by Milana Jacks
“We are.”
“Oh God, we’re gonna destroy everything.”
“Maybe.”
In a matter of seven minutes, we made seven golems. Rose took control of them while I sank every Cy pod that Nentres and Lance toppled.
But the pods kept coming. They never tired.
Level fives never tired.
The non-level-five cyborgs inside the pods sat back and spoke commands, so they didn’t tire either.
The machine men didn’t tire.
But some time into the battle, we tired. My wings strained to lift. Nentres flew dangerously low, his shrieks growing weaker and weaker. Lance was spinning the water around him the entire time we’d been out. He must be dead tired as he’d been using the element for hours. I fought my way to the cave’s entrance and surveyed my wounds. I couldn’t tell where it didn’t hurt. “Rose, check in.”
“I’m good.”
It meant she would manage no matter what. Like brother, like sister. Disengaging my mind link with Rose, I searched the sky and sought out Knight. “Knight, my brother, if you can hear me, we sure could use some help. Rose is mine and always has been. Mother Nature gifted her with a spirit last night. Not that it matters. I’d never have given her up.”
Nothing came back.
“Don’t be an asshole.”
The winds blew, and I staggered back.
“I’m not a fucking seer. If nobody tells me there’s a huge battle happening on your turf, I won’t know now, will I?”
I laughed. “Where the fuck have you been?”
“Home. I respect your turf boundaries, so as soon as I got the job done, I left. Naturally.”
“Naturally.”
“Is my sister there?”
“Of course.”
“God help you if she’s hurt.”
“She’s not hurt. Much.”
A growl. “This is the worst day of my life.”
“Bring them down, Knight. Crash them all.”
The winds picked up, and I braced myself, my scales closing tightly against my body.
Dirt rose, roofs flew, and Nentres landed next to me with a cough. “Can’t fly under these conditions. He’s bad for my health.”
Lance landed on my right. “Can’t fly in these conditions.”
“Stop complaining,” Nentres told him.
I rolled my eyes.
“Rose?”
“I got nothing, Arthur. The wind lifted my golems and tore them apart.”
“We’re sitting ducks,” Lance said. “Just a reminder.”
“We sit and let him do the work,” Nentres said and plopped his ass on the ground.
All that went up must come down. It was the law of nature. Metal pieces flew around us, pods crashed into each other, and cyborgs ejected and landed, guns drawn and running at us. I disengaged from everyone, allowed my dragon close to my human mind, and let my element fill me.
Nentres reared back and spit out a thunder of fire. Screams mixed with the whistling of the winds. The sky burned, the winds threatening to blow us away. While the core of Earth warmed my body, we huddled together and waited for Knight to end the storm.
“Over in Detroit,” Lance said, “he’s using my water to fuel the hurricane. We’re gonna flood the habitat.”
I glanced down at the three dead Cy masterminds at my feet. We could suffer the same fate.
Laser fire seared the side of my neck. I whipped my head around and roared.
“Shit,” Rose said. And opened fire.
With a whoosh of wind, a white dragon appeared in the sky. He flew so fast, it was a miracle I saw him before he landed on the post office.
“Nice entrance,” Nentres said. “Shit for timing.”
The storm calmed. The dirt clouded my vision, but I clearly saw the level fives surrounding us. Not as great in number, but they had laser guns that never needed charging, and the colonel used them as a disposable army. They could shoot forever. I tried to pick out the Elites or any other cyborg less than a five. There were some, not that many. The rest had either scattered or died. Colonel Strain made his way to the front, wiping the dirt from his mechatronic hand.
“You gonna do something, flower boy?” Knight asked.
“I am.”
“Today?” Lance asked.
