by K.N. Lee
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
An Exclusive Look at Netherworld
About the Author
Also by K.N. LEE
Legend
A Dragon Rising Novella
K.N. LEE
Copyright © 2018 by K.N. LEE
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
An Exclusive Look at Netherworld
About the Author
Also by K.N. LEE
1
Edwin Allington drank from a golden goblet, his eyes closed as the screams rippled through the stagnant air. It was a glorious melody, one he knew all too well. He’d been born into a world that hated him.
A demon for a father, a dragon shifter from the Netherworld for a mother. And, neither of them stuck around to show him true love. He had to experience it on his own, from a woman who hated the sight of him.
He grimaced and opened his amber eyes to gaze upon the sea of bodies writhing on the floor of his dungeon. A harem of angels desperate for his love and affection. He sneered at the sight of them.
Slaves. No amount of beautiful women could quench his thirst, and yet they came in hordes to pledge their loyalty and allegiance to him. No one even batted an eyelash when it was revealed that one fresh angel would be sacrificed each full moon to his hell hound.
Enchanting them had been easy, and they proved loyal until death.
Olivia stepped beside him, her arms crossed over her full bosom. She tilted her head, dark hair cascading in lush waves over her shoulders.
“You do know that the Division will probably execute you for this,” she said, and yawned.
He drank the last of the wine and tossed the goblet down the stairs that went nearly one-hundred feet into the earth. It clanked against the stone until it met the grasping hands of his slaves.
“Perhaps,” he said. “But, I’ll risk it.”
She lifted a brow. “For her?”
Edwin’s jaw tightened as he turned away and left the dungeon hall. The door was closed by his guards and he stalked up the ancient stairs of his castle to step into the night.
Olivia followed, her question still echoing in his mind.
For her.
The angel who got away.
The angel he would lose it all for.
“Yes,” he said, pulling in a long breath of fresh air as he leaped into the night sky and transformed from a man, to a black dragon with the wingspan the blotted out the moon and scales that glittered in its light.
Olivia didn’t follow, which was just as well. He needed to be alone.
Rae would be his…even if he had to slay millions of humans, angels, and vampires to get her attention.
2
Rae stood on the balcony of her house in the mountains, her sepia-colored hair flying freely behind her as the cool morning breeze blew in her face. She closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of the forest that stretched for miles all around her home.
For a moment, she was taken back to memories of her home in Rome. It had been centuries ago, but she remembered it as if it were yesterday. A glowing sword at her side, and a glint of ruthless determination in her eyes.
Men and women used to bow to her, and her swordsmanship was once unrivaled.
Oh, how she missed those days. She just didn’t miss the slaughter or the evil that continued to rise no matter how hard she fought.
Collin wrapped his arms around her, and she smiled despite the nagging fear that filled her belly. Dressed in nothing but her red lace, bikini-cut panties and bra, she was impervious to the crisp autumn air.
“Babe,” Collin whispered into her ear, his minty breath warm on her neck. “Why are you up so early? Don’t you have until noon to go into work?”
She turned to him. With a smile, she ran her hands through his messy, black hair. She met his ethereal, hazel eyes, wishing she could tell him her secret. What they’d developed was sacred, but she feared that he would not understand her origins and past. His chiseled jaw was covered by his short, dark beard.
“Yeah. But, I couldn’t sleep.”
He kissed her clavicle and held on to her waist. “You hardly sleep at all,” he said. “I don’t understand how you survive with such little sleep. It’s bad for your health.”
Rae grinned. “I think I know what’s good for my health.”
He picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. “What’s that?”
“You,” she said softly and kissed his lips. He tasted like toothpaste and mouthwash as their tongues met. She held on to his face, her fingers within his soft beard.
“I’m not going to disagree with you on that one. Since you’re up at five in the morning, why don’t we take advantage of this time together before we both have to work?”
Nodding, Rae buried her face in the space between his bare neck and shoulder, breathing him in. She traced the tattoo of a dragon on his neck and swallowed, willing the warnings to fade. Though he was only thirty-two, he had silver hairs that grew above his ears, a stark contrast to his raven black hair. She loved them. They were like little magical strands that refused to be ignored.
“What do you want to do?” Rae asked.
“Breakfast at Café Monte sounds like a good start.”
“Great idea. I could use a real cappuccino.”
Collin’s smile widened as he turned and carried her back into the house. “I agree. But, wait until I take you to Italy. That is where you’ll find a real cappuccino,” he said.
