by Susan Illene
Aidan opened it and his face filled with pleasure. He put his hand inside the box, drawing out the solid gold armband I’d had made for him. After our trip a few weeks ago, I’d asked Phoebe what her brother might like most for a gift, and she’d suggested the armband. According to her, it was dragon custom for mates to give each other bands as a symbol of their joining in the same way that humans exchanged rings. I’d had to use almost all my credits with Javier to have it made and magically infused so it wouldn’t melt against Aidan’s skin, but it was worth it to see his reaction.
“I want you to know I’m committed to us and making our relationship work.” I lifted up on my toes and kissed him on the cheek. “I love you. You couldn’t make me happier if you tried.”
Aidan pulled me even closer. “And I love you more than you can imagine.”
We stood there for a few minutes, staring at each other as the fireworks popped and crackled in the distance. It couldn’t have been a more perfect moment. I’d worried that Christmas wouldn’t be the same without my mother and family back in Texas, not to mention the apocalypse messing the world up. In fact, it wasn’t the same, but I wouldn’t take back everything I felt right then. I had a man who loved me, I’d reunited with my long-lost father, and I had some of the best friends in the world who always had my back. I could hardly ask for more—not at that moment, anyway.
“I have something for you as well.” Aidan pulled away and held his hand out, an object from shiggara appearing on his palm. It was wrapped in a small square of red camrium cloth. “Here.”
I carefully took it from him and unfolded the cloth, gasping at what I found. A golden armband that was similar to the one I’d given him, but smaller to fit my size. “You had one made for me, too?”
“It appears we were thinking along the same lines.”
I held my arm out to him. “Put it on me.”
He clasped the armband around my bicep, fitting it just right, then stepped back to admire it. After giving him a moment, I demanded Aidan let me put his on him as well. Finally, I had a way to mark him as mine, so the female shifters would know he was taken.
“Glad to see ya’ll are makin’ it official,” Conrad said, coming closer to look at our armbands.
My father was watching us as well. He narrowed his eyes on Aidan with a warning in his gaze. “I will not stop you two from being together, but if you hurt my daughter, I will kill you.”
Aidan stiffened. “I wouldn’t hurt her for the world.”
“Good.” Wayne nodded. “Keep it that way.”
The finale for the fireworks began. We turned to watch as the sky filled with an array of bright, flashing colors. Aidan wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. I’d thought the night was great before, but it had gotten even better—if I ignored my father’s threat.
After the fireworks were over, I looked at everyone. “Ready for hot chocolate?”
Conrad snickered. “You don’t give up, do you?”
“Nope.” It was the only thing left to top the night other than exchanging gifts with my friends and father.
Epilogue
Bailey
The smell of eggs and bacon stirred me from sleep. I opened my eyes to find my cheek resting on top of Aidan’s back. Neither one of us slept on our stomachs very often, but apparently, we had this time. I pulled away from him and sat up, noting something different about my bedroom. The scent of food cooking came from downstairs, and while that was strange since I was the only one who ever cooked, that wasn’t what bothered me. My gaze shot to the far corner, and I finally figured it out.
I tapped Aidan’s back. “Wake up.”
“Hmmm.” He opened one eye. “What is it?”
I pointed to the corner. “How did that get there?”
He sat up and rubbed his face before following the direction I pointed. “Oh, that. It is the stove I promised I would install in here.”
It was solid black, made out of some sort of metal other than zaphiriam. I estimated it was about three feet tall and two and a half feet wide. There was a small door on the front where we could add wood. At the top, a large stove pipe led straight up to the ceiling where the smoke could vent out through the roof. Considering the bedroom was toasty warm, it must have been burning for hours now.
“Yeah, okay. But there is no way you could have installed that without waking me up.” I gave him a confused look. “Did it magically poof into our room?” These days I wouldn’t have been surprised by much of anything.
A slow grin spread across Aidan’s face. He leaned over to the nightstand and picked up a small amulet I’d never seen before. “This had a silencing spell on it. Once I activated the charm, I had an hour to get the stove in here and installed, so I worked quickly.”
He must have gotten it from Javier or one of the sorcerers at the fortress. “How long have you been planning this?”
“For a while.” He nodded toward the stove. “Do you like it?”
“Yeah, but I’m just…amazed.”
He leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead. “Good. Merry Christmas.”
I truly loved that he hadn’t hesitated to celebrate my holiday with me, and he’d gone out of his way to make it special. How did I ever get so lucky? It was hard to believe that a little over seven months ago I’d seen him for the first time and ran away screaming.
I leaped into his arms and hugged him tightly. “Thank you, Aidan—for everything.”
“It is my pleasure.” He rubbed a hand down my back, then paused. “Is that food I smell cooking downstairs?”
“I’m surprised it took you this long to notice.”
We broke apart, and he glanced at the bedroom door. “Perhaps we should go see what infiltrator has snuck into our house and started cooking us breakfast.”
“Absolutely. We can hardly keep ignoring it.” I hopped off the bed and headed for the dresser to grab some clothes. “This person could be dangerous.”
