by Julia Mills
The protagonist, a man with mystery in his eyes and hardness around his heart, looked at her as if he thought she held the answers to questions he’d yet to even imagine. “Sorry, Bub, I can’t help myself, let help alone you.”
Walking to the farthest side of the loft, Lizzie made her way down the stairs, grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen and strolled towards the nearly finished painting as she asked, “Are you ready to show me what comes next?”
Never one to plan, an artist who let her muse decide what she should create, she set the unopened bottle on the coffee table, slipped on her smock and picked up her palate and brush. Staring into the eyes of the man she'd named Beast for the fierce way he held himself and the intricate tattoos covering the better part of his right arm, she dabbed the tips of her thin, delicate, hog-hair brush into a dollop of stark white paint left from her late-night session.
Gently placing the thinnest layer of paint possible from the very top of the left-hand corner of the canvas, radiating like rays of light towards Beast's head, she immediately knew what was to come next. Mixing and matching, one color and then another and then another, the time flew by as she allowed her muse to have its way.
A single lightbulb, hanging from a thread-bare wire, its light falling short, left the man in the shadows. Forgotten by the world, his hope shattered. Painful in its simplicity, stirring in its poignancy, Beast spoke to Lizzie’s soul. They were birds of a feather with no flock.
Setting her paint and brush on the waist-high stool at her side, Lizzie took several steps backward to study every angle of the six-foot-by-three-foot painting. There it was. Finally finished. And so much more than she’d ever imagined when making the first brush stroke nearly three weeks ago.
Who was this man? Was he real, as she'd often found out after painting or sketching or sculpting a man, woman or child? It wasn't unusual for her to recognize bits and pieces of several people she'd either encountered in one of her few trips out into the world or seen on TV or in a magazine in one of her babies, as she called them their completion? The compilation of her own thoughts, fears, joys, and feelings, put together just so, flowing from her subconscious to the canvas always came from somewhere – be it imagination, real life, or the mystical combination of the two.
It didn't matter where, how or why, she liked him and had already begun to let her imagination run wild with plans for the second portraiture. Picking up the lukewarm container of water and sitting on her feet on the couch, Lizzie couldn't look away from her Beast.
There was just something about those midnight gray eyes and the silver flecks that she could imagine swirling within their haunting depths in sync with the beat of his heart. Powerful. Unrelenting. Angry. Wronged. Bitter. The words marched through her mind. Gave her courage and strength. Made her get off her butt and race up the stairs.
Dressed in record time, every inch of skin covered from her neck down, Lizzie looked at her reflection in the mirror and announced, “You, Elizabeth Wentworth, are not a slave to your gifts. You, just like the man in your painting, are formidable and implacable. You have every right to be mad and can allow yourself to want retribution.”
Slipping her feet into her new red leather heels, she turned to the side, making sure the lines in her floor-length, crimson dress flowed as they should then finger-fluffed her long, light brown curls before checking her gloves one more time. Touching the tear-shaped diamond that had been her mother’s, she smiled, “Hope I make you proud, Mom. Maybe we’ll get to meet in Heaven someday,” then turned and left her bedroom.
Stopping with her hand on the doorknob, Lizzie took three cleansing breaths, repeating her mantra with each exhale, “My walls are tight. My mind is shielded. Nothing can get in that I do not allow.”
Hurrying before she lost her nerve, she locked the door behind her, dashed to the car and started the engine of her black SUV. Plugging her phone into the stereo, she picked the classical playlist and set her GPS for Ernesto's Gallery.
Living so far from the city, in the middle of nowhere, her closest neighbor ten miles on either side had not only been her choice but a necessity after her father's disappearance and the barrage of reporters who hounded her day and night. Having acute Empathic abilities for all her life, Lizzie had learned how to maneuver every situation, but there was simply no way to avoid being touched and therefore absorbing every emotion, thought and memory, when confronted with a mob of correspondents from every continent in the world.
Being groomed from birth to be everything society demanded from the daughter of the richest and most influential arms manufacturer in the western hemisphere, Lizzie had tried to master skills for every situation. Growing up without a mother had meant she was required to be at her father's side for every function, party, speech, and gala. And most times answer questions about how it felt to have lost her mother due to a surgeon's shaky hands when she was less than a month old.
Things got worse the older she got and plummeted when she reached puberty. The influx of hormones only served to heighten her abilities and make her susceptible to even a passerby's whim.
