Dragon Released (Reclaimed Dragons Book 1)

by Terry Bolryder

His mate.

  The thought didn’t have time to take root, though, as, suddenly, a figure leaped from the rubble at the edge of the yard.

  Not leaped. Flew.

  Pale, ethereal white wings beat upward, carrying the light fairy off the ground as he lowered his wand, pointing it at Dallin and Jo.

  Dallin was glad that no one from the shelter could see back into this abandoned area because there would probably be mass hysteria if they did.

  “Die, you dragon piece of—”

  Dallin let green dragon wings sprout from his back, carrying him upward like a bolt of lightning. And before the bastard even had a chance to finish his statement, Dallin watched with amusement as his eyes went wide with shock when Dallin grabbed one floating, tendril-like wing and yanked him down with all of his strength.

  Like a meteor, the fae slammed into the ground, sending another cone of dust into the air. But Dallin, even more agile in the air than on the ground, chased his prey to the earth, pressing his booted foot into the smug fucker’s throat.

  “What… what are you?” he said with a furious gasp of air.

  Dallin, who could still feel his magic, his energy surging through him, contemplated the millions of ways he’d like to watch this man die.

  “Just a little payback in the form of a lowlife dragon,” Dallin replied coolly.

  “No dragon is stronger than a fae.”

  “I guess you were wrong about a lot of things. Too bad I’m not in the mood for second chances.”

  Dallin didn’t even blink as he incinerated the last of them, feeling nothing but joy at the evil fae’s demise into dust and nothingness.

  Dallin had gone to a lot of dark places. Seen and done a lot of dark things.

  But threatening Jo? That shit just wasn’t going to fly.

  Finally aware that they were all alone, Dallin turned to face Jo, who just stared, wide-eyed. First, she looked at him, then up at his wings, then back to him. Around him, Dallin was aware of a blue-green glow, probably some residual magic that was slowly drifting away into the air.

  So she’d finally seen what a monster he really was.

  He supposed she had a right to be shocked.

  Dallin took a step toward her, feeling his wings retract. But as he did, the awareness of the wand’s shot returned to his side, making searing pain go through him all at once like everything he’d ignored while fighting was coming back twofold.

  Perhaps it served him right, ignoring a wound from a wand like that.

  Then again, he hadn’t cared in the moment.

  “You… you’re hurt,” Jo exclaimed, coming forward, wrapping her arms around Dallin as his legs gave out.

  “I’m fine,” he insisted. He could feel the collar’s magic tightening around him again, returning him to normal. Weak. Defeatable.

  At least Jo was safe.

  “We need to get you to a doctor,” Jo said.

  “Call Ian,” Dallin exclaimed just as his senses started to give out. Maybe he’d overdone it a bit, getting shot and going off like that.

  But of all the thoughts that crossed his mind before he blacked out, the one that stuck most was simply wondering how Jo felt about him after what she’d just seen.

  12

  Jo didn’t have a lot of words, watching worriedly as Dallin lay motionless—though still breathing—on the couch in her living room.

  Nearby, the two newest additions to her rapidly changing life stood, reassuring her everything would be fine.

  Ian, a towering, white-haired man who bore only a slight resemblance to the strange men from before, and his wife, Liz, a sweet, fiery woman with kind eyes and a good attitude about things.

  “Is there anything else you can tell us about the people you saw and what they did to Dallin?” Ian asked, clearly a little worried.

  When Dallin had instructed Jo to call Ian, she’d imagined him being a supervisor or an emergency contact. But the way he and Liz had showed up with barely a moment’s notice, carefully taken him to their very expensive car, and driven him here to her house, it was obvious they were more than just co-workers.

  “Nothing,” she said. “Just that they clearly wanted something to do with Dallin, and they said they could… drain my magic?” The words sounded strange on her own tongue.

  Ian grimaced, and Liz, who’d frankly been their rock through the past ten minutes, came alongside him.

