by Payne, Jenna
“My friends, I thank you for the warm welcome–we are merely humble guests in your great kingdom. The Garnet Valley is place that has long held a place in my heart, and this affection was deepened immeasurably when my daughter married King Ludus and became your queen. It is for this reason that I have been honored that King Ludus has sought my counsel in how the Garnet Valley should move forward and emerge from its recent darkness. It was the suggestion of King Ludus, and it is a proposal that I support, that King Ludus abdicate from the throne and that the crown be taken by his rightful heir, Prince Kirian.”
There was an initial gasp of surprise from the assembled crowd at this unexpected development. Prince Kirian couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing either, he grasped Tabor’s hand tightly. King Ludus approached and with a warm smile led Kirian forward so that he was standing in front of the throne of their kingdom. King Ludus removed the crown of the Garnet Valley from his own head and placed it onto the head of Kirian.
“Behold the dragon king!” roared Lord Sarkan. “Behold the dragon king!”
Kirian could feel his heart beating strongly, every fiber of his being was electrified, on fire. He looked at Tabor and knew that they would stand strong together. He looked at the assembled crowds and knew that he could lead them. Kirian looked up at his grandfather, he trusted the wise old dragon, even though he knew he had so much still to learn.
“Behold the dragon king!” roared the assembled crowd. “Behold the dragon king!”
Kirian stood and acknowledged the acclaim of the crowd, his people, his subjects. His future was just beginning.
THE END
Bonus Story 9 of 40
Rugged Biker
Chapter 1
Liz
“Mom, I don’t know if I can make it for Christmas this year, work has been really hectic,” I said and stifled my sigh as I sat down with a cup of coffee in hand. It was bright and sunny in Colorado, but ice-cold outside, since we were in the middle of December. My mother had remarried a man named James. I didn’t know much about him since he lived in upstate New York. He and my mother met over an online dating site and dated long distance for a couple of years before she moved to New York and married him a few months later. My brother lived in New York too so he had already met James a few times and claimed he was a good guy. But Seth was a mama’s boy, and he was okay if our mother seemed to be happy. Apparently, she ‘needed’ a man to grow old with. Both she and James were in their fifties.
“But honey, it will be James’ and my first Christmas together. You didn’t come for Thanksgiving and I think it would be great to have our families together. That way you can get to know James and meet your new stepbrothers.” I rolled my eyes. She couldn’t have married a guy with at least one daughter?
“Fine, fine, I’ll see what I can do.” I sighed and my mother squealed in her usual Veronica excitement.
“Oh great! It’ll be so great to have everyone together for Christmas. Oh and don’t book a hotel, our new house has plenty of room for you to stay with us.” I paused and my mother fell silent, probably holding her breath.
“Mom… really?” I sighed again and placed my cup of coffee on the small coffee table next to the couch. I stared outside at the picturesque Colorado winter day, there was a blanket of snow on the ground that would no doubt be melted with the unhindered brightness of the sun. I would much rather stay home and have Christmas with friends than with a new family I didn’t know.
“Please Liz? I haven’t seen you in years. I feel like you’re distancing yourself from me and your brother, and I don’t know why.” Great she was pulling the guilt card.
“Fine. Okay, I’ll come Mom,” I said and I could practically hear the smile stretching across her face.
“Great! Just tell me when you’re flying in and I’ll have Seth pick you up from the airport,” she said excitedly. We ended the call shortly after and I made plans to fly out that night. I had closed a lengthy case at work so I was due for a holiday. I worked for the district attorney and usually the holidays were a busy time for us. But, I had worked so much overtime before closing my last case that my boss all but told me to not to work on another case until after the New Year. So really, I had no excuse not to go and visit my mother, her new husband and his son’s, and my brother.
I had to leave for my flight by six that night so I had time to do a little Christmas shopping and take my time packing. When I was settled at the airport that night, waiting for my flight to board, I called Seth.
