by Erin Bedford
Riding Lightning
Starcrossed Dragons Book 1
Erin Bedford
J. A. Cipriano
Copyright © 2017 by Erin Bedford & J.A. Cipriano
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
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Also by Erin Bedford
Also by J.A. Cipriano
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Thank You for reading!
Author’s Note
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Visit J.A. on Facebook or on the web at JACipriano.com or visit Erin on Facebook or on the web at ErinBedford.com.
Also by Erin Bedford
The Underground
Chasing Rabbits
Chasing Cats
Chasing Princes
Chasing Shadows
Chasing Hearts
Fairy Tale Bad Boys
Hunter
Pirate
Thief
Mirror
Stepbrother
The Celestial War Chronicles
Song of Blood and Fire
Visions of War and Water
The Mary Wiles Chronicles
Marked By Hell
Bound By Hell
Deceived By Hell
Tempted By Hell
The Crimson Fold
Until Midnight
Vampire CEO
Granting Her Wish
Also by J.A. Cipriano
World of Ruul
Soulstone: Awakening
Soulstone: The Skeleton King
Bug Wars
Doomed Infinity Marine
The Legendary Builder
The Builder’s Sword
The Builder’s Greed
The Builder’s Pride
Elements of Wrath Online
Ring of Promise
The Vale of Three Wolves
Kingdom of Heaven
The Skull Throne
Escape From Hell
The Thrice Cursed Mage
Cursed
Marked
Burned
Seized
Claimed
Hellbound
The Half-Demon Warlock
Pound of Flesh
Flesh and Blood
Blood and Treasure
The Lillim Callina Chronicles
Wardbreaker
Kill it with Magic
The Hatter is Mad
Fairy Tale
Pursuit
Hardboiled
Mind Games
Fatal Ties
Clans of Shadow
Heart of Gold
Feet of Clay
Fists of Iron
The Spellslinger Chronicles
Throne to the Wolves
Prince of Blood and Thunder
Found Magic
May Contain Magic
The Magic Within
Magic for Hire
Witching on a Starship
Maverick
Planet Breaker
1
We’d done it. It was right there on my screen in an interoffice memo. Waesigar, Realm of the Dragons, had sold more than 30 million copies on release day, making it the highest selling PC game to date. I should have been happy; all my other coworkers were celebrating in the other room. Their cheers and drunken banter could be heard even in my tiny cubicle. But my heart wasn’t in it.
It had been easy enough to create this fantastical world that has everyone in such an uproar, but for them, it was just make-believe. Something they could indulge in to get away from the real world. But not me.
The hard-worn warriors of Waesigar who could transform into glorious beasts with wingspans as large as semi-trucks weren’t just code in a computer to me. Those beasts were real. As real as the long cold cup of coffee on my desk and just as hard to digest.
I’d left home to get away from the dragon world and all that it entailed. Sadly though, the human dimension required one to have skills I hadn’t learned from my long line of royal tutors or from training with the guard. Humans might think being a dragon was cool, but there was so much more to it than flying around breathing fire.
For one, my family, well, all the dragon world really, focused on providing an heir, something I’d never had much interest in. It made being banished a blessing in some ways. I could date who I wanted and have children or not. It was completely up to me.
Secondly, dragons tend to be all about strength and dominance. If you weren’t a big muscly warrior, you didn’t have much of a say in anything. Which my father attested to by being the one who made all the decisions. If my father knew I’d become a software engineer, he’d probably have a heart attack.
Sure, it hadn’t been on my list of dream jobs. Heck, it hadn’t even been on my mind until I started talking to my now best friend, Ryan, about Waesigar. He, of course, thought it was some story I had fabricated and suggested I go into writing but the creative arts didn’t exactly pay the bills. At least, not right away. A far safer choice had been to hone my skills in the IT industry.
It’d been pure luck when Ryan and I had both gotten an internship at the prestigious Mist Game Corp. He mentioned my story to another coworker, and they passed it to another. Before long, my story had gotten to the head of game development, and as they say, the rest was history.
“So, this is where you’ve been hiding, Maya.” Ryan came around the corner, out of breath like he had been jogging. The more likely culprit would be the karaoke machine the company had rented for our release party.
Ryan had a lean build not from working out but from being blessed with a fast metabolism. Something he groaned about day in and day out. It made me want to gouge his eyes out with as he called it ‘my freakishly sharp claws.' They weren’t really claws, not like my kind’s dragon form but they stayed long and hard without much upkeep. I only wished the rest of me took so little effort to maintain.
