Justice Unhatched (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 5)

by Sarah Noffke

The look on Wilder’s face when he stood in front of her communicated his reservations. All Sophia’s note had said was, “We need to talk. Meet me by the Pond in the open part of the Expanse.”

  This was the general area where they had first kissed, but not hidden from the Castle. From this spot, they could easily be seen from Hiker’s office or by anyone.

  She knew it probably made a thousand things run through his mind when he got the meeting request, but what she needed to say had to be said in person. He deserved that much.

  “Thanks for meeting me here,” she began.

  “Sophia, can we not make things harder than they have to be?” he asked, interrupting the rehearsed speech she had practiced all morning. “I’m sorry I lied to you. I’m sorry I made things awkward. I respect what you want, and I promise to mind boundaries going forward. I want us to be friends.”

  “And I want more than that,” she said, throwing out the speech and winging it, deciding to talk from the heart.

  “W-w-what?” he stuttered. “You do?”

  She nodded, a nervous smile breaking across her face.

  “What about Hiker?” Wilder asked.

  She shook her head. “His rule never should have mattered. I’m sorry I let it. Now I know he has that rule in place for himself rather than for others, but I don’t want to live like that. I don’t want to look back and realize I missed the opportunity for true happiness because I was afraid and let someone else direct my life. I don’t want to realize the only person I’ve ever been crazy about got away because I wasn’t willing to take a chance.”

  A sideways smile made his dimples surface. “You’re crazy about me, huh?”

  “I love you…” she began, saying words that had been said a trillion times by so many, but intending to quote Zelda Fitzgerald specifically. Sophia swallowed and smiled tenderly at the man before her, the one she realized she had loved instantly and fully since the beginning. That was the secret of her heart, and now it was out. Catching her breath, she started again from the beginning, the quote etched on her soul. “I love you, even if there isn’t me or any love or even any life—I love you.”

  He rushed to her, desperate to close the distance. Cupping her chin, he bought it up gently so she was looking into his eyes. “I love you too. And the thing is…” He paused to choose his words carefully. The way his mouth formed them was deliberate. “The thing is, I can’t pinpoint when I fell in love with you because since we met, I don’t know of a moment when I wasn’t falling in love with you. Little by little, every second we spend together, I fall harder. I’m not a wise man, but I don’t see that ever changing. You’re someone people fall for, and I happened to be lucky you fell in love with me.”

  Wilder was a rare soul. Sophia had never felt so in love with a person. Not her family. Not even her dragon. She had the privilege of knowing the sacred bond between her and a dragon, so she knew there was something more powerful about the love a man and a woman shared.

  It made sense since the two crops of the last dragon eggs had been manifested when the first male and female riders came along. It was the balance of life, masculinity and femininity, Mother Nature and Father Time. When the two came together, when the genders worked together, magic was the result.

  Sophia welcomed the kiss that graced her lips, soft and full of affection. She no longer worried what Hiker would do to them. This wasn’t his life to live. It was theirs. She was certain of one thing: she was going to help her friend Hiker Wallace find the secrets of his own heart. Maybe it wouldn’t involve early wake-up calls from the Castle, but whatever it took, Sophia would do because that was what friends did for each other. That was what family did, and the Dragon Elite were her family.

  Familia Est Sempiternum.

  She pulled gently away from Wilder, staying locked in his arms as the two faced the Castle, unafraid of who would see them. Tomorrow she would take on new missions, one to help Ainsley and Hiker. Missions that hopefully fixed her would-be enemies like Trin Currante and her men. Tomorrow she would help the Dragon Elite bring love to the world. Maybe Cupid was right, and love was the answer. The thing was, it could not be forced.

  Love, if nurtured and allowed to be what it was, unbound and organic, could definitely fix the world.

  The Story Continues with Rectify Injustice

  Coming June 5, 2020

  Who can turn an enemy into an ally?

  Sophia Beaufont hopes that she can.

