He’s the stuff of legends and nightmares.

His fire will burn my enemies……And then melt my heart

I've toiled away in the mines all my life to survive.
But all my hard work has been a waste.

My sister is dying and there’s nothing I can do to save her.

Until I hear about rumors of dragons.
An ancient race on Protheka so powerful that maybe they could help me if I were to seek them out.
What else do I have to lose?
But when I meet Angurus, I learn why all other races cower in fear in front of dragons.

He's brutal, yet magnificent. Arrogant and yet so beautiful.
And he heats me up with one look.

He says he will help my sister, if I help in his own quest.
I’ll do anything, give him anything. Including myself.
And afterwards, I’ll only have one last request.

For him to shoot his fire deep inside me.

So I can give him some little baby dragonlets.

Author's Note: This is a full length paranormal dragon romance set in the fantasy world of Protheka. HEA guaranteed!

Chapter 1

Kelly

“Brockhurst!”

I wince when my name is called.

The voice of Broswin, one of the orc guards, carries over the mine shaft. It reverberates loudly, making my ears ring even before I turn to face him. He stands with his morning star resting casually on his shoulder and leers at me.

I hate that thing. I much rather have the cat o’ nine tails whipping my back then have that hunk of metal scraping against my skin while he swings it full force. Broswin’s never been one to hold back when it comes to punishing us. Even if the crime is something as petty as tardiness.

His hand tightens on the hilt of it when I ask, “Yes, sir?”

“Where’s your sister? She’s late for her shift!”

I hold back another wince.

When I arrived for my shift early this morning, I’d made sure to keep a low profile when grabbing my stuff. Hoping that by doing so, I could avoid any unnecessary questions about my sister’s whereabouts.

Unfortunately with my luck, that wasn’t a success.

“She’s, um.” I shift the pickaxe in my hand, my fingers ache from holding it for so long. “She’s ill, sir.”

“Is she dying?”

“...No.”

“Is she bleeding? Throwing up her own insides?”

I want to sigh. I know exactly where this line of questioning is going. “No, sir.”

“Then get her over here or I’ll string you both up on the rack.”

My body shivers at the mention of that archaic torture device. I’ve only ever seen one person hung off of it before and even now, ten years later, I still can’t get the image of their body slowly tearing apart at the joints and those screams of agony out of my head.

“Yes, sir.” I tell Broswin and set my axe down next to my spot in the tunnel to mark it.

I move through the throng of humans that are now turning towards me while I pass through. I’m sure everyone’s curious about where my sister could be. It isn’t like her to skip out on her shifts like this. In fact, Kara’s never had a tardy day in her life, let alone a full on absence.

But today isn’t her fault. I made her stay home when we woke up this morning and she still had that nasty fever. The rash on her arm had only grown overnight, worrying me to the point where I’d forced her to stay in bed and rest all day while I went to our shift.

I told myself that as long as I could get through today without any hiccups, I would have enough money to purchase some salve for my sister’s rash from Old Agatha. Herbology medicine has never been my strong suit, but at this point, anything will help.

I ignore the pointed stare from Broswin and head out of the tunnel and into the wider part of the mine shaft. From here, I can feel the breeze coming into the caves from outside. It makes the entire mine shaft smell dank and musty, causing my nose to itch and my eyes to water.

I take the elevator up to the surface, my stomach lurching every time the excavator operator jerks the ropes to pull us up. I hate heights, especially when the ground below me seems near non-existent. As long as I’ve been working in this mine, I still have no clue how far it reaches to the bottom.

I breathe out a sigh of relief when we finally reach the surface and the gate onto the elevator parts for me to get off. Solid ground has never felt so good beneath my feet.

Heading out into the fresh air, I put my arm over my eyes to shield them from the bright sun.

It’s hot today, much hotter than it has been all week according to the calendar Kara and I have been keeping at home. While I hate being down in the mines because of the depressing darkness, I don’t mind the chill that comes with it. Especially on days like today.

