by Julie Wetzel
For the Memory of Dragons
By:
Julie Wetzel
For my favorite brother, Forest.
I love you. Call home!
THIS book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the authors' imagination or are used factiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
NO part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
For the Memory of Dragons
Copyright ©2015 Julie Wetzel
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63422-146-7
Cover Design by: Marya Heiman
Typography by: Courtney Nuckels
Editing by: Cynthia Shepp
~Smashwords Edition~
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Table of Contents
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
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Prologue
Beating his wings hard, Alex pushed past the pain and raced higher into the sky. Droplets of water brushed over his face as he broke into the cloud cover. Safe.
Without a direct line of sight, the mage firing at him wouldn’t be able to get a clean shot in. His muscles quivered from the two glancing blows he’d already taken while trying to escape. Swallowing back his grief, he clutched his leather bag against his chest. He had to get this information to Daniel before more dragons died at the hands of these monsters.
Pushing himself as fast as his injuries would let him, Alex pulled a sharp turn, hoping his attackers would follow the original course he’d set. He turned a few more times before letting his instincts take over and lead him off in the direction he needed to go.
The soft caress of the clouds lifted, and Alex found himself in open skies. The whip of the air lapped the moisture from his scales, cooling his heated skin. It felt wonderful. For all of ten seconds.
White-hot currents of electricity cracked across his hide, taking him by surprise. How the hell had that mage tracked him through the clouds? Alex tried to roar in pain, but everything had seized up as the bolt of magic raced through his body. He clenched his twitching muscles around his satchel as he spun out of control. No matter what happened, he couldn’t lose that bag and its contents.
Forcing his unresponsive wings out, Alex tried to right himself, but he only managed to propel himself into an odd spin. He tried to gain his bearings so he could pull himself out of the fall, but his muscles refused to work properly. Everything was numb from the electrical shock. The only thing he was sure of was the ground was closing fast and this was going to hurt. A lot.
1
An explosion rattled the windows of the old farmhouse, wrenching Terra from her book. She cursed as she fell off the couch and scrambled towards the windows at the back of the house. It was nice, living out in the middle of nowhere, but it meant that she had to be more aware of the things going on in the area around her.
Sure she would find a fireball that went with the explosion, Terra scanned the skyline. A cloud of dust rose from the cornfield just behind her house. Cursing again, she dropped her book on the floor. Something had to have come down over there, and someone could be hurt. She thought about grabbing her cell phone, but the reception out here was crap.
First aid kit! She grabbed the box from the kitchen and jammed her feet into her shoes. Possible fire! Nabbing the fire extinguisher from the stove, she raced out the back door.
Terra’s thoughts turned to what could have fallen from the sky as she pushed through the rows of corn. A plane? Surely there would have been a bigger explosion if some aircraft had come down. A meteor? That would be cool to see. Racing through the rows, her mind worked on the possibilities.
Completely distracted by the potential of the fallen object, Terra missed the huge groove the thing had cut in the crops as it dropped from the sky. Tripping on the edge, she tumbled down into the bottom of the furrow. Pulling herself up, she looked around for the wreckage. Oddly, there was none. No scraps of metal or chunks of anything that could have broken up upon impact.
Getting to her feet, Terra clutched her fire extinguisher. Just because there wasn’t a fire to put out didn’t mean that she didn’t need it. Something had to have torn the great crater in the ground. If necessary, the heavy object would be great for bludgeoning whatever alien popped out of the corn.
Carefully, she made her way down the churned-up path. Seeing movement at the end, she raised her fire extinguisher, ready to swing it. The dirt exploded from the ground, and a mythical beast popped out.
Terra screamed and scrambled away as a dragon thrashed about, trying to stand up. It let out a weak roar and collapsed in a heap of wings and tail.
Terra peeked out from where she had taken refuge in the cornstalks.
The creature took a deep breath and snorted.
Of course, Terra knew dragons weren’t really mythical creatures. Although she’d been very young at the time, she still remembered when the dragon king had paraded his entourage around, showing off the fact that dragons were, indeed, real. And there were plenty of dragons on TV, but to have a real-live dragon in her backyard was something else entirely.
Or dead. Terra eyed the great, blue beast as it lay in the dirt. It was unnervingly still.
Creeping closer, Terra reached out to touch the shimmering scales on the thing's shoulder. They were smooth and hard like polished glass or carefully chiseled bits of sapphire. She stroked the warm scales, awed by their iridescent quality. Logically, she knew this was an intelligent creature, but it looked so much like an animal, with those wickedly pointed horns and razor-sharp teeth, she wasn’t sure what she should do.
