by J. S. Wilder
“Five minutes.” She groaned and hunched over as another one hit her.
“Found it!” Kohl shouted and rose from underneath the kitchen table. He slid her ring along his pinkie finger, but the band stopped at the first knuckle.
“Keep it safe for me,” Isabelle said.
“Always. Come on.”
Taurian entered carrying a dozen bags under his arms. “I’ve got a whole hospital of supplies here, thanks to Ms. Doc. Let’s use the crystal teleport Symon rigged and get to Renjer before Father sends the army to get us.”
Kohl wrapped his arms around her and she settled into his warmth. “Ready for this crazy ride?”
“Yup, and this is just the beginning.” She patted his arm. “Wait until my sisters find out we already had the babies.”
* * *
Isabelle leaned back with Talia and Jerian snoozing at each breast. Milk running down their cherub cheeks. Talia had Isabelle’s brown eyes, but with sparks of gold in them. While Jerian had his father’s silverish-turquoise blue. Both twins had their father’s perfect bow-shaped mouth and jet black hair.
“Do you think they’ll be able to shift?” she asked Kohl who adjusted her blankets.
He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me if they can or not. They are my children and you are my love and my life.”
“What about the other kids—dragons?” Their plan was to remain on Earth most of the year, allowing Isabelle to keep teaching, then come to his planet for summer vacations and most weekends. Desmonda and his cousin Emier would watch the twins. Kohl would travel back and forth between Earth and other planets hunting with more of his brothers for the crystals to wipe out the Tryns. Including killing any who managed to breach Earth.
“I love you.” She smiled, her eyelids heavy as sleep and exhaustion crawled through her.
Kohl brushed a kiss across her lips and placed her wedding ring on her finger. “I love you too, Isabelle. With all that I am. You make me the happiest dragon and man in the universe.”
“Sleep with us.” She patted to the space beside her. “I’ve got a feeling these two will keep us busy for years.”
He chuckled and eased in beside her. Overhead, lights flickered along his chamber walls. Through the stone walls, other dragons murmured and some snored, the sounds strangely comforting. “I wouldn’t want it any other way and am happy to spend the rest of my life with you and our family. Now sleep before I have to kiss you more.”
“I will hold you to both of those promises.” She closed her eyes and fell into a peaceful relaxed state, knowing that Kohl would do all that he promised and more. She loved a dragon prince and couldn’t be happier.
About J. S. Wilder
J.S. Wilder has spent many years working in the IT industry. She has left the computers behind and taken up her passion for writing. She loves to write romance and still believes in fairy-tales.
If you want to be the first to hear about my new releases, then please sign my mailing list - by clicking here.
Click here to follow me on Facebook.
Would you like to join my exclusive Street Team and receive free advanced copies in exchange for an honest review?
Sign up here!
Afterword
Taurian – Book 2 Aliens of Renjer
Sneak Peek
“Come and fight, Renjerians!” a base voice called.
Shielding his gaze from the rising sun, Taurian gasped. The beast was eight feet tall and a Tryn. What magic was this? All Tryns were four or five feet tall and only ever growled or yipped, never spoke words. Another giant Tryn stepped from behind a tree and another. Taurian spun as the horde surrounded him and his other brothers and sisters.
“Fly and fire!” Taurian shouted and shot up into the air. But before he could gain altitude of more than a few feet, one of the huge Tryns leapt onto his side. The beast’s claws cut into his scales. He roared, doing a barrel roll to knock the enemy lose, but it held fast.
“Give us the human woman and we’ll leave you in peace,” it said.
“Lies!” Their reputation on his planet only had shown that they lied and cheated, doing anything to gain an advantage. But why did they want the human woman? Was it because of her pregnancy?
The Tryn bit onto the edge of Taurian’s wing near his shoulder blade. He yelled and flapped his wings harder, soaring higher and higher. “So you’re envious of my wings? Let’s give you your first flying lesson. How to fall.”
Tryns did have black leather wings, but they were much smaller compared to their bulky, hairy black bodies and unable to lift them more than a few inches off the ground. The giant Tryn smacked into Taurian’s side. Claws raked into him as he rose higher. The mountain fading below them as he and the Tryn hit the first layer of clouds.
“Take us back down!” the Tryn grunted, but didn’t release its hold on Taurian’s back.
“Don’t like heights?” Taurian reached around to grasp the enemy in his jaws, nonetheless the beast clung to him. A blast of fire should loosen him. He’d enjoy watching the creature fall and splatter on the rocks below. Then he’d go after the next one and the next until his home was safe.
“I told you to—” before the Tryn could finish, lightning flashed in front of them.
Taurian pulled up short. Shit! Renjerians rode the bolts to other worlds. It was enough energy to power his and the others of his kinds’ comms embedded in their wrists and nanities flowing in their bodies to take them wherever they wanted to go. Problem was, with a passenger, the energy could get confused and take them into the middle of space or the bottom of a volcano or a mix of where this creature wanted to be and wherever Taurian thought of.
“Enough! Time to die.” Taurian shot out his fire, but the Tryn dodged the flames by hiding behind his wing.
“I will kill you for this,” it seethed and bit into his wing again and again.
Taurian roared and twisted to remove the leech when an orange brightness illuminated everything around him. Air sucked out of his lungs like a vacuum. His insides burned. Bones snapped and muscles spazmed like he was being ripped apart from the inside out. Pain lacerated every inch of him. His wings buckled, burrowing into his back. He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t shout. Couldn’t do anything but ride the warped waves of agony as they burst inside him and continued pounding him.
With another flash, the force flung Taurian into the ground. He grunted from the impact and the air finally rushing back into his lungs. Everywhere hurt. And the flesh underneath his scales felt exposed as the wind brushed against his body. A strangled gasp escaped his lips as he opened his eyes and rose.
“No, no, no!” he shouted. His scales were gone. No, his entire Renjerian body was now a freaking human? How the fuck is this possible? He’d never transformed into anything before—so why a man? Was it from Kohl’s blood somehow?
This wasn’t Renjer. He and the Tryn had traveled through space to this planet, wherever it was. He spun, searching for the Tryn he’d come here with, but found nothing except a small home nestled beside a smelly swamp.
“Get off my property, naked man, before I blast a hole in you!” a human woman shouted holding a metal stick.
Taurian smiled. Earth. He hadn’t been here in a millennia.
“I’m warning you.” She cocked the weapon, pointing it at him.
The item she held was strange, neither an ax or a sword or an arrow. He stepped forward. “You’re in grave danger, there’s a Try—”
She clicked the weapon and an explosion sounded and a chunk of earth erupted in front of him.
“Last chance, pervert. Next one won’t miss.”
How is it she used magic against him? A Renjerian! Maybe she was the reason his form had changed to that of a mere human…but one with magical powers. He remembered the human name for her kind from when they were burnt at the stake. “Witch! Turn me back now or I’ll flay and roast you for my meal.”
“Wrong response.” She clicked the weapon.
A blast hit hi
m in the chest and flung him backward, pain radiating through his torso. Blood coated his front. If he survived this, he was going to kill her.
