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  Text copyright ©2016 by the Author.

  This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by S.E. Smith. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Magic, New Mexico remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of S.E. Smith, or their affiliates or licensors.

  For more information on Kindle Worlds: http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds

  Touch of Fire

  By Michele Callahan

  A Magic, New Mexico Kindle World Story

  Touch of Fire

  Cover Art Copyright 2016

  Ebookindiecovers aka Melody Simmons

  About Touch of Fire

  A trip with friends turns into a nightmare of epic proportions when a magic spell forces Kayla Evans to take an unexpected detour to nowhere-ville, New Mexico. The small town is full of crazies, mischievous baby fairies, talking animals and one hot hunk of a man who just won't leave her alone. In fact, he's following her everywhere, stealing kisses, and making her want a little crazy of her own. But Kayla has a life, and living in the middle of a desert is not her idea of a good time, even if it does come with one amazing, and sexy benefit – a sexy fire elemental determined to melt her socks off.

  To the rest of the world, ancient mythology is just that, fairy tales. But for Xander and his magical brothers, it's all too real. Born into a long line of powerful but cursed men, he is destined to wait for the goddess to summon a mate for him using a powerful magical spell. When the magic summons sassy and willful Kayla, Xander faces the ultimate test. Kayla may not be able to resist his seduction, but Xander craves more than physical pleasure, he is determined to claim her heart.

  Chapter One

  Xander Davis rubbed the center of his aching chest with the flat of his hand and wondered when his mother would decide to take pity on him. He’d fulfilled the conditions of the curse. His home was ready for a mate. He was ready…

  Rising from the floor of the red desert all around him, his home looked more like a hundred-year-old Spanish hacienda than a brand new structure built by blood and sweat and magic. Sage, cactus and rock surrounded him on all sides. Here and there a particularly determined patch of tall grass fought for survival. His home fit into the barren landscape as if it had always been here. Just a few minutes away was a small town filled with both humans and magical creatures that simply wanted to live their lives in peace. He was drawn to this place, to its power. Upon arrival he had purchased this land and worked day and night to build this house for her.

  His mate.

  One small problem. He had no idea who she was.

  He and his new mate would fit right into this community. He already had taken a job as a local fireman. He had begun to get to know the townspeople—from vampires, dwarves, witches, werewolves and fairies. Xander was sure there were more magical creatures he had yet to meet. And he wanted to meet them all, if he lived long enough. Now that the mating curse had been activated, he was running out of time.

  A high, keening cry came from over the top of one of the desert mesas and he lifted his gaze to the pure azure sky as a small dragon flew toward him.

  The dragon flew straight to him and landed on the small pebbles that lined his new driveway. He met his mother twice before, once the day his fire magic had nearly burned down his home, and at his father’s funeral three years ago. That was the day she had told him all about her wretched past and about the curse she had cast on her sons because of it.

  That was the day he’d truly grown to despise her.

  “Xander. It is time.” The dragon’s voice wasn’t much different than his mother’s voice in human form. Power and magic floated with her words, like heat followed sunlight. His mother’s traveling form was about the size a large horse with wings would be, but she was much more beautiful. Her scales glittered with the colors of the sea. Green and blue scales in every shade imaginable shimmered in the sunlight. Her eyes, whether in human form or dragon, were the color of water frozen in a glacier, and her talons and teeth were a deep midnight blue, nearly as black as he imagined the depths of the sea to be.

  He had never seen the depths of the sea, not like some of his half-brothers. He was a child of his mother’s fire form. Water was fine, in small doses, but he had no interest in going swimming. Ever.

  “Mother.”

  She sat on her haunches and curled her tail around her feet, the diamond-hard tip flipping up and down off the ground like an irritated cat’s tail. “Is this your home?”

  He sighed, resigned to playing her game. If he did not, he would be left with this hollow, aching heart until his death. “Yes, Mother. Would you like to see inside?”

