Free Wicked Thing (C.O.A Series Book 2) by Kim Cormack Page A

When Grey noticed she was enjoying herself his smile widened and once again his ability to find joy in everything made her feel more than she knew she would have been capable of all by herself. This was how they were meant to be. Perhaps, he had the right idea. She needed a distraction to get her through the next few days of hurt as he obliviously moved on from what they’d shared. That’s what she’d do. She’d find a distraction as soon as they got back to the land of the living .
    They didn’t have to go searching for Lily and Frost because they appeared in the field just as she decided to put an end to Grey’s special ‘me time’ and suggest they go and find the others.
    Frost strolled up to them and announced, “Azariah has something she needs us to do. Come on you two, enough relaxation, it’s time to get down and dirty.”
    Grey grimaced as Lily knelt beside him to get a closer look at what he had in his hand. She placed her hand out and Grey let the fuzzy little caterpillar crawl onto Lily’s hand. Lily smiled as she watched it crawl across the length of it and then placed her palm in the grass and it disappeared into the fragrant carpet of green. Lily rose to stand and held out her hand towards Grey. He took it and she gave him a tug to his feet.
    “Thanks beautiful,” he said as he took a deep breath and exclaimed, “Don’t you love the smell of this grass?”
    Lily replied, “It does seem to be a little extra potent today, doesn’t it? I wonder why that is?”
    Frost placed his arm around Lexy as they started to walk away and whispered in her ear, “The pool…really? That doesn’t seem very proactive.”
    Lexy quietly responded, “It wasn’t my idea.”
    Frost nodded and kept the rest of his observations silent as the scenery flashed around them and they found themselves standing at the bottom of what appeared to be the same sandstone multihued ringed canyon where she’d trained the three to die like champions. She smiled and wondered if they were going to be fighting those enormous scorpions. That would be a lovely way to spend the afternoon . She could burn off a little bit of energy and deal with some of that pent of rage.
    Grey shook his head at his Dragon’s overly exuberant response to standing at the bottom of the ravine and sighed, “The vacation’s over isn’t it?”

Chapter 5
Dragon ‘Me’ Time
    A sword appeared in Lily’s hands, she chuckled, gripped it firmly and gave it a skilled practice swing, “Yes, I’d say it is.”
    Lexy grinned as a sword appeared in her own hands and she sparred, “I guess that depends on what you see as a vacation.”
    In the distance they heard the thundering clicking approach of what they assumed were gigantic scorpions. This is amazing, just what she wanted to do today.
    Grey cleared his throat and nervously piped in, “Hey, you guys. I still don’t have a sword. I keep thinking about one and it hasn’t appeared.”
    Frost swung around his spiked ball on a chain and made a suggestion, “I couldn’t think up a sword either. Think of something else.”
    A spiked club appeared in Grey’s grasp and he groaned, “I hate these things. They get stuck and then you have to pull them out. It takes away valuable time.”
    Lexy grinned as widely as a child on Christmas morning, her pulse raced in preparation for the battle ahead as she mocked, “Oh, quit whining Greydon and get ready to fight. This is going to be fun.”
    They all started to laugh. Well, everyone but Greydon who was still feeling pissy because he was a lover not a fighter. Each scorpion was usually the size of a truck. Some were the size of a big rig…Why were they not visible?
    “Where in the hell are they?” Grey stammered. He had his weapon raised, ready to fight the impossible.
    The ground trembled beneath her feet and Lexy grinned as it began to crumble beneath her. She fell through the canyon floor into complete and total darkness. There was not a hint of light. Not