High House Draconis Box Set

by Riley Storm

  Olivia swallowed nervously. Aaric stopped and turned to face her, box still held in his hands.

  “If you aren’t comfortable with this…” he began.

  Truthfully, he needed her help. He couldn’t awaken the elder without her. But he wanted Olivia to choose to help him. Not feel forced. She was his mate after all.

  “I…I’m still amazed. Scared at the prospect of living for three hundred years.”

  “I know,” he said, stepping closer.

  “Do you?” she asked. “That’s a long time to be beholden to one penis.”

  The nervous joke caught both of them by surprise, and Aaric joined Olivia in laughter. “It’s only once,” he said quietly. “Every dragon can only use it once. But the elders are all mated. Once we awaken them, they can swiftly awaken the others without having to wait.”

  “You only live once…for three centuries,” she said, more to herself.

  Then he saw her stiffen, looking up at him, determination filling her features. “Let’s do it,” she said. “I’m ready.”

  Aaric smiled. “As am I. Let’s go.”

  He went to go resume walking at the exact moment Olivia did. Their feet got tangled. Aaric caught himself, but Olivia was falling.

  Reacting without thinking, he dove after her. She reached out for him as he twisted to grab her, putting his body between her and the ground.

  She grabbed on and landed on him slightly awkwardly, causing him to wince.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

  But Aaric didn’t reply. He was looking between them, where one of his hands—and one of Olivia’s—were now on the artifact. The black runes etched into all sides of it were glowing gold.

  “Oh fuck,” he muttered.

  Light exploded all around them in an expanding sphere, until it reached the nearest stone statue of a sleeping dragon.

  “Aaric…what’s going on?” Olivia asked quietly as more golden light surged from the box and up her arm.

  “We fucked up,” he muttered. “We fucked up bad.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He watched her carefully. The light was entering her arm, surging through her veins and arteries as it altered her DNA. But she didn’t seem in pain.

  Olivia frowned. “It tingles.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “So I read. But that’s as bad as it should get.”

  The light faded abruptly, leaving just the two of them alone in the near-dark of the caverns beneath Drakon Keep.

  “Okay, I think we’re safe,” she said, pushing off him and standing up. “Let’s go. We can do this.”

  Aaric shook his head. “You don’t understand. We already did.”

  Olivia frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Beside them, the stone dragon cracked.

  “We woke a dragon,” he said with a sigh as more cracks appeared.

  “We did?”

  “Yeah,” he said, pointing. “Just not the one we wanted.”

  “Oh,” Olivia said in a small voice. “That’s not good.”

  “No, it’s not. Especially if you know who it is.” Aaric slumped backward. “How could I have been so stupid?”

  “It’s still another dragon,” Olivia said, trying to reassure him.

  “An unmated one,” he pointed out. “We don’t have time to fuck around. The vampires will be coming. We need to be ready.”

  “I thought you killed the vampire?” Olivia asked, pulling him half-heartedly back to a sitting position.

  “I killed one. But he wasn’t the leader. Which means they’re growing in strength. Feeding. Creating more. We need to stop them before it’s too late, before they overwhelm us and all the other shifters. To do that, we need the elder dragons.”

  “Oh. Shit.”

  “Yeah,” he said, shaking his head as the stone began to cascade away, revealing the icy blue and white scales of the dragon beneath. “Oh shit.”

  Chapter 40

  “That was a wonderful dinner, my love.”

  He smiled across the small table for two at his mate. “Indeed, it was. The food was excellent, the wine delicious, and the company absolutely perfect.”

  Olivia blushed at the compliment, then raised her own wine glass to meet his, clinking them together lightly. “To us,” she said.

  “To us,” he agreed, taking a sip and then sitting back with a sigh.

  The evening had gone perfectly. Just a night out for the two of them, with some nice food and no vampires or Naagloshii or irate freshly-awoken dragons. Just Aaric and his mate. The woman he loved.

