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  Dance of the Dragon

  The Firestorm Dragon Chronicles

  Kira Nyte

  Dance of the Dragon

  Copyright © 2019 by Kira Nyte

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, organizations, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to a real person, living or dead is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Edited by: Raina Toomey

  Formatting by: Author EMS

  Cover Design by: Daqri at Covers by Combs

  Published by: Dark Illusion Publishing

  ISBN: 978-1-947077-04-1

  Table of Contents

  DANCE OF THE DRAGON

  Copyright

  About the Book

  Books by Kira Nyte

  Acknowledgement

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  About the Author

  Author Note

  Dear Readers,

  If this is your first journey into the world of the Firestorm dragons and their lifemates, welcome! I hope you find their world and ways as fascinating as I have. If you wish to start from the beginning, be sure to read A Dragon Speaks Her Name and A Dragon Gambles for His Girl, both of which are part of the Nocturne Falls Universe.

  This book is hotter than the previous entries in this series, so be warned. It also deals with darker subject matter, as suits the characters and the challenges they must overcome.

  Happy reading!

  Kira Nyte

  Dance of the Dragon

  Taryn Chovetz has called New Orleans home for decades and wholeheartedly embraces the city’s motto: Let the good times roll. The Big Easy is a good place for a man who has learned to hide the pain of his past with a sexy grin and a no-strings lifestyle.

  Every day is a struggle and a torment for Gabriella Metz. Her horror of a mother has dedicated herself to breaking Gabby down to build her into the perfect mate for a monster—not that Gabby believes in fantastical tales of dragons and priceless hoards of gold and jewels. All she wants is to survive another day of misery without succumbing to a crippling panic attic or losing her mind to the voices in her head.

  Taryn recognizes her instantly, a beautiful woman too fragile to be in a bar full of creatures that would eat her up, or worse. He knows better, of course. Trust Fate to offer him a precious lifemate while ensuring she was raised by a conniving, faithless bed-hopper. But Gabriella isn’t just fragile. She is very nearly broken. And she owns his heart.

  Her mother’s lies begin to unravel almost as soon as Gabriella meets him, her gorgeous, sweet, seductive dragon in shining armor. Taryn makes her want to believe life can be about more than survival. She would give her soul to have him. But she lost that long ago.

  Website and Newsletter for Kira Nyte: www.kiranyte.com

  Find Kira Nyte on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kiranyte

  Twitter: www.twitter.com/kiranyteauthor

  Instagram: www.intagram.com/kiranyteauthor

  Contact Kira Nyte at [email protected]

  Books by Kira Nyte

  Nocturne Falls Universe

  A Dragon Speaks Her Name

  A Dragon Gambles for His Girl

  Merry & Bright, A Christmas Anthology

  A Dragon’s Christmas Mayhem (novella)

  The Princess Protects Her Huntsman

  Touched by Her Elven Magic

  Touched by His Vampire Charm

  Winter Wonderland, A Christmas Quartet

  Touched by His Christmas Magic (novella)

  Science Fiction/Fantasy Romance

  The Gala Lover

  The Firestorm Dragon Chronicles

  Stroke of Fire

  Acknowledgement

  None of this would be possible without the continued support of my husband and family, as well as my readers and my “village.” Each and every one of you plays a huge role in making this happen. Thank you and much love!

  Chapter One

  “Your life surely hasn’t gone to shit.”

  Taryn Chovetz snickered at Syn Terravon’s assurance and tossed back the remainder of his whiskey in a vain attempt to wash away the prickling warmth that crept along his nape. The bartender caught sight of his empty glass, gave a thumbs-up, and poured a refill for the waitress to deliver. One of the benefits of being a regular in a paranormal club—the staff was always keen to serve the needs of their best clients.

  “You know she’s a wretched bitch. A conniving, sinister, slithering piece of shit.” Taryn lanced Syn with a cold look. No amount of Syn’s calm logic would make the situation easier to digest. “How did Corvin get messed up with the likes of her? And without me noticing?”

  Syn shrugged, dropping an arm around his gifted lifemate’s shoulders. Briella’s silence was more concerning to Taryn than Syn’s laid-back approach to this latest twist in his life. Briella often had something of value to say, or retort. Some vision of the future or maybe even—and he knew he couldn’t be this lucky—“she isn’t Corvin’s daughter, Taryn.”

  Since their arrival at The Spotted Cat, she’d been silent. Like a ghost.

  He really needed her flare for words right about now.

  The waitress sauntered over to place the fresh glass of whiskey on the table in front of him. He tried to muster a flirtatious grin, but his dour mood stripped him of any chance for a good night of no-strings romping. For the last month, he’d been desperately occupied trying to figure out how his Keeper ended up in bed with Janice Metz. How he was fooled into spending a night with the treacherous gold-digger.

