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

  If she was going to survive this, she was going to have to remain calm, wait patiently until the time came that she was freed to go back to her life. Lucas was a threat; she couldn’t deny that any longer. But a threat she could handle, especially with Amanda gone to where ever they’d taken her.

  As soon as she could get away from the Carlsons, she was going to disappear into the city. Lose herself so that no one could find her, vanish completely until Lucas and the Carlsons were a distant memory. In time, her wounds would heal, both the physical as well as the mental; until then, she’d just have to learn to live with the mistakes she’d made.

  ***Taylor***

  Taylor had been hanging around in the kitchen making the cook nervous for almost fifteen minutes before Daniel finally came in. The need to see Willow and make sure that she was okay had become overpowering and he’d come into the kitchen hoping to take the lunch tray up to her.

  The cook had refused, stating that she had orders from Daniel not to let anyone have it, so he’d plopped himself down to wait. When he saw his brother come through the door, he jumped to his feet, then wished he hadn’t when Daniel shot him a questioning glance.

  His obsession with Willow was a little embarrassing, made him feel like a kid with a crush, but no matter how hard he’d tried, he couldn’t make it go away. Clearing his throat, he tried to sound nonchalant. “I thought I could take Willow’s tray up to her.”

  Daniel shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  Taylor let out an exasperated sigh when he heard the same answer he’d heard for days. “Michelle said it’s perfectly safe for any of us to be around her,” he protested, beginning to feel a little desperate.

  Daniel guided him over to the table, “I know what Michelle said, but I don’t want to take any chances. She sounds genuine when she says that she got caught up, and maybe Amanda did put a spell on her, but she’s a witch. Just like people can’t see that we’re dragon shifters, you can’t see the magic inside her; it could be there, and we wouldn’t even know. I can’t risk anyone’s safety.”

  Taylor felt all hope of seeing Willow drain away. “Then why did you even call Michelle?” he demanded, anger flooding to the surface.

  Daniel sighed. “I called Michelle because she’s the strongest witch we know, and she proved herself when we tracked that dragon shifter into Tennessee last year. But we have to be very careful with Willow; we just can’t take her word for her innocence. There’s too much at stake.”

  Just then, Natasha came into the room and saw her husband and Taylor sitting at the table. “I wondered what was taking so long,” she said, sitting down next to Daniel.

  “I’m trying to explain to Taylor why he can’t take Willow her lunch tray,” Daniel explained. “I’m having a hard time making him understand just how dangerous she could be.”

  Natasha was silent for a second, then said, “I think you should let him.”

  They both stared at her in shock, Taylor tinged with relief that he’d finally be able to see Willow. “What makes you say that?” Daniel asked, turning to look at Natasha.

  Natasha leaned back in her chair, “First, I trust Michelle; if she said that Willow’s magic is gone, I believe her. Second, I believe her story. Don’t forget that I was once alone like she is,” she said.

  “But you didn’t do anything remotely close to what she did,” Daniel said, shaking his head.

  Natasha put her hand on his arm. “I was lucky. Your mom and dad saved me. Willow wasn’t that lucky.”

  Daniel was silent for a long time, and Taylor knew that Natasha’s words were swaying him, so he jumped in. “I just want to see her for a few minutes. I need to make sure that she’s really okay,” he said, then wished he hadn’t.

  His brother gazed over at him, a suspicious look on his face. “Why is it so important to you?” he asked. “You haven’t gotten yourself attached to her or something, have you?”

  Taylor shook his head. “No, it’s nothing like that,” he said, hoping his brother believed him. “It’s just that the last time I saw her, she was almost dead; I can’t get that picture out of my head.”

  The suspicious look was still on Daniel’s face, but he relented anyway. “You can take her lunch tray up, but I want you in and out of there, and don’t forget to lock the door on your way out.”

  Taylor jumped up from his chair so fast, he nearly knocked it over. “I’d better hurry; it’s late,” he said, hoping they couldn’t see how excited he was.

  He grabbed the tray off the counter and headed out the door, completely unaware of the look that passed between Natasha and Daniel. Balancing the tray wasn’t as easy as he thought and when he got to the locked door, he had to set it on the floor.

  After he’d unlocked the door, he tapped lightly on it and waited, his heart beginning to pound in his chest when he heard her muffled reply. Pushing the door open, he bent and picked up the tray, his hands shaking so much the dishes rattled.

  When he stepped through the door, she was standing by the window, and for a moment, he forgot that she was dangerous. She seemed smaller to him standing there, and he remembered how light she’d felt in his arms as he’d carried her up the stairs to the deck of the ship.

  Her long blonde hair was loose and flowing over her shoulders; her blue eyes seemed to bore into him. For a second, he couldn’t breathe. She looked so alone and helpless that his protective instinct kicked in and the impulse to pull her into his arms nearly propelled him across the room.

  But then he remembered the tray in his hands and said, “I brought your lunch,” his voice cracking.

  Willow didn’t say anything for a long time, just stared at him, tipping her head first one way and then the other. “I know you,” she finally said, making him nearly drop the tray.

  “Umm, I’m the one who saved you on the boat,” he said, setting the tray down.

