Denver Fury: An Urban Fantasy Harem Adventure (American Dragons Book 1)

by Aaron Crash

  “Please,” Mouse said. “I want to leave this fucking penthouse. I’m so sick of looking at these walls. The wine was good, but freedom tastes so much better.”

  “Amen to that,” Tessa agreed. She went over and collected her purse and then found the two Colt Peacekeepers and shoved both into her purse, already near to bursting from holding the Drokharis Grimoire.

  Steven quirked an eyebrow at her.

  “Yeah, Steven,” Tessa said. “I have spells, but I also want guns. This is just the beginning.”

  It was.

  They left the penthouse, all four of them together.

  Bud hadn’t moved. His eyes widened when he saw Steven with the three beautiful women around him in a semicircle. “Not bad, Cool Whipp. Not bad at all.” The guy then paled. “Sorry, I know you hate it when I call you that.”

  Aria went over to him and touched his face. Animus flashed from her eyes. Bud’s own eyes muddied. And then he looked up at them. “Uh, what the fuck happened?”

  Tessa knew exactly what to say. “Quite a party, wasn’t it, Bud? You hit that Jägermeister hard. But you shouldn’t have mouthed off to those three huge guys.”

  Still a bit confused, Bud grinned. “Yeah, you might not know it, but I can be kind of an asshole sometimes. You know it’s a party when you can’t remember a thing.”

  Steven nodded. And just like that, Bud wouldn’t remember seeing a dragon or the battle he’d witnessed with all the strangeness. The Dragonsoul secret was safe once again.

  Mouse left Steven’s side and stood over Bud. She made a sign over him with her fingers and whispered, “Magica Cura.”

  The worst of Bud’s wounds healed, and he was strong enough to stand. Tessa helped him limp to the elevators.

  Mouse visited Steven next, tracing his various wounds with one extended finger. “Magica Cura,” she whispered, finger still gliding along his skin, sending chills racing along his arms and legs as her almond scent filled his nose. He watched as the magic bullets fell from his wounds and clattered on the floor. The shallow cuts disappeared next, and the deeper gashes scabbed over at once. Neat trick.

  Already, his new vassal was earning her keep. She’d saved him an awkward trip to the ER.

  In the lobby, the security guards were still frozen.

  “Is this your work?” Steven asked Mouse.

  She shook her head. “Mulk. He had special Mind Wipe spells ready to take care of the humans in the building. They went off automatically once the supernatural shit started. Don’t worry, no one in a mile radius will remember a thing. They’ll snap out of it in an hour or two.”

  Outside, emergency vehicles clustered around the remains of Edgar Vale. It felt satisfying, watching them try and get the shattered-bone sack—still reeking of rotting meat—into a body bag.

  He’d like to think it was a case of one down, one to go, but Steven knew the truth. Even if he somehow managed to take down Rhaegen Mulk, there would always be another Dragonsoul coming for him, to take away his Escort, his Hoard, and his Aeries.

  Aria had warned him. To be a Dragonsoul was to court constant battle.

  He grinned anyway. That first kiss had still been worth it.

  TWENTY-NINE

  Steven woke to the smell of something wonderful cooking in the kitchen of the Lookout Mountain Aerie.

  He was in the bed of the master suite in his new home. He’d called his various employers the night before and left messages for all his jobs, telling them he was quitting, and apologizing for not giving them two weeks. Bottom line, he couldn’t dick around with human life anymore. He had to prepare for Mulk’s inevitable counterattack. The Dragonsoul Prime was back in Denver. He’d come for a wedding, but instead, he’d be holding a funeral for Edgar Vale. Worse, Mulk he had lost one of his wives to the very guy he had sent the Dragonskin to kill.

  Steven smiled, recalling all the sex from the night before. Tessa and Aria had upped their game, and though they’d all been exhausted, the sex gave them Animus and that helped them heal.

  Tessa cuddled up closer to him. She liked to sleep right next to him, and he loved the feel of her touch. He was sore, every inch of him, but he felt himself get hard. Yeah, but there was also his belly to consider. He was hungry in every way.

  Seriously, what smelled so good! Aria had to be the one doing the cooking, since she wasn’t in bed with them.