“Oh,” she said, biting her bottom lip. “I’ve never been.”
“I’ll take you,” he said. “But first…”
Rae laughed, a beaming smile taking over her face as excitement flooded her. Only he could make her giddy. She held on as Collin carried her back to her bedroom, kicking the door open and walking into the brightly-lit room.
He put her down and unhooked her bra, all while planting kisses along her throat and chest. She pushed her panties down and kicked them onto the floor. Watching him take off his boxers excited her.
Instead of taking her to bed, he led her into her bathroom and turned on the shower. They stepped inside and let the warm water cascade over their naked bodies. Kissing Collin under the soothing stream of water almost took her mind off of everything.
Sometimes, she wished she could just stay in bed with Collin all day. They were both busy individuals with responsibilities and careers.
They were both highly-respected doctors.
But, only o
ne of them was human.
3
Hiding and masquerading as a human were the only ways Rae knew to survive. It was a decision she’d made years ago when she’d almost paid for her sins in the worst way.
Being a fraud was much better than the alternative.
That afternoon, the hospital was abuzz with activity and chaos. People cried in huddles, there were screaming patients being rolled in, deranged addicts fought to escape treatment, and the scent of blood was pungent everywhere Rae turned.
This was normal. Rae couldn’t remember a time when it was actually quiet. As head psychiatrist of Mercy Hospital, she was used to the calamity of the world inside and outside of a person’s head. Truth was, she enjoyed the world being loud. The quiet was when she was most afraid—most anxious.
In a purple dress under her white coat, she stood out amongst the other doctors. Rae had a personality that couldn’t be muted, and she didn’t try.
She walked down the white hallway of the hospital’s emergency department, a clipboard pressed against her chest. She nodded hello to those that spoke, smiling. Being well liked was something she was used to. All of her life, people were drawn to her, captivated and eager for her attention. If only they knew the real reason behind that; she wondered if they’d be even more enchanted…or horrified.
Without knocking, she opened the door to the office of the head of surgery, quickly slipping in and closing it behind her. She pressed her back to the door and met the surprised gaze of the head neurological surgeon.
“Dr?”
“Collin,” she replied, her voice lowering seductively.
She stepped away from the door, smiling at the handsome doctor that stood behind his desk recording notes from a CT scan on his digital voice recorder. He paused once she came and stood before him, setting her clipboard down.
She was feeling particularly bold that day, a mischievous smile on her small, pale face after their early morning romp.
Rae tossed her sepia waves back and gave Collin a wink. “I don’t have all day,” she said, spreading her legs from her spot on the edge of his desk. She licked her lips as she watched him eye her black lace thong.
Collin chuckled. “Haven’t you had enough of me for the day?”
“No,” she said. “Never.”
They’d been dating for a few months, and never had Rae been so smitten, so devoted to one person. If Collin knew the truth of her past of promiscuity, she wasn’t sure what he’d think. She’d wager that he’d still pursue her.
He was just that great of a man.
Tall, with an athletic build, everything about him turned her on. The tattoos under his scrubs that stretched up his arms and back intrigued her. There was no wonder all of the single women on the floor had eyes for him.
Too bad he belonged to Rae, even if they were keeping it a secret.
Collin stepped between her legs and cupped her face between his hands. “I have a surgery scheduled in an hour.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, batting her eyelashes. “I have a client in an hour as well. That’s plenty of time,” she whispered.
Collin kissed her, the scent of his shampoo intoxicating as he pressing his lips to hers. She heated from her core as he parted her lips with his tongue, sliding it deliciously across hers. She closed her eyes and worked at pulling his scrubs and boxers down.
Never had she been so eager to sleep with a man. Not since her ex—the one that nearly got her killed.
“I love you,” he said to her once he pulled away from their kiss.
Stunned by such a revelation—one that had never been stated—she found that she couldn’t access her voice. The shock of it overwhelmed and delighted her.
No one had loved her before. No mortal, that is.
Rae beamed but kept silent as she took his hardened shaft in her hand and stroked the tip.
“You’re going to ruin me, aren’t you?”
“Of course.” She nodded. “In the best way. The way you like it.”
“You’re not going to tell me you love me, are you?” Collin asked and she bit her bottom lip.
She wanted to say it, but fear left her silent. The last time she felt love, she’d almost died for it.
This was liberating. In all of her years on earth, she’d not felt such an attachment to a human. She’d also never felt such pleasure that made her want to give up on immortality—just to experience it within the normal span of a human.
