Bound In Fire: Phoenix Shifter Paranormal Page 8

  Izzy had loved Davenport. The museum. The town itself. It was one of the places they’d talked about moving to when she graduated and he’d managed to save enough money.

  Her jaw trembled and a sob tore from her lips, but before she could respond, the door burst open revealing a man with longish brown hair and a dark suit.

  “There you are. They were looking for you inside.”

  “Guidry.” She said his name like a damned prayer, wobbling on her feet. The man caught Izzy before she went down. The door opened once more and a woman outfitted in a stylish blue dress emerged, her face a mask of concern.

  Guidry held her behind him, shielding her body with a protective stance.

  Huh. What was that about?

  Her gaze shot from Izzy and the man in question back to him. “Shipton vanished and we couldn’t find you and we assumed the worst.”

  “I had to get some air.”

  “So I see,” the man replied, his fangs flashing. “Who are you, friend? One of Shipton’s men come to do his dirty work?”

  His cat clawed at him in reaction to the vampire standing in front of him and he felt the change brush under his skin.

  “Who the fuck is Shipton? And why are you standing between me and my mate, vampire?”

  Izzy gave a strangled sound and Guidry put his arm around her waist.

  “The lady doesn’t seem to agree.”

  Roark let his animal rise to the surface and he took a step forward. “I don’t think the lady is well right now. Look at her face. She’s about to pass out. Fear or shock? I’m not sure, but whatever drove her out of there,” he pointed to the building, “can’t be good.”

  “Hmmm.” The vampire regarded him, his eyes taking on a luminous crimson hue. “Maybe you aren’t lying, but you still haven’t given me a reason to let you walk out of here the same way you walked in.”

  He had no doubt that his own eyes had the moon reflected in them but he was no coward.

  “Who are you, sir?” The woman interjected, and his cat stood down, recognizing the woman as acting in Izzy’s best interest.

  “I’m Roark Jameson.” He considered the two strangers and the woman he was certain was his mate. She was older now. But how? He’d seen her die. The fire that consumed her had become his life in an effort to never let it happen again. But no matter how many people he saved, it would never make up for losing her.

  He was done explaining himself to anyone but her.

  “How are you here? The explosion…” Words failed him as tears pooled in her eyes once more.

  She turned toward the other woman. “Marlene?”

  “This isn’t the place. We have to leave. Now. Shipton could be anywhere.” The woman stepped forward, her voice holding a strong sense of urgency.

  “Location?” Guidry responded.

  “We’ll go to my office. It’s a couple of blocks over.” Marlene replied. “Then we can get to the bottom of this. Isobel, can you show us the least visible way to get out to the parking area? And leave your car. It will throw him off.”

  “Roark, indeed. I say we leave him here and sort it out later.”

  He snorted. “To hell with that. I’m coming with you.”

  “Suit yourself, cat, but try anything and we just may have a tangle, you and I.”

  A growl edged its way up his throat before he could contain it. “That goes two ways, vampire.”

  “Please. Stop this. We have to go.” Isobel looked helplessly from one man to the other, straightening. She moved away from Guidry and smoothed her hands down her skirt.

  She didn’t remember him. The thought gutted him to the very core.

  The woman, Marlene, nodded, then glanced up toward the window with a pained expression on her face.

  “Okay guys. We have company.”

  “Who?’

  “Someone who has our Isobel on the menu,” Guidry called out, a few paces ahead. “I suggest we hurry. Dragons aren’t prone to sharing.”

  Roark started, the actuality of what he’d said sinking in.

  He started to ask, but knowledge that Isobel was in danger silenced him. There would be time for questions later. Right now, his only job was to keep his mate safe.

  A growl slid low and solid from his lips as he watched the dark form in the window. Let someone try to take her from him again and he would fucking rip their throat out. He was getting a second chance and this time he was playing for keeps.

  ***

  Isobel regarded the handsome shifter, unsure whether to stay in the oversized chair or speak to him. Planted there for the second time this week, it was beginning to feel like a habit.

  She could tell he wanted to come to her, but her reaction in the garden had been anything but welcoming to say the least. The tension between him and Guidry was a palpable thing.

  Was he really who he said he was?

  He couldn’t be one of Shipton’s men. If he had been, she wouldn’t be standing here right now. But still, she agreed with Guidry that caution was the preferable option. At least, until they understood what was happening.

  Marlene had mentioned the name Roark when they presented their findings the other day. Did that mean he and Marlene thought he was the same Roark she knew from before? She chewed her lip and leaned forward to catch a glimpse of the vampire stationed in what seemed to be his favorite place against the wall.

  “How badly do you want to remember?” The vampire inquired, meeting her eyes.

  The shifter, Roark, fidgeted on the couch and she felt a flutter in her stomach. Now that she had a moment to observe him, she couldn’t help but notice his powerful build and the stubborn set of his jaw. His lips had been soft when he kissed her, and the hardness pressed against her stomach had been a welcome one until the spell she’d been under had broken, leaving her wondering what the hell she was doing.

  His touch had electrified her.

  Her body knew him.

