“Do you still have all your resources in the Human Realm?”
“Of course, my princess. Everything is functioning and at your disposal.”
“Then go, and no messing around with schemes and plans. Just kill them the quickest way you know how.”
He inclined his head. “It will be done.”
He walked from the room, and she turned her attention back to Javir who also watched Marcus leave.
“How can a mere human kill two dragons?”
“Because he is a mere human, they won’t see him coming. Now, go and be ready. I want the rest of my army through in the next twenty-four hours. With the coming of the full moon, when our power is the strongest, we attack, and the Human Realm will at last fall.”
Javir, calmer now, nodded. “Then, it will be the end of the portals between the hell realms, and a human one can be re-established.”
“As our deal, Javir, I will make sure dragons and humans can never mix again. I will give you enough power and magic to defeat the King and take the throne.”
* * * *
Brimstone was in far too good a mood to want to chisel the I-told-you-so grin off Slade’s face with his fist.
“Amber, my sweet, may I say you’re looking positively radiant this morning. I take it you two sorted things out.” Slade bent and kissed her cheek.
Brim couldn’t stop the warning growl. Even though he knew Slade would never try to poach her, his flirting didn’t dampen his dragon's protective jealousy.
Her light giggle made Brim’s cock harden. Again. Slade took a seat at the dining room table and a female waitress hurried over —her eyelashes fluttering as she asked what he wanted to order.
Brim relaxed when his friend turned his flirting towards the skinny, brown, sandy blonde waitress. Amber rolled her eyes, taking a bite of her bacon.
Brim waited for the waitress to leave before barking: “Report!”
Slade sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Nothing, I’m sorry to say. I patrolled all night, sent feelers out and nothing.”
“But that’s good then, isn’t it?” Amber reached for her orange juice.
After Brim made love to her for a good portion of the night, he felt guilty for not feeding her properly. All the dishes they abandoned went cold. To make sure he wouldn’t pull her back to bed and fuck her again, he brought her down to the hotel’s restaurant to eat a proper breakfast. He needed to care for his mate and not only pleasure her.
“Every city has some kind of paranormal activity, but this town is, well, dead of it—it’s most strange. I have a bad feeling about this.”
“So, what happened yesterday?" Amber asked. "Who were those demons and why where they determined to kill you both?”
Slade scratched his chin before setting his elbow on the table and leaning forward. “Not sure, but someone is watching us, and I can only guess they have to be human for us not to notice.”
“A human working for demons?” Amber set down her glass.
Slade inclined his head slightly in thought. “I don’t know enough to say for sure, but at a guess, yes.”
“Do you think they will try again? To kill you, I mean.”
“You’re safe, baby. I won’t let them harm a hair on your head,” Brim added. She lifted her gaze, her smile stealing his breath.
“I know you will, but the question still remains. What if they try again? Just because Slade couldn’t detect demons, or whatever here in Darwin it doesn’t mean they’re not hiding elsewhere.”
“Yes, and that’s what I’m afraid of. As much as it hurts my pride to say so, I think we should cut our stay short and head home. We need to report this to the King. I’m hoping to come back with some reinforcements.”
Brim wholeheartedly agreed; getting his mate to the safety of the Dragon Realm was an excellent idea.
“Agreed. We’ll head to the portal as soon as I have her packed.”
“Wait, one minute, big boy. What makes you think I want to go with you to the Dragon Realm?”
“Because the writer’s side of your mind really wants to see what it’s like.” Brim tapped the side of his head with his finger.
Brim grinned and she huffed, knowing he hit her weak spot. Already, he saw her mind ticking with possibilities.
“Just for a visit, not to stay.”
Brim hid his grin. Once he got her there, he would convince her to stay with her writhing under him—a sound plan.
“A visit,” Brim confirmed. For now.
Slade glanced at him, knowing he had a motive for getting her into their realm.
