Aurum Dragon (A Paranormal BBW Shape Shifter Romance) (Dragons of Cadia Book 3)

by Amelia Jade

  His shoulders bounced with silent laughter. “Sorry, let me rephrase. You’re from Tanith, I’m from Cadia. We both have responsibilities in our homelands. How do we work around that? I cannot in good faith leave Cadia the way it is. Not with the moves Fenris is making. I need to do something here.”

  “So we split our time equally between the two. Half the year in Tanith, half the year in Cadia.” The words were out of her mouth with barely a second to think it over.

  Daxxton grinned. “I was hoping you would say something like that,” he replied, a large arm reaching out to pull her close.

  “So why didn’t you just suggest it?” she asked. “It’s the easiest solution to the problem in my eyes. It took me all of a half-second to work it out.”

  “Doesn’t work that way. I needed to know you would be willing to make that offer, not simply agree with me over it.”

  Miranda pulled back and eyed him speculatively. “Why wouldn’t I be willing to make that work? I may be younger, but I grasp what I’m suggesting here. If I’m going to be with you, it’s going to be as equals, together. I’m not pretending it’ll be easy. But we’ll find a way to make it work, I promise you that,” she said with fiery conviction, meaning every word of her little speech.

  “You are a remarkable woman, Miranda Pyke.”

  “I like to think so,” she said with fake arrogance, giving her shoulders a little shake of pride, even as she blushed slightly at the compliment.

  She enjoyed the moment of closeness with him, leaning against his chest, drawing strength from him.

  “What are you going to do to change Cadia though?” she asked.

  Daxxton hesitated a moment before responding. “I don’t know,” he said at long last.

  “What about invoking Imperare ad Impugnandum?” she suggested with a laugh.

  The gold dragon looked at her, surprise written all over his face. “You can’t be serious. I could never do that. It’s never been done before.”

  “I was joking,” she said. “I’m not sure you could pull it off in Cadia either.”

  “Perhaps not,” he mused. “I would really prefer not to invoke it either. Who knows if it would stand. We’re a democracy here, unlike your monarchy.”

  She shrugged. “Whatever you say. I wasn’t serious.”

  “Miranda!”

  She spun as Harriet called to her from down the hallway. It wasn’t her name that made her spin, but the urgency with which she called her name.

  “Something’s wrong,” Daxxton said, and she felt her hand reach for his as her friend ran down the hallway toward the atrium where they stood.

  “What is it?” she called.

  “We’re under—”

  The entire house shook violently, throwing everyone to the floor, and Miranda watched in horror as the roof caved in between her and her friend.

  Harriet disappeared with a scream.

  Chapter Twelve

  Daxxton

  He threw himself to his feet, boots skidding on the stone walkway underneath as he made a beeline for the cave-in.

  From another wing Nolan came charging alongside him.

  “Harriet!” he all but screamed, and Daxxton could sense the fear in the other shifter’s voice.

  Dragon shifters were tough, but some of the beams that had come crashing down were large enough to squash even them.

  “I’m okay!” came the faint voice. “Hurt, but okay.”

  “Where are you hurt?” Nolan asked as the two—no three, Daxxton noted as Miranda appeared next to him—of them began hurling debris aside.

  “Something crushed my leg pretty bad, and it hurts to breathe. But I should be okay. I’m sorry guys, I’m out of this fight,” Harriet said, hissing in pain as the rubble shifted slightly.

  “What happened?” Miranda asked as they finally cleared enough debris to be able to see her friend, though they couldn’t reach her just yet.

  “We’re under attack,” Harriet said, looking up at them, her face twisted in pain. “I was coming to warn you.”

  Daxxton and Nolan worked as a team, heaving the big beams aside as carefully as they could, so as not to disturb Harriet’s leg.

  The house shook again, and they heard the sound of crashing glass as part of the atrium roof collapsed in on itself.

  “Princess!”

  Dak came rushing up from the other side of the debris collapse.

  “Princess, you need to get out of here.”

