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  Reborn: House of Phoenix

  A Wicked Reform School Novel

  Lia Davis

  Reborn: House of Phoenix

  © Copyright 2020 Lia Davis

  Published by Davis Raynes Publishing Group, LLC

  PO Box 224

  Middleburg, FL 32050

  DavisRaynesPublishing.com

  Cover and Formatting by Glowing Moon Designs

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  DavisRaynesPublishing.com

  Contents

  Introduction

  1. Ember

  2. Ember

  3. Zelphar

  4. Ember

  5. Ember

  6. Ember

  7. Ember

  8. Karn

  9. Ember

  10. Ember

  11. Lucent

  12. Ember

  13. Ember

  14. Ember

  15. Ember

  16. Ember

  17. Ember

  The Wicked Reform School

  About Lia Davis

  Shifters of Ashwood Falls Series

  The Collective World

  Also by Lia Davis

  Reborn: House of Phoenix

  A Wicked Reform School Novel

  My best friend killed me to protect me.

  Rising from the ashes of my own death wasn’t the epic event I pictured. It was painful and confusing. After the hazy cloud of my rebirth lifted, my first thoughts were of Lucent. He’d slammed death fire into me and teleported me away from the crime scene.

  Why? So he could take the blame and spare me from final execution at the hands of The Phoenix Council.

  And I couldn’t live with that. So, of course, I turned myself in.

  But reform school is no joke, and every assignment tests my already thin patience. I may be making new friends, and collecting bodyguards I never expected to need, but someone is sabotaging my attempts to succeed. And since they clearly want me dead, I’m on a mission to find out who they are and show them why The Phoenix Council is terrified of me.

  Even if it means revealing a secret I’ve guarded for all of my lives.

  REBORN: HOUSE OF PHOENIX is a reverse harem academy romance with a twist that is part of the Wicked Reform School series! Each book in this shared-world has its own, all-new characters set in the wicked reformatory, so don't miss one!

  At this reform academy, you’ll discover wicked paranormals, wicked punishments, and wicked pleasures like you’ve never read before!

  1

  Ember

  “Are you ready for everything to change?”

  I turned to face my best friend from birth as I walked backwards on the path through the jungle behind our houses. It took me a few moments to realize what he was talking about. “Nothing is changing.”

  “A lot will change,” he muttered. It was low but I still heard it. However, I didn’t comment. Louder, he asked, “Are you ready to rule the clan?”

  Was I? No. It scared the shit out me. I just turned nineteen a few months ago and even though phoenixes weren’t considered adults until their early twenties, it was tradition in my family for the heir to step into her position before the age of twenty to work closely with the Alpha to learn everything she needed to know before fully taking the reins as clan leader.

  “It’s a case of ready or not. Mom took over the clan at sixteen. So I got this!” I tried to sound confident, but Lucent saw through my shit. Every. Fucking. Time.

  He gave me a grin and looped his arm around my waist. “I’ll be at your side every step of the way.”

  And he would. I had no doubt about that. We’d never talked about taking our relationship to the next level and out of just friends, but I did feel a draw to him. My phoenix wanted to claim him. Like most shifters we had our legends and tales of having fated mates. The one true mate that completed us, our second half. The only difference was, phoenixes often took multiple mates. I wasn’t sure if Fate had paired us with our predestined partners or it was something my ancestors had chosen, making it a tradition to be passed down.

  While my phoenix was on board with taking Luce as my mate, my human half wasn’t sure. I cared for him enough to say I could love him more than a friend. Doubt and uncertainties about what the future as a clan leader would do to us. Because clan leaders took multiple mates. My mom had three besides my birth father, who was banished from our island and our lives shortly after I was born.

  Mom and her mates were a complication that I didn’t want to think about. Their situation was something I never wanted to repeat. So I had to be selective in choosing my mates. I wasn’t sure I wanted anyone else besides Lucent. Although I never told him of my fears.

  I stepped out of his embrace and linked our fingers as we walked deeper into the jungle—our tropical paradise. Azorea Cay was the uncharted island my phoenix clan had lived on for thousands of years.

  The climate was tropical with a few months of a mild winter, which the ice phoenix half of me loved. We had some of the rarest species of plants and animals that were unique to Azorea Cay. So it was natural for us to protect the island from human and other paras who wish to destroy the beauty.

  Lucent and I were on our way to see the hatchlings of a dragontail couple. Dragontails were often mistaken for smaller versions of phoenixes only their tail feathers looked like three dragon tails. They weren’t shifters but could communicate with us telepathically.

  Before we reached the small cave they chose as their nesting ground, a screech and caw echoed through the jungle, making me freeze in place. Cold fear and dread rushed through my veins. It was a distress call—a cry for help. By the sound of cawing, it was a youngling. One of the phoenix kids was in danger.

