Kissed by Fire A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance (Maidens Book 2) Read online

  Beyond that, the slavers had to be stopped and I had obligations to my tribe, but now that I’d held Niall in my arms and inside my body, could I ever let him go? I began to suspect that would be more difficult than I could ever imagine. We belonged in different worlds that would struggle to mix. Once again, I decided fate was cruel.

  Back at the castle, we were greeted with a whooping cheer from Alec who bounded up to us and gave us a big bear hug.

  “Welcome to the family, lass. 'Tis an honor to have you.” Alec’s voice boomed over us like a blessing.

  When he was done, Malcolm took his place followed by Sara. Gavin, though, hung back and merely nodded our way, his expression guarded. For a man with such bright hair and light features, he struck me as dark and shadowed.

  “It is done? You’re free?” Gavin asked, studying Niall intently.

  “Aye, brother. It is.” Niall set me down and made sure I was steady on my feet before going to talk to his brother. Clasping the blond man’s shoulder in his hand, Niall gave his brother a little shake and spoke to him in a quiet murmur. I did not hear all that passed between them, but caught the tail end of it.

  “Have hope, brother. Two of us are free now. Your turn will come.” Niall smiled.

  Gavin shook his head. “Nay. The lady will never let me be. Maybe she will forget you, but I struck the first blow, the one that turned us all wrong. She’ll forever hold me accountable.”

  Niall began to speak then, but Sara gave a loud gasp, drawing everyone's attention. Pointing to the blood on Niall's chest, she asked, "What happened?" She tapped her forehead with her fingertips and frowned. "Everything was supposed to be okay. I don't understand."

  Alec put an arm around her and drew her close. "You can't know everything, lass."

  "And this happened long afore you were born anyway," Gavin said, his expression grim.

  "The last battle." Malcolm frowned.

  "Aye, the last battle," Niall said with a nod. "Still going on all these centuries after."

  "What are you talking about?" I looked from one brother to the next, trying to pierce their guarded expressions and understand what had happened. Sara seemed to be just as lost as me judging by the furrow in her brow.

  "Our curse froze us in time." Malcolm gestured to his body. "Dragons are near immortal, but we do age."

  "Only the curse kept time from touching us," Alec added.

  "And the day the Lady came for us, Niall had been wounded," Gavin said as if that explained everything. "Our last battle touches us still."

  "'Tis a mere scratch, though, right brothers?" Niall gave a broad smile that slipped away when his brothers didn't match it.

  "So, this wound has been festering for hundreds of years?" I studied the dried blood on my palms.

  "Aye." Malcolm nodded. "And dragons aren't so easily wounded which means..."

  "Poison," Sara blurted out. She sank into Alec, supporting herself against his body. "Oh no. I didn't see it."

  "Shh. It will be all right." He planted a kiss on the top of her head.

  "I should have known. I could have stopped him." She shot a distressed look Niall's way. "I'm sorry, Niall. If I'd know what would happen, I would have said something."

  He waved off her concern. "I know you would, lass. Donna fash yourself. You canna know all things at all times." To Malcolm, he said, "What can you do, brother? Anything?"

  "I have some things that will help, but I don't know if there's a cure." Malcolm's words cast a silent pall over the dawn.

  "Are you...are you saying he might die?" My heart dropped into my stomach.

  "Depends on the poison." Gavin's steady gaze met mine and I wondered at his composure. Did his brother dying not bother him? A coldness lurked in the man's eyes that made me believe it was possible he did not.

  "Well, come inside. We have a lot to do and not much time to do it in." Sara waved us all toward the castle. "Whatever you're going to do, Malcolm, do it fast."

  The three remaining brothers disappeared in the castle, leaving Sara and me alone.

  "Are you okay?" she asked.

  "I guess." A jumble of mixed feelings swirled inside me, tangled as seaweed in a whirlpool. I liked Niall. Enough to mate with him, but I had no sense of what it all meant.

  "It's intense. I know. I went through it with Alec."

  "That fast?"