  Miranda snorted as they finally lifted the last beam clear of Harriet and Nolan rushed to her side. “Not bloody happening,” she said firmly. “Not this time.”

  Dak stood his ground though. The security team for the Princess of Tanith was made of stern stuff, Daxxton noted. “Princess, I recognize one of the dragons attacking us. This is the Iron Scales A Company.” He paused. “The entire company.”

  Daxxton stiffened. Ten full dragons, some of the most fearsome on the entire planet, were now attacking the Nova Estate.

  Nolan looked up from where he was cradling Harriet’s head in his lap. Daxxton knew she would be okay, but it would be a long time before even her advanced healing system could make her combat worthy.

  They hadn’t even engaged the enemy yet and they were down one of their number.

  “You need to go,” Nolan said. “They’re here for you. We’ll fight better with you gone.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Miranda said stubbornly. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I can’t escape.”

  “We’ll draw them off,” Nolan said. “You make your escape.”

  Miranda shook her head. “Not gonna work. I’m the only black dragon around now, with Harriet injured. They’ll come right at me, ignoring you.”

  Daxxton swore. “She’s right. They’ll make her right away. And a car won’t move fast enough to escape a blast of Dragonfire.”

  Another, deeper voice spoke as it emerged from a side room.

  “She’s not the only Blast Dragon.”

  Daxxton looked up as Zoltan Nova, Klara’s reclusive mate, strode down the hallway.

  “I will lead them after me, and then you make your escape, Princess.”

  “There,” Nolan said, immediately accepting Zoltan’s sacrifice. “It’s settled. We’ll hold them off, Princess. You get out of here.”

  Miranda looked back and forth at all of them. Daxxton silently urged her to accept the offer.

  The house shook again, and this time he could hear the roar of flames as part of the building caught on fire.

  Vogel came hurtling down the hallway, the last of the princess’s security team. “They’re just circling the house, blasting it with their breath weapons,” he said. “The ground teams have gone for cover, as ordered, and are not engaging,” he reported to Daxxton. “Alert teams have been notified. Five minutes out.”

  Daxxton swore as Miranda turned, her eyes darkening. She’d been about to accept the offer.

  “There,” she said. “That settles it. Five minutes.” She swept her gaze over her team. “You know what you have to do.”

  She turned and began walking down the hallway from which Vogel had just come.

  “Where are you going?” Daxxton called, even as his legs carried him after her.

  Behind him, he heard Nolan whisper something to Harriet and give her a kiss, while other footsteps in the rubble told him Dak and Zoltan didn’t pause either.

  “To show these fuckers that Tanith is done being bullied,” she snarled. “This ends here and now.”

  The house shuddered once more, threatening to spill them over. But Dak just laughed, his voice a challenge to the forces that made the entire foundation of the massive building sway.

  “Fuck it,” Vogel said in a quieter voice. “I never signed up for this, but the hell if these shit stains are going to bully us anymore.”

  Daxxton looked around as the others nodded and agreed with the sentiment. He’d never felt anything like it before.

  That’s because you’re an Aurum Drag
on of Cadia. You’ve always been the big man on campus. These shifters have been looked down upon their entire lives, treated as lesser by many. This is their chance to show the world they’re just as powerful as any other on the planet.

  The doors to outside approached, and he could see in the afternoon light that the property was burning.

  The knowledge that someone had come to his doorstep, and attacked his homeland without so much as a warning, ignited something in Daxxton.

  A fire of purest gold flared to life within him, and his strides lengthened.

  In a moment he was alongside Miranda.

  “My lady,” he said, his voice taking on a strange tone, one he’d only heard rarely, and that he was positive she hadn’t.

  “Yes,” Miranda replied, not pausing.

  The hallway began to glow golden yellow as he practically pulsed with light, the mirrors and paintings that still hung reflecting the light back upon them.

  “I will fight with you. They have come for you. But you are here, in my homeland, and you are under my protection. It is only right that I lead the way.”

  Miranda looked at him, and he wondered what she saw. It had been centuries since he’d let his power truly run free.

