Earth Born (The Earth Born Cycle Book 1)

by N. E. Conneely

  Its wings opened with an audible crack. Orange light filtered through the membranes and shone off the dragon’s scales, making it look as though it were on fire. It landed lightly enough that the ground didn’t tremble, but the blast of air from the dragon’s wings had her taking a step back to brace herself.

  The wings stayed open, but the head the size of a truck peered down at her. “Who saved my sept?” The words shivered through the air like lightning.

  Shasta drew herself up to her full height and lifted her chin as she looked into the ancient eyes. “I am Shasta, born of the earth, created to fight evil, daughter of Michelle and Elron.”

  The white eyes gazed into her as if they could see her very soul. The dragon stretched out its neck, gently pressing the very tip of its snout against her forehead. “I am in your debt.”

  This time the words didn’t hurt as they rolled through her ears, though she did wish she knew the dragon’s name.

  “Aldebrand.” The word threaded into Shasta’s mind with hints of sunbeams and wry amusement.

  Aldebrand pulled her nose away, unfurled her wings, and pointed her snout in the sky. “Shasta, of Mother Earth, Michelle and Elron, fighter of evil, be known as friend of the dragons, be welcome here always.” Aldebrand blew out a stream of fire that reached hundreds of feet into the air.

  All around her, dragons were lifting their wings, sending jets of blue flames high overhead. Voice upon voice joined in a single refrain. “Honor to Shasta, thanks to Shasta, savior and friend of dragons.”

  Overhead was a dome of fire, blue, yellow, and red, sending waves of heat down to her, chasing away the morning’s chill. A few feet away, the diamond-encrusted capsule refracted the colors in a rainbow of shades, turning evil into something beautiful. Shasta stood there smiling, the heat licking her face and twisting around her body.

  The flames abated, leaving only blue sky and tumbling currents of warm and cold air above. Behind her, earth energy swirled, followed by a small pulse of magic. Aldebrand tilted her head to the right. Shasta pivoted. Cord held his sword upright, blade in front of his face. In a smooth motion, he swept it down and out to the side, bowing as he held the sword parallel to the earth. Three long seconds later, he straightened.

  Shasta nodded, not sure what else to do, and turned back to Aldebrand.

  The dragon trilled softly. “My mate Ederin would undoubtedly like to convey his thanks as well, but he is still at the dragon meet in Transylvania. On his behalf, I name you Friend of Dragons. All the dragons of this country will consider you one of their own.”

  As Shasta looked at Aldebrand’s amused eyes, it occurred to her that Ederin was the president. This was the president’s mate, and she was thanking her for saving the dragons.

  “I personally would like to thank you for not only saving my sept but for giving me a reason to leave the dragon meet. The Europeans are most long-winded.” Aldebrand’s tail twitched. “We really must put a time limit on the next meet. A season is far too long.”

  “That would seem wise,” Shasta said, uncertain if Aldebrand had intended to say that last part in English.

  “So it would.” Aldebrand lifted her head, looking at something behind Shasta. “There are others who wish to speak to you.”

  Shasta spun around. There was Cord, and Romeo, though he looked too in awe of Aldebrand to speak. Then her gaze settled on the two people she’d hoped to avoid seeing until the bruises faded. Dad simply raised an eyebrow, silver hair pulled back in a tight braid, his elven armor glimmering in the light. His hand twitched, and the sword he’d been carrying vanished.

  Mom’s brown hair, now threaded with silver, was in a ponytail, her wand pointed at the ground and a frown firmly etched onto her face. The three witches at her back had carefully neutral expressions, but they’d been with her mom long enough to learn the merits of diplomacy.

  “I take it,” Mother said in careful words, “you left a few things out of your distress call.”

  A gust of air hit Shasta from behind, sending her several steps forward until she dropped to one knee to brace herself. Heavy wingbeats filled the space with waves of air. Aldebrand took to the sky, with dragons all around quickly following. The egg-shaped capsule around the evil magic sat there, casting rainbows in the dawn light.

  Shasta closed her eyes and wished the dragons would stay a little longer. Even after the wind died down enough that she could stand, Shasta stayed kneeling, hoping someone else would come along and take care of this conversation.

  Soft footsteps had her opening her eyes. She recognized the calluses and scars on the offered hand.

  “This can’t be worse than the first day you met them,” Cord said softly.

  Taking a deep breath, Shasta set her hand in his, letting him pull her to her feet. “Maybe not, but I hadn’t lied to them back then.”

  The corner of his mouth tilted up. “They’re your parents. They’ll scold you, and then they’ll hug you until your ribs protest because they were worried.”

  Shasta winced. “I’d rather face a hundred more of those weird creatures than hear how much I disappointed them.”

  Cord shook his head and stepped to the side, giving Michelle and Elron unimpeded access to Shasta. Hardly a breath later, she was being crushed between the two of them.

  “Easy on the ribs!” She gasped.

  Both her parents pulled back, looking her over for other injuries. Looking at the worry and love in their eyes, she sighed. “I can explain.”

  Cord’s hand settled on her shoulder. “We can explain.”