  She just has to track down the steampunk cyborg.

  The problem is, Trin Currante thinks the Dragon Elite want her dead. And she’s excellent at avoiding death—as her history to survive and prevail over adversity has proven.

  Meanwhile, Hiker still struggles to hone his powers…

  Regardless of his strength, Ainsley doesn’t show signs of softening toward the leader of the Dragon Elite. If anything, he should fear the housekeeper might poison his next meal.

  While dragon eggs continue to hatch, magicians are going missing worldwide.

  The House of Fourteen is losing credibility with governments. Chaos is spreading around the planet. And Sophia suspects that the Saverus Corporation is behind everything.

  Can she uncover the truth before it’s too late?

  Pre-order today and have it delivered to your Kindle Reader at Midnight on June 5, 2020

  Sarah’s Author Notes

  April 13, 2020

  Thank you so much for reading. Your support of the Liv Beaufont series and this one has been life changing. Thank you! Seriously! Thank you.

  It’s unavoidable that I discuss what has influenced this book as well as everyone’s lives.

  Coronavirus.

  On March 8th, I went to London for a book conference, but also because my boyfriend lives in Scotland and we wanted to see each other. Honestly, if the conference cancelled, I was probably still going. I think about 30% of people dropped out of the conference at the last minute. Not MA and I though. We had meetings and an awesome fan meet up. And many came out to see us and that was amazing. Thank you!

  By the middle of the week, things had shifted dramatically globally. People were getting scared. Many in London changed their flights, leaving earlier. I had to ask myself if I should do that, worried that I wouldn’t be able to get home if I didn’t leave then. And, of course, I didn’t want to get the virus. But my boyfriend, a fellow author, is very logical, as well as optimistic. And together, we reasoned that if I left on Saturday, that I’d still be fine according to Trump’s recommendations.

  So I stayed. I was the last American to leave. The streets of Kensington were deserted on the few occasions that we left the hotel. Things were starting to change.

  I remember walking through the ghost town that was London, wondering if I was insane for staying. But my instincts told me that I wasn’t. And in the back of our heads, my boyfriend and I knew that we might not be able to see each other for a long time, although we wouldn’t say it. He had to go home to Scotland. I had to go home to Lydia. And the world was about to shut down. So I stayed and soaked in every moment.

  And I have zero regrets.

  I left London on a Saturday. The US borders closed while I was in the air. I got home and none of my friends wanted to be around me because I’d been in Europe. My pilates place called and asked me not to come in for two weeks. I felt shunned.

  That was Sunday.

  On Monday, California’s governor took immediate and swift action and closed everything that wasn’t essential down. Bars, gym, etc. You remember. You lived this. Well, all of a sudden, everyone was in the same boat as me.

  Many of my friends remarked, “You’re lucky that you work from home already.” Here’s the thing, people, I work at home so when I’m not home, I love to get out. I’m not at all a home body. I go to the gym every day. I eat at restaurants, more for the ambience, than the food most of the time. I socialize daily. People think that because I’m a writer, I’m an introvert. I’m not. I just need a lot of decompression t
ime after socializing.

  My well-meaning friends would also say, “Well, you can just write stories while the rest of us freak out.”

  Here’s the other thing, as a writer, I’ve very connected to the social consciousness. I couldn’t write when I got home. I felt the anxiety of the world and it made it impossible to focus. And for a person who hasn’t watched the news in decades, I was hooked to the numbers.

  My well-meaning ex-husband kept sending me stuff about the lockdown. Los Angeles was much more aggressive in its approach to the virus than some cities, which at the time was scary. Later, it put us ahead, flattening our curve before many places.

  And it was also hard to focus because my heart was still in London, walking the streets of Kensington.

  So, like you, I struggled during the pandemic. Homeschooling didn’t come natural to me. Common Core is ridiculous. And ironically, I’ve always said I’d make a horrible homeschooling mom and the universe decided to put me to the test. If allowing Lydia to watch Doctor Who late into the night, sleep in everyday and put off assignments because it’s good hiking weather is bad schooling, then stick a label on my head.

