be so cruel to bring this man to me but make him lose control?

  “Calla,” he whispered. “God. You’re mine.”

  I was. I wanted to be. Yes.

  He found my nipples with his mouth. He sank to his knees and worshipped me. His tongue was hot. My fire swelled. I knew that’s what it would be. What I was meant for. We would join our bodies and our fire. I was born for it. I knew it. It was everything.

  I threw my head back, giving in to the sensation. I was so close. I could take it. I could belong to him.

  The wind kicked up, bending the trees.

  “Calla!” Kian cried. The lust left his voice, replaced by fury.

  A different magic came between us. It knocked my breath from my lungs. Kian’s dragon scales burst out along his arms. He was losing control again. He lifted a hand and pointed toward the woods. My hair whipping around me, I turned.

  Astor.

  He walked straight toward us. He lifted his finger. Kian threw himself in front of me just before a wave of light...Astor’s magic...would have struck me in the chest.

  It struck Kian instead. He fell to the ground, gasping for air. His eyes turned to fire.

  “Astor, no!” I screamed. But, it was too late. The next bolt of magic hit Kian in the head. His dragon burst forth with tremendous violence. When I put a hand on his wing, I couldn’t feel Kian anymore. There was only the beast.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Kian

  All fire. All blackness. All rage.

  I heard Calla’s voice. Her fear. If it had been anyone else, I would have set the earth on fire. But, it was Calla. And she was in danger.

  A great black shadow rose in front of her. The mage drew power from the earth and the water. But, those weren’t his strengths. He shimmered like a wraith as Calla held her hand out. She stood between us, pleading.

  “No! Kian...listen to me!”

  She couldn’t see what I saw. The mage was using every element at his disposal to try and draw Calla away from me. He fed off her fire. He was nothing without it. She was trying to protect him.

  I drew up, letting my own fire build. Calla’s eyes went wide with fear. Of course she could sense what I was about to do.

  Kill. Die. Live.

  The mage’s eyes went black. He rose up, levitating to match my flight. He circled around me. Steam rose from the river beside us. He was strong. But, he was mortal.

  “Kian!”

  Calla didn’t shift. She reached up and touched my wing. It set off a lightning storm inside of me. She wanted me to trust her. Why couldn’t she see the mage the way I did? He had a naked lust for power. He would use her until there was nothing left. He was only alive now because he was close to her. I would kill him. I would turn him to ash.

  I rose higher. The mage followed. Calla grew smaller and smaller as I gained altitude. My power surged. I was free.

  “Come down!” Calla yelled. I sensed her fear. For a moment, I saw through her eyes and looked upon the mage. To her, he was simply old and frail. He was saying something. He told her I was beyond saving. He told her to come away with him.

  I would not let that happen.

  Blue lightning crackled from the mage’s fingertips. He sent a bolt of it straight into my chest. It knocked me backward. I spun out of control for a moment, but recovered quickly. Calla was crying now.

  I wanted to tell her to stay back. I wanted her to see the truth. I had no more words. There was only the dragon. That should have alarmed me. I was the thing my brothers and I had feared all this time. It no longer mattered.

  I let out a column of flame. Calla screamed. She was still on the ground. I felt
her heat, her despair. But, I was winning. The mage fell back. The hit should have incinerated him. When the smoke cleared, he wasn’t there anymore.

  Another bolt of lightning hit me in the back. I whirled around, my wings beating wild. I was at the top of the waterfall.

  It was a trick. An apparition. In the light, I could see straight through the mage. Astral projection. The coward’s way to fight.

  Calla rose up. She’d come so far in so little time. Her shift was effortless, graceful, fierce. She put herself in between me and the vision of the mage.

  Calla blasted a warning shot. Her fire only fueled mine. God help me, I wanted to feed off her too.

  She hit me again, knocking me into the trees.

  A roar ripped out of me. Calla circled. She was in control of her dragon. She fired again, driving me backward toward the water. I wanted to call her. Warn her. My words were gone. Kian was gone.

  I feared this my whole life. I might never shift again. I couldn’t get to the man.