  She nodded. "I needed help, too. That makes it all speed up. You don't have time to think, you're just trying to survive. Once you stop trying to make this all make sense, it's easy enough to accept the attraction. It sounds crazy, but we were meant to find these dragons of ours. It's our destiny and it started hundreds of years ago, before our great, great, great grandparents were even born."

  I raised my eyebrows. "That's some curse. It can't affect me, can it?" My heart stuttered at the thought. Would I be trapped here, confined to this place while my sister suffered?

  Sara stepped toward me and hooked her elbow with mine. “No. It can't touch us. The curse isn't what brings us together, it's Malcolm's magic." She led me into the castle. “Now, come on. Let’s get you some new clothes and something to eat. I went to the store while you were gone and I think I might have some things you’ll like.”

  Worry for Niall twisted my heart as we made our way into the castle. He'd been so kind to me, and we'd been so close just hours earlier. I felt almost like an extension of him, as if we'd somehow bonded beyond our coupling. My emotions must have shown on my face as Sara gave me a quick side hug.

  "It's going to be okay," Sara said as we made our way to the kitchen.

  "Do you know this for sure?" I looked at her closely, trying to read her expression.

  She tapped the center of her forehead. "Not yet, but there's no way we've come this far to lose your sister to slavers or Niall to an ancient battle wound. If all else fails, we'll take him to a doctor. Between Malcolm and modern medicine, something is bound to work."

  "And my sister?"

  "You still have Alec and me. We are pretty kickass. Just give it some time for things to sort themselves out."

  I took a breath and forced out as much tension as I could on the exhale. I had no choice but to hope for the best.

  ***

  Dressed in a soft, flexible pair of pants that I liked much better than the stiff, tight jeans and a new T-shirt, this one light purple, I sat and watched Sara as she flitted from one end of the kitchen to the other. “We don’t have fresh seaweed here as a general rule, but I got some sushi and,” she held up a bag that made a crinkling noise, “they make chips out of seaweed. If that doesn't work, I bought a bunch of vegetables.”

  She set a tray of something that smelled like fish yet looked nothing like it on the table. “This is the sushi.”

  I poked at it with a finger, intrigued.

  Behind me, there was a pop as she opened the bag and offered it to me. I took out a chip and examined it, feeling the grit of salt on my skin and the tang of it in my nose. Hesitant, I took a small bite and then smiled. “It’s good,” I said grabbing another handful.

  “Yeah?” She tried one and made a face. “Too salty for me.” Leaving the bag on the table, she went to the stove. “Would you like some tea?”

  I nodded. “Yes, please. Is there salt?” Niall had promised me salt, but in his absence,I decided I wouldn’t be afraid to ask. I was part of this strange clan, at least for the moment, and if I belonged, that meant I shouldn’t fear making simple requests.

  “Yeah, sure.” Sara raised an eyebrow, but made no other comment. She retrieved a glass shaker from a cupboard and handed it to me.

  “I like tea,” I said, experimentally dumping salt into my hand. “But it needs salt.”

  She chuckled. “Well, that’s a first. You know, the guys like their tea with Scotch.”

  “What is that?” Despite my innate language abilities, the word didn't hold any meaning for me. I licked the salt off my palm and closed my eyes as it filled my tongue. Delicious.

  “A typ
e of alcohol,” Sara said, removing the kettle from the stove just as it began to whistle. “Do you know what that is?”

  I shrugged. “No, not really.”

  “How about wine? Or spirits?”

  Horrified, I looked at her with wide yes. “You two-legs drink spirits? Do you put them in the wine? How do you keep them from flying away?”

  “Oh no,” said Sara, looking just as horrified as I was. “Not spirits as in the souls of the dead, spirits in terms of alcohol.” At my blank expression, she tried again. “What about mead or beer? Ever hear of those?”

  Understanding dawned and I remembered Gavin's flask. “Yes, those I know. Scotch is a beer?”

  “A strong one and very bitter. It burns when you drink it.” She stroked her throat for emphasis.

  “They like things that burn,” I observed as she made two mugs of tea.

  “Well, they are dragons after all.” She came to sit with me, bringing the mugs with her.

  “Have you seen my sister?” I asked as we settled at the table. Guilt flashed through me. Niall and I had been gone so long. Siya hadn't been far from my thoughts, but I'd been...distracted.