I make my way to our hut, which is only about a seven minute walk from the mines. It’s one of the nicer things about getting a plot closer towards town. While we sacrificed the privacy that living out towards the outskirts provided, it gave us much easier access once wintertime hit.

I pull the latch back on the front door and push it inward, cool air breezes past me as I step inside. It’s much cooler in here than it is out there baking under the hot sun, giving me the much needed reprieve from it.

“Hey!” Kara says from over near the stove-set.

I smile at her and latch the door back, the smells of freshly cooked eggs making my mouth water.

Our hut isn’t very big, giving us just enough room to fit both of our small cots, a small stove-top that is attached to a sink basin, and a loveseat that Kara and I share on our day off while we read and relax.

On the floor near our cots is a small mat where Kara sometimes likes to lounge on the floor when her back is hurting her from working all day.

“You’re just in time,” she says to me, waving a wooden spoon in the air.

I walk over, spotting that the single pan that we have is filled with some kind of omelet concoction that she’s made out of all of the ingredients we’ve been storing in our ice box that I know are expiring soon.

“Smells good. How are you feeling?”

“Great!” She cuts into the omelet and spoons it onto the plate resting on the lip of the sink basin. “My fever finally broke.”

I grab it before it falls off.

“Really? That’s good. How’s your arm?”

“Oh, it’s fine.”

With her free hand, she shuts off the stove and pulls the pan off of the burner. I notice almost immediately that it’s wrapped in some kind of bandage with only the tips of her fingers being visible.

I frown. “Kara…”

“I’m fine.”

I set down my plate on the other side of the sink where the drying rack is. “Let me see.”

She turns to me, her eyes slightly wide. It’s the look she usually gives me when I’ve caught her in a white lie or when she’s trying to surprise me about something expensive she’s bought down at the markets for me.

I hold out my hand to her, flexing my fingers.

My sister lets out a soft sigh before setting the wooden spoon down in the pan. She quickly pulls at the bandage around her arm and hand, freeing it.

I can’t help but gasp when she holds it up in the light for me to see.

Her hand is no longer recognizable. Instead, it’s been replaced with some kind of monster hand.

Her fingers look longer now, with an extra joint and long black claws that extend out from where her nails once were. Spreading up her skin, all the way up to where her upper forearm is, are black scales that shine to an iridescent blue when she moves her arm.

It could be considered beautiful if not for it being on my own sister’s skin and making her look deformed.

“Oh, Kara…” I breathe out. I don’t know what else to say.

How are we going to fix this?

“I know,” she wraps her hand up again with the bandage. “It doesn’t hurt, though.”

I relax a little at that. It does make me feel better to know that she isn’t in any kind of pain, unlike last night and this morning. And she does have much more color to her since her fever broke.

The only problem now is trying to hide it. If any of the orcs found out she’s been infected, they’ll likely kill her.

“Broswin wants you down in the mines. He sent me back here to come get you.”

Kara shakes her head. “I’m not surprised. Let me pack our food so we can eat while we walk back.”

I nod to her and grab some of the paper palms we have hanging on the drying rack and hand them over to her so that she can wrap our food up.

Since we don’t know how Kara’s infection will react to anything, I’ve been trying to remain as cautious as possible. Getting any kind of medical attention for it is out of the question anyway, so we are on our own with figuring out how best to treat it with what little resources we have.

It makes me want to kick myself for letting her go off into the mines by herself. If I had told her to stick with me, she would never have found that stupid gemstone.

Cursed stones are always thought of as urban legends, anyway.

They are rumors passed down from miner to miner that no one takes seriously. Especially when it’s the elders who are always babbling on about finding one back in the day or knowing someone who has found one with no proof of it being real.

Unfortunately, Kara and I have become acutely aware of how truthful those rumors truly have been this entire time. One touch of that gemstone we’ve hidden away sent the rash up her arm.

