First Flame (Stories of Frost and Fire Book 1) Read online

  “Please get Malpas and Echo to do it. I feel like something is happening here, and I don’t want to miss a moment of it,” I said.

  “I’m staying here tonight with her. Go home and sleep,” Nick instructed. Too many nights I’d stayed away to avoid the dreams. Nick knew because he lived next door. “Let Kyrie stay with you.”

  “No, we don’t. He can’t…”

  “I don’t care, Winnie. Until we resolve this dream thing, I suggest you find a roommate,” Nick said.

  “You are next door,” I protested. “Or I could get Colton.”

  “Wait! Who is Colton?” Kyrie asked.

  “Across the hall neighbor,” I said.

  “Colton is human, Winnie. Don’t drag him into our world,” Nick warned.

  “He’s living in the most heavily warded building in Steelshore. That’s unusual. Why is he there?” I asked.

  “Please don’t pursue this one. As a favor to me, let it go,” Nick said.

  “Should I be watching out for him?” I asked.

  “Yes, please,” Nick said. “Go home. Call your mother.”

  Calling my mother meant that I would open up my problems to her. I was sure she kept tabs on me, but she’d stayed out of my life. If I opened that door, it would give her reason to walk into it.

  Kyrie nudged me, and I decided to go home. Kyrie might not have the bottle of merlot with him, but I had a bottle of Pinot Noir that needed finishing.

  We rode back to the apartment which was only a couple of blocks away.

  “You okay?” Kyrie asked.

  “I’m okay. Just dreading calling my mom.”

  “I’ll be there with you.”

  After being on the phone with my mother for all of five seconds, the room turned colder and the windows iced up. I hung up the phone as she materialized, past the wards with no invite, inside the room with Kyrie and me.

  “Mom,” I said.

  She walked across the room in her glittering blue gown. Her tattoo glowed sapphire blue, but her lips were ruby red. Gloriana, Queen of the Exiles and Winter, appeared to us in all her Winter glory. She had to come this way to have the power to get into the room. I doubted there were others more powerful than her in this form. Well, except for Uncle Levi.

  “Winnie,” she said with a bright and mesmerizing smile. She gathered me into her arms and hugged me tightly. “I miss you so much.”

  “I miss you too.”

  She turned to Kyrie who swallowed visibly.

  “Hello, Mr. Babineau.”

  “My Queen,” he said, bowing his head to her.

  “Please,” she said, rolling her eyes. She plopped down next to him on the couch. “Call me, Mrs. Rearden. Good grief, that still sounds strange to me.”

  “How is Uncle Levi?” I asked.

  “You talk to him more than you talk to me,” Mom said.

  “I called you because you need to know that I’m having dreams.”

  Her smile faded. “Like your father?”

  “Yes.”

  The blue dress and glittering aura disappeared. Her signature torn jeans and slouchy sweater appeared in their place.

  “Dylan said that the dreams could change. You know that his last dreams of us did change. Multiple times.”

  “The Sanhedrin execute me for killing a fairy.”

  “I would destroy them for such a thing, and they know that,” Mom said.

  “Mom, it’s more than that. They don’t care, but if I kill a fairy, shouldn’t I be executed?”

  “Winnie, you would never,” Kyrie said.

  Mom stood up and approached me. “As much as I don’t like Kyrie Babineau, he’s right. You are too kind and too loving to kill one of our own. But I never thought I’d kill a fairy either. I did. I have, and I’ll do it again if the punishment fits the crime.”

  “You are the queen. You are the judge and jury.”

  “And executioner. Your duty as a phoenix, at least as your father felt, was to protect those who needed protecting and exterminate the demons that would cause harm to those innocents. You have impeccable judgment. Your instincts are right and true. And any action you take, I will stand behind you.”

  My mother, my biggest pain in my ass and my strongest supporter. “I love you, Mom.”

  “Of course, you do, I’m wonderful,” she said.

  “Mom,” I groaned.

