Free Dragon Heat by Ella J. Phoenix Page A

to the balcony. She had always been the quiet one
    among them but tonight Sam was especially quiet, Zoricah realized.
    ‚If someone brought me hard evidence that my people were
    getting butchered everywhere, I would listen carefully and do something
    about it instead of wasting my time shooting the messenger.‛ Yara said on
    her way to the kitchen—no doubt to get another piece of chow. When
    Yara was frustrated, she got very predictable. She ate, usually something
    raw and nasty to sate the black panther inside her, and let her Brazilian
    temper fly free.
    Drew ignored her Latin friend. ‚Zoricah, please. Are they backing
    us up tomorrow?‛
    ‚Don’t worry, Drew. We’ll get Deirdre back.‛ It was all Zoricah
    could promise because, by Apa Dobrý, she would bring the draconian
    twin back home. It did not matter if Tardieh helped them or not; the
    following night she would lead her small but fierce army on the attack, as
    she had done countless times, and rescue Deirdre. Drew depended on her
    twin sister, and her girls depended on their well being to continue
    believing the world was not just a place where the gods dumped in foul
    people with psychotic obsessions.
    Maybe she should stop calling them ‚her girls,‛ Zoricah reflected.
    They have grown and changed so much since she'd welcomed them in her
    home. Yara continued to be a hot-headed Brazilian who had unsolved
    issues with her past, but she had learned how to tone it down, control the
    beast, and focus on heightening her strengths instead of blaming everyone
    else for her unfortunate fate. Sam had also matured but still struggled
    with her powers. Zoricah had literally felt her when she was investigating
    strange accounts in a small town near North Yorkshire in England. Sam’s
    inner energy was so great and so out of control that she had been locked
    up in a human mental institution and put under 24/7 surveillance and
    heavy drugs. Zoricah had known Sam was human and had no magical
    heritage in her blood, but nonetheless she was intrigued by the girl’s
    powers and infuriated by what the humans had done to her. So one night
    she flew in and got her out. That had been almost forty years before. Sam
    still looked like a twenty-something fresh-from-the-farm girl.
    Zoricah met Drew’s eyes; they were filled with sadness, but they
    were not dead, not yet. ‚We will need all the strength we have for
    tomorrow, and that means having more than just a few hours sleep.‛ She
    smiled reassuringly. ‚Why don’t you go back to bed, Drew. You too, Yara.
    I want you all fresh and ready by late afternoon. We’ll go through the plan
    once more before we leave.‛
    Yara and Drew nodded in agreement and complied. They were
    strong women but respected Zoricah as their leader.
    Zoricah crossed the Victorian style living room of her Soho
    townhouse and went to the balcony. She loved Soho in the summer. It was
    always buzzing with people about and music could be heard everywhere.
    It was the reason why she had bought that townhouse in the first place. It
    was not luxurious and had only four average size bedrooms distributed
    over three levels. She had decorated it with modern furniture in a classic
    almost minimalist style. It wasn’t the best home she owned, but it was in
    the perfect location, on Mott Street off Broome. Just seconds away from art
    galleries, bars, shops, and vibrant live music venues. Humans couldn’t
    discern if she was one of them or not, and unlike vampires, she had no
    issues with sunlight, so she could always enjoy the best of the human
    world without major worries.
    Zoricah saw Sam sitting on the outdoor sofa in the balcony. The
    lights had not been turned on so the place was only lit by the full moon
    above. Shadows highlighted the somber expression on her friend’s
    delicate features. She seemed to have taken great interest in the concrete
    floor.
    ‚Thank you for backing me up at the park, Sam.‛ Zoricah sat down
    on the armchair next to the