A roar reverberated from the sky. Gillian stifled a scream as Aiden’s silver dragon form transformed into that of a human man while he plummeted toward the ground.
Chapter Thirteen
Giving up the element of surprise, Gillian sprinted in the direction of Aiden and the wizard. By the time they were in sight, she found Aiden on his knees before the wizard, a tall, red haired man dressed in the same style of clothing she’d first seen on Aiden when he’d emerged from the portal.
Why wasn’t Aiden fighting back? Had he been mortally wounded in the fall? She scrolled through the virtual menu and pulled up the scanning program in her glasses.
Aiden had no power. Oh, God, he’d run out of power in his armor, and her magic only worked when it had a source of electricity. With no means of defense or escape, he would be forced to do the unthinkable.
Though her lungs burned and her leg muscles screamed in protest, Gillian ran toward the pair. The wizard was speaking to Aiden, but she couldn’t hear what he said. He held something in his hand. Was it a thrall crystal? Some magical charm to subdue Aiden?
She yelled his name, but the scream came out as little more than a harsh croak. Aiden ran a hand over his face and spoke to the wizard. Then, after a moment, Aiden ripped off his armor and exposed the vulnerable flesh of his chest to the wizard. The wizard dropped to his knees and pressed his hands against Aiden’s chest.
No. She couldn’t let it happen. She couldn’t let the wizard steal Aiden and twist him against this world and all they held dear. She forced her body to the limit as she ran, closing the gap between them.
The wizard clutched his throat and fell back.
Realization dawned. She was too late. He’d used the poison on himself and the wizard to eliminate the threat, and in so doing he’d killed them both.
She stumbled the last few feet and nearly tripped over the limp body of the wizard before reaching Aiden. The magical tracery no longer swirled beneath his skin. He’d gone pale. He wasn’t breathing.
Gillian dropped to the ground beside him and began CPR, her hands willing his heart to beat as she struggled to force air from her overexerted lungs into his.
Nothing.
“No,” she said, vision blurring with unshed tears. “You can’t leave me! I won’t let you!” She yanked out her phone and focused, sending sparks of electricity flying as she placed it over his chest and using it as a defibrillator. His back arched and his body bucked with the force of the jolt. She waited, placed her fingers on his neck in desperate search of a pulse. He still wasn’t breathing.
She shocked him again.
And again.
Nothing. He’d saved the Earth, but she’d been too late to save him. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she ran her hands over his jaw and the stubble of golden beard growth. She traced his full lips and then bent to kiss them as she said goodbye to her heart. She placed her arms around him and whispered in his ear, hoping her last words would register before he left her forever.
“I don’t want you to go. I love you.”
She held him and stroked his hair, his arms, his body still warm, and then took one of his hands in hers. Something moved against her palm. She thought she’d imagined it, but the light brush of fingers caressed her wrist before large fingers wrapped around her hand.
Pulling back, she sat up and stared in stunned awe at their linked hands.
“Aiden?” she whispered. His lashes fluttered and his chest rose as he took a shallow breath. He was alive?
“Aiden!” she screamed.
***
“Aiden!”
A voice cried out to him as gentle hands ran over his face, arms, and chest. How was that possible? He was dead. The icy fingers of the reaper had gripped him, slowed his heart to stillness, and stolen his breath. He couldn’t be alive.
“No!” he shouted, pushing the hands from his body. This was wrong. If he was alive, then the wizard was still alive, and he was still a threat to Earth and all he held dear, including Gillian.
He sat up as pain sliced through his skull and wracked his body with agony.
“Aiden, are you okay?”
It was Gillian’s voice. She was here? He opened his eyes, and odd sense of déjà vu left him disoriented. This time, instead of golden sand and red adobe, he saw sky, desert, and the woman he loved.
How?
“You’re alive!” she said, throwing her arms around him. While he appreciated the gesture, her embrace wasn’t exactly helping him breathe. He tried to push her off, but his arms were filled with lead.
“How fortunate,” came a familiar voice, filling him with anger. “Seems you shall be traveling with me, after all.”
The wizard yanked Gillian to her feet and held a talisman against her neck. “You will come willingly, my silver, or I shall kill your human slowly, painfully, and in the most degrading way, and I shall do so before your very eyes.
“Aiden, don’t listen to him.” Gillian’s gaze was filled with surprise and fear, but also determination. Oh, Fates, what was she planning? No matter how much her powers had grown over the past few weeks, she was no match for a seasoned wizard from Tarakona. Nearly a dozen talismans hung from chains and leather bands around the wizard’s neck, filled with more than enough magic to destroy half the town, let alone a single witch.
“Stall him,” she mouthed.
He wavered on the verge of surrender. He’d come here to die, to fulfill the prophecy that he’d seen, but Gillian had saved him. Brave, reckless, and more than a little mad, this woman had found him and reversed the poison spell, bringing him and the wizard back from the brink of death. She’d changed the outcome of his vision.
He should have trusted her with the truth in the first place.