“Very,” he agreed.
After we finished dressing and brushed our teeth, we went downstairs. My father was just laying the food out on the table. He’d already set it up with plates, silverware, and a pitcher of water.
My jaw dropped. “You did all this? Where’d you get the eggs and bacon and…are those hash browns?”
“I can’t reveal all my secrets.” Wayne disappeared into the kitchen for a moment and returned with the salt and pepper shakers. “It occurred to me recently that I’ve never had Christmas Day breakfast with my daughter. It used to be a tradition in my family before I went away, and I thought I might share it with you and…your mate.” That last part was said a little less enthusiastically.
Aidan dipped his chin in the respectful way he did for his pendragon. “I appreciate the gesture.”
Wayne waved us toward the table, and we began dishing up our plates. Everyone was quiet at first, concentrating on eating their food. I didn’t sense any tension, but it was still a little awkward eating with my father—a renowned slayer—right after I’d crawled out of bed with a dragon. It was all I could do not to sniff at the food and see if it was poisoned. Maybe my father was like that guy in The Princess Bride who’d built up a tolerance, so it didn’t matter if he ingested any, or Wayne could have used something that would only hurt Aidan.
As the meal progressed though, everything went fine. There was no poison, only the ridiculous level of paranoia I’d developed ever since the world had collapsed around me and the rules of the universe had changed. My father had accepted Aidan for the moment, which he’d made clear. I could let myself be happy and stop worrying for at least one day.
As I scooped the last bite of eggs from my plate, Wayne gestured with his fork toward the window. “You should look outside.”
“Why?”
“You’ll see.” He went back to eating.
I got up and pushed the curtains aside. My breath started fogging the glass right away, but I couldn’t miss the snow covering the ground. We’d only gotten a couple of inch
es last time, but today at least half a foot had dropped already, and it was still coming down hard.
I spun around. “When did the snow start?”
“A few hours ago.”
Aidan joined me at the window, taking a look for himself. “I do not believe I’ve ever seen so much.”
“It doesn’t get that deep very often,” I said, staring out with him.
He squinted his eyes. “There is someone out there.”
“Where?”
Aidan pointed toward the north. “That way.”
I narrowed my eyes, trying to see through the falling snow, and caught movement at the edge of the woods. A man came running out of them half naked with streaks of blood covering him. As he got closer, I recognized his terrified eyes and bald head.
“That’s Ruari,” I gasped. “What’s he doing here?”
Aidan cleared his throat. “I may have forgotten to tell you that when I went to the fortress yesterday, I found out my brother agreed to officially mate with Freya, but only if they could live around here. Nanoq said they could take the house down the road from us.”
I dropped the curtain. “What?”
“I tried to talk him out of it, but he would not listen.”
“And you’re just now telling me?” I put a hand on my hip. “This is something I needed to know about right away.”
He gave me an apologetic look. “I didn’t want to ruin your holiday by telling you. I’d hoped it wouldn’t be an issue this soon.”
“Who is Ruari?” my father asked, taking his turn to peek out the window.
I gave him a brief explanation about Ruari being Aidan’s brother. “We aren’t supposed to kill him, but if he gets too annoying, I’ll be happy to help you hide the body.”
A shriek came from just outside. We raced for the front door, and I pulled it open. Ruari lay on the porch face down where he must have tripped over the icy steps. He lifted his head and reached an imploring hand out toward us.
“Please. Help me,” he begged.
A moment later, a blond woman wearing a thick camrium cloak appeared in the yard—Freya. “I’m so sorry to have disturbed you,” she said, speaking in a sweet lilting voice. “I’ll just collect my mate, and we’ll be on our way.”
I lifted a brow. “Did he make you angry again?”
“Don’t…listen to her.” Ruari’s teeth had begun to chatter, and he was turning blue. “You must…give me asylum.”
I considered pointing out that the Geneva Conventions or any other pertinent international laws didn’t apply at my house, or anywhere else these days, but I doubted he would have understood what I meant.
“He insulted my cooking,” Freya explained, outraged.
“What does that have to do with anything?” my father asked, staring at Ruari in horror.
I coughed. “It’s a long story I’ll explain later, but let’s just say we don’t need to feel sorry for Aidan’s brother. Ruari is just learning about karma.”
“I could kill them both if you’d like,” Wayne offered.
“No.” I shook my head. “Letting them live will be more entertaining in the long run, and Ruari will suffer more this way.” Seeing Aidan’s brother on my porch, shaking and turning colors while his beautiful mate scared him to death was worth the trouble I might have in the future. Of course, I might change my mind later.
Wayne stepped away from the door for a moment and returned with a handful of bacon. He tossed it toward the yard where it landed on the snow. “Go fetch, dragon, and leave us alone.”
Ruari caught the scent. His yellow eyes brightened, and he scurried after the bacon like a deranged man who hadn’t eaten in a week. What had Freya done to him in the couple of days since we’d last seen them? I couldn’t decide if I should laugh or be worried.