“Hey sis! How are you? Are you on the plane yet?” Seth had inherited our mother’s bubbly and enthusiastic nature and I sometimes found it tiring. I knew I had to build up my tolerance again if I was going to be around them for a week.
“Hey Seth, I’m good. The flight hasn’t boarded yet, so I’m just hanging out at the airport,” I replied.
“Okay well, tomorrow Mom and James want to have this family breakfast at some diner they swear by. I think you’ll like James if you give him a chance,” Seth said. I was going to keep an open mind. It’s not that I didn’t want my mother to be happy or anything. I just felt that she made a lot of changes to be with James. He hadn’t made any visits to Colorado nor did he move across the country to be with my mom.
“I’ll keep an open mind. What about his sons? What are they like?” I asked and Seth chuckled.
“They’re cool guys. Caleb actually works near my company at a marketing firm in the city. Hunter, owns his own motorcycle shop near Rochester. He’s more rugged than his brother, but they seem like good guys,” Seth said succinctly. I chewed on my bottom lip and sighed when my flight was called to board.
“All right then. Well, they’ve just started to board for my flight, so I’ll see you in a few hours.” I said. Seth promised to be there when I landed. When I settled into my seat on the plane, I got comfortable and slept for most of the flight since it was non-stop to Rochester.
When the flight landed, I texted Seth to let him know. After I got my bags from the baggage section, I went to the bathroom and touched up my makeup. I didn’t need much, just some lip gloss and mascara. I brushed out my hair and studied my reflection to make sure I was presentable. My hair fell in soft waves around my shoulders. I didn’t look like I was coming off a five-hour flight. It was one in the morning so I doubted I would see anyone until morning anyway.
When I got outside, I spotted Seth easily as he was a tall, big guy. Seth loved to work out and he had all the muscle to prove it. He waved at me with a huge grin on his handsome face. I hurried over to give him a hug.
“It’s so good to see you! My goodness how much muscle are you going to pile on?” I teased and Seth laughed. He had my late dad’s good looks, square jaw and cleft chin, dark hair and hawkish features.
“Oh stop, I haven’t put any more muscle on, I just maintaining,” Seth said and I rolled my eyes as he picked up my suitcase as if it was feather light. “You on the other hand, are gorgeous as always. I feel like I haven’t seen you in years!” Seth said as we walked to his Range Rover. He put my suitcase in the trunk and then climbed in the driver’s seat as I got in the passenger side.
“So is everyone asleep over there?” I asked and Seth nodded.
“Yeah more or less. Hunter is out though, so who knows. He might be getting back by the time we get to the house, which is really nice by the way,” Seth said with a grin and I turned my head to look out of the window. It started to snow and I smiled, seemed like it would be a white Christmas.
Chapter 2
Hunter
“Yo’ Hunt! Charlie knows of this place we can hole up off the next exit!” I glanced over at John, one of my biker brothers in our crew. We were a group of ten guys and had formed a biker club. We usually just rode around, showed off at bike shows and gathered at dive bars, but occasionally, to keep our ‘outlaw’ status we committed a few petty crimes. We didn’t really have a name, but the owner of the bar we often hung out at called us ‘the boys,’ so we went with th
at.
I nodded to John and then followed the rest of the guys off the highway at the next exit. Sitting on my all black, Iron 883 Sportster, the wind felt like a force all its own as we sped toward the abandoned warehouse Charlie had been talking about earlier. Our pack roared through the streets until we reached a long winding road that was flanked by woods on both sides. Where was Charlie taking us anyway? We finally went down a dirt turn off and rode through the trees until we reached a huge warehouse. The sun had just set and the chill of the winter night was setting in.
“Hey, who has the spray paint?” Charlie got off of his Harley just as everyone else arrived, parked and turned off their bikes.
