Hidden Flame: Bound to the Triplet Dragon Kings

**Draven**

| keep wondering if | should have followed Cassius and Avery. That strange feeling has kept growing. When | was

on my

way to pick up the Hags from Jessica's home, | got a text from her stating that the girls had last minute shopping

to do

and to wait for them in front of the school instead. At first, | didn’t think anything of it but as my trepidation grew

so did

my assumption that the Hags were going to attack Avery. My poor friend can’t have a normal moment, at least

she did

get a formal proposal. Oh shit! What is going to happen when her tormentors learn that she’s engaged?

| was left waiting for nearly an hour when my dates, and | use that term loosely, showed up. They look elegant

but I smell

Avery on them. Just what the fuck have they done? Once inside, | make eye contact with Conner and Clint. |

motion for

them to meetoutside. | left my dates to socialize with the other cheerleaders as | snuck out. “Have you

heard from

Cassius or Avery?”

They check their phones and their eyes glaze over. Clint’s eyes snap open, “No and our dragons can’t reach

them.

Something is very wrong.”

| lookup at the sky to say a prayer to any god who is listening, when three ravens fly overhead. Each raven drops

a gold

coin which the guys and | caught. Conner asks, “What does this mean?”

I hold up my coin and show him both sides, “Death. The Ravens bring death.”

**Cassius**

| should have killed Jessica and her friends when they nearly killed Avery. But foolishly | thought that justice

would be

served once | found and marked my mate. Instead, the Hags still draw breath. We know that they are likely the

rats and

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thought that they could change fate. Our fates are sealed. Avery is my mate and nothing can change that. She is

The

SuprMother, at least that is a hunch because | keep thinking about our offspring from that genetics lab in

Mr. Chen's

class. Avery is touched by the Goddess. Avery is life!

| give her a kiss before | take her hand and we walk into the abandoned building. Everything feels wrong, so very

wrong.

Scents flood my nostrils. | growl, “Jessica and her bitches are here. Tim is too but it is different.” | turn to Avery.

“He has a

dragon. It is weak but there. What was his cousin’s nagain?” Just as she was about to answer, | opened a

door that |

wish | hadn't. There lying against the wall is a nearly dead Tim. | know that he isn’t because | can hear his faint

heartbeat.

Avery rushes to him before | can stop her. The moment she is close to Tim, Jessica and Lenore grab her. They

hold a

Dragon Blade to her neck. It has an odd coloration on its blade. Poison, that must be why Tim's scent smells

different. |

charge but Jessica stops me. “One more step and | will slit her throat,” Jessica spats.

| hold up my hands. “Killing Avery won't make you Queen. But | know what can. In fact, | know how all three of

you could

becQueens.” | obviously have their attention because | see their guard drop so | inch closer. “I am the oldest

so |

decide who Naga’s Queen is. Draven can make one of you Talos’ Queen. And | know that Tim could make you

one of you Queen Of Queens because he is a Balans.” | watch their eyes glaze over do | inch even closer. When

the Hags open their

eyes, | see them for the monstrous bitches that they are. | see nothing but evil greed staring back at me.

“Renounce Avery and remove your mark. Heidi can be your Queen. Lenore can be Talos’ and | will be Queen Of

Queens,”

Jessica says.

“Fine. |, Cassius Draco of Naga, nearby renounce Avery as my mate and Naga’s Queen. After prom, we can have

her mark

cut from her.” | feel Avery's spirit break. | don’t mean anything that | just said. Avery is my world.

Jessica grinned triumphantly, but instead of letting Avery go, she cut her near her clavicle. At the sight of Avery's

blood, |

snapped. | reached for her and put her behindin the stairwell. However, as | did her ring caught the light.

Jessica

screamed and charged at Avery and me. | sidestepped her but | couldn't evade Lenore. She rammed the Dragon

Blade

into my stomach and then my chest. | was wracked with immense pain before it was replaced with cold harsh

darkness.

**AVeryr*

No! Oh, Goddess no! My vision can’t be happening. | watched Cassius’ lifeless bloody body fall onto the stairwell.

I knew

that they would killnext, but | didn’t care. | have to do something, so | press my palms to Cassius’ chest. |

feel our

marks heat and merge. | feel Regina pull Asher towards her. | lean down and breathe my fire and allow my tears

to rain

down. | push my life force into my fallen mate. With everything in me, | will him to live. | began to feel dizzy so |

embraced death and darkness as | felt Jessica and Lenore drive their blades into my scars as Heidi screamed for

them to

stop. Too bad her change of heart ctoo late....

**Draven**

Clint and Conner both shifted into their dragons. Carter puton his back and we took off to where Cassius and

Avery were supposed to meet Tim. When we landed outside of an abandoned asylum, | smelled death’s sulfuric

stench even

stronger. This was Forest Haven Asylum and it is extremely haunted. This abandoned asylum was once a state of

the art

facility before devolving into one of the most deadly mental institutions in American history. As we walk in | can

hear the

echoes of past patients whose souls still aren't at rest. This place was opened in 1925 to serve residents of the

area. Forest Haven was initially a beacon of progress and quality in treating children who were mentally ill,

handicapped, or otherwise

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unable to function normally in society. With over 30 structures on the 250-acre campus, the inmates were taught

job

skills in a communal farm colony environment that provided them with essential training and an emotionally

empowering sense of community. For the first few decades that is.

By the 1960s funding for the sprawling institution began to dry up and devastating cut backs began to afflict the

asylum.

Recreational programs were discontinued, and the staff was reduced and replaced with unqualified employees.

As the

years rolled by things got progressively worse as the doctors, nurse, and caregivers began taking out their

frustrations on

the patients, many of whom were abused bodily and sexually, if they were given any attention at all. Eventually

patients

began dying of neglect and related causes. The dead would be passed through the basement morgue and

eventually

buried in an unmarked field nearby. Hundreds of inmates died, and according to one report, swere even the

subject

of medical experiments before the entire institution was shuttered in 1991. | know that everything | have ever

read about

this place is true because | can see, hear, and feel the trapped souls.

Today the buildings of Forest Haven asylum are still standing, bearing the peeling paint, rot, and graffiti of time. |

point

out of what was left of a window to show the guys a single headstone that had been erected in the burial field to

honor

the hundreds of inmates who were anonymously put to an unceremonious rest. As if the decaying remains of this

horrific

asylum did not give the site a haunting air, there have also been reports of the shallow graves of the carelessly

buried

inmates eroding to reveal the unfortunate corpses. With places like Forest Haven, why do horror movies even

build

sets?

| wish that | could help them, but nothing can other than death finally coming to take their souls to the Great

Beyond.