by Ruby Dixon
Fire In His Veins
A Post-Apocalyptic Dragon Romance
Ruby Dixon
Fireblood Dragons — Book 6
Copyright © 2019 by Ruby Dixon
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.
Cover Photo - Sara Eirew Photographer
Cover Design - Kati Wilde
Edits - Aquila Editing
Created with Vellum
Contents
FIRE IN HIS VEINS
What Has Gone Before
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
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Epilogue
Author’s Note
The Fireblood Dragons Series
Ruby Dixon Reading List
Want More?
FIRE IN HIS VEINS
I’ve wanted Andrea since the moment I saw her.
But she’s human. I’m drakoni. The only way I’ll stay sane and not lose myself to the madness that’s swept over my people is if I keep my mental walls strong. I have to give up everything that makes me a dragon. That means no telepathy, no fire breathing, and no battle form.
I certainly can’t take a mate. Andrea can’t be mine.
When her brother escapes the fort, though, she needs help tracking him down. That means I’ll be alone with her, breathing in her sweet scent, and it may be too much for my control.
What happens if I give in to my dragon? Will I take her as my mate…or tear her throat out?
What Has Gone Before
(If you’ve been following along, feel free to skip this section! If this series is new to you, here’s a quick recap of the characters and events that have happened before.)
The year is 2023, seven years after the destruction of the known world. Back in 2016, a Rift opened in the heavens and dragons poured forth, as terrible and violent as the beasts of legend. Like ants, they swarmed over the human cities, destroying everything in their wake. Buildings crumbled, countries fell, and within a matter of months, humankind was broken. Guns had no effect on the unearthly creatures from another dimension. Planes and missiles were too slow. Riots broke out as men were forced to fight not only for their survival against the dragons, but against each other.
The people who survived those first brutal days took to hiding. Eventually, small groups of survivors banded together and formed forts where they could live safely and securely. In the After, concrete is the building material of choice, and people freely give up their rights in exchange for protection for their families. The forts themselves are isolated and corrupt, run by a power-hungry militia. The guns they carry might not be useful against dragons, but they’re more than enough to keep the people of the fort in line. Those who cannot obey a fort’s rules are cast out, to live as nomads. They are considered scum by fort-dwellers and view themselves as dead men walking. Without shelter or a permanent place to call home, they might as well be.
For seven years, humanity continues on, living in the cracks and hiding in the shadows.
In Fire in His Blood, CLAUDIA, a thief from Fort Dallas, is left in the wild, abandoned streets of the Scavenge Lands as bait to tame a dragon. No one expects her to live…or for it to work. Her dragon KAEL is fierce and possessive, his mind broken by the constant madness that eats at the drakoni.
With his help, she hatches a plan to rescue her sister AMY and her friend SASHA from Fort Dallas and its corrupt militia.
In Fire in His Kiss, Sasha is snatched away by DAKH, a crazed male dragon who seeks a mate to fix his mind. Though it takes time for the fearful Sasha to trust Dakh, she eventually realizes that the dragon would do anything for her and that he can love just as fiercely as any male human. When Sasha is captured by local bandits, she learns that not only are the nomads working with an old enemy of hers, but the bandits are led by a mysterious stranger named AZAR who is neither drakoni nor human, but feared by both.
In Fire in His Embrace, Sasha’s friend EMMA rescues a drakoni male captured by Azar, a crazed warrior named ZOHR. To free him, she must mate with him to establish a psychic bond. They break free, but at the cost of his wings. While he heals, he and Emma work on a plan to destroy Azar and his men. When the mated pair approach Claudia and Kael for help, Claudia’s unmated sister Amy is enlisted to be scent-bait.
In Fire in His Fury, Amy has a plan of her own. Tired of being stuck in self-imposed exile, she tosses her panties into the wild in the hopes someone will find her. Her scent pulls in RAST, a drakoni who once served as a conscripted soldier to the hated Salorians. Their journeys lead them to Fort Shreveport.
This fort is small and run by GWEN, who tries to sell them out to local nomads in the hopes of protecting her kidnapped sister. Gwen is surprised and pleased when Amy and Rast volunteer to help the struggling Fort Shreveport and eventually take on a leadership position, putting the nomads in their place.
In Fire in His Spirit, Gwen knows her fort has been targeted by a big golden male. Her friend ANDREA is convinced that the dragon, VAAN, has shown up to mate her. When they go out to confront him, though, he makes it clear that he only has eyes for Gwen. She leaves with him, sacrificing her needs for her fort yet again, only to find a love she never expected. Vaan is called by the Salorian to Fort Dallas, where he and Gwen learn that there may be a bigger threat to everyone…
Meanwhile, LIAM remains in Fort Shreveport, hiding out and pretending to be human…
1
ANDI
I'm going to kill my brother Benny.
No, just killing won't be enough. He'll need to be tortured first, and then when he begs for mercy, then I'll kill him. Yeah, that sounds good.