  Without hesitation, I released Lucent’s hand and raced through the jungle, leaving him to chase after me. Lucent didn’t ask where I was going, nor did he hesitate. I know he heard the call for help. We’d always been able to sense what the other was thinking or what we would do. We moved as a unit. Many people had commented that we moved and acted like a bonded pair.

  The sounds of the call stopped, then started again a little more east from where we were? Fuck. “Can you tell which kid it is?”

  Lucent shook his head. “No, but he or she sounds like they’re on the move.”

  Yeah, I noticed that too.

  How the hell did the kid get this far out into the jungle? Unless he or she was carried off. That was possible. A clan of harpies lived on the north side of the island in the Pacific Ocean. My clan claimed a large span of the southern part of the island.

  The harpy clan was small with only about fifty or so members and pretty much stayed to themselves. But every once in a while, they were known to come to our territory and steal food. In recent months, the fly-by thievery had become more frequent. Lucent and I, along with the royal guards patrolled the skies and scared the bitches away.

  There was one bitch in particular I’d like to stab through the
heart and light on fire—the harpy princess, Stacia. She’d been the bane of my existence since we were preteens. Our tiffs had started off as innocent pranks but over the years had turned into battles of a great war we were fighting. I didn’t even know why we hated each other so much.

  Taking one of our kids, would a way for the bitch to get under my skin, again. And piss me off.

  However, I saw Stacia with kids. She loved them, no matter what the species. In fact, the only person she seemed to love to hate was me. It could be something else entirely who carried the child off. That last thought sent cold fear down my spine.

  Fury fueled my inner fire and I push my legs to move faster. Sure I could shift, but the burn in my muscles from running would calm me and keep me from killing whoever was making the child cry. I hoped it would anyway. I wasn’t making any promises.

  The cawing grew louder, indicating we were getting close, so I slowed down. Several more yards and we exited into a small clearing that I was sure where the crying had come from. Then it stopped. So did Luce and me.

  “What the fuck is going on?”

  Scowling as he turned in a circle, taking in our surroundings, Luce shook his head. “I smell a trap.”

  Yeah, me too.

  A blur of black wings flew overhead just as three harpies stepped out of the tree line. They were sisters, or at least I thought they were. Their features were all similar, so they were related in some way. The one in front of the other two was the ringleader.

  Stacia.

  Long black hair flowed around her shoulders of her very nude body. Harpies spent more time in their bird-like forms then their human forms, so it was rare to see them with clothes on unless they were in meetings with other clan leaders or trying to blend in with humans.

  Stacia’s dark gaze locked onto mine and her lips twisted in amusement. So glad I could be her entertainment. “I was sure your mother would join you seeing how she adores your young so much.”

  Oh, I knew my mother—the Azorea Cay Clan leader—was on her way. Luce and I were closer, so we beat her and the guards. Luce stiffened beside me as if having the same bone-freezing realization. The trap was to draw the guards away from the clan.

  I focused on my mother and sent her a telepathic message. “Mom, it’s a trap set by the harpies. Tell the guards to go back to the clan.”

  Mom replied, “I’m not a fool. I only have four with me. Don’t do anything until I get there. I mean it, Ember.”

  I worked my jaw, ignoring my mother’s scowling tone. Her lack of trust that I could protect my clan didn’t go unnoticed. Just because I wanted to claw Stacia’s eyes out and her insides while her body burned didn’t mean I was a loose cannon. Besides, I hadn’t let the harpy princess bait me in a long time. I had done the grownup thing and walked away, not giving Stacia the satisfaction to pick a fight.

  Mom’s lack of convenience in me made my heart ache. Whatever. Sometimes I wondered why she was pushing me to step in as clan leader so soon.

  Focusing on the harpy bitch in front of me, I asked, “What do you want?”

  “Why would we want anything from you?” Stacia advanced closer to Lucent and I tensed. So help me if she touches him…

  Lucent may be my best friend, but he was so much more. In recent years, I’d discovered that the thought of another female touching him gave me murderous intentions.

  He was mine.

  Although I would never let him know that. Or anyone else. The fear of losing what we had weighed heavy on my heart. So I was happy with being his best friend. For now.

  “Cut the shit, Stacia. You faked the cry of child to lure us out here. You want something.” I glared at her as she stepped into Luce’s personal space.

  Luce snarled at her but didn’t back off. He wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of affecting him. Even if that affect caused him to want to rip her head off her shoulders. The visual that thought formed in my mind made me smile. I didn’t care if it made me a little blood thirsty.

  Stacia had always enjoyed baiting me. She was, after all, her clan leader’s daughter just as I was. So we had a future of agreeing to disagree.

  And I’ve had about enough of her attention-getting crap for the night. I walked over and took Luce’s hand and pulled him away from her. “Whatever you want can’t be that important. I’ve called off the guards and Pyra was never coming. So go on home.”

