Zircon (Awakened Sea Dragons Book 1) Read online

  Zircon

  Awakened Sea Dragons

  Terry Bolryder

  Contents

  Author’s note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  Sample of Awakened Dragons Boxed Set

  Terry Bolryder Reading Guide

  Author’s note

  Wait!

  These dragons can be read alone, as each has a guaranteed happy ending and a unique couple. However, there are some world-building details and side characters that will give more enjoyment if you read the books in order, so I really recommend you start at the beginning. They are all fun, and the first six are bundled for the price of one book!

  Here is a quick, easy list!

  Awakened Dragons

  Awakened Dragons Boxed Set (best deal!)

  Contains Onyx Dragon, Sapphire Dragon, Ruby Dragon, Diamond Dragon, Amethyst Dragon and Emerald dragon all in one place for the same price of one book! A special gift for my readers.

  Or you can buy them separately:

  Onyx Dragon

  Sapphire Dragon

  Ruby Dragon

  Diamond Dragon

  Amethyst Dragon

  Emerald Dragon

  Rent-A-Dragon

  Steel Dragon

  Iron Dragon

  Titanium Dragon

  Date-A-Dragon

  Gold Dragon

  Silver Dragon

  Platinum Dragon

  Citrine Dragon

  Awakened Sea Dragons

  This book :)

  I have a separate series of dragon books that are menage and have different world building, and they come before the Awakened Dragons but don’t need to be read prior as they are completely different.

  Here they are:

  Dragons of New York

  Double Dragons (New York Dragons) Boxed Set

  Double Dragons

  Desired by Dragons

  Destined Dragons

  Tiger Protectors

  A Dragon’s heart

  Chapter 1

  Seaton was about ready to do something desperate.

  He and his siblings, once powerful sea dragons, had been awakened in the current world for more than a week now, and without the ability to gain their dragon forms or any knowledge of how life worked here in this time, things weren’t going well.

  Luckily, the local language seemed to be English. But any attempt to approach locals who came to the beach seemed to be met with fear or loathing. Or having some sort of enforcers called on them so they were forced to move the little camp they’d built down to another part of the beach that was more shaded.

  “I’m tired of fish,” Marina said, folding her arms. She wore an odd dress fashioned from old clothing she’d found amongst the trees and sand on the beach that had been left behind by humans. Her golden hair was bedraggled and her usually sparkling, excited eyes were dull in a way that concerned him.

  Kai, as usual, had resorted to silent anger, and he was right now cleaning a fish and preparing to cook it for Marina. She had fashioned a loin cloth for Kai and given a ragged pair of old pants to Seaton, but their measurements were not nearly the same as a mortal’s, and Seaton was sure he looked like some kind of washed-up sailor whenever he approached a human.

  Their cloaking abilities had been useful in running from the “enforcers,” the humans called the “police,” but not in anything else. They couldn’t stay long in the water, which was more than a little humiliating for dragons who once ruled the seas.

  Well, balanced it at least, Seaton thought as he sat on a driftwood log next to the fire Kai was making, propping up sticks as Marina inhaled and blew fire over the kindling, setting it alight.

  They still had many of their mysterious powers, but no ability to shift. If they could, they could easily travel by air to find others of their kind and even the oracle, to find out why they’d been summoned or awakened.

  He sighed as cold wind blew overhead and clouds covered the sky.

  “Kai, you aren’t helping things.”

  “It is not my job to help things,” Kai said stubbornly. “That is your job. Making things ‘right,’ making things ‘peaceful.’”

  “That isn’t my job anymore. We were sealed and sent to rest because we weren’t needed. And clearly, we don’t have our forms back so we aren’t supposed to go back to it.”

  Kai huffed. “Then what are we supposed to do?”

  “Make something work with the humans, I suppose. And wait for the other dragons to contact us,” Seaton retorted testily. A week on the beach with his surly brother had eroded his patience.

  “There is that restaurant up the road,” Marina said, her blue eyes flashing with hope for a moment.

  Seaton’s heart sank nervously. Above all, he didn’t want to go there. While cloaked and invisible, they had done some exploring to see their options and seen a small restaurant just a little ways down the road that seemed to cater to beach visitors.

  They also had used their cloaking to sit in at times and listen to the customers and get a feel for modern speech so when they did attempt to blend in, it would be easier.

  Humans were humans, and thus, all similar, no matter what time they came from.

  He was used to a certain response from any female he encountered, and he supposed if he had to, as a last resort, he could use that to get help.

  But he would rather not. He’d taken a liking to “Jenny,” the woman who ran the bar at the restaurant, a fiery, curvy woman who didn’t take any nonsense and so far didn’t believe any of the ranting customers who talked about a raggedy but beautiful man who had approached them on the beach.

