Excerpt: Fire of the Dragon by Lori Dillon

Fire of the Dragon
(Bestiary Series, #1)
By: Lori Dillon
Publisher: Amari Press
Published: April 21, 2013
Genre: Time Travel/Paranormal Romance

A Maiden

Wrenched back in time through the magical power of an old dragon tapestry found in a vintage clothing store, Jill Donahue lands in an ancient medieval town where the villagers decide to sacrifice her to the local dragon. As if the threat of being eaten alive by a giant flying lizard isn’t bad enough, she learns there’s a curse surrounding the tapestry and she has to break it in order to get back to her time. But she isn’t the only one whose fate is tied to the ancient weaving…

A Dragon

Baelin of Gosforth is a valiant knight who has been cursed by a vindictive witch to live as a dragon for eleven months out of each year. Now he has thirty days to break the curse or he turns back into a fire-breathing beast and, as much as he hates to admit it, he needs Jill’s help to do it.

And A Curse

Forced to face many challenges along the way—from the harsh world they travel through to the fiery passion they both try to deny—each is determined to break the curse so the other can get their happily-ever-after. And it just might work, if Jill can manage to overlook the fire-breathing, bat-winged remnants of Baelin’s dragon half long enough to see the man beneath the beast and get the job done.

 

Relax. Just breathe and relax. If she concentrated, she might be able to untie the knots by feel. She closed her eyes, visualizing the rope binding her wrists, and wiggled her fingers until they touched a knot. Her arms and shoulders burned from that little bit of effort. How was she ever going to manage to get the knot loose?

Calm down, Jill. One thing at a time. Think positive. You can do this. 

She managed to wedge one fingertip under the knot, feeling her nail tear to the quick as she attempted to pry it loose. She concentrated harder, ignoring the pain in her arms and back. Yes! She felt some give in the rope. She was making progress. It was slow, but it was still progress. Unfortunately, at this rate it would be the middle of next week before she got herself loose.

Deep in concentration, at first she didn’t notice the drumming sound in the distance.
The wind. It had to be the wind.

Still, her heart rate sped up as her fingers began a frantic dance with the stubborn knot.

Concentrate on the rope. Don’t think about anything else but getting yourself untied. Struggling with the bindings, she tried to shut out the whoosh-whoosh drawing closer. Don’t look up. Whatever you do, do not look up. But she did, and the sight that met her eyes would have dropped her to her knees if she wasn’t still firmly tied to the stake.

Calm down. It’s just a bird. Some enormous bird making an awful lot of noise.

But as it drew nearer, she realized it was too big to be any kind of bird she’d ever seen.

Maybe it’s a plane. Yeah, that’s it. A plane…with big, flapping, bat-like wings.

Jill’s stomach plummeted as the thing soared closer, any hopes it might be Superman coming to her rescue dashed when she saw the long, reptilian tail trailing behind it. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. A giant, flying lizard swooped down through the clouds, heading straight for her.

Her mind screamed in silent denial as reality crashed in with a gut-churning jolt.

Holy shit! She really was being sacrificed to a dragon. 

 

 

 

 In a previous life, Lori worked as a graphic designer for fourteen years for the power company, occasionally venturing into nuclear power plants for her job (yes, nuclear plants need graphic designers, too). In her current existence, she weaves tales of the past, the present, and some places only magic can take you.

Lori lives in Virginia with her engineering geek/hero husband, two kids who test her sanity on a daily basis, a dog named Hokie (named after the Virginia Tech Hokies, of course), and various other critters of the furred and finned variety.

 

2 Thoughts on “Excerpt: Fire of the Dragon by Lori Dillon

  1. Ohh Dragons! I read the excerpt, the book sounds good, I’ll add it to my wishlist!

  2. Great excerpt. Will have to check this book out.

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