  “I love you so much, Wynonna Riggs. I’ll find out more about the Sanhedrin here and see if I can’t influence them. I promise to stay out of your direct business, but there is nothing in this world that will ever stop me from protecting my child,” she said, then spun around toward Kyrie. “Which brings me to you, Mr. Babineau.”

  Kyrie jumped to his feet. “I swear, Mrs. Rearden, I’d never do anything to hurt Wynonna.”

  “I know that, and I thank you for being here with her. Thank you for standing with her,” Mom said. I almost died. I know my mouth dropped open.

  “I will always stand with her. That dream will never come true because she will not be alone against the Sanhedrin.”

  “Good boy,” Mom said, patting him on the cheek. “Winnie, do you want me to send Aydan back? And Killian wants to see you.”

  “No, and tell Killian I’ll see him soon,” I said. “I’ll be home for Yule.”

  “Alright. Be well.” She skipped away in a flutter of snow.

  “I’m pretty sure I just pissed in my pants,” Kyrie said.

  “If you did, you wouldn’t be the first. She can be very intimidating, but it seems you have won her approval.”

  “That’s nice, but her opinion of me is secondary to your opinion of me. I know that I’m not the steady constant in your life like Mark is. I know that we have gotten into a whole lot of trouble all the way back to that stupid knife thing in the forest, but I swear…” I grabbed him and kissed him. He fell back on to the couch with me on his lap. I giggled as we tumbled. He brushed my hair out of my face. “Does that mean you approve of me?”

  “Yeah, I do,” I answered. “Isn’t that obvious?”

  After some heavy petting and groping, Kyrie and I cooled off and I sent him home. I sat in the window of my bedroom as a light rain fell outside. I sipped on the bottle of pinot that I had opened after Kyrie left.

  Opening the windows reminded me of home in the few weeks between summer and winter that constituted autumn in Alabama when we would open the windows at the house or at the trailer. A cool breeze would air out the house giving us a renewed and fresh start.

  I leaned back sucking in the cool air, allowing it to fill my lungs. Sometimes the heat was overbearing. I missed the colder climate of Shady Grove. Even if it was only a few degrees. I craved the cool. My body radiated heat, and after a lust-filled pawing session, I was on fire. Despite any hesitation I had about Kyrie, I knew he had my back, and he did amazing things with his tongue. I laughed at myself, and my cheeks heated at the thought.

  Then, my glass of wine hit the floor and shattered. I looked up to see a dark figure dart around the end of my bed.

  “What the fuck!”

  “I love it when you swear,” a quiet voice came from behind the bed.

  “Show yourself!” I demanded.

  “I could, but I’m afraid of your fireball,” it responded.

  I’d instinctively drawn fire. I closed my hand dousing the flame. “Okay, no fire. I swear.” The pictures on the wall rattled with my oath.

  A black cat jumped on top of the bed. She licked her paw. “I got some wine on my paw. It tastes nice, but it can get sticky.”

  “You are a lush,” another voice said from the bathroom. The orange cat jumped up on the bed with the black one.

  “Take that back, whore.”

  “I am not a whore.”

  “Beautiful whore.”

  “Oh, I love you when you are so sweet to me.”

  “I know. It gets me out of trouble,” the black cat replied.

  “Excuse me?” I interrupted.

  “Oh, Wynonna, sor
ry. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Kat. This is Cat.”

  “How original,” I grunted.

  “It is actually. Mine starts with a ‘C’ and her name starts with a ‘K’.”

  “My mistake. What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “I have a question about the wolf,” Cat said.

  “Nick?”

  “Well, that one too,” she said.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Are you involved with either of them?” Cat asked.

  “Um, no. Mark is my best friend, and Nick is my boss,” I said.

  “Good. I’ll take them both,” Cat said.

  “Wait, what?”

  “Like I said, beautiful whore,” Kat said. Cat hissed at her.

  “Look, I’m about to close these windows, so you should skedaddle.”

  “We could help you,” Cat said.

  “Help me do what?” I already felt like I was crazy talking to two cats. “Are you shifters?”

  “No, we are cats,” Kat scoffed.

