Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Tuesday Teaser

 


~Excerpt from Shadow's Embrace. We're at Hudson's home and about to meet some of his dragon's.


“Now, come on, you two. I want to introduce you to some of my people, Austin.”

They followed Hudson to what could only be described as a communal living area/game room. There were several black leather couches set in front of a big screen TV, and on the other side of the room was a pool table.

Several men and women crowded around the TV playing video games, and two more were at the pool table.

People were snarling and hissing—either at the TV or at the balls on the pool table—while others egged them on or laughed good-naturedly at the jokes flying around the room.

The hissing reminded Austin of the noise a snake made in warning—low and mean. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. The primitive side of his brain warned that there was danger and to back away. He clutched Kage’s hand.

He knew there wasn’t a threat, but good God, that sound. Kage squeezed his hand. The comforting gesture helped. Some. Okay, not really, considering there were at least six dragons in the room, and Austin was the only human there—kind of human, at least. Sort of.

Shit, was it too late to take a rain check? He was on the verge of dragging Kage out of here.

Hudson cleared his throat. “Everyone, Kage and Austin are here.”

“Hudson.” Kage’s voice was low when he spoke Hudson’s name—low and a tad bit growly.

Had Kage picked up on Austin’s unease? Of course he had. Several heads turned toward him suddenly, and holy moly, the timing on that was horror movie worthy. A few dragons eyed Kage.

The intimidating hissing and snarling came to an abrupt stop. Thank God. Now that his hind brain had calmed down, two things jumped out at Austin immediately.

Everybody had some shade of red hair—which was a trait of the Fire Court—and they were all breathtakingly sexy.

One dragon set his pool stick down on the table. “Sorry about that. If you’re not used to us, we can sound a bit daunting.”

Austin didn’t know what to say without sounding like a smart ass, so he just nodded. It was scary, but he was in their house. In their territory. He really didn’t have a right to complain, even if it did freak him out. Jeez, he could live forever without ever hearing that sound again.

Yeah, he’d take daemons over dragons any day of the week.

A dragon walked around the pool table and toward them. “Hey there. My name is Conrad Turner, and I’m Hudson’s assistant.” Conrad held out his hand. “Welcome to the Redmond Compound, base of the Fire Court.”