He would trust her now.
“You will leave her here?” Aiden asked the wizard, scrambling to think of more questions and assurances to delay matters.
“She shall travel with us through the portal since it is clear that I cannot trust you. Once you’ve received your crystal and are safely under my thrall, I will release the witch back to this dimension.”
Blue flashed in his periphery, just as it had in the vision, and the familiar whirring sound of pixie wings buzzed near his ear. A series of quiet chirps and clicks came next. Following their instructions, Aiden surreptitiously opened his clenched fist and felt the cool, sharp angles of crystals.
Two figures walked toward them through the heat haze. The wizard didn’t tear his gaze from Aiden, but he spoke to the reds who flanked him, now in their human forms. “You’ve done well, my pets. Our brother is ready to join our stable. You know what to do.”
The taller woman drew out a length of rope from her robes. The shorter red drew a small sword from its hilt. They stepped in unison toward Aiden. Then, quick as lightning, they spun. The short woman knocked Gillian out of the way while the taller one lassoed the wizard, securing his hands at his side.
“What is this?” he said, gasping. “I order you to release me. I command you!”
The dragon with the lasso smiled. “We are no longer under your thrall.”
The shorter dragon placed her blade at his neck and said, “We are free.”
Aiden tossed the crystals at the wizard’s feet. “Guess you’re going to Hell after all. Alone.”
Before the wizard could figure out how to draw on one of his talismans, iron flashed in the desert sun and cut off his shriek with a gout of blood.
The wizard was no more.
Chapter Fourteen
“Remember what we talked about,” Gillian said to Katia as she handed her a battery pack. “When the light turns red, that means the power is nearly gone. You’ll have to come back and recharge your glasses and armor.”
The tall woman frowned as she examined the battery pack. “This is like a talisman of magic, that I, a dragon, can utilize?”
“Not a bad description,” Gillian said. “Sure. That’s what it is. And it will need to be refilled.”
>
“I can do that,” Katia agreed. “I will return to you through the portal when the crystal becomes red, Your Honor.”
“Just Gillian, please. I’m nobody’s honor.”
She wished they would spend more time in the Earth dimension so she could teach them more about the technology. Invent new things with them, and for them. For now, however, equating the battery power with talisman magic, something a Tarakonan native would find familiar, was good enough.
“One of us will stand guard on the other side of the portal,” Alliah said. “We will send word once we’ve contacted the Dragon Liberation Front and tell them of the wonders of your magic.”
“But not about Earth,” Aiden cautioned. “Not yet. Our worlds aren’t quite ready to collide, and until that day, we—the four of us and whoever else we deem, ah, worthy—will serve as gatekeepers. Such as my sister Nadia. You will recognize her. She looks as I do, but smaller.”
A feminine voice echoed through the portal. “Not in dragon form I do not.”
A lovely blond woman emerged from the portal. Dressed in a fine gown and sporting a sisterly smirk, she launched herself at Aiden, who caught her with a broad grin. So this was Nadia. Had to be. She was basically the female version of Aiden, right down to the silver tracery that undulated beneath her skin.
Another figure emerged from the portal, this one male. Handsome devil, tall with medium brown skin, broad shoulders, and tight, dark curls peaking out from underneath an elegant top hat. He seemed to have a thing for bling, though. At least a half dozen objects dangled from leather strips and bounced against his chest. No tracery, but a familiar energy seemed to emanate from them. She recognized them for what they were, then. Talismans.
Oh. My. God.
“Aiden!” she shrieked. “He’s a wizard.”
She gripped her cell phone and prepared to blast the bastard into oblivion, but Aiden released his sister and reached her in two long strides and gripped her wrist. “This one’s on our side,” he said.
“Oh, um, sorry.” Gillian lowered her phone and tried to surreptitiously shake off a few sparks behind her back.
“Not at all,” Aiden replied, scowling at the wizard. “I would gladly let you knock him on his ass, but my sister seems to like him.”
Nadia slapped her brother on the shoulder. “Stop it. He’s mine. Are you going to introduce me to yours?”
Aiden’s scowl relaxed and he nodded. “Nadia, this is Gillian, my…”
“Girlfriend,” Gillian said, fighting the urge to squeal. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Nadia.”
Nadia took both of Gillian’s hands in hers, shocking the hell out of Gillian. For a dragon to touch a witch was a sign of great trust and respect. Nadia had rendered herself and her power vulnerable to Gillian through physical contact. Gillian pulled Nadia into a fierce embrace and whispered in the dragon’s ear. “I’ll take good care of him. I promise.”
“I know you will, my good sister,” Nadia replied. Then she added in a louder voice, “Stubborn fecking fool that he is, you shall no doubt have much work and many trials ahead of you.”
“Language!” Aiden said. Then, with obvious discomfort, he extended his hand to the elegant wizard. Obviously taken aback, the wizard took his hand and shook it.
