by Lynn Howard
Noah’s Fire
Noah’s Fire
Lynn Howard
@2019
Published by Twisted Heart Press, LLC
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Your non-refundable purchase allows you to one legal copy of this work for your own personal use. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload, or for a fee.
Disclaimer: This book may contain explicit sexual content, graphic, adult language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable. This e-book is for sale to adults ONLY, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Lynn Howard will not be responsible for any loss, harm, injury or death resulting from use of the information contained in any of its titles.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, places, businesses, and incidents are from the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual places, people, or events is purely coincidental. Any trademarks mentioned herein are not authorized by the trademark owners and do not in any way mean the work is sponsored by or associated with the trademark owners. Any trademarks used are specifically in a descriptive capacity.
Chapter One
Hollyn’s feet hit the ground hard, pinecones and twigs digging into her bare soles. They were catching up to her. Calling on her gift, she almost screamed in frustration as the foggy, drunken feeling she’d woken with dampened her effort.
She could hear them getting closer, yet she couldn’t make her legs move any faster. There was nowhere to hide they wouldn’t find her, not with their sense of smell and sight, even in the damp, dark night.
Shifters. Freaking Shifters had found her and taken her as she’d walked home from work. She’d stayed in areas highly populated with humans in hopes of blending in and staying far away from the creatures. They’d risked discovery and for what? Money.
Hollyn knew far too well how much her kind was worth on the trafficking circuit. Even if the humans who bought her didn’t know what she was, the energy she put out mixed with her unique looks would intrigue them enough to keep her as their own personal slave.
And then there were the Shifters who’d pay a pretty penny for her womb. There was no evidence of what kind of children an Elemental Fae and Shifter would create, but some believed it would create some kind of super creature, someone able to blend in with humans while holding so many gifts. There were even more who believed the mixture of supernatural blood would aid in the takeover of society, something she had zero interest in.
Sounds of someone running came from ahead of her, then something blurred across the area. Hollyn slid to a stop, the force throwing her forward. Hands grabbed her arms and yanked her up. Opening her mouth to release a scream, she gasped when a hand slapped over her mouth and she was yanked against a hard, warm body. He dragged her until they were hidden behind a tree.
Someone appeared in front of her. She could barely make out his face in the dim moonlight appearing through the gaps in drying leaves overhead. He held a finger to his mouth, moving close enough for Hollyn to see his face.
His eyes raised and he looked over her head and around the tree. In one swift motion, she was scooped into the arms of the man holding her, then all three of them were on the move. Hollyn’s body barely jostled as trees zoomed past her. They were running way faster than she could on her own. The stranger was taking her away, hopefully away from danger and not from the fire to the frying pan.
And then the trees parted and a car appeared parked on the shoulder. The guy ahead of her yanked the back door open, then dove into the passenger seat as the guy holding her climbed in, depositing Hollyn onto the seat next to him.
Turning to look through the back window as the car drove off, the sound of tires screeching and smell of burning rubber filling her senses, she watched in terror as four massive wolves chased after the vehicle.
They might be fast, but they couldn’t keep up. Eventually, they slowed to a stop, raised their heads in the air and howled long and loud.
Adrenaline coursed through her system, warring with whatever she’d been given to knock her out. Her eyes drooped, her muscles burned and all she wanted to do was sleep.
“What’s wrong with her?” the driver asked.
“They drugged her,” the guy sitting beside her said, lifting one of her lids and shining a light into her pupil. “You still with us?”
“Yeah,” she croaked out as she pulled away from the offensive light.
“I need you to try to stay awake for me,” he said.
Now that the imminent threat was behind them, the last thing she wanted was to stay awake. She wanted to go to sleep and wake up and this had been nothing more than a nightmare.
“What’s your name?” the guy asked, this time lifting her arm and checking her pulse.
“Hollyn,” she said, slumping further in her seat. “You a doctor?”
“Something like that,” he said. “I’m Aron. That’s Brax,” he said, motioning to the guy driving. “And that’s his brother Daxon. Mason will meet us later.”
“You’re Shifters,” she said. She realized she should be afraid. What if they hadn’t rescued her, but were taking her away from their rivals so they could make the money instead?
But that didn’t feel right. These guys seemed different. They’d seemed angry when they found her. And Aron was intent on making sure she was healthy and alive. Her magic didn’t recoil from them but aided in slowing her heartrate.
“We are,” Aron said, lifting his hand and placing it on her forehead.
She swatted his hand away and scooted until she was almost against the other door.
“You’re safe, Hollyn. We’re not like those fuckers. You’re safe,” Aron repeated.
Daxon turned and offered her a bottle of water.
“You trying to drug me, too?” she asked, eying the bottle suspiciously.
“It’s still sealed,” Daxon said, keeping his arm outstretched.
Taking the bottle from him, she held it close to her ear and listened for the crack of the seal. Even when she heard it, she sniffed at the contents, not convinced they didn’t poke a hole with a syringe or something.