The dragon let out a groan and shivered. Magic shimmered across the creature, reducing its massive bulk to the size of a man. He curled on his side in the dirt, naked as the day he was born.
Shock rooted Terra to the ground for a moment before she could shake it off. Now this she could handle. A man, even a naked man, was a whole lot better than that towering bulk of dragon.
“Hey.”
She patted him gently on the shoulder, but he didn’t move. Grabbing his shoulder, she pulled him onto his back. Reaching down, Terra checked his pulse, praying he was alive. A steady beat met her fingers. Good. A live, naked man was much better than a dead, naked man any day of the week.
“Hey fella.”
She tried smacking him on the cheek lightly, but he was out cold. Great. She glanced around at the cornfield. The weather was starting to turn a little chilly, and she couldn’t leave him out here, exposed as he was. She looked back down at him. He was easily twice her size and stacked to hell and back. There was no way she was going to be able to get him up and out of the cornfield by herself.
Standing up, she dusted the dirt off her pants and tried to get her mind back in gear. For goodness’ sake, she was a farm girl and had dealt with bigger issues than this. Running her eyes over the fallen man, she couldn’t help but notice other things about him that she would consider a big issue.
Jerking her eyes back under control, she grabbed up her safety kit and fire extinguisher and headed back to the farmhouse. She dumped her supplies off in the kitchen and went to the living room. A blanket—that’s what she really needed. Ignoring the small afghan on the couch, she decided to go with the much larger quilt from her bed. So what if she got the handmade bedding a little dirty? When someone dropped that much beefcake in your backyard, you needed something extra large to cover it.
Stopping on the porch, an idea hit Terra. She may not be able to lift him by herself, but she could probably roll him into something and drag his ass back to the house. Heading into the barn, she spied an old wheelbarrow. Perfect! She flipped it over and dumped her bedding in the cart. Now all she needed to do was get him in it. No problem.
Problem. The man was a whole lot denser then Terra ever dreamed possible. That much limp bulk was proving to be a pain in her backside.
“Come on!”
She groaned as she yanked on him, trying to get him up and into the bed of the cart. Giving up on the idea of lifting him, Terra draped the blanket over the man’s body and laid the wheelbarrow on its side.
“Get in there.”
Grunting, she shoved him backwards into the cart. Pushing on the top side, she managed to get the wheelbarrow upright, but it scooped both of them up together.
“Damn it!” she cursed as she flailed around, trying to get free. This was just what she needed—to be stuck in a wheelbarrow with a naked man.
Finally, she managed to get untangled from the guy and out of the cart without tipping it over again. “God, you’re heavy,” Terra complained as she sat on the ground, resting.
After a few minutes, she stood up and flipped the blanket back over the unconscious man. It was a shame not to appreciate something so fine, but she needed to concentrate if she had any hope of getting him back to the house. Glancing around the crater, she found something that didn’t belong. A leather bag. Grabbing it up, she tossed it in the wheelbarrow with her load and worked on getting the whole mess back to the house.
***
Stopping at the bottom of the steps, Terra looked up at the porch. Problem number two. How in the hell was she supposed to get this dumb lug onto the porch? She couldn’t pull the cart close and drag him out—the railing was in the way. And she couldn’t push or pull the wheelbarrow up the steps—they were much too steep.
Pondering this for a moment, she pushed the cart next to the bottom step. Sure enough, if she worked the wheelbarrow up onto the bottom step, the front edge of the bed would almost touch the porch. If she could get it up there, she should be able to just slide him out.
Shoving with everything she had, Terra managed to get the lip of the bed up onto the edge of the porch, she pushed the handles up, expecting him to slide out. A resounding thud sounded from the other side of the bed, and she dropped the empty cart to find her mystery man hadn’t slid out at all; he’d fallen out. Right on his face.
“Oh shit!” She pushed the wheelbarrow out of the way and went to see if he was hurt. “I’m so glad you’re unconscious right now, buddy.”
Pulling him over, Terra grimaced at the huge, red spot forming on his forehead. Ouch! He was definitely going to feel that one later. She touched it gently, feeling the nice goose egg that had already formed.
“Sorry,” she whispered as she pulled him straight again.
Taking the blanket, she shook the dirt from it and laid the clean bedding down next to him. Grabbing a broom, she dusted the soil off the man. Once he was clean, she rolled him onto the blanket, flipped the end over him again, and tossed his bag on top of the pile. Glancing over her handiwork, she smiled. Good. It wouldn’t have been very pleasant if she had left him tucked in the blanket with all that dirt.
Terra grabbed the end of the blanket and dragged him inside. His head only bounced a little as she manhandled him over the threshold.
“Come on.” She gritted her teeth as she pulled his heavy bulk inside.
