Phoenix Hunted: Burnt Skies, #1

By Jade Alters

Luciana knew nothing of her father until she suddenly inherits a rundown ranch, a menagerie of magical animals and two insanely hot neighbors...

Unsettlingly handsome brothers Warwick and Dane have finally made a home for themselves amongst humans after hundreds of years on the run. Their safety relies on never getting too close to anyone.

But when their new neighbor's farm is attacked, Warwick can't help getting involved.

As a phoenix shifter, Warwick should be used to playing with fire but his unexpected passion for Luciana ignites an uncontrollable flame.

Problem is, she's human and he's an immortal. History has taught him, that can only lead to heartbreak... right?


If you love dragon shifter romances, be prepared to be swept away by the Burnt Skies phoenix shifter series! This shifter romance set in Australia proves it's definitely HOT down under!

 

**Phoenix Hunted was originally published as Mated in Flames.

 

Content Warning: Love scenes, naughty language, hot shifters, and piles of sexy secrets. Intended for mature audiences. 

 

 

This book is for those who love romances with:

- dragon or phoenix shifters

- fated mates

- action and adventure

- magic and suspense

• Language: English
• Publisher: Untamed Love
• Release date: Mar 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393990611

Book preview

WARWICK

The sun beats down harshly on my back and I stretch, wiping sweat from my brow. Beside me, Dane huffs a laugh.

Too hot for you? he teases.

I laugh, too. Since coming to Australia a few years ago, Dane and I had fallen in love with the small town of Mundaring, and our carefully cultivated farm. It was peaceful out here, somewhere that the rest of the world couldn’t touch us.

The summers, though, were brutally hot. It was perfect. Despite what Dane and I pretended, we both knew that the heat didn’t really touch either of us. In fact, we thrived in this sort of weather, though the effort of physical exertion in this sort of heat was nothing to scoff at.

You’re the one who took your shirt off, I say, nudging him. Looks like you’re the one who can’t handle the heat.

No, I can’t handle the sweat, Dane says, wrinkling his nose. It smells.

That, I can definitely agree with. Our bodies still sweat, and the smell of it soaking into the material of our clothes was unpleasant to our sensitive noses.

I relax my back and lean down to pick up the bundle of hay that I had been carrying with me. The sun has gotten to its highest point in the sky, and there’s still so much work to be done on the farm.

It’s as I’m moving across the front yard that I notice movement across the road. This automatically crosses my attention; it hadn’t been so long ago that the place was crowded with ambulances and police for a day or two before the old man that lived there had disappeared. In the days since, someone had turned up in the morning every day to look after the animals there before leaving it empty once more.

Today, though, it’s different. It’s mid-afternoon and someone is still there; I can see them weaving among the crops and hauling a large bucket. Curious, I creep forward and head to the front gate.

It’s a woman, her face twisting in concentration and her hat jammed low on her head to try and keep out of the sun. Unlike Dane and I, it’s clear that the hot weather does not entirely agree with her, and her face is flushed red. Strands of long dark hair, escaping the ponytail sitting low on her neck, escaped from beneath the hat.

Then she turned, scowling down at something on the ground. Her green eyes were bright and snapping with her anger and I can’t help but stare, caught by their emerald gleam.

She turned around again and I shook my head, blinking.

If she’s here, then maybe she’s taken over the farm now? It would definitely make more sense for someone to live there personally. Since I’m certain my original neighbour has passed away, maybe this woman is a relative that inherited the property.

Though, she definitely isn’t someone I’ve seen before. In a matter of security for Dane and I, we’ve kept a close eye on our neighbour over the years, and this woman hasn’t visited him in all that time.

I watched her disappear around the side of the house and then turned away too, making my way back to where Dane was mucking out the pig sty.

Hey, I think we’ve got a new neighbour, I say.

What? Dane asks sharply, standing straight. How do you know?

There’s someone over there, a woman, I reply.

I’d hoped the place would stay empty, Dane mutters. That would be so much easier for us.

