Love Burns (10 page)

Authors: Georgette St. Clair

BOOK: Love Burns

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Chapter Nineteen

“You son of a bitch,” Calder raged at Teague as they raced down the road in Calder’s patrol car, outpacing Calder’s men. Barnum had shifted, and he was flying at the head of a whole regiment of centurions, ice and fire. As they flew, crimson and ice-white dragons swooped up to join them. Olivia was well-liked. Calder and Teague had stayed in human form so they could use the tracking device Teague had planted in his niece Sailor’s cell phone.

Teague had confessed that he’d hired one of the dragon assassins – although he fervently swore that he’d only hired him to scare Olivia into accepting a marriage proposal. Right. Calder would deal with that later.

Right now, Olivia was missing, and Calder was going to burn down the state of Nevada if that was what it took to find her.

“It’s not my fault,” Teague whined. “How was I supposed to know my sister would kidnap Olivia?”

Tabitha had phoned Calder an hour ago to tell him that she thought Olivia and Ermengarde were being kidnapped. She had seen them climb into Nora’s car, and she’d been puzzled, because she’d thought Olivia was headed home to talk to Alfreda. She’d followed them and seen the car speed up when it reached the outskirts of town. So she’d called her son right away to tell him, and had tried to follow them, but another car had pulled in front of her and cut her off. To her dismay, she’d realized that she’d lost them. Even when she’d shifted and flown around, she hadn’t been able to spot their car.

Calder had headed straight to North Lyndvale with his centurions at his back. He’d grabbed Arnold by the neck and squeezed, and Arnold, surrounded by a crowd of very angry fire dragons, had agreed that it would be a good idea to call Quinton and let him know his daughter might have been kidnapped.

A quick check of Olivia and Ermengarde’s phones had showed that they had been tossed into the bushes by the side of the road, on the west side of North Lyndvale.

When Quinton had showed up at the North Lyndvale police station a short while later, looking dirty and rumpled and miserable, he’d admitted that he had tracking devices on the cell phones of everyone in his family. He trusted nobody.

They’d checked Kenneth and Nora’s tracking devices – they had left their phones behind in their mansion. They’d checked Sailor’s phone…and bingo. Sailor, the self-absorbed teenager, took her phone with her everywhere.

Now they were racing against time to find Olivia and Ermengarde…and his mother, who was no longer answering her phone. Calder suspected she was flying around in dragon form, out in the direction where she’d seen the car heading, searching for Olivia.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Quinton mumbled. “I’m sure they just want to talk to her about…something.”

Calder glared at the man, who was chewing nervously on his thumbnail.

“Pray,” Calder spat contemptuously, “
pray
that they haven’t hurt her. Because if they have, leaving town won’t be enough to save you, and I won’t kill you quickly. There’ll be nowhere to run that’s far enough to keep me from coming after you.”

* * * * *

Olivia watched as Kenneth held the syringe in front of his eyes and gently pushed the plunger. A crystal bead of the drug swelled on its tip. As he focused on the glistening point of the needle, she hauled back and punched him as hard as she could in the face.

There was a satisfying crunch and a gout of scarlet blood, and he staggered backwards, clutching his face.

Nora shrieked and came running towards them, shovel raised high over her head.

Olivia threw herself to the ground, dodging the blow. The blade of the shovel whipped through the air half an inch from her skull, and she quickly scrambled to her feet, turning to find Ermengarde, hoping she could carry her away to safety.

But Ermengarde leaped to her feet, hands still tied behind her back, and she looked fighting mad. With a yell of pure fury, she charged at Nora, hitting her with her shoulder at waist height and knocking her clean off her feet. Her momentum carried them forward, and both women tumbled out of sight over the lip of the freshly dug grave.

Olivia had no time to go to Ermengarde’s aid. Kenneth was shifting. His eyes had gone an icy, reptilian blue and wisps of deathly cold vapor were curling from his bloodied nostrils. There was a monstrous crackling noise as he twisted and contorted, morphing into a towering grotesque. His heavy tail thrashed and he threw back his head on its serpentine neck and bellowed a challenge.

Olivia let the shift take her, but in his dragon form, Kenneth outweighed her by hundreds of pounds. With Nora for backup, he’d easily kill her. Still, she wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Sailor was watching from the treeline, hands clenched into hard little fists. The color in her face was unnaturally high, and Olivia couldn’t tell whether the expression on her face was one of excitement or terror.

Kenneth roared again and Olivia hissed in response. She drew in a massive breath and sent a cloud of lethal ice shards flying towards him, but he twisted his body and they impacted harmlessly on his flank, clattering off his scales.

Olivia spread her wings, pulling herself into the air, hoping she’d be able to catch a glimpse of Ermengarde from higher up, but before she could, Kenneth blasted her with a stream of intense frost. It stiffened on her wings, freezing the flexible membranes solid, and she crashed to the ground with a roar of pain.