Stopping for a breather, Terra stretched the muscles in her back. She was going to need a long soak in a hot bath after this workout. Getting back to dragging him inside, she ignored the strained muscles in her back and concentrated on all the calories she was burning instead.
A fire crackled in the fireplace as Terra shoved the rug out of the way and dropped her burden in front of the hearth. A freak storm had passed through the area yesterday and dropped several trees, downing power and phone lines. The utility companies were hard at work fixing the issues, but the power was still out. Thankfully, she had a working fireplace to cut the chill in the air. Terra dropped a new log on the fire before turning to her unconscious guest.
Picking up the leather bag, she tossed it onto the couch, out of the way. She’d get to that later. Right now, she had something more interesting to investigate. Flipping the blanket back, Terra checked the dragon man for injuries.
“Man, you’re fine,” she said as studied him.
In addition to having well-toned muscles, his skin was a beautiful bronze that came from either sunbathing or working outdoors naked. How the hell didn’t he have tan lines?
Lifting his arm, she checked to make sure each joint bent how it was supposed to, and that the bones didn’t bend at all. She also looked for suspicious bruising. There wasn’t any. There was, however, a very interesting tattoo of a figure eight on the back of his shoulder. Terra traced it and tried to figure out why someone would draw a line down the middle of an eight. Weird. Giving up, she laid him back down and pulled the blanket back around him.
Running her fingers through his messy, blond hair, she pushed it back, looking for other wounds. The only thing she found was the lump where his forehead had met with her porch. Pretty sure he would survive, Terra sat back and studied her guest.
“Now what?” she asked out loud, but he didn’t answer.
Of course he wouldn’t answer—the man was dead to the world. Letting out a long sigh, she stood up. She probably should get something for the lump on his head before he woke up.
“Hang on, I’ll be right back,” she said and went into the kitchen to see what she could round up.
Terra thought about calling the police, but the authorities were busy with cleanup from the storm that had passed through the area. The last thing they needed was to have to make a trip way out here. She decided against calling for help. Since the man wasn’t broken or bleeding, he probably didn’t need an emergency crew, and that’s what the police would send. Maybe he wouldn’t be out very long. And if he were, she could always call for help later.
Grabbing a mostly frozen bag of peas and cubed carrots from the freezer, Terra smacked it on the counter to break it up. With the power out, she didn’t want to use what little ice she had. It was probably the only thing keeping her fridge cold. Plus, she could use the veggies in dinner later. Grabbing a dishtowel, she wrapped the bag up and went back to the living room.
The man hadn’t moved, so she rested the cold pack on the lump. Spying one of the throw pillows on the couch, Terra snagged it and slipped it under the man’s head. He didn’t need a crick in his neck to go with the headache she was sure he was going to have.
Terra sat on the couch and watched him sleep for a while. He looked so peaceful. She had never had a gorgeous guy stretched out in front of her fire, all naked and vulnerable. Oh, the possibilities. She shook her head to drive that thought out. Her mind had taken a turn for the creepy, and that just wasn’t her.
Instead, she turned her attention to the bag next to her. Maybe there was something in it that would tell her who he was. The outside of the bag was pretty plain except for a symbol worked into the flap. Terra ran her finger over the sideways
eight with a line running across it. It was the same as on the man’s shoulder.
Laughing, she shook her head at her own stupidity. It wasn’t an eight. It was an infinity symbol! But why would someone draw a line through it? It kind of looked familiar, but she couldn’t place where she’d seen it before. Shrugging, she flipped the flap open and looked inside. The contents were disappointing.
The bag was nearly empty. It held a single file with a stack of papers in it and a silver necklace. Reaching in, Terra pulled out the necklace. It wasn’t exceptionally pretty, but it did have some neat scrollwork to the round charm. It tingled against her fingers, like it had a low current running through it. Terra didn’t know much about magic, but this piece was definitely magical. Dropping it back in the bag, she pulled out the file. Things suddenly became a whole lot more interesting. There was a big stamp across the front that read Classified.
Flipping the file open, Terra found a picture of a beautiful woman pinned to the top of what looked like one of those police identification pages they used for suspects. Terra read over the page. The description of the girl was just as fascinating as her picture. Terra gasped and glanced back up at the picture when she reached the woman’s birth date. She didn’t look more than thirty, but the listed age was over three hundred years old! Holy freaking cow! A box further down the page labeled the woman as a red dragon.
How freaking old do dragons get! Terra glanced up at the man stretched out on her floor. And if he looks to be in his mid-twenties, how old is he?
Turning back to the file, she read on. At the bottom of the page, there was a handwritten note. It was an eyewitness account of the woman’s last sighting. Apparently, she had gone missing within the last month and was presumed dead.
