Burning Desire [Eternal Flames 1]

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 2

One hour earlier

“Justice! Hold up!” Angelo called out as he made his way through the corridor of Town Hall.

Justice Abruzzo, Crystal’s Mayor, was rushing toward the rear door. He stopped at the sound of his name and turned toward Angelo. “I’m already late for the charity event, Angelo. The damn budget meeting ran over and now my dear wife is going to kill me if I don’t get moving. Can this wait?”

Angelo walked closer and replied, “Unfortunately, no.”

Justice sighed in annoyance but noticed the concerned look on Angelo’s face. “Okay. Walk me out to my car.”

The two headed for the rear entrance. Angelo looked around to make sure they didn’t have an audience. “It must be a doozy if you’re looking for prying ears. So what’s going on, Angelo?”

Justice asked as he opened the door and headed out.

“I had a vision earlier. And it’s big.”

“Okay, well, what is it, man? Get to the point.” Justice dug his keys from his front pocket and pressed the fob. The lights flashed on his SUV as a beep sounded. He reached for the door handle and swung the door open.

Angelo rushed out nervously, “Dragons.”

The one word caused Justice to freeze in his tracks. His head snapped around in Angelo’s direction and he stared at the man, caution in his eyes. “What about them?”

“I was at the diner earlier with Viktor. Levi had just brought us our order, and suddenly a vision of dragons hit me. But that’s not all. The vision showed the reunion of the dragon and the phoenix. The two species must come together again, for the survival of both our races.”

Justice just stared at Angelo for a moment as he let the information sink in. “Must?”

“Yes.”

Justice sighed heavily and ran a hand down his face. “Okay. Get in. We’ll discuss this on the way.”

Angelo ran around and jumped in the passenger side. Closing the door, he grabbed the seatbelt and twisted to clamp it shut. Just then his sight blurred and drew out as if looking through a tunnel.

“Angelo? Angelo? What is it?” Justice asked in concern.

Angelo’s eyes stayed focus on the vison as he whispered in horror, “Fire. A big fire at the shelter. People are trapped.”

“s**t!” Justice grabbed the gear shift, dropping it to drive, and peeled out of the parking lot.

* * * *

Present

Daytona nervously paced the floor of the waiting room. He knew he should have rushed right back to the scene after they brought Nina to the hospital, but there was no point now. Nash, the police chief, had called to let them know the structure was a total loss, as well as his whole crew.

The coroner was now on the scene and they were retrieving the bodies of the fallen.

The loss of his men was hitting him hard, but fortunately there was no other loss of life. Well, maybe. They were still waiting on word on Nina Abruzzo. Dayton raised worried eyes to look toward the Mayor and Angelo who stood whispering in the far corner of the room. He was so screwed. By shifting into his dragon, he not only exposed his kind to humans, but he exposed his identity to the phoenix leader himself.

He had had no choice though. If he hadn’t shifted, he and Nina would also be lying in the rubble waiting for someone to find their lifeless forms. But was it enough? Was the risk of exposing himself worth the price? If Nina lived, then it would all be worth it. Besides the fact that Nina was a phoenix shifter, there was nothing Daytona didn’t like about the woman.

“Can you tell me why I have a dragon shifter in my territory?” Justice’s rage-filled whisper came to him, bringing Daytona out of his thoughts.

Daytona knew it was the moment of truth. He looked up and met Justice’s angry gaze. “It’s a good thing a dragon was here or Nina would have been buried under that building as well. There was no way any human would have been able to get her out in time.”

“Do you have any idea what your little stunt has done?” Justice seethed.

“Hopefully saved Nina’s life,” Daytona spat.

Justice just stared at him for a moment. Their two gazes clashing. Angelo stepped closer and placed a hand on Justice’s shoulder. “We can deal with all of this later. You should focus on Nina right now. Why don’t you try calling Ethan again?”

“I’ve already called the Battalion chief, Illan Sutherlan. Otherwise known as the dragon leader.

Any relation, Captain Sutherlan?” Justice bit out between clenched teeth.