  Calla. Sweet Calla. She’d miscalculated. It was her fire that sent me over the edge. It chased away all traces of the man I once was. She hit me again. The mage rose up beside her. He was saying something to her. Calla’s eyes flashed.

  God, she was beautiful. It could be like this for us for always. Her dragon and mine. We didn’t need mages. I didn’t need my brothers or my mother. We just needed the fire.

  She thought I was a monster. Maybe I was. But, I’d been so wrong about everything. I’d been fighting the wrong fights. This was so simple. Better. I gave in to it. It wasn’t madness at all. I wasn’t sick. This, at last, was peace.

  When Calla tried to charge me, I dodged her. I dipped low, zipping toward the ground. Calla pulled up. She couldn’t match the speed of my maneuver. I let loose a blast of fire, scoring the ground.

  The trees ignited. Living flame. I watched, transfixed. It was perfect. So perfect. Why hadn’t I realized it before? No more shifters. No more mages. No more fear of being hunted. I was the hunter now.

  Calla called to me. I heard, but didn’t understand. Maybe it was my name. I didn’t know it anymore. I had no use for it.

  I rolled again, loving the freefall. I stopped just short of the ground, sending a wall of water from the river. It would never be enough to douse the flames.

  More. I needed more. It was only the beginning.

  I felt Calla behind me, but she couldn’t keep up. She would never catch me. No one could. I was the fire. I was the way.

  Lights blinked below me. Boats dotted the shoreline. The beast took over. As I banked hard, I let my fire loose. The boats exploded, one by one, in a domino effect. The water boiled.

  I still needed more.

  A blast of fire hit me in the back, sending me careening wildly into one of the buildings. It crushed under the weight of me. I felt new magic all around. There was someone here. The mage. The dragon.

  She would try to stop me. She would fail. They would all fail.

  I pulled up, leaving a pile of rubble and brick beneath me. Shifters. I felt them. The wolves came pouring out of the woods. There was another. He was big and hungry. He sensed the dragon, but she could only focus on me. He would kill her if he got the chance. He had killed for her before.

  I turned, breathing fire up the street. Streetlamps exploded. A car flipped where it had parked along the road. The fire melted metal and warped the pavement.

  Something came for her. She still didn’t see. I drew in a great breath of air and let loose the inferno. The wildfire raged from where it all started. Now, this new flame would join with it. I would turn it all to ash. Then, she would be free. I was already gone.

  She called after me. She still didn’t see the threat coming up behind her. But, I did. Two red eyes glowed in the shadows. He would bide his time. He couldn’t see me, but he knew I was there. I sent fire into the alley. He ran. I couldn’t tell if he was fast enough, only that he was heading away from her.

  The bear. It had always been the bear. I felt an ancient echo in his power. His clan had hunted dragons long ago. I saw a woman with Calla’s eyes. Tragic. Lost. She mourned for her mate. Then, her fire consumed her. Calla said her parents had been killed by bear shifters. This one shared their blood. He was down there. Running. I would burn the town to the ground around him. For her. For Calla.

  She kept calling my name. But, it wasn’t mine anymore. There was nothing left for us here. I felt the pull. I had freed this place with fire. It was time to find a new place and start all over again.

  She was close. I felt her anguish. I felt her love. I still wanted her. I turned, letting her dragon catch up to mine.

  We were suspended in midair. No time. No space. Just us. Her power matched mine. Two halves of a whole. I made my neck long and let out a roar that shook the ground. She shuddered and gave an anguished cry. She still thought she needed to save me.

  Dark magic swirled behind her. It made her feel safe. It told her lies. I wanted her. I craved her. I tilted my head, beckoning her to follow.

  She let out another cry. My head felt like it would explode from it. Words I could no longer understand. I didn’t belong to them anymore. The only thing left worth saving was the fire.

  She had a tear in her eye as the town below us burned. Sirens sounded in the distance. There would be no rescue. Water could not douse living flame.

  I dipped my wing one last time. One last plea.

