Breath of Fire (Rena Drake)

by Liliana Hart

  Her body blurred through the flames, the intensity of it uncomfortable even for me. My body hurt, and I wasn’t sure Julian would live, even if I succeeded in killing Eunice. But he had to live. We both had to live. I thought of the lost Promised Child and fought harder through the pain.

  When the blue flames around us turned almost white, Eunice released the vise around me and my lungs and organs took a great sigh of relief at the loss of pressure. She reached toward me with her hand, and I knew if I let her touch me that it would be the end. She would take my heart with her into the Realm of the Dead and then I would have no choice but to follow her.

  I stomped my foot, displacing the ground beneath me, and moved my arms back and forth in a gentle sway, controlling the elements in a dance that was unfamiliar and second nature both at the same time. The ground shook with the force of my power. The once-beautiful white castle crumbled to ruins, and large stones fell dangerously close to our bodies.

  As Eunice’s hand moved closer, I slashed out with the vicious claws of my silver dragon, ripping out her heart and crushing it to dust. I pushed my power harder, and the stone walls crumbled faster, trapping her under their weight. Her shrill screams of terror pierced my soul and vibrated over my skin. I blew one last breath of fire and watched as her body went up in flames.

  I fell forward onto my hands and knees. My body was slicked with blood and sweat, but the walls were still falling and I had to protect Julian. I shoved his power back down the thread. His body jerked as he accepted it, and the renewal of energy gave him strength so his wounds began to heal. I wished I could have said the same for my own. I was completely spent.

  He crawled toward me and covered my body with his own. He used his magic to erect a shield around us and protected us from the falling rocks. I huddled beneath him on the cold marble floor and waited to die.

  Then as suddenly as it started, the wind stopped blowing and the rocks stopped raining down on us. The lightning ceased and the thunder faded out with one lingering rumble. Everything around us was completely still—there wasn’t even the sound of a pebble falling in the rubble.

  The calm before the storm.

  An ominous crack reverberated across the entire Realm, and the floor began to shift beneath us.

  “We must leave this place before we are destroyed with it,” Julian said.

  He shifted back into his dragon form, and I whimpered as he pulled me gently into his arms. He launched us straight up, where the ceiling of the castle had once been, and into the eerie whiteness of the sky. Another crack sounded. Then another.

  I felt a rush of magic against me as Julian opened the liquid silver door of the portal, and I sighed in relief as it shimmered before us. The dragons who’d survived the battle grabbed the walking warriors and the human prisoners on their backs and fell in line behind us.

  Just before we went through the portal, I looked back at what had once been the Realm of the Gods. It was completely destroyed, and it would soon be nonexistent. A dark cloud of black was gaining on us, slowly rolling over the pristine whiteness until the dark completely consumed the white. Big chunks of the Realm broke off and were being sucked into the blackness like a vacuum.

  “Hurry,” Julian called out to his people.

  I felt his muscles bunch beneath me and we soared toward the portal just as another crack sounded. The Realm of the Gods trembled with fear. It thrummed like a tuning fork as it shattered, deafening us with its resonance. It began to spiral in on itself, losing light and color in the black hole of nothingness as we raced to escape it.

  For a moment, I wasn’t sure we had escaped.

  I groaned in pain as we landed in a heap in the middle of the ballroom we’d started in, and Julian quickly shifted back to his human form. He buried his face in my neck, and I could feel his body tremble with each shuddering breath he took. Other dragons and warriors began filling the space around us until everyone who was still alive had made it through. Julian closed the portal with a wave of his hand, and a resounding cheer went up around us.

  I found the strength to lift up my head and looked around the room. We were significantly less in numbers than what we’d been, and I knew we all had a long road ahead of us trying to rebuild.

  I looked down at my body. It wasn’t pretty. I’d have new scars to add to the ones on my back. I lifted my head and finally found the courage to look at Julian. His gaze was somber and his eyes colder. I could already tell Eunice’s treachery would make a new stumbling block for us. It would be harder than ever to get him to open himself to love after what she’d done.

  I held the sides of his face between each hand and kissed him gently. “We’re alive. And you are our king. My lifemate. My love.”

  The ice in his eyes thawed, and I felt his magic and his dragon wrap themselves around me. We were entwined in the middle of the ballroom, our bodies naked and battered, while chaos reigned around us. But we might as well have been alone. We were lost only in each other.

  “You avenged our people,” he whispered against my ear. “You are a worthy queen. My lifemate. My love.”

  I knew the words were as close as he could come to telling me he loved me. It was enough. For now.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I waited at the boarding gate inside the airport for my flight back home with a mixture of trepidation and sadness. My wounds were healed for the most part. At least the ones on the outside.

  I had to go home. There were things to see to. I was still the Enforcer, and although Julian was still acting as Archos for all five clans, my people needed me. They’d faced too much upheaval lately and their behavior was getting out of control. Yes, Julian and I were stronger together, but since there were no immediate conflicts to deal with between the clans, I figured it was the perfect time to go home. I needed the comfort of my own hoard, and I needed to comfort my people. And I needed to figure out a way to deal with my new powers and who they made me. Without Julian.