  I turned and started walking off, but her words stopped me cold in my tracks.

  “But you invaded our territory and killed my personal guard.”

  What the… Slowly, I glanced at her from over my shoulder in time to see the crazy-ass harpy form a fireball and threw it at her guard. By the open mouth shock on the guard’s face, I was guessing that wasn’t in the plan.

  Stacia really was crazy. And to prove my point, she started screeching to alert her clan and screaming at the other two harpies with her to capture me.

  “Fuck,” Luce said, his eyes darting from the harpy on fire to the three charging at us.

  Twisting around, I kicked out, hitting one of the harpies in the chest. Taylor was Stacia’s younger sister and just as mean. All harpies were mean, but Stacia’s family was the royalty of cruel harpies.

  Taylor stumbled back a few feet before regaining control and rushing back at me. I was ready. I punched her in the jaw, making her head snap to the side. Without hesitating, I kicked her knee. She crashed to the ground and I was over top of her instantly.

  I raised my fist to hit her again, to knock her the fuck out, when someone jumped onto my back. Debra. Stacia’s cousin or another sister. I didn’t know, nor did I care. It was clear that Stacia planned to either kill me or pin a crime on me that would get me killed.

  Not happening.

  Debra wrapped an arm around my throat and squeezed, cutting off my airway. I relaxed my body and let it fall backwards until we hit the ground. The force of impact knocked the wind out of Debra. Her grip on my loosened and I rolled off her.

  I called to my inner fire. Flames covered my hands and I raised one fist over Debra, about to deliver her the death she was begging for. I was beyond pissed and beyond reasoning with. It was what my mother hated about me. The side of me that was too much like my father.

  “Enough!”

  Stacia’s scream made me glance over my shoulder at her. My blood froze and my fire shifted to the ice flames I got from my father. Stacia had one hand wrapped around Luce’s neck with her claws cutting into his flesh. Her other clawed hand was positioned over his heart.

  I locked gazes with my best friend, and he started shaking his head, knowing all too well what was coming. He knew I wouldn’t let Stacia get away with hurting what was mine.

  Luce was mine.

  “Let him go and face me like the strong warrior you pretend to be.” I straightened and faced her, not releasing my ice flames.

  Lucent cursed and he started to struggle. “Em, don’t do it. You’re feeding into her bait.”

  Then he called to his own fire, making it cover it his body. It wasn’t the death fire that our kind used to die and be reborn. The flames were enough to make Stacia release him with a yelp.

  She backed away from him cradling her hand. “You won’t get away with killing my sisters and my guard.”

  I wasn’t buying her poor-me cries. She was speaking loud enough so those who were headed in our direction would hear her. So I spoke just as loud. “You killed your own guard to pin it on me.”

  A smirk formed on her face before she conjured a staff with a razor-sharp point and threw it at Lucent. I screamed, teleported to stand in front of him, and threw a spear of ice into her heart all at the same time. Stacia’s staff pierced my heart at the same time my ice spear went right through hers.

  Stacia gasped in shook and stumbled back a few feet before dropping to the ground. Her body covered in ice as my magic spread through her system.

  I fell to my knees and Lucent caught me. “Fuck, Em. Why?”

  “I can’t l
ose you.” I touched his face as my vision blurred.

  “You are crazy. I would have survived. Well, died, but I’m a phoenix and I would rise again.” He gripped the end of the staff and pulled it out, then placed his hand over the hole left there. His head snapped up as if hearing something. “They’re coming.”

  Who? Oh, yeah, the harpies and Mom.

  “She set us up.” I coughed and closed my eyes.

  “Doesn’t matter. We’re on their property and the harpy princess is dead. The evidence is against you.” Luce cursed again and met my stare. “I’m sorry. It has to be this way.”

  What? Understanding dawned on me as he conjured death fire and pushed it into my chest. I shook my head and tried to speak but no words came out. In the next moment the world faded around me. The shithead teleported me away.

  There was nothing I could do because the death fire consumed me, pulling me into the ashes of death. The ashes I would rise from in a few hours. After Luce was executed for a crime I committed.

  Sorrow filled me and I wasn’t sure I wanted to rise from the ashes if it meant Lucent wouldn’t be there when I woke.

  2

  Ember

  Seagulls called out to each other, sounding like they were laughing. They probably were with me being the butt of their joke. Ocean water lapped at the shore a short distance away, telling me I was on the beach.

  Fucking Lucent.

  Slowly I opened my eyes and sat up. A low hum of a headache echoed in my skull and I smelled like ash. I never knew what to expect when I woke from my first rebirth. Mom said it was different for each person and got easier as we grew older. Since I was only half fire phoenix, we never knew what would happen.