Dragon's Flame (Dragons Secret Society Book 3) Read online

  Dragon’s Flame

  (Dragons Secret Society)

  Serena Meadows

  Copyright ©2019 by Serena Meadows - All rights reserved.

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

  Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

  Contents

  Authors Note

  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

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Wolves of Gypsum Creek Series

  Fairplay Shifters Series

  About the Author

  Exclusive Offer

  AUTHORS NOTE

  Dragons Secret Society Series

  Book 1-Dragon’s First Shift

  Book 2-Dragon’s Forbidden Mate

  Book 3-Dragon’s Flame

  Book 4-Dragon’s Prophecy

  You should know that Dragon’s Flame is the third book in the Dragons Secret Society romance series. Although each story can be read independently and all end with a HEA with no cliffhangers, to get the full experience of the series, you should really read them in order.

  Chapter One

  ***Taylor***

  Taylor bobbed in the water, the dingy riding the waves as they came at him, ready to spring if he needed to. His older brothers, Daniel and Adam, seemed to have things under control, but the fire behind them was coming closer as they struggled with the witch.

  His father and twin brother Max had taken their boats and gone in search of Lucas Davenport, who’d slipped overboard when Amanda had lost control of the situation, her fireballs igniting the deck. Now Daniel had the witch firmly in his grasp, her mouth covered, her arms pinned, and she wasn’t a threat any longer.

  Opening the throttle, he navigated over to the side of the boat, ready to help with the witch, who’d have to be taken back to Daniel’s island. But Daniel shook his head and screamed, “There’s another witch on board; find her.”

  Taylor hesitated a second before springing on deck and heading for the stairs that led down to the living quarters. But as soon a he went down a few steps, the smoke became blinding, and he had to go back up the stairs. Looking around desperately for anything to cover his eyes and face, he saw a towel and quickly dunked it into the ocean.

  Wrapping it around his nose and mouth, he closed his eyes and went down the stairs into the thick smoke. Feeling his way down the hallway, he hoped the smoke wasn’t as bad inside the cabins. Throwing open doors as he went, he finally came to the end of the hallway and the last door, which was locked from the outside. Fumbling with the lock, his eyes burning, he hoped he wasn’t going to be attacked when he opened the door.

  When he threw open the door, braced for an attack, nothing happened, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Stepping into the cabin, where the smoke wasn’t quite as thick, he opened his eyes all the way, saw the witch tied to the bed and had to smile.

  His brother Adam had fallen in love with a woman who could take care of herself; human or not, Vivian was clearly more than capable. Shaking his head at the thought of his brother being in love, he carefully approached the bed and looked down at the witch.

  She looked more like a harmless little girl, but he’d heard she was very powerful, been warned plenty of times. Her eyes were closed, but he could see that she was breathing heavily, so he reached for the gag that filled her mouth and untied it. When her eyes didn’t open, he poked at her, then realized that it was beginning to get warm in the little cabin.

  Still getting no response from the witch, he pulled out his knife and cut through her bonds, then took one more look at her. Satisfied that she still wasn’t moving, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, then headed back down the hallway desperate for the fresh air of the deck.

  When he got to the top stair, it was clear that the boat was going down, and fast. Relief washed over him when he saw his dingy floating just off the side of the boat, so he shifted the woman in his arms, stepped up to the side, and jumped in.

  ***Willow***

  Willow woke to the sound of someone moving around the room and opened her eyes, then closed them again when the room began to spin. She waited a second then opened them again and looked around, realizing that she had no idea where she was.

  Feeling panic beginning to rise, she took a deep breath, then groaned when pain radiated from her lungs to fill her entire chest. Fighting the urge to cough knowing it would hurt, she held her breath until the pain passed, and she could take shallow breaths.

  Closing her eyes, she searched her mind for her last memory, then gasped again and gritted her teeth against the pain. Remembering the feeling of being tied down as the boat burned, she tried to move her arms and legs only to find that she was bound to the bed just as she’d been in the cabin.

  She was searching for a spell to set herself free when she felt a cool hand on her forehead, and the pain in her chest disappeared. “Is that better?” a soothing voice asked.

  Breathing became much easier, and for several long minutes, she just lay there filling her lungs over and over. When her head cleared and the panic had eased, she opened her eyes and nodded her head at the woman who was sitting next to her bed.

  “Good, you almost died on that boat, but I’m happy to report there’s no permeant damage,” the woman said, getting to her feet and turning on a light. “I’m Michelle, by the way, and I’m here to help you.”

  “Where am I?” Willow managed to croak, then immediately started coughing.

