Blaze

Midnight Fire Series Book Three

By

Kaitlyn Davis

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Kaitlyn Davis

Cover Art: Manipulated by Kaitlyn Davis from
attribution licensed flickr creative commons photos by:
Andrea
Rose
,
Ali Smiles
:)
and
William
Warby
.

The right of Kaitlyn Davis to be identified as the
author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

This eBook is copyright material and must not be
copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or
publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically
permitted in writing by the author, as allowed under the terms and
conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by
applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of
this text may be direct infringement of the author's rights and
those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

This is a work of fiction and any resemblances
between the characters and persons living or dead is purely
coincidental.

Midnight Fire

Ignite

Simmer

Blaze

Scorch

A Dance of Dragons

The Shadow Soul – Available in February 2014!

The Spirit Heir – Coming Soon!

The Phoenix Born – Coming Soon!

To my family for their unconditional love,

my friends for their overwhelming support,

and my fans for their incredible enthusiasm.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Table of Contents
:

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

About The Author

Chapter One

Kira ripped another page from her notebook
and crumpled the thick paper between her fingers. Frustrated, she
threw the ball into her wastebasket. Quite the collection, she
mused as she glanced down at the paper pyramid by her feet. Kira
had been sitting at her desk for nearly an hour, but still the
right words had eluded her. How could she explain it to Luke, her
best friend and ever-faithful protector? No matter what, he would
be angry. No matter what, he would feel betrayed. But it was the
only way to keep him safe from Aldrich.

Kira sighed and leaned back in her chair,
slowly swiveling it from side to side as she thought back a week
and a half ago to the night of the Red Rose Ball. Kira could still
picture it perfectly: The fear on the vampire Diana’s face when she
realized she was about to die. The way both of Kira’s arms lit
entirely on fire, pushing her power further than it had ever gone
in order to break through Diana’s immunity. The moment Tristan’s
maker Aldrich burst into the room only to be interrupted by a swarm
of conduits exploding through the windows. The minutes Aldrich
spent calmly evaluating her without any hint of fear, knowing his
power to move objects with his mind was unbeatable. And of course,
the feel of his hand when he slipped her a note with his address,
promising that her birth mother would be there, waiting for the
daughter who had been taken away from her more than seventeen years
ago.

Kira remembered watching the mansion
collapse in on itself after the conduits had set it on fire,
remembered holding both Tristan and Luke’s hands while the three of
them observed in silence. She remembered how the note Aldrich had
given her seemed to burn a hole through her pocket and the moment a
plan popped into her mind. Most of all, Kira remembered the moment
she had decided to act on it.

After destroying the mansion, the conduits
retreated to a safe house to question the vampires they had
captured. Luke followed, but Kira stayed behind feigning
exhaustion. True, she had desperately wanted a shower and a soft
bed, but the promise of a few hours alone with Tristan was what she
had really needed. That night, while Luke was off on official
business, the lie had begun—the lie that made this letter to Luke
so difficult to write. Kira and Tristan were going to fight
Aldrich, and they were leaving Luke behind.

Kira dropped her pen and glanced at the
photo of her and Tristan sitting on the corner of her desk. Taped
to the back, hidden behind the blue plastic frame, was the note
Aldrich had slipped her before he had escaped. Kira didn’t need to
look at it to know what it said—she had the address memorized by
now. Her mother was waiting in some cold castle in England and Kira
needed to find her. But it wasn’t that simple.

When she first told him, Tristan had been
furious. It was the night of the ball and they had just gotten back
to the hotel room after ditching Luke. Kira tried to casually let
it slip that his maker Aldrich had invited them to his castle, but
Tristan wasn’t fooled by her light tone. His eyes had flashed an
ice-cold blue that stabbed at Kira’s heart and he yelled at her for
the first time. Kira knew it was his own fear and insecurities that
fueled the outraged response—his own issues with Aldrich—but Kira
suspected Luke’s response wouldn’t be any better, which was why she
had decided to keep it a secret.

After calming Tristan down and firmly
stating that she would be going to England with or without him, he
had finally started listening to her. They worked out a plan to get
her birth mother back, but it was a two-person plan. And tomorrow
Kira would be ditching Luke at the airport to secretly fly to
England with Tristan.

Oh yeah, Kira thought, this will go over
very well… not!

She reached for her pen again, ready to
finally write a coherent note, when strong arms enveloped her from
behind, circling her shoulders and sending a chill down her spine
with the suddenly cool touch.

“Hi,” Tristan whispered in her ear as he
pressed his cheek against hers and placed a soft kiss on her
neck.

“Hi,” Kira said, letting her head fall back
against his shoulder. Perfect timing, she thought, thankful for the
break from writing this note. A little procrastination never hurt
anyone.

“Ready for your party, birthday girl?” He
asked.

“Crap—no!” Kira shot up, suddenly energetic
with surprise. “What time is it?”

“Almost five.”