4
“Tell me about your weekend,” Rae said to her last patient of the day. “How about we start with that?”
Lisa, a fourteen-year-old bulimia patient, twirled her short, brown hair around her finger, her eyes cast to her sneakers. “My mom came to visit,” she said with a sigh.
“That’s good,” Rae said, watching Lisa’s micro expressions closely. “How did she make you feel?”
“The same. Guilty. I know it costs a lot to keep me here, and she thinks that I can just turn it off.” Lisa’s eyes rose to Rae’s. “But I can’t. Every time I look at myself, that monster is there. The fat one with the huge thighs and droopy chin.” She wiped her eyes with the sleeves of her red jacket. “I hate the girl in the mirror.”
No, sweetie, Rae thought.
Her heart broke from all of the pain she felt emitting from that young girl.
You are beautiful.
She wanted to say those things to her, to heal her from within. She was so lost, and Rae could help her. She had the power, just not the courage, to go down that road again.
Too many times she had put herself in danger by using her power.
Rae would have to use her knowledge as a psychiatrist to help Lisa this time. So she took her notes, prescribed more anti-anxiety meds, and told her they would talk again in a week. It was draining to beat around the bush when Rae could just use her power to heal Lisa and show her the truth.
After Lisa left from her session, Rae drank the rest of her tea and checked her emails. She was disappointed there was no word from Crescenita. The girl had been staying with her for a week after her initial orientation to the human world, and now she’d been missing for two days.
She sighed and sat back in her chair, rolling it toward the window that looked over the city.
Rae headed out of the door of her private office in the psychiatric ward of the hospital. Something caught her attention.
A letter.
She lifted a brow and paused, staring at it. If it had been a normal envelope like the countless ones she’d gotten in the mail, it wouldn’t have perplexed her so. This one had a red emblem on it, an emblem she recognized too well.
Her heart thumped in her chest, her face paled as she reached for it.
Her hands shook as she lifted the flap to open it. She pulled out the card and didn’t bother to read the message. Her eyes went directly to the signature.
Luke.
Her ex.
He’d found her.
She clutched the letter, too afraid to read it. Her eyes darted from one end of her office to the other, afraid that he was in there, hiding and waiting.
Instead of waiting around to find if that was true, she hurried to leave her office, not even bothering to lock it up. If some crazy person wanted to get in there badly enough, they would find a way.
Rae had more dangerous scenarios on her mind.
Her heels clicked along the linoleum floor as she hurried to the elevator.
Once inside, she watched the doors close. Her scream was caught in her throat as the lights flickered out. In the darkness, someone pressed her to the back of the elevator.
She couldn’t scream. She couldn’t move.
That was the first hint that this was a premonition and not yet a reality.
It isn’t real, she tried to convince herself. It is not real.
Too bad that it felt real, her assailant’s cold breath on her neck. A chill flooded her veins. She knew who was doing this to her.
“Leave me alone, Luke,” sh
e pleaded. “Please.”
Instead of replying, his chuckle in the dark turned her blood cold.
“Alone? No, love. Never.” His bony knuckle ran along her jawbone, and all she could see was the white light in his eyes as they searched hers. “Don’t tell me that you haven’t missed me? Not one little bit?”
“No,” she shouted. “I left for a reason. Why can’t you just let me go?” Her words came out more like a plea, and she hoped that Luke didn’t take it as a weakness. He was the master of exploiting one’s weakness, and she just wanted to be left alone.
His kind of love was too intense, and she had worked hard to escape him.
He clutched her neck, his fingers tightening around her throat. “Because you belong to me. Don’t you remember? I own you while you are in this world. And while I own you, I will love and protect you no matter how much you fight it.”
With those words, he vanished, and within seconds, the elevator was lit, and Rae was by herself with only the blinking of the floor she was to get off on and her own racing heartbeat.
She fled into the hallway once the doors opened, wishing she had someone to turn to, someone to protect her. In a town full of humans, there was no one like that for her.
As she hurried to her car, she thought of the only person she knew she could trust. But would her old general take pity on her? Once Rae led armies. She commanded warrior men and women into frightening battles the world didn’t even know were waged right before their eyes.
She got into her car and chewed her lip, her heart thumping so loudly she could hear it and the rush of blood to her ears.
Her old general had to know what she was dealing with. She wasn’t alone in this—not if she didn’t want to be.