“I’m sure Brim’s brought you up to date on why we’ve come to the Human Realm. Maybe you could help us, teaching us the best way to navigate this human world and help us find mates,” Slade added, helping to cement her commitment to go with them.
“I’ll do my best to help you, though it may not be much.”
Slade’s grin widened. “Trust me, sweet, just being there will be of great help to us all.”
He saw the excitement in her eyes, her mind ticking over as she drifted off into her own, little world. Brim didn’t mind when she did it because he knew he was there to always bring her back when she needed it.
She picked up her juice and swallowed it down. “I’ll go and pack, then.”
“Finish your breakfast first.” He didn’t want her going hungry.
She laughed and saluted. “Bossy dragon.”
“You like it.”
She shrugged, but didn’t contradict him. Warm pleasure filled him when she did as he asked.
Slade chuckled, glancing up as the flirty waitress returned with his coffee. “This is going to be fun.”
* * * *
“This is most unexpected, yet explains so much.”
Amber shielded her eyes against the sun while she followed the direction of Slade’s gaze. In the distance from where they teleported from the hotel, she saw old fashioned, white tents with desert camouflage across each one, all in rows of three. This was where the newly located portal to the Dragon Realm was situated in a hot, dry, desert valley in outback Australia. The old one, apparently, was in Scotland in the cold, over Loch Ness.
Slade explained dragons didn’t like the cold, and their home was nearly always warm. It was why they came to Darwin; their climates were similar. She spied strange-looking people moving about from tent to tent and some sitting around in groups.
She sniffed the air and it kind of stunk like rotten eggs. Her nose wrinkled. “What’s that horrible smell?”
“Fuck!” Brimstone grabbed Amber, roughly shoving her to the ground, his body shielding her as Slade quickly crouched down next to them.
“That smell, my sweet, is sulphur, coming from all the demons encamped down there. Good thing Brim insisted on not teleporting directly to the portal entrance.”
“I don’t think they saw us,” Brim said from on top of her. She could feel his angry growl rumbling through his chest.
“No wonder, they want us dead. Fucking demons have been sneaking through our realm into this one, but how has no one noticed? Unless.”
“We have a dragon traitor,” Brim rumbled.
“Brim, what was your count?”
Brim lifted off her briefly to gaze out over the crest of the hill. “Eight hundred, if not more. They would have had to have help from someone in our realm to get this many through unnoticed.”
“Not just any dragon could let this happen, only those entrusted with the keep of the portal and within the King’s service, which narrows down who it could be. We’ll have to deal with it later. We need to take care of those first, but there are too many for us to fight alone.” Slade sat back on his heels.
“Kaden has contacts; we can build our own army of dragons and every other ally we can rally.”
Slade nodded.
She glanced over her shoulder at Brim’s scowl. “Kaden?”
“Kaden is the King’s ex-commander, the one I told you about.”
Excitem
ent bubbled in her, thinking she really needed to spend quality time with her laptop, before the gravity of the situation hit. “Oh, okay. This is really bad, isn’t it?”
“Sweet, this looks like a building of an invasion army. I’d bet my dragon tail on it. Someone’s obviously got rather large ambitions to take over the Human Realm.”
Amber swallowed. Invade the Human Realm! Things started to click into place like a plot falling together. “That’s why they wanted you two dead. If you found out about this and word got back—”
“We’d send heavy reinforcements from our realm to put a stop to it, but there’s no way we can get through here now.”
Slade chuckled. “Let’s go, we’ll need to move fast before any more can add to this bunch. Hold on to Brim, sweet.”
Amber snorted. By the way Brim held on to her, anyone one would think they were conjoined twins. Unfortunately, she’d discovered teleporting made her stomach pitch terribly each time. “Crap.” She wiggled until she turned, facing him. His arms came around her with a chuckle, the evil bastard.
“Don’t laugh at me, dragon boy, or you’ll be sleeping on the couch for the next hundred years.”
He grinned with cocky self-confidence. “I doubt it. No way would you last without my touch that long.”
“Don’t count on —”
They popped out.
