Phoenix Rising

Tales of the Were ~ Lick of Fire

Phoenix Rising

by

Bianca D’Arc

Copyright © 2018 Bianca D’Arc

Hawk Publishing, LLC

New York

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any or by any means, or stored in a database retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the Author.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

www.biancadarc.com

OFFICIAL BIANCA D’ARC NEWSLETTER

Lance doesn’t understand what’s happening to him. He’s just a regular guy who owns a high-end engine shop on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona. But lately, he’s been drawn to the desert in inexplicable ways, and has troubled dreams of flying…to the sun.

Tina remembers him—her high school crush. But that was long ago and they’re both very different now. Lance still has that aura of magic about him though, and she’s grown into her powers, gaining strength and hopefully, wisdom, over the intervening years. When she gets stuck on the side of the road out in the desert, it’s Fate that sends Lance—of all people—to her rescue.

Sparks fly as they reunite and rekindle the flame that had never quite extinguished between them. When Lance’s business is targeted by evil, Tina helps him defend his place and the odd assortment of shifters who have gathered around him. Lance is a bit clueless about the unseen world, but Tina is there to fill in the blanks and help him discover what he was always meant to be.

But Lance is in a dangerous position. Most shifters of his kind don’t survive their first shift. Tina believes she can help him through it and perhaps…just perhaps…she can be the one to ground him. She wants to believe she could be the reason he comes back down to Earth—if their love is strong enough.

AUTHOR’S NOTE & DEDICATION

Note: This book is the first in a new offshoot of my Tales of the Were series, which has many nooks and crannies. This set fits after the Redstone Clan and overlaps a bit with the latter part of Grizzly Cove. The phoenix books can be read as a standalone trilogy, or in conjunction with any of my other paranormal romance books, since they all take place in the same basic world, just in different parts of it. For a complete rundown of all my books check the list at the end of this book or you can always check my website, which will always have the most up-to-date book list.

I’d like to dedicate this book to my dear old Dad, who will never read it! LOL! But who went through a bit of an ordeal with a ruptured appendix while this book was being prepared for publication. It hurts to see the ones you love suffer and I’m just thankful he came through the surgery and hospital stay with his usual aplomb. It’s physical therapy for him now, and lots of rest as he gets back in shape. With any luck, by the time this book is released, he’ll be back up to his old tricks.

I’m very grateful to still have him in my life and I’m thankful to my fans who have been so supportive as I learn how to be Florence Nightingale on a very small scale. Hugs to you all!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Epilogue

Excerpt from Phoenix and the Wolf

About the Author

Other Books by Bianca D’Arc

CHAPTER ONE

Lance didn’t know what was going on with him lately. Fire itched under his skin, and the desert called as never before. He wanted to just go out into it and… What? Self-immolate? Fly like sparks up into the blazing sun? Lay down and die, only to be reborn in the burning heat?

And where the hell were these thoughts coming from?

He’d always been a little…odd. He’d had a hard time growing up and in school. He’d been one of the bad kids. The kind who grew up to ride a motorcycle and live on the outskirts of town in what was basically an industrial area. It wasn’t that he was stupid. Far from it. He’d hidden his intelligence from the other kids and tried to fit in at first, when he was little, but he’d soon tired of it all and just started acting out. He’d become the loner. The recluse. The kid everyone thought was a mental case.

Everyone except maybe Tina. The girl with the sad eyes who watched him almost constantly. Her gaze had made his shoulders itch all through senior year, though they’d never said more than a few words to each other.

She wasn’t one of the popular girls, but she had a group of quiet friends with whom she hung out. They didn’t mix with him, and he stayed well clear of them, but he noticed her watching him. A lot. And he couldn’t help but be intrigued by the fact that the pretty, shy girl seemed to be attracted to the bad boy biker.

He hadn’t acted on it. No, he wouldn’t do that to her. The idea of contaminating her with his inner turmoil didn’t sit well with him. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy, after all.

But thinking about high school and the girl he hadn’t seen in years was getting him nowhere. Lance got on his bike and set out across the desert, riding the lonely highway to god-only-knew-where. He had an itch under his skin that only the sun and wind might cure.

*

Tina couldn’t believe her luck—all of it bad, lately. She’d been enduring one minor calamity after another for a while now. The latest was being broken down on the side of a lonely stretch of highway in the middle of the desert. Great. Just great.

She got out and opened the hood of the car, wondering if there was some sort of magic that might help her get the mechanical beast going again. She was staring at the metallic innards of the engine when it roared.

Okay, it wasn’t her engine that roared, but she definitely heard an engine roaring. She looked up to find a motorcycle headed her way. She wondered if the driver would stop. Then, she wondered if she wanted him to stop. She was way out here all alone, after all. Taking help from a stranger—one who drove a motorcycle that roared like the devil—might not be the wisest move.

Regardless of her feelings, the bike started slowing, coming to an eventual stop behind her recalcitrant vehicle. Something about the rider’s aura seemed familiar, but that was ridiculous. He was still a good ten yards away when she thought she recognized his walk. She remembered that walk…

Holy crap. It was him. Lance Fiori. Her high school crush. And, damn, he’d filled out really well over the intervening years. Tall, with golden blond hair and a smile that could set girls’ hearts aflutter, he was even more handsome now, if that were possible. Now, if he smiled, she figured she might just melt into a little puddle at his feet.

The chiseled jaw was the same. The