After the first round of doctors diagnosed her with agoraphobia and aggressive panic disorder, prescribed a plethora of pills, shots and relaxation techniques, Reginald Wentworth III was hopeful everything would sort itself out. Unfortunately, things got worse instead of better and soon, even made her father’s touch unbearable.
Deciding on another course of action, Daddy Dearest flew in every psychiatrist, no matter how far away he or she might live. Some didn’t even know what an Empath was and most said Lizzie was a hypochondriac and needed tough love. Then came the very few with an inkling of what was going on, but even they hadn’t seen a case as severe as hers.
Years passed. Lizzie grew into a bright young woman with a first-class education supplied via the best tutors money could buy. Early on, Professor Marilyn Smith, an accomplished artist in her own right, introduced Elizabeth to Art as a form of expression and release.
Everything seemed to fall into place. She could rid her mind of the clutter, find her spiritual center and set boundaries for not only herself but those she wanted and needed to be near. It also helped that painting and sculpting, at least the way she did them, were solitary activities. Meditation, refueling her soul and strengthening the inner focus of her own heart and mind became more natural with each work she saw to its completion.
Right before her twenty-first birthday, her father returned home from an extended business trip and announced that Lizzie would be going to live in South Dakota on a Lakota Reservation. Unsure and afraid, she was captured by her father's excitement and soon listened to his plan.
Lost and looking for directions, Reginald had happened upon a diner and began talking to a man he later found out was a Tribal Elder. The man, Jonathan Longbear, had immediately asked about Lizzie, calling her a Heyoka, which he explained meant that she was an emotional mirror and conduit to those around her. He chastised Wentworth for not nurturing her gift, for seeing it as a weakness, and demanded that she be brought to him and allowed to study what the Lakota had known for centuries.
The next five years were some of the happiest of her life. Jonathan and the members of his tribe were beautiful people, with so much knowledge and so much love that Lizzie never wanted to leave. Unfortunately, on a cold night in October the owner of the diner came to the cabin with a message from Reginald's lawyer. Holding the note in her hand, unable to move as Lydia's shock and horror washed over her, Lizzie finally read the words that would send her back to the city and force her to deal with the chaos she'd left behind.
Your father's yacht was reported missing eight days ago off the coast of Cuba. The Coast Guard has been searching, and to date, nothing has been recovered. Please come home as soon as possible. Gerald.
Snapping back to the present as the cello reached its crescendo in Carnival of the Animals, Lizzie sighed, “But tonight I shall conquer…”
Rounding the bend of Pauper's Cr
oss Rd, her headlights highlighting a hooded figure in the middle of the road, Lizzie hit the brakes. Swerving to the right, she tried to immediately correct the wheel back to the front but instead caused her SUV to spin in two complete revolutions.
Sliding towards the steep ditch on the left, she sideswiped a concrete marker left by the Daughters of the Revolution, careened across the road. Hitting the grass embankment with both right wheels, the SUV then rolled three times, finally stopping with its wheels in the air in the middle of a freshly plowed corn field.
Upside-down, her head pounding, her vision blurry and blood dripping from at least two spots on her head, Lizzie promptly threw up twice and bit her tongue. The feeling of floating on air and needing to take a nap became almost irresistible.
Letting her eyes slide closed, she slurred, "Just a little nap then I'll go the gallery. Seth can…"
Jarred from her trip to La-La-Land as the door of her SUV was ripped from its hinges, her seatbelt was torn from around her, and a pair of muscular arms lifted her from the wreckage, Lizzie's fear evaporated as her vision momentarily cleared, and she saw the face of her rescuer.
Grinning, she giggled, "Oh look, it's you. You came to save me," then promptly lost consciousness.
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THE ONE THAT STARTED IT ALL
Book #1 in the Dragon Guard Series
HER DRAGON TO SLAY
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Sassy and stubborn have gotten Kyndel through everything life had to throw at her. Will her moxie help when destiny falls at her feet?
Hundreds of years of loyalty to the Dragon Guard have made Rayne a fearless leader. When the long-foretold pull of his mate rocks the Commander’s world to its core will he be able to save her from his enemies in time?
The chemistry between this strong-willed curvy girl and fierce warrior makes all the difference in the world where nothing is as it seems. The existence of an ancient race of honor-clad, tradition-bound protectors might be hard to accept but now the dead are coming back to life and holding a knife to her neck.
Can these fated mates defeat their greatest enemies and get their happily ever after?
Fate Will Not Be Denied!!
About Julia
Find all my stories on Amazon!
