The Dragon Legion Collection 9 (30 page)

She glanced up to find Damien’s gaze upon her, and his smile warmed her to her toes. Of course, he and Alexander had heard every word, with their keen hearing, and she wasn’t surprised to see Alexander summon the others to the fire as soon as she had chosen the stone.

“We will take our dragon forms, each in turn,” he said and the younger
Pyr
nodded. They were all attractive men and clearly a disciplined company. Each one had a mark on his body, like the dragon mark on Damien’s arm, even though they couldn’t be of his company of Dragon Legion Warriors lost in time. She wondered how these
Pyr
had obtained their tattoos.

There was no time to ask, though, for the dragon warriors were moving with purpose. Damien stood on Alexander’s left, with Petra and their son beside him. Katina stood on Alexander’s right, with Lysander and then Theo beside her. The others took their places around the fire, forming a circle.

The fire in the middle burned higher when the circle was complete, and Petra realized that these
Pyr
warriors had their own link to an element. She remembered the prophecy and smiled.

Fire and stone must pay the price.

That was Damien and herself, and they’d paid it in full.

Now the firestorm’s promise would be theirs.

Alexander shifted shape first, becoming a dark dragon in the same moment that the flames leapt skyward. Damien shifted next, and Petra loved how the fire again stretched for the sky, its light reflecting off his newly golden scales. The other
Pyr
shifted shape in unison and she saw that they were all darker and smaller than the two fully fledged warriors. She saw glimpses of color in the scales of each, but guessed that their hues had yet to develop.

When all had shifted shape, Alexander extended his claw to her, obviously requesting the fallen scale. Petra surrendered it to him and he held it between the tips of his talons, then pushed it into the flames of the fire. The bonfire burned higher, as if fueled by the scale and Petra couldn’t see it in the brilliant blaze of orange.

“Fire,” Alexander intoned and the
Pyr
echoed him. He extended his hand to her again, and Petra gave him the stone. Alexander removed the scale from the flames and it was the same bright golden color of the rest of Damien’s scales. He pushed the stone against it and Petra saw that the scale was so hot that it was molten. Alexander drove the stone into it, as if forcing a gem into a setting.

“Earth,” he said and the other
Pyr
repeated his word.

Alexander pushed the scale back into the fire and the flames licked it hungrily. When he removed it again, both it and the stone from the Mothers had fused into one and were so hot that they were pale yellow and smoking.

He extended the scale and Damien blew on it.

“Air,” Alexander said, along with the other
Pyr
.

Alexander lifted the scale and pressed it against the bare spot on Damien’s chest. Petra heard the hiss as it seared his flesh and she stepped forward in concern. Damien tipped back his head and roared at the pain.

To Petra’s surprise, Alexander touched her cheek with his claw. “Water,” he murmured, transferring her tear to the hot scale. The water sizzled against it, sending up a stream of vapor as it disappeared. To her relief, the scale darkened immediately and Damien shuddered in relief.

Alexander then lifted her son from her arms and held him high. “Welcome, Orion! Welcome to the new
Pyr
among us!” The
Pyr
roared approval, each one tipping back his head to send a blaze of dragonfire into the sky.

There was a crack like lightning and a blue-green bolt of darkfire appeared out of nowhere. Petra gasped when it touched her son, but then it was gone and he was gurgling happily. The flames of the bonfire leapt toward the sky, casting a joyous spray of sparks in every direction as if in celebration, and Damien caught both her and her son close to his chest.

Petra checked the baby, only to discover that there was a small mark on his arm, just like his father’s.

“He’s one of us,” Damien murmured to her and Petra nodded, glancing at the Mothers. He was of her kind as well, and she couldn’t wait to see what that combination brought in the future.

Damien flew a triumphant circle around the peak of the mountain, making Petra laugh with his obvious happiness. The
Pyr
cheered as he landed and shifted shape quickly, holding Petra fast against his chest.

When he kissed her thoroughly, Petra could only return his embrace in kind. Her heart was alight with happiness and she had the urge to sing that love song to him again. Against all expectation, they’d been given the second chance they needed to make their partnership work.

Nothing would ever drive them apart again.

* * * * *

Kiss of Destiny

The Third Dragon Legion Novella

by Deborah Cooke

He will sacrifice anything to win his destined love...

When the darkfire crystal takes the dragon shape shifters Thad and Drake to an unknown location, only fulfilling his firestorm matters to Thad. Little does he know that in following its light to his destined mate, he’s stepping into the realm of the gods, a place so forbidden to mortals that any who enter it must die. Aura has always been skeptical of long-term promises—but Thad is irresistible. No sooner does Aura surrender than the gods demand their due of her dragon shifter. Can she save Thad and make the dream of the firestorm come true?

Prologue

Drake had never been more exhausted in his life. He could barely keep his eyes open, but he didn’t dare to close them. He didn’t trust the darkfire crystal to sleep while he did. He didn’t know how long they’d been suffering through this ordeal with the unpredictable stone, but he didn’t think he could survive much more of it.

There was just himself and Thad left, the younger Dragon Legion Warrior filled with an enthusiasm that Drake couldn’t match.