  Michelle walked over to a table in the corner, poured steaming liquid into a cup, and helped her take a few sips through a straw. “This should help a little, but I’m afraid for right now you’ll have to just listen to me.”

  The liquid soothed her throat immediately, and she nodded, so relieved any fight went out of her. She nodded, then took a few more sips of the warm liquid as the burning in her throat eased, and the need to cough disappeared.

  Michelle set the cup back down on the table, then sat down next to the bed again. “Here’s what we know,” she began. “We know that you’ve been working with Lucas Davenport, that you’ve been supplying him power to make his dragon gifts stronger. We know that you’ve cast several spells to help him and that you’ve been working with Amanda to strengthen your powers.”

  Willow knew that everything she said was true, that she had no right to defend herself because she had done all those things. She wanted to defend herself but Michelle’s words hit home, hammering in the fact that when push came to shove, she’d cast the spell for Lucas even though she’d known it was wrong.

  At the moment, it hadn’t been hard to cast the spell for him, to immobilize the woman he said was dangerous and a threat to all of them. But once they had her on board, Lucas began raving about finally capturing Daniel Carlson and seeing the family go down; she began to question what she’d done.

  Now, she was confused and scared, not sure who to trust. It was clear that she was in a lot of trouble, but she didn’t feel threatened by Mic
helle, who seemed only to want to help her. Wishing she could speak, but afraid to try, she lay there, doing her best to meet Michelle’s eyes.

  Finally, after a long silence, Michelle said, “I hate to keep you tied up like this, it can’t be comfortable, but I can’t let you go if you’re a threat. So, it looks like we have two choices: you can remain tied up, or I can neutralize your magic for a little while.”

  Willow felt a moment of panic at the thought of losing her magic even for a little while. It had been the only thing that had kept her alive all those years on the streets, and she’d feel naked and exposed without it. Shaking her head, her heart pounding in her chest, she said, “No.”

  Michelle sighed. “I feel deep down that you’re not like Lucas, that you’re not evil, but Daniel insists, at least until you can talk again.”

  Willow closed her eyes, knowing that she had no say in what happened to her at this point. “We’re not going to hurt you, Willow; we only want to help,” Michelle said.

  The words had barely left Michelle’s mouth when someone started banging on the wall, then it stopped for a second and Amanda screamed, “Don’t listen to her; she’ll steal your magic.”

  With each pound of Amanda’s fist on the wall, she felt herself being dragged over to the side of evil, her mind becoming full of anger and hate. When she realized that Amanda was casting a spell on her, she opened her eyes wide and grabbed Michelle’s arm.

  “Spell,” she managed to whisper, “she’s putting a spell on me. I can feel it.”

  Michelle looked a little shocked, but got to her feet and faced the wall, she raised her hands in front of her, then began to murmur a spell. Willow heard a small cry from Amanda through the wall and then the sound of a body hitting the floor.

  “I really hate to do that, but she didn’t give me much choice,” Michelle said, sitting down next to her again as if what she’d done was no big deal. “Are you okay?”

  Willow nodded, her mind spinning with what she’d just felt and witnessed. Clearly, the witch sitting next to her was incredibly powerful. She swallowed a couple of times because she had to ask, “Who are you?”

  ***Taylor***

  Taylor paced up and down the hallway in front of the bedrooms, wondering if Michelle needed help. The pounding from Amanda’s room had stopped, and he was sure that he heard the sound of her falling to the floor, but all had been silent since then, and it was making him nervous.

  When Michelle finally came out of the bedroom, she looked as calm as she had going in and he breathed a sigh of relief. “How is she?” he asked.

  “It’s going to take her lungs a while to heal, and she’s a little confused, but with time, she’ll be fine,” she said, heading down the stairs. “I’m going to get her some soup and then she and I are going to have a little talk.”

  “What happened to Amanda?” he asked, following her down the stairs.

  “She needed a nap,” Michelle said, then stopped and turned to face him. “Willow is going to be okay, but I need to get back to her. When I’m finished with her, I’ll see to Amanda and then I’ll meet everyone in the study.”

  Taylor knew when he’d been excused, so he wandered toward the study where the rest of the family was gathered. As he passed the stairs, he had the overwhelming urge to go back upstairs and make sure for himself that Willow was okay. He didn’t know when the need to protect her had developed, but he couldn’t seem to shut it off.

  Pushing the feeling away, he headed for the study, where he found the family deep in conversation, the serious looks on their faces enough to make him want to turn around and go the other way. But he crossed the room, poured himself a drink, and collapsed into the nearest chair.

  He hadn’t slept in what felt like days, not since they’d discovered his sister-in-law, Vivian, missing the day before, and exhaustion was beginning to take its toll. He’d been running on adrenaline for hours, but it was quickly disappearing, and a nap sounded like the best idea in the world right then.