  “So, what do we do now?” Olivia asked.

  “Honestly,” he said, flashing her a smile. “I’m rather tired. I was thinking of heading home and curling up in bed with you and putting on a movie. If that’s something you can be talked into.”

  “Oh.” Olivia looked down, then smiled back at him. “Yeah, yeah that would be nice.

  Aaric wasn’t blind. He’d got the slight hiccup and disappointment that had entered her eyes before she’d averted her gaze.

  “I’m ready whenever you are,” he said, standing and extending a hand to her at the same time.

  “Why thank you,” she said, accepting the hand and rising. “Such a gentleman.”

  “Only when the lady in question is so deserving and stunningly beautiful.”

  “Charmer,” she muttered, slipping her hand down to give his butt a squeeze while it was obscured from view of the rest of the restaurant.

  He bit back a reaction. “Now, now. Let’s go. Don’t make me toss you in a prison cell again for misbehaving.”

  “Brrr,” Olivia said, sidling up to him and linking her arm. “Those bars were cold.”

  He started to open his mouth to speak, but Olivia leaned in closer and kept talking.

  “But maybe if you have a pair of regular handcuffs, we could use those.”

  Aaric brightened. “I think we can make that work,” he rumbled.

  Olivia just squeezed his forearm, looking out with her chin held high, as proper as ever.

  If only they knew, he thought with a mental laugh. If only they knew.

  He got her to the car and into her side, pulling the door down from above. Sliding into his own seat, he fired up the engine and they left. Aaric didn’t drive fast. He took them on a slow, meandering route through the city while they talked about nonessential things.

  The topic of the conversation wasn’t what was important to him. It was who he talked to. She was what mattered, and sometimes just talking, even if about nothing, was enjoyable.

  And tonight, he was going to show her.

  “Why are we stopping here?” Olivia asked, realizing they’d come to a halt just inside the gates of Drakon Keep.

  “I want to show you something. Come on.”

  They exited the car. Far off in the distance, a few faint lights from the Keep were visible. Otherwise, the grounds were in perfect darkness.

  “I can’t see anything,” she said with a laugh as Aaric came around the car and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

  “You can, you’re just not looking properly,” he said, caressing the side of her head.

  “What do you mean?”

  Taking her chin, he tilted it upward to the sky.

  Olivia gasped. “Oh, wow.”

  Aaric smiled. But instead of speaking, he just joined her in gazing from the heavens. Heavens from which his entire being may have originated. Where, in that vast swathe of space, had the artifact that created his ancestors come from, he wondered? Were there others like him? Others out there? What did it all mean…?

  “I always forget to stop and look up,” she whispered, shimmying into him even tighter. “But it’s times like this that remind me just how beautiful it is. How tiny we are among it all.”

  “It reminds me of you.”

  “Is this where you make some comment about my ass again?” she joked, twisting her hips to remind him of what he referred to.

  “No,” he s
aid, ignoring the byplay, staying serious. “It reminds of you because I see beauty. I see infinite possibilities. It reminds me of you because some people gasp when they see it. Others laugh with joy. Still more silently appreciate it. You elicit all those reactions within me, and more. The only difference is, you’re right here. With me. Down here where I can touch you. Hold you.” He took a deep breath. “Where I can be with you.”

  Olivia turned in his arms, staring up at him, tears at the corners of her eyes. “Aaric…”

  He shook his head. Aaric wasn’t done.

  “There’s one other different,” he said softly, both hands slipping from her shoulders.

  “What’s that?” Olivia asked, her voice so soft even he had to strain to hear it.

  “That if you’ll have me, I can make you mine, and only mine, for all the time we have left together.”

  Olivia gasped.

  Aaric flicked out his right hand behind her, focusing on the target he’d set up before. Olivia frowned as light blossomed. She must have seen it in my eyes.