They were together in a nameless park, sitting on the lip of a concrete fountain. Night was falling and the stars were coming out. The park, which had been busy earlier in the day, was becoming more and more quiet, as people returned home with their children and dogs. Unless Drake missed his guess, this park was in an American city in the twenty-first century. Their clothing blended in well enough here for them to avoid scrutiny.

Drake wondered if that would be the case if they stretched out and slept on the benches.

“I wonder why it brought us here,” Thad mused. He was like a curious child, thrilled with every place the darkfire crystal deposited them and intent upon figuring out the stone’s logic.

“It could be whim,” Drake said.

Thad shook his head. “No, there has to be a reason. There has to be a point.”

Drake said nothing. He’d learned long ago that many events in life didn’t have a point. All the same, he remembered having Thad’s optimism once, many, many years ago.

“There’s no firestorm’s spark,” Drake couldn’t help but observe. “Maybe your theory is wrong.”

“No, it makes perfect sense for the darkfire crystal to take us to our firestorms. That way, we find our destined mates and make more
Pyr
.”

“Perhaps the darkfire thinks there are enough dragon shape shifters in the world. It was released by the
Slayer
Chen, and he has no fondness for our kind.”

“It’s older than he is, I think, and strong enough to use him for its purposes.”

“You don’t know.”

Thad grinned. “No, but I like that answer better.”

“Even if it isn’t the truth?”

Thad leaned closer and bumped shoulders with Drake, a gesture of such familiarity that Drake was shocked. “Come on,” Thad said. “Don’t you want to go back to Cassandra?”

Drake didn’t answer that. He stared into the depths of the stone and admitted his secret fear. Although he’d been happy enough with the results of his firestorm at the time, the centuries had changed him. He wanted more than sex and sons. He knew Cassandra was self-reliant and didn’t doubt that she’d provided well enough for herself in his absence. She was practical and not afraid to be tough. She would have raised their son well. He knew, though, that if he returned to her after all his adventures, he would do so as a changed man. The man he had become might not be so content with Cassandra.

And, to be fair, Cassandra might not be very content with him. He turned the large quartz crystal in his hands thoughtfully.

When Drake thought of women, he remembered the military widow he’d helped in the modern world. Although their acquaintance had been short and businesslike, Ronnie had made an impression upon him. She was both vulnerable and strong, a woman who was used to having a partner’s support to rely upon, but one who had only begun to understand her own strength. He’d found her extremely attractive, even though he knew his feelings were inappropriate. He’d been shocked that he could find a woman alluring who was so different from his Cassandra.

Her full name, Veronica, meant ‘little truth,’ and Drake had since concluded that it had been their brief association that had shown him the truth about himself. He wasn’t the man he had once been. He didn’t want what he’d wanted before, or even what he’d had. As much as he wanted to see his son and as much as he understood his responsibilities, Drake had very mixed feelings about being cast back in time to finish what he had begun.

He couldn’t tell Thaddeus that, of course. The other
Pyr
wouldn’t have understood. Thad was so filled with wonder and enthusiasm and optimism that Drake couldn’t introduce the idea to him that the firestorm might not be right every time, or that it might not be right forever.

He might have hoped the crystal would stay dark, but that would have been cowardly.

When the blue-green spark trapped deep inside the stone began to glow more brightly, it was all Drake could do to keep from groaning aloud.

Thad noticed immediately. “This is it!” the younger warrior declared. “Do you think it will be you or me this time?”

“If you’re right that the darkfire is taking each of us to our firestorm, then I hope it’s you.” Drake knew he sounded as weary as he felt.

Thad shot a bright glance his way. “That makes no sense. You’re just thinking of the men under your command before you think of yourself.” Thad paused but Drake didn’t want to shatter his illusions. “I know you want to return to Cassandra and your son. It would only be right.”

Drake kept silent and watched the darkfire brighten. Where would it take them this time? Was this the time that they’d be separated once and for all? Or would his Dragon Legion be reunited, after the stone completed its quest?

“That’s what Alexander did,” Thad said with confidence. “He returned to his Katina...”

“You don’t know that for certain,” Drake said sternly. “You know only that the darkfire took us to the village where he had lived with her.”

“Well, why else would it do that?”

“I can’t begin to guess.” Actually, Drake had many ideas of what might have happened. He and his men had been enchanted for centuries. There was no telling what had occurred at their homes in their absence. There hadn’t been any way to tell
when
Alexander had arrived at that village. It could have been before he’d even met Katina or long after she’d died, missing him. She could have married again or been glad to be without him, or they might not have gotten along after his return.

“You sound dire, like Peter always did.” Thad laughed. “I couldn’t believe the look on his face when his firestorm sparked.”

“There’s nothing saying he succeeded in satisfying it.”

Thad laughed and the stone brightened even more. It seemed to pulse with that inner energy and Drake could feel it heating his skin. A wind swept through the park, shaking the trees and tugging at their clothes. Drake got to his feet and Thad stood beside him.

Drake supposed that one of them should have stayed in this place, and that the stone would bring them back until the dragon in question did stay. He wasn’t ready to step away from his last fellow warrior, though.

Neither, evidently was Thad. The younger
Pyr
grasped his commander’s shoulder so he wouldn’t be left behind.