  “No, son. I’ve come to give you a heart stone.” The dragon lifted one giant eyebrow as if he were the biggest idiot on the face of the Earth. He widened his stance and crossed his arms over his chest so he wouldn’t appear intimidated, or overly eager for her gift.

  “Thank you, Mother.” It never paid to piss off a mythical sea nymph, nor a goddess even if she was one’s own mother.

  His mother nodded like a queen and lifted her front foot up to her large maw. With a deep breath, she breathed fire, hot dragon’s fire, over her own clawed foot for several seconds.

  The heat drew him forward, so powerful. So pure. He had inherited the fire magic within him from her, just as she had bestowed other magics upon his many half-human brothers. She could take four forms and commanded all four elements—earth, air, fire and water. Depending upon her mood when she seduced her mortal lovers, her offspring, always sons, inherited one of her gifts.

  They also inherited her curse.

  He could not fall in love without a heart stone. Once his mate was summoned by a heart stone’s magic, he would have one cycle of the moon to win the woman’s love forever, or die alone. Even more daunting, the woman had to choose to stay with him of her own accord.

  He had dreaded this day for years, but now all he could think about was finding her. Seducing her. Winning her heart.

  Xander watched in awe as a dark red stone took shape amidst the dragon’s fire. He’d heard tales that once, many years ago, a son with earth magic had tried to trap his less than enthusiastic mate in a cave. The earth itself had rumbled and quaked until a fissure formed, wide enough for the woman to escape. She had run far away, leaving her devastated mate to live out his years alone, tethered as he was to his heart stone.

  Once the stone was blooded, he would be trapped here as well. Trapped to this house, to this place, to this crazy town. He could leave for a short while, but the curse’s power rose and fell with the moon, like the ocean’s tides. If he was not home on the night a new moon hung in the sky over his home, he would fade away, his magic drain from him until his physical body died.

  He’d watched it happen. Once. One of his many half-brothers had looked like a three-hundred-year-old, dried-up husk in a matter of days.

  The dragon grumbled and the fire ceased. Between the five-inch claws of her hand lay a dark red jewel. Oval shaped, it glittered and pulsed with magic.

  He reached for it but she stood on her haunches and held it far over his head. “Not so fast, son. You know the rules.” The dragon snorted at him for good measure and walked on her two back legs to the archway above his front door. “Yes. This will do nicely.”

  Leaning forward, she pressed the jewel into the exterior wall of his home. Magic swelled in the air around her, making it look like she stood in a cloud of floating silver glitter. When she was done, she stepped back and admired her work. The stone was embedded in his home by her magic.

  She tilted her head to the side, and in her dragon form, the sight was odd. “There is strong magic in
this place. Very unusual. I have never created a stone this strong.” She looked over her shoulder at him, her pale blue eyes focused on his face. “What is this place?”

  “Magic, New Mexico. Perhaps there is a reason for the name.” He shrugged. He knew what she meant, he’d felt the power here as well. It had drawn him like a moth to a flame.

  “Perhaps I shall investigate this town.” She turned from his door, took a few steps and spread her wings wide. He couldn’t wait for her to leave. She made him uneasy, and he needed to blood that stone. He needed his mate. His body ached every night. His heart hurt. He’d been alone for a very long time.

  She flapped her wings as if to take off, but stopped and turned back to him. “The stone is strong, Xander. Do not blood it until you are ready.” With that, she took off, flying in the direction of the strange little town he now called home.

  He turned to the doorway and to the sparkling jewel imbedded in red clay stucco. All he had to do was feed the magic within that jewel a single drop of his blood and his mate would come to him.

  She would come, and she would love him. He didn’t care what she looked like. He didn’t care what he had to do to win her over. He would buy flowers and spout sonnets. As much as the thought made him shudder in revulsion, he knew there was nothing he wouldn’t do to win her heart, even…dance.

