Dragon Heart: Cobalt Dragons, #2

By Amelia Jade

What better way to improve morale on a military base than a talent show?

Sergeant Linny Cantor never expected to participate, but now she's dusting off her old box of tricks for a chance to win her choice of grand prize options. A month's paid leave is as good as hers, if she can just keep a meddling dragon shifter out of her practice area and her pants. He's deliciously hot and says all the right things, but her focus has to be on winning that prize. Oh, and did she mention that he's competing against her?

Rokk, a cobalt dragon, is in a great mood. He's going to win the talent show and take his choice of the grand prize: twenty-five thousand dollars of his fellow dragon's money. The fact that along the way he's found his mate and is going to win the bet with his twin brother is making it even sweeter. The treasure pile he's going to spoil his mate with is growing larger by the day.

Caught red-handed trying to spy on his primary competition, Rokk is also accused of sabotaging some of her equipment. When it happens again though, it's become clear—someone is targeting Linny, and only Rokk's dragon powers can keep her alive. With the threat of Outsiders from one direction, and a traitor from within, the pair must work together to defeat their enemies, learn the truth, and ultimately, win the talent show and each other.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Amelia Jade
• Release date: Dec 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386717904

Book preview

Chapter One

Rokk

You two don’t stand a chance this time, he scoffed, snatching the bulky headset from the VR tech. Thanks.

The tech, a middle-aged man, beamed at the attention from one of the mighty dragons, tugging at his faded green fatigues that were at definite odds with the slick black jumpsuits the trio of giants wore. A growl from one of the other dragons pulled his attention away as he began to prep them for entry to the VR tank.

Rokk longed to pull at one of the wires coming from his outfit, but he’d been told they were all necessary, and experience told him they were right. He wasn’t a fan of the virtual reality tank, but the technology was unbelievable, and it truly did allow him to feel like he was in the midst of the fight.

You’ve not come close to my score, Pyne boasted. You’ve had four chances, and all four times you’ve come up short.

He was about to reply when Aric, the third of their trio, opened his mouth first. And in all four of those scenarios he’s saved your ass. Because we work as a team.

Well, this time I’m going to take the top spot, Rokk stated. Watch out, Aric—after that I’m coming after your spot as team leader too.

Aric rolled his eyes, ignoring the arrogant claim and motioning to one of the other techs by whirling his upraised index finger in a circle, the universal sign of let’s get a move on.

Upstaged with a finger-wave, Rokk muttered as they all followed Aric’s lead and entered their pods. Unlike the movies, these weren’t simulations where he sat down. Instead he was placed in the middle of a square of ultra-black material. A harness was attached with wires leading to a number of compass points to the side. Finally he slipped the helmet on and then proceeded to wait while his tech hooked up the various connections.

All at once the blackness disappeared, and an image of an underground cavern projected into his brain.

Let’s do this, he growled, stepping out from the tunnel entrance where he’d landed and walking calmly toward a huge glowing shape, a rip in space. The portal. A gateway to another planet that, if let unchecked, would spew deadly alien creatures intent on quite literally sucking the life out of anything they touched.

Scientists were still arguing whether they were from this universe or another. Rokk didn’t care what they said. He was here to do one job, and one job only.

Gravel crunched underfoot as the others came up on his left, Aric conveniently centered between the two twins. The leader’s position. Well fuck that. Today Rokk was taking command. He was going to show them he wasn’t the weak link of the team, that he could be just as much of a badass as the others.

Ready to lose, boys?

A voice spoke out of the air. Just because this isn’t the real world, doesn’t mean it should be taken any less seriously. Can we keep ourselves focused on the objective at hand?

Rokk didn’t recognize the speaker, but her voice was enchanting. Like a velvet-covered sword, she weaved it like a master. Soft-spoken but with the air of one used to being obeyed, he found his mind wandering, trying to picture the owner. What was she like? Who was she? The only thing he knew about her was that she would be from the command staff of Fort Banner, where they resided.

Was she short? Tall? What color was her hair and what shade were her eyes? His brain conjured up a thousand images, playing them all back and forth.

