Page 15 of Fated for his Flame

“Caleb?” a voice called from off to one side, hidden by some carefully trimmed and shaped shrubs that helped divide the area around the estate manor into various sections.

“Over here, dear, with Silas.”

A woman appeared a few seconds later. Tall and slender, she had thin, pitch-black hair that fell in perfect waves near to her waist. It was pinned back with a single clasp at the base of her skull. Soft silk-like layers of fabric swished about her body as she approached, the deep violet color accentuating her pale skin, of which it showed much.

Her eyes landed on the two men before locking sharply on me. The honey-amber circles narrowed tightly. They darted from me to Caleb, then to Silas and back and forth between him and me several times. I braced myself for an outburst, but instead, her face broke into a warm smile. She walked straight over toward me.

“I’m Shiloh,” she said, taking my hand and shaking it. “Everyone calls me Shi.”

“Chloe,” I said, taking to her instantly. “Nice to meet you. Are you one of their siblings, too?”

Shi laughed, a soft twitter. “No, Caleb is my mate. Although I suppose, in a way, that makes me a sister to Silas.”

I noted she didn’t use the term “in-law” and made a mental reminder to learn more about that. They replaced husband or wife with mate. Was that the same? Were there other connotations to it? Those were things nobody knew.

The four of us moved off the landing area, heading slowly to the house. I wanted to ask once more why Silas looked extremely uncomfortable the closer we got to the sprawling building, with its high arched entryway and super-sized double doors. It was big enough for a dragon to enter. Was that on purpose? My brain was working double time, filing everything I could away for further analysis. We had so much to learn about these creatures.

A dragon came in at a sharp angle, landing much harder on the stones than Silas had. In the blink of an eye, the rust-colored dragon was gone, replaced by a tall, hard-looking woman with more gray than brown in her ear-length hair. Cold blue eyes took in the four of us before dismissing us as unimportant. She strode forward, shoes clacking on the tiles, black pantsuit exquisitely tailored to her form.

Whoever she was, she thought herself important. The instant her eyes landed on me, I knew there was no ally there. She was a woman who disliked me from the start.

“Who was that?” I asked Silas quietly as the woman disappeared into the house.

“My father’s sister,” Silas muttered. “Annabelle. You can ignore her. It’ll be better that way.”

Caleb snorted heavily in agreement.

“Care to come in with us?” Silas asked.

“I wish I could. I hate I’m going to miss it,” his brother said regretfully. “But we have business to attend to and have to leave. Unfortunately, you’re on your own. Have fun.”

“Thanks,” Silas said unhappily as he embraced his brother and Shi.

The two said goodbye, Shi giving me a friendly wave as well, before they departed, shifting and leaping into the air. I noticed that, unlike Caleb who had red scales like his brother, Shi was a lovely golden hue all over. Her dragon was smaller, but she easily caught up to her mate, and the pair flew off side by side.

Once they were gone, it was just Silas and me. He didn’t appear too eager to continue.

“Let’s just get this over with,” I said, taking a breath and heading for the stairs, forcing Silas to come with me. “How bad can it be?”

“I have no idea.”

He opened the door for me and followed me inside.

“Who are we meeting?” I asked, though I suspected I knew the answer.

My eyes roamed the interior of the building, memorizing the layout. The sun was shining right through the open door, covering everything in front of us in a blinding glow.

“My son!” a heavy voice boomed from straight ahead as a large, powerful figure strode through the brightest rays of light. “You’re home.”

“Hello, Father,” Silas said.

Behind us the door swung closed, and the head of Silas’ family came to an abrupt halt as he took me in.

“Father, meet Chloe,” Silas said.

There was no response.

Oh, this is going to be bad …

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