  With every day that I couldn’t write, I felt the pressure. I needed to finish this book and yet, I couldn’t concentrate. It wasn’t writer block. It was emotional overload. People complained that they couldn’t sleep during that time. All I could do was sleep—definitely a sign of depression, something that I’m not at all prone to.

  This book was on preorder but Amazon was allowing for push backs on those. And I really considered doing that. Giving myself an extra week or two. But I knew two important things. Firstly, people needed their stories more than ever—a way to escape reality. And secondly, I thrive on deadlines, so if I pushed it back, then I’d just sleep for another week. So I didn’t. And it was the hardest push ever. I wrote 45k words in 3 days to complete this book on time. But I did it.

  I worried that the push would make the book not as good. You tell me, since I’m obviously not objective on this. However, I love this book. I laughed out loud so many times at Lunis. And Liv came back to do a mission with Sophia and I remembered how easy she is to write. She is me, after all. I became acutely aware of how subtly different she was from Sophia while writing the sisters together. As MA said when we were outlining the Sophia series, the younger sister is more fun—easy going. Liv, well she doesn’t put up with anyone’s bull shit, whereas, Sophia picks her battle. She sucks it up when she needs to with Hiker and then lays down the law when things have gone too far.

  I wrote a majority of this book standing at the kitchen counter or sitting on the front step of my house. I knew that getting vitamin D was important. And even though I was doing video work outs, it wasn’t enough exercise. Also, it sort of felt like I was getting out of the house when I sat outside and watched the crows and squirrels play in the trees. And I met lots of friends who happened by. One of them offered me a pizza. I declined, saying that I was keto, but the truth was that I didn’t want his corona-pizza.

  Later I met him on the street when I was doing a silent disco—see the reference to Rudolf? I was trying to do whatever I could to keep up my spirits and make others laugh.

  The guy, my next door neighbor, stopped my dancing to ask me for my number. Since he was my neighbor, I was like, “Sure, seems practical, in case of emergencies.” Then he asked me out and I was like, “OH shit!” That was awkward since there was no avoiding him…since he lives next door! AND after that, to make things worse, he would knock at my door multiple times a day, knowing I was home because we were all home. I had to give it to the guy, he was finding a way to date during a pandemic. Just go ask your neighbor out!

  I told him from the start that I had a boyfriend…in Scotland and he laughed. The next day he brought me a corona-turkey sub. I didn’t eat it. Remember, I’m keto.

  But also, I realized in that moment, when he was laughing at me for having a boyfriend so far away, obviously thinking it was doomed, that I’d rather be with my Scotsman than with someone conveniently close. Sometimes when you know, you know. More on that later.

  My point is that the world was such a weird place during the writing of this book and I know that’s reflected in the pages. I had to make a few references to social distancing and TP shortages. And, I had to put in my adventures in London. That pub where Sophia made the appointment to meet Saint Valentine is a real place off High Street that my Scotsman and I stumbled upon on accident.

  We were walking down the busy street and all of a sudden turn onto this cobbled road. The sound of traffic was replaced by birds singing and there sitting like it was waiting for us was Scarsdale Tavern. We had drinks while sunshine streamed through the window and he remarked (a Scotsman) that it was unusually sunny in London that week. I told him that I preferred sunshine, unless I’m sad. Incidentally, since I’ve returned to LA, it’s been unusually cloudy and rainy.

  The Great Gatsby party in this book was also inspired by a roaring 20’s party we went to in London. The Scotsman knows that’s my favorite book, hence all the references.

  All the pages of the book seem to be heavily inspired by my recent adventures and explorations of the heart. Yes, there’s a lot more love in this book than the others. It changes the cadence, but that is what love does to us. I worried that it would detract from the book, but I hope it makes it better.