Aron took the bottle from her hand and tilted it back, taking a large swig. He offered it back to her with his brows raised as if proving to her the water was safe. With one more sniff, she tilted the bottle back and emptied half its contents.
It didn’t help the feeling of being stoned, but her mouth was no longer sticky and dry.
“What did they give me?” she slurred. As the adrenaline wore off, the drugs seemed to be affecting her again.
When she’d woken in that musty room, she’d barely been able to get her feet under her. Until she’d heard the male voices outside her room. Pieces of how she’d gotten from the sidewalk outside her apartment to where ever they’d taken her fell into place and she’d climbed through the window, jumping and landing a full story below.
Her ankle throbbed, but she’d run as fast as she could. They’d discovered her escape minutes later and she’d heard as the conversation and voices turned to growls and snarls of their beasts. If she’d had any doubt about who’d kidnapped her before, those doubts were laid to rest within seconds.
Bending forward, Hollyn touched the swollen area around her ankle. It wasn’t broken,
but she knew she’d feel it tomorrow.
“What’s wrong?” Aron asked, turning the flashlight on his phone and shining it on her foot.
“I turned my ankle when I jumped out the window,” Hollyn said, examining the swelling now that she could see.
“You jumped out a window?” Brax asked, glancing at her in the rearview mirror.
“It was either that or try to fight through the assholes who were hanging around outside my door.”
All three men chuckled, but Aron kept examining her ankle.
“It’s not broken. I’ll wrap it when we get somewhere safe.”
She heard him, felt the pain of him poking and prodding the bone, but reality was beginning to fade. She knew Aron wanted her to stay awake, but within minutes, she lost the fight with consciousness and sunk into a nightmare about teeth and claws and slavery.
****
Noah groaned as someone pounded on his front door. The sound echoed through the house and felt like a sledgehammer to his skull. Cracking one eye open, he shook his head at the dim light coming through his curtains. It wasn’t bright enough for it to be time for him to get up. Whoever the fuck was beating on his door so early in the morning could go away.
But the pounding persisted. And it was too loud to be Shawnee waking him up for work. Throwing the blankets off, he stomped to his front door in nothing but his boxer briefs. He yanked the door open, his mouth open to cuss someone out, then snapped it shut when he realized who was standing on his front porch.
“What the fuck are you doing here? Where the fuck have you been?” he growled out to Aron, the Alpha of the Ravenwood Pride. That asshole and his buddies had been MIA since the attack on Big River the year before.
“I need a favor,” Aron said instead of answering either of Noah’s questions.
“Dude, I haven’t seen you in a year and you just show up at…what fucking time is it?”
“I’ve been busy.” Aron turned and waved at a woman who stood beside Aron’s expensive as fuck sports car.
“Who’s that?” Noah asked as the woman approached.
She had hair so black it was almost blue and it hung to the middle of her back, swaying with each step. As she got closer, she pulled it back at her nape and wrapped a rubber band around it, her eyes never leaving his. And those fucking eyes…
The only color that came to Noah’s mind was sapphire. He’d always thought Emory from Big River had unique eyes, but she had nothing on this woman. But as she drew near, those eyes seemed to change, lightening until they were the color of the sky. That was no trick of light. And he wasn’t tired enough to be seeing shit.
This woman was not human. Yet, he didn’t smell fur or anything that would indicate she was a Shifter, either.
Narrowing his eyes on the woman, he turned back to Aron. “What kind of favor?”
They had finally gotten a little peace after Shawnee’s family Pride had attacked and tried to drag Shawnee back when she didn’t perform the way they thought she should. Was Aron bringing more bull shit to their doorstep?
The woman stopped at the bottom of Noah’s steps and looked around at the other cabins before turning her attention back to Noah.
“This is Hollyn. I need you to keep her safe for a while. I’ll come back for her later.”
Aron turned and started climbing down the steps.
“Wait! What the fuck are you talking about?” Noah moved until he was standing at the top looking down at Aron and Hollyn.
“Keep her safe. That’s all I’m asking,” Aron said.
“Safe from who?” Noah looked the woman over again and couldn’t help but notice her tiny waist, round hips and perky tits. Did she have some kind of ex stalking her or something? And why the hell would Aron bring her to Blackwater? They weren’t fucking bodyguards.
“We found her outside of Kansas City. Traffickers snatched her off the street.”
Aron’s eyes held a faint glow as he spoke making Noah wonder who Hollyn was to him and why he wouldn’t just keep her safe himself. The panther and his Pride were perfectly capable of protecting one woman. Why bring her all the way across the state?
Noah looked at Hollyn again. She was almost six inches shorter than Aron putting her somewhere around five foot seven. She was tall compared to the rest of the women in his life.