“John has it, but more importantly, who has the beer!” I hollered and a couple guys came forward and we forced open the huge warehouse doors so we could set up inside. The plan was to tag a wall with our name on it, then build a fire inside and sit around it with a few beers and cigars. It wasn’t a serious crime. But it wasn’t technically legal either. Charlie took his bandanna from around his leather clad arm and wrapped it around his nose and mouth before he picked up a can of black spray paint that John set down to get the beer. One of the guys tossed me a beer and I twisted the cap open and watched as Charlie painted, ‘The Boys’ onto the far left wall. He was actually pretty good at block letters.
“Yo Hunt!” I was called over to help the guys build the fire. Once we got wood gathered and the fire going, Charlie was halfway done with his masterpiece. The guys started making fun of him while he finished the last few letters. Once it was done, we toasted with some beers and pretty much just shot the breeze, talking about this and that. I didn’t think we’d get caught as we were so far out in the woods, until we heard sirens. Everyone jumped into motion. Charlie made sure to ditch the spray paint can after he wiped it down. Though I didn’t think that was exactly necessary. Most of the guys were already ditching the scene, but John, Charlie, and I stayed back to make sure the fire was put out before we hopped on our bikes, to head up the dirt path that led back to the road. Only by the time we started winding through the trees, the cop cars were meeting us head on, on the one-way path. We were forced to stop.
“Shit man!” I cursed, as the cops got out and told us to get off the bikes and put our hands behind our heads.
“What were you all doing out at the old log warehouse?” one of the cops asked us, as another squad car pulled up. Two cops corralled us by a couple of trees while the other two went to check out the warehouse, no one said anything until they came back with the spray paint can and a bottle of beer.
“I’m thinking we’ll find at least one of your fingerprints on this can of paint,” one of the officers said, but again Charlie, John, and I remained quiet. We wouldn’t rat one of our brothers out. “Alright then, we’ll be forced to take you all in for trespassing and vandalism,” the cop said, then we were read our Miranda Rights while being cuffed, and lowered into the cop cars.
“Fuck man, I can’t go to jail for this,” John mumbled as the cop shut the door and I cursed again.
“Who knows how they’re gonna treat my bike while impounding it,” I said and John let out a slew of curses until the cops got in the car and we drove off to the police station.
“Man, I don’t want to spend the night in jail.” John groaned and he beat the back of his head against the headrest. My mind raced with solutions that could get us out of this bind. We’ve been charged with misdemeanors, but it was enough to hold us for a while. Then I remembered my dad’s new wife telling us about how her daughter was finally coming to visit. How she usually couldn’t make much time because she was a lawyer and all. I breathed a small sigh of relief and hoped like hell I wouldn’t waste my one phone call in begging Veronica to enlist her daughter’s help. I wondered if she had even flown in from Colorado yet.
Once we were brought to the station and booked, I asked for my phone call after telling the guys that I could maybe take care of things. While the phone rang, I prayed for Veronica to pick up.
“Hello?” she answered suspiciously. Even though it was about one in the morning, she didn’t sound like she had been sleeping.
“Vee! Hey, um it’s Hunter. Mind if I talk to you about something important?” I asked, my voice was urgent enough that she shouldn’t hang up on me.
“Sure Hunter, what’s so important?” Vee was really a nice person and I was glad that my dad had found her. She would be an absolute angel if she helped me out.
“Well, a couple of my friends and I were out riding and we got into a bit of mischief. The cops picked us up and booked us over a couple of misdemeanors…” I said, and Vee gasped.
“Oh Hunter, of course we’ll help you out my daughter just got in. I’m sure I can convince her to help you guys out,” Vee said, and I sighed with relief.
“Thanks a million Vee! You’re a life saver. I swear I’m not usually the kind that needs to be bailed out of jail.” I assured her and Vee chuckled.
“Oh I know Hunter. You biker boys have to be rough and tough. Don’t worry Liz will be right over to the station. Which one is it?” I gave Vee the information, and she promised Liz was coming to the rescue.
Chapter 3
Liz
I listened to my mother telling Hunter that I would be right over. What the hell. “Are you kidding me Mom?” I asked with exasperation as my mother hung up the phone and looked at me with her big, brown, doe eyes.
