Wild Fire
Table of Contents
“THE QUEEN OF PARANORMAL ROMANCE.”
—USA Today
Praise for Christine Feehan’s Leopard novels . . .
BURNING WILD
“Christine Feehan is at the top of her game.”
—Midwest Book Review
WILD RAIN
“Readers . . .will be seduced by this erotic adventure.”
—Publishers Weekly
Praise for Christine Feehan’s Carpathian novels . . .
DARK CURSE
“A very intense book.”
—The Best Reviews
DARK POSSESSION
“Danger, fantasy and wild, uninhibited romance.”
—Publishers Weekly
DARK CELEBRATION
“[A] sex-and-magic-filled treat.”
—Publishers Weekly
DARK DEMON
“A terrific, action-packed romantic thriller.”
—The Best Reviews
DARK SECRET
“The erotic heat . . . turns scorching.”
—Booklist
“A HIGH PRIESTESS IN THE WORLD OF VAMPIRE FICTION.”
—Romantic Times
DARK DESTINY
“Deeply sensuous.”
—Booklist
DARK MELODY
“A richly evocative fantasy world . . . [the] love scenes sizzle.”
—Publishers Weekly
DARK SYMPHONY
“Feehan’s followers will be well sated.”
—Publishers Weekly
DARK GUARDIAN
“A skillful blend of supernatural thrills and romance.”
—Publishers Weekly
DARK LEGEND
“Vampire romance at its best!”
—Romantic Times
DARK FIRE
“Fun and different . . . pick up a copy of this book.”
—All About Romance
DARK CHALLENGE
“[An] exciting and multifaceted world.”
—Romantic Times
DARK MAGIC
“Feehan builds a complex society that makes for mesmerizing reading.”
—Romantic Times
DARK GOLD
“Wish I had written it!”
—Amanda Ashley
DARK DESIRE
“Terrific.”
—
Romantic Times
DARK PRINCE
“For lovers of vampire novels, this one is a keeper.”
—New-Age Bookshelf
Praise for Christine Feehan’s GhostWalker novels . . .
PREDATORY GAME
“[An] explosive, scintillating novel.”
—Romantic Times
DEADLY GAME
“[An] action-packed, gut-wrenching, adrenaline-driven ride.”
—Romance Junkies
CONSPIRACY GAME
“Love and danger are a winning combination in [
Conspiracy Game
].”
—Booklist
NIGHT GAME
“The sensual scenes rival the steaming Bayou. A perfect 10.”
—Romance Reviews Today
SHADOW GAME
“Erotically charged.”
—Booklist
MIND GAME
“Sultry and suspenseful.”
—Publishers Weekly
Titles by Christine Feehan
STREET GAME
MURDER GAME
PREDATORY GAME
DEADLY GAME
CONSPIRACY GAME
NIGHT GAME
MIND GAME
SHADOW GAME
HIDDEN CURRENTS
TURBULENT SEA
SAFE HARBOR
DANGEROUS TIDES
OCEANS OF FIRE
WILD FIRE
BURNING WILD
WILD RAIN
DARK SLAYER
DARK CURSE
DARK HUNGER
DARK POSSESSION
DARK CELEBRATION
DARK DEMON
DARK SECRET
DARK DESTINY
DARK MELODY
DARK SYMPHONY
DARK GUARDIAN
DARK LEGEND
DARK FIRE
DARK CHALLENGE
DARK MAGIC
DARK GOLD
DARK DESIRE
DARK PRINCE
Anthologies
HOT BLOODED
(with Maggie Shayne, Emma Holly, and Angela Knight)
LOVER BEWARE
(with Fiona Brand, Katherine Sutcliffe, and Eileen Wilks)
FANTASY
(with Emma Holly, Sabrina Jeffries, and Elda Minger)
FEVER
(Includes
THE AWAKENING
and
WILD RAIN
)
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)
Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over author or third-party websites or their content.
WILD FIRE
A Jove Book / published by arrangement with the author
PRINTING HISTORY
Jove mass-market edition / May 2010
Copyright © 2010 by Christine Feehan.
Excerpt from
Water Bound
copyright © by Christine Feehan.
Civer handlettering by Ron Zinn.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
eISBN : 978-1-101-18710-4
JOVE
®
Jove Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
JOVE
®
is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
The “J” design is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
For Jennifer Wade, with love . . .
For My Readers
Be sure to go to
http://www.christinefeehan.com/members/
to sign up for her PRIVATE book announcement list and download the FREE ebook of
Dark Desserts
, a book of delicious desserts compiled by her wonderful readers. While at the website, join the community and all the book discussions! Please feel free to email her at [email protected]. She would love to hear from you.
Acknowledgments
As always, there are people to thank for all of their help. Domini, you’re absolutely invaluable to me. Brian, you always say the right thing to get my mind working. Thank you both for your unfailing patience. And Denise, whatever would I do without you?
1
HE heard the birds first. Thousands of them. All varieties, all singing a different song. To an untrained ear the sound would have been deafening, but it was music to him. Deep inside, his leopard leapt and roared, grateful to inhale the scent of the rain forest. He stepped off the boat and onto the rickety pier, his eyes on the canopy rising like green towers in every direction. His heart shifted. It didn’t matter what country he was in—the rain forest was home. Any rain forest; but it was here, in the wilds of Panama, where he had been born. As an adult he’d chosen to make his home in the Borneo rain forest, but his roots were here. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed Panama.
He turned his head, looking around, savoring the mingled scents and noises of the jungle. Each sound, from the cacophony of the birds to the shrieks of the howler monkeys to the hum of the insects, contained a wealth of information if one knew how to read it. He was a master. Conner Vega flexed his muscles, a small shrug only, but his body moved with life, every muscle, every cell, reacting to the forest. He wanted to tear his clothes from his body and run free and wild as his nature demanded. He looked civilized in his jeans and simple T-shirt, but there wasn’t a civilized bone in his body.
“It’s calling to you,” Rio Santano said, glancing around at the few people along the riverbank. “Hang on. We have to get out of sight. We’ve got an audience.”
Conner didn’t look at him or the others maneuvering small boats up the river. His heart pounded so the blood thundered through his veins, ebbing and flowing like the sap in the trees, like the moving carpet of insects on the forest floor. The shades of green—every shade in the universe—were beginning to form bands of color as his leopard filled him, reaching for the freedom of his homeland.