“My father.”

“Why the hell hadn’t I put the two together before?” Justice asked and studied Daytona, his eyes narrowing. “Why can’t I smell your dragon?”

“Justice.” Angelo gave him a small shake to get his attention. “You need to try Ethan again. This can all wait until Battalion Chief Sutherlan gets here.”

“He’s coming here?” Daytona asked in shock.

Just then the door of the waiting room swung open and a man dressed in a long white coat entered. “Mayor Abruzzo?”

Justice gave Daytona one more scathing look before turning and going to the doctor. “How’s my wife?”

“We have her stable for now, but I want an MRI done to check for swelling of the brain. Besides suffering from smoke inhalation, Mrs. Abruzzo has a severe skull fracture. Once I get the results back, we’ll have a better picture of what we’re dealing with.”

“Will she be okay?”

“I can’t answer that right now. I’m sorry, but we need to wait for all the results to come in.

We’re moving her down for that MRI now, so hopefully we’ll have some answers soon. I’ll come find you when we’re done.” With that the doctor turned and left the room.

The silence hung in the air as Justice stared at the door. Angelo took a tentative step closer.

“She’s going to be okay.”

“What happened at the scene?” Justice asked. “Was she hit by a fallen beam or something?”

Justice spun around to face Daytona. “What happened at the scene, Day?”

Daytona took in a steadying breath and relayed every detail from the moment he arrived on the scene until he shifted and blew out of the back of the building.

“I need to call Ethan,” Justice announced tightly, turned, and left the room.

* * * *

Daytona leaned against the wall in the hallway, thumbs shoved into the waistband of his protective pants, as he stared down at the floor. Looking up to check the clock, Day spotted a large group of men making their way down the corridor. In the head of the pack, was the imposing figure of his father coming closer. Illan Sutherlan walked with a smooth, confident, commanding glide. His six-foot-eight stature always made people stop and move out of his way.

That or the fact the man was built like a brick wall with legs.

It had been a few years since Daytona had seen his father and the tinge of gray sprinkled in the temples of his short black hair was new. But those deep, dark blue eyes remained the same. They always made Daytona feel like his father could see right into his soul when those orbs stared at him.

Then Daytona noticed them. The four huge men flanking his father. Men that Daytona had

grown up with, his closest friends. Gods, how he had missed them. To his father’s right was Morgan Barrett, who had been his best friend growing up.

Morgan wasn’t as big or tall as his father, but he was close. Morgan was a brute of a man, at six-foot-four, two hundred and fifty pounds of rock solid muscle. The chocolate of his skin helping to define the thick muscles of his guns straining against the edge of his shirt sleeve shirt. Daytona couldn’t see the man’s eyes because he hid them behind sunglasses most of the time while in the presence of humans. They were a dark purple that almost looked black and they always seemed to freak out humans when they saw them. Daytona smiled to himself when a gleam shone off Morgan’s shaved head. He used to love to tease Morgan about that being the real reason he wore the sunglasses. Because the shine coming off his head was so bright it even blinded him.

To Illan’s left was Zev Brady. Daytona wasn’t sure, but it looked like Zev had gotten even bigger since the last time he had seen him. If that were even possible. Zev stood at a towering six-foot-seven, and the man was heavily muscled. Those mountain meadow green eyes of his penetrating Daytona with their stare. Daytona gave his old friend a slight smile as he noticed the man had let his thick, black, wavy hair grow long enough to lay below his shoulders, and now sported a nicely trimmed goatee.

Daytona’s smile grew wider when he saw who the other two men were at the back of the group.

The double-trouble twins were close on their heels. Finn and Jett O’Bryan. A pair of identical mirror twins. They were exactly the same on the outside, standing at six-foot-six and a good two hundred and fifty pounds of taut herculean bodies. They wore the same wavy blond hair that went to their collars. The one way to tell them apart physically was that Jett had denim blue eyes, and Finn had the most amazing burnt orange.