Dane, if we want to blend here, we need to stop being so wary of everyone, I tell him. "Yesterday, I overheard the grocery store owner talking about us; it’s actually more suspicious that we keep to ourselves like we do."

You go play nice with the locals if you want to, Dane snorts. I’m perfectly happy staying away.

I give a wry smile. Dane has always been like this. Even among our own kind, he was antisocial and rude. I suppose I shouldn’t have expected more from him when we’re among humans, the beings that could, and did, almost hunt our kind to extinction. Although there was one human in particular Dane had a soft spot for, but mentioning Isobel now, or any other time for that matter wasn’t wise. I preferred Dane rude versus melancholy. Isobel came with us to Australia but that was before Mundaring, which was just as well. Dane doesn’t need the memories of her haunting him more than they already do.

I roll my shoulders. They feel raw, reminding me of how long it has been since I last stretched my hidden wings. But it was, unfortunately, far too dangerous.

Ready to care for the chicks? Dane asks after a moment.

We make our way into the barn. This is the place we don’t allow anyone else to see, because it would prove, once and for all, that we weren’t as human as we pretended.

Dane and I are human phoenix shifters. It’s been a hard life, and our parents were killed in a raid by Hunters when we were small, forcing us to flee. Since then, we’ve never come across another human phoenix, though we know they must be out there somewhere.

However, we have come across other phoenix creatures, creatures that we had only before heard tell of in the stories our parents had once told us. Birds that could fly into the sun, if they so wished, sea animals that glowed like flame beneath the water, foxes that could sprout wings and fly. They all had one thing in common; they, like us, were born with the power of the phoenix.

It was for these creatures that my brother and I had started this farm. We wanted to protect them, and the small town of Mundaring had provided us with the perfect cover. They didn’t need much care, either; all they needed was plenty of warmth and a mixture of trail mix made up of ash and oats. When they are old enough and strong enough to survive, we let them go out into the world to live their lives, hopefully free from those that would destroy them.

I slide the barn door open. It’s very bright in here, the windows facing out every way to always catch the sun, no matter where in the sky it was. On the walls, Dane and I had installed heaters, silent for now but very useful during winter. I can hear snuffling nearby, and I smile as I kneel down, waiting as a small black nose pokes itself curiously from behind a barrel.

Food time, I call softly.

I’m mostly ignored. The phoenixes prefer to keep to themselves, and this is a new batch of young creatures we’re raising, so they aren’t entirely sure if we’re trustworthy yet. Once we leave, they will fall on the food with gusto.

One of the creatures, however, barely leaves our side whenever we enter the barn. My grin widens as a tiny red panda tumbles into view, snuffling on the ground before looking up at us with wide, curious eyes. At first glance, the animal looks ordinary, if out of place in Australia, where it shouldn’t be native, but Dane and I had witnessed this one bursting into flame for ourselves.

Hungry? I ask.

The red panda scurries forward, and she rubs her head on my outstretched hand eagerly, making me laugh. She’s definitely a sweetheart.

It doesn’t take us long to put the food down and then we bid farewell to the panda before leaving. As we close the barn door, I startle as I hear the sound of a loud clang over the road.

When I look back, Dane is giving me a severe look.

It’s none of our business, Warwick, he says.

It might be nice to know more about our new neighbour, I point out. You know, to make sure she isn’t a plant.

Is there a reason someone might have found us here? Dane asks, eyeing me suspiciously.

Come on, man, I’ve been as careful as you, I remind him. "I’m just saying that we have a lot of rare creatures in our barn, and you know it won’t take much for them to catch our trail."

We both shudder in unison. They are the Supernaturals, a loose collective of creatures and immortals who capture and use their own kind; so much worse than any Hunter could be. Supernaturals care only about themselves and their allegiances are temporary at best. At least a Hunter, should we be caught, would offer us a quick, merciful death. Supernaturals, however, will draw it out, forcing us to do their bidding until they have no more use for us.

It might be worth finding out who she is, Dane grumbles. He shoots me a glare. "One visit. Just