Chapter 10
Amber glanced around Holbrook Station. She understood it was one of the biggest cattle ranches in the Northern Territory. Brim teleported them behind a shed, and with reason—humans not used to seeing people appearing from thin air may tend to freak out. Slade strode to fetch the station’s owner while Brim kept her by the shed until Slade reappeared with a man almost as tall as her guy. He was handsome with inky black hair and jewelled blue eyes.
This is Kaden De-Kerr, the dragon and former Commander of the Dragon King’s Guard.
“Brimstone,” he greeted, before his eyes fell on Amber. “Slade just told me your hunt resulted in a catch. Congratulations.”
Brim’s chest puffed up with pride as he introduced her. “This is my mate, Amber.”
“Welcome to Holbrook, Amber.” He smiled, showing white teeth.
“Thank you. It’s nice to meet you. So, are all dragons built like tanks and look like cover models?”
Slade laughed and Kaden cocked an eyebrow. Heat flooded Amber’s face when she realised she let her curiosity and mouth run away again.
She shrugged. There was no going back now, so she smiled as sweetly as she could, praying and hoping she didn’t offend anyone.
“Amber has a very curious nature,” Brim supplied.
“And is a very talented story teller,” Slade added.
“And you both have thick heads. I can talk for myself, you know.”
Kaden grinned. “Feisty, too. You’ve done well, my friend.”
Brimstone grunted his gratitude and Amber rolled her eyes, but smiled at her dragon’s preferred method of communication.
“Come this way. My Antoinette will enjoy meeting you too, Amber.” They followed across a dusty yard. “You said there was something rather urgent you need to talk about?”
“If you call a demon invasion of the Human Realm urgent, then yes.”
Kaden froze and swung around, pinning Slade with a hard stare. “Demon invasion? How do you know this?”
“We saw them, all eight hundred or so, gathered outside the new portal between our realms.”
“And they smell,” Amber helpfully pointed out.
“Yesterday, a demon snatched Amber to lure us both into a trap.”
It was Kaden’s turn to snort. “Smart move to get between a dragon and his mate.”
“Tore them the fuck to pieces,” Brim boasted.
She slapped his arm. “Yeah, and scared the crap out of me.”
“I said, I was sorry,” Brim grumbled and Amber hid her grin at his contrite expression.
“Good thing I’m a forgiving person.”
Slade chuckled, but Kaden’s expression was stern, and with a shake of his head, he resumed walking at a faster pace. “How is this possible? The entrance to and from the Dragon Realm is guarded.”
Brim tugged her along and she needed to jog to keep up with their larger strides.
“I’m laying good odds on a traitor to our kind letting them slip through.” Slade's tone was grim.
“We need to gather everyone we can to fight, and quickly, before their numbers grow too great.”
“I’ll contact all the dragons and outer realm creatures I know living in the Human Realm.”
Kaden led across the dusty yard, and past a large homestead with a wrap-around veranda to a large, weather-beaten, old shed. Pushing the old double doors open, they entered into a surprisingly modern, air-conditioned dining and rec room.
“Beauty, we have guests,” Kaden called and a small, pretty, sandy blonde woman popped her head out from behind a door.
Her hazel eyes widened in surprise and the rest of her followed as she joined them. It was clear from her distended stomach, she was in an advanced stage of pregnancy. Kaden quickly pulled out a chair for her, the complete adoration in his eyes telling of a man much in love.
“Brimstone, Slade—welcome back.” Her gaze fell to Amber, and she smiled warmly, her smile widening when her eyes dropped further to where Brim kept a possessive grip around Amber’s waist. She raised a questioning eyebrow at Kaden.
“Brim found his mate. This is Amber. Amber, my Antoinette.”
“Just call me Terrie, everyone, but Kaden does, but congratulations to you both. Have you come to say hello and goodbye before you head home then?”
“Unfortunately, no. We have trouble, love,” Kaden explained.
Her smile fell. “What kind of trouble?”