“Baby, I just really want this week to go well and for us to become a family. Please, just go help him out. Hunter is rugged, but he really isn’t the type to end up in jail, just this once Liz, please,” I grabbed my purse and glanced at Seth, who was leaning against the kitchen counter, smiling.
“Fine, just this once. I am on vacation you know. I hope my Christmas present is amazing,” I grumbled and my mother hugged me tightly before I followed Seth through the house out to his truck. “Do you remember which station she said he was at?” I asked and Seth nodded as we got into his truck and he started it up.
“Not that I’m saying this is in any way okay, but Hunter isn’t the type that’s like in and out of jail or anything. He used to be a Marine. He’s usually a straight and narrow guy, sure rugged around the edges, but still not the type to break any laws, or serious laws anyway,” Seth said. I wondered why they were all defending this Hunter guy.
“You’re just as blinded as Mom, aren’t you?” I said with disbelief. Seth sighed deeply and glanced at me.
“You know if you visited more often, or at all, you’d know that James and his family are good people. We all get along great,” Seth said. I shook my head and fell silent. I didn’t want to argue over Seth and Mom’s new family. I did have to say one thing though, just to open Seth’s eyes a little bit.
“Just because this Hunter doesn’t get arrested, doesn’t mean he is a law-abiding citizen, he’s just never been caught before. It’s all the same with these biker types Seth, I’m just saying.”
“You’re just like dad…” he said under his breath and I pretended that I didn’t hear him.
When we pulled up to the police station, he parked on the street and we exited his truck. We headed into the building and to the main reception. I spoke to the officer at the front desk, telling her that I was counsel for Hunter Schwartz and needed to speak to the officers that arrested him and the two ‘gentlemen’ he was with. Reluctantly, the officer called over two of the four involved in the arrest and I pulled them aside with a slightly flirtatious smile.
“Hi! My name is Liz Roland,” I introduced myself and shook both officers’ hands. The two men seemed susceptible enough to my ‘charm’ and I knew I’d be able to sweet talk them into dropping the charges against Hunter and his friends. “So, just a quick question. Have you filed a full report on the warehouse vandalism yet?” I asked and licked my lips slowly, while I waited for their answer. Both pairs of eyes darted to my lips before returning to my eyes.
“Well, we haven’t filed the full report, yet, M
a’am. To be honest, we only booked them because we are trying to crack down on the gang activity that’s leaking into Rochester; outlaw biker clubs included. When we got the tip there was a bunch of bikers roaring off into the forest, we had to check it out,” one of the officers explained. I nodded and brightened my smile a bit.
“Oh. Well, these guys haven’t been arrested for anything else before. Do you think taking them in and impounding their bikes was lesson enough? Do we really have to go through a mound of paperwork for a little noise, and beer drinking?” I asked as I smiled broadly and prettily. Both cops looked a little bashful.
“You’re right Ma’am, and it is the holidays…” the other cop said. I nodded, and sighed softly.
“Yeah, I just flew in from Colorado to spend the holiday and imagine, to my dismay hear that my brother was taken to jail over what sounded like a good time spent with his biker friends,” I said and the cops were sold. They assured me that they would let it go for now, but the next time they picked up any of these guys for any sort of mischief, they were going through with the charges. After that, Seth and I waited for Hunter and his friends to be released.
“Hey Hunt!” Seth called the attention of a guy who had just walked through the door separating the lobby from the holding area. He was followed by two guys, but my attention was solely on Hunter. He was stunning, in every way a girl could imagine a bad boy would be. He had jet black hair that was pulled into a messy ponytail and the diamond-shaped face with angular jaw and chin. He had a hawkish nose and intense stare under wing-tipped brows. His eyes though, they were the brightest blue and very intense. He was tall. Probably around six foot three, like my brother. I tried to be discreet as I let my eyes slide down his body and take in every muscular inch.
“You must be the angel who got our charges dropped, thank you.” One of Hunters friends spoke up and when they reached us, he picked me up into a big bear hug.
