Dragon Beloved: A Reverse Harem Dragon Mythology Romance (Dragon Gladiators Book 3)

by Zara Stark

  “What’s going on?” I asked him but he was frozen in place. I turned over my shoulder and the other three were locked in place as well. I swung back around to look at the Concilium again.

  “What are you doing to them?! Stop!” I yelled.

  “EX LIBERO CARCEREM,” Their collective voice was even louder and shook the arena like an earthquake. The sizzle of magic in the air grew louder and louder until I could hardly hear over the roar of magic.

  “ERUMPERE!” The Concilium yelled and Raiden’s hand clamped around mine as Raiden lurched forward. An inhuman growl ripped out of his throat.

  “Ray!” I yelled as he pulled me down with him.

  His head shot up to look at me and I almost jumped away in shock. Gone were his human eyes. The whites of his eyes were completely gone and filled completely with a cold cyan. His pupils had sharpened into pointed daggers.

  Spinel and tourmaline colored scales started to appear on his cheekbones trailing down his face, neck, and shoulders. I dared to look back at the others and the same thing was happening to them. Silver and black scales had traveled almost completely down Cobalt’s body, white along Nevada and currant and magenta over Azar. The sound of popping and snapping bones rang out like fireworks. I screamed as Raiden’s grip became too strong as his human hand turned into sharp claws. I yanked my hand away and watched as they became gigantic dragons before my eyes. Ripped armor was strewn all over the battlefield as they burst free from them. Scaled, membranous wings spread from each of their backs and shined in the sun. I collapsed to the ground, covering my head with my arms to protect myself.

  Cobalt’s garnet eyes met mine and I saw no recognition in them. He didn’t know me or remember me.

  “DRACO FUGIO!” The Concilium yelled and the four of them beat their heavy wings and lifted from the ground. They grew even larger and larger in the air until each of them were twice the size of the Colosseum. As large as mountains.

  “PRAEVEHOR!” They cursed again and all four of them shot off into the sky in different directions.

  My heart sunk.

  I scrambled to get to my feet and my hand shot to my deck.

  “What have you done?!” I screamed.

  “THEY ARE FREE NOW, YOU ARE NOT, BENEDIXIMUS,” The Concilium spoke. The curling pale magic in the air started to tinge black and shot towards me like vines.

  I drew a card and wasted no time, the Empress of Shields sprang to life, blocking the Concilium magic. Their powerful magic crashed and disintegrated against my shield.

  My heart hammered in my chest. What the hell was I going to do? My four loves had not only lost her human forms but they had flown away to who knew where. I was alone two thousand years in the past and the only people who could get me back to my own time were the bad guys.

  I tried not to let the despair overcome me. I could not fall apart right now. I had to find a way to hold it together.

  Adrenaline coursed through me, putting me into an intense state of focus. All of my sadness and desperation for my Aurelius’ fell away and my brain told me one thing. SURVIVE.

  I had to get away, come hell or high water, I had to escape and figure out my next move.

  As their magic smashed into my shield like a battering ram. I poured more power into my Empress of Shields, feeling the powerful shield shiver with my own brand of magic. I could feel the card’s consciousness, my Empress was arrogant, she believed she could overcome anything they threw at her and I believed her too.

  The sounds of chanting in Latin filled the Colosseum and I realized that more Concilium members had shown up. Two dozen had been there, to begin with, had become over two hundred. They filled the arena and the stands and even stood all over the high wall circling the Colosseum.

  They had brought in the big guns. I should feel flattered.

  “MALAM FORTUNAM HORRET!” The mass of warlocks yelled at me. Had they seriously just called me a whore? No! Bad Octavia! No time for jokes, time to escape, I chastised myself.

  I drew another card, trusting my deck and poured my magic into it. My Alpha of Shields activated, making me and my Empress of Shields invisible. My Empress of Shields shrank until it formed a cocoon around me. The Concilium’s magic pulsed stronger and curled around me, so even though I was invisible the Concilium could see an outline of my Shield. I had to get out of the Concilium but how would I get out of the arena when it was completely surrounded my warlocks?

  I grinned, I knew just how.

  I moved my Empress and Alpha to one hand and pulled a die out of my holster. The number two. I let myself feel a moment of sadness, no Cobalt to catch me this time nor Nevada to break my fall.

  I rolled the die over my knuckles and activated its strange and powerful magic. I felt it start to work beneath my feet, my sandaled feet leaving the ground before I floated into the air quickly like a balloon a child let loose.

