Forbidden Flames

By Blaze Drake

Ava is the last phoenix, a magical firebird capable of rising from her own ashes. But after narrowly escaping those trying to use her power for evil, she now lives trapped in human form, hiding among humans in a sleepy seaside town. She works as a waitress by day, keeping a low profile. By night, she yearns to regain her true phoenix form and magical abilities.

 

Her quiet life is disrupted when Remy arrives in town—a dragon shapeshifter tasked by his draconian clan to find and eliminate the last phoenix. As he gets close to Ava under false pretenses, ready to complete his mission, he finds himself both drawn to her fiery spirit and questioning his clan's motives.

Just as forbidden desire ignites between these natural enemies, an evil force that has been hunting Ava descends on the town. This common enemy puts Ava's secret identity and life at risk. Remy faces a gut-wrenching choice: carry out his quest to destroy her or go against his own kind to protect her. With their instincts and hatred of each other at war with their burgeoning passion, Ava and Remy must decide if they will fall victim to the flames between them or rise together from the ashes to fight for their forbidden love.

 

As danger mounts, they realize they are the last line of supernatural defense—and that their destiny might be one of rebirth...if they can overcome the forces determined to extinguish them forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lovestruck Publishing
• Release date: Feb 27, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224248643

Blaze Drake

Blaze Drake burst onto the paranormal romance scene with her smash hit debut Forbidden Flames, enthralling readers with its tale of fated supernatural lovers. While new to publishing, Blaze has nurtured a lifelong passion for love stories with fantastical twists which is evident in the fiery imagination, intensity and allure woven throughout her breakout first novel. Hailing from the Midwest, she grew up enthralled by dark fairytales and cosmic romance novels, filling her free time scribbling poems and startup fiction which leaned heavily into mystical themes of eternal bonds. After pursuing her English degree with special focus on gothic romantic influences, she continued steeping herself in rich mythological lore and narrative archetypes across different cultures.  Blaze knew she had crafted something special when her undying love for the genre synthesized into Forbidden Flames. The book's perfect alchemical fusion of tender romance with otherworldly stakes proved a hit with audiences. Fans clamor to know if the star-crossed phoenix and dragon lovers will return for more heart-racing adventures exploring the intersections between magic and desire. When not meeting reader's insatiable demands for her unique brand of paranormal passion stories, Blaze enjoys venturing into remote wilderness locations to center herself and collect inspiration for crafting her next world of wonder. She also devotes time to various animal rescue organizations, claiming she gets her best plot ideas while caring for creatures great and small just like her fictional shifter darlings.  Stay tuned for what otherworldly romance Blaze Drake has in store next! If her smash debut is any indication, this ingenious author aims to continue raising the bar in fantasy-fueled amour.

Book preview

Forbidden Flames

Playing With Hellfire

Copyright © 2024 by Blaze Drake.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

First Edition : February 2024

Content

––––––––

Chapter 1 : Playing With Fire

Chapter 2 : Dragon In Disguise

Chapter 3 : Simmering Tension

Chapter 4 : Forbidden Attraction

Chapter 5 : Skin Deep

Chapter 6 : Playing With Firelight

Chapter 7 : Dragon’s Treasure

Chapter 8 : Trial By Firelight

Chapter 9 : Burnt Offering

Chapter 10 : Raising The Stakes

Chapter 11 : Playing With Firebrands

Chapter 12 : Trial By Dragon Fire

Chapter 13 : From The Ashes

Chapter 14 : Hell To Pay

Chapter 15 : Fire And Brimstone

Chapter 1 : Playing With Fire

CRIMSON FLAMES ERUPT from Ava's fingertips, scorching the frigid night air as she backs away from the three thugs stalking her down the alley. She should never have stayed so late at the cafe, but the rare tranquility kept her lingering over her chai as the winter sun faded. The {blurb about memories and backstory reveal through deep POV memories.

Come on, pretty lady, we just wanna talk, their ringleader sneers, flicking open a switchblade. His beady eyes hold anything but noble intentions.

Ava shoots him a fiery glare. I gave you fair warning to leave me alone. Any burned flesh you walk away with now is on you.

The men only laugh, their leering gazes raking down her body. Fools. If they glimpse even a fraction of her true primordial firebird form, their bravado would combust into screams and fluttering ashes. 