  He didn’t want to wait another moment. He’d built a home for her and was more than ready to start a new life.

  Xander lifted his thumb to his teeth and bit the flesh hard. When the salty tang of blood filled his mouth, he lifted his finger to the stone and rubbed the dark red liquid over the glittering facets.

  The stone flared brightly beneath his finger and he lowered his hand as a tidal wave of magic poured though his body, throwing him back several feet, where he landed flat on his back. A visible pulse rushed over the ground in every direction with the jewel at its center.

  Xander laid his head down on the ground and stared up at the nearly cloudless blue sky. The magic was on its way to her.

  And she would not be able to resist his call.

  Chapter Two

  Kayla Evans threw her favorite pink bikini into the open suitcase on her bed and danced around her bedroom. A whole week on the beach with her besties. She was so ready for a break.

  “Girlfriend, you look so hot in that suit. We’ll have to get a SWAT team to keep them off you at the beach.” Amber, Kayla’s roommate all through vet school, grinned at her from the open bedroom doorway.

  Kayla laughed. “Right. Did you pack your yellow bikini?”

  “You know it.”

  “Well then, the SWAT team will be so busy staring at you that they wouldn’t be able to protect me anyway. I swear, your ass is like man kryptonite.”

  Amber whooped and hit herself in the backside on her way to her own room to pack. Amber was fit, but her ass curved and bounced like a bubble. She was also drop-dead gorgeous with curly black hair, smooth mocha-colored skin, and dark sultry eyes. Amber walked by and jaws dropped, eyes widened, and men fell all over themselves to buy her drinks. Handy at the bar, not so much when Kayla was the soft, clutzy sidekick with pale skin, mouse-brown hair, and plain hazel eyes. Nothing special. Kayla was much better with the animals she treated than she was with members of her own species, especially the male half.

  When she was treating an animal she didn’t have to worry about its motivations. If a dog wagged its tail, it wasn’t trying to get anything from her. It didn’t want to live on her couch, eat her food, and have sex in the afternoon with her next-door neighbor.

  Amber’s voice carried from across the hall. “What time are they meeting us at the airport?”

  Kayla checked her watch. “We’ve got about an hour.” She was driving. They were going to park at Denver International Airport’s extended parking garage and meet their two friends at the gate. Six days of fun in the sun in Florida sounded perfect after a harsh Colorado winter. It was March, and the mountains were still covered in snow.

  Kayla could hardly wait. She didn’t care about the man meat at the beach. She was tired. Eight years of school plus one more at CSU’s vet training hospital getting her subspecialty in genetics, and she was bone tired. Too many hours reading. Memorizing. Studying. Taking tests. More tests. More tests.

  One week. No phone. No computer. Nothing. She wasn’t even taking a book. She was going to sit on the beach, drink strawberry daiquiris and watch the clouds roll by. And when she got back, she started her new job in one of the most prestigious vet research clinics in the country. She’d worked for almost a decade to land that job, and the satisfaction she felt every time she thought about it made her want to dance a jig.

  She was awesome. For the first time in her life, she believed it!

  Walking to her dresser, she opened the top drawer and dug deep into the back where she kept her sexy lingerie. If she wasn’t in a bikini, she was going to feel like a million bucks on this trip. Her suitcase was full of cute new clothes, sandals and bright neon toenail polish. She’d treated herself to a mani-pedi the day before, and the shocking glitter-blue polish suited her mood perfectly.

  No rules. For the next week, she had no rules. No deadlines. No one counting on her, waiting on her. Nothing.

  Done packing, she dropped a weekly feeder in the tank for her angelfish and followed Amber out to the car. Loaded up, the drive from Fort Collins to DIA took almost two hours in traffic, but as she took the final exit off E-470 to Peña Boulevard, a strange tingling started in the center of her chest.

  One hand on the steering wheel, she used the other to rub her sternum, but it didn’t help. The tingling became worse and she had the sudden compulsion to turn the car around. She shouldn’t be driving east. She needed to be driving south. Now.

