Fire & Ice

by Alice Brown

  He was proud of his home. When he had decided about eight years ago to access Earth through one of the portals on his home world, Dragonose, he came with the belief that finding his mate would be a rather easy job. Then again, he had come under the assumption that only humans resided on this planet. Now, he knew both assumptions were incorrect. The king had granted his request to leave, only requesting that Blain keep the knowledge of the Iceland portal away from all others. That was an easy promise to make his king. Since then, he only got called upon by his king when the Raptorians grew bored and decided to start a fight. The king would then send out an emergency distress call to each and every one of his dragons, expecting them to return home immediately to help defend their world.

  “Ms. Clayton, where is she?” Councilwoman Kristin, who was a pixie, inquired in an almost frightened voice from the other end of the table.

  “She was pulled away to tend to some business before joining us tonight. She shall be along shortly.” He certainly hoped so, anyway. It would look so much better for her if she were sitting next to him.

  “Does she please you?” another council member questioned.

  “I’d rather wait to discuss the business involving Ms. Clayton, at least until she is in attendance to hear it for herself,” Blain replied with a bit of a sting to his words, then he picked up the small glass sitting at the top of his plate, swallowing the liquid, and enjoying the burn. His guests watching him, quickly followed, all except the vampire in attendance. She had her own goblet of fresh blood sitting at her plate. He heard several “ohs” and “ahs” as his guests enjoyed their pre-dinner treat.

  “Delicious!” Councilwoman Hazellette, who was a witch, exclaimed in delight as she ran her tongue across her lower lip. “What is this drink called, Blain?”

  He couldn’t hold back his smirk or his chuckle. His guests were not going to see the humor in his answer as he did. “Dragon Piss.”

  Total silence descended upon the room for about ten seconds before the double doors were flung open, and a beautiful redhead sauntered into the room. She was wearing a black evening gown that glittered in the light; it was a one shoulder strap ensemble, and he immediately spotted the slit that ran all the way up the side to her hip. She walked up to him with such a regal air that he knew she was the envy of the females in attendance—his own date included.

  “My apologies for being late, sir,” she stated when she reached his side. He immediately jumped up to pull her chair out for her.

  It was a good thing he didn’t need to speak at that moment, because he suddenly found that his tongue wasn't working as he gazed down at her in awe. He had only thought her beautiful when they met earlier today. But now? Now she was absolutely stunning. She put his date and her short red cocktail dress to shame.

  “May we proceed now?” Councilwoman Hazellette snapped out.

  Yep, let the envy begin, ladies.

  “Yes, Councilwoman Hazellette, I apologize if I was the reason for any hold up,” Natasha quickly replied, seeming to know already that Blain was without words at the moment. He suddenly didn’t give two cents about this dinner. And he certainly didn’t give two cents about this Council harping on his mate. All he wanted was for everyone to get the hell out of his castle so he could spend some time getting to know her.

  “You…” he started, but his little mate was quick to cut him off as she leaned in close to him and whispered in his ear.

  “Please forgive me for being so late, but there was a very important phone call I had to take.”

  “Ah…of course,” he stuttered out, gracing her with a smile. He was getting ready to tell the battle-ax of a witch that she needed to show his mate respect, and that would not have gone over very well at this point.

  Leaning back in her seat, Natasha graced him with a gentle smile. His heart did a quick leap into his throat before plummeting down to his groin. Oh, good God, was she perfect. One of the elders broke into his deep thoughts as they repeated the earlier question.

  “So then, are we to believe Natasha pleases you, and can handle whatever you throw her way?”

  Natasha sat silently, but fuming inside. How dared they? This was a paid position, but then again, they had choreographed her numerous forced matings, thinking that it would surely bring on her powers, all the while knowing these “potential” mates were little more than animals.

  “Yes, yes, I believe Natasha will fit right into her new position with no problems,” Blain answered with a cold bite in his tone. He still didn’t understand why they seemed so interested in her working for him. Why did they feel it was their business to know how he felt about her? 'Does she please us? Only every damn fucking moment we get to spend looking at her!' his dragon broke through his thoughts.

  “Has Ms. Clayton informed you of the chance of danger you are entering into with signing her contract?”

  He watched out of the corner of his eyes as Natasha carefully sat her fork down, but refused to look at him as she awaited his response. He could easily read her body language and knew she feared he might have changed his mind in the past hour. She knew all too well what a simple change of his mind would mean to her. Unfortunately, she had no clue how determined he was never to let her out of his sights.

