Zane has everything in his life under control and in order, but can he keep it that way when a young dragon is thrown into his life?
Zane was meant to be a warrior—end of story. Though he may not have had the most pleasant life living at the coven, he still loved being there. But the steadiness of his world came to a halt all within one day's events. A man he never saw coming has pushed the boundaries of what little normalcy he has, and learning of a secret love is just confusing him even more. Zane has never felt more torn on what he should be feeling…and for whom. Though if he assumed having two men plaguing his every waking thought was hard enough, learning of the danger his mother is in nearly has his head spinning off into another dimension.
The leader of the Dráguns is threatening to take everything away from him, his best friend is slipping further and further away from him, and a little dragon is managing to get under his skin in more ways than one. Sorting out what he has to do, what he wants, and what's right for him will be the biggest challenge he's ever been faced with. Will he follow his heart or will he take the easy path…or is the easy path the right path to begin with?
Reader Advisory: This book contains scenes of violence.
Reader Advisory: This book is best read in sequence as it is part of a series.
General Release Date: 15th November 2013
Present day
Boek sighed in relief when the horse he was riding finally came to a stop. Not wanting to get kicked, he quickly scooted back as the rider in front of him shifted to dismount. He’d learned early on that the Drágun he rode with could care less if Bo was struck by the heel of his boot as the man dismounted. Bo was even pretty sure that the jerk had done it on purpose the first time, but he just let it go like everything else. There was nothing he could do about it, so why bother—he was nothing but a lowly cook at Lord Gravaick’s castle.
Bo wanted to snort at the thought of the leader of the Dráguns insisting he be referred to as Lord. He was anything but. He was a disgrace to the entire dragon race, but he was nevertheless their leader. At one time the dragons had been a peaceful people. They’d lived in harmony with the fellow dwellers of Pavarus—the vampires, humans and mage folk. All had been well under their previous ruler, until Gravaick. The man hated anyone who wasn’t a dragon, more specifically anyone who wasn’t a Drágun—they were all he cared about.
Since Dráguns were such powerful creatures, Gravaick had made it a law that every Drágun had to join his army and fight against anyone lesser than them—which was everybody.
And that was how Bo came to be residing in that bastard’s castle. Nikolai, his brother, was a Drágun. Since Nikolai and Bo had no other family, Nikolai had insisted Bo come with him—kind of. For reasons unknown to Bo, Nikolai didn’t want anyone to know that they were brothers, so after a month of serving as one of Gravaick’s warriors, Nikolai had organized for Bo to join the castle as a servant—it was the only way for them to be together.
So, for the past hundred years, Bo had had to bear only seeing his brother once a month when Nikolai snuck down to his chambers at night. There were also the rare occasions of a brief glance if they happened to pass in the hallways.
Bo missed his brother desperately. He missed the days when they lived in the little village of Falfolk. Their parents had died shortly after Bo was born, so it had always been just the two of them. Nikolai had never told him of how they died, and that irritated him to no end, but since Bo hadn’t really known his parents, the fight for an answer faded. Nikolai, though, had done a wonderful job raising him and Bo couldn’t be more grateful. Nikolai had been his father, his mother, a brother and a best friend. They’d always had so much fun together. He remembered that there was always laughing. Even in some of the gloomiest times, Nikolai would find a way to put a smile on Bo’s face.
Now, Bo couldn’t even remember the last time they’d laughed together.
He knew that Nikolai meant well, and his brother had risked a lot getting him into the castle, but if Nikolai only knew…
Bo’s features had gotten him into trouble on more than one occasion. The few women of the castle referred to him as adorable. He was a mere five foot seven with a small frame, a heart-shaped face, short dark brown hair, amber eyes and full lips—he was delicate to say the least. If it wasn’t for a certain outward appendage between his legs, he could be a friggin’ woman. All right, maybe not a woman, but he was definitely pretty. He did have some muscle to him and his abs were well defined, but ultimately he looked more like a boy than a man—even though he was a hundred and sixteen years old. Nikolai said he resembled their mother in a lot of ways. It was the closest thing Bo had to knowing her, but it didn’t do him any good at the castle. There were very few women residing there, yet there were just over a hundred warriors. Gravaick rarely allowed the men to leave to seek out a wench and sate their lust, and Bo knew what the poor women of the castle went through because of it.