  Turning, she looked out at the air behind them, where Aaric’s fire was dancing to his control. He frowned, forcing himself to concentrate. Spelling out a letter with fire was one thing. Controlling fifteen different balls of fire, each spinning in their own pattern to form a question, was something else.

  But it was worth it. For the reaction, it was worth it.

  “Yes,” Olivia said, her eyes tracing the lines of that one all-important question as it danced in the fire.

  He dropped to one knee, the fire going out as he opened the box he held in his left hand.

  “Olivia Lawton. You make me better in every way. Since you’ve come into my life, I’ve not been happier, or felt more complete and at home. If there is one thing I could wish for, it would be to hold onto that feeling with you for another three hundred years. Will you marry me?”

  “Yes, yes, yes!” she shrieked, jumping up and down giddily as he placed the ring on her finger.

  Aaric barely had a chance to brace himself before she flung herself into his arms, smothering him with kisses.

  “You’re such a trickster,” she said when they came up for air.

  “What do you mean?” he asked innocently.

  “Pretending like you just wanted to come home. Gosh. You had me fooled!” she said with a laugh, hugging him tightly. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

  Aaric smiled. “Gotta keep you on your toes somehow,” he chuckled, lifting her from the ground to swing her around. “Oh,” he said, letting a frown slip onto his face.

  “What is it? Is something wrong?” she asked, grabbing him by the forearms as he set her down.

  “Yeah. Yeah it is. We’re missing something.”

  “What? What are we missing? We have each other.”

  “That we do,” he said with a grin. “But we need something else.”

  “Like what?” Olivia wanted to know, looking up at him.

  Aaric grinned and sprung the final part of his trap. “Fireworks.”

  A ball of flame shot from his fingertips and landed on a specific spot on the lawns behind them. Something flared where it landed.

  Olivia turned just in time to watch as the first few tubes lit off, sending their cargo high into the sky, where they exploded into a slew of colors.

  “You had all this planned,” she said slowly. “All of this? You got this all arranged without me finding out?”

  Aaric smiled, pulling her into his grip, loving the way her head fit just under his, so they could both watch the lightshow. “Maybe.”

  “I love you,” she said, wrapping her hands around his. “I love you so much.”

  “I love you too,” he murmured, kissing the top of her head.

  I love you too.

  ***

  ***

  Thank you for reading Fire Dragons Bride.

  Next Book: Mated to the Water Dragon (Keep Scrolling)

  Mated to the Water Dragon

  High House Draconis Book 2

  Riley Storm

  Mated to the Water Dragon

  Copyright© 2019 Riley Storm

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic means, without written permission from the author. The sole exception is for the use of brief quotations in a book review. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real.

  All sexual activities depicted occur between consenting characters 18 years or older who are not blood related.

  Edited by Annie Jenkinson, Just Copyeditors

  Cover Designs by Kasmit Covers

  Chapter 1

  “This is a joke, right? You’re joking.”

  Aaric sighed. The sound of air expelling through the other dragon’s nose with extra emphasis, combined with the slight skyward tilt of his gold-tinted eyes was enough to set Victor’s already clenched jaw even tighter.

  “Why would you think I’m joking?” Aaric asked him tightly.

  Laughing, Victor tapped his jaw, the motion heavy with excessive movement and sarcasm. “Hmm. Let me think about that one for a moment, here. Oh wait, I don’t need to. Could it be because you don’t want me here? You never wanted me here. Now you shuffle me off to this project of yours that you haven’t worked on in three months as a way to get me out of your sight. Stop me if I’m wrong.”

  His eyes caught the flexing of one of Aaric’s arms. “Go on then. Do it. Punch me. Try it,” he barked, taking an aggressive stance, legs spread, one in front of the other to help balance.

  Aaric mimicked him, and the two dragons squared off.

  “Why do you always think things are about you?” Aaric asked, his voice still calm, though his eyes watched Victor like a hawk, waiting for any sign of movement.

