Her Elemental Dragons: The Complete Series
Her Elemental Dragons: Stroke the Flame: Chapter 9

After Tash brought Slade a tray of food, all three men dove in while I studied them. They were each so different, yet I felt a strange connection to all of them. But there was one more man in my dreams, who must be the future Azure Dragon. Where was he now?

I took a long breath. “Okay, assuming this is all true and we are the next Dragons—which I’m not sure I believe yet—what does that mean? Why do the Gods even need another set of Dragons?”

“We’re meant to overthrow the current Dragons and take their place as the protectors of the world,” Auric said, his voice rather matter-of-fact considering he was talking treason.

My jaw fell open and it took a moment for me to speak. “What?”

“That’s what I was told as well,” Slade said.

“But why?” I asked.

Jasin shrugged casually. “Sounds like the Gods aren’t happy with the way the Black Dragon and her men are ruling the world.” He picked up a grape and popped it in his mouth. “Time for a change in leadership.”

“Maybe they’ve chosen us to set things right,” Slade said.

All of the men were being way too calm about this, considering what they were saying. Then again, they’d had a month to get used to the idea. Even so, I could barely wrap my mind around it. The Gods had been nothing but myth for so long that most people had stopped believing they were real at all. If the men were telling the truth—and I was starting to believe they might be—then perhaps the Gods had finally awoken and were doing something to help their people for a change. We certainly needed it.

But why me? I was a nobody. Definitely not a hero, and certainly not the kind of person who could overthrow the Black Dragon and her men. They’d ruled for thousands of years and were the most powerful beings in the world—how were we supposed to stop them?

“What are we meant to do?” I finally asked.

Auric set his fork down and met my gaze. “We must travel to each of the Gods’ temples, visiting them in the order in which we arrived today. There you will have to bond with one of us, which will unlock our full powers and the dragon form. You will gain our powers as well, and once you’ve bonded with all of us, you’ll visit the Spirit Goddess’s temple to become the Black Dragon. After that, we should be strong enough to face the current Dragons.”

My head spun, trying to process everything he said. “What do you mean, bonded?”

“Err…” Auric shifted in his seat a little. “You would officially take us as your mate in the most…intimate way.”

Jasin flashed me a naughty grin. “What he means is that we need to have sex.” He leaned back in his chair with his arms folded behind his head. “Not sure about you guys, but I for one am looking forward to all of this.”

“Of course you are,” I said, rolling my eyes, even as heat flared inside me at the thought of becoming intimate with all of them. “Don’t get too excited, because I haven’t agreed to any of this.” I turned back to Auric. “So all we have to do is travel to the temples and uh, bond with each other?”

“Exactly.”

I arched an eyebrow. “You seem to know a lot about this.”

Auric shrugged as a small smile touched his lips. “The Air God told me some of it. The rest I learned after doing some research before I came here, although I couldn’t replace much information overall. I suspect if books about this ever did exist, the Black Dragon had most of that knowledge purged. I’m hoping we can uncover more on this journey.”

“You make all of this sound so easy,” Slade said, as his long fingers rubbed his dark beard. “What happens when the Black Dragon and the others replace out about us?”

“Good point,” I said. “I have a hard time seeing any of the Dragons giving up their powers willingly.”

“We’ll try to travel without attracting attention,” Jasin said. “Keep our powers and our mission secret for as long as we can. But we should leave first thing in the morning.”

“What about the last member of our team?” Slade asked.

Jasin shrugged. “He’ll catch up. It’s his problem he wasn’t here on time.”

“The Gods did tell us to be here in exactly one month,” Auric said, his brow furrowing.

They wanted to leave tomorrow? I’d wanted to run, but not yet, and not like this. Certainly not with three complete strangers. “We’re not going anywhere,” I said, rising to my feet. “Not until we know more about what is going on here and what we’re supposed to do next.”

All three men looked like they might argue with me, but I shot them a fierce look and headed for the door. I needed some space, needed to get away from them and everything they represented. Maybe they were destined to be bonded to me, but they weren’t my mates yet. I didn’t know a damn thing about them, I hadn’t chosen them, and I certainly wasn’t going off on some dangerous quest with them.

I found Tash in the kitchen, stirring a stew with a long ladle. As soon as I entered, she spun around. “What’s going on? Who are those men? Why are they here?”

Her rapid words made my head spin even more, but I had to tell someone what was going on to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I grabbed her arm and dragged her into my bedroom, then shut the door. “I’ll tell you everything, but I warn you now, it barely makes sense to me.”

She sat on the edge of the bed, leaning forward anxiously. “Maybe we can sort through it together.”

“According to those guys, they’re Dragons. Or they will be.” It sounded even more ridiculous when I said it out loud. “But they already have magic.”

Her brow furrowed. “How is that possible? The Dragons are immortal and there are only five of them. How does someone become one?”

“I don’t know. But each man says one of the Gods chose him, gave him magic, and then told him to replace me.”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing.” She tilted her head and frowned. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, because you know I love you like a sister…but why you?”

I drew in a long breath. “Supposedly I’m the next Black Dragon.”

She gasped. “What?”

“Trust me, I’m as shocked as you are.” I ran my fingers through my long hair, where they got caught on the tangled ends. “Do you remember on my birthday when I came inside all muddy?”

“Of course.”

“Right before that I was struck by lightning, but it didn’t hurt me at all. Ever since then I’ve had these weird dreams of four men with elemental powers. Three of those men are now sitting in the other room, and I’m guessing the fourth will be here soon. I’m supposed to go with them to each of the Gods’ temples now to ‘bond’ with them—and after that we’ll be the next Dragons. Which I’m pretty sure the current Dragons won’t be thrilled about. Especially when they learn we’re supposed to overthrow them.”

She stared at me as if she’d never seen me before. “Are you going to do it?”

I paced back and forth in front of her. “No way. I don’t know a thing about those men. I’m not sure I believe any of this is real, anyway. It sounds even crazier now that I’ve said it all out loud. There must be some other explanation…”

She chewed on her lower lip as she considered. “I think you should do it.”

I stopped and gawked at her. “What?”

“If any of it is true, then you have a chance to change things. You’ve been chosen by the Gods to make this world better and stop the Black Dragon’s reign.” A mischievous look entered her eyes. “Plus it means you’ll be married to four very handsome men. It’s hard to complain about that.”

I sank onto the bed beside her and buried my face in my hands. “But I didn’t ask for any of this! I don’t want to change things or to go up against the Black Dragon. I just want to live a quiet, peaceful life and stay out of trouble. And I don’t want four men, or even one.” That wasn’t exactly true, but the whole thing was far too overwhelming for me to even consider what being married to four men would mean.

She rubbed my back slowly. “It seems that’s not what the Gods have in mind for you. They’ve chosen you, Kira. You have to answer their call.”

“Curse the Gods,” I muttered, then immediately regretted it. Were they watching me even now? Would they strike me with lightning again if I didn’t do what they wanted?

The door suddenly burst open, and at first I thought it was the Gods coming to punish me. But it was no God, only Tash’s father, who was almost as terrifying.

Roark stood in the doorway, his large hulking form completely filling it, as he glared at us. “There you are.”