Book 4 of the Awaken the Dragon Series

A museum curator obsessed with an ancient dragon-worshiping culture meets a dragon shifter from that very time and place: too bad she has to tell him she’s not one of his devotees.

Rosalie Menendez is thrilled to unveil the latest exhibit in her Utah museum. She’s an expert in the ancient dragon-worshiping culture, and all of the rare artifacts are going to put her on the map. What she doesn’t know is that modern-day thieves are scheming to steal one object in particular and sell it to the highest bidder.

Liam Crucible—dragon shifter, Burner of Carthage, and Eater of Suns—awoke from a very long nap in a very bad mood. The Dragon Temple is interrupting his slumber, and it seems like a missing necklace is to blame. Since his brothers are busy strategizing, Liam decides to spring into the action. He’ll recover the item and show them why the oldest brother is still the best.

But when he tracks it to Utah, things go south fast—in more ways than one. Suddenly the necklace is gone and Liam is stuck in his human form—complete with an insatiable human libido. He’ll have to take a quick course in how to talk to women in the 21st century if he’s going to convince the raven-haired woman to help him. Luckily, Rosalie is worth learning for.

Chapter 1: Liam

Liam dove into the heart of the tempestuous storm, reveling in the dance of lightning which sizzled through the air, the relentless howl of the wind, and the sensation of hailstones on his midnight black scales.

I love a good hailstorm. I can truly exfoliate these belly scales. It’s so tedious taking care of my magnificent body after all these thousands of years.

Liam had seen mankind’s petty kingdoms rise and fall over the many centuries of his existence. In his mind, they were all boringly the same. Best to stay out of human politics except for dabbling in their financial sectors.

The purpose of our long lives is to hoard riches, befuddle the insipient humans, and revel in our glory. Or at least it should be.

Liam was the eldest of his brothers. The others had gone to sleep long ago because of the magic of the Dragon Temple. Technically, he should have sought his brothers out upon awakening from his own long slumber and assumed the mantle of leadership of their family.

They can keep all of that. I have no interest.

He flew through the storm’s fury and came out the other side into clear blue skies. Below him, the storm vented its fury against the harsh, jagged landscape of the Rocky Mountains. He winged ever higher, exulting in the feel of the sun on his scales. Normally, he would never think of flying during the daylight hours, but the storm below gave him cover. Aircraft would be re-routed to avoid it, giving him temporary mastery of the skies over the rugged mountains.

He caught a thermal updraft and rode it even higher. Liam liked to push himself, to fly even farther into the sky. Once, he had caught a splendid updraft over the desert and flown so high that the sky lost its blue tinge and began to darken. The air grew thin and hard to breathe, then ceased to exist at all.

Now, Liam’s goal was to reach that lofty height and beat his wings at least twice. This updraft was not going to suffice, however, so he contented himself with viewing the vast storm below as nothing more than a dark blot over the land. Flashes of light seemed far gentler here, high in the sky.

Liam U-turned and plunged back into the storm. He flashed through the fury, lightning tickling his thick scales. As he wasn’t grounded, the bolts passed harmlessly through him.

He dove toward the mountains, extending his wings at the last moment to slow his descent. His scaled belly flashed less than a foot away from the cliffside as he dove into the trees.

Liam moved through the dense pine forest, nimbly snaking his huge form between the trunks. The storm was not so furious in that part of the range, and he didn’t want to risk a human seeing him flying during the day.

His nostrils led him to a brook bubbling merrily along its way toward the misty valley below. After a quick check to make sure nothing on two legs lurked about, Liam thrust his maw into the cool water and quenched his thirst. 

He had found a nice cave not far from there, one of several caverns he used throughout the mountains. Unfortunately, it was not a good place to put his hoard, but Liam would find one eventually. It was, however, a dry place to rest far from any paths the humans might take.

Liam moved into his cavern, his mouth yawning open as he curled his massive body onto itself to sleep. Yes, this was the life.

No responsibilities whatsoever... Eat when hungry, sleep when tired.

Just before Liam drifted off to sleep, his mental defenses lowered enough that he began to feel the nagging call of the Dragon Temple. Liam had felt it on and off ever since he’d awakened, but he had the willpower to ignore it.

He grumbled, flames shooting out of his nostrils as he redoubled his efforts to go to sleep. Eventually, the call faded to a minor nuisance, but it never seemed to vanish entirely.