I just needed all the cyborgs grouped together within a nice tight perimeter. I extended my neck to see that some of them lingered in the back. I wanted them all around us when an eagle screeched and landed on the colonel’s head. Seven went after his eyes. All hell broke loose. The cyborgs rained fire, lasers seared my body, and the earth under my feet rumbled, knocking some of them down. A crack in the ground split the Earth in a circle around us. Inside the crack, searing-hot lava boiled, bubbled, and spilled onto the surface. Every cyborg with a brain intact and here today was old enough to remember the horror of Yellowstone and the other volcanoes’ lava spreading all over the country.
And they did remember. Horror registered on their faces as cyborgs abandoned their weapons and ran. The river of lava became a sea and followed the cyborgs, gaining impossible speed, swallowing the cyborgs, their arms and legs melting on contact. Skeletons floated on the red-hot sea, mechatronic parts sank, and I let the lava flow. As power coursed through me, I peeled back my lips in a smile. On the road back to Detroit, I cracked another opening. More lava spilled out, turned away from us and toward the city.
It was a beautiful thing. I’d wipe the Earth clean, and we’d start anew. Who needed people anyway? Not me. I was the Earth dragon, the most powerful Creature of Earth. With my spirit, I was unstoppable.
The crack in the ground started closing.
I snarled.
I pushed and opened it again. Lava bubbled up but wouldn’t move. I pushed out my power, roaring. “They all need to die.”
“Not today,” Rose said.
“Today!” I opened another crack and stepped toward it, spreading my wings.
My legs sank into ground. Rose had trapped me. The breath whooshed from my lungs, and I snarled at Knight, snapping my jaw. “I will end them all.”
“My sister and your spirit is a cyborg. We cannot end them all.”
I snarled and focused on the crack before me, reached out for the lava but couldn’t find it, as if…as if I had no element, no power. “Rose, what have you done?”
A white light appeared before my eyes. It touched the ground and molded itself into an elderly woman with a cane. Her black hair whipped on the wind as she produced a gray scarf and tied it around her head. Her large silver-blue eyes were kind and frightening at the same time. She looked like one of those eastern European village grandmothers who milked the cows, though I instinctively knew it was Mother Nature. Her face was so wrinkled, it looked as if she’d lived for hundreds of years. She approached me with a smile and patted my nose. “You’re such a bad boy. Lucky for you, the spirit is the balance.”
I glared at her.
She glared back. “You’re welcome.” She glanced beside me at Nentres and made kissing noises. “Come here, you pretty boy.”
And he came like a good doggy, even dropped his head so she could pet him. Attention whore.
I huffed out a breath.
“Arthur, child, well done.”
“Thank you.”
She looked at Lance. “If the ice melts, the Earth will become swampland. The change needs to be gradual, and none of you will rest until Arthur can grow me some weed so I can get stoned and pass out. I’m beat, tired, and so done with the matchmaking business. Have some rest now. Goodbye.”
Epilogue
Rose - Two Years Later
On a beautiful sunny July morning, I married Arthur. I took his hand in mine, intent on slipping on his wedding band, my eyes darting back to my own ring and the rock the size of a cherry on my finger. I wasn’t a girly girl, but I totally understood diamond language. I loved it.
Arthur snatched his hand away. From the pocket of his black pants, he withdrew somethi
ng blue and slid it on his finger. It was a plastic ring I’d given him nearly a decade ago. People said actions spoke louder than words, so the moment he slipped it on, I invaded his mouth. I hoped the unsubtle gesture showed how I felt about the fact he’d kept the ten-roges ring along with the precious jewelry from before the Ice Age.
Arthur’s warm tongue stroked mine and his hand slid down my bare back to squeeze my bottom. A few whistles from our guests mixed with “Eww, gross” from all the children.
A throat cleared. “There are kids here,” my brother and Arthur’s best man said.
Arthur peeled his mouth away, and we glanced at Knight, who stood there looking like a storm. Many things had changed in the past two years since the day we won the Earth back from both the Cy and the cyborgs, but my brother remained in a constant brooding state.
Then his lips twitched, and he clapped Arthur on the shoulder. “We’re legit family now,” he said.