  “Should I call someone? It wasn’t technically chaos, so a radiant fae wouldn’t help. It’s not a fatal blow, but he’s still out.” Ian frowned.

  “Knowing Dallin, he’s probably just taking a minute to make us wait like usual,” Liz said, though there was a hint of worry there as well.

  Thankfully, a second later, Dallin sat straight up with a puff of air and a groan, teal eyes darting around like he was in an unfamiliar place.

  But as soon as he found Jo, his expression softened, the caged-animal look disappearing immediately.

  Not even caring how it looked, Jo immediately came over to Dallin, wrapping her arms around him even though she could only manage to get partly there due to the breadth of his chest. He made a surprised sound, then put an arm around her too.

  “Sorry for worrying you.” Just the sound of his voice was oddly soothing.

  “What the hell happened? One minute, you were surrounded by guys. The next… you were fighting them. And flying. And all sorts of crazy stuff,” Jo exclaimed. She’d seen some pretty unbelievable things in the past couple days, but this had taken all the marbles. She really did believe in dragons and such now, though there wasn’t the option not to, given the circumstances.

  “Just taking out some trash. Guys who were up to no good. You don’t need to worry about it anymore.” His almost tender words seemed odd, given how violent she’d seen him last time he was awake.

  They held each other for a moment longer. Dallin finally looked up at Ian, and Jo pulled away so she could just listen.

  “So they were light fae?” Ian asked solemnly.

  Jo still really didn’t know what this all meant, but she was frankly just glad Dallin seemed okay.

  “Absolutely, I’m sure of it. Not ones I knew personally, but yeah.” Dallin held his side while he spoke.

  “Damn,” Ian said under his breath.

  “Why on earth would they be here? I mean, Flynn took care of the ones that were after Callie,” Liz said. “And I thought Dallin and UV got the rest.”

  “It’s something we’re still working on in the fae world, to be sure,” Ian said. “The others at least. What to do with all the experiments and torture that was happening right beneath our noses the whole time.”

  “Looks like some unsavories slipped through the cracks,” Dallin said drily. “Not that I’m not ecstatic to get to end a few more of them personally. But if there’s more, it might be trouble.”

  Ian looked up at the ceiling contemplatively. “I’ll talk to the others. They’ve been trying to track down anyone and everyone that was associated with the magic draining practices, and they’ve found many of them. But a lot of them went into hiding the day you liberated the light kingdom, and the rest of us have our hands full trying to restructure our society from the ground up.”

  “You could always just convince the oracle to take my collar off and let me at them,” Dallin said with a mean grin.

  “After what happened the last time you didn’t have your collar on, I’d have to strongly disagree,” Liz said sternly.

  Dallin shrugged. “Hey, I saved your life too. But fair enough.”

  Liz grinned at him then. “Besides, I’m just surprised you’re actually able to adjust to being on Earth. And even helping in the kitchen.”

  “When he’s not going off on internet bullies, that is,” Ian said with a little chuckle.

  “You saw that?” Dallin said with exasperation, falling back heavily against the arm of the couch. “Gross. Maybe I should’ve let those light fae finish me off after all.”

  It hadn’t occurred to
Jo that Dallin’s associates could be watching her videos. Then again, she didn’t think much about it because the idea of anyone watching her remotely was still vaguely creepy, in spite of her occupation.

  Ian approached Dallin, and Dallin straightened. “All jokes aside, how are you feeling?”

  Dallin looked uncomfortable with the care in the way Ian had said it, like he was somehow allergic to their kindness. “Just peachy. Honestly, I think the collar restricting my powers just as my body tried to heal from the shot was too much for my human form to take. Maybe you should look into updating the collar.” He pouted slightly, arms folded. “After all, if it can tell you whenever it shocks the shit out of me, then why can’t it cut me a break when I’m saving the day, huh?”

  Ian laughed out loud at that, clearly not one to be affected by Dallin’s surliness, and just clapped the grumpy dragon on the shoulder.