  Her expression sobered. “Yes.”

  My heart quickened at the seriousness of Sara's reaction to my question.“What happened?”

  Sara nodded. “She's okay, but we need to leave soon.”

  “What about Niall?” I asked, my worries returning and making my voice sharp. "What if he can't fly?"

  “We'll figure it out. I can see that much.” She gestured to the food in front of me. “Have some faith, and if I were you, I would eat as much as you can. It’s going to be a long couple of days.”

  I grabbed her hand, holding on tight. “What do you see? Tell me.”

  She pulled away from me. “I don’t like to say too much because that changes what people do. You’ll just have to trust that I’m guiding you as best I can.”

  "Do you know where she is at least?"

  "Yes. In the desert. There's a—"

  "Sheik," I said, cutting her off.

  She cocked her head at me. "How did you know?"

  "The slavers talked about a sheik. He must have my sister."

  "Yes. That sounds like the guy I've been seeing."

  "Oh, thank the Sea!" I clapped my hands together, and a few happy notes trilled their way up my throat. My sister and I would be home soon. I couldn't wait.

  Sara downed the last of her tea and stood. “I’m going to go let Niall and Alec know we’re leaving today. Eat. We won’t be here much longer."

  With that, she walked away. I poked at the sushi, trying to inspire my appetite which had shrunk with a new wave of worry for Niall and my sister. A green ribbon of what I decided was seaweed ran around it, and there was all this white stuff circling what looked to be fish. Picking up one of the rolls, I peered at it, studying its composition. The white was made up of lots of tiny little flecks. This must be rice, which I’d heard of but had never seen. I stuffed it into my mouth and chewed, analyzing the flavors that hit my tongue.

  Not bad.

  Niall walked into the kitchen just then, and his gaze dropping to the plate of sushi he asked, “How is it?”

  I stood up and went to him. He'd covered himself in a white shirt and jeans, which did nothing to hide the hard muscles of his physique. More importantly, I saw no signs of blood. "Are you okay?"

  He shrugged. "Why wouldn't I be? I'm a dragon. It takes more to hurt me than a flesh wound. Donna fash, lass. Malcolm patched me up. I'll live."

  Relief flooded me like a warm tide as he gathered me in his arms and lifted me up for a quick kiss. When he put me down, I asked, "So it wasna poisoned like Sara said?"

  He cupped my cheek in his hand, his eyes dancing with happiness. "It's fine, lass. I promise you. I'm fit as a newly uncursed dragon can be." He looked over to the table where the remains of my meal sat. "Now, how's the food? Any better?"

  I retrieved the sushi tray, offering him a piece. “It’s good, but I canna tell what kind of fish it is.”

  He inspected the sushi. “Salmon, I think. Sometimes 'tis hard to tell.”

  “My father liked salmon,” I said. Sudden longing for my home came over me. “We used to swim up north in the summer so he could catch them.”

  “Used to?” He settled in a seat across from me and picked up a sushi roll. “He doesna go anymore?”

  Tears burned my eyes, fierce and hot. I blinked them away. “He and my mother are gone.” They refused to sing the songs that could have saved them. Denied the magic that could have kept us all safe.

  Niall furrowed his brow and set the sushi he’d been about to eat down. “Och, I’m sorry to hear that lass. I’d hoped to meet them.”

  I stared out the window where the sun cast more shadows than light. “There was a spill. One of the big two-legs' boats lost its cargo. It poisoned many of my people. We were trying to save the oceanids.”

  “The oceanids?"

  "The fish. It's our word for anything that lives in the sea." I paused, remembering how we'd watched our parents swim off, unaware that would be the last time we would ever see them. "My sister and I were too little to go. They made us stay in the coral reef. And then...they were gone.”

  Niall came to sit beside me and wrapped an arm around me. Comforted by the heaviness of his presence and the strength it held, I relaxed into him. He was like a rock, one that burned hot as an underwater volcano. With him, I felt powerful.

  “I need to bring my sister home,” I said, my voice breaking. “I can’t lose anyone else.”

  “You won't, lass. I’ll make sure of it.”

