Fire Cursed: A Fated Mates Paranormal Romance (The Bound Ones Book 1) Read online

  Tricia Barr

  Copyright 2021 Tricia Barr

  Cover Art by Laercio Messias Designs

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any form, including digital and electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the Author, except for brief quotes for use in reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. Characters, names, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  PHOENYX

  Blurry, dreamy images flashed in Phoenyx Blake’s reluctantly waking mind—images that didn’t make sense. The ground above her moving in reverse, as if she’d been carried over a shoulder…? A pair of doors coming together to close off a dark, compact space. The inside of a van?

  Remnants of a dream she was certain she didn’t want to remember.

  Her head panged fiercely, an incentive to stay asleep as long as she could. However, her aching back made it too difficult to rest any longer.

  She opened her eyes, the fuzzy world coming more into focus with each blink.

  A bright fluorescent bulb shone overhead—attached to a dark gray cement ceiling—creating an illusion of darkness despite the light. Her gaze wandered to thick metal rods descending from the ceiling to one side of her.

  Her other senses came into focus, dust and mildew accosting her nostrils, and a frigid chill clinging to her bare arms to raise prickly goosebumps.

  Her heart seized. She was in some kind of makeshift jail cell.

  Oh no.

  Shit.

  Please no!

  She sat up quickly, her hands rushing to her head to fight the sudden dizziness.

  “You’re awake,” a soft female voice remarked next to her.

  Phoenyx lowered her hands. A girl about her age sat in the corner of the cell to her right. Her arms were wrapped around her knees.

  “I tried to wake you earlier, but you were out cold,” the girl said.

  The long, curly hair that spilled over her shoulders was as brown as the bark of an oak tree. Her large green eyes, the color of fresh spring grass, were wide and staring. She had a small, round, and sweetly pretty face, which was currently scrunched with worry and streaked with pale lines as though she’d been crying. Her jeans, plain white T-shirt, and gray tennis shoes were faded from dirt.

  Phoenyx pursed her lips as she attempted to gather enough calm to think rationally. She looked around, trying to make sense of her surroundings. They were in a small square room, all four walls and the floor the same gray cement as the ceiling. A row of iron bars divided the room, and another perpendicular set met up halfway creating two small cells, each with a toilet against the wall.

  She and the girl were in the right cell, and the left lay vacant. Across from them was one heavy metal door. No windows anywhere. There weren’t even air vents.

  Her heart fluttered like a frantic hummingbird, as desperate to escape from her rib cage as she was to escape to this cell. The air in this oppressive space was suddenly too thin, and she inhaled harder and faster..

  “Wh…where are we?” Phoenyx stammered.

  “I don’t know.” The girl creased her brow, sniffling. “It’s pretty obvious this isn’t a legal holding cell. I can’t remember a thing about how I got here, but I’m sure this isn’t what being arrested is like—not that I’ve done anything wrong anyway. I have been awake for about...” She looked at the watch on her wrist. “...three hours, and no one has come through that door.”

  The girl broke down and cried fresh tears. “I’m sorry.” She wept. “I’m just so scared.”

  Shaking, Phoenix stood and moved to sit beside the weeping girl. She had an overwhelming need to comfort her, despite her own growing anxiety.

  “What’s the last thing you remember?” Phoenyx asked, not yet able to answer that question herself.

  The girl wiped away her tears and shook her head. “Hardly anything. I guess digging in my garden?” The girl sniffed loudly, then glanced at Phoenyx. “What about you?”

  Phoenyx closed her eyes and tried hard to remember. She went back far into her memory, deciding to trace events forward rather than back.

  She’d been accepted into UCLA. She and her mother decided it would be best for her to move to Los Angeles before the school year started so she could get acclimated to the city. She had been in L.A. for two weeks and stayed in an apartment she rented only for the month, expecting to move into the dorms on campus when school started. Since this was her last few weeks of summer, she made good use of her fake ID. Not that she really needed one.

  Now she was getting closer...

  She distinctly remembered going to a bar and flirting with a cute guy who bought her a drink. He asked a lot of strange questions, too personal, so she excused herself and left… Walking out of the bar was as far as her memory went before fading to black.

  That must have been what happened. The way her head ached and felt so heavy and foggy, this was no hangover—she must have been drugged.

  “I was at this bar,” Phoenyx hedged. “Some guy was buying me drinks and being kinda creepy, so I walked out. He must have slipped something in my drink somehow.”

  The girl cringed.

  Phoenyx searched her pockets and came out with her cell phone—which was dead—her fake ID, and a folded up bar napkin. She put the useless phone and ID card on the floor and handed the napkin to the girl.

  “Thank you.” The girl took the napkin and blew her nose. “I’m Lily. Lily Taylor. I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but under the circumstances…”

  Phoenyx nodded, her breath coming slower the more they talked. “I’m Phoenyx Blake.”

  Lily nodded, picking nervously at the napkin. “Why do you think we’re here? What do you think he wants with us?”

  Phoenyx’s heart jumped into her throat. She attempted to swallow the lump away.

