She couldn’t quite believe what she was looking at. And then the dragon’s colossal head swung toward her. She let her gaze look from the four horns extending backwards from its forehead to the rows of teeth she glimpsed. Jane knew the instant the dragon’s amber eyes trained on her.
Her heart leaped in her throat. Was this how she would die? Not by a bullet, but by a creature that surely couldn’t exist?
There was movement near her. Jane watched the thug shoving away debris as he gained his feet. He took one look at her and raised his gun.
The dragon let out another deafening roar before it clamped down on the brute with its sharp teeth and tossed him in the air.
Jane followed the thug’s soar, both elated that he was gone and frightened of what would now happen to her. She was about to look away, when she spotted something yellow dip from the sky.
A shriek lodged in her throat when she saw the second dragon, which quickly ate the gunman.
Jane waited until the blue dragon was busy swatting more men with its tail before she began looking for a way out. She fled behind a wall where the roof still covered the warehouse and anxiously looked for some kind of door.
When she found nothing, she turned to retrace her footsteps and found a man standing in her way. His face, along with most of his body, was shrouded in the shadows, but she knew who it was. Despite all the yells from the dying men and the roars of the dragons, this man didn’t seem fazed.
“You aren’t afraid,” she commented.
He shrugged. “It’s not the first time I’ve seen dragons. What do you think of them? Are you frightened, Jane?”
She was terrified, but she wouldn’t tell him that. “Move.”
“So you can leave? Oh, I think not. You’re going to stay to see the end of this. I think you’ll be surprised. Matter of fact, I know it. And I want to see the look on your face when you realize what’s going on. Better than that, I want to see Banan’s face.”
Banan. Jane didn’t know what he had to do with this, but she couldn’t wait to get to him. In his arms she was safe—she knew that with a certainty she couldn’t explain.
It was then she realized the screams of the men had stopped. The only sound was that of a dragon’s deep, heavy breathing, the rain, and the thunder and lightning.
A large drop of rain landed in front of her. Jane slowly lifted her face to find the dragon looking at her from over the top of the wall, which in her haste, she hadn’t noticed didn’t go all the way to the roof.
Her heartbeat grew rapid and harsh as terror took hold. The dragon shifted its gaze, searching the shadows. Jane glanced to where the man had been, only to discover him gone. When her gaze returned to the dragon, she watched his head disappear back over the wall.
Why hadn’t he killed her? It would take just a swipe from his paw to knock down the wall separating them.
Jane took the opportunity to search where she was for a door out, but found nothing. She had no choice but to go back where the dragon waited. Maybe then she could escape without his notice.
She hesitantly walked around the wall and found not just the blue dragon, but also the yellow dragon. They were standing side by side, and their opened wings blocked the majority of the rain.
Jane looked from one to the other. The yellow dragon’s wide, orange eyes looked back at her, and she could have sworn the beast smiled, causing the series of tendril-like sprouts from his chin to move.
There seemed to be no malice coming from either of the dragons, and though the yellow one seemed to have smiled, it was the midnight blue one that drew her attention.
She couldn’t stop shaking from the cool air or the fear that gripped her. She was facing dragons!
Suddenly she recalled the man’s words from earlier. Dragon Kings.
Jane looked at the blue dragon. “Are you a Dragon King?”
To her surprise, he nodded his great head.
She took a step back, her hand over her heart. “How? How are you here? How do you exist?”
The blue looked away, his amber eyes troubled by her questions.
“They are questions I can answer,” said a male voice behind her.
Jane whirled around to see a new form move out of the shadows and into the light. He wore dark slacks and a charcoal gray and deep purple striped button-down. He shoved his hands casually in his front pockets and smiled.
“You must be Jane Holden.”
She looked over her shoulder to see the dragons watching her. When she looked back at the man, she took in his tall form, the muscles not quite hidden by his shirt, and the golden color of his hair. It was his nearly black eyes that penetrated her, which told her this man would not be trifled with.
“Yes,” she answered. “And you are?”
“Constantine. But you can call me Con. I’ve a feeling, Jane, you and I will come to know each other quite well. Banan has spoken highly of you, as have Elena, Rhys, and Guy.”
Jane put her hand to the side of her head. “Stop. Just…stop. There are two dragons behind me, and you aren’t even daunted by them. The other man seems to have just disappeared as well. What the hell is going on?”
Con took another step toward her. “First, the other man you refer to is gone. Unfortunately. But I’ll take care of that later. Second, those dragons are my friends. You know them, actually.”
“The other man said something like that as well. What do you mean?”
Con’s relaxed demeanor changed instantly. “Did you get a look at this man? Did you see his face?”
“No, to both questions. He made sure to keep to the shadows so I never saw him. He said he wanted to be here to see my face when I realized what the dragons were. He said he wanted to see Banan’s face as well. I don’t understand any of it.”
“Nay,” Con said with a sigh. “I’m no’ sure you’re ready for the answers, Jane.”
Con let out a short whistle, and both dragons shook their heads. Jane grew more confused the longer the conversation went on.