  Green fire. Beauty. Sorrow. She was mine. I couldn’t be hers. It was too late. But, at least I could still be free.

  Chapter Twenty

  Calla

  “Kian!”

  Flames licked my wings. I had the choice to stay or to go. He could hear me. I could still feel the man inside him. But, he was so far gone. I didn’t think he could shift anymore.

  “Calla!”

  Astor was on the ground. He covered his mouth with his arm. The fire raged out of control. Every building in Shadow Point was at risk. The fire crews would come. But, I alone knew they would do no good.

  I acted on instinct. Kian’s sickness was the cause of all of this. But, he was the reason I could do something about it now. Still cloaked, I rose higher in the air. Astor was just a dot below me. I inhaled. Then, I let out a great breath. It knocked Astor to the ground. I should have warned him. But, it was working. The flames in town started to dwindle.

  I raced toward the pier and circled. I tilted, dipping my wing into the water. I sent a wall of it straight toward town.

  It was enough. The fire was contained. But, the damage had already been done.

  I flew to the rooftop of my apartment building. It was a smoldering ruin. I prayed my mother’s journal was safe. Surely she’d imbued it with a little bit of magic. I shifted and raced through the window. I could barely see through the smoke.

  The journal was there. Some of the pages were singed, but the book was still intact. It was the only thing worth salvaging. All of Astor’s belongings were ash. I tucked the book under my arm and ran down the fire escape to find him.

  He sat on the curb, coughing. I had twin urges to hug him and throttle him. If he’d have just listened to me, maybe I could have gotten through to Kian. They had both acted to protect me. I hadn’t needed it from either of them.

  “Come on,” I said. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

  Astor nodded through his hacking coughs. The fire crews were arriving. As far as I could tell, Kian had only hit the empty buildings. The Blue Heron was gone. My apartment building. Most of the other businesses hadn’t even yet opened for the day. Thank God for that. He’d leveled much of woods, but his fire hadn’t touched the residential parts of town.

  “I told you,” Astor said. “If you’d have listened…”

  “Don’t start with me,” I whipped around to face him. “This is as much your fault as his.”

  “He’s a dragon,” Astor whispered. “You should have told me.”

  “And you shouldn’t have gone off half-cocked. You provok
ed him.”

  Astor’s eyes widened. “I what? He’s a beast, Calla.”

  “No,” I said. “He’s sick. That’s all. I’ve got to figure out if it’s too late to save him.”

  “You’ve lost your mind,” he said. “This is what you’ve been keeping from me? Calla...your mother…”

  “Stop!” I shouted. “My mother predicted that Kian would find me. She knew it all along. And you said yourself your people had always believed you’d know when the time was right to give life to me. It was Kian. He’s the reason. I know it in my heart.”

  Astor’s shoulders dropped. “You think he’s your mate.”

  The words thundered through me. My heart answered for me. Yes. Kian was mine. Only now it might be too late.

  “I’m leaving,” I said. “Kian told me what to do if anything happened to him. There might still be a chance. But, I’m going to need some help. You should go to San Diego like you planned, Astor. I don’t think it’s safe for you where I’m going. I can’t risk the chance that the people I need to see will react to you the same way Kian did.”

  “You’re not safe,” he said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

  In all the chaos, I’d forgotten one very critical fact. Last night, Astor had appeared to warn me of something. He came to tell me about Owen. I grabbed him by the shoulders.

  “Astor, when you came to the cave. You knew Owen was in trouble. How? What did you see?”

  Astor blinked. He was rendered speechless for a moment. “The bear,” he said. “My God. I came to tell you about the bear. I thought...I sensed…”

  I felt like I was going to be sick. “A bear?”

  “A bear shifter killed Owen. Calla, he came looking for you. That’s why I had to leave the apartment. I’ve been trying to find you. I knew you weren’t safe. I thought you were with the bear. I had no idea you’d be with...him.”

  My mind whirled. A bear shifter. Astor didn’t even need to tell me what he looked like. I already knew. He was the same one who came into the Blue Heron the night Kian did for the first time. He was the one Kian confronted in the alley. Duncan.