Rokk? The voice spoke again. He blinked and realized the scenario was starting, blue numbers counting down in the upper right corner of his vision.

I’m a little busy here, he said. Can we wait until later to discuss it? He pitched his voice to sound like a husband who’d been through the ritual of his wife nagging at him a few times too many.

Of course. The response was the perfect fake politeness.

Someone’s in the doghouse with HQ, Aric chuckled.

Then all of them jerked as the numbers on their screen jumped from fourteen to zero without warning.

Now that’s not fair, Pyne complained as the murky gray-black portal exploded with light and began to disgorge hordes of beings perhaps half the height of the dragons. Why do we have to suffer because Rokk’s a bonehead with no filter?

Because we’re a team, Aric snapped, stepping forward. He pinched his pinky fingers on both hands to his thumbs, and then flicked his hands at the oncoming wave of creatures. Black exoskeletons that also acted as armor exploded as the wave of sheet lightning Aric had unleashed blew through them. Remember, save your energy for the Warriors. These go down easy.

Rokk, properly chastised and now in his element, growled his affirmative, his own lighting taking out another chunk of the Prawns, as they’d been termed.

Do we have any suit help? he said, blasting yet another bunch, keeping his effort to a minimum. Dealing with the Prawns was the best use of the suits in a mass invasion scenario such as the one it appeared they were dealing with.

Even before he could finish speaking a yellow line licked out from his right. Wherever it touched Prawns they exploded, spraying the cavern floor and Rokk with the purple goo that filled the exoskeletons.

Yuck, he muttered, shaking his leg to dislodge bits and pieces of Outsider goop.

A quartet of battlesuits, advanced human weapons technology beyond the scope the general public was aware of, stomped into the cavern and began laying down heavy patterns of fire. The Prawns weren’t very tough, and the suits could handle them with ease, but it was about to get a lot tougher.

The first Warrior came through the portal, not bothering to hesitate as it charged straight at Aric.

That’s not fair. Rokk pouted as he watched the team leader engage the Outsider. He lashed out with a foot, his enhanced strength crushing in the head of the smaller creature. What they figured to be the head, at least. Despite the increasing amount of Outsider corpses to study the scientists still couldn’t make heads or tails of their genetic structure.

Another warrior emerged from the portal, orienting on Rokk.

Now we’re talking, he said, cracking his knuckles.

A second warrior came piling through. Then a third. Rokk was in trouble. All around him the suits kept the lines of fire up, obliterating more Prawns than he could count. He could pull one of them off to help him take on the warriors, but it wouldn’t be enough.

Pyne, he said, calling out for his brother, who was presently engaged in keeping the stragglers from reaching the suits. I’ve got a value-meal trio with our names written all over it if you’re hungry.

His brother shot him a look. You have the weirdest analogies. He shrugged, making his way over as the trio closed swiftly. But I suppose that’s to be expected from the younger generation.

Rokk rolled his eyes skyward. "I’m three hours younger. Three hours. Even for a human that’s not much. We’re a hundred and four now, Pyne. That’s a stupidly small percentage of our lives." He stuck out his left hand, reaching for his brother’s right.

The warriors were close now. A few more feet and they’d be within arm’s reach.

Come on! he shouted.

Their fingers met. Lightning sparked.

Rokk grinned at the warriors as they swept down on the two dragon twins. You’re in big trouble now, boys.

Long ago the two brothers had figured out that they could feed off one another’s energy. Now the warriors walked right into their trap. All three lunged at the visually helpless brothers. A foot in front of them a grid formed, looking all the world like a smaller-version of a chain-link fence made completely out of energy.

The Outsiders simply disintegrated as the force of their charge took them through the energy field. The instant the threat was gone Rokk pulled his fingers away to conserve energy.

That’s two for me, he stated. Since I set them up.

Nearby Aric spun, his arm turning blue as a layer of pure energy covered it. The arm-blade sliced through the Outsider’s torso and the exoskeleton collapsed, purple goo coating the ground around it.