“They’ll still be looking for her. I need you to keep her here until I can find the fuckers and end the threat.” Aron’s eyes flashed brighter as he spoke. End the threat. He didn’t need to spell it out for Noah to know he meant execute the sick bastards.
“Why me?” Noah called after Aron as he made his way to his little sports car.
Aron turned and shrugged. “You were home.”
Noah looked around. Everyone was up and gone except him and Shawnee. And since she didn’t have a car yet, Aron wouldn’t know she was still sleeping inside the cabin she shared with Colton.
“Fuck,” Noah muttered as Aron dropped into his car.
He stood with his hands on his hips watching as the gravel threw up dust from Aron’s tires. Then, he turned to Hollyn. “I’m Noah,” he grumbled and jerked his head toward his house, assuming the woman would follow him inside.
He should’ve told Aron no. Told him to take the woman somewhere else. Told him they needed a break from all the bull shit. But he didn’t. And he wouldn’t. Aron and the rest of the panthers had come to their aid when they needed it. They’d helped to keep Big River’s mates and the pups safe when a rival wolf Pack had attacked. Technically, Noah owed Aron.
Once Noah was in his kitchen making coffee, he turned to find Hollyn standing barely inside the door, her hands clenched around the strap of a backpack hanging off one shoulder.
“Close the door,” he grumbled as he pulled two mugs from the sink and handwashed them. Had it just been him, he’d have rinsed the old coffee out and refilled it.
Hollyn turned and closed the door but she didn’t move further into the house.
“You can come in. You want cream and sugar?” he asked as he poured the coffee.
“Are you a Shifter, too?” she asked, her voice a little on the deep side but feminine enough to make his dick twitch.
Noah glanced down at himself. Fuck. He’d had that entire conversation in nothing but his boxers. “I got to get ready for work. Make yourself at home.”
He set her mug on the counter, set the sugar container next to it, then left Hollyn standing there as he headed for the shower.
Once he was cleaned up and dressed, he headed back to find Hollyn standing in the kitchen clutching the coffee mug between both hands.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, sitting on the couch to pull on his boots.
“You didn’t answer my question,” she said, watching his every move.
“What question?”
“Are you a Shifter, too?” Her voice was a little louder this time, a little more confident.
Noah looked up from tying his boots and finally noticed the fear in those weirdly gorgeous eyes. “Yeah,” he said and turned back to his boots.
He wanted her to see he was normal, safe, not some monster ready to pounce on her.
“Are you like them?”
“Am I a kidnapping piece of shit who thinks a woman is a piece of property? Hell no.” He stood and moved to grab his cup of coffee that was probably lukewarm by now.
“That, too. But are you a wolf?”
“Nope. Bear.”
“Good,” she said with a heavy sigh.
“But my friends are.”
And she was back to being tense.
Noah leaned his hip against the counter and really looked at her. There were faint scars on the sides of her face and neck as well her arms. He’d only seen her move when she was outside and she seemed to have a slight limp.
“Are you injured?” he asked, anger rising deep inside of him at the thought of someone touching Hollyn.
Her head wagged slightly side to side, but she never took her eyes off hi
m, even when she sipped at her coffee. It was as if she was afraid the second she looked away, he’d attack her.
“Listen,” he said, downing the rest of his bitter, cold drink and dropping it in the sink. “Those assholes that you met? We’re not like that. Most Shifters just want to live their life in peace, just like you. We’re different. My friends, even the wolves, are different. We fight to protect people, especially females.”
His Clan, Big River Pack, and Ravenwood Pride had all gone to war to protect Emory, a wolf and member of Big River, and Callie, a lioness from a piece of shit Pride from forced mating. Since then, the laws had been changed and women were being treated better. Fairly. As equals. The way he was raised and the way it should’ve been the whole fucking time.
“That’s what Aron said,” she said, grimacing after taking a drink. He had no idea whether she’d added anything or if she was making the face because her coffee had grown cold, too.
“He’s a smart man. I have to go to work.” He looked around his pig sty of a house. Fuck. He couldn’t just leave her alone all day. Not that he worried she’d touch his shit or steal anything. But Aron worried about her safety. He’d driven over three hours to bring her to Blackwater. How the hell could he watch over her if she was alone in the territory all day.
“You scared of lion Shifters, too?” he asked, only half teasing.
Shawnee was a lioness and mate to one of his Clan brothers. She was also tiny and unimposing.
“Is he as big as you?” she asked, a curve at the corners of her lips.
Ohhh. She was teasing. That was way better than being terrified of him. A little tinge of masculine pride hit him when a pretty pink washed over her cheeks and she dropped her eyes. Had she been flirting and was now embarrassed? And why did he care if she was flirting? She meant something to Aron.
Even as he tried to convince himself she was off-limits, his eyes dipped to the swell of her tits before rising to her face. She’d caught him checking her out. Dammit.
Instead of doing the whole my-eyes-are-up-here deal, she shook her head and smiled. “Don’t worry. It happens a lot,” she teased.