With effortless grace, she lashes her hands in a figure eight motion, letting the vibrant streams swirl faster, gathering heat. She has restraints herself among these mortals for so long, yet the tantalizing caress of her inner flames still thrums through her veins, begging for release after being suppressed under plain human skin. Soon, when the next celestial alignments shift fate's tides in her favor—she will finally resurrect her full phoenix majesty after this pathetic exiled existence. 

Until then, parlor tricks like this must suffice while hiding in plain sight.

Yo, Jarvis, look! the smallest thug cries out, backing away with uncertainty flickering across his scruffy features for the first time. 

Their bold leader pauses under a broken streetlight, jaw clenching. Good, let him glimpse a fraction of the power he dared provoke. The fires dance playfully against Ava's skin now, filling her with ferocious joy. How she missed this...being the master of her incandescent gifts. No one understands the exquisite rapture of swallowing an inferno's raw might paired with the heady taste of brimstone. The addictive thrill of primal magic floods her veins, defying human limits.

Almost no one... Hazy memories from centuries past haunt the periphery of her mind, teasing of someone who once stared at her true form's blazing wings and endless flame mane with awe, not fear. A shadowed figured who made her feel less alone when she burned bright enough to turn night into day yet still walked in darkness. 

But that was ancient history, from another life... Best left buried.

Jarvis holds Ava's fiery gaze with his beady eyes, refusing to retreat. Some kinda circus freak, eh? Bet we can fetch a fortune selling this witch to the local lab for experiments. Or keep her for our own amusement... 

The lewd implication in his sneer makes her skin crawl. Her fingers flex as incandescent rage resurfaces. Mortals never change. So arrogant, so puny and petty with their short, brutish lives. She served as an object of fascination and exploitation by greedy men long enough. 

With feline poise, she let the inferno wreathing her forearms surge, taking savage satisfaction as the thug's cocky leers transform into gaping dismay. 

Time to let them bear the burn...

Just as Ava rears back to unleash her fiery fury, an unsettling prickle shivers down her nape. The fine hairs rise instinctively. A foreign energy charging the atmosphere...something ancient and familiar. She scans the gloom beyond the alley's mouth but finds only wind-tossed newspapers skittering across dim cobblestones. 

Yet a self-preserving intuition honed over centuries of persecution screams she is being watched from unseen quarters. The phantom eyes boring into her back hold no human frailty. But not outright menace either. Rather...curiosity. And something more intimate with her soul recognizes, but her mind cannot place.

Ava hesitates, flame wreaths shrinking as she struggles to read the enigma. Who could be out there? One of her relentless pursuers emerged from the shadows at last? Or a ghostly face from her scattered past come to collect old dues? Either way, she will not cower as prey. 

With feline speed, she extinguishes her fires and turns to face the hidden observer. But finds only the empty street bathed in amber light from quaint café windows and lampposts. No one lurks by the inky woods fringing the sleepy seaside village or amongst the empty second-floor flats looming above.

Perplexed, Ava presses fingertips to her temple, reaching out with extra senses to scan spectral wavelengths for what triggered her alarm. Come out, come out, whoever you are...

She stretches her psychic grasp down the side streets and rooftops, finding zilch but slumbering mortals and perhaps a prowling raccoon or two. 

You're getting paranoid hiding amongst these provincials too long, girl. Letting petty thugs put you on edge? Pathetic. Resurrecting ghosts long turned to dust...

A nervous cough at her back reminds Ava she has more immediate problems still awaiting her wrath. With feline speed, she rounds on the troublemakers, flames roaring back to life. No more kid gloves for these three. Ava must teach lessons, exemplifying her fierceness, so that tales of her terrifying nature will spread and local louts will learn to never look her way again during these aimless exiled years. 

She flies at them in a blur, flames streaming brilliant crimson and gold from her hair and fingertips. Their horrified screams elicit the first genuine smile touching Ava's full lips in ages as the rich perfume of danger thickens the night...

THE MEMORY OF THE FIERY maiden's scalding image proved seared into Remy's mind as he wandered along the village's frost-lined cobblestone streets hours later. 

That lethal grace... Primal yet entirely controlled. Beautiful