  Mouse had spent the night in another bedroom, sleeping alone. She had been so excited, so relieved, to be in a new place with people she didn’t loathe. Yet she also found the wine cellar, fully stocked, and that also made her happy. Girlfriend had a drinking problem.

  He couldn’t blame her. Being married to someone you both loved and hated would drive anyone to drink. He swore he wouldn’t pressure her to join his Escort, but he had the feeling that the strange power he had over people would draw her to him. And she was so pretty.

  Steven eased himself out of the bed so he wouldn’t wake Tessa. He stood next to the fireplace, which was sparking and snapping like a real fire. But it was better than a real fire because he didn’t have to keep adding logs. He sauntered over to the enormous wall of windows and gazed down at the highway below, edged by a forest of snow-kissed pines. The clouds had finally unloaded the white powder onto the Colorado mountains. It was gorgeous, silent, and peaceful. Snow continued to flutter down.

  The hideaway felt so cozy and warm compared to the storm outside.

  He’d found soft pajama bottoms the night before. Partially dressed, he padded out of the master suite and into the great room. Like he thought, Aria was in the kitchen, busy cooking breakfast. Full King Soopers bags covered every inch of space. Aria herself was in jeans and an All India Football Federation 2018 T-shirt. No bra. Which was a plus.

  When she saw him, she smiled. “I went out early to get groceries. Believe it or not, my American Express card still works. My father though …” She sighed, lips pressing into a thin line of worry. “He’ll cut me off. He has to in order to save face.”

  “We’ll get money,” Steven said, thinking of the opulent Colorado Springs Aerie. He went through cupboards until he found a coffee cup. Then he went to the coffee maker and poured himself a drink. He sipped it. A bitter, terrible taste filled his mouth. He didn’t want to be rude, so he swallowed the muck. He so wanted to spit it into the sink.

  “Yes, I know, terrible,” Aria said. “The barista needed to sleep. Here, try this.” She moved from a deep-fat fryer to the stove, where a pot burbled. She grabbed another cup and filled it with steaming liquid from the pot. She gave the cup to him, hugged him briefly, and went back to the fryer.

  Steven took another sip, dreading the taste, but then the chai tea mixture filled his mouth. “Oh, that is so good!”

  “The British and their empire aside, we Indians know how to make a cup of tea,” she said with a smile.

  He drifted over to watch her work. Using tongs, she eased a big ball of fried dough out of the fryer. It was puffy, the size of a softball. On the big marble island were a number of small bowls filled with dipping sauces.

  “And now, you will sample a traditional Tamil Nadu breakfast. That’s called poori.” She took a tray of the fried spheres and offered him one. He took it, still warm, and dipped part of the ball into a green sauce. When the taste hit his tongue, his eyes lit up. “Damn, Aria, that’s so good!”

  Tessa came out in the soft pajama top that matched Steven’s bottoms. She had sleep-filled eyes, sleep-mussed hair, and the Slayer Blade in her fist. “What is it? Are we under attack?”

  “No, we’re fine. Just a little heaven on earth this Monday morning.” Steven crossed the room and gave her his mug.

  Tessa sipped it and closed her eyes. “Oh, now that’s good stuff. I can see why you woke me up.”

  “The chai is good, but dude, try the poori,” Steven said.

  “Food!” Tessa dropped the Slayer Blade on a couch and hotfooted it over to snatch a doughy ball off the plate. She dipped it in a bright red sauce,
and then she just had to kiss Aria. “Girlfriend, you can cook too? Is there anything you can’t do?”

  “I couldn’t save myself,” Aria said, turning serious. “Thank you, Tessa.”

  Mouse shuffled, half-asleep, out of a side bedroom. She had a bathrobe on, kind of. It had slipped halfway off her body. Her eyes were still closed, and her blonde hair stood up straight on one side of her head. Wordless, she took Steven’s coffee cup, threw the contents in the sink, and then poured herself a cup of joe.

  “Uh, careful,” Steven warned.

  “No. Talking. Before. Coffee.” Mouse sipped the coffee, grimaced, and then, from the pocket of her robe, tipped a little booze from a silver flask into the cup. Another sip. A sigh. “Much better.” Girlfriend had a definite drinking problem. They’d take care of that, but first things first.

