Diamond Embers_The Beginning of Dragons_Jeweled Embers

by Jadyn Chase

  The three new arrivals seemed to grasp, finally, what was happening. None of the other dragons were attacking them, either. Finally their own three women managed to get to them and get their attention, and in a moment they were on the backs of their dragons, too.

  Before long all of the dragons were slowly and carefully flying off to different spots along the beach. It was clear they were no longer intending to fight, for each one of them crouched down and curled up as though sleeping and stayed unmoving with the woman who was his mate.

  Rose slid down from The Diamond's back. On shaking legs she walked to his head, looking again at his crystal eye. "I told you that you were not expendable," she whispered to him.

  He moved his head towards her just slightly, and her heart overflowed with love and happiness as she realized that to him, she was not expendable, either.

  In the cool and quiet of the dawn, all of the Dragonmen stood gathered around Adam in the middle of their campsite. They all had their mates standing beside them.

  "All of you have a choice," Adam said. "You can accept leadership from me, or I will go and establish another colony with any who might wish to go with me. I would take any who feel as I feel now, which is that all of us are valuable and needed. Just as my mate, Rose, tried to teach me.

  "We are no longer the cold and easily replaceable weapons that we were designed to be. We are all going to need each other if we are to survive. I promise you, there will be plenty of fighting from the other two fleets of dragons when they find us, and from wild creatures, and even from human survivors wherever we encounter them.

  "If any of you still want to do things according to the old way, you are free to leave and do exactly that – and battle it out amongst yourselves – but you will not do it under my leadership."

  At that, the Dragonmen stood quietly and just looked at their mates – who took them by the arms and led them forward. "Our men – our Dragonmen – have told us that they will accept your leadership," said Ellie. "And so do all of us. No one is expendable when you love them. And neither is their father."

  Much later that night, a true peace and calm seemed to have descended over the Dragonmen and their mates as they all rested on the beach. Rose and Adam left the campsite and walked farther down along the beach in the darkness. She could just see him by the diamond dust in his skin, shining in the starlight and in the white light of the waning moon.

  "I am so happy that you chose to stay here," she said. "They would not last long without you. They need your strength. You are truly the father of them all, and on some level, they know that."

  He looked out over the water as they walked together. "I think," he said, "that strength is important. Leadership is important. Order is important. Yet – " He turned his head in her direction. "If you were drawn to my strength, it was because you did not have enough of that."

  She raised one eyebrow in the darkness, but smiled. "I suppose you are right. Certainly not as much as you had. I could never have done the things you have the strength to do."

  "And if I was drawn to your gentleness, it was because I did not have enough of that."

  Rose stopped walking, and sudden tears edged her eyes. She had never thought to hear him say such a thing. "Oh – Adam – only a creature of great gentleness would be heartbroken over the death of a child. As you were when yours were lost."

  Adam stopped, too, and stood facing her, still looking out over her head at the blackness of the sea. He seemed to be considering what she had said. "I do not want, or need, another diamond, another child. Only a diamond can break another. I think I would much rather have someone who brings me more of what I need to have – someone who sees me the same way."

  "That means we are only complete when we are together," she whispered.

  She gazed up at him, though she knew she'd only see him gazing out over the dark water . . . but then the burning tears came again when she looked at his clear eyes in the moonlight and saw him looking back at her.

  It had never happened before. But now he looked right into her eyes, as though seeing her for the very first time . . . which in many ways, he was. "I am glad we are together," he said softly, and then bent down to kiss her.

  They hadn’t kissed before, not since they had been interrupted by Ice when they’d first started to explore one another there on the beach. The kiss was surprisingly passionate, warm and gentle, until at last he drew back and smiled.

  Rose threw her arms around his neck and pressed herself close to him, hugging him tightly and running her fingers over the cool, bare skin of his back and shoulders. He returned her embrace with what seemed to be genuine affection, and she thought she had never felt so happy.

  Then he stepped back, picked up her hand, and led her a short way to the soft, dry sand of the higher beach. He sat down and drew her onto his lap, cradling her in his strong arms and kissing her again, using his tongue to explore her mouth as his fingers trailed along her body, stroking her back and then coming to cup her breasts, playing with her nipple through her clothing.

  Finally, she sat back and pulled the top of her scrubs off over her head, and then slid out of the pants. In a moment her nylon underwear was gone, and then she lay back on the soft sand in front of him.

  This time, the tenderness remained as he moved to lie atop her. He continued to kiss her, his hands caressing her now-naked skin. Slowly, he moved his mouth down her body, leaving a trail of hot kisses along her skin. His tongue flicked out over the nub of her breast, and she moaned with pleasure.

  She could feel the heat and strength of his body between his thighs as he lay atop her, and she quickly moved to wrap her legs tightly around his waist. Immediately, he entered her body, holding her just as tightly as they moved back and forth together in the kind of loving passion that Rose had always dreamed of but never hoped to find.

  As he thrust into her, he thumbed lightly at her clit, and she cried out at the sensations of pleasure coursing through her.