I wish we could have that level of power against them outside of here, Pyne said as they watched the display.

The flow of Prawns had slowed, and no more warriors had yet emerged. Even as he agreed with his brother, Rokk began to have a sinking feeling. Whoever was controlling this scenario had obviously been irritated by his snarky reply. Why did he feel like they were about to do something to mess with him?

Once you two find your mates, you will be, Aric said, speaking from experience as the only mated cobalt dragon.

I’m so gonna find my mate before you, Pyne teased. Then you’ll be young and weak!

Rokk growled. Not if I find my mate first!

Not gonna happen.

You seem so confident. How about a little wager then? Say, a hundred grand?

Pyne grinned. Done! They slapped hands in agreement.

If you two are done making idiots of yourselves, Aric drawled, do you think you could come up with a plan to tackle that?

The trio of them spread their legs for balance as the room shuddered. Rokk stared at the massive leg jutting through from the other side of the portal. A second followed, and the massive four-legged Walker finally emerged.

It was huge, the size of one of the brothers in dragon form, and it was one of the primary reasons why the dragons were so highly prized by the military. These were the creatures they were wanted to fight. The Warriors were tough, but if enough battlesuits could be put into production, they could be stopped.

The Walkers were another matter entirely. And also something that wasn’t supposed to occur in the chamber, for the express reason that no human technology could accurately replicate what it was like to be a dragon.

Not cool, he whined to the air.

We can discuss it later, a sickly sweet female voice replied, with just the barest trace of smugness to it.

The trio groaned, both Pyne and Aric glaring at him in addition to the verbal barrage.

I’m sorry!

Aric waved it off. Whatever, let’s go give that thing as much of a fight as we can. Maybe we can bring it down.

The Walker cleared the portal and scuttled toward them surprisingly quickly. Behind it another leg emerged from the portal.

That’s just rude! Rokk shouted, summoning his powers and leaping at the Walker as blue energy crackled all around him.

There was no response this time.

Chapter Two

Linny

She walked into the staff meeting, remembering to wipe the last of the satisfied smile off her face before she did.

The dragons had done better than expected, taking down two Walkers before she’d added in a dozen warriors and two more Walkers for them to deal with. They’d faltered at that point, though they’d fought valiantly until the end. Rokk, true to his word, had been the last to fall this time, and he’d left quite an accounting of himself by the time it was all over. Quite the warrior that one.

Sergeant Cantor, good to see you. That was Major Adam Von Kemp. He was the commander of Fort Banner and the human forces deployed to it. He was not however, in charge of the dragon contingent, much to his irritation. That honor belonged to a Colonel Mara, who technically outranked him, though she did her best not to step on his toes if at all possible.

Major, she said, sliding in to the empty seat to his left. "Sorry I’m late; the VR scenario took longer than anticipated.

How did it go?

She shifted uncomfortably, aware she’d altered the scenario. Better than expected. They’re starting to get the hang of working together. Not as good as any of the teams we had, but they have the potential to get there.

Good. Once Colonel Mara gets back she can take that over again.

The colonel was out in the field with the rest of her team, pursuing some Outsiders that had come through the portal a few weeks back. They weren’t having much luck tracking them, and all four of the dragon teams they’d assembled were out there as well, including much of their battlesuit contingent.

All that was left to defend the portal were the cobalt dragons and a small unit of suits, though more were coming online all the time as production and training ramped up.

What did you want to talk to us about? she asked, indicating the rest of the headquarters staff.

Morale, Von Kemp responded without having to think about it. Morale is lower than I can remember, and we need a way to change it. To bring it up.

Killing the Outsiders would be a good start. Lieutenant Smader’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

Linny glared at the quartermaster. He was useless, as far as she was concerned, but he wasn’t quite useless enough to be replaced. He knew exactly how to toe the line.

Enough. The major’s voice cut through the tension in the room. That was why he was in charge. "This is not going to devolve into another session about the Outsiders. The dragons and our suit divisions are doing what they can. We need to focus on the base. That