  “Glad you’re back to normal,” he said, taking Liz’s hand and heading for the doorway. “Is there any way we can help you out, Johanna?” His tone was more formal when addressing her.

  “No. I mean, thank you for helping. And thank you for the packet, I guess. It was helpful, after all,” she replied.

  Ian just gave a warm smile. “It’s something we’re still working on, so thanks for being patient with us. My hope really was to try to curb the shock many women experience when going through this phase of their lives. After all, there’s no simple way to be told you’re magical, right?”

  “So are all beacons women?” Jo asked, curious.

  “Thus far? Yes. Which works because Dallin and the others are naturally very protective of females and humans in general. The tricky part is usually just trying to acclimate to all the new info.”

  Dallin seemed to bristle at the remark, yet his face appeared oddly pleased by the compliment.

  “Well, I think I’m glad I got to read about all of this before I saw everything in action at the store on the day Dallin showed up.”

  Ian glanced at Dallin. “Wait, there was an incident at the…?” He trailed off, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Never mind. Dallin, please make sure any further incidents are reported to me,” he said over Jo’s shoulder.

  “Wouldn’t dream of forgetting to tell you anything,” Dallin said with a sarcastic wave.

  “Hey, you bled all over Mr. Rollie. That means you owe me twice,” Ian said.

  “Only once if you’re counting properly. And again, maybe I wouldn’t have bled all over your stupid car if you weren’t sending me into the field with faulty equipment,” Dallin called back.

  “See you around, buddy,” Ian said, opening the door. “Call me again if he’s ever being a pill,” he whispered to Jo as he let Liz out in front of him.

  “I heard that,” Dallin said grumpily.

  With one last wave, Liz and Ian headed for their car, and Jo waved back to them, already feeling an odd sense of kinship with the two of them even though they’d barely met or had the chance to talk.

  But honestly, she was just glad to be alone with Dallin.

  Her heart was still racing. More at the image of him collapsing to the ground than anything else she’d seen today.

  In fact, the wings had been pretty cool.

  By the time she’d turned around, Dallin was watching her eagerly. “What’s that I hear about how awesome I am?”

  She rejoined him, sitting beside him, and to her surprise, he put an arm around her, supporting it so she was encircled by the warmth but not weighed down by his bulk.

  “I don’t think I said anything.” She sent him a shrewd glare. “But yes, as always, thank you for saving me.”

  He genuinely smiled at that, and just the thought that she could make such a grumpy person smile like that warmed her spirits.

  Dallin smirked. “Just doing my job. Nine to five and all that.” Though, with Dallin, Jo got the distinct impression it was much more. Maybe just the way he protected her like his life depended on it gave her that idea.

  “So how do you two know each other?” Jo asked, curious to know so many things and just hear he was okay. “And also, are you sure you’re not hurt?”

  Dallin lifted the tattered side of his shirt, revealing a stunning row of abs and just the hint of his bulging pecs. The area, though stained with a bit of blood, showed no wound or any sign of scarring at all. “Dragon healing works fast. As long as you can survive the hit, you’ll probably make it out all right. Then again, I’m a little different.”

  Jo felt the thrill of excitement in her ebb slightly as he lowered his shirt. Drat.

  “As for Ian, he and I go back a bit.”

  “What did he mean about owing him?”

  Dallin glanced to the side. “I may or may not have used my power to try and make him destroy the world of light fae in an instant.”

  Jo’s mouth hung open at the nonchalant way he said it.

  “But then his soul bond, Liz, jumped in to save the day at the right time. Then I saved them both. So it’s all water under the bridge.”

  “I’m honestly surprised they could even look at you after that.” Though, frankly, the Dallin she knew didn’t seem capable of doing something so… cold.

  Then again, she watched him disintegrate three people with the same ease she baked cupcakes.

  “The real story is much longer and more boring than I care to tell right now. But I won’t say I didn’t have my reasons at the time.”

  “Well, if Liz and Ian are fine with you, then I am too.” She pushed herself off the couch, too energized by even a hint of Dallin shirtless to stay in one place for long.