  He bit a mark into her collarbone, claiming her as his, his icy eyes looking fiercely into hers – at least, for as long as she was able to keep her eyes open. But soon, they slid shut, as she was overcome with passion.

  At last, both of them shivered and cried out, coming at the same time, their bodies twined together. This time, Adam didn’t pull away; instead, they held each other close for a very long time afterwards. Rose felt as though her and Adam were of one continuous body, united forever in a bond that was as strong and unbreakable as any diamond ever could be.

  Eventually, he sat up. She opened her eyes at the sudden feeling of the cool air between them. He stared down at her for a moment, his hand idly resting against her hip. Then, he slowly lay back on the sand beside her, his body an open invitation, and she rolled over alongside him, cuddling up close and resting her head on his shoulder.

  Adam put his arm around her and held her tightly against him. The only sounds Rose could hear was his soft breathing and the rushing of the waves. There was no other place she could imagine being at the time. She knew the world would never be the same, but was confident that they could handle it together, as a family.

  Sapphire Embers Preview

  Years ago I had fallen in love with Val Robbins, one of the best pilots in the military. A strong, gorgeous man with a heart of gold. We were inseparable, until a horrific plane crash took him from me.

  To this day I have never stopped loving Val, and I never will. I still wear my engagement ring.

  A few years later, I was moved to Antarctica to work on a new top secret project with the military.

  You see a while back, deep in the heart of the continent, a major discovery was made…dragons.

  The military used their extensive knowledge in genetic engineering to adapt and modify these creatures to serve them as the perfect all-purpose weapons.

  But their plans quickly went astray as the dragons started to show chameleon-like abilities to shapeshift themselves into men. Men that walked, talked and lo
oked exactly like my Val. The lead dragon, the Sapphire spoke to me like it was Val all along.

  My brain struggled to grasp what was going on. By the time I was coming to grips with the thought of him being back in my life, everything went black.

  No one knows what really happened that night. We suspected that an asteroid slipped through the defenses and took out damn near everything in an instant. The world had gone silent, in a hurry.

  It was becoming a kill or be killed kind of world, and the dragons, our former weapons were taking their place atop the food chain.

  Do I rely on this new Val for protection, or am I better off on my own?

  CHAPTER ONE

  May, 2025

  At a non-existent military base in the USA

  "It's just a routine flight, Cara. I'll be back in plenty of time for dinner with you tonight," Val said, his blue eyes twinkling.

  "Dinner, Val? Tonight? Well, let me see. You're offering me a dinner date in a small and boring mess hall, with no view except the open desert surrounded by mountains." Cara Windborne smiled up at him, squinting a little in the bright sunlight. He looked just as sexy as ever, with his soft dark hair slightly windswept and his bright smile contrasting with the olive of his skin. Cara felt slightly breathless just thinking about dinner with him. “That sounds perfect."

  "Good, good." Val Robbins tucked his helmet under his arm, took Cara's hand, and kissed it. "I'm so glad you're here, now, even though they won't let you work on me anymore."

  "No, your fiancée is not allowed to be your flight surgeon. But I'm glad I'm here, too." She withdrew her hand, still smiling. "I think you know I'd go anywhere with you, Edward Valiant Robbins . . . anywhere at all."

  He did laugh at that. "I never should have told you that my mother named me after a romantic comic strip hero. But I guess it's too late now."

  "It certainly is."

  He looked a little more serious. "I know it's been tough to find the time around here, but I promise you – we're going to find more time for ourselves from now on. And Las Vegas isn't that far. Maybe next time, we'll have dinner at your favorite restaurant. At our favorite hotel."

  Cara found herself blushing at the memory of the last time they were together at that hotel. Val always knew exactly how to play her body, but that night he'd brought her to the brink over and over again before finally letting her crest into a mind-blowing orgasm that had left her shivering in incredible pleasure like she'd never felt before.

  She smiled crookedly at the man, knowing that he must also know exactly what she was thinking. "I'd like that. Be careful out there."

  He stepped back and flashed her a smile. "Hey, you're the doc, Dr. Winborne. Nobody knows better than you do about the great shape I'm in – ready for anything.” He winked. “See you tonight."

  "See you tonight."

  Though the two of them had only been here at this top-secret base for a few weeks now, Cara had met Val nearly a year before at another military base where she'd been assigned as a flight surgeon – someone who took care of the pilots and made sure they were fit to fly.

  Val was a fine man. He was smart. And funny. And handsome. Cara thought he was perfect.

  Four months ago, he asked her to marry him, and offered her the small but perfect platinum diamond ring she wore now.

  She watched him go striding out towards the hangar along with a few other men in flight suits, heading towards those ominous, featureless black planes.

  To Cara, those planes always looked more like supernatural creatures than conventional airplanes . . . They were like vicious bats, like the fiercest ravens, like fire-breathing dragons . . . Like no other aircraft in the world.

  The men who flew them were like no others in the world, either. "Please stay safe," she whispered, as he walked away.

