Ultimate Resolve (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 12)

Home > Other > Ultimate Resolve (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 12) > Page 1
Ultimate Resolve (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 12) Page 1

by Sarah Noffke




  Ultimate Resolve

  Exceptional S. Beaufont™ Book 12

  Sarah Noffke

  Michael Anderle

  This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Copyright © 2021 LMBPN Publishing

  Cover by Mihaela Voicu http://www.mihaelavoicu.com/

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

  PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy

  Las Vegas, NV 89109

  First US Edition, February 2021

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-64971-453-4

  Print ISBN: 978-1-64971-454-1

  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

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 98

  Chapter 99

  Chapter 100

  Chapter 101

  Chapter 102

  Chapter 103

  Chapter 104

  Chapter 105

  Chapter 106

  Chapter 107

  Chapter 108

  Chapter 109

  Chapter 110

  Chapter 111

  Chapter 112

  Chapter 113

  Chapter 114

  Chapter 115

  Chapter 116

  Chapter 117

  Chapter 118

  Chapter 119

  Chapter 120

  Chapter 121

  Chapter 122

  Chapter 123

  Chapter 124

  Chapter 125

  Chapter 126

  Chapter 127

  Chapter 128

  Chapter 129

  Chapter 130

  Chapter 131

  Chapter 132

  Chapter 133

  Fairy Godmother College

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Sarah’s Author Notes

  Michael’s Author Notes

  Acknowledgments

  Books By Sarah Noffke

  Check out Sarah Noffke’s YA Sci-fi Fantasy Series

  Books By Michael Anderle

  Connect with The Authors

  The Ultimate Resolve Team

  Thanks to the JIT Readers

  Dorothy Lloyd

  Diane L. Smith

  Jeff Goode

  Veronica Stephan-Miller

  Wendy L Bonell

  Peter Manis

  Deb Mader

  Jackey Hankard-Brodie

  Angel LaVey

  Micky Cocker

  If we’ve missed anyone, please let us know!

  Editor

  The Skyhunter Editing Team

  Once more, for Craig, because these books seemed to have led me to you—my gillie.

  — Sarah

  To Family, Friends and

  Those Who Love

  to Read.

  May We All Enjoy Grace

  to Live the Life We Are

  Called.

  — Michael

  Chapter One

  Fire streaked from the orange dragon’s mouth, scorching the line of trees, instantly covering them in flames. The fire burned hot and fast and would be incredibly difficult to extinguish, having been started from multiple places. None of the forest fires would be linked to the Rogue Riders who were starting them since they were cloaked and unseen by the mortals the land belonged to. The only piece of evidence that would supposedly point to who started the fire was lying in Versalee’s hands as she sat atop her dragon, Ash—and it was a total ruse meant to start a war.

  The orange dragon rose into the air as Versalee dropped the detonator straight into the raging fire. The scorching temperatures of the flames wouldn’t fully destroy it. That was crucial to the Rogue Riders’ leader because she needed the fire's cause to be traced to the neighboring nations that manufactured the detonators.

  There had been ongoing feuds between the Borsins and the Nocos for centuries. Tensions were always high between the two countries. Recently the Nocos had all but accused the Borsins of trying to sabotage their forestry projects. Now, when they found the detonator, there would be no question. War between the two countries would be imminent.

  Versalee grinned as she yanked on her dragon’s reins, steering Ash in the opposite direction and higher into the air away from the scorching temperatures of the fire that was officially out of control. The heat didn’t bother Versalee or Ash. They enjoyed i
t. It was part of the orange dragon’s element. Plus, it had been the aspect of the Rogue Riders’ new headquarters that lent them their recent strength, making them more powerful than ever.

  That’s how Versalee had managed to cloak herself and her riders. That’s how she’d become so incredibly powerful that she’d soon be unstoppable. The Dragon Elite had thought they’d won when they defeated Nathaniel in Las Vegas, but she’d fooled them. While the two fought, Versalee had been growing her army, securing her headquarters, and planning a series of attacks on foreign countries.

  All of the attacks were stealthily executed. Not only had she planted the fire that would put the Borsins and the Nocos at war soon, Versalee had poisoned the water supply for a third-world country and leaked information that it came from a plant just over the country’s border. Her men had stolen precious resources from another nation and hid them in their neighbor’s secure reserves—all while tipping off the other government.

  Versalee laughed out loud to the hot winds as she and Ash soared over the fast-growing fire. Soon the world would be fighting each other, and the Dragon Elite would have their hands full as adjudicators. That would leave the Rogue Riders free to do as they liked, which was exactly that.

  The leader of the Rogue Riders was tired of being told what to do or what she could or couldn’t take. That was all about to end because the Dragon Elite would either be exhausted putting out the “fires” Versalee started, or they’d throw themselves in front of a bullet launched by one of the warring countries. Regardless, the do-gooders wouldn’t be her problem anymore.

  Chapter Two

  “I got ninety-nine problems but Trin ain’t one,” Evan sang, grinning up at his girlfriend, the cyborg housekeeper for the Castle at the Gullington.