I spun around in my chair with my hands in the air and plastered a small smile on my lips. “You caught me. I’m a party pooper.”
“What’s up?” Coming completely into my five by five cube, Ryan leaned against the built-in desk. He crossed his arms over his chest, drawing my eye to the Waesigar promotional t-shirt with its swirling reds and golds, the same as my family’s crest, emblazoned on the fabric. My heart clenched at the sight.
Get a hold of yourself, Maya. I deliberately shook the longing which had griped at me since the countdown to release day had begun. My home had been easy enough to put out of my mind before I’d started this project. Now, though? Now I saw it in every poster, every video on the web. It almost made me wish I could g
o back home.
I gave Ryan a watery smile and shrugged. “Oh, nothing. Just feeling homesick. I wished I could talk to my family at a time like this.”
Ryan offered me an understanding nod, “Must be hard being so far from your family. They live in India, right?”
“Yeah,” I agreed, the lie falling off my tongue so easily after all this time of repeating it. Ryan was my closest friend, and I wished I could tell him everything. Only how could I tell him my family really resided in another dimension? I might as well buy myself a one-way ticket to the looney bin.
“Well, you can call them later.” Ryan bumped me on the shoulder with a lopsided grin, “I’m sure they wouldn’t want you moping in here by yourself when there is perfectly good free booze being served in the other room.”
I lifted a brow at Ryan’s temptation. He knew I didn’t drink. Not because I didn’t want to but because it didn’t really have much effect on me. Dragon’s Tears, the alcohol of choice back in Waesigar, had a bigger bite than a double shot of bourbon and that was considered the cheap stuff. So, when others asked, I just said I didn’t drink and left it at that.
“Fine.” Ryan rolled his eyes, “All the free soda you could possibly want. Now come on, don’t make me use my mad karate skills on you.” He held his hands up and made chopping motions along with fake martial arts sounds.
I laughed and grabbed his hands, “Okay, okay. Stop before you hurt yourself, Master Ryan.”
“Master Ryan,” he paused, tapping a finger on his face. “I like this sound of that.”
“Oh great. Don’t go getting a big head.” I chuckled following him out of my cube and toward the sound of the party. From the high-pitched cawing, my manager, Margarete, was trying to sing a country love song again and butchering it.
“I think this will be one of those nights where you wished you drank.” Ryan winced as Margarete hit a particularly high note.
I forced myself not to put my hands over my ears even though Margarete’s off-key voice was agony to my enhanced hearing. I had to agree with him. This was going to be one long cold stone sober night.
Three a.m. was not a time I enjoyed in Waesigar or on Earth. I liked it even less since my ears were still ringing from hours of listening to my drunk coworkers destroy any chance I’d ever want to listen to music ever again. I had finally been able to make my excuses and sneak out of the party just as they were talking about getting tacos. Like they hadn’t had enough food at work?
My keys jangled as I stood before my apartment door. My eyes were heavy, and my back ached from all the limbo I was conned into paying so I didn’t notice my door was already partially open until I tried to put the key into the hole. The door pushed open, and I stumbled through catching myself before I fell to the ground.
I froze mid-bend. Someone was in the room. My eyes darted along the floor, my nostrils flaring as I took in the changes to the apartment. It was subtle, but the usual mix of cinnamon and last night’s takeout had a new odor added to it. Like spicy chocolate. I cocked my head to the side as I realized the scent was familiar.
“I could have killed you ten different ways in the time it has taken you to recognize me,” the deep baritone called to me from my living room.
Frowning, I straightened my bent form. My emerald eyes met dark gold as I came face to face with Ned, my father’s first lieutenant. Lounging on my couch with either arm thrown over the back of the cushions, his large, bulky form took up most of the sitting space.
I pushed my dark hair back from my face with a huff, irritated at being taken off guard. “What are you doing here?”
“Now, is that any way to talk to your favorite cousin?” Ned stood from the couch, his sword clanging against his side. He wore Waesigaran armor, a deep red leather infused with our own dragon scales. It took a lot of energy and training to shift into our full dragon forms, and only the strongest were able to sustain it for long periods of time, let alone long enough to pull off their own scales for use as armor. Having dragon scales on our armor symbolized our strength in the eyes of our opponents. Ned had almost a full chest plate of them.
Walking into the living room, I scanned the area for any other unexpected visitors. Satisfied he was alone, I dropped to the ground, sweeping my leg out and hitting Ned in the back of the knees. He slammed into the ground, a grunt exploding from his mouth. I leapt back to my feet and smirked down at him.