  Recognizing the other half of my blood brought me a peace I’d not thought possible. I now understood why the push and pull between my human and dragon was so strong. They were natural enemies. I’d need help learning how to embrace them both. I was hoping Noah might know someone I could talk to—a mentor I could spend some time with to teach me how to grow in my powers.

  The results of what happened in the Realm of the Gods were bittersweet. I discovered, after we returned back to the Earth Realm, that I’d absorbed some of Eunice’s powers while we were locked together in combat. I had no idea if I’d keep them forever or if they’d slowly fade away. Whatever the case, I now had enough Drakán power to keep my clan in line and get them on the path of becoming a healthy clan.

  Julian had been busy the last few days as well. He’d decided to set up a community for all those who’d lost their powers due to Erik’s experiments. We had no clue what their lifespans would be, but they all seemed to be aging—some of them frighteningly fast. Julian was determined to give them peace and comfort until their lives ended.

  I’d destroyed the Realm of the Gods with the strength of my and Julian’s combined powers. The curtain had been completely torn down between our two worlds. Needless to say, the gods were pissed. Now that the Destroyer was gone and they no longer feared that power, I had a feeling they’d be showing themselves a little more boldly. I had no idea where they’d be making their new home until they could build a new Realm. I just hoped it wasn’t here. But that was a battle I’d have to face another day. I just hoped they gave me a little warning first.

  I checked my watch and tapped my foot nervously as I waited impatiently for the boarding call. I stood alone, staring out the large windows, watching the planes come in. My scent reeked of danger and violence as it never had before, and even the humans sensed it, so they kept their distance.

  My carry-on was gripped so tightly in my hand that my knuckles turned white. I was doing the right thing. And if the idea of being separated from Julian made me feel nauseated, it only
proved to show that I’d become too dependent on him. I felt the tingle of magic along my spine before I heard his voice in my mind.

  “Do you really think running away is the answer?”

  I shivered as if his words had actually whispered across my skin. I had less than five minutes before I’d be safely inside the plane.

  “It seems like someone who could defeat the Destroyer shouldn’t be such a coward.”

  “I need a little space, Julian,” I whispered. “I haven’t forgotten what happened between us before we entered the Realm of the Gods. I need more from you than you’re ready to give, and I’d rather separate myself now before it becomes too hard. After five hundred years, I think I deserve to have someone love me for me, not for what I can give them.”

  “You need to give me a chance to show you what I’m willing to give. I’ll not stop wanting you. That should be enough for now.”

  “Believe me, it’s not. I also haven’t forgotten that you lied to me about who I really am. I’m Atlantean, Julian. That will never change. Can your dragon accept that?”

  “You are Drakán, Rena. My dragon doesn’t see you as anything but that. You can’t blame me for keeping those details from you. I knew it would only conflict you more. You already feel my absence. How long can you live without me?”

  “For as long as it takes,” I said with way more bravado than I felt. It was actually a question I was curious to know the answer to. I had no idea how my body would react to us being so far apart. But I had to let the two halves of my powers figure out how to coexist peacefully. Without throwing Julian in the mix. My Atlantean magic had already made it clear that it didn’t care for Julian.

  “It sounds to me like you’re playing with fire. Make sure you don’t get burned.”

  “You don’t scare me, Julian.”

  “I’ll give you the time you need to get things straightened out with your clan. But if you take too long I will come after you. You are my lifemate. We belong together. And I will not live without you.” He shut the door to his mind, his words more of a threat than a promise.

  My body already missed him. I wasn’t so sure about the other parts of me. I searched one last time for the link that joined us together—just to say one final goodbye—but there was no trace of him in my mind. I’d hurt him. I’d felt it before he’d put up his shields. But it couldn’t be helped.

  “Goodbye, Julian,” I said before getting on the plane. I didn’t look back.

  About the Author

  Liliana Hart is the USA Today and New York Times bestselling author of the MacKenzie Family Series, as well as more than twenty other novels. She lives in Texas with her husband and cats, where she’s hard at work on her next book.

  Connect with her online:

  www.twitter.com/Liliana_Hart

  www.facebook.com/lilianahart

  Website: www.lilianahart.com

  In a world of shadows, a pure heart can be the most dangerous weapon of all.

  Dark Flight

  © 2013 Cassi Carver

  The Shadow Slayers, Book 3

  Kara has been training for months to help take down Brakken—the merciless black-wing who is making life hell for the Demiáre. But when Julian discovers a scout has been tracking Kara, he wants her out of the fight—even if it means breaking her heart in the process.

  Gavin isn’t much better. He’s already lost so much to Brakken and has no intention of allowing the woman he loves to be the next sacrifice. He and Julian have their hands full trying to fight Brakken’s army and keep Kara safe, especially after her recent visit to the mythical white-wings. Since her return, she’s been acting decidedly…strange.

  With a terrible battle looming, Kara doesn’t have time to think about her conflicted feelings for Gavin and Julian—or the fact that she’s developed an unnatural taste for Gavin’s blood. But if she thought it was complicated evading mysterious scouts and fending off vicious black-wings, she’s learning that’s nothing compared to loving two strong-willed men.