  Whatever was inside of her knew him, too. Trusted him. But, her human heart and mind needed to know. To understand.

  To remember.

  She drew herself up straight and met the vampire’s eyes. “Pretty bad.”

  Marlene entered the room bearing three waters and a bottle of something she threw at Guidry. “What are you up to?”

  His gaze met Marlene’s and she froze. “You aren’t considering…”

  Guidry’s silence was met by an angry slamming of the door. When she turned back toward the vampire, her lips were pressed into a thin line of disapproval.

  “What choice do we have?” Guidry replied. “They obviously recognize each other, but there’s no time for nature to take its course. If we don’t solidify their bond, we’re going to have a dragon on our hands.”

  “We already have that.” Marlene pointed out the window at a large form flying over the area they had just trekked through.

  “He’s coming for me, isn’t he?” Isobel asked. She twisted her hands in her lap, the thought of Shipton touching her making her want to retch. Dragon or not, he wasn’t her mate. The man sitting patiently across from her was.

  “More than likely. If he’s part of the coven’s plan like we think, he’ll need to mark you during a mating to secure his heritage and keep his family’s elevated position with the coven.” Marlene offered, her tone grim.

  “And more likely than not, if he finds her, he’ll go through with his plans, and you being willing won’t even enter the equation.”

  Isobel blanched, knowing what he said was true.

  “He’ll have to get through me first.” Roark spoke, his expression hard. “I knew your parents had plans for you, but this?”

  “Let’s not poke the dragon just yet, shall we?” Guidry responded.

  Roark snorted. “Give me my irons and I’ll do more than poke him.”

  “Irons?” Isobel asked.

  “When you died, I vowed that I would never let fire take what was mine ever again and I became a fireman. This town. This city. We protect it. And no
dragon is going to stand in my way.”

  “I’m not a piece of property.”

  “I never said you were.” He responded. “You are my mate. My life. When I lost you, the station was all I had. It kept me…tethered. There were a few times that I almost let the fire take me.”

  “Why?” She breathed.

  “To be with you again. But, then I realized how bad you would have been pissed at me for even thinking such a thing.”

  “Why did you come to the museum? Tonight of all nights?” She had to know.

  He pulled a book from the pocket of his jacket and tossed it in her direction. “You had this one with you the day you died.”

  The book thudded to the carpet in front of the chair and she uncurled her body enough to bend down and scoop it off the floor. It was a dog eared copy of Bulfinch’s Mythology. She opened it with trembling fingers and there, written in her own handwriting, was her name. Isobel Fieri.

  The sting of tears blurred her vision.

  “It’s real.”

  “I have another idea.” Roark interjected. He stood up from the couch and moved to the center of the room.

  “No shifting, I hate getting hair on the sofa.”

  “Very funny.” Roark began to unbutton his shirt, when the vampire chuckled.

  “If you two want to discover yourselves skin to skin, we’ll leave.”

  Marlene made a strangled sound in the back of her throat.

  “Oh no.” Guidry offered him a smirk and then a yawn, patting his mouth with his hand in a bored expression. “Are you telling me you have his and hers tattoos?” He opened the bottle and drank, the liquid blood a cloying coppery scent on her empty stomach.

  Roark shot him a dirty look and shucked the shirt, turning his left arm toward Isobel. “We got these in Waverly. Yours first. The vampire there said the Goddess told her what ink we were getting. I went back later when you were at work so your parents didn’t get too suspicious.” The phoenix blazed bright against his flesh, but his was also entwined with a large black panther.

  A flash of something like recognition sizzled through her mind.

  Isobel stood, making her way toward Roark, her memories still a hollow void. Butterflies fluttered in her belly when she looked at him, and when she met his eyes, she felt like she was drowning.

  But, even without the memories from before, something deep inside of her told her what he said was true and that he was her mate and the key to her past.

  She reached for his hand and when her flesh met his, the connection between them was impossible to deny. Something deep within her, long forgotten, pulsed like it was coming up for air. Guidry could do something and he was right. There was no more time for waiting.

  “What can you do to help me?” Her gaze snapped to Marlene and Guidry. “I want to remember. I have to.”

  “Are you sure, pet? You could just connect with him right now and be done with it. Marlene and I can go out for a bit…”

  “I don’t want anything to hurt her.” Roark’s large hand held hers, steady and warm. “It isn’t worth it.”

  Guidry moved toward her and picked up her other wrist, considering it. At Roark’s growl, he smiled. “I’ve been able to break the hold on memory blocks before.”

  “He has. I don’t know if it’s something the coven has nailed you with or if it’s a side effect of the phoenix.” Marlene replied.

  The thought hadn’t even occurred to her. “But why?”

  Marlene sighed. “After we talked, I started doing more research on what sharing a body with a phoenix means.”

  “Okay.”

  “There are very few witches born who have ever manifested a phoenix. The Bradford Coven is fire based and, historically, there have been three including you.”

  “But what does it have to do with my memory loss?”

  “I’m getting to that. When you’re reborn, your old life was burned away and you, in effect, are reset. The three days and being found with no scarring could be accounted for in that scenario. So would the memory loss.”

