by Amelia Jade
“I wanted you to know, my son, that I think you will make a fine Pierce.”
Zander sat upright at those words. “Read that again,” he said, pointing at the letter. “That last sentence.”
So she did, rereading it for him.
“That’s what she was trying to tell me.” He looked at her, and she could sense the relief in his voice. “On her deathbed, she kept saying I would make a fine something. I thought she was saying person, maybe. But she was saying Pierce.”
He sat back into his chair with a happy smile on his face. “Thank you. Is that all?”
“No,” she replied, and kept going. “And I know you will make a better Pierce than that insufferable little shit Kieran. Which is why I was always going to designate you my heir, even if you didn’t find a mate. That wasn’t for my benefit, Zander. That was for you. You’ve lived alone too long. It’s time you find someone, a good woman. I don’t care if it takes you another week or another decade. Just start opening yourself up to the possibility. That’s all I ever wanted. Now go open a beer in my name. The rest of this is just legal mumbo jumbo bullshit. Somebody will come along and tell you to sign here, bleed there, and give three urine samples for no reason, I’m sure. But rest assured, it will be you who carries on the Pierce name, my son. I have no fears about that. You will be a wonderful scion of the family. Just don’t wait as long as I did to have some offspring. I wish I’d been able to have you around for much longer than I did. Signed, your loving mother.”
Zander was staring at her in dull-faced shock.
“Your mom had quite the way with words,” Riss observed.
Her mate smiled, a big, teeth-baring, cheek-splitting grin. “Yes, yes she did. I wish you could have met her. She truly was something else.”
“So, you’re the scion of house Pierce now, are you?” she asked.
“I guess so,” he said, surprise replacing the smile.
Then it returned in full force and Riss was hit with a blast of laughter both over their bond and out loud.
“What?” she asked. “What is it?”
He leaned forward and kissed her full on the mouth, the heat behind the kiss leaving her momentarily breathless.
Zander still couldn’t wipe the look off his face though.
“I was just imagining the look on Kieran’s face when he hears about this!”
THE END
This concludes Book 4 of the Top Scale Academy Series. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Keep turning the page for Fume Dragon – Book #5!
Fume Dragon
Chapter One
Blaine
“Fucking hell.”
He slammed the cupboard closed with what most people would have thought was uncharacteristic anger for him.
They would have been right, but he didn’t care just then.
“How could they ask this of me?” he raged to no one, the empty room simply absorbing his words and then returning to quiet once more.
Blaine opened another cupboard, but it was nearly as bare as the first.
“Not gonna do. Not gonna do at all,” he muttered angrily, though this door didn’t get closed with quite the same gusto.
Shaking his head and still muttering curses, he pulled on his black tactical boots and went outside.
The hairs on his arm prickled slightly at the cooler temperatures, but he didn’t feel the cold; it was just a reaction to the change. His short-sleeve shirt with its buttons and collar was more than enough for him, even as the thermometer dropped ever further as fall came into full force.
Needing to blow off some steam, he didn’t take the stairs. Instead he simply threw himself off the third floor balcony to the cobblestone street below, landing with one knee bent to the ground. He bounced up slowly and walked out into the bustle of people.
In Cadia, motor vehicles were rarely seen, which led to many more figures walking the streets. Not all of them were human either.
Giant wolves darted through the crowd, a pack out to play for the evening, possibly heading to one of the bars. A pair of orange-and-black striped tigers moved languidly down one side of the road, simply enjoying each other’s company. Behind him, and dotted here and there as he walked, were colossal bears ambling along without a care in the world as they went about their business.
Smaller feline shifters—leopards and the like—could be seen here or there.
Overhead a fluttering of wings announced the presence of two gryphons. He glanced up, but the flighted animals were simply doing their best to stay in the air. They lacked the graceful deadliness of their more highly trained comrades.
That was the way it was with the shifters of the world. Born human, they were forced to adapt during puberty to their newfound animals. For the groundbound shifters, learning to master control of another form was much easier.
For the flighted variety, such as the gryphons, or the Pegasus he could see off in the distance, or even his own dragon species, it was a much more dangerous prospect. Learning to fly was hard for someone who had been landbound the first decade and a half of their life.
Shaking his head, he focused back on the present.
The store he was looking for appeared in front of him.
The Food Place.
He honestly wondered just how drunk the owner had been when he’d come up with such a gloriously plain name for the only grocery store in Cadia.
Right now though, it was just the place. Blaine needed a meal to help calm himself.
He hated formal functions. Detested them, and all the politicking and power-brokering and other bullshit that went on at them. It was his unofficial official policy to avoid them at all costs, no matter what. Generally he did, much to his relief.
Not this time, however. His nominal boss had told him he had to be present at the one the next night though. And when the most powerful dragon on the continent tells you to be somewhere, you be there. So Blaine would be there, dress attire and all, and would proceed to hate his life for the two hours or so he would have to put in to ensure he was seen by all the proper parties.
It was going to be a living hell.
