“BREATHE…”
“Breathe through it, Ruby.Your Dragon is waking up.Bring it in.”
“Hurts.Hurts so bad,” she managed to say.She thought for sure she was on fire, but he was holding her close, enduring the flames, too.She saw it then, behind her closed eyelids.The Dragon was deep red with streaks of white, its scales glossy.It lifted its head, stretching its neck and releasing a stream of fire from its mouth.
Then she was moving, faintly aware of her skin rubbing against Cyn’s.The hunger washed over her in great waves.She pulled him closer, his chest against her cheek, the rub of his sprinkling of hair chafing her jaw.
“Control, Ruby,” he whispered, when he should have shouted it.
She shook her head, her mouth sliding against his skin.
He lowered his head, his voice hoarse.“Ruby.”
She looked up at him, the embers wild in his eyes, and pulled his mouth down to hers.His hands tightened on her, fingers tangling in her hair.She sucked on his tongue, then nibbled on his lower lip.Things she had never done before, never thought to do.
PROLOGUE
Fifteen years earlier…
Cyntag’s phone rang.He set down his glass of whiskey and grabbed the phone.The screen showed a restricted number.His boss.
“Valeron here,” he answered.
“I have a sensitive job of an urgent nature.”
Guard talk for an assassination to be carried out now.Over the years, Cyn had progressed through the Crescent police agency, going from an Argus to a Vega, the highest classification of officer.It meant taking jobs without explanations, without question… and without conscience.
Cyn grabbed a piece of paper.“Go ahead.”
“I’m handing you over to someone else for the details.”Of which there would be few.
Another man came on the line.He didn’t introduce himself, only gave Cyn ocean coordinates.“There’s a yacht named PHYSIKAL roughly in that area.Male is a Deuce, female a Dragon.Take out everyone on the yacht.Everyone.Understand?”
Irritation bristled, but Cyn kept it from his voice.“As always.”
“I’ve heard much about you, Valeron.Carry out this task and you will be rewarded well.”
The phone went dead.Cyn went into his office, pulled out the maritime map from his collection, and pinpointed the coordinates.Far enough out that boat traffic would be minimal at this hour.He headed outside to his back deck, looking at the ocean and orienting his position with his target.A trail of moonlight glistened on the waves like a thousand glittering diamonds, pointing in the right direction like an arrow.
He turned around to take in the warm and welcoming fireplace through the wall of windows in back.More money didn’t motivate him, and he was as high in the Guard as he cared to be.What drove him was the thrill of the hunt, the kill… to feel something after all this time.
He walked to the seawall, stripped out of his clothing, and dove into the ocean.Water sluiced over his body as it transformed, and magick tingled through him.His nose and mouth pulled away from his face, and his lengthening teeth tugged against his gums.His torso stretched, growing large and strong.His tailbone extended, becoming a whip in the water behind him.Scales emerged from his skin, the final transformation to Dragon.
The oceans were vastly uncharted, unmonitored, and mysterious, the last frontier.Emerald Dragons could fly beneath the water, a luxury envied by the other types.Cyn wasn’t Emerald by nature.He’d come by the ability in a less than honorable way.
There was nothing like the thrill of gliding free through the water, other than what awaited him.He tuned into his innate sense of direction, shifting south.Fish darted away in crazy zigzags.He skirted the sound of a boat’s engine, staying deep.A fish finder might pick up a horse-sized object that the captain would attribute to a school of fish or goliath grouper.
He came up, saw lights in the distance, then swam close enough to ascertain that the yacht was his quarry.A man and woman sat in the cockpit, though even with his night vision Cyn couldn’t see much more than their gender.
His heart beat faster, adrenaline racing through his veins.He submerged again, moving close enough to see the hull cutting through the water.His muscles tightened and released, shooting him toward the bow.He gathered his magick and tore through the hull and out the other side.The impact hurt, bruising and jarring his body, but he powered through it.
Cyn surfaced, only the tip of his snout and eyes above the water.The couple shouted to each other, panic in their voices as they scurried to the deck to see what had hit them.The yacht was tilted, water gushing into the hole he’d created.They were obviously on the run.No other reason for tearing across the ocean at this time of night or to warrant a Guard-sanctioned hit.The targets would immediately suspect an attack.
The man ran down into the cabin.The woman grabbed a rifle and started shooting in a wide arc into the water.She couldn’t see him so her shots flew wild.The man returned to the deck carrying a large bundle.Some kind of bomb launcher?But he screamed into the darkness of the ocean, “They don’t know anything about this!Leave them alone,please!”That last word came out guttural, thick with emotion.He ran to the dinghy and laid his package in it.
Cyn hated when they begged.No matter, he had his orders.
The yacht was sinking fast.The female discharged all her shots, desperately searching the water.Cyn remained just below the surface, his view distorted.She Catalyzed, becoming a Carnelian Dragon.Red, passionate, and pissed, her Breath weapon was a stream of fiery spikes.With her night vision and fine-tuned instincts, she zeroed in on him.Her eyes flared with hatred and fear just before she dove in.