Tristan laughed under his breath, not at all
surprised that Kira was running late. Never one for shorts, even in
the middle of summer, Tristan had on his classic dark blue jeans
and a crisp white button-down. Kira didn’t have time to admire how
the stark ivory brought out the twinkling blue of his eyes: she was
too concentrated on being on time for once in her life.

“No, no no…” Kira buzzed while pulling her
t-shirt off and reaching for the yellow cotton dress hanging on the
back of her door. She had been so focused on writing the note that
she had completely forgotten about her birthday barbecue—the one
happening in roughly five minutes. The only reason she was still at
home in Charleston was her birthday, otherwise Luke would have
shipped her back to Sonnyville already. Kira knew he was eager to
keep training her in order to see what her stronger powers meant.
He had already forced her to light the wooden table in his backyard
on fire, so she didn’t even want to know what he was preparing back
in Sonnyville.

“Don’t worry. No one’s here yet,” Tristan
said while he watched Kira tug her shorts off and smooth out her
dress. Had Kira been less pressed for time, she may have felt a
little self-conscious about changing right in front of her
boyfriend but, as it was, she didn’t have any time to be
insecure.

“Are my parents outside?” Kira asked and
bent over to pull the fuzzy socks off of her feet.

“Your dad is starting up the barbecue and
your mom is setting plastic plates on the table with Chloe.”

“Perfect,” Kira said, yanking one last time
on the stubborn sock. Tristan put a hand on her back to keep her
from falling over and she slipped her feet into a pair of sandals.
“How do I look?” Kira said while twirling around a few times.

“Beautiful as always,” he said, catching her
hand and guiding her towards him. Kira spun right into his arms and
quickly kissed his lips, loving how familiar yet exciting his touch
was. The slow exploration of her body, sexy in its restraint, made
Kira feel delicate—something she direly needed when most of the
time she felt too powerful, too uncontrolled, too… everything.

Tristan pulled back, breaking the kiss, to
say, “I hear Emma’s car out front.”

“Just when we were getting to the good
stuff,” Kira cursed, making both of them smirk. Her best girl
friend was nothing if not prompt.

“I’ll go get everyone to the backyard,”
Tristan slipped free of her arms, “you still need to put your
contacts on.” Kira grimaced thinking of the bulky, itchy lenses
that had become part of her daily routine. She nodded regretfully
and pushed Tristan towards the stairs while she stepped into her
bathroom.

Only Luke and Tristan knew about the change
in her eyes. On their way home after the ball, Kira bought color
contacts and had been using them ever since. It wasn’t the perfect
solution, but it was something.

Looking in the mirror, Kira still had
trouble recognizing herself. Bright cobalt blue irises stared back
at her. Orange-yellow flames danced around the edges, pushing into
the cooler color and fighting for a place, but the shockingly
saturated blue overwhelmed everything else. Sometimes, Kira liked
how the blue popped against her red-blonde hair, but mostly she
missed the warm, comforting green that used to be there. Her hair
was already over the top with its bright hues and voluminous curls,
she didn’t need even crazier eyes to get noticed in a crowd.

Nothing else had physically changed about
her since the night of the ball, but something stirred inside Kira,
making her feel stronger. Luke and Tristan had no explanation for
her new eye color, and Kira didn’t want to harp on it when there
was so much more to worry about. She had barely used her power
since that night, only practicing when Luke forced her. She was
more in control of her body and her fire, but the flames she
commanded had changed. It was more than just the difference between
her softer Protector powers and her rage-filled Punisher flames.
Everything was stronger. All of her fire burned brighter, scorched
hotter and practically exploded with heat. When Luke had challenged
Kira to light his wooden table on fire, it had come easily, like
flipping a switch. The destruction was almost too welcome, too
natural to her.

A high-pitched screech pulled Kira from her
thoughts.

“Kira!” Her younger sister Chloe yelled from
the bottom of the steps, “Where are you?”

“Yeah Kira, where are you?” A deeper voice
laced with mirth called after. Luke, Kira thought, hearing his
laughter mix with Chloe’s a second later.

“Coming!” She yelled and quickly pulled on
her eyelid to slip in one contact. More squeals echoed down the
empty hallway and Kira followed the sound after quickly putting in
her second contact.

When she looked down the steps, Kira saw the
source of the noise. Luke had trapped little Chloe in his arms and
was tickling her mercilessly while she giggled and squirmed to get
away. Kira raced down the steps two at a time to free her
sister.

“Kira!” Chloe yelled again before bursting
into a new round of giggles. Kira smiled to herself, she knew
exactly what to do. Reaching for Luke’s stomach, she squeezed her
hands against his abs and gave him a taste of his own medicine.

“No!” Luke laughed against Kira’s attack and
released Chloe, who followed Kira’s lead and jumped on Luke to
tickle him. He fell to the ground in mock surrender, chuckling
helplessly and begging Chloe to stop.

“I win!” She screeched and raced out the
back door, leaving Kira and Luke alone. Suddenly, Kira didn’t know
where to look. Between his confession of love the night of the Red
Rose Ball and her plan to go to England behind his back, things
were more than a bit strained. At least, it felt that way to
Kira.