by Riley Storm
Fire Dragon’s Bride
High House Draconis #1
Riley Storm
Fire Dragon’s Bride
Copyright© 2019 Riley Storm
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic means, without written permission from the author. The sole exception is for the use of brief quotations in a book review. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real.
All sexual activities depicted occur between consenting characters 18 years or older who are not blood related.
Edited by Annie Jenkinson, Just Copyeditors
Cover Designs by Kasmit Covers
Contents
Note from the Author
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
Other Books by Riley Storm
About the Author
Note from the Author
Hi there!
Thank you so much for picking up Fire Dragon’s Bride. While this book and series are self-contained and can be read alone, if you want to get the full experience of the Plymouth Falls world, you would be best off starting with the High House Ursa series and book one, Bearing Secrets which is linked below.
Either way, I hope you enjoy!
-Riley Storm
High House Ursa
Bearing Secrets
Furever Loyal
Mated to the Enemy
Shifting Alliances
Blood Bearon
1
Six Months Earlier.
It was like awakening from sleep.
The dreams slowly faded away, light gradually replacing the perpetual darkness that was the back of his eyelids. Sleep crumbled from his eyes. From his nose. It shivered and peeled back from his ears until he could hear once more.
Breathing. He heard breathing. The sound of stone as it crashed into the ground below, cracking into dozens of tiny pieces. Wherever he was, the chamber was cool and dry, though the air was stale. Very stale.
Tremors ran through his body as it returned to wakefulness, and with it came awareness. He remembered.
“Is it time?” he rumbled in Drakon, the ancient tongue of dragons. His eyes would be sensitive, unused to light. After all, they hadn’t been used in a long time.
“Yes,” came the reply.
Aaric frowned, the motion furrowing the massive scales on his head, causing a slew of new rock to tumble away. The voice. He recognized that voice, and yet it was unfamiliar all at once. It was as if someone had taken the owner, and—and robbed him of all strength.
Forcing his eyes open, he peered around, orbs the size of a human skull and as gold as the treasure he coveted looking around. The infusion of light into his brain hurt but Aaric shunted it aside. He didn’t have time for such things. Something was wrong.
“Parre.” He said the other dragon’s name even as his eyes focused on the owner, a person he recognized. Or at least, one he thought he did. “What have they done to you?” he snarled, at last understanding why his old mentor’s voice sounded so different.
Before him stood an old man. Beside him, her arm linked as they both rested on individual canes in their other hands, was his mate, the lovely Elanna.
“They?” Parre asked, looking around. “They haven’t done this to me. I did it to myself,” he said with a chuckle.
Understanding filled Aaric. “You stayed awake,” he said, belatedly realizing the aging he was seeing wasn’t some trick by the human mages or perhaps the Fae.
It was just the progress of time. He marveled at how it had ravaged Parre. The spots on his hands and face, the wrinkling of his skin. When age caught up with a dragon, it caught up quickly. Aaric wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep, but Parre had been nearing five centuries of life when he’d gone into the deep sleep. By now, he had to be past that mark. That was old, even for a dragon.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” Parre snapped, his voice having lost none of its intensity. “I made this choice.”
“We made this choice,” Elanna said calmly, patting her husband’s hand. “We wanted to watch the world grow in peace. So, after everyone entered the deep sleep, we stayed awake. Travelled the world. Saw the humans, watched them evolve. The past century, Aaric,” she said, falling silent in reflection. “They have done so much. It is truly astonishing.”
“I see,” he said, his voice louder and stronger than both of theirs combined. Part of that was his age. At a brisk 204 years of age, he was younger and more sprightly than the elder dragons.
The other reason was that they were in their human forms. Aaric was not. He focused, and with a twitch of muscles, his wings vibrated slightly. He moved slowly, not wishing to alarm or hurt the two who had awoken him.
Stone cracked down his spine and along his flanks. With a minor flex of muscle, his tail twitched and uncurled from his side. Stone cascaded down his sides, falling free from his wings and the rest of his body as Aaric got up on all fours. Stretching his wings out in the huge cavern, he flexed and relaxed muscles that hadn’t moved in a long time.
A hundred years, according to Elanna. A century or more has passed since I last moved.
No wonder Parre and his mate had aged. He would be five-and-a-half centuries old now. Remarkable he’s still alive.
“Why am I awakened?” he wanted to know, still speaking in Drakon. “Where are the others?”
Parre and Elanna looked at one another stiffly.
“There are no others,” Elanna said, still the one made of sterner stuff it seemed, much as Parre would bluster on otherwise.
“No others?” Aaric asked. Then he looked around, taking in the rest of the underground cavern.
They were still here. The dragons. All of them.
“What is going on? Why have I been awakened then?” His wings twitched, marking his growing alarm. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. He should not have been the first one awakened. The senior dragons should be awoken first. They would know what to do.