Kenneth bellowed with triumph and stomped towards her, every step shaking the ground.

She flapped feebly, but her wings were frozen and she couldn’t get any lift.

This was it, then. She’d never see Calder again. Never hear his loving, teasing voice. Never feel safe and protected in his arms.

A blast of flame cut through the chill, and Kenneth reared back with a shriek.

A massive female fire dragon flew overhead, and a stream of fire poured from her gaping jaws, bathing Kenneth in a giant fireball. It had to be Tabitha.

The heat melted the frost coating Olivia’s wings, although they still ached and burned. She staggered back out of the way, then quickly ran over to the empty grave, where Ermengarde now sat alone. Nora had shifted, and her head was reared back ready to blast Ermengarde into a frozen corpse.

Olivia took a mighty breath and quickly blew it out, enveloping Nora in a swirling cloud of snow. While Nora was distracted, Olivia reached into the grave and gently picked up Ermengarde in her jaws. She still couldn’t fly, so she quickly scrambled away. She felt a stream of icy cold to her right; Nora, temporarily blinded, had tried to blast her, and missed.

She ran as fast as she could, thudding across the forest floor with Ermengarde in her jaws. The trees were too thick for her massive form, and she couldn’t fly, so she dropped Ermengarde on the ground and shifted back into human form.

Nora ran towards them, her blue eyes blazing. Kenneth, smoke rising from his blackened scales and the light of insane rage in his eyes, came behind her, mad with pain and unstoppable as a juggernaut.

Olivia stood in front of Ermengarde, fists clenched.

Tabitha circled again, looking for another chance to blast the murderous pair with fire, but she couldn’t risk hitting Ermengarde – it would burn her to ashes in a moment.

Olivia saw Nora glance up fearfully, and followed her gaze. There were more dragons overhead. Calder and…her father? She staggered backwards, dragging Ermengarde with her, putting some distance between them while Nora was distracted.

Calder, all fire and crimson strength, landed between them in dragon form. He spread his wings and bellowed a terrifying challenge.

Kenneth, hide blistered and soot-blackened scales flaking from his flanks, screamed in furious response.

They circled each other, exchanging blasts of fire and ice. Calder deflected a viciously cold breath that left an ugly patch of frostbite on the crimson of his wing, and returned a lance of flame that set Kenneth’s wing alight, melting the delicate membrane like plastic. Kenneth screamed, an unearthly sound coming from a dragon’s throat.

As he collapsed to the ground, he shifted back into human form. His arm was blackened and twisted, and his face was contorted in a rictus of pain. Calder shifted too, stepping towards him as Kenneth crawled towards the graveside, where they’d left their equipment. He was shaking with pain…but his hand was steady when he pulled a gun from among their tools and fired.

The bullet scraped Calder’s shoulder, leaving a sizzling trail. He shifted his hand just enough to form claws, and quickly scraped the poisoned flesh away.

“Calder!” Olivia screamed frantically.

Kenneth choked on a bitter laugh. “You bitch! You’ve ruined everything. But you’re not going to live to enjoy it.” And he leveled the pistol at Olivia.

Calder moved fast…but Quinton Teague was faster. Quinton, now in human form, leaped in front of Olivia.

The world seemed to go into slow motion as the silver bullet struck him. He clutched his chest, swaying on his feet. His voice was weak and thready, and blood stained his lips. “Don’t you call my daughter a bitch,” he choked.

Kenneth looked astonished. “She’s not your flesh and blood. You always suspected that. And you were right.”

Quinton just shook his head. “Doesn’t matter.” He took a painful step towards Kenneth. “She’s worth a thousand of you.”

He gave an agonized moan and fell to his knees. The silver was burning him up from the inside. He fumbled at his belt, his fingers shaking, and pulled his service revolver.

Quinton Teague had always been a good shot. Even dying, he didn’t miss his mark.

* * * * *

Calder had more respect for the man’s dying act than he’d ever had for him alive.

He caught a movement out of the corner of his eye and turned. Seeing her father lying dead on the ground, Sailor gave a thin wail and scampered off into the woods. She wouldn’t get far in those designer heels, and besides Barnum was rounding up every centurion in North and South Lyndvale – she had nowhere to run. There would be a warrant out for her arrest for attempted murder, and she faced execution.

Olivia pushed out of Calder’s arms, looking around frantically. “Ermengarde,” she said. “Ermengarde, are you all right?”

She sighed with relief as she spotted the other woman, muddy and disheveled but unharmed.

“I’m fine,” Ermengarde said, tottering weakly. “I had that bitch running for her life.”

Calder extended a claw and slashed Ermengarde’s copper bonds. Olivia pulled her into a fierce embrace. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

The sirens and the steady beat of dragon wings in the skies above them were a welcome sound. Barnum had arrived with the cavalry.

Chapter Twenty

Ermengarde’s face was grim as she marched into Olivia’s office. “Henrik is on the phone, and he doesn’t sound happy.”

