Steel (Rent-a-Dragon #1)
Terry Bolryder
Author’s Note
Hi, This series is a follow-up to my Awakened Dragons series. You don’t have to read that series first, but there are characters appearing in those books that will appear here and play major roles.
I have a boxed set of those stories on sale for those who want to catch up here: Awakened Dragons Boxed Set
I hope you enjoy these new dragons and thanks for always giving me a chance.
Sincerely, Terry
1
“Can I get the next round for you?”
Liam Steel looked with odd curiosity at the sound of a woman’s voice as she took the stool next to him at the bar.
All around him, noises of glasses clinking and people talking created a dull roar that filled the room. Behind him, his two crew mates, Magnus and Titus, practically filled the booth they sat in.
Titus was ignoring furtive glances from a group of women at a nearby table and Magnus was busy disassembling his smartphone for the umpteenth time.
Liam took in the scent of the woman as she scooted ever-so-closer, just enough for her body to graze his. But as attractive as she probably was, with long, straight hair and full, red lips, Liam didn’t feel much except slight annoyance.
Undeterred by his response, or lack thereof, the woman put several bills on the bar in front of him.
“I’ll have whatever he’s having. And get another for my friend here,” she said, her perky voice an odd contrast with the sounds of late-night drunkenness.
Liam’s eyes narrowed slightly. A woman buying a man his drink? Ridiculous.
What had the world come to since he and his crew had been frozen at the bottom of the sea?
With a thump that shook the wood of the bar, Liam plopped his hand down on the money in front of them and pushed it back in front of the woman, who looked up in surprise. Even though he didn’t want to hear her thoughts, he could certainly feel disappointment coming from her at his not-so-subtle rejection.
“Don’t bother. I’m not looking for company.”
“Come on. Big, strong guy like you, sitting alone in a bar like this. Don’t tell me you just came here to drink,” she said, smiling through the dismissal as she put an arm around his and ran her hand appreciatively up his muscles.
“That’s exactly why I came here,” Liam replied nonchalantly. The more she touched him, the more he was certain.
This woman was not his mate.
And after months of searching, he was becoming increasingly skeptical of the possibility he and his crew would indeed find their mates as hoped.
When Liam didn’t respond to the woman’s pouty look, she got the hint and slid off the stool. But he couldn’t help but notice the one last, long glance she gave over her shoulder, accompanied by a sigh of apparent lust or longing, before she found a new seat by herself at the opposite end of the bar.
That was mean, Liam could hear Magnus’s voice in his head, eager and inquisitive as always. Why not give her a chance?
Unlike modern dragons, who could share thoughts for the most part only when they were together, Liam and his crew mates shared an almost inseparable mental connection that could span long distances.
Why do you think? Liam replied.
He’d learned pretty quickly that if you didn’t make your point strong and quick, women got ideas. And he wasn’t here to lead people on.
He was here to find his mate.
Just because she’s not your mate doesn’t mean you couldn’t have a little fun, Magnus replied.
Oh really? Then why don’t you go talk to her or any other women instead of playing doctor on that damn phone of yours?
Magnus’s silence said everything.
He went back to fiddling with his phone, pale, light green-blue eyes focused, dark reddish-brown, shoulder-length hair tied back low with a few strands escaping around his face.
Titus sat next to him, his wheat-blond hair trailing down is back in a long braid. His firm jaw was shaded with stubble, his expression somber as he stared down at his drink.
No one was saying it, but his crew was losing hope.
No one knew how long they’d been locked in ice before the oracle had found and revived them. But Liam knew for sure that neither time nor space had diminished their longing to find their fated companions.
Do you actually think they’re out there? Titus’s deep voice resounded in Liam’s mind as icy blue eyes met his.
Our mates? Liam replied.
Yes. Our mates.
Liam tried to think of a meaningful response. Something inspiring that would raise the spirits of his crew. But before he could, a disturbance at the bar broke his focus.
“No,” said a familiar voice to his right.
Liam turned to see the woman from earlier no longer by herself, a man standing next to her. His glazed eyes were drunk and mean, and the little blonde clearly didn’t want whatever he offered.
“You asked that other guy out and he said no already. So I think you should give me a chance,” the drunken man said, speech slurred. His unkempt hair didn’t add to his appeal. The bartender brought up another round for Liam, but he hardly even noticed; he was so focused.
“No, because I’m not interested, you creep,” she said, waving the man away and turning back to ignore him.
Captain? That was Titus, leaning forward, icy eyes narrowed. Despite his giant size, Titus was often the gentlest and keenly aware of things like this.
Suddenly, the man grabbed the woman’s wrist and yanked it backward, pulling her to him.
“Now look here, you little slut—”
Liam didn’t even hear the rest of his words as he pushed off the bar and cleared the distance between himself and the woman in two steps.
“Hey,” Liam said forcefully, loud enough to get the man’s attention, but hopefully not loud enough to make a scene.
“What do you wa—” the man started to say, turning to face Liam, before being interrupted by Liam’s fist driving into his face like a hammer on steel.
The man flew backward, ricocheting off the bar and into a pile of stools and splintered wood.
Just because Liam wasn’t interested in the woman didn’t mean he was going to sit idly by while other men took liberties they had no right to take.
Nice one, Captain, Magnus thought.
But as Liam turned to go back to his drink, hopeful no one was paying attention, he saw a group of men get up from a nearby table and approach him, cracking their knuckles and rolling up shirt sleeves.
Company. Shit, Liam thought.
“Hey, he was just asking her out,” one man said, clearly a friend of the creep who had just been dished a deserved beat down.
“He wasn’t hurting anybody,” another blurted out as they circled around Liam.
Despite being various degrees of drunk and smelly, the men were all on the large side and certainly would have been an intimidating sight for any normal human. But dragons, especially the metal dragons, were made for fighting.
This would be child’s play.