  “I get that, but you are talking which means I had too much wine or I’m Dr. Dowinnie,” I said.

  “That wasn’t funny,” Cat said.

  “It really wasn’t,” Kat agreed.

  “What are you on the fairy spectrum?”

  “I’m offended that you would use something that classifies very unique individuals to apply to us just because you don’t understand us,” Cat said. She tossed her head to the side, then flicked her tail.

  “No more pinot,” I muttered, rubbing my forehead.

  Kat sighed. “Look, Wynonna. This is how this works. If you do something nice for us like let us stay in out of the rain, we help you.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  “Then we sleep in the wet alley,” Kat said.

  “I’m not cursed?”

  “Not everything ends in a curse,” Cat said.

  “In my world it does,” I countered.

  “You just need to trust someone. Trust us,” Kat purred.

  “Who sent you?” I asked. I wasn’t sold that two talking cats had decided to just jump in my window.

  “We sent ourselves. It’s been a long time since we found someone worthy of our help,” Cat said.

  “Alright. You can stay inside tonight, but you have to get out in the morning,” I said. “Do you need anything? A bowl of milk?”

  “Do you have any more of that wine?” Kat asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “That will do,” Cat said.

  I poured what I had left into a bowl, and the two kitties slurped it up. I turned the lights off in the apartment. I placed a blanket on the floor for them, then laid down. After finishing their wine, they curled up together like a yin and yang. Before I drifted off to sleep, I heard them purring loudly. I’d never had cats. Rufus had always been my pet. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t approve of the felines.

  Before I drifted off to sleep, I heard Dominick come into his apartment next to mine. He must have been alone, because I heard no rhythmic thumping, grunts, or female pleasure sounds. His phone rang once, and I heard him crack open a beer. Beyond that, nothing else.

  I bolted up in the bed. Nick was supposed to be with Ren. I threw off the covers, forgetting about the cats. They jumped to attention when my feet hit the floor.

  “Sorry,” I muttered, then ran out of the room to the door to my apartment. I ran down the hallway and began beating on Nick’s door.

  He opened it with a puzzled look. “Winnie! What’s wrong?”

  “You are supposed to be with Ren!” I said.

  “Malphas and Echo took her to Shady Grove.” He stood in his boxers without a shirt. I suddenly realized how unclothed I was. I was wearing a t-shirt that barely covered my butt and a pair of panties. “You should probably get back to bed.”

  “Yeah, I guess so.” I stepped away from him but had to tear my eyes away from his chest. My fairy hormones hadn’t had enough with Kyrie. They were stirring with a half-naked werewolf. He chuckled at me, then shut his door. When I made it back to mine, it was cracked open. Before I could step into the room, I heard Colton’s door open. I darted inside my door and shut it. Looking through the peep hole, I saw my human neighbor grin. He’d seen my ass. Shit. Well, I mean, he wasn’t that bad looking, but Nick had told me to leave him alone. And he had told me to look out for him. It seemed like a contradiction to me. I’d have to work that out in the morning.

  Cat and Kat were either back asleep or completely ignoring me. It was hard to tell with cats. I decided that I was a being a paranoid goofball and I should get some sleep. Kyrie mentioned going to Miss Hamlet’s club. I was sure we wouldn’t find any pasties there. I wanted to talk to Seamus about the two clubs. If anyone would know something about them, he would.

  As I drifted off to sleep, my phone lit up with a message from Mark. “I miss you,” it said.

  “I miss you, too,” I muttered, then fell asleep.

  Cat and Kat told me before they left the next morning that they could help me with my investigation. I didn’t know what they meant, but I sent them out the window not expecting to see them again.

  I ate a bowl of instant oatmeal and drank a glass of milk while trying to decide whether or not to reply to Mark’s text.

  I’d taken a shower and gotten dressed when someone knocked on my door. Through the peep hole, I could see Colton with his backpack. Opening the door to him, I watched as a glorious smile crossed his face.

  “Morning,” he said.

  “Hiya,” I replied.

  “I just wanted to make sure you were okay this morning. I heard you talking to the neighbor,” he said.