“Oh, good lord.” Olivia clapped her hand to her forehead. Everything had just settled down. The Council of Elders had confirmed that legally, the silver mine belonged to Alfreda and her children – and their clan. That meant Barnum and Calder and Olivia as well. All members of the Teague clan had been swiftly and forcibly removed from their properties, and all their earnings had been confiscated and turned over to the newly formed Kingsley clan. Olivia had intervened so that Sailor wouldn’t be executed, but she was now as poor as a church mouse and ostracized by her snobby former friends.

The Kingsley clan had already moved into the former Teague mansion, and Olivia had a new car to replace the rental she’d been driving since her car had got roasted.

And now, this – whatever “this” was.

She picked up her phone.

“I’ve got terrible news,” Henrik intoned. “The ‘Welcome to North Lyndvale’ sign has been vandalized again. It’s really bad this time. There are crowds gathering around the sign, threatening each other. I think there might be an all-out war.”

“What does the sign say?” Olivia gasped.

“It’s too bad for me even to repeat. Just get out here now, please.” And he hung up.

Her heart sank.

“Come with me,” she said to Ermengarde. “You and I may need to do some tail-whupping.”

“I’m on it,” Ermengarde said with possibly too much enthusiasm.

“Of course, we don’t whup any tails unless they start it,” Olivia cautioned her as they piled into her car.

Had Billy done this? Why would he do that? Everything had been going so well. He had tons of customers for his new graffiti-art business. He’d even gotten a flattering write-up in the local paper.

Frantically, she tried to call Calder as she rushed south, towards the sign. There was no answer. He was probably busy quelling the uprising.

As she got closer, she saw that hundreds of shifters from North and South Lyndvale seemed to be milling around the sign.

Oddly, they didn’t look angry. People were laughing and smiling and pointing up at the sign.

Calder was standing by the sign, she saw. He wasn’t busy quelling a riot; why hadn’t he answered when she called? Barnum and Alfreda were next to him, holding hands. Alfreda’s children were there too, eating ice cream cones.

“I see no signs of war,” Olivia said, puzzled. “I see signs of a giant block party. What gives?”

Ermengarde, she realized, was giggling wildly behind her hand. “I fooled you!” she said gleefully. “I totally did!”

Olivia gave her a dirty look, parked the car, got out, and walked over to look at what everyone was pointing at. Ermengarde got out and followed her.

The words “Marry Me, Olivia!” had been burned into the sign. Henrik was there in the crowd, with a resigned look on his face.

“Henrik, what the heck?” Olivia demanded. “You nearly gave me a damn heart attack.”

He threw up his hands in a despairing gesture. “If you can’t beat them, join them. Everyone has been getting along beautifully, and I do actually believe that you and Calder are meant to be together. So, fine. You people have all worked out your differences.” He looked as if he couldn’t decide whether to pout or smile.

Olivia shook her head in bewilderment and marched up to Calder, who was standing right by one of the sign posts. He had a little black velvet box in his hand. Billy and his mother Sue were standing nearby. Sue was beaming with happiness, and Billy looked smug.

As she approached, Calder went down on one knee and opened the box, presenting the big, sparkly ring.

“You said you wanted the proposal to be a surprise,” he said.

“The answer is yes,” she said, half laughing and half crying.

“I didn’t ask you anything yet!” he protested with a grin. “I could be about to ask you to clean the kitchen.”

“Oh, well in that case, no.”

“But Alfreda insists on doing that, so instead…will you marry me and make me the happiest fire dragon in the land?”

“That I will do, Calder Kingsley.”

He stood up and swept her into his arms, then kissed her so passionately that she was barely aware of the loud cheers of the crowd of fire and ice dragons, mingling together and celebrating their happy union.

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THE END

About the Author

Hello, I am Georgette St. Clair, writer of hot, sexy romances which star all Alpha heroes, all the time. The road to love may be rocky and fraught with peril, (and humor and scorchtastic sex and healthy heapings of snark) but my shifters will stop at nothing to claim their fated mate.

A little about me: I live in Florida. My checkered career involved stints as a newspaper reporter, EMT, internet marketer, cocktail waitress, temp, nurse’s aide (but not all at the same time...)

Now I’m living my perfect life, spending my days in a fantasy universe where I nudge my smart-mouthed, take-no-guff heroines onto the path that will set them on a collision course with true love.

Check out my
website
for a complete list of titles and what’s coming soon. Or connect with me on
Facebook
.

Also by Georgette St. Clair

The Mating Game Series:

The Mating Game: Big Bad Wolf (The Mating Game Book 1)

Dating a Dragon (The Mating Game Book 2)

Shifters of Silver Peak series:

Mate Marked: Shifters of Silver Peak

Shifters of Silver Peak: Mate for a Month

Shifters of Silver Peak: A Very Shifty Christmas

Bridenapped Series:

Bridenapped: The Alpha Chronicles

Bridenapped: The Alpha’s Choice