Irritated footsteps took him to the butcher’s section. Unsurprisingly, there was a line. There was always a line. Shifters liked their meat. The day was winding on, however, and the odds were that if he got his other things first, he’d have a smaller line when he came back.
With an angry shrug of his shoulders he spun and—
Slammed right into the woman waiting behind him in line, spilling the contents of her basket all over the place.
“Holy shit,” he swore. “I am so sorry,” he stammered, unsure of what to do as they both just sort of watched the contents disperse across the floor.
“It’s fine,” the woman snapped, bending down to begin collecting them.
“Here, let me help,” he offered, dropping to his knees swiftly.
“I’ve got it,” came the bitten-off reply. “Just let me handle it okay? You’ve already—” The woman’s words died as her head came up and their eyes met for the first time.
Blaine lost his center of balance and wavered unsteadily, reaching out to catch himself on the first thing he could.
The woman’s beautiful glacial blue eyes went wide as his fingers wrapped around her wrist. She started to topple over, but then suddenly he stopped cold as she flexed her legs. Hanging backward, he dropped his other hand behind him and pushed off the floor, coming back to his crouching position.
She’s stronger than she looks.
His eyes wandered over the rest of her features, tearing away from her entrancing eyes for just a moment. The shock of platinum-white hair that fell from her head told him all he needed to know.
Frost Dragon.
“You all right?” she asked, her voice thick with sarcasm as she glanced down at where his hand was still resting on her forearm. “Any longer and I’m going to have to start charging you, ya know.”
Blaine shook his head and—reluctantly—snatched h
is hand away. “Yes, sorry about that,” he murmured. “I’m not usually such a klutz.”
The Frost Dragon shifter shook her head, platinum hair swaying left and right with her motion. “Don’t worry about it,” she said, brushing it off as the last of her fallen items made their way into her basket once more.
Except for the two broken bottles that had spilled.
The sound of squeaky wheels reached his ears as the swinging doors to the rear opened and a store employee appeared with a mop and bucket.
Blaine and the woman stepped back out of the way, apologizing to the employee, who simply shrugged and dully went about his job.
“You know, it might be a good thing I bumped into you,” he said, noting the labels on the bottles.
“Why’s that?” she asked.
He could see her guarding against any sort of pickup line, and realized how lame his words had sounded. Dammit, that’s not what I meant! He’d just spoken the truth. He couldn’t stop now though.
“That bottle of barbecue sauce. It’s probably the single worst one you can buy. Nobody gets that stuff. What were you going to make?”
The woman—he really needed to get her name—shrugged. “Nothing fancy, just some pork and maybe a garden salad to go with it, why?”
Blaine grinned. “No no no, that won’t do at all,” he said, looking into her basket, pawing at it slightly to move the ingredients around. “We can’t do that. Come on, let’s go,” he said, motioning her back to the produce section.
“What? Why?” she protested, but he could hear the curiosity in her voice winning out.
“Because you need something a little more exciting than that!” he said with a conspiratorial wink, as if there was some big reason behind it.
“How about stuffed pork tenderloin, served with roasted vegetables and…” he paused as they walked, trying to decide what the best third pairing should be.
“That sounds like a lot of work,” she said cautiously.
“Nonsense, uh…” he hesitated, remembering he still didn’t know her name.
“Cassian,” she supplied, “but just call me Cassi, it’s easier.”
He shrugged. “Sure thing, Cassi. Anyway, like I was saying, it’s actually quite easy, because you can do most of it on the barbecue all at the same time. So it’s actually a lazy man’s fancy meal, and will be way more delectable than that pork chop and salad thing you wanted,” he teased.
“Hey, I make a mean pork chop, I’ll have you know,” she said with a small laugh.
Blaine caught the slight look of surprise that crossed her face when she did, but decided to say nothing.
His mind was elsewhere, however, as he tried to figure out who she was. The dragon population of Cadia was small enough that he knew most of them, and he was fairly positive he knew all of the Frost Dragons. They were not the most populous species of dragon, falling far below the more common Fire and Electro dragons, though slightly above his own Fume kind.
Why would it surprise her so much to have a laugh? He knew she wouldn’t be intimidated by him. At this point she had no idea who he was, or what he was capable of. She would probably know he was a dragon shifter, but that would be about it, he guessed.
“Is that why you bought that nasty barbecue sauce then? To try and cover up the meat? Trying to bribe whoever eats it?”
A small grin tugged at her thin face, and though he could see her fighting it, she didn’t succeed in keeping it away. “Very funny, mister,” she said, her inflection carrying a meaning he caught.
“Blaine,” he said promptly, sticking out his hand.
Cassi took it and shook it firmly without hesitation. He notched his level of her up a spot or two. Most women he’d met didn’t have such confidence in their handshake. It was a small thing, and probably somewhat sexist of him to think so, but he had three-hundred-plus years of experience to draw upon that backed that up. Even among shifters, she stood a bit above.
The more she talked, the more he could pick up a slight accent. He knew she wasn’t from Cadia, but it was so slight that he wasn’t able to place it. She had probably spent a lot of time among human populations as well, he judged, which would help erase the trace of her birth.
