Free A Dragon's Heart by Jana Leigh, Willow Brooke Page A

believed to lead to another dimension or world where dragons ruled the land. There was a legend that some day the portal would again reopen and allow them to come and go as they pleased.
    Joslin had thought it only a bedtime story her mother had told when she were nothing more than a mere hatchling, but upon finding the cave she had realized it may hold some truth, and had begun to hope. This meant there could be other descendants hiding in the shadows, out of sight of humans, just as she did.
    Apparently, before the times of man, dragons wandered freely between the two dimensions. There were three dragon brothers who had been headstrong with power and wreaked havoc in the dragon world. The king had sentenced them to a life of exile, casting them and each of their mates out onto the Earth. Only when their ancestors were willing to die for something other than themselves would it be reopened and welcomed back into the kingdom. The dragons on the Earth were the ancestors of these men, and since she was the only one left, there was little hope.
    For centuries, she had searched the Earth, finding only the bitter reality that she was the sole survivor of their species. There was a chance to keep the species from going extinct if she took a human lover, but even then, it wasn’t a guarantee. She just hadn’t brought herself to eat the pain that consumed her. Humans were the reasons for their species’ demise. Joslin couldn’t give them any more power than that. Half-breeds would be against everything she believed in. It was better just to let their race end with her, and keep their heritage and magic guarded from being misused.
    On an ordinary summer morning, she had went out scavenging the nearby field for a hearty beef brunch when they had struck. She hadn’t seen them coming, which was next to impossible. The group of soldiers had used some sort of high tech radio frequency that had blocked her keen senses and given them a tiny window of opportunity the moment she had shifted. She screamed, but no one heard. A blaze of fire didn’t phase them. The harder she fought, the more they were able to block her magic. It hadn’t taken long for them to get close enough to inject her with something so powerful she hadn't stood a chance and darkness swallowed her.
    *****
    General Washburn smiled at the lifeless body before him. It had taken years to capture and sedate one of the beasts, and at last, he finally had one rendered helpless at his disposal. Thanks to the willing group of dragons who so graciously offered up their services, they had formulated a potion strong enough to override their magic and put them in a medical induced coma. Now, their plan could work. He waited for the I.V. to be inserted to insure that the beast wouldn’t escape, and handed her over to his scientists. It was only a matter of time before the world would finally be at his disposal. Then he would be sitting on a fat bank account that would be his retirement. All the government leaders were notified of the find, and preparing for the takeover. Now, he could celebrate.
    The elite team of scientists went to work, cutting and prodding. The first area of interest was the large black dragon’s tail. Samples were drawn from underneath its scales, which meant them prying a few loose. If the dragon were awake, it would be in agonizing pain. Having the scales ripped up was equivalent to having the skin and tissue ripped from a human’s body. Toenails were surgically removed, as well as the dragon’s horns. A dragon’s horns were sacred. If they were removed, it was a show of weakness. They had just marked the creature for the rest of its life…however long that would be.
    “Sir, I think you need to see this.” A balding man with tiny wire glasses said into the receiver. Without explaining, he hung up and hovered over her, giving her another dose that had her helplessly succumbing to the dark loneliness once more.
     

Chapter Eight
     
    “Do you think we