“You’re so bad,” I told my father.
He shrugged. “If I can’t kill them, then I can at least taunt them.”
I leaned outside and waved at Ruari and Freya. “Have a merry Christmas!” Then I slammed the door and turned to my father. “Got some more hot chocolate?”
“Coming right up.” He left for the kitchen.
Aidan and I headed toward the living room so he could get warm again after feeling the chill air from outside. As we sat in front of the fireplace together, I wondered what our future might bring and hoped we’d have many more happy holidays to come.
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Dragon’s Breath Series:
Stalked by Flames
Dancing with Flames
Forged by Flames
Christmas with Dragons
Captured in Flames (coming late summer 2017)
Other Works by Susan:
Darkness Haunts
Darkness Taunts
Chained by Darkness (novella)
Darkness Divides
Playing with Darkness (novella)
Darkness Clashes
Facing the Darkness (novella)
Darkness Shatters
Darkness Wanes
Dragon Language Glossary
Alefire: Thick and potent ale with a spicy aftertaste that the dragons drink (more than two mugs will make them drunk).
Bitkal: Ritual which decides who will become the next pendragon.
Camrium: Leather or suede-like clothing worn by shifters and the humans living with them that is fireproof and spelled with magic for protection.
Cryas: Soul.
Dijis: Attack.
Fushka (pl.- fushkan): Fool, idiot.
Galus: Die/be dead
Jakhal: The clan seat of power—their capital.
Kederrawien: Dimension the dragons lived in for the past thousand years.
Misann/Misanna: Beloved one.
Petroes: Dragonflies (not the ones native to earth) who only come for a short period each summer. They can breathe tiny flames that will harm humans much like being sunburned.
Shifitt: Dragon curse word similar to damn or shit.
Shiggara: Stasis or limbo (an invisible place for dragons to store a small amount of supplies).
Stinguise: A foul smelling juice that can temporarily cover up other scents.
Sude camria: Black Camria, the plant used to manufacture the garments worn by dragon shifters while in human form. The end result can have a leather or suede-like appearance, depending on the process used to weave the cloth together.
Toriq (pl.- toriqan): Clan/Tribe.
Zaphiriam: A fire-proof metal with qualities similar to steel that dragons use to forge weaponry. It is black with red veins running through it.
Zishkat: Dragon dung.
Zorya: The dragon goddess.
Dragon Clan Names
Shape-shifter clans:
Taugud- Clan in mid-western U.S. (southeast Oklahoma) that Aidan belongs to.
Straegud- Clan in eastern U.S.
Craegud- Clan in western U.S.
Faegud- Clan in north/northeast Texas with a mixture of pure and shape-shifter dragons.
Pure dragon clans:
Shadowan- Dragon clan in Oklahoma that holds the northeast part of the state, as well as parts of Arkansas and Kansas.
Thamaran- Dragon clan in Oklahoma that holds the west side of the state and the Texas panhandle.
Bogaran- Dragon clan that holds the southern half of Arkansas
Ghastanan- Dragon clan in Texas that holds the central portion, including Dallas.
About Susan Illene
Instead of making the traditional post high school move and attending college, Susan joined the U.S. Army. She spent her eighteenth birthday in the gas chamber — an experience she is sure is best left for criminals. For eleven years she served first as a human resources specialist and later as an Arabic linguist (mostly in Airborne units). Though all her duty assignments were stateside, she did make two deployments to Iraq where her language skills were put to regular u
se.
After leaving the service in 2009, Susan returned to school to study history with a focus on the Middle East at the University of Oklahoma. She no longer finds many opportunities to test her fighting abilities in real life, unless her husband is demanding she cook him a real meal (macaroni and cheese apparently doesn’t count), but she’s found a new outlet in writing urban fantasy heroines who can.
For more information visit: www.susanillene.com
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Acknowledgments
I have so many people to thank. My first acknowledgment has to go to my family who all support me either by encouragement, helping with research, reading the books, or giving me a quiet place to write. My husband doesn’t provide the quiet place to write, and often interrupts me in the middle of writing a sentence, but he does listen while I’m working out plot issues and he makes sure I eat at least once a day when I’m close to a deadline and can’t be bothered to cook or even enter the kitchen. My father is also a big support and actually reads what I write and gives feedback (thank you!). And to all my extended relatives who are always happy to support me in any way they can. Special thanks to my cousin-in-law, Caleb, for the info on building fireplaces.
Thanks to my editor, Angela, and to my beta readers. You all are the ones who help strengthen the story and make it more readable.
A huge thanks to my cover artist, Jeff Brown, for the amazing cover. I also appreciate photographer Josh McCullock for his fantastic work getting the model shots. Rahela Mahmood for posing for the cover. Celeste Brown and Mauri McDonald for doing the model’s hair and makeup. All of you did a wonderful job. Thanks as well to my design brain storming group—Rachel, Kristy, Sarah, and Heather. It’s through their help that I get the right wardrobe and poses for the covers.