“This is Barnabas Courtier,” Aiden said. “He’s my sister’s…wizard. Barnabas, meet Gillian Hohenwald, the most amazing witch this side of Tarakona.”
“I’m not sure about that.” Gillian extended her hand to Barnabas and said, “Pleased to meet you.”
Barnabas took her hand and bowed low, brushing his lips over her knuckles. “Enchanted, Mistress Hohenwald. Your magic is truly remarkable.”
Aiden growled. Barnabas grinned. Freaking men. “We have two new recruits for you,” Gillian said. Nadia had already joined the pair of reds and was engaged in animated conversation with them. She was glad Katia and Alliah would have escorts back to Tarakona and introductions to the DLF and other free dragons.
“They’ll guard the portal from your side while we work on closing it. And we’ll pass any intel we get to you and the DLF through them,” Aiden said.
“Rocky is wrangling more folks from Magic to help guard the portal on this side, too.”
Aiden jerked back, startled. “When did you talk to Rocky?”
Well, at least his mind was off male posturing. She placed a hand on his hard bicep and patted. “Oh, you know, when I was looking for you after you sent me off for food while you snuck off to take on a wizard on your own.”
“Yeah, ah—”
“And then later after we defeated said wizard so I could let him know you were okay and he could call off reinforcements. You’re in big trouble, mister.”
He had the decency to look contrite. Of course, he changed the subject and launched into a lengthy discussion with Barnabas and the reds about plans for the immediate future. Gillian beamed with pride. While part of Aiden longed to join the red dragons in the fight to free their kind in his dimension, he understood that his presence posed a greater risk in Tarakona than it did on Earth. They had all agreed that the four of them would protect the portal from both sides, at least until Gillian figured out how to secure it remotely with some new magical device. Then they could control who visited Earth and when.
He would also work with Gillian to tap into his gift of prophecy and pass along intelligence to the rebellion through their new allies on the other side. Coupled with the technology Gillian would construct and provide the DLF, they had a real chance to end the oppressive system in Aiden’s birth dimension and change things for the better. And he’d be working with Nadia and Barnabas Courtier, his sister and the progressive wizard she loved. Aiden didn’t quite accept Barnabas—yet—but he respected him and what he’d done for Nadia. It was a start.
He’d come around.
“And I will work with the pixies on thrall crystal extraction methods, but I fear they cannot function far away from their native magic,” Gillian said. “At least that’s what I think they said.” The pixie-to-human cellphone translation program she’d been tinkering with was far from infallible. At one point she thought they’d claimed she was pregnant, but that was ridiculous.
Alliah, who had joined them along with Katia and Nadia, nodded and accepted her battery pack. Gillian hated to see her prized glasses go, but she could build others. These two brave red dragons needed them more since they were returning to hostile territory. As long as they held their electrical charge, they’d hold the enchantments Gillian had placed upon them and would allow the dragons to see magic and magical threats. Having seen them in action, however, she was certain they could hold their own.
“Then we shall bid you both farewell for now.” Katia, in a gesture that mirrored Nadia’s, took Gillian’s hands in her own, allowing their skin to touch. “Thank you for our freedom…Gillian.”
Gillian giggled. “Thank you for saving Aiden—and Earth—from your…former employer.”
Alliah flashed a feral smile. “Torren the Wicked is no longer our master, nor will he master another living creature.”
Gillian shivered. Yeah, these two red dragons could more than hold their own.
They all exchanged farewells before Katia and Alliah slipped through the portal with Nadia and Barnabas. Aiden’s sister and her wizard had promised to visit soon. Guard duty would begin tomorrow. Thanks to the pixies, Aiden and Gillian would have a much-needed break before the long, hard work began.
She couldn’t wait to get to work. Aiden had done that. He’d given her purpose, partnership, and his love.
There was just one small matter to resolve before they got started. She stood beside him, reached her hand around, and smacked him hard on his butt cheek.
“Ow!” he yelped. “What the hell?”
“That,” she said, turning to face him, “was for lying to me. I owe you another from Rocky, too. This,” she added, slugging him in the shoulder, “is for running off to sacrifice yourself instead of trusting me to c
ome up with a better plan.”
“Is it always going to be like this with us?” he said, outrage warring with amusement and affection.
“Probably.” Then she grabbed him and pulled him down for a deep, sensual kiss.
He leaned back and smiled, arching a brow in question.
“That,” she said, “is for everything else. I love you, dragon man.”
“And I love you, geeky witch.”
Thank you for reading this paranormal romance novel set in the amazing world of SE Smith’s Magic, New Mexico! If you feel inclined, here are some things you can do to help others discover this book, too.
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Find out what happens to Aiden’s sister Nadia in…
SILVER UNLEASHED
A heroine burned by magic…a hero who burns only for her.
Nadia Silver’s escape from indenture in the world of Tarakona leads her through a portal to Magic, New Mexico. A rare silver dragon shifter, she hopes to find a place where she will be safe from the wizards who would exploit her gifts.
Silver Unleashed Page 11