Healed by Fire

HEALED BY FIRE

(Artemis Lupine #3)

Catherine Banks

eBook Edition

Copyright 2011 Catherine Banks

Cover design and artwork by Avery Banks

This book is also available in print.

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~~~~

ARTEMIS LUPINE SERIES

1. Song of The Moon

2. Kiss of A Star

3. Healed by Fire

4. Taming Darkness (2013)

Check
http://www.catherinebanks.blogspot.com
for updated book information.

~~~

The sun was just cresting the mountains as I
walked down the concrete sidewalk towards Preternatural Potions,
the best magic shop within one hundred miles of the coven where I
lived. I admired the buildings around me that still looked freshly
painted even after thirty years, and I wondered which spell was
used to protect the paint from dirt and sun bleaching.

I didn’t remember what the human world
looked like before the uprising, but from the pictures I’d seen I
agreed with Selene that the preternaturally run world was
definitely better looking. The leaders, however, were not better
for the world. Now we not only had monarchs heading each of the
races, but we also had a dictator who was worse than any human
politician could have been.

A tall, light-skinned, red-haired dhampir
stepped out of the store in front of me. I forced myself to lower
my eyes respectfully and move out of his way instead of reacting as
I desired.

“Good morning, miss,” the dhampir said
kindly.

“Morning, sir,” I replied as I continued
past him.

I snuck a glance back, but thankfully he was
still rooted in the spot, following me only with his eyes. Only a
few more blocks and then I’d be safely at my destination.

The sun rose and the true beauty of the town
was revealed. Every vampire noble was given executive rights to
decide what their territories would look like, except for specific
restrictions that the Vampire King, the dictator of the world,
gave. The buildings were constructed from wood and painted in what
looked like a light blue color at night, but when the morning light
hit the buildings it revealed its gorgeous bicolor. The paint was
actually a dual tone of blue and purple, which changed continuously
depending upon the way you looked at it.

“Owner?” asked a short, burly goblin at the
crosswalk in front of me.

The goblins had been in the deserts of the
Middle East and Northern Africa during the human reign. I wasn’t
sure if their resilience had come from living in the deserts for
thousands of years or if their resilience had allowed them to adapt
to living in the deserts, but the fact remained that they were a
preserving and strong race which could adapt to any climate
quickly. Once the preternaturals had taken over, the goblins spread
out from the deserts to the more temperate climates around the
world, mainly living in the Northern Hemisphere.

“Selene, leader of the Western Coven of
Witches,” I answered automatically.

The goblin, an enforcer for the vampires,
nodded his head and waved me across the street.

How nice of you to let me pass.
I
continued on my way. Little did the goblin know that I could toast
him out of his boots faster than he could yell for his mother. I
was glad that he hadn’t asked to see my brand since the one I had
tattooed on the back of my neck wasn’t the witch’s. I actually
didn’t know whose it was.

I finally arrived at the store and pushed
the door open. The scent of jasmine flooded my nose and the sounds
of a rainforest inundated my ears. For a moment I was teleported to
a tropical forest where animals much different than the ones I was
familiar with ruled and where humanity hadn’t been able to
overwhelm. The door closed behind me and the spell broke slightly,
allowing me to regain my senses while still being able to relax. It
was one of the best spells I had ever encountered, and it did its
job of allowing shoppers to browse stress free.

The store was large, but seemed small due to
the wall to wall, floor to ceiling shelves. The shelves were lined
with various sized glass vials, bags, boxes and cages which held
everything from toad tongues to herbs to test rats. Each had
elegantly written labels hanging from them with product
descriptions and prices. In the center of the store was a large
circular wooden table which had sale items as well as the most
commonly purchased potions, charms, crystals and other magical
artifacts. I knew this was only a sampling of what Preternatural
Potions offered and you only had to ask the clerk to run to the
back for other items.

I looked towards the front counter, which
was nothing more than a white elm trunk shaved into a rectangular
shape. Not surprisingly there was no one behind the counter. The
clerk, Dionysus, had a drinking problem and was either drunk,
crabby because he needed a drink, or passed out in the back of the
store. I was actually pleased that he wasn’t there to pester me. He
was constantly toying with me and hiding ingredients that I
required on a weekly basis so that I had to ask him, and ask him
politely, for them.

One of the witches in my coven told me that
he had interfered with something the Queen of the Sidhe had been
planning for months because he had been intoxicated, so they sent
him to operate the store. He hated every moment of it, especially
since the vampires refused to let him decorate the interior in a
more pleasing, non-sterile manner.

I walked to the first shelf and grabbed
three vials of ingredients I needed. I should have grabbed a basket
from the stack sitting beside the door, but I moved on to the next
shelf instead, grabbing another vial and cradling them all in my
arms.

“Hello,” said a voice like bottled
sunshine.

I jumped in surprise and caught three of the
four vials I’d had in my arms. I could have grabbed the fourth, but
I was supposed to be playing human so I couldn’t use my
preternatural speed. I waited for the sound of shattering glass,
but was greeted with only soft laughter.

