Chromium Dragon Page 15
No, I’ve got it, Liam said.
The first man came at him without warning, swinging a meaty fist at Liam’s face. Liam stepped effortlessly to the side, then grabbed the man by the back of his head and slammed it into the bar, making the mugs and glasses jump and rattle from the impact before the man slumped onto the ground.
Two more came at him, one grabbing a nearby beer bottle and breaking it to create a makeshift weapon as they charged.
Glass. How pathetic.
Liam just kicked the first in the gut as he came forward, sending him flying back into the table they had come from and upturning it. The second, with the broken bottle in his hand, he grabbed by the wrist, then punched him hard in the nose. With a loud crack, the man tripped backward, then crumpled onto the ground as he held his face.
But as the rest of them all lurched forward in unison, Liam became vaguely aware of a thin, green mist in the air, filling the room like tinted cigarette smoke as he punched faces and crushed bar furniture on the attackers. And with that came an odd sensation at the back of his neck, tingling like a bug crawling on skin, a sixth-sense sort of insight into something ominous and nearby.
“Everyone stop!” a man’s voice shouted into the room, commanding and incredibly pissed off.
All at once, everything stopped, as if the entire world had been frozen in time. Liam’s muscles all froze, his fist mere inches from a guy’s cheekbone.
Conversations stopped mid-sentence. Raised glasses poured their contents all over their unmoving, non-drinking owners. Everyone stayed in place, unable to speak or shift even slightly.
And out of the corner of Liam’s eye, he saw a tall, blond man come through the door to the bar, striding like a pompous asshole and glaring furiously with piercing green eyes.
Dammit, the emerald dragon had found them.
The fun was over.
Aegis, the emerald dragon, cursed the day he’d agreed to take this assignment and watch over the metal dragons as they adjusted to society.
He paced angrily in his office, fuming with rage, and stopped only when he heard a loud knock at the door.
“Come in,” he said sharply, ready to punch whoever came through the door first.
Especially if it was Liam.
Aegis should never have had to track the metal dragons down, only to find their leader brawling like a maniac with a group of human men.
Magnus had tried to explain their captain had only been doing it to protect a woman being harangued by some drunkard, but that didn’t change the fact that Aegis had needed to use his powers to stop the fight and later erase everyone’s memories of the occurrence.
Which he wouldn’t have had to do if they hadn’t been there in the first place.
The door opened and the citrine dragon, with his long brown hair, champagne-colored eyes, and infuriatingly calm demeanor, walked in, taking a seat by the door.
A second later, Aegis’s mate, the opal dragon, with her long black hair and shimmering beauty, glided in after him.
Aegis felt his blood pressure drop a few degrees, if only for the sake of not throwing a temper tantrum in front of his wife.
“You know, you’ve got to stop erasing people’s memories like that,” Citrine said coolly, as if commenting on the weather. “It’s dangerous.”
“What did you expect me to do? The metal dragons were acting like Neanderthals again.” Aegis fumed, pacing again.
Opal, who had made herself comfortable in the oversized leather chair at the head of Aegis’s desk, just watched him, both concern and amusement in her gaze as he walked in circles.
“Aegis, you’ve got to stop worrying so much,” she said, the sound of her voice more soothing than any earthly food or drink.
“Worried? Ha, I’m not worried. I’m angry. Angry with these miscreant dragons. Angry with the oracle for putting me up to this charade. Angry that we haven’t been able to make progress on the mission we’ve been given.”
At that, Opal stood and took one of his hands in both of hers, her soft skin sending calm surging through him.
“You can’t control everything, you know,” she said with a light giggle, the sound charming and a strong reminder of just how lucky he was to have her.
“Yes, I can. And I will,” Aegis insisted.
“Very well. But in the meantime, have a seat.”
At her command, Aegis plopped himself into a chair, and Opal took another seat beside him.
“Have there been any updates from the oracle lately?” he asked.
“None,” Citrine said flatly. “She’s still dealing with things on Pride Island. And with the gem dragons working closely with the regional dragon teams and local shifter groups, things are pretty quiet out here right now.”
“Which means all we have to worry about is finding mates for the metal dragons,” Opal added.
Aegis was starting to lose hope. The Oracle had trusted Liam and his crew so much that she hadn’t even collared them as she had Aegis and his counterparts. And at first, they’d tried letting the crew have total freedom. But one too many incidents had occurred, so Aegis ordered they be sequestered at the castle.
