They were wearing strange clothes. All of them were dressed in black leather. They had black hair as well—but their eyes were what had drawn Liana’s attention.
Their eyes were red. Red like fire.
She heard the thud of her phone hitting the ground. Terror had taken hold of her. For a moment she couldn’t move, could only watch the flames flicker in the eyes of the men who seemed terrifyingly inhuman...
And then there was a loud roar, and a strange, rushing sound like that of giant wings above her.
The men looked up—which broke the spell enough that Liana could move again.
Without thinking she snatched up her phone and retreated until she felt the wall against her back.
Her fingers trembled so much that it was difficult to unlock her phone. She had to call the cops. She had to call someone...
And then she looked up again, and her breath got stuck in her throat.
For a long moment, she refused to believe that what she saw was real.
It couldn’t be real. It was impossible.
But there, right in front of her, a dragon had landed.
And not just any dragon. She’d recognize that gorgeous blue-green of his scales anywhere.
“My ocean dragon,” she breathed, her heart pounding in her throat.
The dragon had landed right between her and the three men.
At her words, the strangers looked her way. Their eyes were still filled with flames—but even as she watched, their bodies suddenly began to shimmer.
And a heartbeat later, the three men were gone. Instead, three red dragons now stood where the men had been.
Their scales gleamed, their eyes shining with the same red fire that she’d seen in the eyes of her attackers.
They were smaller and leaner than her ocean dragon. They looked a little bit like the fire dragons in her game—but less majestic. There was something mean about them. They looked like hunters—and for some reason, Liana knew that she was the prey.
The dragons hissed. Smoke rose from their nostrils. Then their jaws opened, and Liana could see flames dancing around their teeth.
This couldn’t be real. Actual, fire breathing dragons didn’t exist. She was probably still in her bed, having a nightmare...
Then one of the fire dragons exhaled, and a jet of flame shot right towards her.
She could feel the heat of it on her face, a scream building inside her chest even as she told herself that she’d wake up any second. Then the ocean dragon spread his wings and roared. A jet of water shot out of his own jaws, hitting the fire, which vanished in a sudden cloud of steam.
A few droplets of water hit her cheek.
With trembling fingers, she reached up to brush them away, then stared at her fingertips for a moment.
Water. Water that glistened in the morning sun, cool like dewdrops against her skin...
It was no dream. It was real. She could feel it—it was all real.
Either that, or she’d gone insane. But given that she’d been able to feel the heat of the fire that had nearly devoured her, right now didn’t seem to be the time to worry about that.
Worry about not dying!
The fire dragons were rearing up threateningly. Even though they were smaller than the ocean dragon, they were able to breathe fire—which right now seemed like a rather unfair advantage to Liana.
You can’t kill someone with water, can you?