“It had to be you,” Parre said, speaking this time. “We…tried to wait for it to happen. But it never did, Aaric.” He looked down. “It never did.”
“You mean…” he looked at Parre closely. “You awoke me?”
Parre nodded, opening his free hand at last to display a circular talisman. “We had no choice,” he whispered.
“Why?” Aaric wanted to know. “Why wake me purposefully? The deep sleep will fade on its own if I am needed. You know this, Parre. Why would you wake me early?”
The talisman Parre held was one of the dragons’ most sacred relics. Using the energy of the holder, it could bring a dragon back from the deep sleep on purpose, before nature and fate required the dragon to return to the world of the awake.
“Because,” Parre said softly. “We cannot stop it. Not on our own.”
“Evil,” Elanna said, speaking up when Parre’s voice failed him.
Aaric could see now that both their legs were shaking. They were frailer than they looked, he realized. Putting on a show of strength for him. Closing his eyes, he forced himself to assume his human form. It took only a pair of seconds, and then he was rushing over, grabbing both of them with a gentleness of which his frame didn’t seem capable.
“I’ve got you,” he said, easing them to the ground.
“We didn’t have the energy,” Parre said. “We were too weak, Aaric. Too weak to waken the others. We had to awaken you.”
“But…” he protested. “If evil is coming, as you said, we will need more. I…I can’t awaken them on my own.”
“You must,” Parre said. “You must.”
“I can’t,” he rumbled angrily. “Only a mated pair can use the talisman. You know this as well as I do. And I am not mated.”
“Then you must find her,” Parre said, lying back on the hardened earth floor, his breath weak. “I am not long for this earth. It must be you, Aaric.”
Aaric leaned forward, concern on his face. “No. I am not ready. Please.”
Parre glared up at him. “I’m old and weak. I’m not dead yet. I just need rest. It took a lot out of me to wake you up. I still have a little bit of time left.”
Glancing at Elanna, pleading with her, Aaric hoped she would speak up, reveal this was all some sort of cruel trick. But the sober fear in her eyes told him the truth of it all.
“We put together a series of videos,” she said. “Bringing you up to date on everything that’s happened, and the new technologies you’ll have to get used to using. And language. It has changed a bit, though it should still be recognizable.”
“Videos?”
“Moving pictures. Fascinating really,” Elanna said with a smile. “You’ll see.” She looked down at her mate briefly. “Can you? He needs to get back to his bed.”
Aaric blinked. “Of course. Yes, of course.” He scooped Parre up, holding him with casual ease while Elanna used one of his arms for support.
“I remember when his arms were this big and strong,” she said with a laugh, old fingers gripping with a strength that would surprise any human but was deathly weak for a dragon. “Oh, what a time.”
Aaric got them both back to their chamber and Parre into his bed, where the elder dragon could rest peacefully.
“So, let me get this straight,” he said, sitting in a couch opposite where Elanna had sunk gratefully into a plush leather chair. “I am the only dragon awake besides the two of you. Evil is coming.”
“Yes. We can feel it,” Elanna said. “The other Houses, they are in turmoil. They will need the leadership of House Draconis sooner than any of us knows.”
“Evil is coming,” he repeated. “But fate has not woken any of the others? I am the only one?”
Elanna nodded sadly. “Yes. We waited for years as we felt it gathering out there in the dark. We ceased our travels, fortified ourselves inside, hoping someone would wake. But it didn’t happen. So, we resolved to do it ourselves but…” She trailed off, embarrassed.
“But you didn’t have the strength necessary to awaken someone older or wiser,” he finished. “Leaving me to handle everything. Because I can’t wake any of the others. Because I don’t have a mate.”
“I’m sorry,” Elanna said. “I did not wish to put this burden upon you, Aaric. But we had no choice.” Her eyes closed. “We had no choice.”
He sat there as the female dragon began to breathe heavily. She too was asleep, leaving Aaric alone without a clue as to what was going on, and nobody else to help him figure it out.
Great.
2
Present
Several heads turned her way as she entered the room but she paid them no mind.
Why should she? She was Olivia Lawton, the biggest name in real estate in Plymouth Falls and for miles around. They were here to see her.
“George,” she said with a polite smile at one of her chief competitors, though she used that term lightly.
“Olivia,” the tall bald male replied, looking sharp with a suit as impeccably tailored as her own, albeit in a dark blue instead of her strict black-and-white combo. “I didn’t know you were interested in this pile of junk.”
George finished with a laugh but she could see the apprehension in his eyes. He was right. Normally, she wouldn’t be interested in the old abandoned warehouse and adjoining manufacturing plant. She tended to stay with commercial and residential zoning. Industrial was something not normally up her alley. It was also the kind of space in which George was considered the biggest.