  Standing there with her parents exchanging amused looks and Cord at her side, a little piece of her aching heart healed. She grinned. “We can explain, but I’d really like to do so after a shower.”

  Her mom pressed her lips together and did her best to look stern. “Shower, then you can tell us over breakfast what happened. Now, which way to your house?”

  As they walked across the field, Shasta really hoped she didn’t have to explain between the snores of a dragon sleeping on the roof.

  Turn the page for a preview of

  Fire Forged

  The Earth Born Cycle Book 2

  The next chapter in Shasta’s adventures.

  Coming Soon!

  Fire Forged (Earth Born Cycle Book 2) Excerpt

  The cat swiped at Shasta, its claws fully extended. Shasta yanked her hand back and slammed the cage door shut, narrowly avoiding injury. The cat wedged its paw between the bars and took another swipe at her hand. When it couldn’t reach her, it yowled and then vanished from sight.

  “Damn magical cats.” She quickly latched the cage and stood up. The cat reappeared long enough to hiss at her before going invisible again. But she could still see its hazy cat shape, surrounded by the slight opalescent glow of magic, lying in the cage. Being half elf and half witch had some advantages.

  “So, how many more of those things do we have to capture?” Cord asked. Unlike her, Cord was purebred elf. Tall and toned, with short-cropped blonde hair and charming blue eyes, he looked the part, too. Today he was sporting scratches on both hands and a frown.

  Shasta took a step away from the cage, putting herself well out of reach of those seeking paws that kept poking through the grate. “How many are in your cage?”

  “Four.”

  “Well, I have five. Animal control said fourteen of these things escaped, so we’ve got five more to catch.” Out of the corner of her eye Shasta noticed a blurry area. One of the remaining five cats was hunkered in the shrubs behind Cord. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see them when they were invisible. It was the same problem the three on-duty elves had encountered when they tried to reacquire the escaped cats. They could physically track them, but cats weren’t known for leaving much in the way of tracks, and when they were invisible, the elves simply couldn’t see them.

  Which was how she and Cord had ended up out here in the first place. Cherokee County had called Oaks Consulting, providing permanent solutions to ma
gical problems. Since they were on call today, they’d ended up here. Here, with cats that could go invisible.

  The fuzzy blob that was all she could see of the cat lifted off the ground, slowly rising through the air until it was hovering roughly in line with Cord’s shoulders. Oh, a tidbit that wasn’t mentioned in the initial phone call. The blasted cats could fly.

  Shasta kept her voice relaxed and conversational. “Cord, one of the cats is in the air, about three feet behind your shoulders.”

  “I can’t believe these things are invisible to me.” He scooted one foot forward, ready to pivot and grab the cat. Before she could open her mouth to warn him, the cat launched forward and landed on his back. From Cord’s bellow, Shasta figured the cat had sunk its claws through his shirt and right into his skin. Cord twisted around, grabbing at the general area of the cat. Of course, since it was still invisible, he couldn’t find it as easily as one might think. He yanked his hand back, a fresh set of scratches across his wrist.

  “Evil little monsters!” He spun around. Through the fuzzy blob that was the cat, Shasta could see slashes appear in his shirt, followed by bloody scratches. Cord kept moving until his back was turned away from her. He reached for the cat again, but after an angry hiss, he pulled his hand back with more scratches.

  “Narzel blast it!” He twisted in the other direction, moving so that his back was toward her as he reached for the cat with his undamaged hand.

  Shasta darted forward, grabbed the cat around its middle, yanked it off of Cord—to which he yelled even louder—and pivoted toward the cages. The cat squirmed in her hands, and she felt claws drag along her thick gloves. She scanned the array of cages. One on the far left was open, and she all but threw the cat into it, quickly slamming the door before it could rake her skin with its claws.

  She latched the door as a big ginger cat popped into view. It was lovely, but she really wasn’t sure why someone would want to breed cats that could be invisible and fly. Regular house cats were clever enough without any additional abilities. The cat eyed her for a moment, then sat on its haunches and started washing its paws.

  She dusted off her hands, took off her gloves and tucked them in her back pocket, and turned back to Cord. “And then there were four.”

  He glared at her and, without saying a word, turned around. Blood was dripping off the scratches on his hand, but that was nothing compared to his back. Long strips had been torn out of his shirt and the assortment of scratches were oozing blood.

  “Why don’t I get you a healing charm.” As she walked away she heard Cord mutter some very unprofessional things.

  While she couldn’t blame him, she knew there were worse jobs. Sure, it was annoying to be hunting for cats spread across a complex of buildings and twenty acres of rolling green fields, but the magic built into the perimeter fence kept them from leaving the area. Shasta gazed across the field to their SUV and the gate not far from it. Well, unless they crept through the gate when it opened for vehicles. Theoretically the spells on the perimeter should keep the cats in, but they were magical cats. She wouldn’t be surprised if their abilities allowed them to sneak through the gate.

  A puff of clouds moved away from the sun. The moisture in the air seemed to be trying to escape by sticking to her. Shasta wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, sure that the sun was shining all that much brighter now that it had a direct path to the earth. Summer in Georgia was like that.