So who was she?
***
Cassi
Tall. Thick, dark stubble that faded away around mid-neck, creating a day-old beard that framed his vividly green eyes and wide smile perfectly. Hair that was short on the sides, but long and just as thick on the top of his head, pulled back and over to one side in something out of a modern human magazine.
It wasn’t what she would expect from a shifter, but with his strong jaw and powerful frame, nearly six-and-a-half feet tall if she judged correctly, it worked perfectly. His broad shoulders stretched the black dress shirt just right, and the short sleeves wrapped around his biceps, showing off their size naturally without being overly obvious about it.
All in all, she had to admit, it was one hell of a look.
But that instantly made her just as wary. While he couldn’t know it, she knew who he was. Unless there were two Fume Dragons in Cadia named Blaine, but she doubted it. He hadn’t seemed to catch the look of recognition she knew she’d let slip when he’d introduced himself, and she wasn’t about to let on now either.
“Okay, let’s see here,” he said, busying himself with tossing some peppers into a bag, assembling a medley of things for her. Garlic went into the basket, mushrooms, an onion.
How many did he think she was cooking for? There was more than she would have in a meal, even as a ravenous dragon shifter who’d flown a long way that day.
Still, he was charming in an almost innocent sort of way. He had the calm demeanor and powerful tone of a highly trained dragon shifter. But there was something almost…youthful about the way he was interacting with her that told Cassi he might not be the most experienced with women.
“Blaine, you’re going kind of crazy here,” she said as he finished up with the vegetables and pointed back toward the butcher’s counter, where the line had shrunk dramatically in the few minutes it had taken them to round up the extra produce he seemed to think she would need.
“It’ll be easy, trust me,” he said, digging through her basket and putting back some of the things she’d gotten herself, deeming them unnecessary.
“Trust you? I just met you!” she protested halfheartedly. His eagerness was contagious, and rubbing off on her. “The first thing you did was knock my groceries across the store, and then proceed to tell me they were all inferior. Your track record isn’t looking so good.”
He stopped and turned to look at her with concern on his face, as if just realizing what it was he was doing.
“Oh, right. I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I was so wrapped up in it that I didn’t even ask you.”
She laughed. “It’s okay, it really is.”
“Good. Because you need to experience the best Cadia has to offer, and regular pork chops in terrible barbecue sauce is not it,” he said solemnly.
Cassi laughed again, but inside her mind was processing the words he’d just said.
So, he knows I’m not from Cadia, and he figured that out without a single question asked. Perhaps he’s a little sharper than he’s acting right now.
That brought up another question in her mind. Was he truly acting just then? Could he be aware of who she was, and was he pretending as if he didn’t know, just like she was? Cassi wouldn’t put that past the Cadians. They were notorious for being devious and scheming according to her briefings. But this was her first experience with Cadians, so she wasn’t sure.
Still, whatever the case, she made a mental note not to underestimate him anymore.
They parked themselves in line at the butcher counter.
“Are you enjoying Cadia so far?” Blaine asked.
Prying for confirmation, are you? Well, I can’t really deny it now, but good luck getting more information from me!
“It’s not bad,” she was forced t
o admit. “It’s clean and the people are nice.”
The part about how clean it was, was the truth. She’d been quite impressed at just how well kept the buildings and lands were around Cadia. Cassi was telling the truth about the people as well, but she knew most of it had to be an act. The vast majority of those she’d talked to had been officials who knew who she was and why she was there, and so she was sure they’d put on a show of being extra cheerful for her.
The truth would come out in the coming days, and she would see the real side of Cadians, exposing their ugliness for her eyes to truly see. Cassi knew that in her heart without a doubt. It was just a matter of time.
“Good, I’m glad.” His reply didn’t seem to carry any suspicion that she might be telling lies.
The line moved forward and they shuffled along.
Then it suddenly evaporated as people began to walk away.
“What the—” Blaine muttered and she turned to look at the counter.
A big, handwritten sign had been scrawled across it.
Out of fresh meat until tomorrow. Sorry.
“We should have stayed in line,” he said angrily, and she heard him cursing softly under his breath. “Sorry about that Cassi, I guess I ruined it.” He turned and glared at the sign. “What kind of butcher in a shifter town runs out of meat!”
She laughed at the ridiculousness of it, forced to agree. “Are there going to be riots?” she asked, half-joking and half-not. Back home, if there had been a big line, things might have gotten ugly if the local butcher ran out of meat.
“Probably not, but anything could happen,” he laughed. “There are a few other butchers in town, though the closest is a few blocks away. I can show you if you want?”
Cassi shrugged. “Honestly, at this point, I’m ready to just go pay someone to make food for me,” she said bluntly.
Blaine looked at her, then nodded. “Okay. Can I take you somewhere then?”
“Are you asking me on a date?” She felt her eyes begin to bat at him, and told herself to stop it. But her body wasn’t responding, and she felt some warmth flood her cheeks as she blushed slightly at the blatant flirting.