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Damien BlackthorneDragons were dying. All over the world, a curse was taking us out one by one, and nobody knew how to stop it.I watched my mother burn, I watched my little brother fall sick. I didn’t want to see anyone else die, I was determined to figure out how to stop the dragon fall.That’s when Robby practically falls into my lap, with his big brown eyes and charming smile and his penchant for being hunted by vampires. After saving him twice from certain death, we soon come to realize that there’s a reason he’s being hunted.And that reason may be the answer to all our problems, and the start to a whole new set of them.Robby DiazI liked to float through the world. I bounced off problems and tended to avoid any and all issues with a smile and a wave.So imagine my surprise when I’m heading to a magic shop in Malibu and I’m suddenly attacked by vampires and then saved by one of the most handsome men I’d ever seen. I thought I could float away from whatever mess I stumbled into, but this problem stuck—following me all the way home.The vampires were after me, but they didn’t want me dead… they wanted me alive. Why? And what did I have to do with this dragon-killing curse? And why was I falling for the fiery hot dragon who insists on saving me over and over again?

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Chapter 1

Ashes to Ashes, Scales to Scales

Damien

The wind beat against my face as if it were trying to stop me. The air was frigid cold. I half expected my wings to turn to solid ice, the fire in my veins keeping them thawed. The sun burned bright in the sky, warming my back as I raced through the skies. I cut through a thick cloud. My wings slapped against the wet feeling of puffy air.

An entire Air Force squadron could have pulled up in front of me, and I would have pushed right on through. Nothing was stopping me. Not the elements, or the military, or a world-ending hurricane. Nothing. No one. I was determined to get to my mother’s side.

Before it’s too late.

The thought hit me like a stray lightning bolt. My heart skipped a few beats, possibly due to overexertion but more than likely due to fear.

“Damien, where are you?”

It was Xavier. My brother’s voice sounded clear as day in my head. No need for cell phones when you had a telepathic connection with your blood relatives.

“I’m about ten minutes away. How is she doing?”

“Not well. Make it five.”

“Shit.”

I tucked my wings into my side and tipped downward, using gravity to help me slice toward the ground, accelerating with every mile I dropped.

Faster.

Faster.

I could see the cracked surface of the road rising to greet me, ready to slam into me, turn me into a mess of dust and bone and scales.

At the very last minute, I aimed back upward toward the sky, throwing my wings open and catching a particularly strong updraft. The momentum from my fall helped push me forward, making me fly even faster.

There. That should shave off at least five minutes, hopefully seven.

Underneath me was the Concrete District, a relatively quiet and sleeping California community where all the non-magic users lived, its homogenous houses holding their homogenous humans, dreaming about their silly little problems or their wildest little fantasies. How lucky they were, tucked away with their loved ones, not having to worry that the people they surrounded themselves with were dropping like flies from something no one could understand or foresee. It made me jealous. Made my anger boil inside my chest. I could open up my jaws and rain down a river of molten fire on all of these people. I could make them feel the pain that coursed through my veins, share in the trauma that came from fighting an invisible enemy.

I kept my jaws clamped shut. I’d never hurt a human, not unprovoked, no matter how angry I was with my own life. It went against a dragon’s instincts to hurt a human. Not only would it break the Ivory Treaty and possibly kick off an entire world war, but it would also make me a monster, and that was something I refused to claim.

There were others in this world who held that title proudly.

It took me less than the allotted ten minutes to get to our home, although it had felt like I’d been flying for an eternity. I spread my wings as the stone and stained glass castle came into view, tucked away high on the Malibu mountains with a sweeping view of the beach just on the other side. It had been in the family for centuries, now serving as the home base for me and my five other siblings.