Bo had gone through it a few times himself, but those were days he didn’t like to think about and refused to mention to Nikolai. If his brother knew about the times when men would sneak into his room late at night…well, it would tear Nikolai apart. The guilt alone would surely be the end of him. Besides, ever since one of Bo’s intruders had had the bright idea of trying to force Bo to suck his cock—only to have Bo nearly bite the thing off—the guys had decided to steer clear of his room.
Not all of the Dráguns were bad, though, but the ones who were treated him as a lowly servant. The abuse had lessened and was no longer as terrifying since he’d stood up to them. He was more than capable of dealing with the verbal lashings, put-downs and being pushed, kicked and hit. Anything was better than the late-night visits.
And right now he was getting a lovely dose of that servant treatment.
The rider he was with dismounted then grabbed Bo by the arm and jerked him off the horse. Bo let out an unmanly grunt when he hit the ground, his knees screaming as shooting pain coursed through them. The wool bag that covered his head was whipped off and Bo winced as the bright midday sun blinded him. He hated wearing that thing, but Gravaick was very cautious, and anyone leaving the castle who wasn’t a Drágun had to wear one. Ever since Gravaick had declared war on the vampires, he had been living in hiding. And if a person couldn’t see where he was going or where he was coming from, then Gravaick’s location would remain hidden.
It was a great strategy, Bo would give the asshole that much, but it was a pain for someone like him who had to travel to Hollon once a month to gather supplies. He’d spend the entire morning on the back of a horse blind as a bat—it made him terribly dizzy.
“Get up,” Callex snarled.
Bo glared up at the Drágun with pure hatred in his eyes, but it was lost on the man. Callex was ignoring him as he went about tying the stallion to a nearby tree. Maliqus already had his horse tied up, the large wagon still secured to the animal. Normally, one wouldn’t just casually leave their rides on the edge of town unsupervised, but the red ropes that reined the horses declared them as belonging to Gravaick, and nobody dared to steal from their ruler. It was the same for the cloak around Bo’s shoulders—the red stitching along the hem told everyone that he was a servant of Gravaick’s and he was not to be messed with. Those little, thin red strands were the only thing that kept him protected, seeing as his guards were now abandoning him like they’d always done.
Callex and Maliqus were supposed to follow him around as he gathered supplies, keeping him safe. As usual, though, they were quick to leave him and head to the nearest tavern to drink and screw as many women as they could.
Bo stood and wiped off his pants—the knees now darkened with dirt. He sighed to himself as he regarded the soiled linen. He’d just washed them three days ago.
Looks like I’ll be doing my wash a few days early tonight.
When he glanced back up, he noticed that Callex and Maliqus were already leaving.
“Hey,” he called out. “You haven’t given me any coin yet.”
Callex stopped and slowly turned back to him. Bo swallowed hard at the stern look on Callex’s face, the man’s dark gaze sending a shudder through his body. The solid black eyes of the Dráguns had always been disturbing to him, except for Nikolai’s—it was just another part of his brother that he accepted. Maybe it was because he’d grown up with Nikolai. Maybe it was because Nikolai was actually a good man. Even when Nikolai’s eyes turned red, it didn’t bother Bo. But he was always disturbed by the other warriors’ eyes. Somehow it was just different.
Hey everyone, I'm Jen and I'm an author of M/M erotic romance. I love M/M romance, both reading and writing it—seriously, what's better than a sexy man... Two sexy men! You can't go wrong there. Though I do dabble in a little bit of M/F romance, my main passion will always be smutting it up with men, men and more men. I try to dedicate as much of my free time to writing as I can—ha! What free time?—but if I’m not typing away on my laptop, you’ll find me with my nose buried in a book, or with my loving fiancé debating on what movie to watch and the never-ending back and forth decision of what to have for dinner. I love spending time with my family and fiancé, cuddling with my dog and two cats, and laughing as much as possible—’cause I like to think I'm funny!
Some little tidbits about me are—I love animals of all sorts, I have a really big sweet-tooth, and I've been told I like to talk with my hands (insert hand gestures here).