  “Whatever it is, it can’t be good,” she said. “We can only hope we’re being Punk’d.” She smirked, trying to lighten the very dark mood in the air.

  Lily laughed, though it seemed more out of gratitude for the light-hearted suggestion than out of any kind of actual hope it were true.

  Phoenyx stood and inspected their prison. The bars were firmly secured to the walls, ceiling, and floor. She moved to the cell door and looked for any sort of flaw in the lock. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the kind of lock that took a regular key—the kind that could be easily picked with a hair pin. It appeared to be card-activated.

  She grabbed the bars and shook them as hard as she could, but the door didn’t give in the slightest.

  “You don’t have any Jackie Chan type martial arts training, do you?” Phoenyx asked. “Or happen to be an expert locksmith?”

  Lily shook her head and shrugged. “Afraid not. I’m just a nursing student.”

  “Oh, you go to UCLA, too?” Was that the reason they were both taken? Because they were students at the same college? Some kind of sorority prank, maybe?

  Lily’s eyebrows pulled together. “Umm, no. I go to the University of Washington.”

  Phoenyx frowned, confusion sinking into her stomach. “Oh…so you’re in L.A. on vacation?”

  As if putting the pieces together simultaneously, they both shook their heads.

  “I was in L.A. and you were in Seattle,” Phoenyx thought aloud. “For whatever reason, we were abducted and t
aken to the same place.”

  “So we don’t even know what city we’re in?” Lily fretted.

  Phoenyx sighed and started pacing. “A random abduction is scary enough. But we could be anywhere if someone went through all the trouble to cross state lines. But why snatch us from completely different states? That can’t be random, right? What could anyone want with us specifically?”

  Lily shook her head and put her chin on her knees.

  Phoenyx rested her head against the bars and let the hoard of fretful thoughts run rampant in her mind.

  Why would anyone do this? What could anyone possibly want with two simple girls from two different states?

  They were both pretty, attractive girls. Could they be victims of human trafficking? White hot panic flushed through her veins like a poison at the thought.

  No, no, don’t get too frantic yet.

  There were only two of them here. If this was human trafficking, wouldn’t there be more girls? They weren’t harmed in any way. Not that she was an expert on sex trading, but she wouldn’t expect the kind of men who partake in that business to be gentle.

  So, what could it be then?

  Phoenyx had never committed even so much as petty theft and, as far as she knew, she hadn’t made any enemies.

  Maybe this was about ransom?

  No, that wasn’t likely either. Her mom had very little money. It was only because of her dad’s life insurance that she could afford college. She couldn’t say the same about Lily, but their captors wouldn’t get much for Phoenyx.

  She turned around and looked at Lily, who was focusing extra hard on the ID card Phoenyx had left on the floor, as if trying to distract herself.

  “So, you’re twenty-one huh?” Lily waved the card as she looked up at Phoenyx. “Is it the big deal everyone makes it out to be?”

  Phoenyx smirked coyly. “That’s a fake ID. Just turned nineteen on June sixth.”

  Lily’s brow furrowed, and her eyes went wide. “That’s my birthday.”

  Phoenyx’s mouth fell open in disbelief. “No way.”

  “Yes,” Lily insisted.

  She reached into her back pocket, pulled out a small wallet, and removed her ID to hand it to Phoenyx. The plastic card verified that they really did have the same birthday.

  “That can’t be a coincidence,” Phoenyx postulated, handing the ID back to Lily. “What significance could our birth date have to anyone, though?”

  “I’m less worried about why we’re here, and more interested in finding a way out.” Lily sounded more determined than frightened.

  Phoenyx pressed her lips together a moment in thought. “Someone has to come in here eventually.” She sat beside Lily once more and lowered her voice. “The minute someone opens the cell door, we kick and scratch and bite and do whatever we have to do to—”

  The loud clinking of the heavy door being unlocked cut her off. The two girls shared a quick understanding look, then fixed their eyes to the door. It opened with a rude creak, and a bulky bald man entered the room.

  Of course, he would have to be a huge guy, wouldn’t he? As if they weren’t already up a creek without a paddle.

  Phoenyx stared at him cautiously, waiting. The second he opened the cell door, they needed to attack in whatever way possible. Hopefully Lily was ready.

  But he didn’t go anywhere near the cell door. He regarded them from where he stood. Then, without taking a step closer, he tossed a paper bag at the base of the cell, turned around, and walked out, closing and locking the door once more.

  Phoenyx and Lily exchanged surprised, suspicious glances, hesitating before either made a move toward the paper bag. They reached out for it together and looked inside. It contained two bottles of water, two apples, and two small McDonald’s burgers.

  “Well, at least we can be sure of one thing,” Phoenyx said.

  “What’s that?”

  “We’re not dealing with a serial killer. He wouldn’t have fed us if he was just going to kill us.” The statement came out of her mouth like a joke, but that scenario was a real possibility.

  “I think we know something else, too,” Lily said.

  “What?”

  “I assume that wasn’t the guy harassing you in the bar? Because you didn’t recognize him. If you’re sure the guy from the bar was the one who drugged you, then we know there is more than one person involved in whatever is going on here. That makes any chance of escape much less likely.”