  I don’t know where things are going with me and Scotsman. I told you in the last author’s notes that you’d have to stay tuned to find out if I dropped the glass slipper for my Prince Charming to pick up. Well, I did. And he did. And now we’ve entered into something that might make us crazy, living 5k miles apart. However, when I was in the airport, knowing a pandemic was coming, about to get on a plane as the borders of my country shut, and trying to decide if I wanted to be in a relationship with someone so far away, I realized that I hadn’t wanted to be in any relationship for a while until right then. No one had stolen my heart like this guy. So regardless of practicality, I had to do what my heart said and embrace uncertainty.

  Okay, enough of that.

  As some have noticed, I have a thing for Rumi’s poetry. Actually, similar to Sophia, I had the morning breeze quote beside my bed for years. I still wake up most morning between 2 and 4—at the witching hour.

  Usually I get on my phone and chat with my UK friends who are all having lunch about that time. However, back in the day, when I had the Rumi quote beside the bed, I would force myself to get out of bed. And that’s when I wrote my first series, between 2 and 5 o’clock in the morning. Then I’d go back to sleep for an hour before my infant awoke. Is anyone surprised that my very first novel was entitled Awoken?

  Oh, one last thing.

  MA and I had a fantastic meeting right before he left London. Funny that we have to fly across the world to meet although we don’t live that far apart. Every time I do meet with MA, I always walk away inspired and ready to start a billion projects. We have some really fun stuff in the works. But one of the best parts of that meeting, is that I really think of MA as a friend and we had some nice conversations. I remember sitting across the table from him and saying, “I might be crazy for dating this guy, but I just can’t let him go.” He said he was happy for me and that meant a lot. And then he said, “Full confession. I thought he was gay…because he’s such a good dresser.” I laughed. The Scotsman laughed later when I told him. He is a very sharp dresser. Definitely not gay though. He’s my Wilder.

  Sincerely,

  Tiny Ninja

  Michael’s Author Notes

  April 18, 2020

  THANK YOU for reading our story!

  We have a few of these planned, but we don’t know if we should continue writing and publishing without your input.

  Options include leaving a review, reaching out on Facebook to let us know and smoke signals.

  Frankly, smoke signals might get misconstrued as low hanging clouds so you might want to nix that idea…

  Let’s
just admit I don’t know many heterosexual guys who dress fantastic and leave it at that.

  I’m very happy for Sarah and her Scotsman (I hear a chorus of swoons when I say ‘Scotsman.’ I think all of the ladies, and maybe a couple of guys, just put a poster up in the bedroom of their mind.)

  Either way, he has a fantastic dress ethic. Where I can’t usually be bothered to choose a different color for my shirt than ‘figure-slimming black’ he is matching his shoes to the ensemble.

  I probably should have titled this section ‘I’m too lazy to figure out color-coordination.’

  I don’t dress well.

  I used to have long hair when I was in college. It was that ‘you aren’t in your parents’ home, I can have long hair and an earring’ time during the 1980’s. I shared this rejection of authority by growing my hair long, using hair bands while riding motorcycles.

  Yes, I listened to heavy metal and had a Kawasaki EX500… They called it a sport-tourer, I called it fun and thankfully not the death of me.

  It was the closest thing to sexy I ever had in my notoriously geek life. Except for something recently in the last five years, but that doesn’t count.

  I’m married. Owning sexy stuff while married takes the sexy out of it. I’ve lived through the young-family-has-a-van-to-drive days and now I’m in the older-life-kids-out-of-the-house-can-afford-more-expensive-toys days.

  Back in the 80’s, my hair got long enough that when I rode, I had to use a hair band or rubber band (which HURTS like an SOB trying to get it out of the hair) or spend twenty minutes cussing as I tried to pull a hairbrush through the tangles if I forgot.

  I still flinch to this day thinking about pulling the hairbrush through my hair. I am empathetic to any dogs when you have to comb them and they have tangles. I try my best to keep away any pain.