  I rose above the Colosseum and watched the powerful warlocks of the Concilium look dumbfounded.

  Okay so I was up in the air but how would I get away?

  I tried to make a swimming motion with my arms and kick my legs. It didn’t work. No swimming in the air like a cartoon character.

  I sighed and gasped. Instead of trying to swim through the air around me, I needed to move. I turned my body ninety degrees until I was lying down in the air and I started to shoot through the air towards the sea.

  I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea how they would find me or track me. I couldn’t go back to our castelli for obvious reasons. All I could think of was the sea. Would they send some of their dragon slaves after me? If so, the sea might cover my scent, making them unable to track me. At least in theory. My brain was going a mile a minute. I had already flown past the Tiber River and I was getting closer and closer to the sea.

  I shivered, the air was thin so high in the air and a hard cough wracked through me. I needed to get down. I would probably develop hypothermia if I stayed in the air much longer. I bit my lip.

  I had to stay off of the Concilium’s radar and wait for my Aurelius’ dragon to return if they ever did. A hopeful, optimistic part of me hoped that they had flown away because of the powerful magic thrown at them and they would come to their senses and return for me. I held out hope though. I had to. There was no choice but to keep on going.

  I made it to the coast and pulled out another die, the number five. Silently praying I didn’t drop it, I carefully rolled it over my fingers. If the number five die followed the same pattern that the other dice did, it was the opposite of my number two die, anti-gravity versus lots of gravity. If my number two die was the moon with no gravity at all, my number five would be the Jupiter, gravity far heavier than Earth.

  I hoped.

  I was doing that a lot lately. Winging it. Hinging everything on a tiny shred of hope.

  My escape hinged on a lot of “ifs” and “hopes”, pure luck. I hoped that such a crazy chase and battle for one measly human would be too much effort for the Concilium, maybe my luck would hold and they would give up. I immediately scoffed, yeah right, I never had that kind of luck on my side.

  The number five die’s magic sprang forth and started to pull me out of the sky. It warred against the number two die and instead of massive rises and falls, I gently floated to the Earth like a dove’s feather.

  I landed on the beach, the only sound besides the crashing waves was the crunch of wet compacted sand beneath my sandaled feet.

  I deactivated both dice and added them back to my holster. The Empress and Alpha of Shields were still clenched in my hand.

  What the hell was I going to do? I stared out to the sea and thought of better times. I remembered one summer where my father loaded us all up into an old rented van and drove us thirty hours to California. We had spent two weeks just lying on the beach and soaking up the sun. It was one of my happiest memories and to this day the rhythmic ebb and flow of ocean waves gave me this deep relaxation that I had never been able to duplicate with anything else.r />
  I closed my eyes and tried to picture that trip, the feel of soft sand beneath my skin and the smells of hot food and muted sounds of music trailing over to the beach from the boardwalk. Instead, my brain conjured Raiden transforming, ripping out of his human skin. My brain followed that up with dragon Cobalt staring at me with no recognition in his red eyes.

  I dropped my head into my hands and bit down on my lip punishingly. I could feel tears welling up in the corners of my eyes but I refused to let them spill.

  Mourn later, survive now. A more primal part of me whispered in my mind.

  My more optimistic half agreed, thinking there was nothing to mourn. Surely the guys would come to their senses and return for me! And we would find a way back home.

  My heart panged. Hell, even if we couldn’t get back to our own time, I would be happy staying in the past if I got to be with the four of them.

  "I heard you gave them hell back at the arena," A masculine voice said behind me and I spun around to see who could have spoken to me. I was invisible! Another faerie dragon like Mab who saw through illusions?

  A tall man with tan skin stood before me, his slate gray eyes fixed exactly in the spot I was standing. He shouldn't know that.

  I didn't respond and examined him instead. He stood about as tall as Raiden, towering over me but he had the muscle mass of Cobalt. His head was shaved but his eyebrows were dark and arched, giving his face an almost elf-like beauty.

  "I know you're there, Argus pinpointed your exact location to here, his eyes see everywhere and through everything," He told me.

  I still didn't dare to speak, I didn't trust him.

  "It's best if I bring you in, you'll live to fight another day," He said, his voice soft. "Right now they're going full extermination mode. After the anti-gravity hovering they're pretty sure you're the one who broke into the Atrium Liberatatis, you know."

  I stayed silent still and his friendly facial expression didn't waver.