  “Oh, yeah, that’s just Nick. You know him, right?” I asked.

  “Actually, I don’t,” he said.

  “Oh, well, he’s, um.”

  “Oh! He’s your ex,” he said.

  “No! Heavens, no! He’s more like my boss.”

  “Oh, okay. Well, I just wanted to check on you.”

  “Thanks. As you can see, I’m fine.”

  He looked me up and down with a smirk. Not a Kyrie smirk. More like a sweet one. “Yeah, I’m glad. Catch you around, Wynonna.”

  “Yeah, see ya.” I shut the door just as my phone started to buzz. I picked it up to see a text from Nick.

  “Leave him alone,” it said.

  “Buzz off! He knocked on my door!” I replied.

  “He probably saw you in your panties last night. Not many men could resist that,” he replied.

  “You did.”

  “Your mother would cut me off.”

  She would without hesitation. “Uncle Levi could make you a magical cuff so you could spawn a new one.”

  I heard him through the wall laughing loudly. Then he knocked his fist on the wall a couple of times.

  With pride that I’d gotten something from my mother, I grabbed my phone and backpack to make my way to the office, thinking about my quick wit and smart mouth.

  The rain had cooled the temperature, and I reveled in it. With my face to the sun, I soaked in its rays, but delighted in the breeze that cut through my leather jacket. My mother had given it to me before I left Shady Grove. My dad had given it to her as a present. She’d given his jacket to Aydan which was the right thing to do. I’d never considered her jacket to be very valuable, but when she gave it to me, I felt like it was my most prized possession outside of the necklace that I wore around my neck which had a key hanging from it.

  The year my biological mother died, and Grace adopted me, I’d received the key from one of the Yule Lads who had come to Shady Grove to create havoc for the holidays. In the end, each one had given me a gift. None more precious than the key which was a reminder of the people I’d lost.

  When I entered the office, no one else had arrived for the day, so I started a pot of coffee. I flipped through my phone looking at the headlines when a woman came into the office.

  “Hello, how may I help you?” I asked.

  The glamour
shimmered to reveal Reyna, the head of the Sanhedrin. The one I’d been dreaming about killing me. I dropped my phone as my fists turned the color of molten metal.

  “Stand down, Wynonna Riggs. I’m here to talk.”

  “I don’t want to talk to you. Get out.”

  “I have business here with you.”

  “I don’t have business with you.”

  “I’m looking for the girl you found in the crate at the docks two nights ago.”

  “You can keep looking. I won’t tell you where she is.”

  “So, you’ve already moved her to Shady Grove. That’s unfortunate.”

  “If you lay a finger on her, I will burn you to ash.”

  “Interesting turn of phrase considering what you are,” she said with a grin.

  “You won’t rise.”

  “Will you? Have you ever tested that theory? Because after all, we know you are a made fairy. I’m not sure the Phoenix powers will actually work on a fake.”

  I bolted at her only to be intercepted by a hairy dog. Nick hit me square, knocking me to the ground. He shifted back to human and glamoured himself some clothes. Something I taught him after too many peeks at his junk.

  “Reyna, the Sanhedrin have no business in this office. Do not come here and try to provoke my people.”

  Reyna leaned on the front door with a wicked grin. “I won’t have to provoke them. They are fairies, and one of them will slip up. When that time comes, the Sanhedrin will take care of it.”

  “Get out,” I yelled at her. Nick stood between us to keep me from hurling a fireball at her.

  “I was just leaving,” she said, then ducked out the door.

  Nick spun around, getting in my face. “Do not let her get under your skin. Do you hear me? I will send you home.”

  “I’m not your child.”

  “No, but I love you like you are family, and I’d blame myself forever if something happened to you,” he said with a softer tone.

  “She said I was a fake. She said I wouldn’t even rise. She might be right,” I said with a shaky voice. It was as if she knew my fears. It had always been a question for me. One that I didn’t regularly voice. Mark and I had talked about it, but I hadn’t discussed it with anyone else. Not even with my mother or Uncle Levi.