  “Very well,” she said, her voice solemn as they approached the doors to outside. “Lead us.”

  And so he, Daxxton Ryker, Aurum Dragon, Wing Commander of Top Scale Academy and Guardian of Cadia, went to war.

  The doors flew apart at his touch, shattering outward as barely-contained power in his fingertips was transferred to them. Huge chunks of wood and panes of glass went flying, the sheer force of his being blowing them out in a hurricane of destruction that would have flayed alive anyone in its path.

  He strode forward, no longer hampered by the walls, the golden fires within him exploding outward and upward. He swept his arms high and the power of his dragon took him along for the ride as a blast of force threw him into the sky. In the blink of an eye, faster than any shifter on the planet, he went from human to dragon.

  He simply hurled one large blue dragon aside as he blasted through it, his dragon unfurling its wings. The shredded corpse of his victim tumbled to the ground, torn apart by his touch alone.

  All across the sky the dragons of Iron Scales’ A Company took note.

  The Aurum Dragon was among them. This was his home, and those who had come here were going to pay.

  Daxxton swooped downward upon a hapless Fire Dragon. His breath weapon was unlike anything any of these dragons had seen.

  An incandescent cone of fire blasted forth, wrapped up in a blue-white corona of electrical energy that bore into one side of the enemy dragon and simply continued out the other side unimpeded.

  The limp corpse plummeted to the ground, crushing one of the many statues on the grounds beneath it as it landed, lifeless.

  Fire and ice slammed into him as the others recovered, but he was immune to their attacks.

  Around him the others took to the skies. Zoltan and Miranda’s Blast Dragons swirled upward, taking on any challengers even as Vogel, Dak, and Nolan came hot on their heels.

  The element of surprise was over, and though he still glowed with a golden fire like the phoenix of legend, Daxxton knew his friends would be in for a tough fight. Even as he watched, Dak took a cloud of toxic gas to the face from a large Fume Dragon.

  He would need to fight at his finest if they were to survive until his friends arrived.

  Inhaling again, he sent balls of icy fire raining down upon his foes like he was one of the gods of the sky. The mixture of dragon weapons was unique to his kind, and the Iron Scales didn’t know what to do. The fireballs, instead of simply exploding like normal, spread out. The Frostfire aspect of them acted like oil, adhering the Dragonfire to his opponents.

  More beams of lightning-wrapped fire bored holes through wings, but they were ready for him now, and he grunted as he felt the sonic energy of Blastfire slam into his rear leg.

  The Iron Scales had a good mix of dragons.

  Still, he was Daxxton Ryker, and they were not.

  Another dragon went down, half its head burned away by his attack.

  That was three down. Six to go.

  Three and six is only nine…

  Daxxton frowned as he ducked under an incoming Electro Dragon and raked his claws across the underside of a Frost Dragon before he flapped his wings hard, gaining ground.

  This was A Company. He recognized Arrent Crommer, the giant red dragon that Miranda was dueling with.

  But Arrent was supposed to be the tenth dragon of A Company.

  If they only had nine…

  A roar sounded from behind him.

  Daxxton whirled about in the air at the challenge, his eyes going wide.

  From the far side of the house, a silver glow caught his attention.

  “Corbin,” he hissed with surprise.

  The legendary leader of the Iron Scales, Corbin Provaley, was on the field of battle. And much to his surprise, Corbin was no ordinary dragon.

  He was a Silver Dragon. One of the Old Bloods. Older, more powerful, and larger than normal dragons. This was a foe to be wary of.

  Daxxton snarled at the unexpected turn of events, but he didn’t back down, even as the gigantic dragon took to the skies with another roar.

  Now here was a fight, the likes of which he hadn’t had in many centuries. This would test him to his limits, but Daxxton never hesitated.

  After all, Silver Dragons weren’t the only ones of the Old Blood.

  Daxxton inhaled.

  ***

  Miranda

  She watched in horror as the Silver Dragon rose to challenge Daxxton. It was nearly the same size as he was, a good twenty feet bigger even than Zoltan, one of the biggest dragons she’d ever seen.