We finish packing up and head out of our hut and down to the mines once more.

Nervousness churns in my stomach while we walk in the hot sun. I glance over a few times at Kara’s bandaged arm, knowing that as soon as one of the orcs spots it, they’ll be demanding to know what’s under there.

Kara nudges me gently with her shoulder. “I’ll be okay.”

I try to give her a smile, wrapping my arm around her to pull her into a side hug.

“I love you, Kara. I hope you know that.”

She smiles brightly. “I know you do, sis. I’ve never doubted that.”

I let her go once we reach the entrance to the mines and leave her to go grab her a set of gear.

There isn’t too much that the orcs allow us to have down there in terms of protection, but at least we have hard hats and gloves. As for eye shields and masks that help us breathe through the dust, that part is up to us to make and provide.

When I walk back over, I wait for her to secure our breakfast into the small pouch at her hip before taking the gear out of my hands. I make sure that her gloves are buckled tightly at the base of her elbow. At least with these on, her bandage isn’t so obvious.

We get onto the elevator and take the rickety ride down.

My hands clutch the railings tight enough to make the joints in my hands ache the entire way down and I breathe out a sigh of relief as we finally reach the part of the mine our group had been assigned this morning to work on.

“Is it sad to say that I kind of missed it down here?” my sister jokes with me as we step off of the elevator.

I nod to the operator before turning back to her. “I love your sense of humor.”

She laughs, catching the attention of Broswin immediately. “Brockhurst! Get back to work!”

Both of us jolt and quickly head over to our section of the mineshaft. “Jeez, you weren’t kidding.” my sister mumbles to me. “He is in a bad mood.”

I grab my axe from where I’d propped it up before I left.

“I told you.”

Behind us, we hear Broswin begin to yell at another set of miners a few yards away from us. I look over to see where they are, noticing that it’s the Solange siblings that are now incurring the orc’s wrath.

“Hey, did you get the water rations yet?”

I turn back to look at my sister. “No, I forgot. Let me go grab them while Broswin’s distracted.”

Setting my axe down once more, I quickly jog around the other miners and over to the small lantern and cooler that have been placed at the mouth of the mineshaft.

Normally, our water breaks are broken up into five minute intervals between pairs—something that is surprisingly considerate given that we aren’t expected to provide the water ourselves. But I have a theory that the orcs only do this so that we aren’t dropping dead of dehydration every day.

It at least forces them to provide something to keep us alive.

I unhook my canteen from my waist and open the cooler to dip it into the fresh water inside, careful to use the handle on it and not let my dirty fingers dip into it by accident and contaminate the water any further than it already is.

I fill my canteen up completely and latch it back onto my hip before flipping the lid of the cooler closed once more.

“Brockhurst! What did I say about getting back to work!”

Shit.

“Sorry! I—”

I’m cut off by a low rumbling. Just as I turn to see where the noise is coming from, screams erupt and chaos takes over. I gasp and cover my head with my arms, dropping down to the ground when a pickaxe is hurled towards me.

“Arg!” I hear Broswin groan from behind me, followed by a loud thud from his body dropping to the ground.

“Kara!” I yell for her, my voice drowned out by the screams.

But just as suddenly as it started, it stops. The entire shaft goes completely silent. I lift my head slowly and push myself up from the ground. All around me are dead bodies, slain from whatever cosmic energy has just ripped through the mineshaft.

“No…” I mumble. “No, no, no. Kara!!”

I hear a sob in the distance, deeper into the mineshaft. “Kelly…!”

My heart lurches, I grab the lantern from on top of the cooler and race to where we last were standing 

“Kara! I’m coming!”

What the hell just happened?

“Kelly!” my sister calls again.

I raise the lantern up high in my hand, spotting her a few feet away from me.

Her axe is clutched in her hand, the end of it coated in blood that is now dripping onto the ground beneath it.

She looks up at me with tears in her eyes.

“I’m sorry.”