“End of the world kind of trouble.” Slade's grin was positively cheerful.
“Many demons to kill,” added Brim.
The men exhibited a bloodlust gleam in their eyes which made Amber again wonder what the heck she got herself into. Terrie, on the other hand, wasn’t too fazed and Amber could only guess she was more used to this stuff than she was.
“Oh, I see. Guess I’ll need to make some more lemonade if you’re going off to call in the cavalry. Will you help me, Amber? I’m a bit short on helping hands this weekend, with all the lads off on a break.”
Amber relished the chance to do something other than worry. “I’d love to help.”
“Thank you, beauty. We need to move quickly.”
“Go, go. Amber and I will be fine here.”
Kaden leaned and kissed his wife while Brimstone grabbed Amber and pulled her in, lifting her off her feet and branding her with his searing kiss. “I hate leaving you, but you’ll be safe here. I’ll be back soon.”
“Don’t worry so much about me, Brim. Go out and do what you need to do to kick some demon ass.”
Brim's own brand of adoration shone in his gorgeous, ruby eyes. “How’d I get so fucking lucky?”
Amber shrugged, but grinned. “I don’t know, but we’ve got centuries to find out.”
Another quick kiss, and he let her loose from his arms, following after the other dragons who already left. She stared after him and sighed; the same kind of empty, lost feeling welled within her chest when he was no longer in sight.
A feminine chuckle made her turn her head and she felt her face flush beet red.
“Dragons really are a breed of their own. It can be a bit overwhelming at first.”
“Oh, you got that right. I got slammed so hard, I hardly know which way is up anymore.”
Terrie laughed. “Help me up and we can make the lemonade and compare dragon stories.”
Amber chuckled, filled with eagerness to listen to their tales. She helped Terrie to her feet and followed her into another surprisingly modern, commercial kitchen. “I’d love to hear your story of how you and Kaden met.”
“Of course, but only if you tell me yours,” Terrie bargained in goo
d humour.
Amber liked this woman. She didn’t have many friends, but felt she and Terrie would be good ones. “Deal, as long as you give me permission to write it afterwards.”
“You’re a writer?” Terrie reached for a basket of fresh lemons. “Grab the sugar on the top shelf over there, please.”
Amber followed Terrie’s instructions. “Yes, I write romantic fiction mainly.”
“Nice. Are you published?”
“Ah, yes. I was on holiday with my uh, now ex, a kind of celebration with my royalties when I met Brim.”
“I recently read a few books by Amber Anderson. Kaden’s been rather overprotective since we fell pregnant and not letting me work out in the yards. He bought me a Kindle and I’ve been ploughing through book after book. Do you know her?”
A thrill of pleasure ran through Amber. “Uh, that’s me. Amber Anderson.”
Terrie squealed in excitement, and Amber found herself gripped into a hug. “You’re Amber Anderson! I love your stories. Those hot tiger shifters, phew!” She let Amber go and fanned her face. “If I didn’t have a sexy dragon husband to help me out when I get horny after reading them, I’d combust.”
Amber laughed and at the same time, she felt her cheeks heat.
“I’m glad you like them. Most of it came from my imagination. I never really knew sex could be that good, well, until Brim.”
“Dragons sure know how to please in the bedroom and beyond.” They both giggled. “Let me guess, you’ll start writing dragon stories now.”
Amber eagerly nodded. “Kind of hard not to; I’ve got so much first hand research. Heck, when I first met Brim, I thought he stepped off the pages of one of my stories. I actually asked him to be my hero! Everything’s been a dizzying blur after that.”
Terrie’s body shook as she laughed. Amber couldn’t help but join the hysterics, and it took a while for them to calm down.
“Let’s finish this lemonade before they bring back the army.”
Amber, still grinning, felt really good. A new man who is a dragon, new friends, and so much in her head, she wanted to write about which would keep her busy for years. All they had left to do is fight off a demon army, and save the world.
Dragon Down Under: Her Dragon Hero Page 9