  She’d always known that the Old Bloods were big, but to see one challenge Daxxton now, she wanted desperately to go to his aid.

  A blast of fire cut across her vision, and she knew she would be unable to help him. The red Fire Dragon in front of her now could only be one person.

  Arrent Crommer was nobody to take lightly, and now that Daxxton was preoccupied, she had to lead her dwindling team to victory, somehow.

  Dak was down, having managed to escape into the safety of the still-standing parts of the house, where the other dragons couldn’t find him.

  But the numbers were beginning to tell, even as Zoltan took down another Frost Dragon.

  That was four down, but it was just her, Zoltan, Vogel, and Nolan against the five remaining dragons, who she was positive were the most powerful in the Iron Scales’ A Company.

  Miranda hit one of Arrent’s wings with her Blastfire, and the big Fire Dragon ducked out of the way, trying to gain some distance as he regained control.

  She twisted her body aside as he shot a cone of fire at her. The attack singed her underside, scales twisting and popping free as the heat singed them. Miranda roared in pain, but the sudden glow that infused the sky distracted her.

  Her head whipped around to see Daxxton unleash the full spectrum of his breath against the Silver Dragon who could only be Corbin, the leader of the Iron Scales.

  The glow built and built at his mouth, until it shot forward. Three streams of energy twisted around each other as his entire body seemed to glow with golden light. Dragonfire, Frostfire, and Electrofire, a stream of each stretched forth, spinning around each other like a helix, until the attack impacted upon the Silver Dragon in a display of power she’d never even realized was possible.

  The Silver Dragon roared as scales flew everywhere, the sheer force of the blow throwing the massive creature around in the air.

  But even as Miranda watched, her eyes went wide as the Silver Dragon glowed golden, and then spat the exact same stream of energy back at Daxxton.

  He was already moving she saw, much to her relief, but the power still left a jagged line down his left side from middle to rear, golden scales and blood evaporating under the attack’s
touch.

  Daxxton roared and swooped forward, slamming into the Silver Dragon.

  No, not Silver Dragon, she thought, remembering the other name Corbin’s kind went by.

  Echo Dragon.

  She hadn’t believed it, but after witnessing what had just happened, she realized it had to be true.

  The Silver Dragons had a natural breath of Quicksilver, a liquid that seared and froze its victim all at the same time. But any time it was hit by another dragon’s breath weapon, it could use a one-time blast of that same weapon.

  Her attention was ripped back to her own battle however, as razor-sharp talons raked down her back.

  Arrent had used her momentary lapse in concentration to maneuver behind her. She spun with a quickness that drew screams from abused muscles and hit him right in the face with the full force of her tail.

  The Fire Dragon roared as she followed that up with a powerful hit of Blastfire that further weakened the red dragon.

  But it wasn’t enough, and he dove in pursuit of her as she tried to pull away.

  Around them, his team was gaining the upper hand on hers. Vogel narrowly escaped a blast of Frostfire and another of Dragonfire, but he ran headlong into the Electrofire that the third dragon unleashed at him, and his wing crumpled under him.

  Nolan was doing a bit better, and Zoltan was wearing his opponent down. But the numbers were against them, and it was showing.

  A second dragon hurtled in at Zoltan, and suddenly the Blast Dragon was in big trouble, doing his best just to survive.

  This was it, she realized. If Daxxton couldn’t finish Corbin quickly, it was all over. They were dead.

  “Fuck you!” she roared at Arrent, sending three quick bursts of Blastfire at him, forcing the bigger dragon to duck and dodge around them.

  But he kept coming, closing in on her. His mouth opened and she prepared for the pain that would come as his fire struck home.

  But it never happened.

  The wrath of the gods themselves suddenly rained down upon the remaining members of A Company.

  Five more dragons dropped from the skies, unleashing their breath weapons at the already weakened attackers.

  Green fumes knocked a Frost Dragon from the sky as the shifter screamed, the toxic gas finding its lungs.