Soon he drifted on a plane of dreamscapes and nightmares. When a dragon lived as long as Liam had, the baggage tended to pile up. He saw the faces of enemies he’d conquered, treasures he’d acquired, tasted the blood of would-be heroes who came to slay him.

Remembered the pleasures of lovers he’d taken but never remained with. Liam would not find one woman who could sate him, or so he had come to believe. It was a dragon’s way not to settle down, that whole fated mate thing be cursed.

After all, if fated mates were a thing, he would have known about it by then. Surely. He’d lived for thousands of years, seen mankind go from rubbing sticks together to make a fire... to flying to the moon.

And yet, he’d never met his fated mate. If any dragon on any plane of existence deserved a fated mate, it was surely the magnificence of Liam Crucible himself.

There came a unifying thread into his dreams, weaving itself upon the chaotic pattern of madness and hope that dreams may weave. The thread of the urgent, prodding, insistent, cajoling call of the Dragon Temple. It would not leave him be, even in his dreams. His enemies sought to drive him toward the temple, even as he swept them into the sea with one thrash of his mighty tail. His treasures melted in his claws or vanished, and the only place he could find them would be at the Dragon Temple.

Even his lovers, his dream lovers whose faces and names he could never quite remember, pushed him to visit the Dragon Temple.

Liam’s eyes snapped open, and a deep rumbling roar built in his core and erupted from his fanged maw.

“Enough!” he bellowed, causing a minor cave-in with the sheer power of his voice alone. “I will not be led about like a puppet on a string, dancing to the whims of fickle fate. I am Liam Crucible. I am the Burner of Carthage and Eater of Suns, He Who Devours Your Body Limb from Limb, and Thoroughly Exults In the Experience. You are a pile of old rocks! I command your influence cease!”

Despite his protestations, the temple’s call intensified. He found that he could not move unless his direction was toward the cavern exit. He could not speak unless it was to bellow the temple’s name. He could not even think without picturing it in his mind, tugging at him, gnawing at his consciousness like the hungry maws of a million frenetic locusts.

“All right, damn you,” Liam roared. He left the comfort of his cavern to find that the storm no longer raged. Twinkling stars shone down on him, almost mocking him with their good cheer.

“No moon,” he rumbled. “Good. All the better to hide the Shadow Slayer of Death. He Who Is the Triumphant Maw of Ebony Disaster and the Blessed Scythe Which Harvests the Wicked and Woeful. I will fly to this temple... and I will destroy it utterly! No stone shall be allowed to remain atop another stone!”

Liam coiled his great body like a spring and then launched into the midnight air. His mighty wings beat powerfully, propelling his gigantic, scaled form toward the heavens. He didn't have to worry about finding the temple. It was like a fishing lure stuck in his craw, pulling him through the Rocky Mountain range.

The night winds caressed his flesh as he sought out the Dragon Temple. Fortunately, the gnawing insistence lessened once he began to comply with it. Liam soon found that he could think again and tasted the wind to discover a group of humans working their way toward his cavern.

That could not be allowed. What if they found one of his scales... cast off while he was scratching his back on his favorite rock? Or what if they discovered his new minor treasure, so far, a collection of gold nuggets he’d found in the cavern? Liam couldn’t bear the thought of parting with a single pebble, not even a speck of gold dust.

He had to make them turn back, but how? The temple’s insistent call made it impossible for Liam to simply hunt them down and eat them.

Then, he was struck by an idea. He didn’t have to eat the humans. He diverted his flight to a cave where a particularly old, nasty grizzly bear resided. Liam thrust his hand inside, and the bear attacked him savagely. However, Liam’s scales could repel bullets and had once caused Excalibur itself to break.

“Come here, you ornery cuss,” Liam said, holding the savage bear as if it were a puppy. “Let’s just aim you in the right direction.”

Liam put the bear down some quarter-mile ahead of the hiking humans. Then he flashed his fangs which was enough to scare any animal. The bear careened down the slope, away from him and right for the humans. That should make them turn tail and flee long before finding his cavern home or his hoard.

Satisfied, Liam returned to the skies. He had to reach the temple to make the incessant call stop its torment of him, but he did not have to like it.

It seems I am called, summoned is more like it, to do my duty whether I wish it or not. I’m not sure what awaits me at the temple, but I do know one thing for sure.

Liam Crucible, the Most Magnanimous Tyrant of the Sundered Plain, shall bow to nothing on the face of this earth. Not anything on four legs, two legs, or no legs.

He roared mightily, filling the midnight sky with a great gout of flame, a symbol of his growing wrath.