  Trin smiled down at Evan, her half-human, half-metal-and-bolts face constricting oddly as she did. However, Sophia had always thought that the housekeeper was beautiful and not despite being partly a machine, but because of it. There was something uniquely attractive about Trin, and Evan had brought that out of her simply by accepting and relishing in the fact that she was a cyborg.

  Sophia spread butter on her biscuit, watching as Trin laid a plate full of various pastries down in front of Evan.

  “Well, it’s not every day that it’s your birthday.” The housekeeper kissed Evan’s forehead and winked at him.

  “It’s not his birthday,” Wilder dryly stated while eying the platter of glossy pastries.

  “It’s when I celebrate it,” Evan replied.

  “Well,” Wilder ate a bite of his toast smothered in avocado, “I’ve decided to start celebrating my birthday today, so you’ll have to share the festivities with me.”

  Evan scowled at the other rider. “You know that your birthday is May twenty-first. Some of us don’t have that luxury.”

  Seeing the confusion on one of the new rider’s faces, Sophia offered them a knowing look. “Evan apparently doesn’t know the exact day that he was born because it was on one of the northern islands that didn’t have good record-keeping at the time so they recorded all birthdays as the first of every month.”

  “Therefore,” Wilder cut in, “the show monkey steals the fun of New Year’s Day every single year, making us all celebrate him, rather than the blessed event of ringing in another year.”

  “Well, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to come to the party,” Evan spat, cramming a large cinnamon roll into his mouth and chewing.

  “I wasn’t planning on coming,” Wilder teased, pretending not to be insulted. The two were making the new riders who had shown up on New Year’s Eve think they disliked each other.

  The Dragon Elite had been celebrating the Scottish New Years', Hogmanay, when out of the blue, three new dragonriders crossed through the Barrier and strode across the Expanse. Now the newbies were looking dumbfounded from their spots at the breakfast table, trying to make sense of the new world they’d stepped into.

  The new riders were all men, all of their dragons having hatched at the Gullington a short while before. Sophia wondered if and when another female dragonrider would join them. It was weird that Versalee was the only other female dragonrider. She hoped that there were more out there, especially because it was highly likely that Versalee was doomed to a grave soon.

  The Dragon Elite had been successful at taking Nathaniel down in Las Vegas. However, Sophia hadn’t allowed herself to celebrate too much. Versalee’s absence during that battle didn’t make Sophia feel any better.

  She didn’t expect that the Rogue Riders’ leader had simply left Nathaniel to run the operation and had turned over a new leaf, intent on doing good with her powers from that point forward.

  No, the absence of the evil dragonrider made Sophia uneasy, sensing that Versalee was up to something even more treacherous than what Nathaniel had been doing, running an underground crime network in Sin City.

  “What I don’t get,” Sophia began, turning her attention to Wilder beside her, “is that you’re older and you know the day of your birth and weren’t raised too far from where Evan came from.”

  He nodded. “What you’re forgetting is that I wasn’t raised by wolves.”

  “No, worse,” Evan stated smugly. “You were raised by monkeys.”

  “I was raised by wolves,” one of the new dragonriders said from the far side and down the table. His name was Alex, and he had short brown hair that he’d kept covered with a hoodie. It had partially obscured his face, which he kept down, making it hard to make out his features. Sophia honestly hadn’t had much time to study the new dragonriders since they’d only arrived the night before. She suspected that she’d get the chance now that it was daylight, but even then, they were mostly Mahkah’s and Wilder’s responsibility since they’d handle their training.

  Everyone looked down the table at Alex, all of them silent as if they expected him to continue.

  “Yet you can construct a sentence much better than my friend Evan here,” Wilder joked after a tense moment.

  There was forced laughter.

  “I’m a werewolf,” Alex said, making everyone’s chuckling seize.

  A fork dropped on a plate.

  Evan froze in mid-bite.

  The newbie dragonrider beside Alex slid non-discreetly to the side a few inches.

  Sophia sighed. “Oh seriously, you all. It’s the twenty-first century. Don’t you know anything about werewolves? They aren’t to be feared. They’re simply misunderstood.”

  Wilder gave her a look of disbelief. “No, I didn’t know that, but apparently you’re going to blow my mind by rocking that knowledge. Is there anything you haven’t learned in your short few years on this planet compared to the rest of us?”

  Sophia gave him a nervous smile. “I know about werewolves because of Liv. She had a case in Lupei, Romania a while ago where there was a supposed problem with werewolves. That’s when I learned that they’re good people, but some choose to be monsters.”

  Nodding, Wilder flashed her an appreciative look. “The same can be said about all people, really. Look at dragonriders. There are good ones and bad ones.”

  “Also good magicians and bad ones,” Mahkah added, stoically from his usual place at the table. However, he looked different with the line of new dragonriders down the table from him. Two spots were empty though, because Evan had been adamant that they all stayed in their assigned seats. Sophia wanted to tease him that he was reserving not only Mama Jamba’s usual chair but also Quiet’s, almost as if he didn’t want the groundskeeper sitting too far away from him. It might have been so it was easier to tease and antagonize him, but it also might be because on some level, the two were friends, even if neither would have admitted it.

  The timing was incredibly ironic since Quiet entered while Sophia was reflecting on this.

  “The same can’t be said for gnomes,” Evan quipped. “They’re all bad.”

 

‹ Prev