  Closing his eyes, he tried to calm his thoughts, but images of the burning boat floated into his mind. Those images were quickly followed by the memory of the Willow lying on the bed, her chest heaving with the effort to breathe, and a burst of protectiveness washed over him.

  Snapping his eyes open, knowing that he shouldn’t be feeling that way about someone who had been helping Lucas in his attempt to destroy his family, he sat up and took a long drink out of the glass in his hand. The liquor seemed to dull some of what he was feeling, but the picture of Willow lying there helpless wouldn’t leave his mind.

  Chapter Two

  ***Willow***

  Willow got out of bed slowly, marveling that only a few days in bed could make her so weak. She walked over to the window and looked out at the green of the forest around her, still amazed that she had no memory of coming here, but glad to be away from the tropics.

  The cool green of the eastern United States was far more to her liking, especially when summer was just around the corner. She longed to be outside but settled for opening the window to feel the warm breeze on her skin. It was difficult for her to be cooped up like this, especially since she’d let Michelle strip her of her magic, if only temporarily.

  She felt empty without the buzz of magic in her blood, it made her feel incomplete, but she’d really had no choice but to cooperate with their request. In their shoes, she would have done the same thing; she was just grateful that they’d been willing to give her a chance.

  It had been difficult to listen when they’d finally come to take Amanda away; she didn’t go quietly, and for a second, she felt bad for the witch. But then she remembered the spell she’d cast on her—the spell that had gotten her into all this trouble, the spell that had twisted her into someone she didn’t recognize.

  For the last two days, she’d been doing a lot of talking and a lot of listening. First to Michelle, then to Daniel and Natasha Carlson, who had at first scared her but now seemed willing to forgive her. It had been difficult to explain how she’d gotten mixed up with Lucas Davenport, how she’d let him completely fool her, but in the end, it seemed like they’d believed her.

  But she was still trapped in her room, pressing her forehead against the glass and wondering how much longer it would be before she was granted her freedom. Michelle had left with Amanda, promising that when the time was right, her magic would return, and then surprising her with a hug before she left the room.

  It made Willow wonder what her life would have been like if she had a mother like Michelle, if things would have turned out differently. But she knew that train of thought would only depress her, so she thought about what she would do when she was finally free of the Carlsons instead.

  Daniel had tried to convince her that Lucas was a threat, that he would come looking for her, but she’d shrugged off the suggestion. “I can’t believe he’ll come looking for me, not after what happened on the boat,” she’d protested.

  “I think you’re underestimating both yourself and Lucas,” Daniel said. “I know him, and he’s not going to let you go, not after all the time he’s put into you.”

  Willow thought back to all the energy Lucas had put into getting her ready, all the clothes and books, all the lessons with Amanda. But she just wanted to be free of the nightmare she’d gotten herself into, free of the evil that had tainted her soul until she’d done something she’d sworn she’d never do.

  The memory of watching the woman crumple at her feet, and the awful things Lucas had said to her, still burned in her brain, the guilt was a hard lump in her stomach. But she was stronger now, knew better than to trust anyone; it was a lesson she’d thought she already knew, but clearly, she hadn’t.

  But at the time, feeling safe and warm in the Carlsons’ house, she’d felt brave. “I’ll be fine,” she’d said, ignoring the misgivings her words brought to life.

  Now, looking out the window she wasn’t so sure. Maybe it would be best to stay here, take advantage of the hospitality of
fered to her, but she couldn’t help but think what had happened the last time she’d done that. She’d taken Lucas’s hospitality, and it had gotten her nowhere but in the middle of a fight that wasn’t hers.

  She wished she’d never heard about dragon shifters, that she’d never let Lucas charm her, or trusted Amanda. Now she was trapped here, her magic gone for who knew how long, and her only hope of freedom dependent on a group of dragon shifters she couldn’t trust.

  Her life had been much simpler when she’d been on her own, and she longed for the days when her biggest concern was where she’d sleep that night. As bad as it had been back in those days, at least she’d been free, free to come and go as she pleased always knowing that her magic would save her.

  Turning from the window, she walked back over to the bed, tears threatening. Climbing back into the bed, she laid down and closed her eyes, forcing herself to push away all the negative thoughts that crowded her head. It was time to look at the bright side, she decided.

  She was still alive, she hadn’t done anything really terrible with her magic when she’d been under Amanda’s spell, and most importantly, it looked like the Carlsons were beginning to believe her story. Taking long slow breaths, she let the positive push away the negative feelings, and little by little the panic and fear began to disappear.