  Warning: This book contains angels that aren’t what they seem, a heroine with mad midwifery skills, and a metamorphosis that will change life as we knew it.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Dark Flight:

  “I apologize for claiming you were mine, but you are a member of my clan. I would have done the same even if I didn’t—” His words suddenly dropped off.

  Kara cocked her head. “If you didn’t what?”

  He spun her once again, this time around a lady whose dance with three men seemed to be slipping rapidly into something more like clothed group sex. “If I didn’t…want you for my own in truth.”

  Kara swallowed. Part of her felt like pulling away, but the other part gripped him tighter. So much had happened since the day she’d met Gavin, and their lives were still way too complicated…but what if things could be different? What if she allowed herself just a moment of solace in his arms? “You still do?”

  “Want you?” he asked. She merely nodded. “I always have, princess. From the day we met—you and only you.”

  The bodies around them were quickly losing the formal attire they’d had on when Kara arrived, and the band was picking up the beat, their songs becoming frenetic and pulsating. It looked like the Demiáre who resided with Nefren were much like other Demiáre she’d seen—hot-blooded, willing and ready.

  The sounds and smells were almost too much for Kara, so she tucked her forehead against Gavin’s shoulder—not that his heady scent made her control any better. He put his arms around her back, and his heavy thigh worked its way between her legs. She tried with everything in her not to grind against it, but she lost the battle.

  When she cracked open her eyelids, the landscape had altered even more. Nefren must have turned up the heat because it was the perfect temperature now for all the half-naked and completely buck-naked bodies gyrating in pairs or groups in the courtyard.

  Apparently she didn’t need to worry about Engus’s attention anymore, because he’d decided another brown-haired woman would be the recipient of his ardor for the night. He had the woman bent over and as Kara watched, his long shaft disappeared between the full, round globes of the woman’s ass, just to reemerge again when he cocked it back.

  Nefren seemed to be enjoying his status as well. One woman had her hand down the front of his pants while he suckled another’s large breasts.

  Kara closed her eyes again and fought the chills that had broken out across her skin. She swiped at her forehead with the back of her hand, but Gavin never missed a beat. His thigh was doing things to her resolve. Very bad things. “I’m not sure we should be here, Gavin. Seeing this…scenting it…feeling the energy…it does something to me like I don’t experience on the surface.”

  He dropped his lips to her ear and his breath tickled and delighted her senses. “This is who you are, Kara. You don’t have to apologize for how you were made. Not in this place.”

  His hand slid down her side and cupped her ass through her tight denim capris, bringing her even more firmly onto his thigh. He punctuated his gentle thrust with a wet tongue on the curl of her earlobe.

  “Fuck…” she whispered, melting into him, her insides on fire with the desire to feel his cock deep within her. “Not here. Please not here. If you touch me again, I’m going to drop your pants and fuck you till you make me come.” His response was a low growl in his chest that liquefied her bones.

  She glanced again at the couples, and the erotic vision blew her mind. She could imagine herself as every lady she saw…one being taken by two men, another’s head bobbing frantically in a warrior’s lap as he grimaced in ecstasy that seemed to border on pain. “And if you turn me into one of them,” she said, “I’ll never forgive you.”

  She’d had her share of fantasies, imagining what it would be like to be with Gavin and Julian both…but that wasn’t the same as what she saw here. If things had been different when Julian woke and they’d started a life together, just the three of them, it would
have been love. This spectacle, as tingly as it made Kara feel below the belt, didn’t amount to much more than scratching a species itch. Still, having Gavin so close and eager, she wasn’t sure she would mind getting scratched if Gavin’s claws were doing the work.

  He angled his head toward the heavens and took a deep breath. “I know, princess. I don’t want this for you.” Then he cupped his huge hand on her cheek and met her eyes. “The first time I take you, I don’t want another soul to distract you from how I will worship your body. I’ve waited too long for anything other than your full and undivided attention.”

  His mouth might have been saying that he didn’t have plans to take her at the moment, but when it came to her body, the damage had been done. Her thong clung to her sex, so damp she worried it would show through her pants. She was slick and ready, eager to welcome him in.

  Gavin glanced to the black-wing who now had his eyes closed as two women worked on him. “I think Nefren’s permission is implied at this point. Let’s find some fresher air and see if we can locate the next point on the map.”

  “Sure.” Kara’s desire clawed at her from the inside. Her rational self tried to take the reins—but it failed. “Just one more thing before we go.”

  She grasped the long hair covering the brand on the back of Gavin’s neck and brought his lips down hard on hers.

  A warrior, a maiden…and a passion that could set the whole world aflame.

  Keeper of the Flame

  © 2013 Bianca D’Arc

  Dragon Knights, Book 7

  Despite the fact he is the largest of his half-dragon brothers and better suited to fighting, Hugh has been sent on an undercover mission. Forced to stay in human form, he must discover if the land of Helios is truly the Draconian ally it pretends, or something more sinister.