  Something about her drew him in, so he often snuck away to watch her.

  He knew it was creepy, but he couldn’t help it. And he liked that, because she had never seen him, he’d never had to see the disdain on her face he received from other humans.

  He was a dragon. Powerful, benevolent, charming—or had been at one time. Every mermaid had fawned over him; every fish paid him deference. And he’d protected them all.

  But now he was a dragon out of water, unsure of his place in the world. Though, whenever he crouched, hidden and cloaked, outside the restaurant and watched Jenny, he couldn’t help feeling a little less lost.

  If he had to approach her, if he had to break this magical, non-awkwardness between them, then he would.

  But he didn’t have to like it. No, not at all.

  “You have to do it,” Marina said, watching him and probably sensing his reticence. “Can you imagine if we sent Kai?”

  Seaton shook his head, wrinkling his nose. “No, of course not.” Seaton had always been the diplomat, the one to negotiate with the oracle or other land dragons.

  But this world was so different.

  Still, before men chased him off or women showed visible fear, there was something else in their eyes when they looked at him, and while Seaton didn’t know if Jenny would have that in her eyes when she looked at him, he knew if she did, he could use it to his advantage.

  To help his family and find an anchor in this world.

  Because right now, he felt like seaweed floating uselessly this way and that on the waves, helpless.

  He balled his hands i
nto fists, deciding it was time to take control of the situation.

  “All right,” he said. “I’ll do it. But first, I’m going to take a shower.”

  There was a small waste disposal facility with showers down the beach from the restaurant so customers could clean off before coming in, and Seaton and his siblings had sometimes availed themselves of it.

  Seaton liked to go first so while he waited for the others, he could watch Jenny again.

  Creepy, true, but so was everything about his existence at the moment—hiding on a beach, killing fish, avoiding contact with humans.

  Surely, stepping out into the light wasn’t the worst that could happen.

  And maybe she would be different than other humans. Maybe Jenny, with her gorgeous, reddish-brown hair and sparkly, green-and-brown eyes, would give them a chance.

  He gave himself a once-over as he strode down the water’s edge in the direction of the restaurant. Even after a week of living on fish, his muscular physique hadn’t been affected, and he’d been told many times (and not only by his sister) that he was almost supernaturally handsome.

  Hopefully, that would mean something to Jenny after all.

  Jenny Reed looked down the beach with a raised eyebrow as the showers she’d installed next to the public bathroom turned on. Lately, they seemed to be malfunctioning, turning on at odd times when no one was there and spraying the water in weird directions.

  She’d told Drew about it, but as usual, he’d been too busy to do anything about it.

  All she wanted was to own this restaurant on her own, to take care of her customers without the threat of him coming around. He’d already proved he couldn’t be there for her, and she regretted ever going into business with him.

  She should have known better than to get professionally involved with someone she’d always known wanted more.

  She rested her cheek on her hand and sighed at the cool ocean breeze wafting through. When the weather turned colder, she had fewer customers, usually people just driving by to see the coast. She hated to see the end of high season. It meant she would have to close the doors that led to the beach and lose a lot of the natural light.

  The front door to her bar opened, and Drew walked in, looking lazily pleased with his place in the universe, as usual.

  “Hey,” he said in a deep voice, straightening a little as he walked over.

  Despite his dark hair and gray eyes and what some might consider handsome, if slightly coarse, features, she wasn’t attracted to him. She’d never been. He’d become her friend quickly when she moved here, acting as if all he wanted to do was help. He’d offered up capital, saying he thought her business was a good idea, but as the months had gone by, it had become clear he was more interested in her than the restaurant.

  One of those “nice” guys who was nice only when it suited him.

  And lately, he seemed to be getting impatient.

  “You didn’t say you were coming,” she said.

  “Do I need an excuse to visit the bar I own with you?” He shoved his hands in his pockets and glared at her with a narrow-eyed look that always made her want to crawl under the bar until he left.

  But she wasn’t like that, so she stood firm, grabbing a glass to dry as a way to keep her hands busy as she shook her head. “No, but it would be nice, since I don’t expect it, as you’re never here.”

  He sat on stool and leaned in uncomfortably close to her. She was a short woman, and it wasn’t hard to make her feel small and intimidated.

  Not that she would ever let him see that.

  “How’s business?” he asked.

  “Good,” she said. She jerked her head in the direction of the beach. “The shower is still broken. Do you want me to get someone to take a look at it?”

  He shook his head, reaching over to grab a glass and helping himself to a beer from the tap. “It’ll resolve. Just weird piping or something, I’m sure.”

  Well, that was kind of the point of needing a plumber, but she decided to keep it to herself. If he really wasn’t planning to do anything about it, she would just hire someone behind his back and say it resolved on its own.