  Chapter Three

  ***Willow***

  “No, I know you from somewhere else,” Willow said, sure that she’d met the handsome man holding her lunch tray before. “I don’t remember what happened on the boat after the fire started.”

  He set the tray down, then introduced himself. “I’m Taylor Carlson. I was the one who got you off the boat.”

  Willow nodded, knowing that she should drop it, but the feeling that they’d met before was so strong. “Are you sure we’ve never met before?”

  Taylor looked at her for a minute, then said, “No, I don’t think so. I would have remembered you.”

  His words did something strange to Willow: butterflies erupted in her stomach, and a thrill shot through her. Unprepared for the feeling, she was speechless for a second, then said, “Okay, I guess not.”

  There was a long silence in the room, both suddenly nervous for no reason. “I brought your lunch,” Taylor said again.

  Willow looked at the tray, not the least bit hungry, but said, “Thank you, I guess it is time for lunch. Time has a way of getting away from me in here.”

  “I’m sorry you have to be locked up like this,” Taylor said before he could stop himself.

  Willow shrugged her shoulders. “I understand why they’re keeping me locked up in here, but that doesn’t make it any easier,” she said, sitting down in the chair in front of her lunch tray. “I’m surprised they let you come in. I haven’t seen anyone but Daniel and Natasha since Michelle left.”

  “I kind of had to talk my way in, and I’m only supposed to stay for five minutes,” he said, looking nervously around the room.

  Willow looked up at him surprised. “Why did you do that?”

  Taylor knew that he’d put himself in a corner but answered anyway. “I had to make sure you were really okay.”

  Willow felt that same thrill wash over her and wished she hadn’t asked him. She was doing her best not to like anyone in the family, and they were all making it difficult. “Well, as you can see, I’m fine, other than missing my magic that is,” she said, trying to make her voic
e sound hard so he’d leave.

  It must have worked because Taylor looked uncomfortable, then said, “Okay then, I guess I’ll let you eat your lunch. I’m glad that you’re okay.”

  Willow let him go without another word, just nodded her head and took the cover off the lunch she didn’t want to eat. When the door closed behind him, she felt an instant sense of loss and wanted to scream. It was bad enough her magic was gone; now she was having these strange feelings about a man she should have nothing to do with.

  Wishing she’d never met Lucas Davenport, she picked at her lunch for a while, feeling sorry for herself. But then she realized that sulking around wasn’t doing her any good. She’d been in worse situations. At least here she had food and shelter; there had been times when those things hadn’t been hers.

  Michelle had promised that her magic would come back, she just wished she knew when. Without it, she felt helpless, felt like a huge part of who she was had been stolen from her. For as long as she could remember, her magic had been with her; her earliest memory was of making herself levitate off the floor, and the horror on her mother’s face.

  All of her life, her magic had been both her gift and her curse; it had kept her alive on the streets but had also been the reason she’d been forced onto them. At times, she’d both hated and loved her magic, but now that it was gone, she realized that she’d taken it for granted all these years.

  Exhausted by the weight of her thoughts, she crawled into the big bed and closed her eyes. Reminding herself that this was only temporary, that she’d get through this like she had everything else in her life, she drifted off to sleep.

  Almost immediately, she began to dream, dreams filled with images of she and Taylor together. But the dreams were strange, more like memories than dreams, and as flashes of them spending their lives together filtered through her brain, she felt both the joy and pain that love could bring.

  She’d been asleep for hours when a knock on her door woke her. At first, she was disoriented as the emotions of several lifetimes slowly drained away, leaving her feeling more alone than she’d ever felt. All she wanted to do was go back to sleep and recapture the wonderful feelings, but another knock on the door made it clear that wasn’t going to happen.

  “Come in,” she called, getting out of bed.

  When the door swung open, it was Natasha, and she was alone. She had a big stack of clothes in her hands, and she gave Willow a warm smile. “I thought you might want to get out of those pajamas. I wasn’t sure about size, so there’s a couple of choices in here.”

  Willow couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. “That would be wonderful,” she said.

  Natasha handed her the bundle of clothes, then asked, “How are you feeling?”

  “Much better,” Willow said, unable to stop herself from looking through the clothes, relieved to finally be able to at least get dressed. “I want to make sure you know how thankful I am that you’ve taken such good care of me.”

  “You had us scared there for a minute,” Natasha said, sitting down in a chair. “Sit down for a second and let’s talk.”

  Willow sat down across from her, her heart pounding, knowing that something important was coming. “I’ve managed to talk Daniel into letting you out of your room for dinner tonight. I can’t promise any more than that, but at least you won’t be stuck in here all alone.”

  Willow stared at her for a second, trying not to jump out of the chair in joy. “I’d love to join you all for dinner,” she said.

  “Don’t get too excited; it’s only dinner. You still have a long way to go before Daniel trusts you,” Natasha said, dashing her good mood.

  But then she realized that it was a first step, that if things went well, and they would, she’d be given more freedom. Natasha had clearly gone out on a limb for her, and she wasn’t going to mess it up. “I understand,” she said. “I’ll take what I can get.”