Hey Y’all! I’m Julia Mills the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of the Dragon Guard Series. I without a doubt admit to being a sarcastic, southern woman who would rather spend all day laughing than a minute crying. Living with my two most amazing daughters and a menagerie of animals, keeps me busy but I love telling a good story. Now, that I’ve decided to write the stories running through my brain, life is just a blast!
My beliefs are simple. A good book along with shoes, makeup, and purses will never let a girl down and no hero ever written will compare to my real-life hero, my dad! I’m a sucker for a happy ending and alpha men make me swoon.
I’m still working on my story, but I promise it will contain as much love and laughter as I can pack into it! Now, go out there and create your own story!!! Dare to Dream! Have the Strength to Try EVERYTHING! Never Look Back!
I ABSOLUTELY adore stalkers so look me up on Facebook, sign up for my newsletter at JuliaMillsAuthor.com and follow me on Amazon.
Send me a message!
XOXO Julia
Also by Julia Mills
Find Them All on Amazon
*****
The Dragon Guard Series
Her Dragon to Slay, Dragon Guard #1
Her Dragon’s Fire, Dragon Guard #2
Haunted by Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #3
For the Love of Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #4
Saved by Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #5
Only for Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #6
Fighting for Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #7
Her Dragon’s Heart, Dragon Guard #8
Her Dragon’s Soul, Dragon Guard #9
The Fate of Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #10
Her Dragon’s No Angel, Dragon Guard #11
Her Dragon, His Demon, Dragon Guard #12
Resurrecting Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #13
The Scars of Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #14
Her Mad Dragon, Dragon Guard #15
Tears for Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #16
Guarding Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #17
Sassing Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #18 (Sassy Ever After Kindle World)
Kiss of Her Dragon, Dragon Guard #19
Claws, Class and a Whole Lotta Sass, Dragon Guard #20(Sassy Ever After Kindle World)
Dragon with the Girl Tattoo, Dragon Guard #21 (Paranormal Dating Agency Kindle World)
Dragon Down, Dragon Guard #22 (Part of the Fire Kissed Box Set)
Twinkle, Twinkle, Sassy Little Star, Dragon Guard #23 (Sassy Ever After Kindle World)
Dragon Got Your Tongue, Dragon Guard #24 (Paranormal Dating Agency Kindle World)
Her Dragon’s Fury, Dragon Guard #25 (One True Mate Kindle World)
Dragon in the Mist, Dragon Guard #26
Dragon Got Run Over by A Reindeer, Dragon Guard #27 (Part of the 12 Magical Nights of Christmas Boxed Set)
Tangled in Tinsel, Dragon Guard #28
Cupcake Kisses & Dragon Dreams, Dragon Guard #29
Her Dragon’s Treasure, Dragon Guard#30
Aww Snap, Dragon, Dragon Guard #31 (Paranormal Dating Agency Kindle World)
Imagine Dragon – aka Kayne’s Story, Dragon Guard 32
Her Love, Her Dragon: The Saga Begins, A Dragon Guard Prequel
*****
The ‘Not-Quite’ Love Story Series
Vidalia: A ‘Not-Quite Vampire Love Story
Phoebe” A ‘Not-Quite’ Phoenix Love Story
Zoey: A ‘Not-Quite’ Zombie Love Story
Jax: A ‘Not-Quite’ Puma Love Story
Heidi: A ‘Not-Quite’ Hellhound Love Story (Magic & Mayhem Kindle World)
Lola: A ‘Not-Quite’ Witchy Love Story (Magic & Mayhem Kindle World)
Sammie Jo: A ‘Not-Quite’ Shifting Witchy Love Story (Magic & Mayhem Kindle World)
Harmony: A ‘Not-Quite’ Haunted Love Story (Magic & Mayhem Kindle World)
*****
Kings of the Blood Series
VIKTOR: Heart of Her King ~ Kings of the Blood ~ Book 1
ROMAN: Fury of Her King ~ Kings of the Blood ~ Book2
ACHILLES: Soul of Her King ~ Kings of the Blood ~ Book 3
*****
CAUGHT: A Vampire Blood Courtesan Romance
CONDEMNED: A Vampire Blood Courtesan Romance (Part of the Awakenings Boxed Set)
*****
MARROK: A Wolf’s Hunger
*****
A Vampire’s Thirst: ALARIC
*****
Guardians of the Zodiac Series
Out of the Ashes: Guardians of the Zodiac: Pisces ~ Book 1
Scorched Ember: Guardians of the Zodiac: Taurus ~ Book 2