I tear through my small trunk of belongings again, just in case I'm wrong. Nope. My good socks—both pairs—are completely missing. He knows I've been hiding them to wear when the bad socks (which are currently on my feet) are so trashed that they can't even be mended anymore. And because it's laundry day, I need to wear different socks under my boots so these can get washed.
Except all my socks are gone, and I know just the rat bastard that took them.
Biting back my fury, I smack my trunk shut and shove it back under my bunk. Daniela's no longer rooming with me and Gwen, and Gwen's gone to Fort Dallas, which means I'm alone in the old classroom I used to share with them. Once upon a time, I thought it'd be awesome to have a bedroom all to myself, but now it's just lonely. At least I can make as much noise as I want in here, though. I give my old metal-framed cot an angry kick, enjoying the shudder it makes, and then I head out of my room and storm down the hall toward the boys' quarters, whe
re Benny will be.
It's early, though, and the halls of Fort Shreveport are mostly empty. I pass by a pair of moms, their toddlers in their arms, and give them a tight nod as I march toward my destination. The smell of food is wafting in the air and I can hear conversations at the far end of the hall, in the old cafeteria, which means it's breakfast time. Benny and the other boys should be up soon.
I find the classroom that all the boy children are sleeping in and ease the door open quietly. Little Lucas is still in his bed, sucking his thumb despite the fact that he's nine, but the other little boys are gone. Benny's bunk is empty, but there's a ring of discarded dirty clothes and old junk around it, just like any kids' bedroom. I know the moms of the other boys are always on them to clean up after themselves, so I try to nag Benny, too. He just rolls his eyes at me, because I'm not Mom. I'm barely eight years older than him, and so he doesn't listen to shit.
With a scowl, I march over to his messy end of the room and start to pick through his crap. There's a few dirty towels on the floor—looks like he's missed laundry day for the last while—and a few old shirts. "Dumbass," I mutter under my breath, because if Benny knew how much scrounging me and Luz and all the other girls had to do to get those clothes, he wouldn't be so wasteful with them. I poke through the laundry encircling the bed, but I don't see my socks—or any others.
On a hunch, I get down on my knees and check under his cot.
Sure enough, there's another pile of laundry. I reach out and grab one sock…and then drop it, making a noise of horror in my throat.
It's crusty.
Oh god. I just touched my baby brother's jizz rag. I'm going to vomit.
Scrubbing my hand against my jeans, I get to my feet. That little bastard. Not only is he stealing socks, but he's jerking off in them? The other women in the compound joked that I needed to worry about when my kid started stealing socks, but I had no idea what they meant. I do now. Ugh. Time to have a talk with Benny. This shit's unacceptable—the stealing, the casual disregard for clothing, and the mess. I know Benny's got it in his head to be rebellious right now because he's fourteen and the oldest boy in the compound, but he's taking it too far. Not just this, but a million other things.
The jizz socks are just the icing on the cake.
I swallow back my disgust, wipe my hand one more time, and then turn away from Benny's bunk. Lucas is watching me, sitting up, his thumb still in his mouth.
"Hey, kiddo," I say. "You seen Benny this morning?"
He shakes his head.
"Tell him he's in trouble if you see him, OK? His big sis is looking for him." With a bright smile at Lucas, I head out of the room and shut the door behind me.
If Benny thinks that getting up early means he can avoid me, he's wrong. He's been deliberately putting space between us over the last few months. Now that he's not a tiny kid anymore, he doesn't want his older sister hovering around him. Instead, he's been hanging out with…Liam.
I don't want to think about Liam right now though. Instead, I briskly head toward the cafeteria to get my breakfast and look for Benny there.
I head into the cafeteria just behind Luz's wife, Michele. I smile absently at her and scan the cafeteria, looking for my brother. The windows have their protective metal coverings lifted to let the early morning sunlight and breeze in, and a tallow candle sits atop each of the tables to allow a bit more light, the faint herbal scent of them nearly overpowering the scent of smoke, eggs and corn cakes. I get in line just like everyone else, waiting for my portion. It's funny but there's something comforting in living in an old school. I was just a teen when the Rift tore open, so being back in a school feels like coming home. I don't mind the lunch trays and the bells because it adds a bit of structure in a world that is sorely lacking it. It's kind of nice, really. Everyone pitches in, and if the cafeteria cooking is done by firepit instead of stove, no one complains. We all remember what it was like to have nothing to eat.
I notice that Amber's murmuring a soft apology with each dollop of eggs she doles out, and when I hold my tray out, she gives me a tiny spoonful of eggs and grimaces. "The chickens aren't laying much right now," she says quietly. "Amy says she's going to find us more food, though, and that it's all under control. Until then, we're stretching things." And she puts a corn cake on my plate.