Something tugged on my wedding dress. I looked down, then picked up my daughter. She had hazel eyes, black hair, and a pair of tiny horns jutting from either side of her head near the hairline. A first-born dragon female. We hadn’t seen her change yet, but I’d bet she’d turn out all golden like her daddy.
“Melissa! Melissa!”
I looked up to see Jordan searching the rows for her.
I lifted my hand. “Right here.”
He stomped down the aisle and extended his arms to take Melissa. Jordan had found his true calling. He was fantastic with kids and also a great bodyguard, not that we needed one, but to him, it sounded better than babysitter.
Arthur and I walked back down the aisle, my heels digging into the soft ground and fresh-cut California grass while fresh-picked flowers rained over my body. Arthur caught a white rose, inspected it for thorns, then tucked it behind my ear. “I love you,” he whispered.
“You too.” I brushed his cheek with mine.
We got married on Lance’s island property right off the Los Angeles shore. His castle accommodated all the dragons with their packs, as well as my cyborg team, who used the vacation time to plot my world domination when I won the presidential election in November.
At the end of the last row, I paused and said, “Hey, Daddy, thanks for coming.” I kissed the top of his head.
He angled his face toward my voice and fixed the black sunglasses over his eyes. With the screws on his face gone, he showed his age, and I thought he was the second most handsome man in the world. My dad had done terrible things in the past, but he was still my dad, and I loved him.
“You look beautiful, Rose.” He smiled at the joke. Seven had left him sightless, payback for the day he’d assaulted her. I was just happy he’d survived the battle and the aftermath.
“You gonna join us at the beach?” I asked.
“And tan my metal?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m tanning mine.”
He laughed. “How is Craig?”
“Feeling a bit left out,” Arthur said.
My dad stood and angled his body toward Arthur’s voice. Next to me, Knight tensed, and the crowd quieted. The colonel extended his hand, and Arthur offered him his human one. Mechatronic fingers squeezed back and my husband smiled.
Dragon Brotherhood Series Epilogue
Same day at sundown.
With the elements aligned, the Earth returned to its natural state, Mother Nature chilled at the tiki bar, her feet swinging from the tall chair, a fan blowing a breeze through her hair, margarita in one hand, a joint in the other. A well-deserved vacation, she thought, and bit into a lime. She made a sour-lime face just as Nentres plopped his fine ass beside her. He threw a hand over her shoulder and reached for the joint.
She moved her hand away.
He tried again.
“Take my weed, and I’ll turn you into a peacock.” She giggled. The pretty boy was already a peacock. All he needed was the feathers.
He gave a charming smile with a dimple and hollered at Seven behind the bar, ordering a beer. When she ignored him, Jason’s mate, Cindy, slid her dragon lord a bottle of fine brew from Colorado.
“Have you seen Jason?” Nentres asked her. “Or anyone?”
Cindy frowned. “No. Been behind the bar since the reception.”
Mother Nature pointed away from the shore. “They took the boat out.”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Because Knight doesn’t want you to measure.” She gave Nentres an evil grin. The wolf packs had taken a boat out and then Lance had stilled the sea so he and Knight and Arthur could remeasure their lengths in dragon form while Nentres babysat all the kids. Such vain, sly creatures.
Nentres leapt out of the chair, downing the beer in one swig. “I fucking knew it! Knight lost the tip of his tail, so I’ve got him on the length now. I’m the longest, and they know it.”
“If you scamper, you’ll make it there before they pull the measuring ropes.” Measuring dragons took a long time, and once the equipment and people who climbed the creatures were organized, the process was over until the next time when there was a good reason to go through the trouble again. In a dragon’s mind, Knight losing his tail’s tip justified the process.
Nentres stripped and crossed the beach in two strides. White light exploded, and the red dragon took flight, descending to land right beside the other three dragons already standing on the Pacific. Mother Nature’s heart filled with joy as she watched the four dragon males puff out their chests and extend their wings and long necks, their noses pointed to the sky where the Cy ships no longer hovered.
