Out May 31, 2018. Pre-order on Amazon.
Sequel to Temptation, A Dragon Story
Justin never forgot Ariel, the bewitching beauty who
ensnared him and caused him to become her father's prisoner. Ariel's father
tortured Justin as he tried to extract the powerful black dragon's magick, but
Justin managed to escape. Now the black dragon has returned, demanding that Ariel
spend three nights in his bed. But in claiming his revenge, will Justin
surrender his heart?
copyright 2018 Bonnie Vanak
Sedona, Arizona
Spring of 2017
She adored dragons. They
reminded her of tumbleweeds, rolling on forever, free to roam wherever the wind
took them. Even when dragons were spitting mad and only a few feet away, they
still fascinated her.
Powerless, immobilized by iron chains her father had
found on the internet, the black dragon roared and clawed at the air, his front
feet tipped with razor sharp claws.
A lump clogged Ariel
Harrington’s throat. Poor, caged creature. She dared to draw closer to the iron
cage holding the dragon prisoner. On her bottom, she scooted over the cold
concrete floor and wrapped her fingers around the cage’s bars.
Even enraged, the
black dragon was beautiful. Light shimmered off his ebony scales, making them
glitter like onyx. Amber eyes with slit pupils gleamed as he bellowed. Two
black horns grew from the top of his head, each tipped with sharp points.
Pearly rows of knife-like teeth flashed as he bared his lips at her.
And the wings, ah, the
wings! Folded back, they were not impressive, but when he unfurled them like a cape,
they filled the width of the cell.
Flickering torches barely cut through the gloom in the
deep, dungeon-like basement. Black smoke curled upward, and then caught in the
air drafts blown in through vents in the ceiling. The air was redolent with
acrid smoke, charcoal and fear.
Not the dragon’s fear. Her fear for this magnificent
creature.
Her father had constructed, at great cost, this room
for the day he captured such a beast.
Two months ago, he’d
succeeded with her help. Justin the black dragon had pulled over to aid her
with a flat tire.
And then her father’s
assistant had thrown the iron upon him, rendering him helpless.
Sinking to her knees,
she stared at the great beast, a symbol of enormous magick. Magick her father
envied and hated. Every chance she had, she snuck down here to talk to the
mighty black dragon.
Ariel wrapped her
fingers around the iron bars. “I’m sorry for what is happening to you, Justin.”
Dark eyes gazed back
at her in the gloom. Then the beast blinked, its black pupils turning round as
her own. He blinked again, and the pupils elongated again.
What had her father
done to him?
Eyes filled with
misery and hatred, he stared at her. Justin the dragon was a little older than
her, but at 25, she had few experiences in life. This dragon had seen and
explored the world.
Justin lunged forward,
nearly reaching the iron bars. Chains rattled and the beast roared again as the
bonds restrained him. Overriding the scent of smoke and misery was a strong
woodsy scent.
It must be Justin’s
own scent.
Her powers as Mage
grew stronger each day, especially her sense of smell.
She dared not inform
her father, for who knows what he would do? The man coveted every flicker of
energy – power he leeched each day from the dragon.
Nostrils flared as the
dragon sniffed at her, and then his gaze centered on the glowing amber crystal
hanging from a silver chain around her neck.
Ariel touched the
crystal. Rare and filled with energy, it enabled a Mage or a witch to siphon a
dragon’s powers…
And then protect the
wearer from the dragon. It was her most precious possession. Her father had
found it in a mysterious cave he said was filled with dragons.
Leo had taken only
that one crystal from the cave and gave it to her as protection from the black
dragon. He’d been using other crystals, however, infusing them with dragon
magick, Leo Harrington had become capable of healing the gravest of wounds.
Or inflicting them.
The balance teetered
on a razor’s edge.
Ariel held out a hand
to the black dragon. “I wish I had never agreed to this evil. I swear, I
thought Father was sincere when he insisted he only wished to capture you for
observation, not to torture you and drain your magick.”
Even as she blinked,
the dragon shifted into a man. Hair dark as ink spilled to broad shoulders.
With sculpted cheeks and face carved from a master artisan’s chisel, he was
quite handsome.
And naked.
Out May 31, 2018. Pre-order on Amazon.
We have a new rescue pup. Her name was Rose Claire, but we renamed her Bella because she deserved a name that means "beautiful." She is 3 years old, according to our vet. A Shih Tzu, and she was living at a trailer in Miami with a dog hoarder. Infested with fleas and had to be shaved before she arrived at the rescue shelter. They had her for a month.
Cookie is gone. We put her to sleep Thursday morning. She had kidney failure, her creatine was 2.4, her BUN was 111. She also was in heart failure, with fluid leaking to her lungs, and had labored breathing. They did an xray and she had a mass near her stomach. So kidney failure, heart disease and cancer. There was no hope. The vomiting was from the kidney failure, but if we gave her fluids like we do with Holly, her heart would have gotten worse, and her breathing worse. She was in pain and suffering a lot. This is the last photo of her, taken at the vet's office. We held her, stroked her, told her how much we love her. She went peacefully, dying in my lap as we told her how much we loved her. She was 15 years old.