  “Thank you,” I said, my ears tuning my voice to match his. “You donna even know me, and you took me in, made my problems your own.” His burr rolled off my tongue like water, with its own ebb and flow. I liked it. This place had very pretty English.

  Niall gave me a squeeze. “You forget what you’ve done for us. With two of us free now, we have real hope. We willna spend an eternity here, our fires wasting away.” Picking up a piece of sushi he offered it to me, “Now eat up, lass. We’re leaving in a few minutes.”

  Between bites, I asked him, "Have you ever been there?”

  “To where?" Niall popped a piece of sushi into his mouth.

  "She's in the desert. A sheik has her."

  "A sheik?" He gave me a questioning look. "What does a sheik want with a mermaid?"

  "I don't know. But we're going to find out," I said. Then, returning to my question, I asked, "So, the desert. What's it like?"

  He gave half a shrug. “Remember the curse? I couldna leave this place until you broke it."

  “I know, but what about before the curse? Have you ever walked in a desert?”

  "Even when I could fly free, I didna go too far from home, but I have heard about it." He shook his head. “I donna fear its heat. If fire canna hurt me, hot sand willna either.”

  “I keep trying to picture it, but I can’t,” I said.

  “Well,” he said, his tone measured as he considered my words. “I would guess 'tis much like a beach but without the water and very hot.”

  That clicked for me, and I nodded. “Okay. So how are we going to do this? Hot and dry are not a good combination for my kind. I lost half my scales in the slavers’ cage.”

  “'Tis a perfect fit for me.” He flashed a smile. “Donna worry. Between Alec and me, the sheik willna ken what hit him. We'll be in and out in no time.”

  Chapter Eight

  We left at mid-day, soaring into a gray sky edged in darkness. I waved to Malcolm and Gavin until clouds made it impossible to see them any longer. We flew for what seemed like forever and I was grateful for my earlier flight on Niall's back. It had prepared me for the trip to come. I was able to settle into a little divot to the side of his spine and let his body cup mine.

  Niall's shift this time had been different, too. There'd been no fire, no burning to ash, just a shimmering wave of heat that gleamed like sweat as it
swallowed him whole.

  We hurtled across the sky, flying faster than I had thought possible. Niall had been a sea turtle on that first flight compared to our speed now. The world passed by in a streaming blur. Clouds enveloped us in tsunamis of white froth that dissipated as fast as they formed. I couldn't keep myself from reaching up and trying to capture the sky's essence, but it slipped through my fingers every time.

  Day passed into night, and with the next dawn, the land below us had gone from green to the lifeless yellow of sand. We'd reached the desert. Niall and Alec landed on the outskirts of a large, modern city made up of tall glass buildings. Setting Sara and me on the ground, their bodies collapsed, folding inward and blurring as their human forms emerged.

  "We will pretend to be slavers," Sara said. "It's risky because he doesn't know us."

  "What about the real slavers?" I asked. My accent shifted to match hers. She sounded American to my ear and lacked the brogue of the dragon brothers.

  "Malcolm and Gavin will deal with them," Alec said. "We discussed that before we left. They'll make sure no one contacts the sheik."

  My hands coiled into fists. "Or kidnaps anyone else ever again."

  "Aye, that too." Alec gave a nod. "They'll also see what they can learn about the slavers' operation. We want to shut all of it down if we can."

  "You're going to have to play the part of prisoner again," Sara said to me. "We'll tie you up but you'll have a way to get out and find your sister."

  "You're sending me in alone?" Panic fluttered in my chest.

  Sara shook her head. "No. Niall will go with you. We'll be offering the sheik a mermaid and a dragon. Once you're inside, you need to work together to find your sister. Then you give the signal, and we come in to break you all out."

  "What's the signal?" I asked.

  Sara reached into her backpack and pulled out small pieces of what appeared to be jewelry. "These are communications kits. Similar to what law enforcement uses for undercover work. You put this piece in your ear." She held up a tiny piece of clear plastic. "And this you wear like a necklace." She showed us a chain on which a small star hung. "We'll be able to hear everything, and there's even a miniature camera so we can see, too."