Mother Nature slid off the chair and padded, barefoot, on the hot sand. She dipped her toes into the cold water, seeing a vision of the future, where the Creatures, cyborgs, and humans lived and worked together, guarding their existence from all threats.
***
Please flip for the Afterword and an exclusive sneak peek into my new series.
Afterword
A big thank you to my editors Linda and Tony, my beta Z, and my supportive Husband.
When I write, I write for all my readers that I’ve grouped into one character named Pumpkin. That’s you. Pumpkin demands I deliver only the best, reminds me who I’m writing for, why I write, and, most importantly, that I have to serve you the best I can. If you are receiving my newsletter then you know I keep calling you sexy pumpkin.
And now you know why. It’s a secret only found between these pages. Let’s keep it that way.
Dear Pumpkin, it’s been a pleasure writing this series for you, and I hope you venture into this new world I’ve come up with next.
• If you have yet to read my Beasts, they are super awesome and you can binge read the entire series right now.
• For my seasoned pumpkin who stayed with me since I wrote Blind (years ago) flip the page and meet your new Alphas. They are aliens. And they are filthy in the best of ways.
New series teaser
uncorrected proof pending release
Kingsley
The frat party is better than in the movies, and we girls are like a pack allowed to separate into smaller packs but not roam the fraternity grounds alone. My roommate, Jill, the pack alpha, makes sure we’re drinking and being careful at the same time. I stick with Jill, and I’m on my fourth cup of beer when we finally stop flirting with every hot guy we pass and sit in a pair of green lawn chairs. I’m gonna spend the night in this chair. It’s nicely tucked in the bushes, and I can people watch. Winner. I glance at Jill and open my mouth to tell her I’m gonna chill when I see her chatting with a guy a few feet away. She winks at me.
I get my phone and angle it for a selfie. The bright glare behind me is messing with my picture. I turn around in my chair and see something glowing on the floor. Oh, someone dropped their phone. Holding my cup carefully, I creep through the bushes to the fence, then set the cup down. This isn’t a phone. It’s a light coming out of thin air and expanding. “What the hell?” I slur. Someone must have slipped something into my drink. F
uck, I’m tripping. Better go back and sit in my chair.
I freeze and look around. I’m sitting on something soft. I look down and around, and it’s a bed. A huge bed supported by a carved black headboard and footboard. It’s a room, and it smells…sexy. My nipples perk. Holy crap, I’m turned on. Oh, shit, someone really slipped something into my drink. It’s making my body buzz and making me see crazy things. How did I get here? I was just gonna go back and sit in the lawn chair. Where’s my beer?
There’s a single nightstand, brown sacks on the floor, and some animal rugs. I have no clue what happened. I don’t see a door either. Nothing but dark green walls made of no material I’d ever seen before. They’re deep green, almost black, with gray scratches and cracks that look like wear and tear. I dare not speak in case a serial killer drugged me and stashed me somewhere in his den. Or maybe he’s got an underground house where he’s gonna skin me and make clothes out of my hide.
I try not to breathe as I scoot over the covers. I swear these things are made of skin too. It’s not cotton under my fingertips, the bedding feeing more like leather. I get to the headboard and prop my hands on it, then lean over to see the floor. It’s something like cobblestone. Dungeon. Someone stashed me in their dungeon of horrors.
Or I could still be sitting in the green lawn chair and tripping about the dungeon. Oh man, this is some seriously fucked-up shit.
A click sounds, and the wall in front of me slides open.
My heart stops.
My breath ceases.
There is a monster at the door. A seven-foot-tall sage-green creature with pitch-black eyes, no ears—no ears!—a short nose, protruding cheekbones, and a forehead that blends with his scalp because he’s bald on top. We stare at each other for what feels like forever. At least he’s blinking. I’m not doing anything. I’m frozen and yet hyperaware my body is buzzing with something. It’s as if ants are running all over my skin and making my nipples hard.