“I might not have a full armory at my disposal here, but the humans have other ways to train.” Holding a hand out to him, I helped my cousin back to his feet as he grinned.
“Good.” He took a deep breath, evidently still recovering from my attack. “I’d hate to report to your father that his daughter had become soft.”
“Pfft.” I waved him off and headed for the kitchen. “Like he could be bothered with me. I haven’t heard from him in five years why should he care now?” I busied myself by making a pot of coffee. Like alcohol, caffeine didn’t have much of an effect on me, but if I was going to have this conversation, I’d need some kind of stimulant.
“You know why he hasn’t,” Ned said from behind me having followed me into the kitchen. My apartment wasn’t huge, but it had plenty of counter space, and I liked that. Having grown up with chefs most of my life, I found learning to cook for myself both empowering and a soothing practice.
“Doesn’t matter.” I shook my head, closing down the line of conversation. I didn’t want to rehash my father’s decision to send me away while my older sister, Aeis, acted as heir to Waesigar. She’d always been more powerful than me. Hell, she had achieved her wings at the age of fifteen. I was just over twenty-five and still haven’t been able to grow mine. Not for the lack of trying, sadly. Most dragons came into their wings around puberty, but mine seemed to be defective. Or maybe it was just me. I could see how the Lord of Western Waesigar would choose her over me.
“It does matter.” Ned stepped up next to me. “Your father loves you. He didn’t shut you out like you think.”
“Could have fooled me,” I muttered as I poured myself a cup of coffee and then added a heavy dose of sugar and milk. While the drink might help me stay awake, the taste of it still reminded me of the tar pits in the Outlands, an area in Waesigar where no one went unless they had a death wish. Thinking about it made me wonder why I even bothered to drink the damn stuff.
“My father’s affections aside you still haven’t told me what you are doing here and at three in the morning.” I gestured with my cup at the microwave clock. I glanced down at my cup and then to Ned. “I’d offer you some, but I know you wouldn’t take it.”
Ned’s eyes glanced down to my cup and his lip curled in disgust. “I don’t know how you have survived on that drivel all these years. The stuff humans call food is vile.”
“You get used to it.” I shrugged, drinking from my cup.
“I’m here to retrieve you,” Ned finally answered. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter as if waiting for me to overreact. Well, I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction.
Swallowing a mouthful of sweetened caffeine, I poured the rest of my cup down the sink. Rinsing it out, I put it in the drainer to be used again. Then without saying a word, I walked past Ned and into the living room.
The light on my answering machine blinked, alerting me to a message. I’d been told most people didn’t have house phones anymore, but I didn’t like the idea of someone being able to track me. Five years in the human world and some habits never changed.
I pushed the button to play the message while acutely aware of Ned following me once more. Ignoring him, I focused on the voice coming out of the machine.
A high-pitched squeal that made me wince was followed by the giggling of my other best friend, Bianca. I’d met her in an art class while in earning my degree. I’d never thought I’d become friends with such a woman. Someone who shopped more than she breathed and always ragged on me to dress more girly. I could hardly tell her that compared to some
of the females back home, I was considered small for my size and my rounded face made me more adorable than fierce. I didn’t need to dress in frilly clothes to make me seem feminine, my features did it for me. One of my greater flaws in the eye of my father.
A Waesigar princess was beautiful, fierce, and above all in control. To the court and my father, I was none of those things. Not like Aeis with her curvy figure and cool reserve. She rarely raised her voice and always knew exactly how to act in every situation. How I missed her.
Bianca’s loud nasally voice knocked me out of my thoughts and back into the now.
“Congratulations, beeawch!” Bianca howled into the machine. “We are definitely going out for drinks tomorrow night. You’re buying. Or you better be with that big raise you are getting! Anyways, I’ll see you tomorrow at the normal place, eight o’clock, and no pants. We’re going to get you laid if I have to do it myself!”
I quickly shut the machine off with a groan. The likelihood Ned hadn’t heard that last part was probably as likely as the Northern Ice Lands had become a balmy paradise since I’d been gone.
“At least, you have not been sullying yourself with the males of this world,” My cousin growled coming up behind me. The alpha in him had come out to play, and my dodging would no longer be allowed.
“Well,” I gave a short laugh and turned around to face him, “what can I say, I’m picky.” That wasn’t completely true. I just didn’t have much interest in finding a mate.