  “Nice dodge. But don’t lie. You woke me by accident, and you regret it. You hate the sight of me because it reminds you of your own screw-up. Now that I’m up to speed on this new century, you want to get rid of me. You’re tired of having me around. I’m just the screw-up nobody wants,” he said bitterly. “News flash though, Aaric, this time around, it’s you who screwed up. My mistake is in the past. Yours is right here, right now.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” the other dragon shifter snarled, eyes blazing with golden light. “I fucked up. There, you happy? We didn’t intend to wake you. We meant to wake an elder, someone who could oversee this mess. Someone already mated, who could wake another dragon right away. Or, perhaps, all the elder dragons. Because the motherfucking blood-sucking vampires are back, and we’re in for a fight. Or did you miss that little memo in your studies?” Aaric shot back at him.

  “Oh no, I heard it. Loud and clear. You kept saying it, over, and over. Except I haven’t seen any sign of them. Nothing at all. You keep telling me that they’re back. Sounds like a scare plot to try and justify your fuck-up. But trust me, I know from experience, nobody ever lets you justify it.”

  Aaric rolled his eyes. “Are you seriously still harping on something that happened a hundred and twenty years ago? Come on, Victor.”

  “It was only a few years ago to me,” Victor growled, the bitter shame of his mistake filling his mouth as he paced up the hallway, as if putting distance between him and Aaric would help lessen his own embarrassment.

  “Yeah, because you fled to sleep after instead of facing it like an adult.”

  Victor saw Aaric’s eyes narrow as he spoke, realizing the mistake, but he didn’t care. His temper flared and he thrust a fist forward.

  Water erupted in a torrent from the tightly wrapped fingers and shot directly at Aaric, the tip of it opening like a serpent’s mouth.

  Aaric brought his right arm up, holding it vertical in front of him. Fire flared as the water hit and burst around the arm, flashing into steam as the two elements smashed together. The older dragon grunted
at the unexpected impact and staggered back several steps.

  Pressing his attack, Victor took a step forward, slapping both arms out in front of him now, fists pressed together. The spray of water more than doubled in size, now over a foot in diameter. He was winning the attack.

  “That. Is. Enough!” a voice thundered from behind him.

  A moment later, something hard clanged off Victor’s skull and he staggered forward, the water torrent cutting off abruptly as he momentarily saw stars. Then a fireball slammed into his chest and hurled him twenty feet back down the hallway. He bounced and skidded, somehow avoiding all the walls.

  Before he could get to his feet, Aaric was there, a rapier-thin blade of blue-white fire extending from his left hand, resting only a few inches from Victor’s neck. He could feel the heat blazing against his skin, his own dragon scales rising from under the human flesh to protect him.

  “Drop it, Aaric. Or I’ll turn this around and hammer the dent out from the other side on your head.”

  Victor turned an eye to the steward of Drakon Keep, home of House Draconis. “What did you hit me with, Francis?” he asked casually, as if he wasn’t one wrong word away from being skewered.

  “My favorite frying pan,” the smaller human said, holding up the dented metal cooking implement. “I can’t believe I wasted it on you.”

  “A lot of people waste things on me,” Victor mumbled, looking away.

  Aaric still hovered above him, flame-sword in hand.

  “Oh, knock it off,” Victor snarled, batting it away with a hand covered in frigid water as protection. Water and sword flared into more uncomfortably humid steam.

  Aaric stepped off him, and the flames disappeared, seeming to retract into the fire dragon’s hand.

  “So, are you going to do this or not?” he asked, staring down at Victor.

  Victor was about to tell him to piss off. That he wasn’t going to do his bidding, that Aaric could find another lackey. But an idea came to him just before. A wicked idea that would screw over Aaric, and benefit Victor.

  “Yeah, yeah,” he said, trying to still act grumpy. “Fine. I’ll build your stupid outreach center while you worry about the non-existent vampire threat.”