Even though the pair were identical in looks, they were complete opposites on the inside. Finn was smart as hell, a fantastic strategist, and very guarded. He wasn’t willing to trust anyone quickly. He was a no-nonsense type of guy, who was willing to do whatever it took for the good of their clutch. Now Jett, on the other hand, Jett was outgoing and the jokester of the group. He loved life and adventure, and looked at the world as being half-full. He wasn’t as smart as his twin, or as guarded. Jett trusted others to the point that it could get him into trouble.

The door across from Daytona opened and Justice and Angelo stepped out into the hallway.

“s**t. Now there are five more of them,” Justice said in annoyance as he watched the group get closer.

“I didn’t know he was going to bring others with him,” Angelo added.

The group got closer and stopped a few feet from them. “Abruzzo,” Illan said tightly with a small nod.

“Sutherlan.”

“So, who do you think is gonna piss on the perimeter to mark their territory first?” Jett whispered to his twin out of the corner of his mouth. Finn rolled his eyes then shot his brother a murderous look. Daytona bit the inside of his cheek to stop the smile from forming.

“Somewhere we can talk in private?” Illan asked. His face a mask of stone coolness.

Justice opened the door he had just come from and motioned with his hand as he answered,

“Through here.”

After the eight of them entered the waiting room, Justice closed the door and turned toward the group.

“I’m sorry to hear about your wife. How is her condition?” Illan asked.

“We’re still waiting on the MRI results.”

“So what happened with the fire?” Again Daytona explained the situation from beginning to end.

“s**t. You lost the whole crew?” Morgan asked.

Day’s eyes filled with grief as he nodded.

“You said there was an explosion at the end. Any ideas as to what that was from?” Finn asked as he crossed his thick arms over his massive chest.

“I have no idea until I get back to the scene and start looking around. Maybe it was the oil burner, but the explosion seemed to pack more punch than that. It was hard to tell at the time.

The place was filled with smoke and the structure was catching fast. The shelter was one of the oldest buildings in town, so it took off like a matchbox.”

“I’ll be heading back there in a few minutes to start the investigation,” Angelo added.

“And who are you, cute stuff?” Jett asked with a smirk as he gave Angelo a once over from head to toe. Angelo gave Jett a look that said, “Really?” while Finn rolled his eyes. But what caught Day’s attention was the way Zev bristled from Jett’s flirtatious ways. If he didn’t know better, he could swear Zev wasn’t too happy about Jett flirting with the bird, it having nothing to do with the fact the man was a phoenix. He would have to store that information away for another time.

“This is Angelo Carbone, the town Arson Investigator,” Day introduced.

“Carbone? Is this also the man you spoke about on the phone?” Illan asked Justice.

“Yeah.”

“So tell me, Mr. Carbone, what exactly did you see in this vision of yours, and what makes you think it has anything to do with our two races reuniting for the good of us all?” Illan asked in a hard voice.

Daytona sighed internally as he closed his eyes. He knew that tone very well. It meant his father was being very cautious until he heard every detail. It also meant the man didn’t really believe what he was being told. He would only make a decision one way or the other after he got all the facts. Preferably if there was some proof to back up the story. Suddenly what his father had just said sunk in and Daytona’s eyes snapped back open. A vision of the dragon and phoenix burying the hatchet?

The door swung open and Day shifted his gaze to see if it were the doctor coming in to give them news on Nina. Then his world rocked. It wasn’t the doctor who stepped through the door, but the most beautiful man that Daytona had ever seen. His small stature made him appear on the twinkish side, but Day could clearly make out a nicely toned body under the skin tight seafoam green T-shirt the man wore so perfectly. The man’s short, dark brown hair looked so soft and silky that Day found himself wanting to reach out and touch it. A lock of hair fell down over the cutie’s eyes, and Day was transfixed by the icy blueness of them. He wanted to stare into those eyes all day.

Day’s d**k twitched in his pants and began to fill, clearly taking notice of the dream that stood before them. Then Day’s breath caught in his throat when he realized that the man standing before him was the same man he had conjured up in his head. The one he thought of as his shower dream man.

“Ethan, it’s about time you showed up,” Justice chastised.