  Right now.

  Commercials were playing on the radio, which she hated, so she turned on her satellite station and cranked up the volume. A classic road trip song came on and she sang like her life depended on it, trying to stop the flow of panic rising up to choke her. Amber joined her, and they belted out the lyrics to “Life Is A Highway” as Kayla exited the road and drove to one of the shuttle serviced parking lots.

  As she pulled up to the lift bar and grabbed the ticket from the dispenser her hand shook so badly she could barely hold the small stub of paper. Driving forward, she followed the cones and windblown signs to a parking space and shut off the engine.

  Amber popped the trunk, using the button on the dash, and hopped out with a whoop to get her suitcase.

  Kayla stared at the mountains and cursed fate, or bad luck, or whatever the hell was going on with her because she wasn’t going. Not to Florida. And not home.

  She had to drive south. The compulsion was strong, stronger than any she’d ever experienced before. Sometimes, when she instinctively knew what was wrong with an animal, she felt a tug in her chest similar to this. When she’d been small, she had stumbled across more than one injured wild creature in the Colorado mountains while following this kind of impulse. It felt like someone was tugging on her very soul. Oh yes, she’d felt this before. But not this strong.

  Never this strong.

  Something was in pain.

  This was like someone had wrapped fishing line around her spine and was reeling her in. She could fight if she wanted to, but she knew if she got on that airplane and headed east, to Florida, she’d be a screaming, rambling mess before they landed. Her friends would want to kill her before they even reached the hotel.

  Damn it.

  “Come on, woman! Get your ass out of the car! Let’s go! My beach chair is waiting!” Amber’s happy orders hit her like lead between the eyes. Amber knew about her strange impulses, but she wasn’t going to like this. Not one bit.

  Kayla opened the driver’s door and stepped out of the car. She left the door open and the keys in the ignition. The annoying ding of the car’s warning system repeated like tiny explosions in her ears. She slammed the door closed, stuffed her hands in the pocke
ts of her jeans and walked back to the trunk. Amber stood with a smile on her face and both of their suitcases already on the ground.

  “Come on, Kayla! Let’s do this.” Amber waved down the shuttle bus driver who was circling the parking lot to take passengers to the airport terminal. A harsh March wind whipped Kayla’s long brown hair into her face. With a long sigh, she pulled her suitcase close enough to get a solid grip and lifted it back into the trunk of her car.

  Amber noticed her movements and scowled. “Oh no, you don’t. What do you think you’re doing?”

  Kayla tried to smile, but knew it looked stilted. “I can’t go. You guys have to go on ahead and have fun without me.”

  Amber stomped her foot. “What the hell, Kayla? What are you talking about?”

  Rubbing the tingling fire in her chest, Kayla shook her head as the shuttle pulled forward to a stop, brakes squealing. The driver hopped down to take their suitcases and Amber rolled hers forward to him at the same time Kayla waved him off. “I can’t go. Something’s tugging on me, and it’s big. Stronger than anything I’ve ever felt before.”

  Amber sighed and crossed her arms, hips tilted in annoyance. “Ignore it, woman. Whatever it is can wait. This is your vacation! Bikinis and boys. Remember?”

  “I know. I’m sorry. But I can’t. You know it doesn’t work that way. If I go with you, I’ll just drive you all crazy.” Kayla pulled her friend into a quick hug. “Go. Have fun. I’ll see you in a week.”

  Amber frowned but backed up, headed for the bus and its impatient driver. “Okay, but it better be a grizzly bear or a mountain lion, or something really freaking cool.”

  “I’ll tell you all about it when you get back.”

  Amber waved and Kayla tried to smile as she returned the small gesture, but her heart was already on the highway. South. She had to go south.

  And whatever was calling to her wasn’t a bear, or a big cat. This was something she’d never felt before. Something bigger. Something epic.