  Dani rested a hand on his shoulder, drawing his attention up along her bare arm to her pretty face. The waitress’s delicate brows pinched in concern. “Everything okay, darling? Amelia’s been worried about you. Says you’ve been in a funk.”

  Leave it to a witch to know, Taryn thought wryly. “Dealing with a bad hand, thanks to Fate. Nothing I can’t conquer.” He took Dani’s hand and kissed her fingertips. “Thanks, sweetness.”

  Taryn raised a brow at Syn’s speculative stare when Dani left. He lifted his hands. “What?”

  “I’m wondering how many women have been charmed by you.”

  Taryn rolled his eyes and sipped his drink. He slanted a glance at Briella, who was taking in the darkened club and, more specifically, the bar.

  “Bedroom talk is not proper conversation to have with a lady present.” Taryn gave a salute with his tumbler when Briella snorted.

  “Like I haven’t heard it before.”

  “She speaks!” Taryn laughed as Br
iella narrowed her gaze on him. Her lips quirked in a suppressed grin and he winked. “Aww, gorgeous. You know you can’t keep that smile from me.”

  “Not going to work, Taryn.” She shook a finger at him. “As smooth as you are.”

  Syn cleared his throat.

  Taryn didn’t miss the flare of warning in his friend’s eyes, despite his lazy grin.

  “Back to the conversation,” Syn said. “You know, that woman in the picture could be any man’s child. Chances of Janice conceiving after one night, and conceiving Corvin’s child at that, is pretty small given her reputation. She might be trying to pawn off her kid on you in hopes you’re so desperate for a lifemate that you’d ignore the lack of all the telling signs.” It wasn’t the first, or second, time Syn had reminded him of the small chance of Janice’s claims ringing true. From everything they all knew about her, the woman’s tongue danced with lies—when it wasn’t dancing around a man’s cock. “I’d wait and see. Don’t stress over it every minute of every day.”

  As much as he knew Syn was right, Taryn couldn’t shake the whisper that taunted his mind. He hadn’t paid much attention to the photo Janice had practically shoved in his face on his doorstep a month ago, too outraged that she had the audacity to make such a claim. Outraged, too, that she’d actually been able to track him down. It was humbling, considering his clan’s decades’ long efforts to blend into the human world.

  The open battle between the Firestorms and the Baroqueth on the streets of New Orleans had forced humans to question the possible existence of creatures they’d long thought the stuff of fantasy. The exposure caused more problems for paranormal communities overall, not just the dragons, despite the amount of memory washing that had occurred, along with some skilled hacking to scour the web of digital evidence on social media.

  Taryn swirled his whiskey in his glass as he looked around the club. One of his few sanctuaries when he sought eclectic company. This was his favorite by far, catering to the hidden denizens that walked beside the humans in New Orleans. Humans sometimes ventured into the club—a dark, foggy, strobe-stricken place—but not many.

  So when he caught sight of a woman nervously following a step behind the club’s owner, he couldn’t help but watch. The zing of sparks that exploded beneath his skin as he stared only focused his attention. She looked tense. Pale. Human.

  He frowned. As far as he knew, the wait staff of The Spotted Cat were all paranormal creatures of one breed or another. Rodney seldom served humans, and had never hired them.

  But this woman wore the black apron that served as the uniform for the club’s bartenders. Her blond hair, caught up in two crazy buns on either side of her head, was streaked with pinks and purples.

  “Someone catch your fancy?” Syn sounded amused.

  Taryn cleared his throat and looked away as the woman’s eyes landed on him. He tossed back the rest of his whiskey in hopes of dousing the flames that danced low in his gut. The last thing he needed was to bring another woman into his screwed up life.

  Certainly not a mortal.

  He dodged Syn’s probing attention. “Easy on the eyes, but I’m not one for”—he motioned with a twirl of his hand to his head—“all that rainbow stuff in the hair.”

  “They’re clip-ons,” Briella offered. Taryn arched a brow. Briella smiled. “I’m a woman and an artist. She’s too uncomfortable in her own skin to dye her hair. Someone who can do that to their hair permanently would have far more confidence.”

  Taryn observed the blonde more closely. Her shoulders were rigid and her steps could’ve been taken on wooden legs—a fine set of long and lithe legs, if he were to say so himself. She knotted her fingers around the thin strap of the purse at her waist, her knuckles almost white. As his eyes tracked up her body, Taryn caught the shift of her jaw as she ground her teeth.

  “I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to be here…”

  Taryn’s eyes narrowed as Rodney spread his arm toward the flip-top leading behind the bar. Suzanne, the bar manager working behind the scenes this evening, flashed a smile and waved at the woman to join her.

