Page 1 of Balthazar's Fire

Prologue

Balthazar Vaughn

Heart pounding, Balthazar rocketed toward town, his intention focused on one thing: finding Cherie Flynn. He didn’t think through his plan, or the potential repercussions of whatever he decided, and he intentionally avoided dwelling on the words of his late father, Michael.

Since his demise, Michael Vaughn had reached out regularly to his eldest son, sometimes meeting him in spirit on the mountains and communing with the same telepathy he’d taught his four boys in life. Balthazar had heard his warnings about Monroe. He knew the danger, but it didn’t matter. His only concern was Cherie.

As the cityscape loomed, he allowed the breeze to guide him to the ground, his violet wings folding seconds before the transformation overcame him. Well-practiced, the change was almost instantaneous, his human form emerging where the dragon had once stood before he sprinted onto the property his family kept on the outskirts of the town.

Elevated and isolated, the house was the perfect spot for dragons to land, and for men to exit in one of the shining sports cars lined up in the underground parking lot. It was a system that worked well for the Vaughns, but never had Balthazar known such urgency as he tore from the grounds behind the wheel of his Aston Martin.

“Call ‘brothers’.”

Giving the order to the microphone above his head, Balthazar stared out at the road ahead, tensing as the car’s system called all three of his brothers via their What’s App group.

“Balthazar?” Sebastian connected first, his voice etched with concern. “How are you?”

“On my way.” Ignoring Sebastian’s query, he pressed down on the accelerator.

“That wasn’t the question,” Sebastian chided. “Are you healed?”

“I’m fine,” he muttered, his gaze flitting briefly to his chest before his attention returned to the increasing traffic.

The injuries he sustained the night before, thanks to his long-time rival, Oliver Monroe, had mended, but the effects of Monroe’s attack were deeper felt. The bastard had taken Cherie and turned into a chimera to assault Balthazar. He shuddered at the disturbing memory. Monroe had long been Balthazar’s nemesis but discovering that the cretin was also a shape-shifter had rocked the foundation of Balthazar’s world.

For so long, he and his brothers had assumed they were the only ones with such hybrid abilities, as though the magic in their genes were a lofty ideal held only by the Vaughn bloodline. But they’d been wrong. Oliver Monroe shared the same magic, and now he had his hands on the only woman Balthazar had ever truly wanted.

“Are you, though?” Sebastian asked.

“No.” Balthazar’s jaw tightened with the confession and reflexively he checked to see if either Draco or Cole had joined the call yet. “I’m worried sick about her.”

“We’ll find her.” Sebastian’s resolve thundered through the ether, shrouding his older brother in the one thing he had to hang onto—hope.

“I know we will.” Balthazar had never been more grateful for his brother’s support.

“Hey.” Cole’s voice filled the air. “Where are we, Balthazar? Do we have a destination?”

“Monroe’s offices.” Balthazar had no way of knowing why, but his instinct told him that was where the moron was keeping Cherie, and his gut rarely lied. “She told me she was in the basement.”

“You’ve spoken to her?” Cole sounded bewildered.

“Not exactly.” Balthazar blew out a breath. He didn’t have the patience to explain everything to them, but they’d offered—no, they had demanded—to stand alongside him and fight to free Cherie. An explanation was the least that his brothers deserved. “I have some type of telepathic link with her.”

Balthazar was absurdly thankful that Draco wasn’t on the call yet. He could only imagine what the third of the four brothers would make of his woo-woo explanation. Despite the fact that the Vaughns regularly communicated with telepathy as dragons, they’d never known the ability to stretch beyond their family before.

“Telepathic?” Even Sebastian sounded skeptical.

“Yeah.” Balthazar shrugged, although there was no one there to see the gesture. “I heard her in my head and she relayed what she could to me.”

Which wasn’t much. Gazing out at the passing landscape, Balthazar recalled the brief exchange in his head.

I’m coming to find you, Cherie, he’d assured her. Do you know where he took you?

She’d hesitated and for a moment he thought he’d lost her. It’s a basement somewhere. That’s all I know.

Don’t worry. He remembered his determination. It was the same tenacity that drove him now. I’ll find you.

Thank God. Relief had resounded in her thoughts.

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