  They both sighed heavily and took the burgers out of the bag. The smell of warm, fresh burgers assaulted Phoenyx’s nostrils.

  “You don’t think they’d have tampered with these, do you?” Lily eyed the wrapped burger dubiously, even as her stomach growled.

  “Considering we have no idea how long we’re going to be here, I don’t think we have the choice not to eat them,” Phoenyx pointed out. “We either take the risk...or starve.”

  Lily nodded, then eagerly opened the wrapper and took a big bite.

  Phoenyx wasn’t the least bit hungry. She couldn’t help but feel like this was more than just a typical kidnapping. She had secrets. Lots of them.

  And the possibility that she was here for any one of them was the scariest thing of all.

  SEBASTIAN

  Braiding his fingers in front of his lips, Sebastian watched as the cards were dealt from the left to right to the players at the table on either side of him.

  Even after all this time, playing this game for so many years, he still got excited every time he was dealt his first hand of the day at the Blackjack tables. His eyes narrowed in as the dealer flipped two cards in front of him.

  A ten of diamonds and a four of spades. His excitement deflated just a little. Though he knew he could win any hand, or every hand—if he was stupid—he always prefered when luck gave him a true win. Not the case this time.

  The pretty brunette dealer gave them all a moment to look over their cards, her eyes lingering on Sebastian. He lowered his hands enough to flash her a flirtatious smile, and her cheeks reddened as her eyes swiftly darted away. He smirked behind his braided fingers.

  Admittedly, it’d been a while since he’d had fun with anyone. And that wasn’t because he struggled like most guys.

  It was just a fact that Sebastian was handsome, with his short black hair and piercing blue eyes that ladies went nuts over. He was also tall, and he took care of his physique, swimming at least an hour a day. And let’s not forget the accent. Girls loved a British accent, or anything foreign really.

  Even if he didn’t have those things going for him, he had an easy charm about him, and a sense of humor that had gotten him out of many potentially bad situations. Skylar often said Sebastian could charm his way out of a paper bag.

  No, he definitely wasn’t having a dry spell. It was just that…the dreams were happening more frequently. And every time they did, he was left feeling…empty, lacking, incomplete. A magnet pining restlessly for its opposite.

  He couldn’t get her out of his mind. She haunted him like a ghost.

  Even now, as he felt the dealer’s eyes on him again, he knew he wouldn’t be trying to bring her back to his room tonight. The desire just wasn’t there.

  Instead, he was yearning for something he didn’t even know he could ever have. Someone he wasn’t sure even existed.

  “Sir?” the dealer asked the old man sitting on the farthest left side of the table.

  He had a two of hearts and seven of hearts. He tapped his index finger on the table, and the dealer placed another card next to the other two. An eight of diamonds. The old man waved his hand, and the dealer turned to the drunk middle-aged man next to Sebastian.

  “Hit me,” the guy slurred, and a puff of beer fumes assaulted Sebastian’s nostrils, making him instinctively hold his breath for a few seconds until it dissipated.

  He didn’t even look at his intoxicated neighbor’s cards, as he was too busy avoiding him with all his senses, but he did hear him howl, “Damn!” before he slammed
a disgruntled fist on the table’s edge. Then he skulked away, muttering under his breath.

  It was Sebastian’s turn. Time to pay close attention.

  The brunette turned to him, cat eyes smiling coyly. Sebastian tapped the table once, and watched keenly as she began to flip his card face-up from the deck. Before anyone else could see it, he saw that it was a jack of clubs. He was going to bust.

  But Sebastian never played by the rules.

  By the time the card landed beside his other two, to any looking, it was a seven of hearts.

  “Congratulations, sir,” said the dealer in a chipper voice. She placed his winnings on the table, giving him a half-second longer of her attention before turning to the next player.

  Suddenly, there was a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see a familiar guy with bowl-cut blond hair and glasses. His best friend and brother-by-choice. Skylar.

  Without a word, Skylar juts his head toward the main entrance.

  Sebastian didn’t question the gesture. They’d been doing this long enough to have developed signals, and this one meant, “time to leave right now.”

  Scooping up his chips and stashing them in the pocket of his black slacks, Sebastian slid off the stool and followed Skylar toward the glass doors and out of Caesar’s Palace.

  Skylar adopted a much quicker pace as soon as they hit the busy sidewalk, and Sebastian picked his up to match.

  “What happened?” Sebastian asked once they passed the building’s impressive façade and melted into the crowd in front of the Forum Shops.

  Skylar didn’t look as he replied. “The roulette operator triggered the silent alarm button.”

  Most Vegas casinos had these buttons at every station, for operators and dealers to alert security when they suspected foul play.

  Sebastian frowned. “Really? At roulette? How do they figure you were cheating? It’s pretty much impossible to cheat at that!” Nevermind the fact that Skylar was, in fact, cheating, but not by any means a normal person could accomplish.

  Skylar shook his head as he pushed through the masses. “The operator couldn’t figure it out either. But he couldn’t get past the suspicion. I was winning too often.”