  Cara returned to her office, where she worked as one of several flight surgeons for the base. Her nerves were on edge at the thought of Val flying one of those, but reminded herself that somebody flew those experimental airplanes virtually every day from this base. She certainly knew that from being one of the doctors who took care of those pilots, but she'd never been engaged to one of them before, either.

  She kept telling herself that she would have to get used to this. Keeping busy was the best cure, so she sat down and started catching up on some charts and dictation.

  An hour later, Cara suddenly sat up at the desk. The fire engine sirens were wailing outside – a lot of them – moving fast, as though racing at top speed to the end of the runway –

  #

  May, 2030

  At a secret location in Antarctica

  The first time she ever saw a dragon, Dr. Cara Winborne thought she would, in time, get used to the sight. It was her job to work with them, after all, and she saw them every day. She was sure that eventually, they would not make her heart stop and her breath catch in her throat anytime they were near.

  But Cara was wrong. She never did get used to them. And she knew, now, that she never would.

  Right now, she smoothed her long light brown ponytail and straightened the fur-lined hood of her parka where it rested on her shoulders. Approaching her from the far end of the underground corridor was a group of five handsome young men, all wearing uniforms and the same kind of heavy parka that she had on.

  Handsome, yes, but she did not even want to know their names if she could avoid it. She had no wish to become attached to any man again . . . at least, not for a very long time. Cara folded her hands, somewhat comforted by the feel of the platinum diamond ring that she had never once taken off, and faced the group.

  "Welcome to Antarctica. I'm Dr. Winborne. If you're here, it's because you have well above top-secret clearance and you're needed here. It's my job to help prepare you for what you will be doing.”

  "You think you're here for some advanced weapons training. In a sense, that's true, but I can only tell you that whatever you've heard will not even come close to what you are about to see. Please stay together and do not make any sudden moves. Do not speak above a whisper when you are close."

  The men all looked at each other briefly, but then faced her in silence once more.

  "Very good. This way, gentlemen," Cara said, and the group of five men followed her down the long, brightly lit, underground steel corridor.

  She spoke to them as they walked, wondering if they realized that the long and zigzagging corridor had a very gradual downward slope . . . that it actually led far underground, though the slant was difficult to detect.

  "There was one purpose to this project, which began some thirty years ago. And that purpose was to save lives."

  The only sound was the shuffling of their polished boots as they followed her. "Some said it was done to save money. But not entirely. Anytime one of those multi-billion dollar planes crashed, it almost always took the lives of the pilots with it.

  "Yes, I know it was an accepted risk. But I am a medical doctor. For that reason I, and many others here, always hoped that somehow we'd find a better way – a way to defend our world without wasting the finest men our country has to offer.

  "The blue-sky dream was creating the perfect fighting weapon that did not require a pilot in the cockpit. Yes, there are drones, even full-size ones, but they cannot do everything. And they are still incredibly complex and mind-blowingly expensive to create – never mind to replace.

  "We never thought anything like that would actually happen, of course. It was just a daydream. A fantasy. And then – one day – when an ice slide uncovered what looked like a huge cave in Antarctica, the fantasy became real."

  Cara stopped in front of a set of massive steel doors at the end of the corridor and entered her passcode. "Gentlemen, I give you Project: Reborn Fire. I give you – dragons."

  She pushed open the doors and walked inside, with the five staying close beside her. They all seemed to have stopped breathing, but she couldn't blame them.

  The dragons had that effect on her, too, even after all this
time.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Cara and the five men stood inside an enormous and brightly lit natural cavern, at least the size several large aircraft hangars. The center of it was filled with computers and screens and tables and cabinets and all the rest of the equipment needed for a large and complex workplace.

  But all eyes were drawn to the three large caves set into the cavern walls – two along the side they faced, and one more at the far end.

  The vast opening of each cave was covered with thick, transparent, glass-like material from floor to ceiling, clearly revealing what was inside. The first cave held an enormous bright blue dragon. The second held one that was gleaming, glassy black. The third cave, down at the far end, held a dragon that was dazzling, shining white.

  "You'll notice that each one of the creatures is about the size of the B-1 Stealth Bomber," Cara said. "That's really not a coincidence. Some of us think it's the other way around."

  But the men weren't really listening to her. They were just staring. And she couldn't blame them.

  She walked towards the first of the three caves. "Yes, you're seeing what you think you're seeing. Dragons. With a little engineering, of course. But dragons nonetheless."

  "Where – where did you find them?" one of the men finally said, his voice low. "Or do you mean you – made them?"

  "Well, it's a little bit of both," Cara said, smiling. She stopped again, before the men got too close, and let them have another few moments to absorb what they were looking at. "I'll give you the short version.

  #

  "Just over thirty years ago, that cave I mentioned was discovered not far from here. It was investigated, of course, in case some hostile force was using it as a secret base. But there were no people there. Only dragons.

  "It was an entire colony of actual live dragons. Twenty-five of them, and hibernating when first uncovered. They were all different sizes, not quite as large as the ones you see here. Living, breathing, leathery white dragons who did everything the legends said they did once they were slowly warmed and awakened.