But there had to be some way to help the damn dragons find their mates so they would aid humanity in the fight against evil. Some way without endangering humans and without revealing their identities as dragons.
Reading his mind, Opal offered a suggestion. “How about using a dating service?”
“Too risky. We can’t have their faces and information online somewhere public,” Aegis replied, thinking it out.
“How about setting them up as chaperones for hire or something?”
“Liam and his crew as male escorts? Kill me now,” Aegis said, tasting bile at the back of his throat.
“Well, what are they good at?” Citrine chimed in, always the one to answer a question with another question.
He hated when Citrine did that.
For a moment, they all sat in silence.
“You know, they are pretty good with their hands,” Opal said, snapping her fingers. “Since they’ve moved into this old place, it’s been in better shape than ever.”
Aegis thought about it. Despite the fact that their intermittent brawls with each other had torn the mansion to shreds, the metal dragons had indeed set about fixing the place up since they had come to live with them. There wasn’t a pipe, gasket, heater, or fitting that hadn’t been improved or replaced.
At first, Aegis had just thought it was boredom. But the more he’d seen it, the more he’d realized the metal dragons, particularly Magnus, were just naturally good at figuring out how things worked and fixing them.
Whereas Aegis didn’t even care to know how to change a damn light bulb.
He had more important things to do.
“Are you suggesting we hire them out as handymen?” Aegis said, the idea taking root in spite of his reservations.
Citrine nodded. “They can work locally, hire out for odd jobs. It will keep them busy, and if we’re lucky, they’ll run into their mates out there.”
As much as Aegis hated to agree with it, the idea was sound. If he’d learned anything during his crazy escapades with the gem dragons, it was that fate came to you, not the other way around. Trying to force it didn’t help anything.
“How do you suppose we do this?” Aegis said, annoyed that Citrine had clearly already been thinking about this but only now brought it up.
“Don’t worry. I’ve already registered an LLC and an online domain name. I can have a website up by the end of the week, and I’ll just set myself up as the primary contact for the company so you don’t get interrupted when you’re busy.”
Aegis felt a muscle tick in his jaw. “Do I dare ask what name you settled on?”
“Rent-A-Dragon,” Citrine replied, looking smug.
Aegis sighed. “Heaven help us.”
“It’ll be okay,” Opal said, reassuring him.
He hoped she was right, for all of their sakes.
Rent-A-Dragon Box Set
Dragon Reading Guide
Hi Readers!
I’ve had lots of requests for a reading guide specific to my dragons, so here it goes!
1. Awakened Dragons
These powerful, newly awakened ancient dragons are stronger, more vicious, more powerful, and ready to save humankind, if only they can decide to be heroes rather than villains…
Awakened Dragons Boxed Set (best deal!)
Onyx Dragon
Sapphire Dragon
Ruby Dragon
Diamond Dragon
Amethyst Dragon
Emerald Dragon
2. Rent-A-Dragon
These ancient, viking-esque dragons just woke up and are ready to get to work finding their mates and new lives in the modern world! Shenanigans and sexiness ensue!
Now in a new boxed set!
Steel Dragon
Iron Dragon
Titanium Dragon
3. Date-A-Dragon
These noble metal dragons have just joined the good side, formed a very odd dating agency, and are ready to protect the world and find their very own fated mates!
Gold Dragon
Silver Dragon
Platinum Dragon
Citrine Dragon
4. Awakened Sea Dragons
These dragons have things in common with both the metal dragons and the gemstone dragons, and first show up at the very end of the Date-A-Dragon series!
Zircon
Tourmaline
Aquamarine
5. Dragon Guard of Drakkaris
Sexy dragons introduced in the last book of the Awakened Sea Dragons that have come to Earth to settle down and find mates!
Lead
Cadmium
Arsenic
Zinc
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 (Menage)
Dragons work in pairs, the fire-breathing enforcers of the shifter world and rescuers of anyone in distress. And these sexy dragons are about to find mates:
Double Dragons Boxed Set
Double Dragons
Desired by Dragons
Destined Dragons
Also by Terry Bolryder
A Note From Terry
Most of my series go by species. Most of my books are standalone, but if you want to read them in order and see characters reappearing, here is my list of the order for each species. So just choose your favorite shifter!
Dragon Reading Guide
Awakened Dragons
These powerful, newly awakened ancient dragons are stronger, more vicious, more powerful, and ready to save humankind, if only they can decide to be heroes rather than villains…
Awakened Dragons Boxed Set (best deal!)