  "I know you're waiting for them to come back but they won't, dragons straddle the line between intelligent creature and wild animal. By being in human form most of their lives, they've used up their rational selves so when they get their dragon forms back they are just monsters of pure instinct and drive. They won't know you anymore. Even if you were able to find them they won't be able to differentiate your magic from the Concilium's. They would see you as a threat and kill you, probably eat you. Trust me, I know this well, have lived it myself. There's nothing left for you here. You're a woman out of time with no friends," He told me, his words cutting me to the bone. I thought of the animalistic looks in their eyes. I didn't want to believe it. I couldn't, even though I had seen evidence of exactly what he was describing.

  "If you let me bring you in, you'll at least live for another day, make plans," He told me. "I'm Tar, I run the prison, maintain it. I can't promise that you'll like your stay but you won't be murdered by warlocks today."

  He sighed. "You're smart to stay silent but we're running out of time. They have probably used the same means to find you that I did. They will be here any minute now, the full might of their magic behind them. You may be invisible but you've used powerful magic today and that leaves a trail they can follow. You're in grave danger, you can't just wait to die on the beach. Is that what they would want for you?"

  I felt tears roll down my cheeks. No, it wasn't what they would want for me.

  "You don't need to drop your shields if it makes you feel better, just take my hand," He held a large, tan hand out. "Your dice and cards will be taken from you when you're imprisoned but at least there the Concilium can't hurt you. Who knows, maybe you'll be the first to escape."

  I would escape. I wouldn't die on the beach, a corpse out of time. I imagined dying there on the beach, archaeologists would find me and marvel at my modern dental care and test my hair and find modern pollutants in it. They would display me in a museum and deem me a modern history. I shook my head. No way. That wouldn't be my story.

  I could hear the loud sound of marching in the distance, warlocks come to murder me, warriors coming to slay me.

  "You're wrong," I whispered.

  Tar's eyes widened.

  "I'll get them back," I told him, placing my invisible hand in his. I had lost them for ten years and I wouldn't lose them again. Even if I had to travel the entire ancient world to find them, I would. I could never give up on them. They had lived trapped in the past for ten years, waiting for me, biding their time. I would do the same.

  "If anyone is lucky enough to do it, it's you, Octavia Alexander," He gave me a soft smile that didn't reach his sad eyes.

  I was about to ask him how he knew my name but a large group of robed warlocks appear on the beach, hundreds of them behind me. Tar grinned at them.

  Tar squeezed my hand, tugging my invisible form closer.

  "Too late, Cleptus Magus," He snapped to them and we disappeared into thin air.

  We appeared again in front of a gigantic and ornate marble doorway that led into a mountain. A chill ran down my spine, a weird moment of deja vu came over me.

  "Welcome to your new home, Octavia," He told me, letting go of my hand.

  "Home isn't a place, it's in the hearts of your loved ones," I told him, knowing it was true.

  I would find my four hearts again. There was no doubt in my mind or in my heart. I once thought I couldn't survive being separated from them again but there was nothing else I could do but survive and search them out. If I had to go full Targaryen to tame my dragons I would because nothing was going to keep us from being together. I would bring their humanity back if it killed me. I just had to survive prison first.

  Note from the Author

  The final chapter of Dragon Beloved was actually the first scene that came into my head of this series. It became an obsession, who was this woman fighting for her life? Where did her card and dice powers come from? Who are these four dragon men she is so obsessed with finding? The rest of the story came to me more slowly and when I realized this would not only take place in the third book but would be the last chapter in this book, I was sure everyone would hate me. I see the first two books in the series as the books that tear Octavia apart, Beloved as the bridge book between story arcs and the last two books as Octavia picking up the pieces of herself and coming together stronger than she ever was before. I hope you guys are ready for Octavia to kick some us in book four, Dragon Vanquished.

  Also if you have a guess as to what Octavia’s power is and/or what she is email me with a guess!

  About the Author

  Zara Stark is a former Los Angeles resident that defected to small-town Iowa a few years ago.

  Besides obsessively reading and writing, she enjoys exploring outdoors, tarot cards, karaoke and conspiracy theory YouTube videos.

  While she loves the Midwestern snowstorms she desperately misses the beach. While writing has always been her number one passion,

  Zara went to school for biotechnology, geology and eventually nursing. She has hiked inside of a volcano, slid down a giant sand dune with her butt on a clipboard and has seen some crazy things working in the healthcare industry, her favorite adventures are still inside of her head

  . You can find her any day of the week off on an adventure with her husband/BFF and their toddler.

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