  She reached out, taking a deep breath, and put a hand on his, hoping that would keep him calm for what was coming. “Look, Drew, when are you going to let me buy you out of your part in this? I know it’s not your thing, and—”

  Despite the fact that she’d brought this up before and he’d never reacted well to it, she was still unprepared for his reaction.

  His expression darkened and he knocked over his beer as he shot up, grabbing her wrist and making her yelp painfully.

  “Stop that,” a loud voice commanded from the direction of the back doors that were open to the beach, and she and Drew both looked over in shock to see someone standing there that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

  Drew’s lips curled, and he didn’t release her wrist as he looked over the newcomer. “This doesn’t concern you.”

  The stranger wasn’t any less disconcerting as he stepped into the light of the restaurant. For one, he was dripping wet. For two, he had perfectly sun-kissed, dark-blond hair that was tousled from being shaken. For three, he was the biggest man she’d ever met, and the most beautiful.

  Maybe she’d panicked a bit too hard in response to Drew and was hallucinating.

  “I said stop it,” the stranger said authoritatively, stepping closer.

  Drew scowled and then slowly released her. “Who is this guy?” He looked over at Jenny. “You shacking up with this loser?” His eyes raked over the appearance of the stranger, noting the torn, too-small pants he wore that sat low on powerful hips and came only to just below the knee.

  “No,” she said. “I’ve never seen him before in my life.”

  “You want me to call the cops?” Drew asked.

  She shook her head, putting up a hand as the stranger’s eyes widened in alarm.

  Despite his size and the odd look of him, she could sense he was somehow no danger to her at all. In fact, he looked almost afraid of her.

  He looked as though he wanted to rip Drew’s head off, however, and that went a long way with her.

  Drew was the type that managed to fool a lot of people. Usually cheerful and confident in a way that drew people to him and let few of them actually see him for the sociopath she suspected he was.

  “We’ll talk later,” Drew said, walking heavily to the door. He sent her a dark glare. “I’m not selling, Jenny. You can’t just take my money and kick me out. I’m not a man who can be messed with like that while you’re slutting around—”

  She gasped at his coarse words and then heard a crash as a bottle went flying at Drew’s head, smashing into the door as he dodged.

  “That was your last warning,” the newcomer said, folding his arms. “Get out and don’t come back.”

  “I own this place, and—”

  “I haven’t seen you here,” the newcomer retorted. “Now get out.”

  “This isn’t over,” Drew said, and then he flung open the door and was gone.

  Jenny waited until she heard his car pulling away before letting out a sigh of relief and turning to the newcomer who was still in her bar.

  He stood there looking like a man who’d survived the wreck of a ship full of runway models addicted to steroids. But there was something about him that was almost… innocent.

  “What’s your name?” she asked, coming around the counter and pulling out a stool for him to join her.

  He raised a dark-blond eyebrow. “You aren’t going to call the police on me?”

  “You just saved me,” she said with a smile, going back behind the counter, hoping it would make it easier for him to come sit down.

  He warily walked to the chair, and she assessed his height as he stood across from her. He had to be at least six feet five, if not taller. Her eyes were level with his rippling chest until he was seated.

  Then her eyes fixed on his face, and it wasn’t any less awkward. Lon
g lashes, still dotted with water, and eyes like a clear, blue ocean on a sunny day. A hard jaw like you’d see on a cologne commercial. His muscular chest was so large as to be awkward but somehow seemed right. He had large hands that he placed on the counter, but they were graceful and long-fingered.

  She’d always been one to notice men’s hands, whether they were clumsy or gentle or looked deft.

  She flushed as she busied herself behind the bar. “What would you like to drink? It’s on the house.”

  His full lips spread into a smile. “Anything, as long as I can drink it here with you.”

  She stood slowly, suspicion wafting through her. “Excuse me?”

  “I said I’m just happy to enjoy your company.” He raised a leg and placed it on the stood beside him, then propped his right arm on his knee and flexed.

  She gulped as his huge bicep jumped, then snapped herself back to reality.

  Normal men did not walk into a bar shirtless and flex for a woman who was all alone.

  “What’s your game?” she asked, stepping back from the bar.

  He frowned and lowered his leg. “There’s no game. I just want to get to know you.”

  “Where did you come from?” She poured a glass of lemonade from a pitcher she always kept in the fridge and handed it to him. It was the least she could do for him stepping in with Drew.

  He pointed in the direction of the ocean.

  “Ah, I see,” she said. “The beach. So you’re a tourist.”

  “A what?”

  “Someone just visiting here from somewhere else.”

  He cocked his head. “You could say that.” Even his neck looked graceful and muscular.