Onyx Dragon
Sapphire Dragon
Ruby Dragon
Diamond Dragon
Amethyst Dragon
Emerald Dragon
Rent-A-Dragon
These ancient, viking-esque dragons just woke up and are ready to get to work finding their mates and new lives in the modern world! Shenanigans and sexiness ensue!
Steel Dragon
Iron Dragon
Titanium Dragon
Date-A-Dragon
These noble metal dragons have just joined the good side, formed a very odd dating agency, and are ready to protect the world and find their very own fated mates!
Gold Dragon
Silver Dragon
Platinum Dragon
Citrine Dragon
Awakened Sea Dragons
These dragons have things in common with both the metal dragons and the gemstone dragons, and first show up at the very end of the Date-A-Dragon series!
Zircon
Tourmaline
Aquamarine
Dragon Guard of Drakkaris
Sexy dragons introduced in the last book of the Awakened Sea Dragons that have come to Earth to settle down and find mates!
Lead
Cadmium
Arsenic
Zinc
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 (Menage)
Dragons work in pairs, the fire-breathing enforcers of the shifter world and rescuers of anyone in distress. And these sexy dragons are about to find mates:
Double Dragons Boxed Set
Double Dragons
Desired by Dragons
Destined Dragons
Tiger Protector Series (Spin-off of Dragons)
Three tiger brothers trained by dragon shifters work to bring evil shifters to justice while finding the perfect curvy mates.
Tiger Protector’s Boxed Set
A Tiger’s Bounty
A Tiger’s Treasure
A Tiger’s Destiny
A Dragon’s Heart
Bear Reading Guide
Bearstone Park Series
A billionaire tech mogul, a movie star, and an Olympic snowboarder come back to Bearstone Park and find unexpected but wonderful mates.
Bearllionaire
Bearlebrity
Bearthlete
Beary Sexy Boxed Set: All three brothers in one (BEST DEAL)
Soldier Bear Series
These ex special-forces fighting bears are about to find curvy mates in beautiful, remote Bearstone Village.
Big Bad Bear
Big Sexy Bear
Big Strong Bear
Bear Haven Ranch Series
These rancher bear brothers need to find mates to keep the family land. Luckily, three curvy city girls are about to arrive just in time.
Mountain Bear
Rancher Bear
Wild Bear
Mountain Lion
Bear Claw Security
These sexy ex-special forces soldier bears are ready to protect in a whole new way, as bodyguards of the exclusive Bear Claw Security.
Bear to the Bone
Bear-ly a Hero
Bear to the Rescue
Bear-ly Human
Bear to the End
Polar Heat Series
A matchmaking papa bear sets his three bear shifter sons up with women on a Caribbean island.
Bear-ever Yours
Some Bear to Love
One in a Bear-l-lion
Remem-bear Me (Dad’s book)
Polar Heat Boxed set (Savings!)
Trapped in Bear Canyon
Sheltered by the Bear
Craved by the Bear
Redeeming the Bear
Lion Reading Guide
Lions of Pride Island
The hot royal family of shifters is ready to find mates!
King of Rock
Prince of Fate
Protector of the Pride
Wolf Reading Guide (The Alpha Series)
Alpha Games Serial (Complete story with boxed set)
An alpha female returns home to the pack mates she left and finds herself choosing between three alpha males in this paranormal romance serial from Terry Bolryder
Alpha Games Boxed Set
Alpha Rogue Serial (Novellas with cliffhangers between volumes)
An MMA fighting shifter meets his match in his exciting paranormal romance serial from Terry Bolryder.
Alpha Rogue Boxed Set
Alpha Contender Serial (Novellas with cliffhangers between volumes)
A average human woman finds out she’s a desirable female alpha and ends up in a mansion with ten possible suitors in this paranormal romance serial from Terry Bolryder.
Alpha Contender Boxed Set
Ultimate Alpha Boxed Set (One huge series)
Ultimate Alpha Boxed Set
Alpha Defender<
br />
When alpha wolf Thor finds an acquaintance on his doorstep needing his help, will he take the mysterious person in, or step aside?
*Stars Thor from Alpha Contender Series*
Alpha Defender on Amazon
Wolf Protectors Series
Three hot, wolf shifter brothers run a martial arts studio and divide their time between training to be the toughest around and winning over their sexy, independent mates. All in KU!
*Stars Asher from Alpha Contender Series*
Alpha Champion
Alpha Hero
Alpha Protector