  “Maybe they’re just accomplices in my plan to seduce you,” he said with a suggestive grin.

  “I think if your plan had been to seduce me, it wouldn’t have involved stalking me at the store,” she replied, busying herself by making a sandwich, then a second.

  “True,” he admitted.

  “So what did those men want? I didn’t hear everything, but it looked serious.”

  It was Dallin’s turn to get off the couch, and he stood in the middle of the room for a moment, silent.

  “What I did, what Ian and the others did, it helped a lot of people in the fae world. But it also pissed off a lot of people, especially the ones who had been in power for a long time.”

  “So you were leading a revolution?”

  Dallin laughed harshly at that. “If only my ideals could have been so noble. No. I wanted revenge. And now I suspect there are those that want the same thing because of what happened.”

  “Why would you want revenge?”

  His expression was guarded. Haunted, perhaps. “Whatever stories or rumors exist out there about me, they’re all true. But the short and sweet of it is that they hurt me very badly. So I wanted to hurt them back.”

  She felt deeply for him in that moment. Could see the anger and pain flash through his teal eyes when he looked at her.

  “Does that make me a monster?” he asked.

  Jo came over to him, knowing the man before her was anything but that, and she touched his arm lightly, enjoying the way his face calmed slightly at the touch.

  “All I know is that some big, cool guy showed up in my life unexpectedly, and it’s been better ever since.”

  He smiled weakly but still seemed bothered. He raised a hand, staring at his palm for a moment.

  “Those people today… I was almost ready to give up. To let my past catch up to me. After all, I’ve done my fair share of damage. But then I saw them threaten you…”

  “I’m completely fine. They didn’t do anything.”

  Dallin’s gaze went more heated, more green as the hand he stared at clenched, then relaxed.

  “You don’t understand. It’s not just that I needed to do my duty, my job to protect you. It was that I couldn’t think about anything else in that moment. My whole being came alive, ready to fight for you. I barely understand it because I’ve never felt it before.”

  Jo gasped lightly because even th
ough she wouldn’t describe it the same way, she felt an odd, powerful connection between them as well.

  Maybe she was just a single woman and he was a sexy, single man. But Jo had never really been one for hookups or flirting or bouncing from one relationship to the next.

  And the attraction she felt for him was off the charts.

  “Maybe… maybe this sounds silly, but I felt like if something happened to you, then I’d never be happy again, Jo. I was so worried about you. Maybe that’s what brought my powers out.”

  Jo turned to face him, putting both her hands on his shoulders and looking up, entreating him to look back at her.

  “It’s not silly. I was worried about you too,” she said. “When those three dudes in suits were surrounding you and I saw the blood on the ground, I practically had a heart attack.”

  He finally looked at her, the swirling blue and green depths of his irises full of soul and unsaid things. “I frankly didn’t care what happened to me. But you…” He drifted off for a second, and she patted him lightly before his expression got any angrier.

  “Well, we’re here and we’re all fine. Me and my dragon protector,” she exclaimed, afraid to address the strange emotions churning between them.

  Thankfully, he didn’t back away. “That’s the thing, Jo. Of all the stuff I was certain about in that moment, I was most certain that I wanted you. That I want you.”

  Jo tried to suppress her shiver of excitement as his gaze wandered down her, then back up.

  “I don’t know what it means. I just know that nobody has ever made me feel the way you do.” The way his expression, usually hard and stony and pissed off at the world and all its injustices, softened just for her made the tingling go all the way down to her toes.

  Dallin lifted a hand toward her cheek, and when he cupped her face, she didn’t resist. Didn’t want to.

  “I feel the same,” was all she could reply just as he lowered himself to claim her lips in a searing, almost soul-touching kiss.

  At first, he was gentle, the silence of the moment and his masculine scent hovering around her imperceptibly. Then, as tenderness bubbled into something much more sensual, he deepened the connection, taking her mouth with his.