  “Breakfast!” Tessa yelled happily.

  Mouse winced, clearly hungover.

  They all helped Aria carry dishes to a long glass table facing the snowy mountainside descending to the streets of Golden.

  Before they started, Steven raised his cup of chai tea, heavy on the heavy cream. “I’d like to thank you all, for helping me. We have a war coming up. But with you three on my team, well, I know nothing can stop us.”

  Every sauce was an explosion of flavor. Combined with the poori, it was the most exotic and yet the best breakfast Steven had ever eaten. He thought of where he’d come from, the Coffee Clutch, that normal day which had turned into the most abnormal of nights. The first of many to come.

  After breakfast, Mouse disappeared into her room to sleep more, while Tessa and Aria snuggled into him on the couch. They watched the snow fall together in a tangle of warm bodies.

  “Do you think we can really stand up against Mulk?” Aria asked. “Most of his vassals were with him in Cheyenne. We only fought his humans and some mentally ill Skinling.”

  “And that Warling,” Steven said. “Kai Charon. The guy in the purple suit.”

  “Yes,” Aria agreed. “As we saw in the tableaus, Mulk has Morphlings, Magicians, and other Warlings serving him. We are hopelessly outnumbered.”

  “There’s also the yellow Dragonsoul that captured you,” Tessa pointed out.

  Aria nodded. A strange expression settled on her face. “Liam Strider. He’s not exactly a vassal of Mulk’s. He was a Ronin, but the oddest Ronin Dragonsoul I’ve ever met. He said he is fleeing Denver because few Dragonsouls will survive the coming war. Yet I feel like we’ll see him again.”

  “Which side will he be on?” Steven asked. He wondered if he could ever forgive the yellow dragon for stealing away Aria.

  “Now that is a good question,” Aria replied thoughtfully.

  “Do you think he helped Mulk kill Steven’s father?” Tessa asked.

  Aria shook her head but furrowed her brow. “I don’t believe so. Yet what happened to the Drokharis clan wasn’t normal. We saw five full Dragonsoul males attacking him. They might’ve been part of Mulk’s Primacy, but I can’t see how. And normally, one Dragonsoul male will kill another and take his Prime. This all-out massacre is forbidden. I’m wondering what kind of deals Mulk made with the Primacies around him that they would turn a blind eye to the slaughter.”

  All this talk made Steven rage. “I don’t know, but I’ll get the truth out of Mulk. We still don’t know everything about my father and what happened. Mulk’s motive is the key. Why did he kill my parents and every single one of their vassals? If we know the answer to that, we’ll know the answer to everything.”

  They went quiet. Steven slowly let go of his anger and banished any trace of worry from his mind. Everything would be fine, he told himself. His mom was safe, he had the Colorado Springs Hoard to finance them, and they’d done the impossible the night before. They’d broken into a penthouse Aerie, against all odds, and rescued one of their own.

  Idly, he wondered if Aria would want to marry him, or if Tessa would, and he wondered about Mouse in the other room. How damaged was she?

  He had no answers to his questions.

  “Yeah,” Tessa said finally. “We are outnumbered. Lucky for us, we have Bud.”

  They’d dropped the guy off at his apartment, leaving him thinking he’d had a wild Sunday night downtown.

  All of them laughed, but Aria, true to her serious nature, pointed out something Steven hadn’t considered. “Most Dragonsouls do have humans working for them—ambassadors to the normal world. Bud might be good to have. You never know.”

  “I’m human,” Tessa insisted. “We already have one of those.”

  Aria snuggled into the barista. “You are, and yet you aren’t. The power you wield is enormous. You’re undoubtedly special.”

  Tessa closed her eyes. “Special, finally.”

  Steve let the peaceful morning flow into him. Yes. Special, finally.

  But his uniqueness had come with a price. His birth parents had been murdered, along with all their vassals, Escort, and friends.

  As the last scion of the Drokharis Dynasty, he had a responsibility to avenge them and to continue his father’s work. What that was, he wasn’t sure, but he was certain that like Tessa, the mysteries of their lives would come clear in time.

  The battle for the Great Plains Primacy was only just beginning.

  And Steven Drokharis swore he would win it so he could keep his Escort safe.