However, they both knew that if she decided to start dealing in industrial properties as well, there was nothing he could do to stop her. Hence why he looked so calm on the outside, but she could see his pulse pounding in his neck. He wanted to know why she was there.
“Normally I wouldn’t,” she replied, deciding to go easy on him. After all, she was in a good mood. “Big old warehouses are too boring for me. But, when an offer crosses your desk that you can’t resist, well, then you say yes.”
George frowned. “An offer you couldn’t resist, you say? Crossed your desk, for a property like this?”
She smiled, wondering just how much to tell him. Did it matter? She’d signed the paperwork, there was no going back now, not on her partner’s behalf, or hers.
Don’t. You never know what he might be able to use against you.
“Indeed. An offer I couldn’t, and didn’t, say no to.” She gave George a real smile. “Pleasure seeing you, George. Stick around? I have a few ideas we could talk about, deals to be made.”
George’s face wrinkled. “Deals with you always benefit you more than me,” he complained.
“Of course, they do George,” she laughed. “That’s why they’re my deals.”
George shrugged. “We’ll see. But probably not. I’m tired of getting screwed by you.” He said it with a smile but she could tell he meant it.
“That’s the nature of the game, Georgie-boy. The nature of the game.” She gave him a wave and moved deeper into the room.
“Only for you,” she heard muttered under his breath behind her.
“That’s why I’m number one!” she called back, letting it go after that.
There was no need to get petty. Not today. Not after the deal she’d just signed with some corporation out of South America. She couldn’t even remember the name, not that it mattered.
I’m going to be rich!
They had wanted to partner with her. Together, she would buy and help redevelop the property up for sale tonight, to make it ready for them to move a factory and distribution center into. Olivia had no idea why her, or why Plymouth Falls, but the deal was signed, and in a few months, her bank account would grow so much it added an extra digit to it.
To say she was giddy with excitement was selling it short. All she had to do now was secure the property, a sure-fire thing with the budget the corporation had given, combined with her ruthless position atop the real estate hierarchy of Plymouth Falls.
Arriving at the far side of the room, she eyed the closed set of doors. They were holding the auction at one of Plymouth Falls’ largest office buildings. From the sixth floor, she could look out over most of the town. It must be fate, she thought, recalling that she’d been the one to help the bank secure the top three floors of the building. A sign that she was destined to secure this deal.
“Please wait.”
She looked down to see a large arm blocking her path to the door.
“Is Charles in there?” she asked, casually dropping the name of the owner of both the bank and the property she was going to buy.
“He is,” the security guard rumbled. “But he’s with someone.”
“Please let him know I’m here,” she said. “Olivia Lawton. He’ll want to see me right away,” she said, flashing the gua
rd a genuine smile. “Thank you.”
The guard nodded. “Of course. I do believe he’s been expecting you Miss Lawton.”
She nodded. Of course, he would.
The door opened before she could turn away, and Charles came out, talking to someone. Olivia frowned, not liking the excited manner with which he was conversing. It was too excited. Too happy.
Then she saw the person he was with, and all thoughts of the banker fled her head. He was tall, taller than the security guard by several inches, with a wider frame. He lacked the buffness of the guard, the large sculpted muscles, but the way he moved and the fit of the expensive three-piece tailored suit told her he was no slouch either.
Even the security guard seemed to know he’d met someone more dangerous than himself, bowing his head low as he shook the man’s hand.
“You have a good night too, Mr., um, I mean, Aaric.”
Aaric? What kind of name is that? Ahh, Rick? Did somebody stumble over their words when naming him? ‘Excuse me Ma’am, what do you wish your child’s name to be?’
‘Ahh, Rick?’
She giggled at the byplay in her head, unable to stop herself.
Instantly, the man’s attention swiveled over to her. His eyes latched onto her. Olivia watched his mouth move but she was too focused on his lips, on the chiseled jawline just below them, to hear what he was saying as he walked toward her.
Walked toward her?
Oh God. He must have heard what I said. Yes. Yes, he did. I can see it in the gold of his eyes.
The gold?
Looking closer, her gaze fixated upon his, Olivia noted that his eyes were indeed a heavy golden-amber color, so bright that it nearly outweighed the brown that must be his natural shade. A trick of the light, perhaps? She didn’t know, but it was mysterious and intoxicating all at once. She couldn’t stop staring.
“Did you enjoy my joke?” he asked, face lighting up with a smile that tugged at the thick, stubble-length black beard adorning his cheeks and jaw.
“Joke?” she asked weakly, trying to tear her eyes away from him so that maybe she could regain some sense of composure.
“Yes. I heard you laugh. The others, they just groaned. But I do love a good audience,” he said. “Someone who can appreciate it. I’ve recently grown to love these bad-pun things.”
