Free Her Dragon Hero by Angela Castle Page A

her books? She was sure she passed out from lack of oxygen and woke up in the dark, shivering with cold, and a full moon shining over a large, glassy, frozen lake. Under her still swimwear-clad body were smooth pebbles of a shore. Standing staring out over the lake was the oddest creature she has ever seen.
    Have I wandered onto the set of a horror or zombie movie? Soon, the thing standing next to her would remove the really good, special effect mask and tell her everything was fine, and he was only an extra in a film.
    Huddling, she tried to stop her limbs from going numb, which was already too late for her feet. She attempted to stand, but the bitter cold was too much to bear, and she crumpled back to the ground, doing all she could to not turn into an icy-pop. So much for drowning, she would die of hypothermia instead.
    “Bloody hell, it’s cold.” Even the split ends of her hair shook.
    The creature turned. She saw its red, glowing eyes with nothing like the beauty of Brimstone's. No, these were malevolent and pure evil. The creature's skin was a horrid, weathered, black leather and, sunken against sharp angled bones, raised horn-like bumps ran from its forehead over the top of its skull, disappearing behind the clothes it wore. Despite a fleshy, muscled upper torso, its lower arms were long and bony.
    All doubt vanished. This was no human, disguised as a creature from the beyond. Demon . The word popped into her head.
    Man, this would be great research material if she wasn’t scared out of her mind and about to freeze to death.
    “You’re not in hell, yet, human.”
    She shuddered at the grating pitch of the creature’s voice, worse than fingernails scraping down a blackboard.
    She hesitated asking another question, really not wanting to hear it talk again. Another feeling taking residence in her chest was the keen absence of one large, seven foot man, as if a part of her soul has been rather sharply removed. She wanted…no, needed…to see him, feel his arms around her. She wrapped her own arms around herself, trying not to shake from the cold, and stumbled to her feet.
    “Brimstone.” She didn’t realise she whispered his name until the thing talked again, making her wince.
    The creature sneered. “He mated you. I can smell it and see his mark. It will be an easy trap, they will both come, and they will both die.”
    “T…trap? Die? Just w…what the h…hell are y…you?”
    She couldn’t stop her chattering teeth.
    “Silence, human, or I’ll rip out your tongue.”
    Brimstone's abrupt charm suddenly felt like a chocolate fudge sundae with all the trimmings. She missed it, missed him. Damn it, how did she end up being the helpless female from one of her stories, waiting for her larger-than-life hero to swoop in and save her?
    Good god, she was. Man, she was so going to change her female characters if she survived and got back to her warm hotel. She groaned, realising she didn’t have her own hotel room. This was real and fucked up, and the numbing cold told her it was not fiction.
    Hang on, what did it mean 'trap'?
    The creature obviously didn’t think of her as a threat. He turned his back, still staring out over the lake. Anger warmed her belly. She took a deep breath, stilling her shaking to grab a large rock in her hand and rise to her feet.
    If he was an actor, she was about to be in a lot of trouble, but if it was a demon, then no foul, but she would be damned if she let anyone hurt the one man who made her feel more treasured and desired than anyone ever did.
    Sure, he was rough around the edges, but the look in his eyes when she caught him staring at her made her heart pound and her stomach flutter. Not to mention, his amazing body she could stare at and explore for eternity. What was there not to want?
    Creeping up behind the thing the best she could, she raised her trembling arm, ready to clock the thing over the head. A loud roar made her jump in fright as a stream of red and orange flame