  “How do you tell?”

  “That is only supposition at this point. The phoenix is adept at hiding. Is prone to be a protector of knowledge and is strongest around fire, but your eyes changing is another clue. Working in a museum helps, too.”

  Isobel blinked, the pieces tumbling into place. They’d been steering her this way for years. “My parents knew.”

  “Maybe.”

  “What do you have to do? Hypnotize me?”

  The vampire snorted. “Not exactly, but I do have to take blood at the same time I’m invading your thoughts. Once we have a connection, then I can effectively remove the roadblock.

  “Oh.”

  She held up her wrist, determined now more than ever to take back what was lost before she unknowingly stepped back into the trap her parents had set for her. The museum. Shipton. Goddess, but she’d been so foolish.

  “Do it.”

  Roark gripped her hand and her nipples tightened. She wanted this man, but to have any kind of life, she would have to walk through a literal ring of fire. She would do it. This time, as her gaze fanned out on the people around her, she was comforted to know she wasn’t alone.

  Guidry watched her with hooded eyes. “So be it.” He picked up her wrist once more and lowered his face to scent her skin, his fangs sinking into her flesh. A sea of blood rose up and she felt Roark scoop her up into his arms as the tide carried her away.

  Chapter Eight

  Roark watched, powerless, as Guidry ventured deep into Izzy’s mind. She moaned, twitching against his chest until Marlene pointed to the couch. He and the vampire moved, carefully placing her on the furniture so as not to dislodge him.

  Her parents would have done anything to keep them apart. That much he remembered. To send a force of coven spell workers out to hinder their escape was one thing. To cause Izzy to die and come back as a clean, and thereby more easily manipulated slate, was more than a little disturbing. Did she realize that’s what they had done?

  He stood next to the oversize chair, his cat pacing beneath his skin. What was mere minutes felt like hours as he observed her face contort as she relived the horrors that took her from him and many more he had no knowledge of.

  Guidry knelt next to Izzy, his eyes closed. Finally he opened them, a troubled expression on his face. He released her, placing her hand on her stomach, and rose.

  Izzy’s eyes opened and she met the vampire’s solemn gaze, their wordless communication keeping him at the edge of his seat.

  “We’ll be in the kitchen at the end of the hall.” Without another word, he led Marlene out into the waiting room and shut the door.

  “I remember you.” Her words were quiet, but her voice was surprisingly steady and when her gaze met his, he found her strangely unafraid.

  “Is it what they thought? Did your parents…”

  She nodded. “Every word. All this time they’ve been pushing me toward Shipton and I was too blind to see it. That’s why they didn’t want us dating. I would be ruined for the union between one of the country’s top dragon families and the coven. There would be no stopping them.”

  “But, their plans…”

  “Were altered.” She sat up, her face pale in the warm light of the floor lamp.

  His jeans uncomfortably tight, he moved to sit next to her on the couch. “What now?”

  She didn’t answer, but instead reached behind her neck. The top part of her gown fell apart, revealing the creamy expanse of her full breasts. The rose peaked nipples were taut and when he met her gaze, he saw her pupils were dilated.

  “Now we thwart their plans even more.”

  “Firestarter…”he breathed as he took her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. She shifted her weight and moved against him, her breasts brushing against his chest. His flesh was on fire, the passion between them rekindled as if it had never left.

  “Roark,” she sighed, her lips soft and pliant as he plundered them, p
ushing her back against the couch. He moved on top of her, his body still sore from Martin’s bullshit, but he didn’t care. This was his mate and nothing else mattered. She was so slight beneath him and he didn’t want to crush her.

  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You won’t.”

  They’d lost so much time. Roark was determined to make up for it with every touch and every kiss. He would be the one to keep her safe and they would get a chance to live the life they dreamed of.

  “Now. Oh Goddess, please.” She shuddered beneath him, begging. “I need you inside me.” Her hands slipped between their bodies and she cupped his erection.

  “I won’t last long if you keep doing that,” he chided, taking her hands in his and lifting them over her head.

  “So don’t.” Her face flushed and her lips parted in a sigh.

  He couldn’t help but remember those days when they met in secret. She parted her legs even further apart and he sank between her thighs, the fabric between them torturous.

  He groaned, his hands roaming the landscape of her body, teasing and tormenting her as they wandered beneath her gown.

  The thin scrap of fabric covering the apex of her thighs was soaked. With a flick of his finger, he was underneath the elastic, exploring.

  She arched her body against his palm as the first spasms hit her. Biting back a scream, she bucked as he slid a digit inside of her, brushing her clit. A warm glow covered her skin and he traced the soft peaks and valleys of her breasts with nips and kisses, bringing her higher and higher toward the abyss.

  ***

  He was being more than careful and it was about to drive her insane. Guidry’s bite had freed more than her memories, it had unleashed a primal passion that would not, could not be denied. As teenagers they’d been careful not to take things too far. Sex without mating, the biggest taboo of all. They had already crossed the barrier once but it had been stolen from them. This new body would have her mate. She was done waiting and the fire bird beneath her skin wanted to fly.