  ***Taylor***

  Taylor had never seen his brother and Natasha fight, but that afternoon, he got a good dose of them disagreeing. There wasn’t any screaming or shouting, but instead a battle of wits, each pushing their point with logic, until Daniel finally gave in and let Natasha have her way.

  He’d never seen his brother give in to anyone, and it was amusing to watch. Now, he was waiting anxiously, along with everyone else, while Natasha brought Willow down for dinner. This was her first test, and he hoped that she would pass, and that by the end of dinner, Daniel would see that she’d been a victim of Lucas’s evil plans—not a conspirator.

  He thought he was prepared to see her walk through the door, but he was far from it. When she came in, his heart did several flip flops, then a thrill went through him, and goosebumps rose on his skin. Hoping that no one noticed his reaction, he stayed back in a corner, silently watching and trying to catch his breath.

  He knew that somewhere along the line, his need to protect Willow had developed into a full-blown crush. His body responded to her in ways he’d never felt before, leaving him confused and wary, wondering why, of all the women in the world, it had to be Willow that made him feel that way.

  Even if she felt the same way, a relationship between them was impossible; she was almost an enemy of the family and still couldn’t be trusted. If he let his guard down, she could easily take advantage of him, and in the process, destroy them all. He was all too aware that she wasn’t the woman for him; he just wished his body felt the same way.

  The fact that she was a witch, complicated things further. As much as things had changed with the council since Daniel had taken over and Adam had married a human, dragon shifters still mistrusted witches. No one would look kindly on a relationship between them, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to go through what Adam and Vivian had endured to save their love.

  Natasha announced dinner, drawing him out of his thoughts, and he followed everyone into the dining room. He tried to not to stare at Willow as they all got themselves seated, but it was nearly impossible since she was sitting right across from him, making him consider changing places with someone.

  But the moment passed as the first course was served, so he concentrated on his food, hardly daring to look up as he ate. There was little conversation as they all concentrated on their food; the tension in the room thick and oppressive.

  But then Daniel cleared his throat. “What will you do when you leave here?” he asked Willow.

  She’d been bringing a bit of food up to her mouth, but she set it down and stared at Daniel. Then a look of hope appeared on her face and she said, “I’m going to get as far away from Lucas Davenport as possible. I was thinking about New Orleans. I have some friends there who will let me stay with them until I get back on my feet. It’s easy to get lost there; Lucas won’t find me.”

  A sudden pang of loss took his breath away when he thought about Willow leaving, and he almost blurted out something he would have been sorry for, but Daniel spoke first. “And what will you do there? Will you go back to being a psychic?”

  It took Willow a second to answer, but then she shook her head. “No, I think my days of reading people’s futures are over. Clearly, I’m not very good at it. I couldn’t see Lucas and Amanda coming,” she said, looking down at her plate.

  Natasha reached over and put her hand on Willow’s arm. “We all make mistakes; the important thing is that you’ve learned something.”

  Willow nodded. “Yeah, not to trust anyone,” she said, then realized what she’d said. “I didn’t mean you, I just... you’ve been so kind to me, but I messed up, and I won’t forget that.”

  There was a long silence around the table, then Natasha cleared her throat and looked at Daniel. “We think you should stay here with us for a while,” he finally said. “Not locked in your room, of course. You’ll be free to come and go as you please.”

  Willow thought about that for a second, then said, “You want to keep an eye on me.”

  Daniel seemed a bit surprised by her insight. “Well, yes, t
hat is part of it, but it’s also to keep you safe. No one has seen Lucas since the night he slipped into the water, but I’m sure he’s out there somewhere plotting and planning. He still needs a witch to boost his powers and perform magic for him, and since Amanda is far out of his reach, he’s going to come looking for you.”

  Willow’s face paled a little but she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “He’s going to come looking for me here first,” she said. “In New Orleans, I can just disappear, I can live on the streets if I have to. Eventually he’ll get tired of looking and move on.”

  Taylor could see that Daniel was getting frustrated with Willow’s stubbornness. “Just promise me you’ll think about it; you’re safer here than anywhere else,” he said, then went back to eating his dinner, the discussion clearly over.

  Chapter Four

  ***Willow***

  Willow could see that she’d insulted Daniel, but she didn’t care; if she was free to go, then she intended to go. She didn’t want to be a part of what was going on between the dragon shifters, had never wanted to be a part of it.

  If she’d known at the beginning that what Lucas had offered her was tainted by his evil, she would have stayed right where she was. It wasn’t a great life, but it had been hers, and she’d had her magic.

  She excused herself as soon as it was polite, claiming exhaustion, which wasn’t that far from the truth. “I think I’ll go back up to my room,” she said, getting up from the table. “Thank you for letting me join you for dinner.”

  “I’ll walk you to your room,” Natasha said, getting to her feet. “I wouldn’t want you to get lost.”

  Willow nodded, knowing that she was only coming to lock her in, but when they got to her room, she noticed that the lock on the door was gone. “We’re not going to lock you in anymore,” Natasha explained when she saw where Willow was looking. “You can leave whenever you want, but I wish you’d think about staying here for a while, at least until you’re stronger.”