Dragons Captive – Ava Blake

Spartacus chuckled darkly and shook his head. “You have no idea how much worse I could make things for you. You’re trapped here to keep you safe. Do you really want to have your freedom and then end up dead?” I ran a hand through my hair, wondering if stabbing him would be worth it. Now that I knew it wouldn’t kill him after what I saw last night, it was tempting. How else could I convey the level of pissed off that I was? A dagger to the kidney.

“I really want to stab you right now,” I said instead, pacing back and forth across the tent. “Who do you think you’re really protecting? Not me. People try to kill me inside this damn camp!” “And where do you think you’ll go outside of the camp? The nobles will kill you and any travelers you might see will kill you or sell you to the nearest brothel.

At least here you have a chance at living.” “Do you even hear yourself? I have a chance at living? Only a chance? I don’t want to die here, Spartacus. I want to live. I want to explore and see my friends and start a family!” “Well, maybe when the war is over we can discuss where I can leave you so you can have all of those things.

Until then, you are with me. I can’t make sure that you’re safe any other way.” I stared at him, wondering what was going through his head. How could he think that he could keep a person trapped here with him? Spartacus rolled his shoulders back, the joints cracking as a stubborn look set on his face. His eyes glowed a bright red as his hands curled into fists. “You aren’t going anywhere, Esme. That’s final.” He stormed out of the tent as I considered setting the entire camp on fire.

I could try running again but after seeing a fraction of what he was capable of, I knew it was futile. There was nowhere he couldn’t track me. Spartacus was only gone for a few minutes before he came back with Aurelia trailing behind him. Her face was pale and she looked at the ground as Spartacus threw the pot of salve on the ground between us. The clay shattered and the salve leaked onto the ground.

“Well, that was pretty stupid,” I said as I kicked dirt over the salve. “That’s poison. Let’s just throw poison that seeps into your skin on the ground where we sleep. You really are so smart, aren’t you?” If looks could kill, I would be dead and gone.

This is a work of fiction. The characters and events described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or to living persons alive or dead. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher except for brief quotations embodied in critical reviews.

Cover by Betty Shreffler of BJR Cover Designs (www.bjrcoverdesigns.com) Copyright © 2022 Ava Blake All rights reserved. OceanofPDF.com Chapter One The toga was itchy in places a toga should never be itchy. I scowled and adjusted the strap on my shoulder again as Time Warp blasted through the speakers set up throughout the house. Why I had let Jenna convince me that crashing a stranger’s Halloween party would be fun, I didn’t know, but I was sure as hell regretting it right about now.

She’d heard about the party from a work friend and with no other plans for the night, she thought it would be a good way for me to meet people in a new city. I was less convinced, but I had spent most of my undergrad program avoiding people and studying law, so what did I know? Now, I was starting over with a new life in a new city, and I was shuffling through a party in a costume I had paid way too much money for years ago.

Of course, if I’d know how hideously uncomfortable it was going to be, I’d have left it on the shelf. Parties were not my idea of a great night out at the best of times, and this was most definitely not the best of times. I still had a ton of unpacking to do, but somehow I’d found myself dusting off my toga costume and looking for the gold circlet that went around my head, and here I was.

Of course, as soon as we were inside, Jenna disappeared into the arms of a stranger—gee, thanks—leaving me to go search of a drink and a reason to ditch the party. Why on earth had I let myself get talked into this, anyway? “Hi,” a man said, leaning on the counter. He was dressed as a sexy nurse, his toned legs sticking out from beneath a tiny skirt.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. What’s your name?” “Esme,” I said, leaning against the counter and running my eyes over him briefly. Maybe this evening wasn’t a total write-off, after all. I mean, I was here to make friends, right? There was no rule that they couldn’t happen to be ridiculously attractive friends. New city, new me. “You?”

“Garrett.” He bent down to grab a beer from the cooler and popped the top off on the edge of the counter. “Good to meet you. So, what brings you to a place like this?”

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 85ca83417c9b181a
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 1,423,221 bytes (1.357 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 199
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 315.93 minutes
• Total Words: 63,185
• Total Characters: 331,837
• Average Words per Page: 317.51
• Average Characters per Page: 1667.52

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