I hold it back out to her, indicating she should take the scrambled eggs back. "Give mine to Grandpa Steve or Benny when he shows up, or Melissa. Someone else." I keep the corn cake and put my tray in the stack of dirty ones, stepping out of line as Amber spoons out the allotted eggs to the next person in line. "You haven't seen my brother, have you?"
"No. Did you ask Amy?" She glances back at me and then launches into her spiel with the next person in line. "Chickens aren't laying much right now. Amy's on it, though. We'll have more food soon."
Charlene just nods, relief on her face, and takes her tray without a word of complaint.
I shove my corn cake into my mouth and head toward the cafeteria exit, hating that I'm annoyed over the fact that everyone's fawning over Amy. She's the new leader of Fort Shreveport, and she's really nice and determined to fix all of our problems, and she's mated to one of the dragons so they can protect us. I have no doubt that Rast, her mate, will find more food for us—he can fly and hunt cattle down, or discover new locations for us to grow crops, or even scavenge farther out.
But my best friend Gwen was the leader for the last two years, and I'm still loyal to her. I hate that everyone's acting so relieved that Amy and Rast are here, because it feels like they're saying Gwen was doing something wrong. I hate that. I know how hard Gwen worked to keep this place afloat. I know how many times Gwen went without so others wouldn't starve. I know how many nights Gwen worried and cried over the stress of being the leader.
People are just jerks. Not that Amy isn't a sweetheart, but I hate that acknowledging her leadership makes me somehow feel as if I'm betraying Gwen. And Gwen isn't even here—she left us behind to spend time in Fort Dallas with Vaan and to act as a liaison between that fort and this one.
I feel a little betrayed over that, too. I've been left behind. All I have left is Benny, and the little shit's been stealing my socks to jizz in and won't talk to me otherwise.
I pause by the whiteboard as Shonda erases yesterday's message—"Tomorrow's Laundry Day!! Bring your clothes to Room 103 and make sure your bag is labeled!"—and begins to write a new one in bold red lettering. "DRAGON ATTACK DAY. STAY INSIDE."
"Shit. That's today?" I bite my lip, pausing to talk to her.
She taps the old planner in her hands, the dates in the corners scratched out and updated manually since printers are a thing of the past. "Yup. Laundry's going to wait until they're done."
"What about Amy and Rast?" I can't help but ask. "Why can't they chase the damn things off?"
Shonda shakes her head and draws a line under the word “inside.” "Talked to Amy already. We pulled the plants in the gym before breakfast and she and Rast headed out for hunting. She thinks food is more important than fending off the attack as long as everyone's inside and on lockdown." She shrugs. "She ain't wrong. As long as nothing's in the courtyard, we won't be bothered."
I chew on my fingernail absently. "I guess. You seen Benny?"
She rolls her eyes. "No. Can't say I mind it, either."
That's fair. Benny is kind of a shit. "Thanks, Shon." I head out of the cafeteria and then pause, thinking. The gym? Would Benny be hiding out with the flatbeds of plants, hunkered down in our tomato bushes and cukes? Nah. Someone would make him weed the pots and he'd be out of there in a flash. At fourteen, the only thing Benny excels at right now is avoiding work.
That and jerking it in socks, apparently.
I shudder and wipe my hand on my jeans again, heading for the library. I duck in but he's not there, just Carla, getting ready for the day's lessons for the little ones. He's not in room 103 when I drop my laundry bag off, either. I head to the front office—where Amy and Rast
are now staying—and check the chore list whiteboard. Benny's listed under “mousetraps,” so I check the janitorial closets. No Benny. He's not in Gwen's bird coop feeding the doves, either.
He's not anywhere.
I grit my teeth, because I know what this means. Last resort. I guess I'll talk to Liam.
My belly quivers at the thought.
Me and Liam are…complicated. He first arrived in Fort Shreveport a few months ago and kept to himself. I thought he was yet another weirdo that the apocalypse had burped up and gave him a lot of leeway. After all, he had sharp teeth, golden skin, and wore sunglasses and long sleeves all the time. There's a lot of strangeness in the After, though. I saw the Mad Max movies in the Before, and when I was in Fort Tulsa, I remember seeing people going crazy with tattoos and piercings and all kinds of body decor as if they needed to make our world into the next Thunderdome. Like, because it was an apocalypse, we needed to look properly apocalyptic or something. So when Liam seemed a little unusual looking, well, I'd seen weirder. And he kept to himself, so it was easy to dismiss him.
Then we found out that Amy's golden-skinned, fanged hulk of a boyfriend was a dragon. And because Liam looked very similar to him, he was exposed for being a dragon-man. It was obvious that we'd overlooked him. Liam had golden skin like Rast, but his was a shade that could be seen as a sun-lover's tan, so no one thought much of it. Rast had long, crazy golden hair that was as thick and wiry as a lion's mane and spikes at his brow…and Liam always wore a baseball cap pulled low and sunglasses. Liam carried himself differently than Rast, but it was clear he was a dragon.
