Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 101427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Her breath hitched. Magic churned at her fingertips, instinctual, icy power building beneath her skin. She didn’t raise her hands just yet—but the storm was there, curling behind her fingertips, ready to blast if he so much as twitched.
Alright. I can hurt him, but. . .where can I run?
There was no clear exit.
No corridor.
No stairwell.
No carved doorway.
Only the jagged walls far above and endless piles of treasure all around her—mounds of gold, riverbeds of gems, dunes of skeletal glory. If she shot him with her magic, all she would do was anger the beast and trap herself inside a furnace.
Still, she kept backing up.
Korin’s eyes followed her every step.
They didn’t blink.
Didn’t soften.
They just burned into her.
At least he is not charging for me. That is good. But. . .
Her foot caught on a small pile of coins.
They clinked and shifted beneath her. Sol pitched forward—arms windmilling to catch herself—and somehow, miraculously, stayed upright. The bear pelt slipped slightly off her breasts for a second, but she yanked it up and held it tighter to her body.
Korin blinked.
What could he be thinking?
Korin’s massive golden head lifted, slow and terrifyingly calm. His neck uncoiled like a stretching serpent. Jewels slid down the slope of his flank as he moved.
What is he about to do?
She inched back.
And then to her utter horror, he spoke. Not in his low sensual human voice. This was something else. This was a voice not shaped by lips or tongue, but formed from the very bones of the earth. “Where do you think you are going?”
The space vibrated with those words.
Two skeletal heads tumbled sideways.
“Come back here.” Korin bared his fangs. “Now.”
Sol’s mouth went dry. She didn’t mean to, but she turned on instinct and ran fast in the other direction. She tore through the dunes of treasure, bare feet slipping against gold coins and pearl-studded chalices.
A goblet rolled by her heel.
Emeralds flew and hit against her knees.
She bolted past a hill of treasure shaped like a sleeping lion and then circled a golden obelisk topped with rubies.
Behind her, a low growl erupted, deep, thick, and hungry. It rumbled through the hoard like a wave.
“Your scent is in my soul now, little one,” the dragon's monstrous voice called out to her. “It was in my dream just now. Therefore. . .you could never hide from me. Soon. . .you will not be able to hide from him either.”
Him? What does he mean?
Sol cried out and sprinted harder.
She darted around another glittering hill. A cascade of rings and pearl necklaces spilled in her wake. Her chest heaved with every breath. Her power flared in her hands again, but there was nowhere to aim, nowhere to flee.
And then. . .a sliver of something caught her gaze.
Is that a way out?
Up ahead, tucked between two jagged mounds of treasure and a wall embedded with sapphire veins, there was a vertical split in the rock, narrow but real. Light filtered through it—faint, gray-blue.
Yes. I can squeeze through that.
Her heart pounded.
Sol beelined for it, ducking under a throne half-buried in gems, skirting the edge of a silver pool of melted armor and forgotten crowns.
Just a few more steps.
Then. . .
WHOOSH!
Wind and heat blasted her from behind.
A thunderous clap came from snapping wings.
She spun just in time to see Korin’s enormous form leaping over the hills of treasure.
Oh no!!
His wings unfurled mid-air, blotting out everything. The gale-force wind of his descent sent coins raining down in a glittering storm. Rubies bounced. Gold coins flew like thrown daggers. A whole pile of diamonds shattered under the impact.
Sol shielded her face and screamed.
He landed in front of her with a sound like thunder cracking the bones of the world.
Dust and gold flared upward in a shimmering explosion.
Korin’s wings spread wide, brushing the edges of the cavern, his talons sinking into the treasure, claws curling around mounds of silver like they were sand.
And then. . .as if he could hear her thoughts and read all of their intentions, he blocked the exit.
Blasted beast!
Fire simmered in his throat. It pulsed, dim but visible, deep in his belly. His chest rose with the weight of it.
Magic cracked in the air.
And those eyes—oh gods, those eyes—held hers with a wildness no dream could ever capture.
Sol stumbled back.
The bear pelt slipped again, exposing her breasts to the cold air and his molten gaze.
Korin let out a groan. “Why do you cover yourself?”
She shivered. “Why have you brought me here?”
Korin’s monstrous voice rumbled again, lower this time, more intimate—but no less terrifying. “You are ours. You are our mate.”
“I am. . .n-o—” For whatever reason, she could not finish the sentence. Her tongue wouldn’t let her tell him that this was not true. “I am. . .n-oo—”
“You are our mate.”
She pursed her lips together in frustration.
“Little one, dragons cannot lie.”
She cleared her throat. “Perhaps, you believe you are telling the truth, but it can still be a lie.”