  As she stepped onto the pavement, a hint of a breeze twirled around her before moving away. With a wistful sigh, she unlatched the tailgate and swung it open. She tugged over one of the duffel bags of equipment and dug around until she found a minor healing charm—a small wooden disk with a red center bordered by runes. She set the charm to the side, shoved the black duffel bag back, and opened a big red box strapped to the bed of the cargo area an inch behind the tailgate. From there, she found a pouch listed “Shirt – Cord.” She also picked up some baby wipes and a small bag so he could gather up whatever trash he generated. He’d want to clean up before putting on the new shirt.

  Shasta closed the red box, gathered up the healing charm and other supplies, and closed the tailgate. As she walked across the field toward Cord, she could see him stripping out of his shirt. He used the unbloodied portions to wipe the sweat off his face and then dropped it on the ground. He turned toward the cages, giving Shasta a good view of his back.

  The cat had done a remarkable job of slicing him up in the few moments it had been clawing him. He looked like something out of a horror film, blood covering most of his back and staining the waistband of his khaki pants. Elves generally healed fast, so some of the scratches had to be rather deep since they were still bleeding.

  As she got close, he turned around. His lips were pursed, and there were crow’s feet at the corner of his eyes. “Healing charm?”

  Shasta handed it over without a comment.

  He smeared it across his side, where an extra thick drip of blood had worked its way down his body, and then held it in his fist. Blood activated the charm. Shasta could feel it flaring to life, the magic flowing into Cord, especially his back. As the seconds ticked by, she could see first the wrinkled corners of his eyes smooth out, and then his entire jaw relax. Having been at the receiving end of a few of those healing charms herself, she knew they were pretty effective, taking care of the injury and the pain.

  Cord tucked the charm into his front pants pocket and held out his hand.

  “You want any help?” Shasta handed over the bag, wipes, and shirt.

  Cord sighed. “Yes.” He opened the box of wipes and held it out her.

  Shasta tugged out a wipe and motioned for him to turn around. Only weeks ago, she would’ve looked forward to having an excuse to touch him. He was an exemplary male elf, muscular but not overly bulky, and taller than her, which was nice.

  However, even though she’d known Cord for years, when she finally told him the truth about herself—the full truth—he’d pulled away. For whatever reason, he’d been more than willing to accept that she was half elf, half witch, born of the earth. But learning that the earth had created her to battle evil and bring justice, that was too much for him.

  She started at the top of his shoulders, where the scratches were shallower and, thanks to the combination of his natural healing and the charm, were little more than fading pink lines. She carefully wiped the blood off his skin, working across the top of his back and then down, around the wounds that were still open and healing.

  Since the night he’d found out all of her history, they’d gone from entertaining a relationship to being on hold. He was trying to decide if he could love all of her, not just the her he thought he’d known all these years. And Shasta? Well, she was trying to decide if she wanted someone who had to spend this much time contemplating them as a couple.

  Which would be easier if she didn’t love him. Love was a traitorous little emotion, not caring if the other person was being a jerk. Love just existed. Right now, it existed to make her heart hurt at the same time it fluttered. Being this close, she could hear his heart beating, see the pulse fluttering in his veins, and feel the heat coming off of him.

  Or maybe that was just the Georgia sun.

  She grabbed yet another cloth and started on the blood along his waistline. Not only were the top of his pants stained, but there was probably blood working its way down the rest of his backside. However, she kept her efforts very politely above his clothing. Even if they’d been on better terms, this was the workplace. And at the moment, all they were was work partners, teamed up to make sure neither of them were alone when an emergency required the specialized skills of Oaks Consulting.

  Shasta stepped back and gave him a once-over. “It’s not perfect, but barring a shower, you look pretty good.”

  He turned around and gave her a hint of a smile. “Thank you.”

  She took the bag of trash from him, tucking the last wipe in it. She carefully closed the box of wipes he hand
ed her and then set it on top of a stack of cages full of cats. They could haul it back to the car after they rounded up the last cats.

  She turned around to see him right behind her. He wasted no time in sliding into the new work polo, this one blue. He leaned around her, setting the pouch, which was bulging with what she assumed were the remains of his shredded shirt, on top of the bag of trash.

  There, on the other side the row of cages, another invisible cat was casually strolling past them. Shasta slowly pulled her gloves out of her back pocket, tugging them on as she quietly circled the cages. The cat sat down, giving her its back, and started washing its paw. She’d seen a cat do this twice before, and both times the cats had managed to get claws in both her and Cord before they caged it. She didn’t trust the casual look.

  Shasta glanced over Cord. He was watching her, and this time he actually had his gloves on. That was progress. Hoping he understood, she pointed at the cat, though she wasn’t sure how much good that would do since he couldn’t see it.

  He must’ve gotten the idea, because he nodded and started circling around to approach the cat from the front. Cord was just stepping out from behind the row of cages when the cat looked up, its paw still held in the air. It set the paw down, turned, and sprinted right at her.

  Leaning over, Shasta snatched it around the midsection just as it was trying to bolt past her. She plucked it off the ground, its feet flailing and its body writhing as it tried to scratch her. “Got it!”

  Thank You

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