  “…hope they give me a minute. Just a minute.”

  “Her mind is running amuck.”

  Taryn nodded once at Briella’s observation. All Firestorm Keepers and their lifemates had the gift of hearing others’ thoughts, and Briella had become as focused on the newbie as Taryn.

  He blamed the whiskey for the increased heat that stirred his dragon.

  “To the point her thoughts are essentially washing out everyone else’s.”

  “Pretty clear she wants to leave,” Taryn said.

  “Then why is she here?” Syn wondered.

  “Someone is making her,” Briella said definitively.

  Taryn tipped his head curiously as Briella took a nonchalant sip of wine, then focused back on the woman. Suzanne motioned to a small storage room behind the bar. The woman nodded and disappeared. Suzanne’s smile waned as she leaned over the bar and spoke quietly to Rodney.

  There was no missing Suzanne’s concern about the newbie’s behavior, both in her voice and her thoughts as Taryn shamelessly honed in on the quiet conversation.

  “A human?” Suzanne asked.

  “Make sure she fits in. I’m doing this as a favor,” Rodney replied, his tone bitter. Scowling, he turned on his heel and stormed away.

  Suzanne shook her head briefly. Her smile returned when the woman emerged from the storage room without her purse.

  The blonde’s brilliant blue eyes cut through the dark club. Their gazes locked and Taryn’s body jolted even stronger than before. Clearly, she’d felt something, too, because her eyes widened noticeably. The slumbering dragon within him unfurled its wings, the building heat stoking an ancient and consuming hunger to life.

  Ohh, shit.

  The thick tumbler in his hand shattered in his grip like delicate crystal. The remnants of his drink spattered over the table.

  “What is it, brother?”

  Syn’s alarmed voice was nothing more than a hollow, faraway sound as Taryn’s blood rushed through his veins. He barely caught Suzanne’s piqued interest on the hazy periphery of his vision as he helplessly stared at the woman standing with her.

  The blonde’s cheeks flushed. She pressed a fist to her chest before twisting away to disappear back into the storage room.

  “That…that can’t be him. Oh God, not going to make it. Need one more pill.”

  Pills?

  “What did he do? Why…why do I…feel like…oh no, oh no.”

  “Taryn,” Syn snapped.

  Taryn shook off the trance when he felt a touch on his hand. He almost jerked away with a growl before he realized Briella had lifted his hand away from the shattered tumbler. Syn made quick work of moving the shards of glass to one side of the table as Briella assessed the bleeding lacerations on Taryn’s palm.

  Lacerations. Even his dragon was too caught up in the woman to protect his skin from his own foolishness.

  Briella dabbed at the wounds with the bar napkin that was under her glass of wine. “Who is she?”

  Taryn opened his mouth to answer, but his throat squeezed shut as a surge of renewed heat flooded through him. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips together. Instinctively, he drew his hand from Briella’s and willed the wounds to heal. As diminished as his magic was in this realm, he could do that much.

  This could not be happening to him.

  The fierce hunger brimming through his soul made a mockery of his false assurance.

  “Son of a bitch.” He spit out a slew of stronger curses as he shoved his chair back and shot to his feet. When he opened his eyes, he was shocked to see the club and the other patrons in the brilliant hues of the thermal spectrum. His dragon had consumed him, taking over as he struggled to gather his bearings.

  Syn stood, too, his expression filled with hard concern. “Taryn, what’s going on?”

  “She was right,” Taryn growled, catching Syn’s fierce gaze
.

  “Who was right?”

  He ignored his brother’s arched brows and turned toward the bar. He’d find out the truth, because his body and his dragon both seared him with the unspoken need for validation.

  As though satisfied he was taking action, the dragon receded and Taryn’s vision returned to the normal spectrum as he approached the bar. Suzanne’s smile grew.

  “Darling! Finally you decide to come over.” She stepped up on something behind the bar to lean over the counter to greet him with a hug and a kiss to both cheeks. She rested her hands on his shoulders and gave him a lingering once-over. “Damn, boy. Gorgeous as always.”

  “Thanks, sweetness. Saw you have a trainee,” Taryn said, trying to keep his tone casual. It was a battle to keep the growl out of his voice. And while he normally didn’t mind feminine attention in the least, he suddenly didn’t want Suzanne’s hands on him. “Didn’t think she matched Rodney’s specs when it came to employees.”

  Suzanne’s smile turned rueful and she stepped off whatever earned its right as her stool. She shrugged and cast a cautious glance over her shoulder toward the storage room. “Definitely something different, though I’m not sure how it’ll all pan out.”