I turned around and made my way past leg
muscles straining against jeans, to an incredibly muscled stomach
and torso to a smile that stole my breath and to eyes that made my
knees wobble. To say that the man standing in front of me was
handsome was like calling the ocean a puddle. His blue eyes
sparkled like a clear summer’s day. I dropped to my knees and bowed
until my forehead touched the ground.

“I’m s-s-sorry, s-sir,” I stuttered
fearfully. “I didn’t m-m-mean to l-look upon your f-face.” I hated
it when I stuttered, but it was a side effect from having been in
wolf form for over ten years straight. Selene, the leader of the
witch coven I lived with, had found me and helped recuperate me
back into a human, or at least as much of one as I could be
considering I was half Sidhe and half werewolf.

He sighed. “Broken. How can you be so
broken?” My wolf snarled softly and as I feared he’d heard. “Did
you just snarl?”

I swallowed. “N-n-no Sir.” Words were still
hard to say at times for me, especially when I was nervous.

He scoffed. “Stand up Chandra. I’m not going
to punish you.
As if that would work anyways
. Are you here
to shop or browse?”

I stood up slowly and whispered, “Shop.”

“How could this have happened? Doesn’t even
recognize me!” I kept still since he was obviously talking to
himself and I had no clue what he was talking about.

My body was shaking softly as I stood near
him. He was the most dominant male wolf I’d ever met and he was
calling to ever fiber of my wolf side. The urge to rub my face
against his was almost overpowering for a moment as I fought with
my animal urges. I knew he wouldn’t be able to sense my wolf since
Selene had given me a necklace with a charm which concealed my true
genetics, one so powerful no one except the most dominant of each
race could break it, but I was worried. If he guessed for one
second that I was a halfbreed, he would take me into captivity and
never let me out again. I’d heard awful stories of halfbreeds
seized from their home, their work, or even from the arms of their
lover to be taken away and never seen or heard from again.

“Is this all you need or are there more
items you need to shop for?” he asked, taking a step closer to
me.

I stepped back from him and bumped into the
shelves. “I have m-more.”

“Very well. Finish shopping.”

I waited until I heard and felt him walk
away before looking up at the shelves again. I’d never
felt
somebody like I felt him. It was as if we were connected somehow. I
shook my head and dismissed the ridiculous notion. I looked back up
at the top shelf where Dionysus had placed my ingredient. I
couldn’t jump up and get it. I looked toward the register where the
alpha was watching me.

Why was one of the most powerful alphas
working in a magic shop?
Why did I feel so strongly towards
him when I’d never met him before?

“S-sir?”

He nodded his head. “Yes?”

I pointed up. “I n-n-need that item. The
usual clerk likes to t-toy with me by placing them out of reach.
Could you perhaps…retrieve it for me?” The longer I talked with
him, the less I stuttered and the surer of myself I felt.

He walked around the counter and towards me.
I felt my heartbeat pick up as I watched his graceful movements,
his feet light on the floor, barely making a sound as he stalked
towards me. I forced myself to remain still as he walked up to me
and stopped inches away. “Which item?” he asked softly. I inhaled
the smell of him and closed my eyes in shock as a memory of lying
against him and inhaling his scent played across my closed eyelids.
A memory or a fantasy?
I wasn’t sure.

I shook my body and cleared my throat before
saying, “The bottle on the top shelf.” I took two steps back to
give him room and watched as he jumped up and grabbed the bottle
easily.

He held the bottle out to me. “Anything
else?”

You. No, you in wolf form, running with
me in my wolf form.
I bit my lip as I stopped the whine trying
to escape. I’d been a lone wolf since Selene found me and being
this close to a male wolf hurt. I wanted a pack mate. I wanted a
wolf to run with me.

I bit my lip harder, drawing blood into my
mouth, which helped clear my head. “I just have a few more things
to pick up.” I turned away from him and quickly grabbed the six
other items I needed and set them on the counter in front of
him.

He put the items in bags and set the bags on
the counter. Since every preternatural group had slaves that
contributed to the world, we no longer used currency. Basically,
since everyone contributed no one owed each other money. It was the
vampire’s ideal society, utopian socialism where they weren’t the
ones who had to contribute, only their slaves did.

I reached out for the bags, but instead of
pushing them towards me, he carried them to the door and pushed the
door open for me. Warm air blew into the store and his scent into
my face. I inhaled and rememorized his scent.
Rememorized? When
had I memorized it before?  

“Are you feeling alright?” he asked
softly.

“Y-y-yes. Thank you.” I walked and took the
bags from him, being extra careful not to touch him.

“Broken. I don’t understand how she can be
so
broken
?!” he said angrily as he gripped his black
hair.

I should have been afraid, but instead I
turned around and demanded, “Why do you keep calling
me
broken
?”

His face went completely blank, becoming the
type of mask people wear when hiding their true emotions. “I did
not mean to offend you.”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes at him. “Right,
because calling me
broken
shouldn’t offend me. I know you’re
a bigwig in the werewolf community, but just because you’re
powerful doesn’t mean you can go around calling people
broken
, especially when you have no idea what kind of crap
they’ve been through!” I was yelling by the end of my tirade and my
face was red with anger.

He smiled and bowed at the waist. “My
apologies.”