  “Yes, she has. And I’m more than willing to risk my chances at having her here,” he said strongly.

  “If you sign the contract, there is no going back. She will be your responsibility, and yours alone. With that in mind, are you still willing to sign?”

  “Yes, the damn contract is already signed!” Blain gave his most irate expression to each and every one of the Council members, silently warning them he would kick every one of their high asses out the door if one more word were to be said negatively about Natasha. They were way out of line, and sooner or later they were going to be put in their place. And he had a gut feeling when that time came about, he would be right there, handing their asses to them. There was no way he was going to forget tonight. He would never forget how they basically treated her as if she were an animal. How they belittled her right in front of him.

  “Soon,” his dragon promised. “Soon we can take her, mate her, and then we will have all rights to protect her!”

  For once, he agreed with his dragon completely.

  Coming Soon

  Excerpt from Ivomantis

  Dragons of Dragonose Three

  By Alice Brown and Lady V

  How far can one person run? How fast can a person run? Sooner or later, no matter what, you reach the end of the line. And that was exactly what Meldamiriel thought as she quickly made her way to Dragonmire Castle, where she hoped and prayed that she could seek true safety and sanctuary. Her friend Natasha had promised her she would be safe there. She just had to get there. The Russian vampire clan Bullock was after her and hot on her heels. If it wasn't for the force of wind that she had on her side, there would be no chance of her ever outrunning the bloodthirsty creatures of the night. Then again, if only she wasn’t an Omega Elf, wielder of all four elements, she wouldn't be in this position in the first place. No, she would be able to live out her life peacefully, like a normal person. But she wasn’t normal, and therein lay the problem.

  Though she feared large, scaly, fire-breathing dragons, she knew that she could trust her friend Natasha to keep her safe from any harm. And since she literally had nowhere else to go, no one else to turn to, she supposed dragons were now becoming her best bet in survival. At least they had been one of the few paranormal creatures who had not tried hunting her down.

  She ran so fast that she sped right past her friend Natasha and her mate Blain. But there was another dragon shifter with them, one she didn’t know. For some odd reason, she felt a pull toward him, but she couldn’t stop now. She knew the vampires were close, too close. She had to seek shelter in the castle, and fast!

  As she came to a screeching halt at the front door of the castle, she could hear the conversation behind her. Just as the hairs on her arms bega
n to stand up in warning, she heard one of the dragon shifter men behind her breathe out the warning, “vampires”. She pounded frantically at the front door, even though in the back recesses of her mind she knew that Natasha and Blain were coming up behind her.

  The big, heavy doors opened and she pushed past the person on the other side with little thought. There, she had made it. She collapsed on the floor in a heap, trying to catch her breath and relieve the stitch in her side. A moment later, Natasha came crashing through the doors and skidded to a halt beside her, throwing her arms around her friend. “Meldamiriel, are you okay?”

  Still trying to catch her breath, she managed to nod and then pointed to the double doors. “I was followed.”

  Natasha pulled her friend up to a standing position before replying. “I know, but you are not to worry. Blain has many guards, and you are safe here.” She turned her friend away from the door and towards the stairs. “Let’s get you settled into a room, and then you can tell me what is going on.”

  They went up the stairs arm in arm. Goodness, was she tired. As Natasha opened the door to a guest bedroom, Meldamiriel felt ashamed of her appearance. She didn’t need a mirror to tell her she looked awful. She had literally been on the run for the past three days. There had been no time for the luxury of sleep, shower, clean clothing, nothing. She had barely been able to grab a few morsels of food here and there to keep her going. She suspected the vampires had planned it this way all along. They knew they couldn’t outrun her. But they must have figured if they kept on her long enough and didn’t allow her time to rejuvenate her body; sooner or later she would start wearing down and then they would have her right where they wanted her.

  She looked around the pristine room and shuddered. She needed a bath, food, and a nap, in that order. Thankfully, her friend seemed to be able to read her mind. “The bathroom is right through the door on the right. Go ahead and take a good long soak while I try to gather up some clothes for you and see about some food.”

  Meldamiriel walked into the embellished bathroom and leaned over the huge tub. Turning on the faucets, she filled the tub and added a bit of bath salts she came across. Stripping out of her nasty clothing, she looked down at them in disgust. They would probably need to be burned. Climbing into the hot water that faintly smelled of roses, she turned the faucets off and leaned back, closing her eyes.

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  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twleve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Epilogue