  Books, Mailing List, and Reviews

  If you enjoyed reading about Steven and his crew of badass ladies and want to stay in the loop about the latest book releases, awesome promotional deals, and upcoming book giveaways be sure to subscribe to my Mailing List Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.You can also connect with me on my Facebook Fan Page: Aaron Crash on Facebook

  Word-of-mouth and book reviews are crazy helpful for the success of any writer. If you really enjoyed reading about Steven and the gang, please consider leaving a short review—just a couple of lines about your overall reading experience. You can click here to leave a review at Amazon, and thank you in advance: Denver Fury: American Dragons Book 1

  If you love my books and need more Action-Adventure Harem action right this minute, then you might want to pick up War God’s Mantle: Ascension (Book 1)

  The gods walk again …

  When Marine Corps pilot Jacob Merely crashes during a routine mission off the coast of Cyprus, he was sure it was game over.

  After surviving the crash and pulling himself onto the sandy shores of a long-abandoned island, however, Jacob unwittingly stumbles headfirst into the ancient ruins of a dead city. Unfortunately, he also stumbles into an age-old battle between good and evil—and he is now its newest recruit.

  The island once belonged to the Amazons, daughters of Ares, the God of War, and stood as the final bastion between the human world and the monstrosities of the Great Below. But Jacob’s arrival has awakened the old gods and disturbed the seal holding the ravaging darkness at bay.

  Now, with the help of a sacred gem containing Ares’ power, Jacob must recreate the Amazonian defenders of humanity and fortify the island stronghold. And if he fails, Hades will unleash his army of the damned and the world of men will fall, giving rise to an age of walking nightmares.

  Other Works by Aaron Crash

  LitRPG

  War God’s Mantle: Ascension (Book 1)

  War God’s Mantle: Descent (Book 2)

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  Space Opera Adventure

  Damnation Robot: Galactic Demon Hunters (Book 1)

  Neutron Dragon Attack: Galactic Demon Hunters (Book 2)

  Black Hole Werewolves: Galactic Demon Hunters (Book 3)

  Books from Shadow Alley Press

  James A. Hunter

  Strange Magic (Yancy Lazarus Episode One)

  Cold Hearted (Yancy Lazarus Episode Two)

  Flashback: Siren Song (Yancy Lazarus Episode 2.5)

  Wendigo Rising (Yancy Lazarus Episode Three)

  Flashback: The Morrigan (Yancy Lazarus Ep
isode 3.5)

  Savage Prophet (Yancy Lazarus Episode Four)

  Brimstone Blues: A Yancy Lazarus Novel

  ***

  MudMan (A Lazarus World Novel)

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  Two-Faced: Legend of the Treesinger

  Soul Game: Legend of the Treesinger

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  Viridian Gate Online: Cataclysm (Book 1)

  Viridian Gate Online: Crimson Alliance (Book 2)

  Viridian Gate Online: The Jade Lord (Book 3)

  Viridian Gate Online: Imperial Legion (Book 4)

  Viridian Gate Online: The Lich Priest (Book 5)

  The Artificer DLC 1.1: A Viridian Gate Online Novel

  eden Hudson

  Revenge of the Bloodslinger: A Jubal Van Zandt Novel (Book 1)

  Beautiful Corpse: A Jubal Van Zandt Novel (Book 2)

  Soul Jar: A Jubal Van Zandt Novel (Book 3)

  Garden of Time: A Jubal Van Zandt Novel (Book 4)

  ***

  Halo Bound (Redneck Apocalypse Book 1)

  Lion’s Den (Redneck Apocalypse Book 1.5)

  Hell Bent (Redneck Apocalypse Book 2)

  God Killer (Redneck Apocalypse Book 3)

  About the Author

  Aaron Crash writes adrenaline-fueled odysseys into the extreme regions of speculative fiction. If you're looking for cyborg vampires or jellyfish centaurs, you've come to the right place. He is the co-author of the War God’s Mantle series (Shadow Alley Press) and other over-the-top sci-fi/fantasy novels. He’s been an Amazon All-Star and his books have broken into Amazon’s Top 100. When he’s not wrestling the word dragons, he mountain bikes, kills pixels dead, and has been known to watch a movie or three. He lives in Colorado where he does devilish things.

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  GameLit on Facebook

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